After her parents were brutally murdered, school girl Sawa was taken into custody by Akai and Kanie, a pair of detectives assigned to her case. Corrupt and immoral, they train the girl to become a weapon, dangling the promise of vengeance in front of the hapless orphan. From celebrities and politicians to influential businessmen, Sawa is tasked with assassinating targets selected arbitrarily by her crooked overseers. She executes every mission without fail, and her distinctive weapon has become infamous among the city's police officers.
Physically abused by Akai, who is no more righteous than her victims, Sawa begins to dream of a life unhindered by the shadow of her "guardians." One day, Sawa meets Oburi, a fellow orphan and vigilante. They quickly form a bond born of desperation and disgruntlement at the unjust world, envisioning a future free from the stain of murder.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
5hreddy
Story: Well, first things first. This isn't a Hentai in the 'traditional' sense. To call it so would be a misrepresentation of the movie. It's more of an action-packed drama which happens to feature nudity which actually fits with main plot. The synopsis pretty much sums it up and is essentially about a 'hit-girl' (as opposed to hitman). For what is essentially and hour-long anime, it really packs a lot in there. Lots of bloody violence which is nicely balanced with the more emotional side of things (plus some nudity to add to the dimension of things). I felt the plot moved at a niceeven rate and I didn't feel bored at any point.
Animation: Well, for a 10 year-old anime is was very well animated. Everything looked smooth and sharp and the slightly more 'old-skool' style simply added to the grittiness of the content. The fight scenes were one of the highlights as the choreography was really well done and really got you into the scene.
Sound: Does exactly what it says on the tin. No particularly memorable themes or anything but the sound effects were exactly as you would expect.
Character: Without giving too much away. The characters developed well over the course of the anime and you empathise with the main characters and end up disgusted by the way some of the others treat them in such a way that you expect the director was aiming for. A definite plus.
Enjoyment: As you would expect I enjoyed it quite a bite due to the reasons mentioned above and I wouldn't be against possibly watching it again.
Overall, I would have to say that if you're looking for some proper hentai then look elsewhere, but if you want to see a good piece of quality anime then this is something I'd recommend :) .
Sick_Bastard
MAL rates this as an 'Rx - Hentai' but I would say that it is still an Rx, but not strictly a hentai. It has scenes of full penetration sex, and nudity, but it serves only to further the plot and help you understand the characters. Take this into mind that this is not a hentai, but has the graphic sexual content of one. Story: - 8/10 - Very Good The story in this OVA is rather hard to describe without giving many spoilers, but essentially it is about a teenage girl who is involved with a crooked cop after her parents are murdered, who makes herand another boy kill people who have done wrong. Doesn't sound special, does it? Seems we have seen things like this before, right? Wrong. This OVA provides so many subtle plot twists and turns that until the end of the show, you have no clue what is going on. Let me continue to warn you though, it is very, very graphic.
Art - 10/10 - Outstanding
Even by today's standards, the art in this is beautiful. The characters are well-designed, the layout of the rooms and city is good, and the backgrounds are detailed to the point of insanity. This OVA is about ten years old too boot, which makes the art even more impressive. Blood and gore is used heavily, but not in situations that it wouldn't be appropriate, and it is semi-believable considering the weapons the people are using for the killing.
Sound - ?/10 - ???
I can't comment on the sound, as I watched this on my computer, and my sound is broken. I would imagine that it would be good though. See other reviews to see how the sound is.
Character - 7/10 - Good
The characters in this OVA are actually rather good considering it's length. The line between hero and villain is stepped on many times. The character development in this series is very good too, as I have said before, it keeps you guessing who-did-what the entire show, and keeps you on edge. There are not many characters though, but the ones that are, they are put together nicely and have believable personalities.
Enjoyment - 10/10 - Outstanding
I haven't enjoyed an Anime this much is a long time. Too bad it is only 2 episodes. I would probably re-watch it if I had time, but it is rather memorable.
Overall - 8/10 - Very Good
Once you watch Kite, you will not forget it. It is an anime that is truly unique from it's counterparts, in a way that some thought to be impossible. A final warning is that this anime contains rape, blood and gore, full nudity, sex, mild cursing, and sex scenes involving characters whose age is hard to determine. I would say that this series would be alright for people who are looking for an anime that pushes the envelope on what is publishable. For the weak of heart - stay away, you will be revolted beyond belief.
lawlmartz
"A pencil looks better in my hand than a gun does." -Sawa Preface: Well, I'll be honest, the pencil probably should have been in the hand of a writer who was a little more focused on characterization, but was instead passed off to a guy who knows how to write brutal, over the top action and hit you with the shocker. Exploitative, violent, and outrageous- this one is a cult classic among the ranks of your Violence Jacks and Mad Bull 34's. Art: 8 To have appeared in 1998, the time at which animation had started the gold rush towards computers and getting away from the pencils andpens, Kite looks pretty good for one of the holdouts of hand-drawn anime.
The blood and gore effects are appropriately squishy and splatter like so many bugs on the windshield. Kite has these fun little guns with timed explosive bullets that also lead to interesting results... Head explosions, bodies ripped apart by gunfire, stabbings, severed limbs, meat fountains, it's all here. There's even a flying head sent off to the metro by an explosion.
