AllMovie

While boasting one of the most memorable battles ever filmed, the final installment in the Lone Wolf and Cub series came as somewhat of a disappointment to fans anticipating a final confrontation between Ogami and Lord Retsudo Yagyu. Sadly, this battle never occurs. The reason for this omission is that the entire six-film series was filmed between 1972 and 1973, as the manga version was still being published. Thus while the manga version does have the final confrontation between Ogami and Lord Yagyu, it was not published until 1976. Due to this omission, White Heaven in Hell finds Ogami confronted by the last remaining descendants of the Yagyu clan: Hyouei, an illegitimate son who practices the black arts, and Kaori, a female expert in the lethal art of knives. In the most supernatural entry in the series, Hyouei wages psychological warfare on Ogami and Daigoro, killing all innocent people the pair come into contact with. As a result, Lone Wolf and Cub are forced into a solitary existence in order to save the innocent victims from harm. It is in this final episode of the series that the terminally stoic Ogami becomes truly unnerved and expresses fear for the first time. The climax on a snowy mountain, while exhilarating, lacks the closure that fans of the series had so eagerly anticipated.