Sword of the StrangerMovies like Sword of the Stranger
- Key Features:
- Samurai, Action, Sword fight, Martial arts, Feudal Japan, Loyalty, Redemption, Protecting the innocent, Violence-high, Character arc, Warrior, Orphan, Honor
- Tone:
- serious, dramatic, stylized
- Target Audience:
- Anime fans, Action enthusiasts, Fans of samurai stories, Viewers interested in Japanese culture
- Emotional Arc:
- Detachment → Connection → Sacrifice
Sword of the Stranger

Pursued by formidable Chinese assassins, young Kotaro and his dog run into No Name, a mysterious stranger who gets pulled into the chase. The unlikely companions form a bond over saving the dog from a poison attack, but chaos erupts when the assassins find Kotaro, and No Name must face his past before a horrible fate is met again.
Sword of the Stranger
A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

Blind swordsman/masseuse Zatoichi befriends a young woman returning home with her baby. When gangsters mistake her for Zatoichi and kill her, Zatoichi determines to escort the baby to its father. He gains the reluctant help of a young pick pocket and together they travel to find the baby's father. But they do not reckon on the father's reaction to their arrival, nor on their own growing feelings for the child.

A Shogun who grew paranoid as he became senile sent his ninjas to kill his samurai. They failed but did kill the samurai’s wife. The samurai swore to avenge the death of his wife and roams the countryside with his toddler son in search of vengeance.

In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.

Ogami Itto is challenged by a quintet of warriors, each armed with one fifth of Ogami's assassin fee and one fifth of the information he needs to complete his assignment.

Official Shogunate executioner Ogami Itto has been framed for disloyalty to the Shogunate by the Yagyu clan, against whom he now is waging a one-man war, along with his infant son, Daigoro.

In 1868, after the Bakumatsu war ends, the ex-assassin Kenshin Himura traverses Japan with an inverted sword, to defend the needy without killing.

A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.

Izo is an assassin in the service of a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to present-day Tokyo. Here Izo transforms himself into a new, improved killing machine.

A pair of down-on-their-luck swordsmen arrive in a dusty, windblown town, where they become involved in a local clan dispute. One, previously a farmer, longs to become a noble samurai. The other, a former samurai haunted by his past, prefers living anonymously with gangsters. But when both men discover the wrongdoings of the nefarious clan leader, they side with a band of rebels who are under siege at a remote mountain cabin.

Legendary swordplay filmmaker Hideo Gosha's Sword of the Beast chronicles the flight of the low-level swordsman Gennosuke, who kills one of his ministers as part of a reform plot. His former comrades then turn on him, and this betrayal so shakes his sense of honor that he decides to live in the wild, like an animal. There he joins up with a motley group who are illegally mining the shogun’s gold, and, with the aid of another swordsman, gets a chance not just at survival but to recover his name and honor.

A warrior-in-training and his bumbling friends go in pursuit of a stolen sword.

Set in 19th Century Japan a young samurai who finds himself in love with a farm girl leaves his home to begin a new life. He has to take stock of his new life when he is put to the test and ordered to kill a traitor who just happens to be his dearest friend.

Weary of the bloodshed and violence from the martial arts world, a powerful swordsman banishes himself to the humble life a vagrant, wandering the fringes of society. But his violent past refuses to let him go quietly. The master swordsman must regain the ability to wield his sword and fight those disrupting the peace he so desperately craves.

Before he was a protector, Kenshin was a fearsome assassin known as Battosai. But when he meets gentle Tomoe Yukishiro, a beautiful young woman who carries a huge burden in her heart, his life will change forever.

Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune.

In a poor district of Edo lives a young samurai named Soza. He has been sent by his clan to avenge the death of his father. He isn't an accomplished swordsman however, and he prefers sharing the life of the residents, teaching the kids how to write etc. When he finally finds the man he is looking for, he will have to decide whether he follows the way of the samurai or chooses peace and reconciliation.