Sound and Voice Acting: 6
Sound consists mostly of some groovy Books-A-Million jazz muzak, gunfire, explosions, and groaning.
Not a whole lot to say, there's really not an incredibly nuanced, detail oriented script with dynamic, emotional performances in this one. It's competently handled, nothing special. Of the two versions I saw, the re-release in DD 5.1 is vastly improved.
Characters: 7
Tiny cast in this one. Emotionless, repressed Sawa takes center stage. She is presented as a tragic anti-heroine, her parents were murdered and she was taken in by sadistic cop/forensic investigator Akai, who turns her into his personal killer for those people he believes have escaped justice. (If you've seen the Showtime series "Dexter", they totally ripped Kite off.)
The other two named characters are Oburi and Kanie. Oburi is a young man, approximately the same age as Sawa, who also moonlights as a contract killer. Kanie is the assistant to Akai, and sets up the hits.
Story: 7
Kite is a fairly basic revenge narrative with a couple of good twists thrown in at the end. It's quite short, so there's not much I can say here that won't spoil it, but it depicts the tale of ambiguously teenaged hit-woman, Sawa, and her killings at the behest of her psychopathic, abusive guardian, Akai. She deals with his abuses while attempting to discover the killer of her parents, while at the same time undertaking dangerous assassination missions for seemingly little reward. Carrying her anger and desire for vengeance forward, she'll stop at nothing to even the score, and reclaim her life as her own.
Enjoyment: 8
I really did like this one, it hit me with some shock and disgust I haven't seen since Violence Jack, with violence, blood and gore to match. About 152 gallons of blood are spilled, various visceral dismemberments, and overall over the top and stylized, but brutal action. As a quick action flick, it succeeds in giving you what you asked for: guns, child murderers, and a dose of filth.
(Note: I heavily disagree with the hentai tag, here. While containing explicit scenes, that does not form the basis for the story of Kite, it's merely a tool used to provide character background and add another layer of in-your-face)
Overall: 7
Kite is a decent late night film that's worth watching if you like mildly disturbing, violent, cult classic anime. The twists were good, the ending was satisfying, and it's got crazy gore effects, what more can you ask for?
Recommend?
If you're seeking some gruesome dismemberment and straight up, unfiltered violence in the vein of 80's gorefest exploitation OVAs, look no further.
NOT FOR KIDS!
Kite: brought to you in part by studio Arms, the makers of Elfen Lied!
Squigsquasher
This is an interesting one. Whilst commonly just referred to as a hentai, Kite is a lot more than that- it's more like a crime thriller/assassin drama that has a lot of (surprisingly fitting) sex in it. It belongs to the large family of hyper-violent oversexed OVAs the 90s birthed so many of. Unlike most of those, however, it's actually fairly good. The story is fairly simple. Sawa, a girl with a mysterious and bloody past, is an assassin, trained to kill without mercy and leave no signs of her presence. She's also involved with a ring of killers and criminals, and is in a somewhat one-sidedsexual relationship with the boss. She later meets another trainee killer, Oburi, and without giving too much away, things go down south. It's a fairly minimalistic story, but it gets the job done and it's by no means bad.
The characters are...fairly forgettable. You have your quiet, emotionless killer girl, your corrupt gravelly voiced boss, your naive everyman who gets himself in hot water...the usual suspects. Nobody really stands out, although they at least seem to behave fairly convincingly.
The animation is surprisingly good. It has that nice look to it that only hand-painted cels do, and the animation is smooth throughout. Everything is nicely detailed and the fights are something to behold. Even the sex scenes looked decent, which is surprising as they seemed fairly shoehorned in for the sake of "eh, we need to sell this thing, let's put some bonking in it".
The music was forgettable but good. It wasn't memorable but at no point was I thinking "this music is getting on my tits". The voice acting was pretty decent- there's actually some English voice acting in the Japanese voicetrack, and against all probability it's actually good.
The sex scenes are OK- honestly they seem to be played more for drama/"This is a gritty, depressing place" than titilation, as is often the case with these OVAs. Honestly you could take them out and be left with a decent assassin movie. They don't really detract from it though, so eh.
Overall, Kite is a decent movie, especially compared to most other boobs and blood 90s OVAs. It's not very long and it's fairly enjoyable, so if you enjoy sex and violence and want to experience an obscure bit of OVA history I'd give it a go. It was never released outside of Japan uncensored, but a completely uncut version is easily found online.
Overall: 7/10
lukanicoletta
There is one main reason why people watch Kite, and that is because it is controversial. It has become a "cult classic" and has gained a reputation for being raunchy, violent, and graphic; thus, people endlessly continue to talk about it and seek it out. For the love of God, please do not even bother seeking it out. Boring, incoherent, disturbing, disgusting, and incompetent, Kite is neither fun to watch nor even fascinating as "so bad its good" cinema. The one positive aspect is the art, which is all the keeps me from failing it, and it is otherwise a disaster. The characters are bland, the storyis poorly-told, the film's tone leans heavily towards that of disturbing, fetishist pornography, and the ending is probably the most sociopathic thing I have ever seen in film or television.
