Sword of the Stranger: ANDOO Masahiro’s animation tells the story of a ronin who meets a young boy on the run with his faithful dog, fleeing a group of Chinese agents. It’s a very turbulent era in Japan, so honour is a relatively fluid concept; by operating in such a grey area, with characters who are not in a rush to seem likeable, this makes for a richer, more interesting experience. The young protagonist, voiced by CHINEN Yuuri, is made testy by his trajectory, so even if hard to swallow at first, the character becomes endearing in time. NAGASE Tomoya plays the able and retracted fighter, a man with a moral code and a troubled past. YAMADERA Kooichi plays the main antagonist, a foreign, cruel mercenary. The animation is beautiful, with muted colours, distinctive character design, and detailed environments. The action sequences are brutal, dynamic, exhilarating. Composer SATOO Naoki’s musical score is a thing of beauty; his use of flute and eerie, his percussion gives the action a martial quality, and the orchestra complements with nice themes.