Set in Qin Dynasty during the warring states period in ancient China. Shin was a war orphan. He has a dream of becoming a great general Shin has a fateful encounter with young King Eisei. King Eisei aims to unify all of China.

Zatoichi is sworn to protect the life of a young girl and without any real allies finds himself in the middle of a bloody turf war.

After arriving in the town of Shimonita, Ichi finds that a price has been put on his head by a local yakuza boss. He's drawn into a trap, but after hearing of the slaying of a former love, Ichi furiously fights his way through the entire clan to face the killer, a hired ronin.

Batman, along with many of his allies and adversaries, finds himself transported to feudal Japan by Gorilla Grodd's time displacement machine.

A new class of warriors emerges among the Samurai clans to keep a sought-after sword from falling into the wrong hands.

Ryunosuke, a gifted swordsman plying his trade during the turbulent final days of Shogunate rule, has no moral code and kills without remorse. It’s a way of life that leads to madness.

The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to get her back.

Two seriously wounded samurai find refuge from a storm at an isolated temple, the home of a swordsman and a mysterious young woman. One samurai awakes to find that not only has his comrade died, but that his wounds have miraculously healed. He discovers that he has been given the power of immortality by the swordsman, a man once known as the legendary Miyamoto Musashi, who now lives an endless existence as Aragami, a "god of battle".

In the Sengoku period, a woman and her daughter are raped and murdered by soldiers during a time of civil war. Afterwards, a series of samurai returning from the war through that area are found mysteriously dead with their throats torn out. The governor calls in a wild and fierce young hero to quell what is evidently an Onryō ghost. He encounters the two beautiful women in an eerie, beautiful scene. After spiritual purification, he meets the demon in a thrilling fight.

Ichi travels to the village of Itakura to pay his respects at the grave of Kichizo, a man he killed two years ago. When some tax money is stolen while in transit to the governor he is accused and sets out to find the money and clear his name.

Tells the story of the samurai Gengobe, who seeks revenge after falling prey to the schemes of a geisha and her husband.

A tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord.

In 1879, Kenshin and his allies face their strongest enemy yet: his former brother-in-law Enishi Yukishiro and his minions, who've vowed their revenge.

Paul Racine, a high-powered American business executive in Japan, is catapulted into a maze of danger and intrigue after he and his sexy companion are the targets of assassins hired by the ruthless Kinjo. To survive, Racine must join forces with a powerful samurai and together they will fight the force of evil in an awesome battle rooted in centuries of brutal conflict.

Manji, a highly skilled samurai, becomes cursed with immortality after a legendary battle. Haunted by the brutal murder of his sister, Manji knows that only fighting evil will regain his soul. He promises to help a young girl named Rin avenge her parents, who were killed by a group of master swordsmen led by ruthless warrior Anotsu. The mission will change Manji in ways he could never imagine.

With a price on his head, Ichi seeks tranquillity in a favorite village. Since his last visit, it has fallen prey to Boss Masagoro, the son of a merchant rumored to have stolen gold from the shogunate. The boss has hired Yojimbo as his hard-drinking enforcer, but Yojimbo is both a spy for the shogunate, trying to find the gold, and in love with the merchant's unwilling mistress, Umeno. Ichi hires on as the merchant's masseur and buys Umeno's freedom with his employer's own money. This embarrasses Yojimbo who withdraws from a pact with Ichi to stir up trouble between father and son and their gangs. As the two sides fight, Ichi finds the gold and sets up a final set of confrontations.

The Mystery Inc. gang takes a trip to Japan and finds themselves circling Asia and the Pacific in a treasure hunt, racing against the vengeful Black Samurai and his Ninja warriors to find the legendary Sword of Fate, an ancientblade fabled to possess extraordinary supernaturalpowers.

Lei Li lost his right-arm in a sword duel with the master of a martial arts school, long ago. Now, he is able to defend himself well with just his left arm, and kung fu techniques. That he proves with just the help of his friend Chung-Chieng, when he crosses his path with a beautiful girl in need, Pao Chiao. Even against impossible odds, he will prove a great warrior.

