Sword Of The Stranger
During the Sengoku-era in Japan, a young boy named Kotaro flees from mysterious pursuers with his dog, Tobimaru. The monk who had been watching over Kotaro, Shouan, tells him to seek help from Master Zekkai at the Mangaku temple in Akaike Province. Meanwhile, a group of Ming foreigners under the command of the elderly Lord Bai-Luan are escorted through Akaike by local liaisons. They are ambushed by bandits, but the bandits are slaughtered by the Ming's expert swordsman, Luo-Lang.
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| Sword Of The Stranger |
Kotaro and Tobimaru make their way across the land, briefly hiding out in a rundown temple where they meet Nanashi, a wandering swordsman. As Kotaro cooks a meal, smoke from his fire alerts his pursuers, who turn out to be the Ming foreigners accompanied by Akaike soldiers. Nanashi unintentionally gets involved in the fight and is able to kill the men, but Tobimaru is struck by a venomous dagger. Before Nanashi decides to leave, Kotaro offers to hire him as a bodyguard in order to save Tobimaru's life and take them to their destination safely.
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The trio is able to find an apothecary who is able to help Tobimaru recover over a few days. While shopping in town, Nanashi encounters the other Ming warriors and Luo-Lang begins to pick a fight with him for fun, but is interrupted by news of his comrades' deaths. Upon investigation, the Ming begin to suspect the Akaike soldiers are responsible because one of the corpses was staged to appear as Tu-Si, one of the Ming warriors who previously went missing.
The Lord Akaike, who is hosting the Ming, is helping them build a large altar in exchange for large amounts of gold. It is revealed that he kidnapped the missing Ming in order to discover their true purpose for being in Japan. Under torture Tu-Si reveals that they are on a mission for the Emperor of China to find a prophesied child, Kotaro, whose blood can be drained at a certain time once a year in order to create an elixir of immortality known as the Xian Medicine. Lord Akaike changes his plans to capture the child first and hold him for a high ransom.
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| Sword Of The Stranger |
Nanashi successfully reaches the temple with Kotaro and leaves him in the care of the monks. However, it is revealed that they have already betrayed Kotaro to the Ming in order to save their own lives. A fight ensues when the Akaike also arrive to take the boy. With Lord Akaike's treachery uncovered, the Ming take him prisoner and fortify themselves at the altar to await the prophesied time. Realizing that something went wrong, Nanashi goes back and frees Tobimaru, and they track Kotaro and his captors. The sole remaining commander of the Akaike, Itadori, is given command of their forces by the princess and charged with rescuing the captured Lord. However, when he and his men arrive at the fortress, Itadori, seeing Lord Akaike in a compromising position, kills him and uses the opportunity to fulfill his own ambitions. The troops, now under his command, begin an assault and storm the fortress.
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During the ensuing battle many of the Ming and Akaike soldiers are killed, including Itadori. Nanashi finally arrives to save Kotaro and successfully interrupts the ritual before it can be completed. Lord Bai-Luan orders the remaining Ming to capture the boy so that they may try the ritual again the next year. Nanashi kills two of the Ming fighters without his sword and wins the admiration of Luo-Lang, who has been searching for a worthy opponent. Luo-Lang cuts down his own benefactor, Bai-Luan, in order to save Nanashi from being shot. With the other Ming and Akaike forces entirely wiped out, Luo-Lang and Nanashi have a final duel. After sustaining many injuries Nanashi wins and Luo-Lang dies with shock and peace.
Naanashi, Kotaro, and Tobimaru ride away on a horse to a town to treat Nanashi's injuries. They talk about gathering enough money to go overseas and start a new life. As the movie ends the camera pans down on the tracks they leave in the snow, showing drops of fresh blood.
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Afro Samurai: Resurrection
The plot of the movie takes place several years after Afro defeats Justice and becomes the owner of the number one headband. However, due to the overwhelming burden of death the headband brings, Afro decides to abandon the lifestyle he has and instead spends his time chopping wood figures.
Afro is followed for several days by Kotaro, who seeks to avenge the death of his father as Afro did several years ago. However, after many days without food or water, Kotaro loses consciousness. He wakes up after an unknown amount of time under a shady rock with water placed next to him. It is not known who saves him. Kotaro is also seen to have his fathers sword, which he presumably picked up after Afro left the small town. Soon after, Dharman sends the adopted siblings of Sio, who he reconstructed as cyborgs, to kill Afro. They find Afro and ambush him. Although they are enhanced with weapons and manage to injure Afro, they cannot kill him, and Afro defeats them one by one
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| Afro Samurai |
Sio, after finding out the Dharman had sent out the cyborgs to kill Afro without her permission, stabs Dharman in the neck. She releases the unfinished clone of Rokutaro due to impatience and heads towards the location that she told Afro to meet her.
Afro arrives at the location with Ninja Ninja (who has been accompanying him the entire film) and meets Sio, Jinno, and his cloned father. Afro sees his cloned father and is convinced that it is his real father, which causes Ninja Ninja to give up on Afro and leave. Jinno attacks Afro who cannot evade due to his injuries while fighting the cyborgs. Afro goes unconscious after being hit by Jinno and has hallucinations of his father. His father tells him that he is disappointed in him for not carrying the burden of the number one headband.
Afro regains consciousness soon after, and awakes to find his fathers clone in front of him. The clone proceeds to viciously beat Afro while Sio and Jinno watch. Afro refuses to fight back because he still believes that the clone is his father. He is then choked to unconsciousness by the Rokutaro clone. As Jinno looks on, he begins to have flashbacks of the good times he shared with Afro when they were younger. He cannot stand to watch Afro being killed and thus attacks the Rokutaro clone out of rage.
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The clone is too strong however, and quickly dispatches of Jinno. Sio attacks the clone in an attempt to defend her brother but is quickly killed as well. Rokutaro takes the number one headband from Sio and wears it. Meanwhile, the pool of blood from Jinnos body mixes with his cyborg wires, causing a spark, which shocks Afro into consciousness. Afro puts on his number two headband, and challenges the Rokutaro clone, stating "You are not my father. My father died long ago." They fight, but this scene is not shown in the film.
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| Afro Samurai |
The next scene shows Afro walking away from the place he met Sio. He is wearing the number one headband, so it can be assumed that he killed the Rokutaro clone. He runs into Kotaro, who had still been following him. He gives Kotaro the number two headband and tells him "Whenever you're ready", implying that he is willing to fight Kotaro when Kotaro is able to challenge him.
CONCLUSION
Note that while there are many other great anime series with impressive sword battles, the ones listed above are highly ranked and stand out for their exceptional fight choreography and martial arts sequences. If you have other favorites or objections, please share them in the comments! Our goal is to provide you with the latest, most engaging, and mysterious anime reviews, recommendations, and news, and we strive to meet your expectations. Let us know how we can better serve you!