Sword of the Stranger

This story was pretty good reminding me of a Ninja Scroll type movie, same type of artwork.

The story is about a boy and his dog who are being chased after by a group of foreigners of Japan who wants to use the boy's blood as something like a painless elixir which causes who ever to drink the blood to feel invincible. At first I thought they couldn't die but it is possible but because of there adrenaline rushing through there body they tend to not feel pain and in battle they will keep fighting until every limb has been ripped off and they are incapable of killing their target. At first I thought they were well trained but some of them didn't even care about protecting there body after taking a dose it was kind of stupid with that. As the story starts off the boy is being chased by the people who just killed everyone in the temple that he was living. He eventually runs into a vagabond and makes a deal with him to take him to this buddhist monastery. It wasn't that easy for the boy to make the man agree to take him but when his dog was poisoned and needed a doctor the man felt bad that if the dog died the boy wouldn't have no one. The boy is arrogant and rude in the beginning but it makes sense since everyone is trying to kill him and his only companion is a dog. He was very lucky to have ran into that man. As they travel to the place where the doctor is they start gaining a friendship even though the boy is still skeptical into trusting anyone.

Eventually they get to the area where the man hands the boy over to a Buddhist who is secretly working for the foreigners but because of a fluke the vegabond was able to realize that the boy was kidnapped and taken away. The ending was pretty good and emotional left you in the question of whether the man lived or died. They never gave his name out and where he came from which made him more mysterious. Over all I give this a 3 out of 6. It was okay but not great like the Ninja Scroll movie. It seemed more like an OVA compared to a movie and really not much storyline to it the boy has special blood people are after him the boy gets rescued the end. It's good to watch but I think they could have did a little more to make it more exciting. If you have time and nothing better to do it's something to waste time but nothing that you would be super glad you watched.