Wow, what an absolute mess this is. Imagine an exploitative chanbara film from the '70s, with multiple complex plot threads, numerous warring clans, and countless opposing characters, but for some reason only given less than 50 minutes to attempt to be told. That's what watching Sword for Truth is like. It's like if Lone Wolf and Cub tried to get its point across in the runtime allowed for a pilot television episode, setting up all sorts of storylines, introducing characters, and then just ending, with nary a resolution or any sense to be made of the proceedings. Nothing here stands out, the animation isn't evena saving grace, looking cheap and occasionally badly animated with very few frames. I don't know why the hell this was even released, as whatever its goal was was an abject failure. It's no wonder director Osamu Dezaki had his name taken off of this.

Maybe there was a grand plan in place for multiple episodes that told a sweeping tale, but it's clearly obvious those involved in the making knew early on that this was all they were going to have to work with, seeing as how much stuff is jammed in and how rushed it all feels. Honestly, this is one of those cases where they should have shelved the damn thing and not even bothered releasing it. No one should bother wasting their time on this, as it's as hollow an experience as I've ever come across, and this is coming from a huge fan of anime from this era. I can often times even be apologetic at how lacking in resolution these '80s/'90s OVAs can sometimes be, but this is completely unremarkable in every aspect.