Lady Snowblood 1 & 2 Review

Lady Snowblood & Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance

Director: Toshiya Fajita
Stars: Meiko Kaji, Toshio Kurasawa, Noboru Nakaya, Sanae Nakahara, Eiji Okada, Hitoshi Takagi,Ko Nishimura, Yoshiko Nakada, Shin Kishida, Juzo Itami, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Yoshio Harada & Toru Abe.
Running Time: 97&89 mins
Release: 1973&1974

In Lady Snowblood a young family are attacked by a group of criminals and they murder the father and son raping the mother though leaving her alive. She winds up in prison and purposefully attempts to get herself pregnant to create an instrument for revenge. She gives birth to Yuki and dies shortly afterwards. The child is raised as an assassin to get revenge for her family that she never knew. 20 years after her birth Yuki (Meiko Kaji) is on the hunt..

In Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance Yuki is on the run from the authorities for murdering 33 people in the original film, she is soon captured by the Secret Police and is told she must spy on a revolutionary. She then sides with the revolution after they uncover the government's insidious plan.

The second film is not as good as the first though I greatly enjoyed and the political story was brilliant.

Meiko Kaji is the lead in both films and she's brilliant in both of them and is the main attraction of the films. After watching both films I learned that she is a very famous actress in her homeland and for good reason she's terrific. Her character is like a superhero. Though Lady Snowblood is based on a manga series. On the surface Yuki appears to be a stunning, kind hearted, sweet caring young woman who is also a vengeful cold blooded assassin who was put on this earth solely to kill those who killed her family.

She's a quick thinker, methodical and very fast and deadly which makes the action scenes brilliant in the films. Her character does not express much emotion in the first but in the second she does and I put this down to fact that she's already got her revenge at that point so she can move forward and think for herself and make choices. Which I really liked as it's not a personal story.

No matter what you follow her story and feel for her and what she goes through. She is a very expressive actress especially with her eyes she could of not said a single word in these films and I could of understood her !.

It's a great role reversal film with the samurai being a woman long before the Kill Bill films which were inspired by the Snowblood films.

She is also an outcast which is more prominently shown in the first than the second film. I'm not saying anymore as I don't want to spoil the character. What I will say is Meiko is a very beautiful and brilliant actress. I'll definitely look for more of her work and I hope that Arrow Films release more of them.

Lady Snowblood Cast:

Toshio Kurasawa plays Ryurei Ashio a newspaper writer who aids Yuki on her mission to find the criminals who killed her family. He's a tough and resourceful man who goes through a lot in this film to help her. He plays the part brilliantly. It's a shame he was not in the film much.

Noboru Nakaya plays Takemura Banzo a washed up drunkard of a man and a gambling cheat and one of the men that killed Yuki's father and brother and raped her mother. Despite this I oddly felt some sympathy toward him as he looked to be a shell of a man whom he once was. I don't really know why perhaps it was performance that made me. He's fantastic in the role especially in his final moments.

Sanae Nakahara plays the evil Kitahama Okono who is the most despicable of the criminals (in my opinion) she does not have to say a word as she looks evil I think it's her face that conveys it so well. In the beginning it looks like she's the leader of them. She makes a formidable enemy for Yuki.

Eiji Okada plays the elusive Tsukamoto Gishiro who's the real villain of the piece. He's one charismatic and smarmy slick devil. Unlike the others he's rather successful in his enterprises which were an integral part of Japanese history. His scenes are awesome and his performance equals Meiko's.

Hitoshi Takagi plays Matsuemon a dishevelled clan leader who helps Yuki seek her targets. I find his character to be quite comedic and I think that's down to his appearance. His more prominent in the first half of the film than the second. He's a real leader and it shows in his introduction.

Ko Nishimura plays Priest Dokai Yuki's harsh mentor. He trained Yuki to be the assassin that she is and he was rather cruel to her to make her tough though was more warm to her as she got older. Much like a father. He's brilliant in the small role.

Yoshiko Nakada plays Kobue. Banzo's beautiful daughter. Kobue is a prostitute to help pay her father's debt. She's a rather tragic character when I come to think of it especially in her last scene. She plays the part extremely well in her few scenes.

Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance Cast

Shin Kishida plays Seishiro Kikui who's one of the senior head of the secret police. He's despicable and inhuman and a real nasty piece of work. He initially sends Yuki on her mission to spy on the anarchist rebels before she changes her alliance. He has some great scenes in this.

Juzo Itami plays Ransui Tokunaga the rebel that Yuki spy's on by pretending to be a maid. He's fantastic in the role and you really do feel for him and his cause. His torture scenes are real nasty.

Kazuko Yoshiyuki plays Aya Tokunaga. Ransui's wife who's concerned for her husband. She means well but is a bit of a fool and is great in her few scenes and conveys the emotions that she expresses very well.

Yoshio Harada plays Shusuke Tokunaga Ransui's Brother who does not believe in the same cause as his brother. He would use the information to bribe the government to get what he and the other people in the slum wants which makes him a Robin Hood sort of character. It's funny that the subtitle is Love Song of Vengeance yet there's no real love interest in this film though subtlety it hints at Yuki's attraction to him.

Toru Abe plays Terauchi Kendo another head of the secret police who still has some humanity in him well a little which we see towards the end of the film.

Masaaki Hirao does the beautiful score for the first film and Kenjiro Hirose scored the second film. Right off the bat I have to say the score for the first film is much better than the second and more original. I love the infusion of 70's funk incorporated into the score. I should add Meiko Kaji is also a singer so she sung the main theme to both films and she sings very beautifully.

All in all these films are very thematic with some great themes running throughout like the gradual westernisation of Japan during the period. There's also the theme of being the outcast with Yuki especially in the Ballroom scene at the end of Lady Snowblood. The political story in the second film works very well and it surprised me it was very edgy.

In some parts the films feel like Spaghetti westerns and not just in the way Yuki can hack down enemies very quickly and is sort of an anti-hero but because of the pacing of the films they are quite slow building up to a bloody climax.

Toshiya Fujita directed both films and he's done an outstanding job on both. The cinematography is beautiful to say the least especially in the action scenes. I should add that the final fight scene in Snowblood echoes that of Enter The Dragon which coincidentally came out in the same year. I love how it was filmed mostly on sets it was quite surprising and the landscape is gorgeous. I love how the snow is done in both films it looks beautiful. Fujita sure knows how to direct.

There's not many extras on the Arrow release though I found the booklet very informative and the interview with Jasper Sharp very insightful and has made me look at Japanese cinema in a new light. The visual and audio presentation on these films are fantastic and Arrow have done a marvellous job. If want to say a great kick-ass action role reversal film with a great heroine and a brilliant story to boot you can't miss this. Also if you love samurai films I highly recommend this too.