User reviews

Director and storyboarder Yasuomi Umetsu's high octane visuals hang from KITE's basic, unoriginal storyline, but don't let that put you off this pleasing document.

An assassin forced to kill and driven into occasional sexual servitude by perverted bosses is the basic set-up of this excuse for subversion (nothing wrong with that).

That the assassin looks twelve (despite her concessionary breasts) is why KITE is questionable material in more conservative circles.

The shoot-outs are beautifully realized and the sound effects are sharp and effective. Umetsu has a passion for the domino effect of violence as one grisly atrocity begets another until the Tokyo streets and subways resemble a hellish inferno.

The erotic sequences, cut or softened in some versions, are as explicit as you can possibly get and gorgeously drawn.

The 2004 Kitty Media DVD (the only one to get) is totally uncut, as is a German disc released a couple of year's ago (sans English subs).

KITE is juvenile in spots, slow in others, but it's a good animated co-feature if you're thinking of screening Luc Besson's THE PROFESSIONAL for your comrades.

Solidly built anime and a pleasure to watch. Character development is believable, although predictable. The story feels slightly sketchy and rushed closer to the end. Bonus points for the absence of "will be continued in #2" hint. Absolutely worth watching and owning.

A complete entertainer with High intensity action, Explicit content and soothing and mellow soundtrack consisting mainly of Saxophone Solos to completely fit the mood of this short yet highly entertaining movie.

Well let's say woman, because it's borderline girl, which would also mean ... let's just say that this is definitely not for kids. Not everything animation is meant or aimed at children. Even when it haves little ones in them. A lot of nudity and a lot of blood. And if you watch the uncut version a lot of penetrating too - while it does not linger on intercourse, it still is there and it still may disturb people. It should not disturb more than the violence which is quite graphic, but I'm mentioning it anway.

So you should not be easily offended for sure. Because if you are, skip this one. A weird and crude anime, with contradictions that make or break it. Strong powerful female? Check. Being used and abused by men? Also check .. who will prevail and what will be left of them? Literally ...

First of all if you have seen Kite I guess that you are at least 18 or you have seen an awfully censored version. The movie begins with a little brutal murder scene and then gets more and more brutal every minutes. Gunfights, murders, child abusing sex scenes - this movie has it all. If you can't take this you better don't watch it, because if you do you will be disgusted and will claim that this movie is only sex and gore. But it is NOT! If you watch full director's edition, you will find how Sawa interacts with people, you will see all of the terrible things that her masters have done and will understand why she is so full of hatred. I don't really think that there was a better way to tell the story. And I don't that there is a better hit-man story, either. Maybe except for Hit-man itself ^^.

I don't know why IMDb refuses to show the word hit-man, but so be it.

Also if you don't like anime, don't watch this. You wouldn't like it-the art is a little crude, not so polished and the violence will be just way too much for you.

The animation was a little strange, although I couldn't say it was bad. The problem was with the depiction of emotions on the characters faces, they all looked a little off. The same issue can extend to the characters themselves, though. It is difficult to empathize with any of them and the rushed nature of the script doesn't help.

The story is about young assassins, trained by people with no scruples. The violence scenes are really complicated, but also amateurish. They often end in the assassin almost failing and managing to survive by using some prop. Then you find yourself wondering why they didn't use that from the start. There are also a lot of sex scenes, bordering on rape, but they are kind of pointless after a while.

Bottom line: the atmosphere was great and the sense of desperation and dark foreboding was clearly why so many people liked this. However the story itself, while predictable and simple, was clearly meant to be more and the anime failed to capture it. The animation is simplistic as well. I watched the 2014 movie a week ago and, frankly, I think that the movie was better, moving the story in a different but good direction, while being clearly more carefully created.

Much to my disappointment, this movie is not that great. It's about a young girl who has been trained as an assassin and her ultimate goal throughout the film is to find and kill the people who killed her parents. Not a terribly original story, but in can be done right. This is a case of doing it wrong. With no explanation, our main character, Sawa, already knows who killed her parents and she's just waiting for the right time to kill them I guess? I don't know why she waited as long as she did to kill them, but whatever. That's not the main problem I have. The main problem is without the hunting down the killer story line, the film is very uninteresting and quite boring. If you want a good revenge film, watch Kill Bill instead.

