In the sequel Snowblood seeks vengeance against the Heads of Secret Police unfairly killing anarchists. She meets a doctor while on the run from police but her injury gets her captured anyways. The Secret Police stage a prison break in exchange for her investigating Ransui (anarchist) and obtaining a secret document. Ransui recruits Snowblood on the team once she learns the Secret Police are using a bomb scandal to unjustly round up all anarchist and put them to death. The Police capture Ransui and torture him on Snowblood's whereabouts; Ransui sent her to deliver the documents to his brother, the doctor who saved her earlier.Ransui gets dumped in the slums where his brother lives, infected with a deadly plague. His wife attempts to get retribution but it costs her her life. Little Bro sends Snowblood to ransom the Secret Police for money and rice. The Police instead trap Snowblood into a bedroom as they ride and set the slums on fire.Little Bro, now infected with the plague and entire village burnt down, has nothing to lose and he and Snowblood ride out on the Heads of the Secret Police.

Well-made, but unpleasant sequel to one of the greatest cult Japanese films of the 70's, "Lady Snowblood II: Love Song of Vengeance." This installment focuses less on classic blood spray sword fight scenes and more on the corrupt politics of the time. Fascinating history lesson, but of course the more serious subject matter does mean less fun. The film itself looks beautiful, with extravagant sets and costumes, and an excellent music score, and Meiko Kaji gets to show a more human side of her persona here. One thing that must be mentioned is that the violence factor in this sequel is more extreme; although there is less of the theatrical arterial blood sprays here, we get instead some thoroughly unpleasant and grisly scenes of human torture, including stabbings, burnings, eye gougings, savage beatings, as well as one man being injected with plague, which causes his skin to break out in nasty sores. A few scenes are kind of sickening, and i wasn't really expecting such serious subject matter. The film does tend to drag a bit in the middle segment, but comes back strong for the final third, when Yuki gets her revenge on the corrupt officials who have looted and burned an entire village for their own financial gain. Peopled with some truly slimy villains, and a heroic finale, this is a worthy sequel to a classic.

Despite all the politics, this is still a truly great story of vengeance. Those who have only seen Kill Bill and Uma Thurman owe it to themselves to see what great film-making inspired that movie. It's incredible to see an actress more than 30 years ago portray such a powerful female character who easily says more with her eyes or just a look than any modern actress can or could ever do. Anyone who thinks Japanese women are subservient or walk ten paces behind the man need only watch this actress show just how strong a female can be in Japan and is so obviously responsible for so many of the powerful female roles we take for granted in today's films. While the first film is probably the best, they all deserve to be seen and appreciated.

As a die hard fan of the original from the first time I saw it, it was only natural for me to hunt down this follow up. While the original had a more simplistic, vengeance orientated plot, this sequel unfortunately bites off a bit more than it can chew as it weaves Yuki in with the politics of early 20 Century Japan and the events of the Russo-Japanese war. Overall it feels like the film is just cashing in on the popularity of Kaji Meiko generated by the first film.That said, it still manages to entertain from the very start, with a wonderful sequence of Yuki hacking her way through a load of bad guys. Meiko lost none of her charisma from the original, which is really essential here as the film itself starts to trip of it's own plot after a while. The fact that politics is the theme here rather than vengeance doesn't give her quite as much to work with, but her ability to convey almost all of her emotions through her eyes is still a joy to watch.Ultimately it is worth watching if you liked the original and find Kaji Meiko's presence to be enough to hold your attention. If you value a gripping plot over tremendous acting you'd be better of skipping this. The fact that the first film had both these elements and the sequel only has one makes it an inferior but still highly entertaining follow up.