"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.

FIFTH LEVEL FIST was released as the fourth film in the popular SISTER STREET FIGHTER series, but it's actually an unconnected action movie that just happens to feature Etsuko Shihomi as the lead. I found it a lesser film than the comic book trilogy; this one's more focused on familiar plotting, and the action scenes are few and far between. Shihomi herself takes a back seat in the proceedings which tell of a drug smuggling ring working out of a film studio while the cops investigate. There's a lot of back and forth and some casual everyday sexism from the supposed hero before a lively climax which doesn't disappoint, although sadly it's the only time when this feels like a true SISTER STREET FIGHTER production. At just 76 minutes in length I was surprised at how much of a slog this felt to sit through.

From the start you can tell this is not really another sister street fighter. In the other movies you had a credit scene, where our main character was having a sort of "training session" (though I guess it might have been a bit of a Bond ripoff or something else the makers felt paying tribute to).

She also seems to be someone else here. Not to mention that we veer a bit away from the other movies main storylines. Generally a good thing, just that it doesn't work quite as well as they probably imagined. This tries to go more drama and more humor. And adds a bit of english to the spoken languages to add some flavor to the mix too ... not really bad, but not as bonkers and crazy as the others either, which made them quite "unique"