If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Based on the manga comic by Kazuo Koike, 1973's Lady Snowblood is a simplistic rape-revenge thriller, pitting one woman with a mastery of swordsmanship against a hoard of faceless and disposable foes standing in her way. Opening with snow falling on darkness, Toshiya Fujita's film is also incredibly beautiful, offering a variety of strikingly colourful images, more often than not spattered with blood red. Stills from the movie could be framed and hung on your wall, but the main joy to be had is with its narrative simplicity and thrilling swordplay. The sight of Meiko Kaji slicing down one baddie after the next combined with her thirst for revenge propelled Lady Snowblood to exploitation royalty.The sequel came the very next year, and like most successes in which the hero achieves their goal and nicely wraps up the story, the only option going forward is to broaden the scope and give the protagonist a new mission. This approach is rarely successful, and Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance struggles to recapture the magic of its predecessor. With Snowblood a wanted woman, she is mercilessly pursued by the police until she eventually throws down her sword to prevent further bloodshed. Sentence to death, she is saved from the noose by Seishiro Kikui (Shin Kishida), the head of the Secret Police, and given the task of infiltrating anarchist Ransui (Juzo Itami) to locate a document that will convince the people to rise up against the government. When her allegiances change, the deadly assassin finds herself on the run again, and soon out for further revenge.The fight choreography is once again startling, with buckets of blood spurting from the unlikeliest of places. If anything, it improves on the first and certainly delivers more of it, with an early beach massacre and a climactic battle on a row of steps being the standout set-pieces. It moves at a fast pace, and offers historical context in snippets of black-and-white news footage (although some, if not all, were made for the film) and narration. Yet this also means that we're hit with a rather convoluted plot involving many characters, each with their own personal turmoil and ambitions. This takes away the sense of personal fury of the first film, with Kaji given few lines and little to do other than fight when called upon. She does shine when given the chance however, and hardcore fans of the genre will no doubt lap the balletic carnage.

Shurayuki-hime is a word-play on Shirayuki-hime (the Japanese name for Snow White) and comes straight from the manga the first film was based on. I don't have anything to add to that. It's just a fun bit of trivia. Anyway, Meiko Kaji returns to her signature role of Lady Snowblood for this sequel (even though the first movie implies she doesn't survive its events), but her character is unfortunately pushed to the side as there are various other characters and sub-plots taking up the runtime. Also, the trademark umbrella sword doesn't appear in the sequel. Lady Snowblood doesn't act fueled by vengeance in this movie, despite its title, but instead gets tangled in a web of Meiji era politics, anarchism, police brutality, and the main villain politician's strange HQ with bright red walls, an aquarium with koi fish, and a stuffed tiger which demonically flashes its eyes in one scene.Unfortunately, the sequel doesn't have Lady Snowblood's awesome title tune from the first movie, but it does offer some neat instrumental music. The tone of the film is much darker and there are fewer violent scenes, but they are more graphic and some of them are just plain unsettling, like the scenes of torture of political prisoners. The story isn't divided into chapters this time around, but the recognizable narration is still there, not to mention the stock footage combined with scenes from the manga. Juzo Itami, director of Tampopo and A Taxing Woman appears as anarchist Ransui Tokunaga.The cinematography is once again, fantastic, and Toshiya Fujita proves himself as a director who knows how to work with colors and framing. The opening sequence taking place on the beach is especially well done.Lady Snowblood 2 isn't as good as the original; mostly because the plot is messier and Meiko Kaji's role isn't as significant and somewhat downplayed. The sequel is also more serious in tone and has more nudity. It's a moderately entertaining movie (outside of the gory scenes) and it's technically well done, if you can overlook stuff like Lady Snowblood being wounded by two gunshots at the end and looking like it isn't even a big deal.

The general consensus here on IMDb seems to be that Love Song of Vengeance isn't quite as good as its predecessor, Blizzard from the Netherworld. Not one to toe the line, I would say that it is easily as entertaining—a little more complex and bit less bloody perhaps, but still a very worthy addition to the 70s Japanese exploitation genre.Having somehow survived being shot and stabbed in the first film, Yuki (Meiko Kaji) is trapped by the police and found guilty of killing 37 people. On the way to the gallows, she is rescued by the Japanese secret police, who want her to go undercover as a maid to spy on anarchist Ransui Tokunaga (Jûzô Itami) who is in possession of a letter that could be used to incite riots and topple the government.But when Yuki learns that the letter contains evidence of a conspiracy to frame innocent anarchists for an act of unrelated terrorism, she decides that the corrupt officials involved need to be taught a lesson.It's easy to understand how this more serious, politically themed plot might not sit well with those who enjoyed the simplistic revenge tale of the original, but I found the story engrossing. As far as the violence is concerned, there may not be quite the volume of bloodletting as first time around, but when it happens, it is suitably nasty, with brutal scenes of torture, graphic eye trauma, and an over-the-top finalé which involves hacked-off limbs and arterial spray.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Version: Eastern Eye's R4 DVD release. Japanese / English subtitles.I thought the ending of 'Lady Snowblood' was rather definite. It didn't exactly set itself up for a sequel, but, here we are. Sequel time - 'Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance'. I must admit, it is a cool title.After avenging her mother in 'Lady Snowblood', Yuki (Meiko Kaji) is arrested by the new Japanese police. Sentenced to death, Yuki is granted a reprieve by Kikui (Shin Kishida), an agent of the secret police. Kikui will let Yuki live if she spies on Ransui Tokunaga (Juzo Itami), an active socialist. Yuki accepts Kikui's offer, but making that offer may not have been the smartest thing Kikui ever did...The first thing you may notice about 'Lady Snowblood 2' is that there is a lack of vengeance. It seems to have been substituted for politics. Naturally, there is some vengeance, and the requisite amount of Yuki killing people, but 'Lady Snowblood 2' seems to grounded in the political and social climate of Japan in the early 1900s. I've studied a bit of Japanese history from this period at university, so the tie-in managed to maintain my interest. However, characters make references to the Hibiya Riots and the Russo-Japanese war, events that happened in 1905. This is supposedly set right after 'Lady Snowblood', which I believe was set in the 23rd Year of Meiji. By my reckoning, that would make 'Lady Snowblood' set around 1891. I think I've missed something, or gotten the Meiji years wrong. If someone doesn't correct me, I'm going to assume time-travel was involved. Time-travel? Cool!Meiko Kaji turns into something of an acting robot in this outing. Yuki seems devoid of any emotion, and while that was a theme in the first, it was established that she was capable of human feeling. However, she still makes a good assassin. Although we have more politics and less action, the action we do get is still pretty good, if dated.'Lady Snowblood 2' stands in the shadow of its prequel. The first movie outshines this movie in every way, but the second is still entertaining. Worth a look for fans of the first - 7/10