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 and pens, 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!
