Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Return of the Sister Street Fighter Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 11, 2019

Note: This film is available as part of Sister Street Fighter Collection.

As if “proof” were needed that female superheroes are a phenomenon to be reckoned with, simply witness the incredible box office returns of 2017’s Wonder Woman and the current (as this review is being published) explosion of Captain Marvel. While it’s arguable as to whether she really fits into the standard mold of a “superhero”, the character who sports the name of Li Koryu in the first three Sister Street Fighter films was literally kicking butt long enough ago that Cathy Lee Crosby had just made her debut in a television movie version of Wonder Woman, one which would soon kinda sorta go on to series with Lynda Carter in the title role, and any lingering memories of Captain Marvel were of a, well, male. As Sonny Chiba gets into in an enjoyable interview included as a supplement with this set, star Etsuko Shihomi was felt by some “experts” not to be “curvy” or “feminine” enough looking to become a star, but Chiba had been immediately struck by Shihomi’s ability to execute virtually any stunt presented to her — instantly. And it is Shihomi’s physicality that helps to energize at least the first three films in this set (Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist is a “sequel” in name only, despite also starring Shihomi. The first two films were released some years ago at the dawn of the Blu- ray age in a double feature that my colleague Ken Brown wasn’t particularly impressed by in the technical department. Arrow is now offering those same two films, to my eyes looking much better than on the BCI disc, along with the two later follow-ups.

As Sonny Chiba also gets into in his interview, he felt that Shihomi, initially hired for her ability to perform any physical task set before her, also grew immeasurably as an actress, citing the third Sister Street Fighter as proof. That facility may be due at least in part to the fact that Return of the Sister Street Fighter hews pretty resolutely to the tropes developed in the first two films, and so Shihomi may quite simply have felt more comfortable purely because she was simply doing things for the umpteenth time at this point.

As with the first two films, there is smuggling going on, though there’s arguably a bit more of a traditional Toei yakuza element at play here, including a nefarious villain named Ryu-Mei Oh (Rinichi Yamamoto). Koryu is on the hunt for a missing woman in this one, a search which of course gets her entangled with both the smuggling operation and the nefarious villain, not to mention a rather colorful house of ill repute (as with the first two films, there’s rather plentiful nudity). This film follows the brisk template of the first two, offering high energy fight scenes every few minutes, something that helps to maintain a surprising amount of momentum given how rote some elements of this third outing are.

Return of the Sister Street Fighter Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All four films in the Sister Street Fighter collection are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet offers the following brief and pretty generic information on the transfers:

The four films in the Sister Street Fighter series are presented in their original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and with their original mono sound. All four films were remastered in high definition for this release by Toei Company, Ltd.

Return of the Sister Street Fighter offers some of the best saturation in the set, with reds being especially impressive throughout the presentation. There are still a few fluctuations in color temperature, with, to cite one example, the reds of the credits looking spot on, but a few moments in the opening sequence having a slightly dirtier, browner appearance. Slight skewings toward brown can be seen at several junctures throughout the presentation. There are some very evocative blue tones that pop extremely well in some of the nightclub scenes. There appear to have been deliberate choices employing soft focus and/or diffusion filters in a few shots (kind of humorously more of men than women), and so clarity and sharpness are understandably variable. As with the second film in particular, some darker scenes are at least relatively lacking in shadow definition and fine detail levels. Grain generally looks nicely resolved, but does spike noticeably in those same darker moments.

Return of the Sister Street Fighter Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Return of the Sister Street Fighter features a perfectly serviceable LPCM Mono track in Japanese. Once again, the kind of proto-disco music reverberates with energy, and the patently unreal sound effects also generally sound fine, if at times a little boxy (some of the high frequency effects can sound just a tad "phase-y" at times). Dialogue is cleanly rendered throughout the presentation, and unlike the second film, there's no distortion.

Return of the Sister Street Fighter Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged this release with the first film on one disc and the other three on a second disc, and so there will probably be some more "generalist" supplements on the first disc in particular which contain content linked to some of the films on the second disc. Therefore, the score above reflects the total package, rather than extras limited in scope to any given particular film.

Disc One

• Sonny Chiba: A Life in Action, Vol. 3 (1080p; 10:10) is an enjoyable 2016 interview with the legend, where he discusses his "action academy" and how he discovered and fostered Etsuko Shihomi.


• Kazuhiko Yamaguchi: Kick Ass Sisters (1080p; 10:06) is another 2016 interview with the director, who discusses some of his films which prominently feature women.


• Masahiro Kaketuda: Subversive Action (1080p; 10:51) is the third 2016 interview of the set, with the co-screenwriter of the first three Sister Street Fighter films.


• Isolated Score Highlights (1080p; 11:43) are presented in LPCM Mono.


• Original Trailer (1080p; 2:47)


• Still and Poster Gallery (1080p; 22:41)


• International Releases

  R Rated Version (1080p; 1:21:13) is a censored English language version which it's stated was the only version available in English speaking territories for 30 years. This comes with a text card warning that film elements could not be located for this version, and so a number of standard definition inserts, typically in moments where English text is utilized (as in the credits) are utilized which are noticeably more ragged looking than the bulk of the presentation.

  
  

  U.S. Trailer (1080p; 2:35)

  
  

  German Opening Titles (1080p; 2:11)

  
  

  German Trailer (1080p; 2:35)

Disc Two

• Isolated Score Highlights are offered in LPCM Mono:

  Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread (1080p; 19:26)

  
  

  Return of the Sister Street Fighter (1080p; 10:15)

• Trailers

  Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread (1080p; 2:44)

  
  

  Return of the Sister Street Fighter (1080p; 2:57)

  
  

  Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist (1080p; 2:57)

As tends to be standard operating procedure with this label, Arrow has also provided a nicely appointed insert booklet.

Return of the Sister Street Fighter Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While "practice makes perfect" and may account for Shihomi's apparent ease throughout this third entry, you can kind of feel the energy starting to drain out of the enterprise, despite some nicely staged combat scenes, simply because things are so repetitive. This transfer boasts some of the most impressively saturated palettes in the Sister Street Fighter set, which may help to offset any narrative deficiencies.