I agree on all your points, and couldn't have said it much better myself. Target: Renegade was the first game I can ever remember making me think for the first time about this kind of stuff. That's now lead me to an interest and a forum like this. I guess it really is a small world, heh.
Beyond their sexy design, all boobs, minidress and heels, these girls were a lot more hands-on and brutal than other female fighters at the time. None of the usual kick-flips and so on, none of the often ladylike behaviour, they waded in with punches, spiked bats and knees. Rather than the usual 'quick speed, low power' routine they could clearly hit just as hard as the hero and out-muscle him if he wasn't careful.
I too loved the way they would trap you between them, both girls landing punches then one of them pressing up close behind a grabbed hero as if cutting off any chance of escape. Or how it wasn't just a single knee but three, the hooker holding your hero firmly in place, completely helpless to stop her as she took her time in landing three crushing blows.
I mean, damn, just look at that second gif you posted. Classic example there of this. The martial-artist hero's got the spiked club and he's facing a scantily-clad woman. She should be in serious trouble. Instead she punches him senseless, ruthlessly beats his balls until he collapses then tramples her hooker heels over him to grab the club for herself. Pretty owned there.
It was a great game anyway, finished it several times, but that second level made it memorable. On odd occasion I'd zip through the first level then just leave the keyboard alone and let the hookers beat and bust the hell out of the poor hero. Does that lean towards...gyaku, is it? New words for me. On the other hand if you like you can clobber this level full of zakos so that fits too!
Later on there were others, like Poison and Roxy in Final Fight or those zakos in Dynamic Cop (over here it was called Die Hard Arcade), but Target: Renegade was where it started for me.
Okay, enough memory lane babbling, lol.