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See also [[Waif Fu]].
 
Do not confuse with the character Shifu from ''[[Kung Fu Panda (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda]]'', whose name is (mis)pronounced the same way but spelled differently, and means "master" in Chinese (but only if you pronounce it correctly).
{{examples}}
 
== Anime & Manga ==
* Anita King, the youngest of the Paper Sisters in ''[[Read or Die (Anime)|R.O.D. the TV Series]]'' has a combat style that was designed by the animators via "observing monkeys, as well as the Royal Chinese Acrobats."
* Major Motoko Kusanagi in ''[[Ghost in Thethe Shell]]'' exhibits She Fu thanks to her cybernetic body, to the point where her first response in a reasonably close-combat situation is usually to roundhouse kick the guy to the face.
* The Angels in ''[[Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer]]''; possibly justified by the fact that they are [[The Kid Withwith the Remote Control|mind-controlled]] robots and most operators appear to be adolescent girls that may or may not have [[I Know Mortal Kombat|seen]] too much She Fu on TV.
* Lenalee Lee of ''[[D .Gray Man (Manga)-man|D Gray Man]]'' is guilty of this, as she's a [[Dance Battler]] whose primary weapon is a pair of superpowered boots that radiate holy power.
** Both Road Kamelot and Lulu Bell of the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] are also capable of these movements in combat. In her first appearance, Road dodges attacks so lazily and easily that she looks ''bored.'' Justified in Lulu Bell's case as she truly does have [[Incredibly Lame Pun|cat-like reflexes.]]
* Kodachi Kunō of ''[[Ranma ½ (Manga)|Ranma One Half]]''. Justified in that she ''is'' a gymnast, and the pirouettes and acrobatics are an essential part of [[Martial Arts and Crafts|Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics]], her chosen discipline. Ranma Saotome also uses this sort of fighting style, even though he's ''male'', and fought this way ''before'' becoming a [[Gender Bender]]. The anime tends to save it more for when he's in [[Gender Bender|female form]], but in both canons, even as a guy he's prone to using a lot of flips, jumps, handstands, rolls and tumbles, all to either evade attack or beat on his opponent. There's also an occasional usage of [[Murderous Thighs]], but possibly only in female form (and/or only in the manga).
** Justified in that Ranma's school specializes in adapting various other styles, many of which (at least in the world it exists within) appear to specialize in mid-air combat, thus, Ranma's ability to do this even in male form before the curse makes sense.
* Noel in ''[[Claymore (Manga)|Claymore]]''. Her rival, Sophia, favors a more brute-force approach.
* Even Anzu/Téa of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!'' gets in on the action during the mummy fight in [[The Movie]]. [[Yu-Gi-Oh!: theThe Abridged Series|The Abridged Movie]] drives this point home by adding the following line: "[[Street Fighter|Spinning Bird Kick!]]"
* Maki of ''[[Airmaster (Manga)|Airmaster]]'' uses a high-flying variant of She Fu. It's revealed that in her past she was a world-class gymnast. Unlike most instances of this trope, however, at least once it definitely loses a fight for her -- after an astonishing spinning, flipping ''thing'' which basically whips her martial artist father, she sticks the landing by reflex. He takes advantage of that moment to get her in a lock and take the victory.
** ''Air Master'' also tends to subvert the trope just in general; while all the martial artists of the series do at least some outlandishly impossible stuff, the ''damage'' that gets thrown around never shies away from leaving everybody in the fight a bloody mess-- assuming it wasn't just a beatdown to highlight how awesome the winner is. Nearly all the female combatants in the show break teeth and get bloodied noses from being punched, kicked, or having their faces smashed into the street at least once.
* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in ''[[Teppu]]'': all fighting girls there practice MMA.
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== Comics ==
* One of the most prominent comic book examples would have to be, [[Gender Inverted Trope|ironic as it might seem]], [[Spider -Man]]. As a consequence of his powers, he fights reflexively. However he is ''extraordinarily'' limber and agile, so by reflex he jumps, twirls, twists, and contorts all over the place to dodge blows and missiles. As a result, [[Female Gaze|everyone gets a good look at Peter Parker's toned gymnast body from all angles]].
