Thoughts on Kite(1998) -edited cut-

Back a couple years ago i finally got back into anime. As a young kid i was obsessed with anime. Now every kid loves cartoons, but i knew that anime was different. By age 10 or 11 i started to lose interest in anime and switch to other forms of cheap action like Steven Seagal or slashers(i didn't watch my first Van Damme movie til i was 13). After years without it, i finally got hit by the anime bug again. I was watching a episode or movie of Dragon Ball Z on TV( i know I'm a sad soul), and i got such a strange kick out of it. It was so over the top,yet during the quiet parts i saw beauty in the feel of the show.

After checking out many books on anime, i finally made a list of anime movies and shows to watch. One of the first titles was a odd ova(Original video animation),movie named Kite. What made it odd was it was listed twice for 2 different cuts, A unrated cut and a edited r like cut. Luckily I went for the R cut. More on that in a sec.



Kite is about a young female assassin named Sawa. You goes from job to job, given to her by a dirty cop who is her so called guarid. She was recruited when she was young by him after her whole family was murdered. After meeting another young assassin, she starts to question her life.



Kite in plot is like a blend of two of Luc Besson best movies, Leon and Nikita. Like Nikita it's about a female assassin, and like Leon it has a dirty cop and a girl looking for revenge against him for murdering his family. Also like those movies it's thoughtful yet full of gritty action. The shootout in the bathroom almost pushes it a little too far,but it can be forgiven for the awesome payoff.

Drawing wise the movie(or ova),looks great tho at times a little soft. Sawa is a neat character design and most of the other characters look good too.



Now back to the version issue. As it would turn out, the original director cut was a hentai(anime porn). It was some kind of a odd cross over between porn and action. Luckly i stayed with the edited cut, because most of the sex scenes were aimed at young children, so it was a form of kiddie porn! Tho this is a cut version it plays great as a normal action movie, and in truth is one of the better ones ive seen from the anime genre.



Kite is a great action movie in it's cut form,and a great example of anime. The uncut form tho is a strange fit together porn. I'll still with the action movie anyday.