Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance

The first film had a solid story, good acting, and some nice stylistic flourishes. This film has a rambling story that doesn't carry any of the emotional weight of the first one. Kaji Meiko was spell binding in the original, but here she isn't given much to do. The sword fighting scenes are far less bloody than the original which is a good or bad thing depending on your taste. To me it's bad. The straight choreography of both films was lacking compared to Hong Kong films and some of the better Samurai films, but the exaggerated gruesomeness of the original's scenes gave it a kick. Here it seems as though they were trying to shoot the scenes as quickly as possible (lots of long takes). The second film didn't have the humor either. Just stick with the first one.

'Lady Snowblood: Love Song Of Vengeance (1974)' is, by all rights, a sequel that needn't exist. It links into its predecessor in a natural yet superficial way and is clearly just a response to positive audience feedback. Having said that, the movie manages to deliver both a solid stand-alone story and an inoffensive follow-up. It isn't as good as its predecessor but it isn't trying to do the same things, either. Instead of focusing on vengeance, the flick focuses on political intrigue. Indeed, its near espionage elements are far more engaging than you'd expect. The protagonist is hired by the secret police to assassinate an apparent anarchist; she soon comes to question her allegiances and might just prove a problem for those who initially sought to take advantage of her. The picture is slick, stylist and splattered with blood. Its action is exciting, its plot is intriguing and its characters are empathetic. It isn't all that predictable in the moment, either. It's an entertaining time throughout. 7/10

The stunning Meiko Kaji reprises her role as Shurayuki-hime (roughly translated "Princess Snow-Hell"), the beautiful agent of death. This time she is not out for personal vengeance, but is caught up in the political intrigue of the Meiji era of 19th century Japan. Caught between revolutionaries and secret policemen, Yuki makes sure the bad guys meet a particularly nasty end. It's great to see a samurai film featuring a female in the lead role. It was co-written by Kazuo Koike of "Lone Wolf and Cub" fame and features a role by Juzo Itami who later went on to direct "Tampopo" and "A Taxing Woman" among other films. Director Toshiya Fujita has a wonderful sense of color and this movie is a vibrant and violent classic.

Toshiya Fujita's "Shura-yuki-hime: Urami Renga" aka. "Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song Of Vengeance" of 1974 is a quite different, but more than decent sequel to Fujita's blood-soaked and beautiful 1973 gem "Shurayukihime" (aka. "Lady Snowblood"). While the film does not nearly reach the greatness of its superb predecessor, "Love Song Of Vengeance" is yet another original and highly entertaining film that no lover of Japanese Cinema in general, and Chambara and Japanese Exploitation in particular should consider missing. The film sadly cannot compete with its predecessor's unique style and beauty, but it is still stylish, and furthermore delivers a good story, and, most memorably, the wonderful Meiko Kaji, who comes back with greatness as the eponymous (anti-)heroine.

As it was the case with several other sequels to popular Japanese 70s exploitation flicks, the sequel adds some political/social commentary to the mainly vengeance-based plot of its predecessor. Obviously, the film is set several years after the events in the original "Lady Snowblood". Yuki/Lady Snowblood (Meiko Kaji) is captured, and sentenced to death for the thirty-seven killings committed by her in the predecessor. She is then offered to carry out an assassination in order to escape her execution... I don't want to give away more, but I can assure that the plot gets quite interesting for my fellow Chambara-fanatics. Japanese Exploitation-Goddess Meiko Kaji (one of my personal favorite actresses ever) is once again stunningly beautiful and brilliant in her role. My personal favorite Kaji role will always be that of female prison escapee Nami Matsushima in the brilliant "Joshuu Sasori" (aka. "Female Prisoner Scorpion") films, but the role of Lady Snowblood is also essential, and no lover of Cult-cinema could afford to miss her in the role (especially in the original, but also in the sequel). Meiko's presence alone would make any film worthwhile, in my opinion, and the film has a lot more to offer. The film's is, once again, filled with quite a bit of stylish bloodshed, which is not quite as aesthetic, but at some points even bloodier than in the predecessor. Unfortunately, the score in this one is not as memorable as that in the original (for which Meiko Kaji sang the theme song), and yet it is more than decent. Nowadays, the "Lady Snowblood" films are probably best known for being the main inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" films, but they sure deserve more attention for their own sake. The first film, "Lady Snowblood", is brilliant, and while "Love Song Of Vengeance" is not the masterpiece its predecessor was, it is still a highly entertaining, stylish and memorable film that I highly recommend to every lover of Chambara and Cult Cinema. My rating: 7.5/10

At the end of the first Lady Snowblood film, it sure didn't look like there could be a sequel. First, all the bad guys who needed killing were dead and her need for revenge was complete. Second, she sure looked like she was dead or soon would be. Yet here we have Ykui showing up yet again. This time, however, instead of just killing off a few evil vermin, she's apparently been quite busy--with something like 37 killings to her credit. However, when you see her fighting at the beginning of this film you wonder how she could have done this, as the choreography and her skills were not especially impressive. The illusion of her great power was better in the first film--here the sword play looks a bit rough at times--but it's still worth seeing.

This film finds her a wanted woman throughout Japan--and oddly the film is set about a decade or more ahead of the last film, though she looks exactly the same. Tired of fighting, she eventually allows herself to be arrested. She's soon convicted of murder and sent to execution. However, on the way, she's rescued by some unscrupulous officials who want her to do their bidding in exchange for her release. It seems they want her to bring them a certain important document and then kill the man who is hiding it. However, when she hears the intended victim's story, she realizes that the government officials are much like the scum she killed in the last film and she refuses to act. What's next? Will they kill the man, get the document or get Lady Snowblood to work for them or kill her? Tune in and see.

Like the first film, this one has a lot of blood--though not the squirting and spurting geyser-like variety this time (at least not until the very end). Unlike the first one, this one also has some nudity. However, whether either has nudity or not isn't that important in regard to whether or not you let the kids see them--the violence, to me, is much more of a deciding factor.

As for an older audience, the film is worth seeing--just don't expect it to be nearly as original or interesting as the first film. This one just isn't as good in every single way--though for fans of Japanese films, it's still worth seeing. Very adequate.

By the way, in one scene, Yuki throws a knife up into the ceiling--impaling a man's hand in the process. Yet, despite this, moments later you see a close up of the bloody hand and there clearly is no hole or wound of any kind. Now I am NOT suggesting they should have mutilated the guy in order to provide better continuity---just not shown a close up of the hand itself.