** It should be noted, however, that this doesn't really stop Spider-Man from taking severe blows. Indeed, almost every videogame starring him features a costume selection that is torn up and ravaged from all the damage he takes during the game. Because of his [[Spider Sense]], he's never really blind-sided, but his enemies just tend to be ''that'' fast and powerful.
* Another [[Gender Inverted Trope]] of this trope is [[Nightwing]]. He is also quite flexible and agile because of his [[Circus Brat|circus background]], and he is often subject to [[Female Gaze]].
* In the Marvel [[New Universe]] series ''[[DP 7 (Comic Book)|DP 7]]'', housewife Stephanie Harrington feels silly doing moves that she admits were from her days as a high school cheerleader, but her power gives her a degree of protection, so it actually works well enough in a fight.
* ''[[Jet Dream (Comic Book)|Jet Dream and her Stunt-Girl Counterspies]]'' were, as the name implies, Hollywood stuntwomen, and their fights tended to involve a lot of colorful acrobatic maneuvers.
* In all of the ''[[Sin City]]'' stories, Miho only gets struck once when she is caught up in a grenade's explosion (although there is a mention of her being at the mercy of Triads at one point). This is mostly to show how dangerous she is, rather than trying to avert the "no hitting girls" rules. ''[[Sin City]]'' doesn't exactly shy away from violence.
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== Fanfiction ==
* ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure Dragon (Fanfic)|Futari wa Pretty Cure Dragon]]'' has this, and it shows in at least several episodes, as both Cure Dragon and Cure Fortune employ this against the villains (with the latter making some good use of pirouettes in her fighting style). It's implied that both have had at least some gymnastics training.
 
 
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{{quote| '''John:''' I'm tired of this kung-fu bullshit!}}
** He also comments that she was [[Evil Is Sexy|hot]].
* Though not technically combat, Agent 99 uses nimble backflips and other gymnastics moves to thread her way through a laser web in the 2008 ''[[Get Smart (Filmfilm)|Get Smart]]'' movie.
** A similar bit appears in ''[[Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back]]''.
* The ''[[CharliesCharlie's Angels]]'' films features copious over-the-top She Fu.
* In ''[[Batman Returns (Film)|Batman Returns]]'', some of the circus acrobats uses both She Fu and He Fu.
** In ''[[Western Animation/Batman Beyond The Return Of The Joker|Batman Beyond The Return Of The Joker]]'', the Dee-Dee twins often She-Fu'ed.
* In ''[[Blade Runner (Film)|Blade Runner]]'', the replicant Pris beats up Deckard by using She Fu. The contrast between super-powered replicant's weird style and the pragmatic survival skills of Deckard is the central drama of their fight.
* In ''[[Iron Man 2 (Filmfilm)|Iron Man 2]]'', Black Widow uses over-the-top She Fu (and a dash of [[Masked Luchador|Lucha Libre]]) to clear the way to the [[Big Bad]]'s computer system. The slow motion seems to highlight the unnecessary nature, but she looked good doing it!
* Bambi and Thumper from ''[[Diamonds Are Forever (Film)|Diamonds Are Forever]]'', making this [[Older Than You Think]].
* In ''[[Total Recall (Film)|Total Recall]]'', Sharon Stone's character uses relatively sedate martial arts moves against Arnold's character, but thanks to some good fight choreography and Paul Verhoven's superb direction, they actually look like they could punch a hole through Arnold!
* ''Wendy Wu, Homecoming Warrior'' on [[Disney Channel]].
* Averted in the 1982 ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' film with Valeria. Sandahl Bergman, an accomplished dancer, did all of her own stunts, but her sword-fighting is as free of extraneous motions (with the exception of a [[Wall Jump]] thrust during the rescue of the princess) as the male heroes.
