“Jōran: The Princess of Snow and Blood” Packs Character and Suspense into 12 Episodes

Bakken Record

Of all the four seasons, winter is perhaps the most divisive. For some, it is a time of snowball fights, ice skating, and holidays. For others, it means unpleasantly cold temperatures and treacherous driving conditions. Regardless of how you feel about winter as a whole, one cannot deny that it has inspired creativity and wonder in the more artistically inclined.

Although the premise isn’t specifically based on the season, Jōran: The Princess of Snow and Blood is an anime series perfect for the wintertime. Released in 2021 and based on the 1970s manga and live-action movie Lady Snowblood, it is set in an alternate dystopian version of Meiji-era Japan. The common folk are growing restless and resentful of the higher powers, and a revolution is always around the corner. It is up to the secret organization Nue to quash any threat to the Japanese government and the shōgun leading it. But our heroine, Sawa “Yuki” Karasumori, is more interested in settling the score with the person responsible for the brutal murder of her family. As she tracks down her clan’s killer, she must also grapple with the nature of her relationship with her adoptive sister, Asahi.

I enjoyed Jōran for a multitude of reasons, not least of which being its ability to keep me in a constant state of suspense. Without giving too much away, each character has an agenda they would be more than willing to scheme, backstab, and kill to achieve. But they’re also being tormented by their personal demons and struggling to find reasons to carry on, meaning that there is no character who is purely good or evil (except perhaps the main villain, Janome).

I do feel, however, that Jōran‘s need to keep viewers guessing leads to unnecessary twists that ultimately mean nothing. You might hope that plot armor wouldn’t exist in an anime featuring espionage, political upheaval, and inhumane experimentation, but it absolutely does. Characters seemingly get killed on screen, only for them to reappear a few episodes later. Characters who you thought were long dead are revealed to be alive, only to be plucked off mere moments later. Almost nothing is permanent in Jōran, and it was more frustrating than pleasantly surprising for me.

Despite that, and despite the whole series only lasting 12 episodes, the cast is very fleshed out and feels very human. Take our protagonist, Sawa: When she makes her first appearance, she may seem like a stereotypical stoic assassin, bordering on “edgy,” whose motives are pretty standard. However, she is shown to have a heart of gold when she takes in the young Asahi and makes her safety her top priority over her mission. Plus, when everything goes horrifically sideways, Sawa reacts to it in a realistic human way, making her feel like more than just a stock figure. She’s far from the only example, but I feel like she’s the best asset of this character-driven story.

So even though Jōran may have some issues with meaningless twists, I would recommend it if you’re looking for an anime to watch while sipping your hot cocoa. The series is currently available on Crunchyroll.