In short, this is an unpleasant mess, and your time is better spent elsewhere.
GhostCell
Short and to the point. The Action as is the best part of the anime well done and animated (aside from one or two parts). The art is the second best part of the anime it holds up even in 2011 with its nicely detailed world and characters. If you're a fan of the late 90s art style you're going to love the nostalgia factor. Sadly it misses out on what I believe would have made the anime great, the relationship between the two protagonists. At just 56 minutes it's barely enough time to allow the viewer to see the two protagonists connect with eachother. They waisted valuable minutes on sex scenes instead of relationships building.
The soundtrack is mostly poorly chosen saxophone based jazz pieces which, in my opinion, are not worth hearing.
Overall it gets a 5 out 10 for failing in the end to succeed in one of the anime's main selling point, how two teenage hitmen grow their relationship through the hardships of having two live on the edge of society.
ExtendedRenegade
Kite is a...unique...show. I mean that in terms of the curious history attatched to it as well as in the actual content. For those who don't know the story, Kite is a rather controversial movie, so much so that it's been banned in several countries, most notably for the sex scenes involving Sawa. Despite the official word describing her as a college student, her appearance is that of a girl much younger in age, combine that with full penetration sex scenes and it's not too tough to understand the problems. So, if you're not too keen on that, and you still want to watch it, you havethe original release available which cut out all the nudity, whereas the more "popular" Uncut version has all the original content featured in the Japanese release. There's also an intermediary "Directors Cut" version that has all the gore and features nudity, but still has the sex scenes cut out.
As far as the story goes, it revolves around Sawa, a girl who becomes an orphan at an early age after her parents are murdered. She eventually falls under the guardianship of Akai, a detective who essentially forces her into becoming an assassin and sex slave. Eventually she runs into another young assassin named Oburi who is also working under Akai. So yeah, it's a pretty generic story, and to be honest, short of the ending, there's nothing really notable about it. They could have added a nice extra dimension to the plot if they would have elaborated more on the relationship between Sawa and Oburi, which would have also helped viewers get little more attatched to the characters, but sadly, that doesn't happen.
As far as the sex scenes go, there aren't really that many. The show has to be listed as hentai due to the fact that the sex scenes that are in it are fully depicted and contain full penetration, but if you're expecting this to be porn you'll be disappointed. They're used more for plot purposes and as easy "shock and awe" tools...though I'll admit the last sex scene caught me off gaurd; it's actually quite emotional in a disturbing way and rather effectively enforces your hatred of Akai.
Speaking of that, as far as the characters go...they're pretty bland, except for Sawa. Her backstory and character development is actually done pretty well. She's had a pretty awful life, and you'll likely end up feeling for her by the end of the movie, but the problem is that she's really the only character they go into any depth about. Oburi's story is delved into a bit, but not nearly enough to get a full understanding of him, and definitely not enough to get invested in him at all. Considering he's the closest thing Sawa has to a love interest, that's a shame.
In the sound department, things are kind of...meh. Watching the English dub is a somewhat painful experience due to the terrible VO work done on Sawa. I have no idea who Charlie Watson is, but it's all too clear why she's never done VO work before or after Kite. Completely devoid of any emotion whatsoever, Sawa sounds something like a female Ben Stein. And that's as horrifying as it sounds considering the content of the show, though I think the worst moment is actually Sawa screaming after jumping out a window during a certain scene. As far as the rest of the cast goes, they're passable, though they sound heavenly next to Sawa.
Honestly, the show has two things going for it; the art and the action scenes. The art is actually very well done for the most part, bearing some similarity to Cowboy Bebop. It is a show from the 90's, so it will look a little aged now, but for the most part, it still looks pretty impressive. The only issue is that this quality is somewhat inconsistent from character to character, the worst being Kanie. I get that they did it purposely to coincide with his personality, but he just looks so...terrible.
As mentioned the action scenes are also pretty well done too. They're mainly showcases for Sawa's unique bullets which explode after a delay upon entering the victim, and they're all extremely gory, but the results are pretty cool.
Honestly, this is a pretty skip-able show. The only real reason to watch it is to see exactly why it's so shrouded in controversey, but if you're not into extreme gore and graphic sex there isn't much to see. The art is nice, but if you really want to see good art from the era, you're better off heading towards the aformentioned Cowboy Bebop.
animegorey
Kick ass anime. Must watch the uncut version. Great violence and graphic gore. Animation is superb, story is twisted and perverse, plenty of sex and violence. Profanity is common. I wish they continued this series cause 2 episodes is NOT enough.
erwinmm89
This short OVA actually surpassed my expectations for it. First of all, it's not a hentai per se; it's an interesting story where corruption, murdering and sex merge, all of them being very explicit. After reading the synopsis, you might think you've watched this same plot before in other animes, but Kite presents it to you in it's own unique way, with a lot of interesting and unexpected turn of events. The art is pretty good when compared in both decades, when it was aired and the present day; it adds to the mood of the anime. Sound effects and voice acting was acceptably good, justthe necessary to make things work.
Character development is presented in a very smooth manner, and by the end of the OVA you get to understand the main characters pretty well.
