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360+ Theaters to Run Sword of the Stranger in February

The anime distributor Bandai Entertainment will be screening the Sword of the Stranger samurai film in more than 360 American theaters on February 5 through the digital cinema company NCM Fathom. NCM Fathom has posted a complete list of participating theaters on its website. The screenings will include a behind-the-scenes featurette on the acclaimed anime studio Bones and an exclusive interviews with the English voice actors. Tickets will go on sale beginning January 2.

Sword of the Stranger is the newest film from the BONES studio of Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, and Fullmetal Alchemist fame. The film centers on a nameless samurai ("Nanashi") and the boy he vows to protect from forces both foreign and domestic. Stranger director Masahiro Andō (no relation to the Sailor Moon episode director with the same name) supervised the animation on Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, and he also storyboarded Fullmetal Alchemist television episodes and the film. Before writing the screenplay for Stranger, Fumihiko Takayama directed Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket and Patlabor WXIII. Naoki Satō wrote the music in the Eureka Seven and X television series, and he recently won a Japanese Academy Award for his Always: Sunset on Third Street film soundtrack. The English dub cast includes Aidan Drummond, Michael Adamthwaite, Scott McNeil, Brian Dobson, and Ken Kramer.

Bandai Entertainment already gave the film limited runs in Los Angeles and New York City in July. The Los Angeles run qualified the film for a possible Oscar nomination.

Image © BONES/Stranger Production Committee