Sword of the Stranger

   Sword of the Stranger is a 2007 Japanese Anime film directed by Masahiro Ando and produced by animation studio Bones (Known for such works as Wolf's Rain, Soul Eater, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Space Dandy). 

   The film follows Kotaro, a young boy is hunted by a group of swordsmen from Ming Dynasty China. Kotaro and his beloved Shiba Inu eventually meet a nameless ronin whilst in hiding, who is haunted by memories of his past what have led him to avoid drawing his sword ever again (Which is not to say that he still can't kick some serious ass when needed). As the two (Or three, if you include the dog... which we should) begin to bond, they eventually find themselves dragged into the messiest ordeal possible as the Ming clash with a feudal Lord, a proud general, and monks during their pursuit of Kotaro.

   

   The one thing I did not at all expect in this film is the inclusion of Mandarin. Sure, there are Chinese characters, and notably historically accurate costumes and settings... but I was still pleasantly surprised over that aspect and the fact that they had actually bothered. After all, there aren't necessarily that many animes shows and films that have bothered with such a thing when it came to their non-Japanese characters (Of course, this could mostly be due to budget constraints). To hear these Ming hunters speak to one another especially shows a much more human side to them than one would have expected. The Ming's Western fighter speaks in an entertainingly heavy accent as he speaks mandarin, to further accentuate the fact that he is truly not one of them, which is another nice little bit of detail from their part. The Japanese voice acting as well is notably more realistic, like something you would hear out of a live-action chanbara. Having been so use to really expressive and over-the-top voice acting from all the animes that I have watched, it really isn't that difficult to notice.

   But anyway, let's get down to the main focus on this film and the most probable reason as to why most folks decide to check out this film in the first place... the fight scenes.

   No words can truly describe how amazing the cinematography actually is for all the fight scenes featured in this film, but seeing as this is a blog post, I am obviously going to have to give it a try. The camera angles and movements are just so unbelievably dynamic that one couldn't possibly begin to imagine how they were actually able to visualise all of this during the pre-production stage. With detailed and complex movements that are the perfect balance of exaggeration and realism (And surely some references had to be used when it came to these duels). 

   There is just so much detail for every single frame, from the way their hair and clothes move, the sparks that are emitted when metal clashes against metal, and the even the briefest glimpse of someone's intestines as he cut swiftly through in a large spray of blood. There are no shortcuts in the way the fight scenes are animated (You know, when it appears that a character is moving so fast that they don't seem to be moving at all?), and as a full-length film, it is clear that the animators went all out. It could have been so easy to simply take the Quentin Tarantino route where exagerrated amounts of blood would spray in every direction and cover most of the view (Not that I'm thrashing that aspect about his films), but they didn't,  while violence and gore is most definitely evident from how these warriors mercilessly kill their foes, you can truly see the littlest detail that would make even those with the strong stomach go "Whoa ho ho ho~!".

   Again, there is just so much detail, as seen in the gif below, if it isn't the way his fingers move and wrap around the sheathe, it's the way the sword is torn right out from its bonds (I just... what?!). There are quite a few fight scenes that take place in the rain and snow (Which is another little weakness of mine), and so to see rain drops patter against-- no, drench their forms and to see their breath form right in front of them... it's just sheer beauty right there.

   To add to that, Sword of the Stranger also has a decent storyline with good pacing and cast of characters. To me, there is no denying that this is a masterpiece of a fighting anime film, everything was considered. The writing, the music (I did jump a few times during those flashback sequences, they did have a tendency to use pretty shocking sound cues for when the character thinks back to his traumatising past), the settings, the cinematography (Which we already talked about)... absolutely everything. It is obvious that this would be one of my biggest inspiration for my Extended Practice project, especially when it comes to figuring out the fight scene/s in there. It will most definitely be incredibyl mediocre when compared to the masters, but, we all have to start somewhere, don't we?