Returning to the village where a year before he had killed Hirate, a much-admired opponent, Zatoichi encounters another swordsman and former rival in love.

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

In war-torn Japan, the Tokugawa Shogun, desperate to restore peace to his people, orders the assassination of the hostile warlords. A beautiful young woman is raised from birth with nine other orphans, to become an assassin. Her name is Azumi, the ultimate assassin.

Wishing to find peace, Zatoichi travels to his old village but only finds trouble when he ends up in a love triangle and finds old scores have followed him home.

The film's plot follows that of the game closely. Nariko, a member of an ancient tribe who have guarded an ancient magical sword for thousands of years, is charged with bringing the sword to its destined wielder, a deity reincarnated who will bring peace to the land. But on her quest, Nariko must wield the sword herself against the forces of King Bohan, who wishes to possess the weapon himself.

In Edo period Japan, a lone ronin lives in a village helping the farmers tend to their land. One day, a group of outlaw swordsmen enter the village.

Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior.

A samurai's path leads him to a young waitress whose hometown was destroyed by a dragon. He doesn't want any trouble — but it finds them anyway.

It is 300 years into the future. Earth's environment had been devastated by mankind's own foolish plans and humankind is beleaguered by the sentient forests which they have awoken. The world balance is tipped when a young boy named Agito stumbles across a machine that glowed in a strange blue hue inside a forbidden sanctuary.

Hyakkimaru, a warrior on a quest to reclaim 48 of his body parts which were each taken by a demon, is joined by Dororo, a thief on a quest to avenge the death of her parents.

Feeling unhappy with his gun, Jigen is looking for the world’s best gunsmith. He finally finds out that Chiharu, who runs a watch shop, is the person he’s been seeking. Then, Jigen meets Oto, who comes to Chiharu’s shop looking for a gun. Jigen finds out about Oto's secrets and the mysterious organization that’s after her. After Oto is kidnapped, Jigen gets into a desperate battle to save her.

An elite superhuman agent must stop a foreign military unit from seizing control of an ancient artifact that holds the key to ultimate power.

Nobita finds a stray dog and brings him home, little does hi knows that the dog is actually a prince in his homeland, a world appart deep in the african 'Smokers Forest' were the dogs evolved and have their own empire, so he and his friends take on a journey to take back the young prince to his homeland but when they get there things have changed.

A giant stone statue comes to life to protect the residents of a small town against the depradations of an evil warlord.

When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo's underworld explodes with violence.

Ogami Itto battles a group of female ninja in the employ of the Yagyu clan and must eliminate a traitor who plans to sell his clan's secrets to the Shogunate.

Japan, 1159. Moritō, a brave samurai, performs a heroic act by rescuing the lovely Kesa during a violent uprising. Moritō falls in love with her, but becomes distraught when he finds out that she is married.

A young man adopted by a renowned swordsmith, discovers that his real father was killed by a powerful bandit called Lung. Leaving to seek revenge, he runs foul of a group of vicious desert scum, losing his right arm in the process. After being nursed back to health, he eventually learns to compensate for his loss and returns to confront the man who murdered his father.

Hundreds of thousands of years after the collapse of civilization, the world is a post-tech wasteland, and is inhabited by humanoid tribes. The Peace held between them is threatened by the return of Wushen, an evil shape-shifting ghost of modern technology. Wushen threatens to enslave the world population. Zhuma, a ten-year-old girl is the heroine of the story, accompanied by Zhanggong, her lion-like Tibetan Mastiff dog. Chosen, and helped by a ethereal goddess she must assemble a band of allies from the surviving tribes to fight Wushen, and stop him from gaining control over an ancient power.

Shiba, a wandering ronin, encounters a band of peasants who have kidnapped the daughter of their dictatorial magistrate, in hopes of coercing from him a reduction in taxes. Shiba takes up their fight, joined by two renegades from the magistrate's guard, Sakura and Kikyo. The three outlaws find themselves in a battle to the death.

The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur and master swordsman. Zatoichi targets a yakuza-controlled village, because war with a neighbouring town's smaller gang is brewing.

