Following the success of the Sister Street Fighter trilogy, Toei came back to the well a year later for a fourth installment titled Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist, with quite a few changes. Etsuko Shihomi returns to star, but in a completely different role this time. This is a weird move to pull so deep into the franchise. The original writers and director did not return and instead we are given a whole new adventure. It is odd that they would keep the title and the star but get rid of everything else. This proves particularly shocking when you realize it was directed by Shigehiro Ozawa, who made the original Street Fighter trilogy. Radical changes aside, this is the film we are given, so let’s see how it holds up.

Kiku is a free-spirited Japanese girl with conservative parents and a free-thinking friend named Michi. She likes to spend much of her time at the Seibukan martial arts dojo. Michi has a black half-brother named Jim and the two dream of returning to Okinawa where they were born. Jim is caught up with some rough characters but is a good person at heart, always looking to protect his little sister. Kiku lives an uncomplicated life and enjoys spending time with her friends.

Meanwhile, the police are tracking a drug-smuggling operation that is secretly located within the Far East Movie Studios, with crime bosses posing as producers and upper management. Captain Takagi is the head of the narcotics division and is trying to figure out how they are getting the drugs into Japan. Professor Douglas of Asian Studies at a nearby university has been brought in to assist, but one of the cartel recognizes him as a narcotics agent and has Jim kill him at a party. Kiku interferes with the police and allows Jim to escape.

In an odd subplot, Kiku’s father keeps trying to push Kiku and Takagi into a relationship even though the cop is much older and the two have nothing in common. Takagi is a chauvinist who is interested in dating Kiku and keeping her as a “traditional” woman who will tend to his needs. Creepy. Later, Michi gets abducted and taken back to the movie studio and Kiku follows. She goes undercover as an extra in one of the films currently in production and searches the area for Michi. This leads to a large fight sequence with cartel henchmen doubling as members of the cast and crew. Can Kiku rescue her friend and survive a meeting with the elusive crime boss before the police catch up or will she be arrested or worse for her efforts?

Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist is an uneven film that would be better served as a standalone vehicle for Etsuko Shihomi, without the expectations of the previous entries in the series. This movie does not follow the same template and instead relies on extended sequences of high drama and awkward comedy taking the place of the traditional fight scenes. This entry has the least amount of action and the worst pacing of the franchise. Shihomi is given a bigger opportunity as an actress, but this is not the reason people come to see these films. One over-the-top comedic bit that actually works is a throwaway gag of Kiku dressed as an extra getting into a fight and quickly changing back into regular clothes while leaping through the air. The rest of the picture is frequently just as absurd, but not very satisfying building to a highly contrived and abrupt ending.

The Sister Streetfighter franchise makes for a solid trilogy of movies with a bonus film thrown in as something of a victory lap. Etsuko Shihomi shines in the lead role and brings a strong screen presence to an otherwise male-dominated genre. The tone is light and the action is frequent, keeping things moving at a brisk pace. The villains are cartoonish caricatures that wait patiently in the background as their private armies of trained assassins repeatedly line up to challenge Koryu one at a time. It always kills me in these movies when a group of people are fighting our heroes and they politely take turns before engaging them. Sister Street Fighter is a product of its era and has earned its place among the pantheon of kung-fu flicks that filled grindhouse theatres in the 1970s, often playing as double or triple features. You don’t have to think too hard and you will not have learned anything once it’s over, but if you are simply looking for entertainment you have come to the right place.