This is movie is the primary example of why Hollywood needs to stop making terrible live-action U.S. film adaptations based off of certain anime shows and movies. This anime OAV is basically a simple concept to follow, but the filmmakers of the U.S. live-action version just wanna make it a repeat of Dragonball Evolution. Now the story is actually interesting to watch and the characters have a lot more to offer since it's basically Sawa out to get revenge on only one guy that she had known who was the murderer of her family. Now if the live-action U.S. movie had gotten rid of so many unnecessary crap and just stay true to the original, I would've been fine with that. But, nope. They just made it obvious that I should just stick with the anime, instead.

Overall, I actually like this version a lot more than the live- action U.S. version.

8 out 10!!!

Definitely a must see.

Well, there's no real plot to speak of, it's just an excuse to show some scenes of extreme violence and gratuitous sex (which can sometimes be fun, too, but it's not in this case). What else can I say about this...? The action, when happening, is inventive and there's a cool scene where two characters are falling from a skyscraper (one that has to be several miles high), but overall there's not much to recommend "Kite". Watch it if you want, but you're not missing much if you skip this one...

Kite is an orphaned girl who kills for her controller, who supposedly saved her. Filled with some real gore, super violent content and a decent story line, avoid the lame live action movie and see this instead.

I do not watch anime nearly at all. Kite was a movie i found by accident, i heard it is gory and it was a exploitation anime film. I can tell you the animation is pretty well made. However, i wish we had a bit more depth on our characters, meaning the victims.

I wish we had more depth into Sawa and Oburi, their past, more depth to these victims you want to care about. Sawa and Oburi kinda remind me of Lucie and Ana from Martyrs, but in Martyrs i really feel just horrible for both of them, here i did not get the same effect. Why? Because none of them have high written depth.

However, the story is a fun one, and this is the truth: When you begin working in the crime sphere, someone will always have you on their RADAR, and this movie does that flawlessly. Voice acting to me seems to be solid enough.

I only got two negatives: I wish we had more depth to our two main victims, characters, and i wish the first half of this movie was a bit more interesting. The first half is kinda dull and prolonger not as interesting as the second half. The second half saves this movie.

In the end if you enjoyed Ichi the Killer, Vengeance, Lady Vengeance, Old Boy, Machine Girl best bet is to put this thing in the same boat.

wow, this anime is one of my favorites. the action sequences rule and it has the greatest animation. you just fall in love with the main character as she kills but at the same time remains cute. i wish all animes were like this.

this is certainly not the best anime out there, but dont take it too seriously and have fun with the really twisted story and well thought-out action sequences. the ending is very rushed. i had to watch it a couple times until i figured out exactly what happens. its no akira or space battleship yamato, but kite still delivers good entertainment at a decent level of inteligence. on some levels kite reminded me of the professional (natalie portman movie). i've heard some people complain that its too short, but i couldnt imagine this anime being any longer than 50 minutes.

Gratuitous violence and sex scenes plopped in randomly . Spawn (HBO) feels more violent than this despite Kite having scenes of people being shot and blown apart. The violence is comical over-the-top ( just 80s styled blood. No viscera. Other anime series are more violent)

Plot is as cliche as you can get -> Assassin sent out on random jobs, seeking revenge for her backstory, discovered that her handler was the killer all along,and the movie end with her taking care of that (without the movie actually showing how that conclusion came to be. It just is...)

Add in a completely random romance subplot with a fellow assassin, which drags the movie whenever such scenes come up, and you get this failure of an exploitation film. Think of a rip-off sequel to Cannibal Holocaust , and you probably get a good idea of what this movie offers.

--

oh, and the girl has a pinup body that rivals any Penthouse model in the sex scenes. Drawn completely different than her non-erotic scenes. So, the description of the youthful assassin doing it is only controversial in writing.

Great anime! Actions scenes, blood, and a decent story behind it. You'll know what I mean when you watch this movie when I say " What goes around comes around ". The end of the movie seems a bit abrupt but the overall quality of it makes up. 10/10.

