“I’ll have my revenge…”
What they say:
The year is 1931, the 64th year of the Meiji Era. The Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu still wields immense power, and he uses a secret squad of assassins to maintain rule. Among them is Yukimura Sawa, who desires vengeance after her family is killed.
The Review:
Content (Please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
If you’re a fan of the Quentin Tarantino film “Kill Bill,” this probably isn’t the first you’ve heard of the 1970s film series “Lady Snowblood” by Toshiya Fujita. Tarantino drew heavily from these films and “Joran” is clearly drawing from a similar inspiration. If that wasn’t enough to pique your interest, add demons and a group of assassins all wrapped up in gorgeous artwork and animation, and hopefully that does the trick. It certainly did for me, and “Joran” was one of my most highly anticipated Spring 2021 anime. I’m happy to report that this debut did not disappoint.
Right away we’re treated to a short fight scene featuring our heroine and a supernatural monster of some kind. The animation here is superb and reminiscent of old Japanese paintings. A stylistic choice that remains for the other fight scene at the end of the episode. Between these moments we’re treated to scrumptious color palates depicting the Meiji landscape.
There’s also a fair bit of good directing and character animation too. After the fight scene in the beginning we see a glimpse of Yukimura’s public life. She’s a used book store owner caring for a little sister (though it is revealed they are not blood-related and putting on an act). The way she smells her books as she goes through them is a nice touch and how she doesn’t answer when her “sister” asks what she’d prefer for dinner. It has no relevance to the overall plot but it adds a humanizing factor to Yukimura; that ultimately while she’s an assassin she still has habits and mannerisms like the rest of us, and it distinguishes her as a unique character.
After turning down a marriage offer from an acquaintance (implicitly not the first time she has done so to him), she meets up with her assassin collogues Tsukishiro and Hanakaze and they begin their mission; put an end to a smuggler named Janome who intends to sic demonic “Changelings” on the Shogun. Yukimura splits off from the two others in the group to go her own way. While they track down one of Janome’s associates and kill him and his underling goons in a flashy action sequence with a lightsaber and umbrella crossbow, she heads for the castle in the capital. Tsukishiro and Hanakaze realize they had been fed false info upon not seeing Janome at the intended smuggling deal location and rush to the capital.
Meanwhile, Yukimura battles a creature similar to how we saw in the beginning. This time her desire for vengeance is clearly visible on her face. There’s no mistaking she’s out for blood.
I’m not sure if this transformation is a power of hers or something for dramatic effect but the visual implication is pretty clear. She’s got death on her face on two fronts. Not only is death a part of her story (revealed in the end that her family was murdered while she hid away in horror and watched), but she also intends to bring it to others by delivering revenge to her enemies. She learns in a cruel twist of fate that her proposer was the beast she slew. So it appears that these monsters are human at their core. It also appears that the job is left unfinished since Janome isn’t captured and/or killed. Could he be a continuing antagonist going forward? The episode throws us one last twist before letting us go and that’s that as soon as Yukimura is asleep, her “sister” grabs a knife and holds it over her chest before the cut to black.
Ultimately we’re left with more questions than answers. Who killed Yukimura’s family? Who’s pulling the strings here? What motive does Yukimura’s sister have to kill her? Of course, this is only a pilot, so it makes sense. Its job is to present those questions to us before they are answered in later episodes, and they did a splendid job presenting them to us in an exciting and thrilling way. I’m eagerly looking forward to the next episode. Hopefully, we get more context. That’s the only thing missing from an otherwise stellar opening act. A little cliché? Maybe, but the story manages to stand out enough on its own terms. The ideas may not be new, but if they’re strung together in an exceptional way, this series can overcome that, and it looks like it’s on track to do just that.
In summary:
Joran The Princess of Snow and Blood’s first episode is an exciting period thriller that’s as chilling as it is beautiful. If you’re looking for an assassination story with roots in the supernatural and 70s Japanese action films, you don’t need to look further than this, even if the story might seem familiar.
Grade: A
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
