Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist

While I haven't exactly been particularly thrilled about the previous movies in the franchise, despite the fact that this 1976 movie "Onna Hissatsu Godan Ken" (aka "Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist") wasn't an official sequel, then I still opted to watch it, as it was a movie that I hadn't already seen.

Truth be told, I wasn't harboring the biggest of expectations as I weren't overly impressed with the previous movies.

And the storyline in "Onna Hissatsu Godan Ken" proved to be a fair one, if not actually the most entertaining in the series. Writers Isao Matsumoto and Motohiro Torii put together a script and storyline that managed to capture the essence of classic martial arts movies and spruce it up with characters that you actually cared enough about and characters that had depths and layers.

The acting performances in the movie were good. The only familiar face on the screen, for me at least, was leading actress Etsuko Shihomi.

With "Onna Hissatsu Godan Ken" being a martial arts action movie, then having well-choreographed and well-executed martial arts and fight sequences were crucial. And the movie did indeed have that, which definitely helped to carry the movie a great long way.

I found this 1976 movie to be worth watching, and would say that it is well-worth checking out.

My rating of director Shigehiro Ozawa's 1976 movie "Onna Hissatsu Godan Ken" lands on a six out of ten stars.

"Sister Street Fighter: Fifth level fist" isn't strictly part of the "Sister Street Fighter" series anymore, as it does not continue the story of the same characters, but it's good fun for its own qualities. Etsuko Shihomi plays Kiku Nakagawa, daughter of a family who wants to see her married soon, but she prefers to attend her martial arts lessons and kick some butt. When drug smugglers kill Jim, brother of her friend Michi, and instead of waiting for the cops, Michi and Kiku take revenge into their own hands. The gangsters pretend to run a film studio and make movies by daytime - an opportunity to ridicule the circumstances of cheap, fast productions. The fourth and final movie of the "Sister Street Fighter" series makes good use of its comedy elements, from the crazy film crew to Kiku's father who secretly helps her, but would be happier if she was living more traditionally (he is a kimono salesman) and first of all, he is very afraid of her mother. I voted 8/6/8/7 for the 4 "Sister Street Fighter" movies, if you count this one as part 4.

Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist is only an entry in the critically acclaimed franchise about empathic, resilient and tough martial artist Li Koryu on paper. This movie doesn't involve the same characters at all. There are however three similarities between this film and the three previous movies. They are all produced by Toei Company, they all feature Etsuko Shihomi as lead actress and they are all about a female martial artist who faces off against a sinister criminal organization.

In this case, the protagonist is actually named Nakagawa Kiku. Her parents desperately try to marry her to a socially awkward banker and then to a misogynist police officer who claims that women certainly desire cooking meals for their husbands and raising children because all women are the same. The protagonist couldn't care less however and prefers training at her karate dojo where she is however stalked by a clumsy undercover police officer. It only makes sense that she enjoys spending time with her best friend who she considers being her sister and her half-brother. The siblings share the same Japanese mother from Okinawa but the sister's mother was a white American soldier while the brother's father was a coloured American soldier. They got racially intimated as children and moved away but dream of returning home and opening a restaurant to prove by their actions that they are good people. Their ambitious dreams are shattered when the brother is hired as a hitman by an organization that smuggles cocaine hidden in Buddha statues to assassinate an international narcotics investigator. The brother manages to kill the investigator but is surprised in the act by the protagonist and other witnesses and has to go into hiding. Since he has now become a liability, the organization that hired him decides and manages to get rid of him. His sister is heartbroken and her best friend decides to help her have her revenge while the misogynist police officer and the clumsily stalking officer also get involved.

If compared to the Sister Street Fighter films, this movie features less fight scenes and rather focuses on its numerous characters and their ties. The film also follows the police investigation that takes place in art shops, during parties and in a Korean bar. The movie actually shows a lot of cultural diversity and criticizes racism towards multiethnical children, features several dialogues in English with Japanese subtitles and shows Korean dance and music performances. The misogynist police officer sticks out like a sore thumb. The movie also has a few mildly humorous scenes involving the clumsy officer and the protagonist's father who is afraid of his wife and helps the protagonist get out of embarrassing situations from time to time.

The movie certainly has its merits since its characters are intriguing and locations diversified. However, most people would never have watched the film if its misguiding title weren't associated to the internationally successful Sister Street Fighter series. While being decent, the movie certainly lacks the drive of that franchise and the protagonist pales in comparison to the charismatic Li Koryu.

After all, it certainly isn't essential to watch Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist. If you have watched the original three Sister Street Fighter movies, you don't need to watch this one. However, the movie is entertaining enough thanks to its investigative plot and fascinating characters. The final fifteen minutes or so feature some decent fight scenes but the rest of the film is certainly lacking in that department. This movie is a solid action-thriller of the seventies but can't be considered a great martial arts movie. I would recommend this film to fans of Japanese cinema and culture and those who can't get enough of Etsuko Shihomi who finds yet again the perfect balance between empathy and brutality.

Our girl, Etsuko Shihomi, plays a different character in this movie. So don't call it a sequel to the other Sister Street Fighter movies, or do, who cares? All of the movies are about a female martial artist versus big crime organizations. The story here is our girl is all about the karate and her parents are all about getting her married. The bad guys are making a movie as a cover to their drug smuggling. Our girl gets involved by way of her brother in law's bungling.

The fights are few and infrequent until the final fight that lasts about 15 minutes.

The only reason I found for watching this movie was to say I watched all four. I also found nothing worth adding to the other excellent reviews already posted. I rate it just below average for the year and genre.

This film begins with "Takeo Nakagawa" (Masafumi Suzuki), an uneducated owner of a kimono shop, doing his best to marry off his only daughter, "Kiku Nakagawa" (Etsuko Nakagawa), at every opportunity. Meanwhile, Kiku is more interested in practicing karate at a nearby dojo, where she befriends a young woman named "Michi" (Mitchi Love) and Michi's half-brother "Jim Sullivan" (Ken Wallace). What she doesn't realize is that Jim has recently started working for an illegal drug-smuggling organization, and when things spiral out of control, Kiku is compelled to investigate. Unfortunately, her involvement disrupts the ongoing police investigation into the drug cartel, led by "Detective Shuji Takagi" (Tsunehiko Watase), whom her father has suggested as a potential suitor for her. Now, although this film isn't part of the original "Sister Street Fighter" trilogy, many consider it an unofficial sequel due mainly to the presence of Etsuko Nakagawa. Additionally, although I am not a fan of long action sequences, I must admit that the martial arts scene where she fights a couple of expert swordsmen is quite intense. Be that as it may, while I certainly don't consider this to be a great martial arts film, I suppose it passed the time reasonably well, and I have rated it accordingly.