
Nanashi
main character



What qualifies a man as good or evil? Is it the amount of political power one attains, the quality of his swordsmanship, or how well he serves his lord? With the fall of the second shogunate Japan has sunk into a state of disarray historians now call the Sengoku period, or the era of Warring States. Civil wars rage on throughout the many feudal holdings, where a man may raise his station in life simply by killing his superior. Whilst wandering this war-torn countryside a nameless ronin stumbles upon a young boy by the name of Kotarou, his dog, and the many Chinese assassins dispatched to claim the boy in some strange ritual for immortality. Seeing something of his own past within the child, the nameless swordsman chooses to act as his bodyguard, but can he truly keep Kotarou from the clutches of the Ming and their bloodthirsty blonde mercenary, Luo-Lang? (Source: Bandai Entertainment)
Sword of the Stranger has been very well received, with an average AniList score of 79/100 — 71% of 31,389 ratings are 8/10 or higher.
It ranks #100 most popular film of all time, and #1 highest-rated film of 2007, and #4 most popular film of 2007 on AniList.
Of the 44.3K AniList users who started it, 0.4% dropped it, so it is very rarely abandoned; 42.2K have finished it.
As a 103-minute film, it fits in a single evening.
Best for viewers who enjoy Action, Adventure — especially swordplay, historical, rural, samurai.
Availability, audio and subtitles vary by region and service.
Sword of the Stranger runs 103 minutes (1 h 43 min).
Yes. Sword of the Stranger has finished airing — the final episode aired September 29, 2007.
No. Sword of the Stranger is an original anime story, not adapted from a manga or novel.
Sword of the Stranger was animated by bones and directed by Masahiro Andou.
Sword of the Stranger is listed on Crunchyroll. Availability varies by region — check the streaming links on this page.