Stranger: Mukou Hadan

In the Sengoku period of Japan, a young orphan named Kotarou and his dog Tobimaru steal from unsuspecting villagers in order to make ends meet. However, Kotarou is forced to remain on the run when he finds himself being hunted down by assassins sent by China's Ming Dynasty for mysterious reasons not involving his petty crimes.

Fortunately, the duo run into Nanashi, a ronin who has taken refuge in a small temple, when Kotarou is attacked and Tobimaru poisoned. Although the samurai saves the helpless pair from their pursuers, he feels that there is no need to help them further; but when offered a gem in exchange for his services as a bodyguard, he reluctantly accepts Kotarou's offer of employment—just until Tobimaru is healed and the two reach their destination. As the three set out on a perilous journey, it soon becomes evident that their path is riddled with danger, as the Ming Dynasty has now sent a terrifying swordsman after them to capture Kotarou and fulfill a certain prophecy.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Nanashi Main

Nagase, Tomoya Japanese

Tobimaru Main

Luo Lang Main

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Kotarou Main

Chinen, Yuuri Japanese

Feng Wu Supporting

Nojima, Hirofumi Japanese

Mu Mao Supporting

Mizusawa, Fumie Japanese

Inui, Juurouta Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Itadori, Shougen Supporting

Ootsuka, Akio Japanese

Huo Chou Supporting

Houki, Katsuhisa Japanese

Yue Shen Supporting

Aizawa, Masaki Japanese

Minami, Masahiko Producer

Takanashi, Minoru Producer

Iizuka, Toshio Producer

Tasaka, Hidemasa Assistant Producer

Reviews

Feb 19, 2024

novawrite

Recommended

In "Sword of the Stranger," a lone ronin, Nanashi, finds himself drawn into a perilous journey when he agrees to protect a young boy named Kotarou pursued by mysterious enemies. As their bond deepens amidst breathtaking sword fights and intricate plots, they must confront their pasts and fight for their futures in a stunning tale of honor and sacrifice.
Or one of those movies are forgotten gold.

Story 8/10
The storyline has a good flow and strong structure. It follows both characters in a good manner and helps understand them and get to know them well despite the short period of a hour and a ... half. The background scene is just enough to hint and show what the characters have been through up until now without being a nonsense and without being stuck too much at one place, where the plot eventually tries to pull both characters to the future instead of their past.
Though, I do have to say that the main plot – the sacrifice ritual doesn’t give much interesting information and doesn’t help much with understanding what drives the opposing force in this anime. While on the surface it seems more like a maniacal wish it is never really clearly shown what would or could happen if they succeeded.
The plot itself is more focused on the bond between Nanashi and Kotarou instead on the reasons like “Why is this coming from?”, on this note you would need a better knowledge on Japanese-Chinese history and relationship to kind of understand where this is coming-going.

Characters 8/10
Nanashi and Kotarou are very typical characters. One is a lone samurai, who has done something wrong in the past and is trying to redeem himself, the other – a fisty kid with lots of opinions that doesn’t take “No” for an answer. While normally I would find characters like Kotarou annoying and not very pleasant, the kid was well written and even tho he was shown as smart for his age, he was still naïve and a kid, which makes the character more real and reliable. He finds himself looking at Nanashi as a father or big brother figure and softens a lot.
Tobimaru was there just to be part of key plot points and to drive the plot at some points. While being a loyal companion and listed as Main Character there isn’t much to this dog as while it seems trained it was still show more realistically – as a normal dog that can even die.
Luo Lang was rather strange villain with no actual resolve on his hand than just trying to find a person worthy of his sword skills and a good rival. He doesn’t care about outorityy and would rather kills his mates in order to be able to battle with the best swordsman he has encountered. Personally, I found the Chinese used by his character and his comrads rather laughable. The voice actors weren’t good at Chinese and it was way too obvious. In case like this it would just be more appropriate to go with your own language and not try to add random 5 lines of bad Chinese in there, it just takes off of the enjoyment.

Sound 9/10
If we take off the bad Chinese at times the overall voice acting was very good. Sound effects were presented exactly on point and were very well made. The background tracks go well with the scenes and don’t distract.

Art 10/10
This is where this show just wins. The art and especially the battle scenes are way ahead of 2007 and are just a delight to watch, they themselves are worth watching even if you didn’t like the plot. The anime doesn’t lack blood and violence but in very well measured matter and this adds very well to the overall feeling of it.

Enjoyment 10/10
This movie is pure enjoyment if you like samurai themed series. Considering the fact that it’s also a movie with very good visual for its years and not a 24 long series that can have more than one flaw.

Overall 9/10
On the matter if this should be considered a classical movie – While this is an extremely good movie it’s just doesn’t have a ground for it to be a classic. This doesn’t set any new stones nor does it show something new and unseen before 2007. The overall vibe of this movie is very Dororo-like but in a more non-fantasy style. The characters themselves, like mentioned, aren’t something new, not milestone worth mentioning. Nevertheless, this movie is very well made and has extremely good visuals without the us of ugly 3D in place of good animation.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Mar 26, 2024

BaronLukis

Mixed Feelings

A solid movie, it's not bad but it's not great either. It's a decent piece of work that entertains enough for you to enjoy the film. The animation and music are the best things about the film.
The characters do not fully develop, they are rather flat and the pace of the story is too slow for my taste.

The plot is good, several political actors involved, several interests at stake, but its potential is wasted, the interactions between the main characters are weak, the princess/queen does not appear.
For the rest, the duels and fights we want to see are there.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 8, 2023

Yaroster

Not Recommended

Story (4/10): The problem with a lot of Samurai stories in anime is encapsulated here in my opinion.
Always adding an unnecessary part of weird fiction, constant style over essence and such — I would recommend watching the much better Kenshin OAV that is so far the most interesting samurai animated movie we’ve had and it is much older.

Voice Acting(1/10): As a Chinese speaker, albeit not an expert one, the voice acting for mandarin was beyond subpar — not even talking about tones it just sounded wrong and the Blu-Ray has a warning before the start of the movie saying that the author purposely pushed the ... use of mandarin in some scenes but the Japanese voice actors didn’t even bother replicating a mandarin « accent », it is (and I mean it) completely unintelligible.

Animation(8/10): Animation is great, although it is to be expected from the storyboarder behind Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell — with fights being especially well drawn and the overall style being interesting although as always with 2000s anime — the 3D elements feel incredibly out of place.


Overall: 4/10, this isn’t a necessary watch and truly is disappointing when it comes to such an esteemed director in my heart. Watch the kenshin OAV lol.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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	Sword of the Stranger ending (warning: spoilers!) ( 1 2 3 ) NamariKirei - Feb 3, 2009	112 replies	by Liberandum_ »» Jun 18, 11:05 PM
	Poll: Stranger - Mukoh Hadan Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Liquid - Apr 16, 2008	261 replies	by OooOOooOOozzozo »» May 29, 4:58 PM
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