When I first saw this film, it was the edited American version (its missing nearly 1/2 hour), and I instantly fell in love with it. I am a huge fan of anime, but I prefer actual movie format (like that of "Perfect Blue") as opposed to the OVA format (like the "Slayers" series). This movie had an excellent plot, rapid-fire animated sequences, and alot of violence and weapons-play. I personally didn't care much for the animator's style, but that is more than made up for in the fluidity of the frames. Watching the movie in its original Japanese will help answer alot of questions that, due to mouth-syncing shortcomings, were not really addressed. And, although "Kite" (pronounced "kah-ee-toe", if one were to read the katakana on the boxfront... pronouncing it like "kee-teh" will mean something entirely different in Japanese) is missing that 1/2 hour of footage, there is nothing really lost in the plot or motif. Anyone who does not watch this film superficially will put the missing details together by context clues throughout. Overall I say that if you can, get the video in its original Japanese, with subtitles in English if necessary...get the raw feel for the film. However, the full unedited version, if you're interested, is only available in Japan, and Hong Kong, I believe. The video and DVD formats used there aren't programmed to play on American players. So, if you want to see it uncut, you'll have to see it in the country of origin.

ok, this is nuts. now, this is another title where a deep grasp of psychological understanding is necessary. now, in my opinion, going around and blowing peoples heads off for no apparent reason is..well..unorthodox. heh. still, if you understand the story, it is a very well thoughtout process of identity. if you like gore and going crazy, kite is for you

"Kite," the animated series is a visceral, boundary-pushing masterpiece that stands apart in the anime landscape. This gritty, film-noir-inspired OVA, delivers a blend of unrelenting action, psychological depth, and a hauntingly unique concept that few, if any, anime have dared to replicate. For the full experience, the uncut version is the essential way to watch-it preserves the raw, unfiltered vision of Umetsu, retaining every moment of its provocative intensity and emotional weight that censored releases dilute.

The plot follows Sawa, a young schoolgirl orphaned after the brutal murder of her parents. Taken in by Akai, a corrupt detective, and his partner Kanie, she's molded into a lethal assassin under the guise of avenging her parents' deaths. Armed with a distinctive gun and a steely resolve, Sawa becomes an instrument of vengeance, targeting corrupt figures-politicians, celebrities, and businessmen-selected by her manipulative guardians. The story takes a turn when she crosses paths with Oburi, another orphaned teen assassin in the same twisted system. Together, they form a fragile bond, yearning for freedom from the bloodshed and exploitation that define their lives. What unfolds is a tense, bloody journey of rebellion, betrayal, and a desperate grasp for redemption.

What makes "Kite" so compelling is its fearless dive into dark, taboo territory-exploring themes of abuse, power, and lost innocence with a starkness rarely seen in animation. The concept of a young girl transformed into a cold-blooded killer, trapped in a cycle of violence and manipulation, is executed with a rawness that's both unsettling and captivating. The plot doesn't shy away from moral ambiguity; it forces you to question justice, agency, and survival in a world where corruption reigns. This isn't a tale of heroes and villains-it's a grim, human story painted in shades of gray, elevated by its stylish animation and kinetic action sequences.

"Kite" is a unicorn in the anime world. While it shares DNA with cyberpunk thrillers like "Ghost in the Shell" or assassin-driven narratives like "Noir," its blend of graphic violence, explicit undertones, and emotional fragility sets it apart. Few works match its audacity or its ability to balance exploitation with a poignant character study. The uncut version amplifies this uniqueness, retaining the controversial scenes that deepen Sawa's trauma and the perverse dynamics of her relationship with Akai. These moments aren't gratuitous-they're integral to understanding her psyche and the story's unflinching tone.

The animation, a hallmark of late '90s anime, is sleek and detailed, with fluid action choreography that still holds up today. The score complements the tension, driving home the film's relentless pace. While it's not without flaws-some might find the pacing uneven or the dialogue sparse-these quirks only enhance its raw, unpolished charm.

"Kite" isn't for the faint of heart, but that's exactly why it's so unforgettable. The uncut version is the definitive cut, offering the complete, uncompromised vision of a story that dares to be different. If you're seeking an anime that breaks molds and lingers long after the credits roll, "Kite" is a must-see-a singular, provocative gem that proves animation can be as bold and complex as any live-action film.