Lady Snowblood 1974

In the bitter cold of 1874, Sayo finds herself enduring the harsh realities of a women’s prison as she brings her daughter, Yuki, into a world stained by both snow and sorrow. Sharing her harrowing story of distress with her fellow inmates, Sayo reveals the horrific fate that befell her husband and son, brutally slain by four merciless criminals a year earlier. Despite managing to take revenge on one of her captors, Shokei Tokuichi, her life takes a dire turn as she is arrested and condemned to life imprisonment. Driven by a desperate longing to conceive Yuki, Sayo resorts to seducing various prison guards, sacrificing her dignity in her relentless pursuit of motherhood. With her last breath, she encourages her daughter to seek vengeance against those who obliterated their lives.

Fast forward to Meiji 15 (1882), Yuki’s life radically transforms as she undergoes a formidable apprenticeship under the stern gaze of Priest Dōkai, mastering the deadly art of swordsmanship with unyielding proficiency. This rigorous training shapes her into the legend known as Shurayuki-hime, an assassin whose name soon spreads fear among the wicked.

As Yuki steps into adulthood, her focus sharpens on Shibayama, a brutal leader commanding a ruthless following. With deft skill, she obliterates him and his gang, and soon seeks the aid of Matsuemon, the enigmatic chief of an underground network of street beggars. In return for Shibayama’s demise, she implores Matsuemon to help her track down the remaining assailants who brought torment to her mother’s life.

With Matsuemon’s guidance, Yuki’s relentless journey brings her to Takemura Banzō, a man enslaved by addiction and indebtedness, whose daughter Kobue is forced into a life of prostitution to sustain his habits. In a swift act of justice, Yuki takes Banzō’s life, but her pursuit isn’t over; she learns that Tsukamoto Gishirō, the final tormentor of her mother, supposedly perished in a tragic shipwreck three years earlier.

Yet, Yuki finds herself at the center of a web spun by Ryūrei Ashio, a reporter intent on unveiling her story to the world. Influenced by Dōkai’s persuasion, Ashio targets one of Sayo’s tormentors, Kitahama Okono. When Okono’s henchmen attempt to seize Ashio to discover Yuki’s whereabouts, Ashio stands firm, refusing to divulge her location and fleeing danger instead.

Seizing her moment, Yuki infiltrates Okono’s domain, meticulously eliminating his guards one by one. Upon finding Okono’s lifeless form hanging from the ceiling, she strikes him down with merciless efficiency. Just then, Ashio reveals a shocking truth: Gishirō is his father, who had orchestrated a fake death to escape Yuki’s pursuit.

Unfazed, Yuki intensifies her hunt for Gishirō, finally locating him at an extravagant masquerade ball. With calculated precision, she dispatches a decoy meant to protect him and comes face-to-face with Gishirō as he attempts to shoot Ashio. Displaying her remarkable skills, she stabs him swiftly, leaving him bleeding profusely. As he stumbles over the railing, his body crashes onto the ballroom floor below—a striking testament to Yuki’s unwavering determination for vengeance against those who destroyed her family.

In the biting cold of winter, Yuki lays motionless in a snow-laden landscape, her body marked by the wounds inflicted by Kobue, her relentless pursuer seeking revenge for her father’s untimely death. The blade wound from Kobue appears fatal, leaving Yuki’s form seemingly lifeless, reduced to nothing but a shell of her former self.

But as the pale winter sun rises, casting its gentle light across the serene, white expanse, a miraculous event occurs. Yuki’s eyes, once sealed in a deathlike stillness, flutter open as she begins to awaken from her stupor. It is as if the indomitable spirit of life has decided that it will not be extinguished. Yuki rises from the ashes of adversity, poised for a compelling saga of resilience, tenacity, and an unbreakable will that promises to unfold in the days to come.