(This review is for the entire series. Although individual volume ratings might vary, the star rating for the first volume is for the entire series.)

Overall
This series has great action and style and that's what it's all about--really. Lovingly bloody fight scenes. It's too bad that she never really has a worthy opponent. Don't look for some existential meaning or complex plot. It has softcore sex scenes, nudity--mostly the protagonist--and a copious amount of blood-letting; it's about the seedy underworld and immoral men (and women, although to a much lesser degree). The historical notes and events give it depth and overarching thematic significance. But let's call a spade a spade: it's a geared to the machismo side of men--and it does it so well.

Excellent setup and payoff in the end.

Personal Notes
Troubling is the one explicit injection of author/artist POV:

"But what if these theories ['abolishing the Japanese language' and mixing two extremely different races would produce inferior offspring, and ultimately that the Japanese race would become extinct] were actually executed? World war II might not have taken place but you, readers, and I, Kazuo Kamimura, would not be here either. Which do you think would've been better?"

Is Kamimura a right-wing apologist?

Furthermore, Kamimura's attribution to Mori Arinori as advocating the abolishment of the Japanese language is debatable (from my cursory internet research).

See Britannica artile on Mori Arinori.

Because this kind of blatant authorial explication only happens this one time, it doesn't influence my rating substantially. Perhaps, it's good that they do this because that way I know where they're coming from.

This series was originally published in Shueisha (Weekly Playboy, 1972-73) [Thompson, p.186], hence the male fantasy tropes in volume 3. Interestingly, Shueisha is a huge publisher with multiple lines of manga magazines and books. It also is a co-owner of Viz Media. ( )

It's hard to read Lady Snowblood without constantly comparing it to Lone Wolf and Cub. The formula is similar: one assassination per episode by a mysterious and perfectly deadly protagonist. We do get more of Lady Snowblood's back story in this first volume than we do of the assassin in Lone Wolf, but at the same time, she's a tad less interesting. She has a revenge-based task, but, at least in this volume, she doesn't seem to take any steps toward achieving it. In Lone Wolf, by contrast, there doesn't seem to be any larger arc. The protagonist is just an assassin who happens to use his adorable baby as a prop in his murder schemes. He also has a requirement that makes him distinctive: before he'll take any job, he has to know the story behind the request. People tend to tell Lady Snowblood why they want done what they want done, but not because of any demand of hers.

The choice of period does add some intrigue, though, as Japan is on the verge of coming into the modern world: one chapter involves a bunch of people kowtowing to American business and diplomatic interests, another makes heavy uses of Lady Snowblood's bloomers, which cause a stir, and guns mix with swords and other more traditional weapons to make some fights profoundly unfair. ( )

This manga was one of Tarantino's inspirations for his epic movie Kill Bill. The story features Lady Snowblood, a woman whose sole aim in life is to punish the people who dishonored her mother. Her story is told in simple but captivating images and the action is so fast-paced it's hard to put the book aside. ( )

Filled with sex, blood, guts and general mayhem, Lady Snowblood is definitely something of a guilty pleasure. Koike and Kamimura play to the reader's most prurient desires, and the manga is accordingly filled with torture and sex (often yuri) which often lacks a plausible basis in the "realism" of the narrative. The structure of the latter is also somewhat strange, insofar as some episodes bear direct relevance to the overarching story (Yuki's search for the three men and one woman who killed her family) and others are entirely tangential "assignments" that she takes as a freelance assassin. As a result of this oscillation the quality of the sub-stories varies wildly, from suspenseful and compelling to inane and pointless. Despite all this Lady Snowblood does a fantastic job of depicting Meiji-era Japan with a mixture of historical realism and stylized action. Kamimura's compositions are for the most part excellent, emphasizing the grace, beauty, and menace of the rather amoral protagonist. The series of four books is ultimately insubstantial, but a huge pleasure to read nonetheless. ( )