This "hentai" proved to be very nice. As I stated before, it surpassed my expectations and actually entertained me with a good storyline. Watch it.
unimportantuser
So I’m going to do something that a reviewer should probably never do, that being starting off with a biased statement. But I don’t care, I hate Kite. Kite is genuinely one of the most unpleasant experiences I ‘ve ever had watching an anime. I would rather watch Dark Cat & Sword For Truth 3 times in one day each, rewatch Green Green & Girls & Panzer in their entirety, & complete conception before I ever think about watching Kite again. I’ve blabbered on long enough, let's rip this piece of shit apart. Story & Characters: What story? Kite’s “story” is nothing but a series of inconsequentialevents that exist only to build up to the action sequences. The supposed “set-up” of this story is that our main character Sawa is being controlled by a crooked cop or some shit, & she’s basically made to go around killing people because? I hardly know what the story is supposed to be. I stated it earlier, but the story is pretty much non-existent & only exists to show the action sequences. Don’t expect the show to ever give the characters motivation or flesh them out, because this was pretty much only made for action sequences and nothing else.
The characters in this anime SUCK. They’re nothing but blank slates with no motivation attached to them. They’re (well, really Sawa & nobody else) given “backstory” about how her parents were killed, but it’s hard for me to really care when I’m not shown how this affects Sawa. She just goes on killing whoever her master tells her to. There's a guy character in there who helps Sawa kill people, but he’s given nothing to make me care about him. You could sum up the characters two words “Blank” “Slates”.
Art:
The art is probably the best thing about Kite, and it isn’t even that good. The art isn’t awful admittedly. When you compare it to something like Dark Cat or Sword For Truth, the artwork is competent & professionally made. But just because you’re better at art than Dark Cat & Sword For Truth, that doesn’t make your art good. Background characters look like utter trash & have barely any effort put into them. No faces up the wa-zoo, terrible line art, & bad proportions. Backgrounds have a surprising amount of effort put into them admittedly, I hate to say it, but the creators did do a decent job at nailing the sleazy city aesthetic. The animation is ok, I could see why people probably thought these were impressive action sequences back when this anime came out, but I’m still not letting this anime get a pass because the animation is half-way decent.
Sound:
The sound is by-far the least offensive part of this OVA. The voice acting sucks. Mainly because the actors try taking their roles seriously in a story that lacks anything to make me care about the characters they're playing. But to top it off, they just sound bored. Dark Cat is actually more enjoyable in this aspect, because at least the Hentai actors who have no idea on how to convey actual dialogue can lead to some hilariously cheesy lines that make me laugh. Kite just bores me to death.
The music in kite is ok. There’s some honest to god decent pieces sprinkled in here, but most of the pieces are just forgettable above all else.
Overall:
You’ve probably guessed it by now, but I hate Kite. Kite is genuinely the second worst anime I’ve ever seen. There’s nothing here but boredom and action sequences that mean nothing. The big overall problem with Kite is that it isn’t self-aware of how absurd & stupid it is as a story. The creators actually took this piece of shit seriously without doing anything a serious work would do to make you care about the story. There’s no character development, intriguing plotlines, challenges the characters must go through, there’s literally nothing here but action sequences that don’t even look good.
I’ll be honest, I knew Kite wasn’t going to be good going into it, but I didn’t ask Kite to be good. All I asked Kite to do was make me laugh, but it couldn’t even do something as simple as make me laugh. It’s not hard to make me laugh btw, I’ll laugh at some of the stupidest shit ever, but Kite took itself so seriously that the creators scrubbed through it to make sure there were no unintentional laughs to be had. FUCK I HATE KITE
What else pisses me off about Kite is the fact that somebody greenlit an HD Remaster of this shit, & a company like Media Blasters had the audacity to bring that shit over to the states on Blu-Ray. Fuck giving Rurouni Kenshin a remaster, fuck Kare Kano (the upscale it got doesn’t count), fuck Now & Then Here & There, fuck The Ping Pong Club, fuck bringing Macross over to the states, fuck licensing Monster, fuck bring Maison Ikkoku on Blu-Ray over here to the states. KITE BABY! KITE IS THE FUCKING SHIT THAT MAKES US MONEY!
You’ve probably guessed it by now, but my final score of Kite is going to be a 1/10.
angelsreview
This is… I don’t really know how to explain this one. It’s not all that enjoyable, and yet, it’s got a strange feeling. It’s not even what I would consider a Hentai since there were very few sex scenes, most consisting of story plot instead. The story is actually very easy to understand because it’s actually a plot that has been played out over and over again. Sawa is a rather interesting character as she seems to only have two emotions, mysterious and shouting out. Seriously, out of all the characters, she being a main character should have more then those two emotions. It alsoseemed that there were more scenes of Oburi or Akai instead of Sawa.
The animation is pretty vintage and doesn’t really stand out much from most hentai related anime though it does have a small air of people holding back trying to make some things look too out of proportioned. Sadly, they did not hold back on the large masses that the men have. They feel rather unrealistic and way to big for the body and old man style.
The English Voices were hard to hear as I had to keep turning it up to listen to the voices, then turn it down at the sex scenes and fight scenes because of all the screaming and yelling in it. The music didn't stand out at all and really needed to be turned up a hair. Sawa was actually done pretty well for what it was worth though she was reading most of the lines it seemed.
