Despite what my reviews may lead you to believe at times, I liking having fun while watching anime. It is, in fact, the primary reason why I watch anime. Beyond all the intricacies of craft I could discuss, all the subtleties of storytelling I could dig into, the reason I love this medium so much is how much I enjoy simply watching it. Creating fun is just as important a skill for writers to learn as crafting characters and worlds, writing dialogue, structuring plots, and so on. It takes work to make a story genuinely fun. It takes effort to bring an audience to the edge of their seat, laughing and cheering and gasping at the events unfolding before them. Fun is important. Fun matters. So while Sword of the Stranger isn’t the deepest or most complex movie I’ve ever seen, it accomplishes something far more important: it let me have so much goddamn fun watching it. And that’s more than enough for me to consider it a triumphant success.

The story is your standard Japanese feudal-era samurai flick; there’s a hotheaded kid and a badass loner samurai, and they have to team up to go from one place to the next, pursued by evil samurai all the way. There are more specific details, but that’s really the long and short of it. Kotaro is being pursued by a corrupt lord and his samurai warriors for an unknown reason, and a chance encounter brings him into contact with an unnamed samurai mercenary who fights without drawing his sword thanks to past atrocities he was forced to commit. They don’t get along, but the kid hires him to be his bodyguard and escort him to a far-off temple where he believes he’ll find sanctuary. Naturally, the journey takes them across the rural landscape of feudal Japan, where they do battle with bandits, enemy samurai, and an elite group of Chinese mercenaries with their own reasons for pursuing the kid. There’s also a background political subplot detailing the skullduggery between the Chinese and Japanese forces to explain why they’re chasing Kotaro, with some light mysticism thrown in for good measure regarding a search for an immortality-granting drug. It’s probably a little too convoluted for its own good, but it doesn’t matter that much to begin with, so no great loss. As long as it allows the story to throw in more action setpieces between a wide variety of fighting styles, that’s all it needs to do.

Because great googly moogly, the action in this film is fucking incredible. It’s a smorgasboard of the best hand-to-hand swordfights ever put to animation, courtesy of the always-excellent Studio Bones pooling all their talent into every last clash of steel. The choreography, the use of locations during fights, the speed and brutality- these battles are as bloody and vicious as real swordfights- the fantastic cinematography and editing, and spectacular animation across the board make every last fight, however brief, an absolute treat to behold. And with all the different fighting styles on display- swordsmanship, spear-fighting, double-wielding, master archers, chain weapons, bombs and throwing knives- every fight allows for a unique match-up of combatants that keeps things fresh and exciting to the very end. And for the climax, Sword of the Stranger pulls out all the stops and throws every single character together into a massive siege that constantly tops itself with cool moment after cool moment, spilling buckets of blood in endlessly entertaining ways, all coming to a head for a single duel between two master swordsman that has rightly gone down in anime history as one of this medium’s finest fight scenes. It. Is. Fucking. AWESOME.

But that’s not to say the story is bad either. In fact, I think what makes Sword of the Stranger work so well is that between all the spectacular action, it’s just a damn good version of the classic Lone Wolf and Cub-type store. Kotaro and the nameless samurai have great chemistry together, and watching them learn to trust each other is really charming. We don’t get too much information about the dark pasts they’ve both endured, but we get enough to understand the pain they’re going through, and how this bond is helping both of them process their trauma. It’s a really touching portrayal of found family, especially when you throw in the adorable, badass dog Tobimaru who tags along with them and tears the throats out of any bandit unlucky enough to cross his path. He is truly Best Boy, and I’ll fight anyone who disagrees. On a base level, you just enjoy being with these characters. You’re invested in their struggle, you want to see them succeed, and that investment effortlessly carries you through their journey before paying off in a beautiful climactic moment that solidifies the strength of their bond. Even the side characters, underdeveloped though they are, all make strong impressions thanks to great designs, strong performances, and a handful of cool moments apiece that stick in your mind and make sure you remember their faces, even if you can’t remember their names. And outside the fight scenes, Bones’ excellent production values- strong character acting, gorgeous background art, a great sense of space and dimension- ensure that this movie is always fun to at least look at.

This may be a rather simple review, but don’t take that simplicity as an insult against Sword of the Stranger. It’s a very simple film, after all, and that’s to its benefit. It’s exactly what it says on the tin, a charming samurai adventure with great animation, incredible fights scenes, an emotionally resonant core, and a constant sense of fun that makes it an absolute delight to watch. If you can stomach the goriness of the fight scenes- because make no mistake, the violence in this movie is gnarly- then Sword of the Stranger is a must-watch for anyone looking for a good time.