Sword of the Stranger
(Sutorejia : mukô hadan)
by Mashiro Ando
Japan
Animation
Script: Fumihiko Takayama
Cinematographer: Yohei Miyahara
Animation Director: Yoshiyuki Ito
Art Director: Atsushi Morikawa
Music: Nahoki Sato
Voice Cast: Yûki Chinen, Tomoya Nagase, Akio Otsuka, Naoto Takenaka, Kôichi Yamadera
Production: Bones
Distribution:
Beez Entertainment
142 Bd Diderot
75012 Paris
France
Tel: 0033 1.55.78.23.65
Mail: [email protected]
Year: 2007
Screening: 2010
35 mm, Colour, 102 min,
OV Japanese with French Subtitles
During the Senguku era, endless fights between warlords have bled Japan dry. A nameless “ronin” (former samurai) saves young orphan Katarô and his dog Tobimaru aggressed by mercenaries coming from China while finding shelter in a burned-out temple. This mysterious militia has been looking for Kotarô to perform an occult ritual in order to get eternal life. Among them is Luo-Lang, an outstanding swashbuckler hungry for fighting who serves under warlord Bai-Luan. Kotarô hires the nameless “ronin” as bodyguard in exchange for a precious stone given to him by a monk. They decide to travel together. Their destiny from now onwards is inexorably bound, and a moving friendship starts between two persons whose personal lives have been shuttered by a tragedy: a samurai with no master nor a name who has made the vow not to use a sword anymore, and a young boy who lost his parents.