Lady Snowblood
Writer: Kazuo Koike
Artist: Kazuo Kamimura
Genre: Adult action thriller
Number of Volumes: 4
Available on MangaFox: No
What It’s About
Lady Snowblood is a woman born with a singular purpose, revenge. Revenge for the death of her father at the hands of greedy criminals. Revenge for the life of her mother, who birthed her in prison to continue her path of death. Sometimes this path is odd, sometimes sexy, often painful, and always violent. By means of a world’s worth of skills, Lady Snowblood will find her revenge. At the end of the road, one thing is certain–retribution arrives on the edge of an umbrella-handle blade.
Strengths
Here’s a manga that’s sure to polarize manga readers. Lady Snowblood is a seinen manga that ran from 1972 to 1973. Seinen manga is targeted at male readers, from teen to mid-fifties. To reach its intended demographic, Lady Snowblood was published in a weekly edition of Playboy.
Lady Snowblood follows the bloody trail of revenge that Syura Yuki leaves in her wake. Travelling across Japan in the late years of the 19th century, she takes on assassination jobs as she searches for the three that will complete her second generation vengeance.
Violence and sex are at the forefront of Lady Snowblood, as if you’d really expect anything else from a manga serialized in a dirty magazine. There’s no character development, no subtlety. There’s nudity, salaciously drawn sex scenes, the action is quick-paced, and some of the stories are highly cathartic in their finale. Yuki is named for the fresh, white snow that fell when she was born, but she leaves blood splattered over it now in a singular, determined, unwavering quest for revenge. Sometimes, that’s all you need in a story.
The art is striking too. Yuki is beautiful. She’s often naked, and her bodily portions are a little inconsistent, drawn for exhibition and not anatomy, but with her hair done up with hairpins and wrapped up in a white kimono, she’ll keep your eyes moving over the pages.
And even though Yuki does use her body as a weapon, it’s on her own terms. Like a magician using sleight of hand, Yuki throws off her kimono when it moves her clever plans forward or when it offers a distraction in a dangerous situation. Sex is a weapon and Yuki welds hers as confidently as she does her hidden blade.
Weaknesses
I can confidently say that you should never go back to re-read Lady Snowblood. If everything I’ve said up to this point intrigues you, then check the series out. If you enjoy it, leave it at that! Seriously, no matter how much you’ve convinced yourself that you like the series; subsequent readthroughs of it will leave a bad taste in your mouth.
It’s kind of surprising that a manga originally published in a weekly edition of Playboy would be so unappealing to go back to. Dirty magazines get held onto for years and years after all. But with it being published weekly in a Playboy, maybe that’s why there’s no lasting appeal. Maybe it’s supposed to be shallow, nude, blood soaked, single-time bit of excitement. It at least delivers in that regard.
Give it a Chance/Leave it Be
Lady Snowblood is definitely not for everyone. This is a violent, bloody tale of revenge filled with sex. It was published in Japan’s weekly Playboy. If that immediately makes you hesitant to check out this manga, than listen to that feeling because you more than likely won’t like Lady Snowblood. That’s not a generalization of anyone’s character, that’s a generalization of Lady Snowblood itself!
I read this series because a comic book shop employee sold it to me as a Quentin Tarantino movie meets classic manga. At face value, that’s a good description, but unlike a Tarantino movie that builds characters, has compelling dramatic moments, and even offers moments of levity, there is nothing in Lady Snowblood but ultra-violence, nudity, and sex. The four volumes can be an entertaining romp, but if the aforementioned elements don’t appeal to you, avoid Yuki’s blade.
