Onna hissatsu ken: Kiki ippatsu

Never mess with the Sister (Street Fighter). But I guess bad guys will be bad guys and kidnap people. Everyone thinks they'll get away with it. Not if the Sister has anything to say ... kick about it! I reckon after the first one was so succesful, they thought let's keep this going. In the same year nonetheless.

And you have similar ingredients. Many bad guys, a lot of fights, blood and nudity. Selling points you say? Well who's going to argue with that? I hope nobody, that would be akward. Doesn't mean you personally have to like those things. It's just what a demand there is out there. So much so, that even with obvious mistakes like a very visible arm, that is being cut off, is actually "hidden" under the shirt of one actor. And yes you would have seen it, even if I didn't tell you (likely). This heightens this to a different degree of crazy mental ... and that is what you get. The movie is not confusing anybody or lying about what it is

While I was not particularly impressed with the 1974 movie "Onna Hissatsu Ken" (aka "Sister Street Fighter"), I still opted to give the 1974 follow-up movie "Onna Hissatsu ken: Kiki Ippatsu" (aka "Sister Street Fighter: Hanging By a Thread" a fair chance, as I had the opportunity to watch it here in 2025.

The storyline in the movie was good, and I actually enjoyed what writers Masahiro Kakefuda and Norifumi Suzuki delivered here way more than I did what they delivered for the movie prior to this one. I was genuinely entertained throughout the course of this movie.

The acting performances in the movie were good. The only familiar face, though, was Etsuko Shihomi.

The sounds during the fight scenes were pretty laughable, some punches and kicks almost sounded like the archetypical richochet sound of bullets in Western movies. While the fight scenes themselves were nicely choreographed and executed, then those awful sounds just added an unnecessary comical layer to the scenes.

My rating of director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi's 1974 movie "Onna Hissatsu ken: Kiki Ippatsu" lands on a five out of ten stars.

SISTER STREETFIGHTER: HANGING BY A THREAD (1974, aka SISTER STREETFIGHTER 2) is a follow-up to SISTER STREETFIGHTER and has Hong Kong resident and martial artist Koryu Lee (Etsuko Shihomi) coming back to Tokyo to track down a female friend, Birei, who's been kidnapped by diamond smugglers. It's an early '70s Japanese martial arts crime film with abundant nudity, bloodshed, torture, outlandish fashions and a peculiar criminal-dominated alternate universe where there are no cops and the gangsters avoid guns but hire martial artists--the more exotic the better--to do their fighting for them. It's all beautifully photographed on dramatic locations and garish sets. One fight takes place amidst empty racetrack stands and another takes place in a railroad yard and has the heroine battle an opponent atop a moving boxcar. There's even a fight among logs floating in the water at one point. As over-the-top as Japanese films sometimes got in the 1970s, they were generally well-produced. My only complaint on that end here is the over-reliance on hand-held cameras in many of the fight scenes.

The plot doesn't bear up well under scrutiny. There are far too many convenient coincidences and the heroine, Koryu, finds her way to the villains' various lairs way too easily. There are some off-putting moments detailing the surgical removal of diamonds from nude women's rear ends, as well as a brutal torture session directed at Koryu's sister, who just happens to be involved with the diamond gang.

The real reason for martial fans to watch this, of course, is to see star Etsuko Shihomi giving Hong Kong kung fu divas Angela Mao and Chia Ling (Judy Lee) a run for their money as the most dynamic female martial arts stars of the era. The protégé of Sonny Chiba, who popped up in several of her films, Shihomi fights with similar intensity, concentrating on survival and hitting her targets with damaging blows rather than engaging in the more showy, performance-oriented fighting styles of Hong Kong's female stars. (Granted, Shihomi's best films don't hold a candle to Angela Mao's best films, but that was never exactly Shihomi's fault.) There are some far-fetched moments here, including a fight in mid-air that causes the eyes to roll (literally!), but for the most part, Shihomi takes on all manner of formidable opponents with plausible ferocity.

Shihomi (who was sometimes billed in American release versions as Sue Shiomi) is aided in the action by Yasuaki Kurata, who takes on the Chiba role here and lends key male support. Kurata made a name for himself in Hong Kong kung fu films, including HEROES OF THE EAST, LEGEND OF A FIGHTER and FIST OF LEGEND, and it's nice to actually see him wreaking havoc in a Japanese martial arts film for a change.

The film follows the formulaic structure of the first film, changing the endangered sibling from a brother there to a sister here who wasn't even mentioned in the first film. The fights were more frequent and more imaginatively staged in the first film, which also benefited from the presence of Chiba himself in some key fighting sequences. (Chiba, of course, began this whole cycle with his own run of STREETFIGHTER films.) Etsuko and Kurata returned for RETURN OF THE SISTER STREETFIGHTER, which suffered from a lower budget and shorter shooting schedule, resulting in hastily shot action scenes and an even more ludicrous plot.

While shopping at an open-air market in Hong Kong, a young woman named "Koryu Lee" (Etsuko Shihomi) notices a man being attacked by a group of thugs. Rushing to help him, she succeeds in chasing them away, but not before the man dies in front of her. Just before he dies, he manages to give her some microfilm and, with his last breath, tells her to take it to a professor she knows. Naturally, she seeks him out and learns that her best friend from high school, "Birei Oh" (Hisako Tanaka), has been kidnapped by the same group, and the only clue points directly to a mansion where the owner, a diamond merchant named "Kazushige Osone" (Hideo Murota), has surrounded himself with numerous martial arts experts for protection. While contemplating that information, Koryu then goes to Tokyo to visit her sister, "Byakuren Lee" (Tomayo Mitsukawa), who works as a diamond cutter for a prestigious jewelry store. Although pleased to see her sister, Byakuren becomes noticeably concerned upon hearing the news about Koryu investigating Birei's kidnapping and quickly informs her that she will be gone for the next few days on business, but offers her apartment for Koryu to stay in while she is gone. That night, Koryu is attacked by Osone's henchmen in what will be a series of further attempts on her life. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film pretty much followed the same general plot as its immediate predecessor, with only a few minor details thrown in to make any distinction between the two. For example, instead of her brother being kidnapped, this film focuses on her high school friend instead. That's probably a good thing, considering that her brother was killed at the end of the first movie anyway. Likewise, instead of illegal drugs, the merchandise being smuggled into Japan happens to be diamonds. Small details like that. That said, if I had to choose between these two films, I would probably give this one the benefit of the doubt, if for no other reason than that it has English subtitles instead of the awkward English dubbing used in the first movie. It's a slight improvement, to be sure, but an improvement nonetheless.

If you want large quantities of mindless action, and are okay with the quality of that action being decent/passable rather than truly amazing, this sequel satisfies.

I think barebones action movies are capable of greatness, but the action has to be great, and it's not the best here. Neither is it the worst, but I would say that the first Sister Street-fighter movie is better.

It's got me less than optimistic for the other two movies, but I think I know the kind of mood I have to be in to enjoy these, so will wait for that feeling to strike again I guess. Anyone who's not super into old-school martial arts movies should steer clear.