'A lean and mean tale of female empowerment - think "Thelma & Louise" vs. the yakuza.' LA TIMES

'A slick and brutal tale that delivers a short, sharp shock with wit and ingenuity.' LUCIE MCKNIGHT HARDY

Fierce, mixed-race fighter Shindo has been kidnapped by the yakuza. After brutally beating most of them in an attempt to escape, she is forced to work as a bodyguard to protect the gang boss's sheltered daughter Shoko, a strange, friendless eighteen-year-old who could order Shindo's death in a moment.

At first Shindo derides Shoko's naïvete, but as the men around them grow ever more bloodthirsty and controlling, she becomes ferociously devoted to her charge. However, she knows that if things continue as they are, neither woman can expect to survive much longer.

But could there ever be a different life for two people like them?

Akira Otani's English-language debut is an explosive thriller that moves boldly across time and gender to tell an exhilarating story about devotion, violence - and getting free.

'Part kick-to-the-solar-plexus martial arts thriller and part poignant queer love story, Akira Otani's spare, tightly plotted The Night of Baba Yaga is a violent and transgressive marvel.' JOHN COPENHAVER