DVD Title
Lady Snowblood
International Title
DVD Length
Original Length
89 Minutes
89 Minutes
Company
Year of Manufacture
AnimEigo
2004
Language
Subtitles
Japanese
English
Region
Aspect Ratio
1
2.35:1 (Anamorphic)
Color
Sound
Color
2.0 Stereo
Extras
- Menus (English)
- Chapters (20, 8 selectable from menu)
- Trailers: Lady Snowblood , Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance, Zatoichi at Large, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril
- Program Notes (English)
Captures
Comments

AnimEigo's release of the second, and final, film in the Lady Snowblood series: Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance. This disc carries on AnimEigo's streak of great looking DVDs, with a excellent, but not flawless, video presentation of the film; the audio presentation here is good, given the source material, while the extras are adequate, and pretty standard at this point.

Video:
AnimEigo continues to excel with their video presentations, releasing some of the best looking Toho DVDs to date, and Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance is no exception. The most noticeable feature about this disc is the vibrant array of colors present during the film, something which is highlighted nicely as the brightness level is set just right here (as opposed to the company's Lady Snowblood release, which was too dark). Unfortunately, the amount of noticeable digital inconsistencies isn't quite up to AnimEigo's standards, as the film appears slightly blurred and a little pixilated at times. This isn't to say that this plagues the video presentation, or that it is even distracting, but it is worse than what one has come to expect from the company. The print used for the transfer appears to have been in excellent condition on the other hand, or AnimEigo keeps improving on their restoration techniques, as there are no noticeable scratches during the film. Noise levels are also great, as there is very little grain to be seen.

Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance's original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, or widescreen, is also maintained on this release and is Anamorphic for widescreen TVs.

Audio:
Like its predecessor, this disc is presented with a stereo track. Despite what the claim says, however, the movie still sounds rather flat, with no left-right separation noticeable in the audio track. In fact, it sounds like the mono track was simply doubled to the front and back speakers for the DVD. How much one can complain about this aspect is debatable though, as the film was originally filmed with a mono presentation anyway. In terms of hisses or pops in the audio track, there doesn't appear to be any that are noticeable during the course of the film. As for shrill points in the audio track, something that occurred during the main title of both Lady Snowblood and Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance, this isn't really a problem here, but that's because none of the film's background music tends to be especially loud. AnimEigo has complemented the Japanese audio track here with, removable, English subtitles that, like their other DVD releases, are color coded to signify when more than one character is talking during a scene.

Extras:
This disc has the standard extras from AnimEigo, really: a group of four trailers (Lady Snowblood , Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance, Zatoichi at Large, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril), and a set of "Program Notes" that provide background information on the time period in which the sequel of Lady Snowblood takes place. The "Program Notes" are very thorough here, like with subsequent AnimEigo releases, but sadly don't provide much details on the film itself.

Overview:
Bottom line, another solid release from AnimEigo that those who enjoyed the company's previous samurai releases should consider picking up.

This disc is also featured in the box set: Lady Snowblood : DVD Collector's Edition Box.

-Anthony Romero