Jakob, a young policeman from a remote village, has his world unhinged when a stranger in a dress emerges from the forest and begins killing villagers with a sword.

Ichi is a blind entertainer that travels the countryside with her traditional Japanese guitar and walking stick. She’s in search for the kind man that brought her up as a child, but because of her beauty she encounters problems every step of the way. Fortunately for Ichi, she is also a gifted swordswoman and carries a lethal blade within her walking stick.

Fearless Edo-period police inspector Hanzo Itami, nicknamed The Razor, has developed his own unique way of extracting information for his inquiries. His first adventure sees him investigating his superior officer's mistress, whom he suspects of having ties with a reputed criminal on the loose.

Kanichiro Yoshimura is a Samurai and Family man who can no longer support his wife and children on the the low pay he receives from his small town clan, he is forced by the love for his family to leave for the city in search of higher pay to support them.

Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.

Sawa, orphaned as a child by murderous thugs, now targets the scourge of society as a trained killer for a mercenary syndicate. Coquettish and capable of unimaginable violence, she's grown into the perfect weapon — but doubt takes hold in Sawa's mind when her fellow assassin, Oburi, decides he wants out.

As a lionhearted boy who can't wield magic strives for the title of Wizard King, four banished Wizard Kings of yore return to crush the Clover Kingdom.

Ogami Itto is hired to kill a tattooed female assassin and battles Retsudo, head of the Yagyu clan, and his son Gunbei.

Jubei is a masterless ninja who travels the land alone, lending his services to those with gold—or a worthy cause. His fearsome abilities have served him well, but a plot to overthrow the government threatens to end his wandering ways—and possibly his life.

Luca follows in his father's footsteps to rescue his mother from evil Ladja. Finding the heavenly hero who wields the Zenithian sword is his only hope.

The war against the Tokugawa Shogunate ended years ago. But there are some who are not happy with the outcome. Shigure Takimi watched his friends and family get slashed down in the name of freedom and prosperity. Now he and a band of desparate rebels have sworn to settle one final score. Only one man stands in their way: Rurouni Kenshin. Will the former assassin take up his sword to fight again? When Shigure discovers Kenshin's true identity and his fight becomes a personal vendetta, the young hero will have no choice.

In a far-future time ruled by the supernatural, a young girl requests the help of a vampire hunter to kill the vampire who has bitten her and thus prevent her from becoming a vampire herself.

A spectacular journey of an unwilling young hero thrust into a mysterious past full of monsters, dragons, and strange hidden powers. Through a series of out of this world battles and adventures, Jun, a shy middle school boy, is transformed into a hero destined to battle evil and ensure harmony and tranquility in the world.

D, a legendary dhampir competes with a motley family of bounty hunters to track down Charlotte Elbourne, a young woman who has seemingly been abducted by vampire nobleman Meier Link.

In 16th century, during the Ming dynasty era, every ten years the greatest swordsman from Japan faces the greatest swordsman from China in a duel to the death for their nation's honor. As a duel approaches, Chinese champion Bo Ching-Wan and Japanese champion Miyamoto uncover a plot to rig the fight.

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.

Ling Wu Chung decides to hide from the chaotic world. Before leaving, he visits his friends, a tribe of snake-wielding women warriors. However, he finds that the tribe have been attacked, and their leader Yam Ying Ying has been abducted.

Kai—an outcast—joins Oishi, the leader of 47 outcast samurai. Together they seek vengeance upon the treacherous overlord who killed their master and banished their kind. To restore honour to their homeland, the warriors embark upon a quest that challenges them with a series of trials that would destroy ordinary warriors.

927 AD. The Killer-Blade Army has toppled the ruling dynasty, plunging the kingdom into chaos. The only remaining heir, Prince Jung-Hyun is living in exile, unaware of his family's dark fate. Still loyal to the dynasty, the beautiful and deadly warrior Soha sets out to find Jung-Hyun and guide him to become the great leader he was born to be. But with the Army's greatest assassins and the criminal underworld hunting them, Soha and Jung-Hyun are swept into an explosive, non-stop battle of swords, wits and bloodshed as they fight to reclaim the fallen throne.

