ソウルキャリバーIV - 雪の華 - 雪華 セツカ - 御剣平四郎 ミツルギ ヘイシロウ
Soul Calibur IV - Snow Flower
Cast of Characters: Setsuka, Mitsurugi & Setsuka's Master

Shortly after the events that occurred in the previous film "Heishiro", Mitsurugi returns back to Japan and finds himself confronted with a challenge from a lone woman named Setsuka -a beautiful girl of moderate stature, pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. She is not a native to Japan following her parents there but eventually ran away from home at a young age. Due to her obvious differences, she was shunned by society and barely survived on her own until she was taken into the care of local town swordsman and bodyguard. He would later teach her how to defend herself and gave her the name "Setsuka" (which means "Snow Flower").

Setsuka has a vendetta against Mitsurugi for the death of her master which happened years ago in a duel which he lost against Mitsurugi. She had just returned from a long journey to deliver a letter for her master only to discover him lying on the ground injured with a Samurai warrior standing a short distance away. Although her master did not die right there at that moment, his injuries from that battle would later prove to be fatal. He refused to tell Setsuka exactly how he recieved his wounds but she always suspected he lost a duel. Before she could ask the Samurai warrior what had happened, he had already left the scene in response to some other situation.

For the short remaining time he had left, Setsuka's master continued to teach her his art so that she would carry on his fighting style and legacy. His injuries would prevent him from ever wielding a sword again but he tried to act as normal as possible despite Setsuka's concern. His lessons became more serious, disciplined, & demanding than ever before but at the same time, he expressed an overwhelming love and affection for her by showering her with gifts. Despite their modest lifestyle, he bought her an elegant long-sleeved kimono and entrusted her with a sword hidden in a paper parasol. During this time, Setsuka would come to realize her feelings for this man as it grew stronger.

Just before dying, Setsuka's master muttered the words to her "I did not teach you this art for the purpose of revenge. One who lives by the sword harbors no regret." His hope was she would live freely unbound by hatred or revenge. To give her a sense of peace, he had told her the truth about his injuries and reluctantly revealed to her his enemy's name, "Heishiro Mitsurugi". It was at that moment, she realized it was that lone standing samurai warrior who had taken down her master. When her master finally died, Setsuka shed no tears but was filled with immense sadness. Only later she would realize her true feelings for her master and understood what it meant to fall in love. Overwhelmed with emotion, her mind was determined with one motive. To seek out and find her master's enemy "Heishiro Mitsurugi". Against her master's wishes, Setsuka vowed to avenge him.

Director's Notes:
When I first scribbled the treatment for the previous film, "Heishiro", I've wanted to include Setsuka in the story. But I knew it would be best to implement it as a film of its own. So the two films were conceived as a pair thus this sequel. We've always been teased by few cut scenes or text references leading up to the showdown between Mitsurugi & Setsuka but never shown what happens. So I wanted to explore it. It was bit strange that our protaganist semi-hero from the last film "Heishiro" suddenly became the antagonist anti-hero in this film. I cant necessarily call Mitsurugi a villain or the "bad guy" here since he's just doing what he's always done - to seek out perfection and mastery of the sword. He just had the misfortune of slaying someone who eventually would seek out revenge. It just goes to show how complex the character relationship in the game is with many grey areas.

This film was definitely easier to make since I was dealing with primarily three characters. I didn't have to resort to any of the post production special FX with rotoscoping, compositing, etc that I had to do in the last film to squeeze in multiple characters in the same frame. I also didn't have to make sure I had the camera facing a certain way during a sequence to avoid other characters from not "being there" when they should be. So I had the entire stage as a canvas to work on, allowing me more freedom for camera work. This allowed me for more shots from multiple angles for each sequence to capture all the fast paced fighting action. For the flashback sequences, I toned down the color saturation, diffused the lighting giving the overall look a more washed out appearance to represent a cold atmosphere and distant past. Anyways, hope all of you enjoy it. Look forward to the next one. (less info)