Its been a bountiful time for feature anime films the past year or so, with many notable works like Tokikake, Paprika, Tekkon Kinkreet, 5 Centimeters and Rebuild of Evangelion. Its going to be quite a treat for animation lovers yet as the the list continues; let’s begin with the period anime Sword of the Stranger.

Helmed by director Ando Masahiro, Stranger tells of a nameless ronin’s charge to protect a young boy pursued by assassins for a coveted and shocking secret he holds. I was initially drawn to Stranger because of its likeness to my favourite manga Blade of the Immortal （無限の住人）, but after watching the trailer the superb animation and art direction had me convinced that this is certainly one film to look out for.

Stranger is currently screening in theatres here; Bandai Visual passed down some complimentary tickets to the studio last week but unfortunately I was away on my break and missed the opportunity to grab it. There’s a wealth of material available from the official website including the trailer, character profiles and production notes, wallpapers and merchandise information.

Official website : http://www.stranja.jp/

Production company : Bones

The Stranger artwork shown above is from a special feature in the current issue of Animation Note. For those interested in getting the dvd, check out this post on the beautiful Japanese boxset.