TheAceAttorney
Guys, Kite is not that great c'mon now. I know it's easy to dismiss it as an "intellectually-charged hentai" due to the loss of more sex scenes, but this couldn't be further from the truth. [SPOILERS] For one, I outright laughed while watching this several times. Apparently reaction time is non-existent. Obori has an explosion happen right in front of him, and notices 10 seconds later. This moment is worth pointing out as well 21:18 (Man really took 5 minutes to identify that Sawa was INDEED a female). The tv guy gets shot in the head and is still alive for a few seconds, as well. Anddon't even get me started on the pacing. There's a scene around the 15 minute mark, where Sawa and Obori are talking to each other and Sawa flat out asks Obori a question, he leaves for 2 minutes, returns and then STILL takes forever to answer the question. Also, that scene where Sawa fell from the bathroom...This is not how city infrastructure works obviously: She would have hit the ground; the car would not have broken through the subway and etc. unleashing this chain effect.
So why a 10? Once again, this is a HENTAI. Meaning it follows my different rating system. Most Hentai doesn't even have a plot at all, so for the plot here to be even vaguely decent is a major win here. Still, there are are some major faults within the OVA's logic: If Sawa knew that Kaine and dude who's name I already forgot were her parents' murders, why didn't she act earlier? Answer: Plot. There are many moments like this, where I'm just like -_-. I do really feel the ending saves it though. While to some it may seem like an asspull to have the kid on the street, who Obori interacted with for a second, actually be a spy; to me I thoroughly enjoyed the twist as it played into the theme that corruption is so widespread, that we can't distinguish it. Still, if you give this Hentai a score from 1-5 I am inclined to agree with you.
Story: 7
Art: 5
Sound: 5
Character: 5
Enjoyment: 5
lorextreme
(if you are reading for a recommendation yes watch it the atmostphere is great, it just have some drawbacks but its very good) Man, this could've been a masterpiece if it wasn’t so explicit. From the start, I loved the action, the atmosphere, and the background music — even the credits had me like, ‘omg.’ I usually check out ratings from my 'friends' on this site, and I was surprised that most people were giving it a 7, even those who tend to be super critical with low scores. So I thought that this was gonna be good cause from what i watched from a clipit had very good action, but reading here in MyAnimeList it was also hentai, that I dont mind if it's just well delved, but most the time it isnt.
For me it's good if it mix well and serves the story. Like in Catherine (ATLUS) that I played recently, and while that wasn’t as explicit, it had its sexual elements that blended well because sex isn’t the problem. It’s when it doesn’t fit that it gets weird (a feeling I had with Golgo 13: Queen Bee for example).
SPOILERS NOW
Now with A Kite, the sexual content felt like a nuisance. It interrupted the action and story. I have this vague idea that sexual scenes are supposed to make things feel more mature, I feel like they accomplish this using the sex scenes well to show how Akai was a terrible person who abused others, like with Sawa, or how reckless Kanie was. But because the scenes were so long, they ended up interrupting the flow of the story and became more of a nuisance than anything, it made me want to skip the scene and that's bad for a piece of media usually. "You made the point can you continue the story pls" kinda feeling.
Wrapping this up because I don’t wanna ramble too much - this is still probably one of the best stories I’ve watched. Sure, there were a few things I didn’t like, like the plot armor in that falling scene (you know the one), but overall, the atmosphere, the music, everything was on point. Even the story itself was really good. I’m usually a bit biased towards 90s animation but this was genuinely good.
(Well i noticed there is censored version that is kinda like a "Director Cut", cause the director didnt really wanna put that parts but did wanna do this anime so the only way to make it was with this studio that impose to make all the part i didnt like, well i havent watched that and watched the uncensored, one version with all the scenes (cause when i downloaded it i wanted the best quality and that seemed to be), so yeah i guess if you watch the censored version it will be a lot better, but it still haves sex scenes.)
CaptainKenshiro
There was a time when A Kite (or Kite) was the most famous porn anime before it was completely overshadowed by Sei Shoujo’s creations (especially Bible Black) and why not? I mean it is an adult oriented movie that is not only porn, but also a heavy action packed film, a crime thriller and a psychological drama too! Sounds amazing on paper but its execution is far from being equally good. The plot is about two teenagers, a guy (Oburi) and a girl (Sawa), who work as assassins for two corrupt private detectives, and she is also constantly abused by one of them and carries witha tragic past.
The main problem this film has is its duration; it lasts for only fifty minutes and tries to pack all of the aforementioned elements, what could go wrong, right? Well, almost everything, but let’s go by parts, starting with the few positives things I can say about this title.
The production values are very good, even impressive for a hentai title, and even more when you take in count that this was the first work that studio Arms made, yes, there are some quality drops but to the most part it has a very solid visual presentation. The character designs are rather unique and there’s a lot of detail to them, even in their genitalia and body fluids, the motions are really fluid on the action sequences, which are packed with a lot of detailed and very well drawn graphic violence and big explosions. The sex sequences have good motions too, along with lots of positions and camera angles. And I must not forget to mention that the film did a good job depicting a neo-noir aesthetic with its rotten city filled with dark colors and the use of lots of shadows, everything accompanied with a splendid direction, at least when it comes to visual department…
You see, the sound department is not as polished, the sound effects and voice acting are overall good, but the soundtrack is not. Actually it’d be more accurate to say that is great but is terribly handled, as if they just told the guy that played the saxophone: “ok, do it” and they didn’t know how to integrate it to the movie afterwards, it even results in some unplanned comical moments.
Visual department and sex sequences aside, there’s nothing more that I could praise about this film; the good ideas were there but the handling of them wasn’t good at all. I can sort of accept that the plot is actually dark and the tone remains serious to the very end, but even that is debatable. With a runtime this short and so many things to portray, the plot comes off as rushed and the characters feel inconsistent. The movie spends most of its time in sex scenes that not always serve a purpose in the story and action sequences that, even if they are well animated as I said before, last for too long and take valuable screen time that is not invested on Sawa’s personal drama; and are also so over the top that you can’t take them seriously from a certain point. Her story is shown mostly in briefs flashbacks; because sex and gore seem to be more important in the director’s mind. The whole story doesn’t even have a good ending since it ends with a cliffhanger.
Sawa is the most inconsistent character here, the first time she appears kills someone with ease, then feels sorry for an old woman, then seems to be an android that can kill easily, have her eyes wide open and never looks at Oburi and looks at the camera instead with a soulless expression, then she jokes with him while you can tell that there’s a romantic relationship building up between them, and all of that in only the firsts 13 minutes of the movie! Imagine how much she is rewritten throughout the whole film. As for the rest, they are not even worth to talk about, the two antagonists are complete one dimensional assholes so the viewer can easily hate them right away, and then there’s Oburi, a guy that overreacts and shoots at a basketball for a stupid reason and there’s no more information about him, seriously.
So down to it, the movie is just a mess. The action is not good because it’s too exaggerated and you end up laughing on those scenes; the thriller part is not captivating because of how little time there’s invested to it, the drama is boring because you barely know something about the characters, and the one you know the most about is constantly being rewritten, the plot is erratic due to a short runtime wasted on style instead of substance, and also lacks a proper ending, and the tone is not so serious either, because of how unintentionally comical the film is sometimes. The only solid things in this ambitious movie end up being the porn scenes and the visual presentation.
A Kite is just bad and does not deserve its praise, I know that it shocked people for being an animated porn movie with plot, but if this is how well it can handle it, then it should have aimed for something much more simple yet polished, like 15 bishoujo, and lots of other hentai did.
And the worst part of it is that it received a sequel ten years later that doesn’t even have any well-made sex scene or good animation; Kite Liberator is just a complete disaster in absolutely every department.
A Kite 3/10
Kite Liberator 1/10
liquidbluedreamz
The 90s were full of ambitious and creative pieces of art all over, in terms of music and animation. Great bands were redefining what pop music was, like Nirvana, REM, Green Day, Korn, Marilyn Manson, and various other alternative acts. While in animation, there was the slew of classic Disney films that came out at the time throughout the decade. However, what was even more important was the amount of edgy, bloody, “mature” anime direct-to-video OVAs that were coming out from Japan. While many people today would identify anime with something like Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Naruto, etc, the perception of anime was differentduring the early 90s. Whether it be with OAVs like MD Geist or movies like Ninja Scroll and Akira, anime had the reputation of being dark, gritty, and more mature than the usual American cartoon. Those were the shows that would always get localized in the states. Kite is reminiscent of those times when anime was a little more gutsy with it’s presentation and how it didn’t have any qualms with doing thinks differently. It has also stood out as a cult classic among the high volume of edgy OVAs that came from the same era. The question remains, however, is can it hold up now?
Our protagonist, Sawa, is a schoolgirl orphaned after the tragic double-murder of both her parents. At a young age, she’s been taken in by a corrupt and abusive cop, Akai. As Akai took the responsibility as her guardian, he promises her that if she complies with all his wishes, including being an assassin to kill other criminals, he can help her find her parents’ killer and avenge their death. Trapped in the hellish cycle of being a victimized cold-blooded killer, the only thing that has driven Sawa is her thirst for revenge. However, once she meets another orphaned assassin in a similar situation, Oburi, things begin to change as they strike a bond. Oburi strives to put an end to the abuse and help himself and Sawa find her parents’ murderers, breaking the chains once and for all.
One thing that’s immediately noticeable, and sometimes jarring, is the artistic style of this film. It’s surely not a flawless piece of work, as there are plenty of still frames that last way too long for a 45 minute OAV. There are also plenty of scenes when the art itself isn’t consistent, with characters going completely off model in certain scenes (particularly when Sawa kills someone). However, Kite makes up for that with plenty of action scenes with full animation (physics be damned!). The highlights include a sequence of Sawa fighting bodyguards in a public restroom to falling out of a window of a tall building. That was a thrill to watch along with Oburi fighting on the train. Kite, as a whole, may be very inconsistent and could only be considered nice to look at if you take out half the scenes and reanimate them. However, the good outweighs the bad in this case, as the good parts are really good.
The narrative itself, while edgy in terms of the concept of the story, is flawed in execution. It doesn’t seem like this showing is trying to be progressive by any means. Instead, it feels like Kite needed an excuse to have a sexualized protagonist that needs sympathy from the audience and kick-ass action scenes. While it does succeed in being fun and compelling to watch, nothing about the characters stand out as memorable.
The reason for not feeling memorable is the lack of detail. Sawa was the only character whose story was explained and all it really did was have the audience feel bad for her and hope that she can finally be free from all the madness. The detail was lacking everywhere else. It would’ve been nice to explain what the deal was with Akai and the corrupt police force that he worked for. There were brief glimpses here and there about what they were actually using Sawa for but not enough to really make it interesting or a focus. Again, it all seemed like vague excuses to make Sawa a vulnerable killer. The most disappointing aspect is Oburi’s character. He’s a character that should’ve had as much detail explained about him as Sawa. There wasn’t enough and he mostly just looked like the guy that played hero, admirable as that is. What could’ve caused the lack of detail was the lack of run-time. There was a lot more that could’ve been done with a story like this to really make it impacting to the viewer and make him/her think. Instead, what’s left is simplicity in 45 minutes. It should’ve been 90 minutes.
The music, while fitting the scenes appropriately, don’t come off as memorable at all. The only things that really stood out were the sound effects than anything. Having Kite released with remastered video and audio (5.1 Surround Sound) sure has it’s benefits.
The voice-over performances are done well in English. In fact, there seemed to be more passion in the English performances than the Japanese. The English script seems to take more liberties than need be. However, it felt appropriate. There was a lot more swearing the dialogue, for instance, in order to fit with how trashy the show is. Overall, this is one of those shows where the viewer will be more engaged when watching the dub rather than the original Japanese track.
Kite is one of those short films that are one of a kind in terms of the style that it has. The story, on the other hand, has been done better before and after it’s inception. Due to it’s short run time, it can be fun to watch as a spectacle alone in some scenes and the story is engaging enough to get someone interested in what happens. There won’t be much else if one is expecting more though.
LoveLikeBlood
Kite is perhaps one of the most controversial anime in the West. It was banned and censored in numerous countries due to its depiction of underage sex and remains so to this day. It is also, oddly enough, highly influential as scenes have been gleefully nicked by the pop punk band No Doubt for their Ex Girlfriend music video, Quentin Tarantino has cited the protagonist as an influence on the character of Gogo Yubari in Kill Bill and it has had an oft-maligned live action remake starring Samuel L. Jackson and helmed by South African director Ralph Ziman (of Jerusalema fame). But is this strangelyprominent title any good? Well, that is the purpose of this review, so let's cut the bullshit and dive right in.
Kite's plot revolves a teenage girl named Sawa who is an assassin and sex slave under her guardian, named Akai, who had also killed her parents. The story kicks into gear when she strikes up an unlikely friendship with another young assassin named Oburi.
The OVA takes on numerous styles and that is its most notable flaw. It tries to be a John Woo-esque action film, a salacious exploitation flick and a serious character study in just 50 minutes. Due to it being confined to this short running time, the changes in tone and pace feel really jarring and thus break immersion. The sort running time also negatively affects the story as it tries to cram a lot into the last fifteen or so minutes resulting in the climax feeling rushed and is something of a trainwreck.
The animation wasn't bad however, as the action scenes felt fluid and were honestly well choreographed. The OVA opts for more realistic looking character designs with the exception of Sawa, who still looks very anime-esque.
The soundtrack consists mostly of jazz and has a film noir-esque feel. I personally ratherenjoyed it and it enhanced the somber mood of the more serious scenes.
In conclusion Kite is a bizarre little OVA which had potential to be a fun grindhouse-esque title but squandered said potential which resulted in a tonally jarring mess. I cannot call Kite good in all consciousness but it definitely has its redeeming qualities.
This may surprise some of you but I would actually recommend checking it out, if only for its place within the medium as an influential title.
kekekeKaj
The first thing that struck me about "Kite" is how squeaky clean the artwork looks. But after a while it started feeling *too* clean, like the characters are all made from porceline or something. Apart from the overly polished artwork, everything else about "Kite" feels rough and raw. Kite tries to be stylish with the action, and though it succeeds at times, it often ends up being waaaay too over the top. There is one scene where someone comes crashing down onto a car that's on a flyover, and the force of this caused the part of the flyover that's beneath the car to crumble...the car then fell through onto a truck on the road below... which in turn caused that part of the road to collapse... and so the truck to fell through into an underground tunnel where it exploded, blowing the original guy who fell onto the car right out of that hole and through the window of a building some distance away. You may think I'm exaggerating, but sadly I'm not - the whole sequence is almost like a sketch from a Looney Toons cartoon.
The problem with Kite is that it comes to far less than the sum of its parts. Looking at each category individually, most of it is pretty well done, even if it is some way short of being sublime, but putting it all together gives you something that's strangely disappointing. The story in particular has buckets of potential - it can be brutal, heavy and intense in places and there are some shocking twists along the way, but ultimately it is under-developed and went to waste as the producers seemed more concerned with making pr0n rather than a good anime. Some of the scenes are disgustingly hardcore so I assumed that it was the uncut version that I was watching, but then I found out that the uncut version is an hour long and the version I watched was only about 45 minutes. I'm guessing they removed 15 minutes of kiddy pr0n, but what's left is still pretty bad.
