Sword Of The Strager
Animation is rarely used for action or adventure films. Because it’s still largely regarded as children’s entertainment here, studios are usually reluctant to tell stories where the danger is real and the hero can be killed. In contrast, Masahiro Ando’s Sword of the Stranger (2007) is an action-filled samurai adventure that echoes the period films Akira Kurosawa and Hiroshi Inagaki made starring Toshiro Mifune. The bloody violence may seem over the top at times, but that’s also true of live action samurai epics. The stakes are high and the audience can’t be sure if the heroes will be alive when the film ends. Sword of the Stranger is set during the Warring States period (c.1467-c.1600) when Japan was divided into small realms ruled by nobles locked in internecine power struggles. Kotaro (voice by Aidan Drummond), an adolescent orphan, has been living with Buddhist monks since his parents died. He fled the temple that was his home when it was attacked by Chinese warriors and samurai ser...