Lady Snowblood, Vol. 4: Retribution, Part 2
Koike and Kamimura pull out all the stops to wrap up the story of Sura Yuki, who uses her beauty as well as nonpareil martial-arts skills to thrive as a hit woman while she stalks the rapist-murderers who destroyed her mother's life. The partners use their cinematic experience with bravura, making the opening episode here, set in a driving rain, match the blurred intensity of the battle in the rain in Kurosawa'sSeven Samurai. In the second, they take advantage of the villain's profession, photography, to stud the proceedings with finely composed stills. Throughout, the violence and the sex are simultaneously alluring and shocking. Magnificent.Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved