Tweekums Protagonist Yuki Kashima was born in 1874 and her whole life has been preparation to carry out revenge for her mother who died shortly after her birth. Four people had killed her husband and after killing one of them she was sent to prison. Here she seduced guards until she became pregnant; she hoped for a strong son to carry on her revenge but when she had a daughter she was just as keen that she should kill the other three. After twenty years of training Yuki is ready and starts looking for the three remaining targets. Along the way she meets many other people she will have to fight before getting to her targets… she will also inspire others to seek their revenge against her.Before watching this I was aware that it was a major inspiration behind 'Kill Bill' so had some idea what to expect… revenge and lots of blood! Revenge is indeed the main theme of this story and there is a fair amount of blood spilt but it is far from being non-stop action and gore. In fact the film spends quite a lot of time on character development and backstory. This character development shows us young Yuki's harsh training regime and spends time showing us how the daughter of her would-be victims cares for her father to emphasise that Yuki's own revenge will provide motivation for others' revenge. The action is pretty bloody with unnatural geysers of vivid blood spurting from many wounds, the snow white kimono that Yuki wears for much of the time was clearly selected to show all the blood that gets spilt on it. Often in this sort of film the protagonist doesn't seem in much real danger but here Yuki is frequently injured and as the end approaches in is far from clear that she will survive. Director Toshiya Fujita did a fine job making the film look stunningly beautiful much of the time. The cast were pretty good too; especially Meiko Kaji who make Yuki formidably while still having a degree of fragility. Overall I thought this was a fine film, somewhat better than I expected; I'd certainly recommend this to fans of films like Kill Bill or of course any of the other films that inspired that film.These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.

Oslo Jargo (Bartok Kinski) *** This review may contain spoilers *** *Plot and ending analyzed* I guess if you have the brain of a gerbil and chew sugar candy all day, this film should fit your bill just fine. Others might want a little more in the way of a coherent story. There are parts of Lady Snowblood that are atmospheric and colorful, but the idea is not handled with enough competency, or even concern.Lady Snowblood is some dull, waif of a woman, who has a feeble umbrella sword, whom she uses to chop in half corpulent bodies, hands, limbs and heads. Okay. The enemies are as imbecilic as the premise, even unable to fight such a woman. They just sit by and wait to be "chopped up". I must admit that the high reviews made me think these films would rate as high as Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman or Lone Wolf and Cub, but they are nowhere near as great.Still, they are worth a look for the time.

Woodyanders A young woman who lost her family to a band of heinous criminals gives birth to a daughter named Yuki (superbly played with fierce intensity by the lovely Meiko Kaji) while serving out a life sentence in prison. Yumi gets trained while still a little girl to become an expert assassin and sets out to fulfill her mother's vendetta against all those who wronged her upon reaching adulthood.Director Toshiya Fujita and writer Norio Osada bring a poetic and melancholy sensibility to the standard revenge premise which in turn gives this picture a surprisingly substantial amount of depth and poignancy, with Yuki's single-minded need and desire for vengeance coming at a heavy spiritual and emotional cost that leaves her unable to make any lasting relationships with others and dooms her to a lonely existence bereft of love and warmth. It's this latter element of heart-wrenching tragedy that elevates this film into so much more than just another mindless chopsocky actionfest. Moreover, there are fine supporting contributions from Toshio Kurosawa as pesky writer Ryurie, Noburo Nakaya as wretched drunk Banzo, Yoshiko Nakada as Banzo's loyal daughter Kobue, and Ko Nishimura as flinty mentor Dokai. In addition, the sword fights are quite exciting and adroitly choreographed, the villains are truly wicked and hateful, and blood squirts and spurts all over the place in splashy red geysers. Massaki Hirao's melodic score does the tuneful trick. Masaki Tamura's restless widescreen cinematography offers a wealth of striking visuals. Essential viewing.

Witchfinder General 666 "Shurayukihime" aka. "Lady Snowblood" of 1973 starring the incomparable Meiko Kaji is probably best known for being the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill". While I liked Tarantino's film a lot when it was playing in theaters, I do not think that "Lady Snowblood" needs this attribute, as this one ranks even way higher in my personal appreciation. Yet it is inevitable to compare the two films when one has seen both, simply because Tarantino copied so many aspects of this one. Tarantino's film has used many other inspirations from Japan (including the brilliant "Kozure Ôkami" aka. "Lone Wolf And Cub" films or Norifumi Suzuki's "Sex And Fury"), but it is "Lady Snowblood" with which the similarities are just too obvious to be overlooked. It would take too long to list all the similarities, but I can assure that there are many. Even the narrative structure was copied, and QT also used the theme song sung by Meiko Kaji for the score of his film (I see this as a tribute).The film's eponymous heroine is played by the wonderful Meiko Kaji, THE Nr 1. goddess of Japanese Exploitation cinema (even before fellow beauties Miki Sugimoto and Reiko Ike). Kaji is best known both for this film, and the brilliant "Joshuu Sasori" (aka Female Prisoner Scorpion) films (personal favorites of mine, which I like even more than this one) in which she played the vengeful prison escapee Nami Matsushima. She plays another vengeful young woman here, and she is a delightful angel of vengeance: In 1874, a young woman gives birth to a daughter in prison. Twenty years later, Yuki, the baby girl born in prison, has become a skilled swords-woman, born and raised for the sole purpose to take revenge for the fate of her parents: Shura Yuki Hime - Lady Snowblood... Meiko Kaji is once again wonderful, and it is unthinkable for any other actress to fit in the role even nearly as perfectly as she does. The score is brilliant, most memorably the wonderful theme song sung by actress/singer Kaji herself. The film is brilliantly photographed, the wonderful cinematography as well as the sceneries and choreography hold a beauty that is surpassed only by that of the ravishing heroine herself. The film is blood-soaked from the beginning to the end, the stylish sword-battles are always accompanied by gallons of blood - "Lady Snowblood" truly shows carnage in a rarely beautiful manner. There are many more aspects to praise about "Lady Snowblood", which I will not mention here. I have seen the film three times so far, and it gets better with each viewing. "Lady Snowblood" is a great, bloody, stylish and beautiful gem that comes with my highest recommendations, and that no lover of Exploitation or Japanese cinema could possibly afford to miss! 9/10