I suppose "Kite" is meant to come off as very hard hitting, but its hentai nature leaves it feeling more exploitive than thought provoking. Are we really meant to feel bad for those victim of child abuse etc, when the explicit content itself appear to be catering towards the perverse? Still, I'm guessing as far as the hentai goes, you could probably do a lot worse than "Kite" - it has a story to tell to say the least.
Luquillo
You want an anime that catches a whole lot of hell and has been accused of having no story or anything worthwhile at all? Then look no further than Kite. There are folks out there whom would have a person believe that if you so much as think this thing is decent, then you should be outright executed. Kite which is directed by Yasuomi Umetsu has a tad bit more story than it first appears. Still, it could have been a much better title had the director focused more on the psychological thriller aspects of the movie, instead of dishing out mindless hentai that hadlittle to no point in regards to the plot or the story. As well as one very overdone action scene that crossed over into the complete absurd by the very second. I have seen this OVA at least three times since its release, and I still can't help but to roll my eyes every time I see that particular scene. Those who saw this know exactly what I'm talking about because it's something Uwe Boll himself would jerk off too.
I've heard many non fans say that this film is completely lacking in character development. I have to disagree with this point of view completely, because it appears that certain folks where searching for characters on the cheery side that they could relate to. This is simply not the case here, as Umetsu seeks to only exploit the negatives in human behavior. Sawa is developed rather well, as the viewer gets to know her through flashbacks, as well as the situations that goes on in her current life. There are many hints taking place which reveals Sawa as a very disturbed young girl who suffers from a traumatic past and a hellish present. Akai is a very twisted character who will be easy for people to hate.
The plot is a mixed bag if I ever saw one. This is where Umetsu's weakness in storytelling shines, and proves that his ideas were quite limited. Instead of focusing a little bit more on Sawa and Akai's development. He goes the route of injecting many graphic sex scenes that really has nothing to do with the plot. The only scene of any real importance is the first one, and you get a front row seat of the action, while it could have been left up to the imagination. All of the sex scenes are this way, and it's pretty much clear where the directors mind was at. In other cases, he well uses foreshadowing, and delivers small pieces of the story and plot that are missed by some naysayers; but I can understand this, because the sex scenes can easily put many viewers off to the point where they can care less about what is actually going on.
Kite does pretty well in the style department. The animation is pretty good and the action scenes will deliver to most gore hounds. They are very graphic and brutal, with blades that resemble icepicks, being used to impale hands and feet during battles. The shoot outs concerning the exploding ammo is almost reminiscent of Fist of the Northstar. The sex scenes are indeed XXX. You pretty much get the whole nine yards here; cowgirl position, doggy-style, and full penetrations. This is pretty much a porno here.
The anime is quite noir-ish with good attention to detail to city landscapes, and I really liked the use of lighting. The darker sets gave a good ambiance that captures the moody feel of the movie. This also goes for the somewhat lack of lighting in certain daytime segments.
The soundtrack consists of jazzy tunes that features light piano and saxophone laden backgrounds. At times, the songs fit pretty well, while during others it feels terribly misplaced. The character designs are very good for the most part and they fit with the anime well enough. The only problem that I have in this area, which happens to be a big one, would be the character design of Sawa. Although she appears to be somewhat on the mature side. I found her school girl appearance to clash with the noir-ish setting along with the other characters. Some may feel that this works into the "cute but deadly" thing, but I think it has a whole lot more to do with Umetsu's fetish concerning young school girls as well as his very childish mentality.
I will mention that I hate anime porn. I never understood the fascination with cartoons having sex. I originally picked up Kite because I wanted to see what the hype was about, and I personally believe it's way over-hyped. Now, in the eyes of those who are not familiar with hentai. Kite will appear to contain way too many sex scenes. However, to those whom are very well rounded in anime, I will mention to them that this has nothing on Legend of the Overfiend.
Personally, I look at this type of anime differently from the way I use to, so I won't overlook the story if it's there. Kite has a little bit going for it, but unless you're very action starved, a die hard anime fan, or love hentai, then I recommend skipping it. If you enjoyed Mezzo Forte then you'll probably like this.
Highs: Action, some kind of character development, maintains serious focus
Lows: Sex scenes add almost nothing, somewhat clashing of style
stmwg01
There's nothing wrong with A Kite, I just didn't get a ton of enjoyment out of it. Would recommend to pass an hour if you have nothing better to do. Story line is pretty interesting, but doesn't really create any "twists" that would put it over the top. Had they done a little better hiding who Kanie and Akai really were until the end, I think it would've pushed the story line into much better territory. Art was average as was sound. I personally wasn't a fan of the nudity, but understand why it's in here. Even in the edited version, it seems a bit too muchfor my liking, but whatever.
Characters really aren't that good. They're surface characters - what you see is what you get. Nothing more, nothing less.
Did I enjoy A Kite? I wouldn't say it was bad by any means, but I also wouldn't say it was anything better than "fair."
