Lady Snowblood - Love Song of Vengeance (Shura-yuki-hime: Urami Renga) poster & wallpaper

Meiko Kaji, Yoshio Harada, Kazuko Toshiyuki

In Love Song of Vengeance, Shurayuki-hime--a.k.a. Lady Snowblood, "Yuki" for short (played by Meiko Kaji)--continues her advertures in the female samurai saga that inspired Quentin Tarantino's ...( read more  read more... )Kill Bill. In Lady Snowblood, Yuki avenged her family by slaying the four criminals that killed her father, raped her mother, and predestined her to the life of a justice-seeking assassin. Love Song of Vengeance picks up where Lady Snowblood let off, not so much as a sequel like Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy, but a continuation of the lone assassin's adventures (similar to Zaitochi). Sentenced to death for her crimes of murder, Yuki is given pardon by Kikui, a secret government police agent. In return for her freedom, Kikui wants Yuki to assassinate anarchist Ransui and obtain a secret document he is hiding. While carrying out her orders, Yuki discovers the document in question is actually a letter incriminating agent Kikui. Always one to be on the side of justice, Lady Snowblood switches sides, joining anarchist Rasui to face off, expose, and destroy the crooked agent. The blood may not flow like geysers and there may be a lot less samurai action than in the first installment. However, Love Song of Vengeance is well-paced, nicely shot, and a well thought-out continuation of the heroine's adventures. Sadly, they ended with this installment. --Rob Bracco

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56% liked it

8,171 ratings

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Toshiya Fujita

Release Date: January 1, 1974

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DVD Release Date: May 11, 2004

Stats: 124 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (124)

  • Beefy
    November 22, 2009
    Beefy
    More plot-heavy but somehow less compelling than its predecessor, Love Song of Vengeance utilizes a short running time to help deflect criticism. Fans of the original shouldn't be disappointed.
  • garyX
    May 18, 2009
    garyX
    Lady Snowblood is arrested and sentenced to death, but broken out of jail by a corrupt secret policeman who wishes to employ her talents to recover an incriminating document. Why this film is called "Love Song Of Vengeance" I have absolutely no idea because the plot is basically ...( read more)a half-hearted slice of political intrigue which in no way can replace the original concept of a lifelong blood vendetta against rapists and murderers. The idea is all a little vague and unconvincing, and the supporting characters are allotted far too much screen time, taking focus away from Meiko Kaji herself who is obviously by far the most interesting character. It still looks nice, but it lacks the action and inspiration of the original film (although Quentin still found enough "inspiration" to steal the idea of blinding an eye-patch wearing foe!) Not a bad sequel, but it feels rather diluted compared to the first installment.
  • stopitgoaway
    October 8, 2008
    stopitgoaway
    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 ...( read more)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
  • patrickdol
    September 20, 2008
    patrickdol
    There's no doubt that this film is decent as all hell, but it wasn't exactly what one would hope for in a follow-up to the first.
    The initial premise for the film being "So you've spent your entire life building up to the moment where you kill the ultimate person who wronged you...( read more), and succeed...now what?" is a story that is extremely interesting and not one tackled often, or maybe ever.
    Unfortunetly when she does find something to do and the plot twists away, she almost becomes secondary to the 3 main male characters, almost as if she it just there to guide the viewer through. But she comes into full force at the end.
    What's also interesting is that they place a historical context on the film, which leads to a political story, which ends up being more drama and thriller than action.
    It's not that the film itself could have been better, it's just that they maybe shouldn't have made it a Lady Snowblood film, being at one would hope for an all-out slice fest for a sequel and not a agreeably well made historical drama, which flares of action, and some visual reminders, in theme and style, of the last film.
  • kpac
    August 21, 2009
    kpac
    A decent sequal thats good, but nothing compaired to the first movie. Partly, this is due to the revenge being over on the first one and they decided to make a sequal for the hell of it. This is like Oceans Twelve coming after Oceans Eleven. In both sequals, the main characters a...( read more)re running away from what they did in the first movie and are trying not to get caught. However, Lady Snowblood 2 is still a fun movie, Oceans Twelve isn't. This sequal did lack a lot of the fun and story telling that the first one had, and also like I said earlier, the revenge is over, so it was guaranteed that this was going to be worse. Still defently worth a good watch, just don't expect it to be nearly as good as Lady Snowblood.
  • DoctorXQuinzel
    August 15, 2009
    DoctorXQuinzel
    Really Damn cool. Tarantino basically stole everything from this film put Uma Thurman in it and called it Kill Bill.
  • Schlockguy
    June 17, 2009
    Schlockguy
    One of the best revenge flix ever
  • Brianshutter660
    May 24, 2009
    Brianshutter660
    Lady snow blood is the chick version of shogun assassian and nothing is wrong with that
  • Soundsofmadness
    January 9, 2009
    Soundsofmadness
    No thankyou - Not interested.
  • eskaton666
    November 28, 2008
    eskaton666
    Excellent sequel to the first Lady Snowblood: both films are quite obviously templates for Tarantino's Kill Bill. Nonetheless, if you can clear your mind of the Tarantino rehash, this is (as well its predecessor) a great martial arts film that should be seen by fans of the genre...( read more). Highly recommended.

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