* Averted in most of Cynthia Rothrock's films. Her moves weren't any showier than male martial arts actors of the time, and she would regularly get brutally beaten by guys twice her size until the [[Heroic Second Wind]] kicked in. Or third wind, or fourth...
* Averted hard by the ''[[Kill Bill (Film)|Kill Bill]]'' movies. The Bride gave as good as she took. This led a few reviewers to claim the movies were hateful toward women since it essentially meant the character was being put through everything any male action character would be put through. Apparently, the critics wanted [[She Fu]] instead.
 
 
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** It can be noticed, though, if you watch e.g. ''Buffy'' closely: it's not jarringly over-abundant throughout the show, but it ''is'' there occasionally nontheless. Might depend on the director of the episode in question. Probably the most ''bizarre'' case of weird flip-stunts occurs in the season 3 episode "Earshot", when Buffy uses a combination of flips that ''defy the laws of physics'' to get up to her high school's clock tower as fast as possible. Likewise, if you watch River Tam's bar fight scene, it's there once or twice (after all, [[Summer Glau]] is a [[Dance Battler|ballet dancer]] herself.)
** Not surprisingly, Whedon himself lampshaded this in the commentary for the episode "The Harvest", where he states that he dislikes the use of it since it's more time-consuming to deal with the stunts and choreography.
* After becoming an [[I Know Karate|instant twelfth-degree black belt]] followed by gaining levitation abilities, Phoebe of ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]'' began to express the trope. As for the other two, the demons rarely ever even got close enough.
* ''[[Andromeda]]''
* ''[[Birds of Prey (TV series)|Birds of Prey]]''
* ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' is the queen of She Fu, and yet she still takes ''plenty'' of punches.
** Callisto in the same series is also a skilled practitioner. Over the course of the series Gabrielle also (slowly) learned the art, though generally she failed humorously when she tried.
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* Purdey of ''[[The New Avengers]]'' fought with moves learnt from her ballet career.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'''s Jenny can backflip her way though a corridor of deadly laser beams.
* The Queen in ''[[Queen of Swords (TV)|Queen of Swords]]'' mixed a large amount of acrobatics into her fight scenes.
* Yvonne Craig, who played Batgirl in ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'', was a trained ballerina. Batgirl's fighting style was heavily [[Dance Battler|dance-influenced]], with lots of spins and high kicks. Unlike Batman and Robin, she never threw or took a punch (though she would fairly often throw or wield an [[Improvised Weapon]]).
** There's one interesting exception to the above rule about punching. Batgirl takes several punches in "The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra" -- all from henchmen who are invisible.
* [[Amy Jo Johnson]] used to be a pro gymnast, so her character Kimberly from ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' naturally used [[She Fu]] in her fight scenes.
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** Also played straight with Cammy.
* Mai Shiranui of ''[[Fatal Fury]]'' and ''[[King of Fighters]]''
* [[Gender Inverted Trope|Gender inverted]] in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty]]''. Not only does it give its men [[Spy Catsuit|Spy Catsuits]], but also she-fu cartwheel kicks.
* Also [[Gender Inverted Trope|gender inverted]] in ''[[Resident Evil|Resident Evil 4]]''. ''Player Character'' Leon S. Kennedy performs multiple (usually pointless) evasive backflips and wall-jumps. Then again, despite the hot Asian chick, Leon seems to be the [[Dude Looks Like a Lady|pretty girl of that game]].
** Sheva and later {{spoiler|Jill}} perform lots of acrobatic somersaults and cartwheels for their physical attack follow-ups in ''[[Resident Evil 5]]''. Mercenaries Reunion would let Excella Gionne get in on the action, as well. Surprisingly averted with Rebecca Chambers, who's more of a [[Combat Pragmatist]].
* Morrigan Aensland of ''[[Darkstalkers (Video Game)|Darkstalkers]]'', combining Shotoclone goodness with [[Evil Is Sexy|sexy]] [[Hello, Nurse!|moves]]. Including hitting people with her [[Prehensile Hair|hair]]. Felicia also falls in this with her movements, showing just how flexible her cat body is, including using her own tail as a stand or weapon.
