Animehead Brothers: Woodpecker- Sword of the Stranger

Evening folks! Woodpecker here, bringing you a review on the Sword of the Stranger. I found this animated movie to be very entertaining, yet very abrupt. It was one of those movies that left me saying, "I want more!" The movie itself, really stuck to the true physics of the world. Meaning things like weapon damage, limbs falling off, and realistic death/survival scenarios actually happened in the movie. This movie again, was a great watch and I wish they had a prequel to explain the past of the ronin that follows the main character.

Rating: 9/10

Overview:

This movie seems to take place before the modernization of Japan. I would say roughly early 1400's due to the fact that one of the bad guys in the movie carries an ancient musket. The only flaw I found in this particular movie, was the fact that the plot was not very explanatory on the ronin's past and his experiences. You do see brief glimpses and flash backs, but you never truly find out the connection between the ronin and his relationship between the bad guys.

Characters: +

Nanashi: He is the ronin that accompanies Kataro on his journey to the temple. As the movie progresses Nanashi and Kataro truly begin to bond, and Nanashi sees a new side to himself he never saw before.

Kataro: He is the young boy, and evidently the main character in this movie. Something about Kataro and his blood evidently holds the key to immortality. The Emperor knows of this and captures Kataro before Nanashi can come to the rescue.

Tobimaru: He is Kataro's dog in this film. Tobimaru is a very vital factor in this movie and was the catalyst that brought Nanashi and Kataro together, after he was poisoned by a Ming warrior.

Luo-Lang: This man is considered to be the major enemy for Nanashi in this movie. He is arrogant and lustful for power. He seeks an enemy as strong as him, so that he may defeat him and grow stronger, that is Nanashi.

Plot:

Essentially the story revolves around the young Kataro and his new adventure with the ronin Nanashi. After Tobimaru is poisoned by a Ming warrior, Nanashi helps Kataro save the young pup from his demise. Soon after Nanashi returns the boy to the temple, the monks give him up to the Emperors men in order to create and elixir of eternal life. Nanashi is forced to focus on what he truly wants to do, and if this cause is worthy to unsheathe his sinful blade to save Kataro.

Animation Style: +

For the age of this movie I felt that it definitely was well displayed. It had a lot of focus on the blood and fighting animation in the movie. Another thing that I particularly enjoyed about this movie, was the fact that the physics of the show were mostly accurate the whole time. Enemies did not fly back over 50 meters in one punch, nor did their bodies split in half after a 5 second delay of suspense. I was very pleased with how well they portrayed what the fight scenes in these animated films should look like.

Music: +

I was very pleased with this OST and I found the music very fitting to the scenes. It has one of the best final fight soundtracks I have listened to in a while, and I really felt like some passion was put into the music itself. While watching the movie listening to the final fight, I found that the song itself also drew some emotion out of me, in a kind of weird but not surprising way. I definitely give this OST a thumbs up!

Power-Balance/Believability: +

I found the power-balance to be very believable in this movie. Nanashi was barely able to fight off Luo-Lang, and their skills were very close in combat. You could tell that the animators spent a lot of time making this movie as realistic as they could. The kills made sense and were very realistic. I also found that character invincibility was not present in this movie. When Nanashi got his butt kicked you could see it affecting him later in the movie, it didn't just go away (like in most anime).