The same year as the first of the Lone Wolf series brought another adaption of a manga from the same author. The themes are very similar. An individual who is sent by fate down a path of demons, killing everyone who is in the way of their goal. The films are spiritually dark. That's where the similarities end. Lady Snowblood is much darker then any of the Lone Wolf films just in the fact that much of the action happens at night or in shadowy places.<br /><br />The main character is set on a path of vengeance as a just born infant by her dying mother! And vengeance is had in a world of awful people constantly out to exploit or torment their fellow humans. The one nice person in the film is a daughter who defends her father even though (unknown to her) he tries to sell her into prostitution. <br /><br />While the martial prowess is not so good in this film it is more then made up for by the haunted look on the actress' face and startling dismemberment. The film is stylish but not in the colorful way of the Lone Wolf films, this is dark. And Lone Wolf had the one saving note of humanity, the samurai's love for his son and a deep, if sometimes hidden, sense of morals. Here Lady Snowblood is a driven, almost emotionally dead person out for revenge.<br /><br />Recommended.<br /><br />As a note: the first killing she does is so the Beggar King will get information for her.