* Swordmasters of both sexes in most ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' games.
* Tiffany Lords from ''[[Rival Schools (Video Game)|Rival Schools]]'', who mixes up cheerleading acrobatics with a little bit of boxing, including [[Red Boxing Gloves|comically oversized boxing gloves]].
* How can we forget Echidna, from Squaresoft's ''[[The Bouncer]]''? Though she was definitely practicing Capoeira.
* Jade from ''[[Beyond Good and& Evil (Videovideo Gamegame)|Beyond Good and Evil]]'' has a fairly impressive talent for backflips (and front-flips) in battle. Then again, she does practice yoga, so perhaps she's just [[Justified Trope|really flexible.]]
* Until the second game the only practitioners in Bloody Roar (Long and crossdresser Fox) were MALE. Then Long takes the now-defused Tykebomb Uriko under his wing. Alice's kicks and flips are moderately more functional, being short, quick, and not too flashy, at least until she breaks out her beast form. Justified in that her beast form is a rabbit, though.
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'':
** Aqua in ''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep]]''. Her male friend Terra gets a long-distance forward dash, and her 'little brother' Ven gets the series-standard "Dodge Roll" somersault. Not Aqua. She ''cartwheels'' away from enemies.
** Larxene as well. Her game play and battle style are ''full'' of this, especially in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358 Days Over 2 (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2]]''. Flips, cartwheels, mid-air spins and mid-air ''drilling'', somersaults, etc.
** [[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts II]] [[Big Bad]] Xemnas fights this way flipping and spinning like crazy in his boss battles.
* Lili from ''[[Tekken]]'' fits this trope to a T. Has stylish balletic moves, with liberal use of flips. And a move where she does an aerial somersault; if she lands on the opponent's head, she does a double snap kick in the air. Take that, Reality!
* ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'': Sonya Blade says hi. Her signature move is doing a backflip, grabbing the opponent between her legs, and throwing them. She also uses this move to break Kano's neck in one of the movie versions, and in ''Mortal Kombat 4'' she has a fatality where she does a handstand and ''tears the opponent in half with her legs''.
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== Web Comics ==
* Oasis from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' uses this in spades, what with being a gymnast assassin and all.
* Jones from ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]''. In her one fight (or rather, a practice spar) she used a her agility and a variation on the [[Barehanded Blade Block]] to disarm her opponent and point his own sword at his neck. While wearing a thin, knee-length skirt. It's implied that she's more than human.
{{quote| '''Eglamore:''' I won't fight Jones.<br />
'''Antimony:''' ''(angrily)'' Why? Because she's a woman?<br />
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* ''[[Stripperella]]'' is prone to using sexy martial arts and "killer stripper moves" derived from her pole-dancing routine.
* Turanga Leela from ''[[Futurama]]'' frequently parodies this trope by showing the audience her martial-arts moves at the drop of a hat (doing a handstand to sneak over a subway turnstile, for instance).
* ''[[Batman: theThe Animated Series]]'':
** Robin actually had a fighting style like this. He was a trapeze artist in a circus before becoming Robin.
** In a straighter example, Batgirl was a skilled gymnast, and a girl in a skin-tight outfit, so she had this kind of fighting style.
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* Yumi from ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' frequently uses such moves when fighting in the virtual world, thanks to her increased agility and the low gravity of Lyoko. Less so in the real world, though, where she sticks to more basic martial arts.
* The girls of ''[[Totally Spies]]!''
* Blackarachnia in ''[[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'' did this to a small extent, but when she got a new, sexier body in ''[[Beast Machines (Animation)|Beast Machines]]'', she was suddenly all about twisting and stretching.
* ''[[Dragons Fire and Ice]]'' has Kyra using loads of flips and kicks during her duel with Dev, who just uses archaic and brutish forms of "swing the sword in that general direction until something dies".
* ''[[DC Showcase: Catwoman]]''
 
{{reflist}}
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