Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Lady Snowblood / Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 22, 2012

Japanese director Toshiya Fujita's "Shurayukihime" a.k.a. "Lady Snowblood" (1973) and "Shura-yuki-hime: Urami Renga" a.k.a. "Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance" (1974) arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Video. The supplemental features on this release include original Japanese theatrical trailers for the two films and a video interview with writer and film curator Jasper Sharp. The release also arrives with a collector’s booklet by critic and author Tom Mes, illustrated with original stills, as well as reversible sleeve featuring original artwork. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the two films. Region-B "locked".

Meiko Kaji

Lady Snowblood

The film opens up with a short but very entertaining sequence in which a beautiful woman, Yuki Kashima (the legendary Meiko Kaji), confronts a group of men. Before she kills the last one, Genzo Shibayama (Hosei Komatsu), a wealthy and supposedly very cruel land owner, the woman announces that she is Lady Snowblood.

A series of flashbacks then reveal everything there is to know about Lady Snowblood. In one of them we see that she was born in a prison cell surrounded by female convicts. In another we are told that her family was wiped out by a group of thugs. Her mother was spared but was repeatedly raped. In Tokyo, she killed one of the thugs, Tokuichi Shokei (Takeo Chii), but before she could get to the remaining three, she was arrested and thrown in jail. Now Lady Snowblood is on a mission to finish what her mother started years ago - find Gishiro Tsukamoto (Eiji Okada), Banzo Temura (Noboru Nakaya) and Okono Kitahama (Sanae Nakahara), and make them pay for her late mother’s misery.

Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance

The second film begins with a short prologue in which we are informed that the Russo-Japanese War has ended. More than 370,000 Japanese soldiers have died, but the victory has ensured that “capitalism would be the driving force of the Japanese Empire”. Then we are told that Lady Snowblood is still looking for revenge.

After an impressive beach fight with a group of soldiers, Lady Snowblood is finally arrested. Shortly after that, Judge Tanno of the Supreme Court announces that she is going to be executed for the crimes she has committed during the years. However, while she is transferred to a nearby prison, a few secret police agents 'rescue' her. A top government official (Shin Kishida) then offers Lady Snowblood a deal: If she helps him recover an important document from Ransui Tokunaga (Juzo Itami), a very dangerous "advocate of anarchism", she will have her freedom back. Lady Snowblood accepts the deal and immediately gets a job in Tokunaga’s home as a maid, but soon after that changes her mind. The government official goes berserk and orders the secret police to eliminate Lady Snowblood.

The exploitation overtones in the two films are quite obvious, but only the second is graphic enough to impress fans of the genre. This isn’t to imply that Lady Snowblood disappoints but it is clearly the better balanced and more sensible film.

The second film overflows with political remarks which suggest that it may have been intended to deliver a political message of some sort. Whatever this message might have been, however, it is clearly lost amidst the frequent violent fights, as the political jabs rarely seem coherent enough to make an impression. In other words, there is definitely more style than substance here.

The main attraction in the two films is obviously the beautiful Meiko Kaji. Already a star in Japan (after the success of the Female Prisoner and Wandering Ginza Butterfly films), the actress gets the lion’s share of attention in virtually every single sequence. In the second film, however, she is given only a few opportunities to truly impress (her lines are also far simpler).

Ultimately, Lady Snowblood and Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance should appeal to longtime fans of Meiko Kaji who have already seen most of her films on DVD and liked them, as well as newcomers curious about early Japanese exploitation films who understand well that style is everything in them. As long as expectations are realistic, these films can be a lot of fun to watch.

Lady Snowblood / Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in a aspect ratio of 2.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted 1080p transfers, Lady Snowblood and Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance arrive on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Films.

The two high-definition transfers used for these films have characteristics that are very similar to those of other older Toho films that have already transitioned to Blu-ray. Generally speaking, the two films look quite good, but there are some fluctuations, especially in terms of contrast stability and color reproduction. Obviously, some of these fluctuations can be traced back to the principal photography, but it is also clear that the high-definition transfers have not originated from brand new scans. Regardless, projected these films look quite good. Excluding some light noise, they boast very decent depth, and during the daylight sequences also pleasing clarity. The best news, however, is that there are absolutely no traces of post-production sharpening. Naturally, even though from time to time it is easy to tell that the high-definition transfers were struck from dated masters, the films have the basic organic qualities we want older films to have when they transition to Blu-ray. Finally, there are no large cuts, damage marks, debris, or cuts to report in this review. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Lady Snowblood / Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Each film comes with a standard Japanese LPCM 2.0 track. For the record, Arrow Video have provided optional English subtitles. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

The lossless audio track on Lady Snowblood is outstanding. Its dynamic range is one of the very best I have heard on an older Japanese film. During the fights, the various punches and hits, as well as the gushing blood, will likely surprise quite a few viewers as they come with all sorts of different sound enhancements. As it is the case with most Meiko Kaji films, there is a great soundtrack as well, which gets a tremendous boost from the lossless treatment.

The lossless audio track on Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance does not disappoint either. There are a few extra gunshots here that sound great. Kenjiro Hirose's music score also benefits a great deal. The English translation on the film films is excellent.

Lady Snowblood / Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Slicing Through The Snow - writer and film curator Jasper Sharp discusses the unique qualities of Lady Snowblood and Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance. In English, not subtitled. (12 min, 1080p)

• Trailer - original trailer for Lady Snowblood. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (3 min, 1080p).

• Trailer - original trailer for Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (3 min, 1080p).

• Collector's booklet 'The Crimson Kimono' by critic and author Tom Mes, illustrated with original stills.

• Reversible sleeve featuring original artwork.

Lady Snowblood / Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you have not yet seen any of Meiko Kaji's films, which by the way are some of Quentin Tarantino's favorite films, you should do so soon. They are just perfect for late night viewing. I quite like the Ginza Butterfly films, but currently they are only available on DVD. Thanks to Arrow Video, now we have Lady Snowblood and Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance on Blu-ray, which together with the Female Prisoner films are arguably amongst Meiko Kaji's best films. We are finally entering an area of Asian Cinema where things really get wild and crazy. Hopefully, Arrow Video, or another distributor, would go even a step further. RECOMMENDED.