The "Academy Island Incident" in which four "kings" cross paths... Since then, Silver Clansmen Kuroh Yatogami and Neko have been searching for their master, Shiro. Without finding any clues to Shiro's whereabouts, the two became disheartened. However, one day, they see HOMRA members Rikio Kamamoto and Anna Kushina being chased by someone.

After being blinded in a coup against the king, Joseon's greatest swordsman goes into hiding, far removed from his city's anguish. But when traffickers kidnap his daughter, he has no choice but to unsheathe his sword once more.

In 1604, Miyamoto Musashi attacked the Yoshioka family at their dojo and defeated master Seijūrō and his younger brother Denshichirō in two duels. To save their reputation, the Yoshioka family decides to fight back with all 100 family members and hire an additional 300 samurai. Now Musashi sets out to defeat all 400 enemies in his most famous battle.

The Batman family has returned to the present to discover that Japan has disappeared, and a giant island - Hinomoto - is now in the sky over Gotham City. At the top sit the Yakuza, a group of superpowered individuals who reign without honor or humanity and look suspiciously like the Justice League. Now, it’s up to Batman and his allies to save Gotham!

Izo, a Ronin, and Raiden, an orc, work to bring a young elf girl and the wand she carries to the land of the elves in the north.

In the 17th century, seven swordsmen join their forces to save the villagers from a manipulating General who bans martial arts.

Shozo Hirono has managed to separate from the Yamamori family and create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.

Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sakura are executing their mission of delivering a lost pet to a certain village. However, right in the midst of things, troops led by the mysterious knight, Temujin, attack them. In the violent battle, the three become separated. Temujin challenges Naruto to a fight and at the end of the fierce battle, both fall together from a high cliff...

Takuma Tsurugi takes on the government, the police, the mafia and an international ring of kidnappers who aim to dispossess a beautiful young heiress of her millions.

Shishio sets sail in his ironclad ship to bring down the government. In order to stop him, Kenshin trains with his old master to learn his final technique.

Depicts a continuation of the "Battle of Mayang", an all-out war against the neighboring country Zhao that Shin and Wang Ki fought in in the previous work "Flame of Fate".

A martial artist working as a reporter tries to track down his family’s sword passed down by his adopted Japanese father. He soon finds himself fighting for his life in a brutal underground tournament.

Tatsuhito, a cop, pursues Chinese warlord Wang through the underworld of Shinjuku and over to Taiwan.

A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.

While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."

A westerner named Casey, studying Ninjutsu in Japan, is asked by the Sensei to return to New York to protect the legendary Yoroi Bitsu, an armored chest that contains the weapons of the last Koga Ninja.

A noble swordsman, whose arm had been chopped off, returns to his former teacher to defend him from a villainous gang of rival swordsmen.

In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.

Mu Myeong is a Joseon dynasty headhunter who meets and falls in love with lady Ja Yeong who will become the future Empress Myseongseong. A few years later, Ja Yeong enters the royal palace to marry King Gojong. Mu Myeong still having feelings for Ja Yeong and in an attempt to get closer to her becomes her personal body guard.

When a series of martial misunderstandings spirals into an international incident, a Chinese martial arts student struggling to relate to his new Japanese wife is forced to take on seven of Japan's most powerful martial arts masters, each an expert in a different discipline, ranging from karate to samurai to ninjitsu.

When Koryu's childhood friend Shurei is abducted by gangsters, the desperate young woman recruits a female martial artist and a tough-as-nails stranger to join her for a dangerous rescue mission.

After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers. While Otsu waits, Akemi also seeks him, expressing her desires directly. Meanwhile, Takezo is observed by Sasaki Kojiro, a brilliant young fighter, confident he can dethrone Takezo. After leaving Kyoto in triumph, Takezo declares his love for Otsu, but in a way that dishonors her and shames him. Once again, he leaves alone.

