Sunday, May 1, 2011

Anime and Video Game Characters: Nanashi (Sword of the Stranger) Soaringhawk Version




So, it's been a while, and I haven't seen domodragon53 fix his Nanashi character analysis yet. His is pretty lacking, so I'll cover Nanashi with the information that he deserves.



First things first, Nanashi is not a native Japanese. He has red hair, and he dyes it black to avoid the criticism of Japanese society. Oh, you don't remember this part from domodragon53's post? It's okay, you'll get more of that. In his past (before Nanashi meets Kotarou) Nanashi fought in wars for the fat and greedy lord. Fighting alongside him was General Shogen, the same one that fought Rarou (I like Rarou better than Luolang). While fighting, there was one event that caused Nanashi to seal his sword and desert the lord.


Spoilers Ahead for a while so yep yep.

Throughout the movie, Nanashi has bad dreams and a scream/cry always wakes him up. Near the end of the movie, a flashback shows Nanashi standing over a mother and her child. Nanashi is hesitating to kill them, but all the soldiers and the lord behind him are yelling for him to. Unable to decide, Nanashi stalls. The mother calls him a coward. Nanashi, angry from the insult, kills her. The camera cuts away. The child begins crying. The sound of a cut is heard. Silence.

End Spoilers

And that is the reason why Nanashi seals his sword away. It's because he kills...(oh crap that's why I had it in spoilers). And at the end, Nanashi finally breaks the seal to save Kotarou. That, I believe, is his moment of awesomeness, not the final fight. The atmosphere of the music (courtesy of Naoki Sato) combined with the tension of Kotarou's eminent death creates a very powerful effect. It reminds me a lot of Serei no Moribito and Balsa's connection with Chagum actually.


Rating: Badass Ronin Foreigner

Edit: Part 2 Here

1 comment:

  1. Nope, it's not a mother and his child, they are the son and the daughter of the defeatead lord and must die because of it...

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