Kite Liberator

You call this a sequel to Kite? How does this have anything to do with Sawa or the group of assassins she was associated with from her original 1998 series? Regardless, the plot to this movie is a bit of a mess tossing in random elements in a vain attempt to create any sense of imaginable substance such as the poorly addressed "space food and radiation mutates astronauts" side-plot, Monaka using her tasteless maid cafe job as a front for her job as an assassin and failed drama coming from what we learn of Monaka and her father. While the original Kite had a senseof mood and plot covering the cruel, tragic and merciless developments Sawa faced as an assassin, Liberator doesn't keep things as grounded as it seemingly goes for a more gritty, over-the-top feel and doesn't seem sure what kind of series it wanted to be with its elements of sci-fi thriller, crime action and heart-wrenching drama. All three of these don't mesh too well as the sci-fi element is way out of place with what we seen of the original series and because Monaka doesn't have any tragic developments like Sawa had from the original Kite, I couldn't find myself connecting with her as I did with Sawa from the original series. Liberator does deliver well on the action element through its high quality presentation as it makes great use of CG and cel-shaded animation to render both the environments of Tokyo and the space station in which the show is mainly set in. Settings and characters have a great amount of detail applied to them with the color shading seemingly being brighter compared to the original series. Action scenes with characters are fluid and intense as you get to see regular gun-action and later on the enemy that emerges from said sci-fi plot. Unless you are watching Kite Liberator purely for the action, I would recommend avoiding it or only peeking at it only once as the plotting is a mess with the elements it tries to mix around.

This one started extremely strangely as they start out in space. Sadly, it only explains where The main character’s father has been. It doesn’t follow the original story much in that the girl they call Sawa is actually a girl named Monaka Noguchi and is not the main character from the other show. They could have fooled me though since she looks exactly like the original Sawa. When we finally get to the main character, it’s about 9 minutes into it. She works at a small dinner and acts extremely clumsy even though she could kill someone rather fast. To me, this changes the storyline drastically because it’s like she wants to kill rather then being forced to kill. As for the new piece that they placed into it, the monsters just feel like they tried to make something more then it already was. It didn’t work out at all and made things feel choppy. Even more bothersome is the fact that her father wasn’t dead. The ending leaves us guessing what the hell happens next and gives us no closure to the story line. The whole show was jumping all over the place and only at the end did it even show what it was trying to do. The artwork is way different then Kite before it, being much newer and more fluid then the first. The voice doesn’t always sink up with the English voices though there was an attempt at least to do it right. The English voice is really not that good for Monoka, making him sound way too cutesy. It’s really bothersome and high pitched making it hard to listen to. Most voices are actually really good but Sawa is not.

Preface: I'm torn on Kite Liberator. On one hand, it's got the name Kite, and with that comes expectations of what made the original a cult classic: the sexuality, the extreme violence, and lots of gore. It was a great formula- it didn't need a really cohesive plot or really in depth, believable characters; it just did what it did, and did it right. It was plenty enjoyable, and right fun to watch. Kite Liberator, on the other hand, loses some of what made the original Kite so good."Liberated" from the stigma of being billed as "hentai" (which made the original more gritty and dark inaddition to street cred) Kite 2 takes a Sci-Fi action approach, versus the true crime/street feel of the first. Neither as gratuitously graphic nor shocking, the focus is more on the action and visuals (a 10 year difference in animation is readily apparent), Liberator could have gone by another name and been yet another short, generic action flick. However, Liberator does retain several elements of the original Kite's feel, and that's why it makes a lesser, but ultimately watchable sequel. Artwork and Animation: 8 There was an impressive difference that 10 years gave to Kite in terms of animation. The normal character design and backgrounds are on par with what was standard in 2008, but the CGI is on another level. In the beginning, we're treated to Star Wars Industrial Light and Magic level (on a budget) quality of space ships and the International Space Station visuals. It's 100% CGI, and has no 'anime' feel at all, but it does look great. Sound and Voice Acting: 5 Lacking the muzak that was kinda groovy in Kite 1, Liberator's music is forgettable. The voice acting is fine, nothing special. Characters: 5 It's been 10 years since the close of Kite 1, Sawa has disappeared, and in her absence, a new young woman has taken up the mantle of Angel of Death. Her calling card? - Vigilante justice by the gun, and an explosion of white feathers before disappearing. Monaka is our new heroine's name. Like Sawa before her, Monaka is a student by day, killer at night. Much of her "look" and methodology are instantly reflective of Sawa, though it's not particularly expounded upon as to "why" she does it. Story: 3 Again, Liberator diverges strongly from the original with a Sci-Fi setting and the introduction of a monster that looks like a cross of Summoned Skull and Obelisk the Tormentor straight out of Yugioh. (If you don't believe me, google "Kite liberator monster" and click the second image result.) Some dubious exposition about "mutated space food" and "solar radiation" give birth to this beast on the space station, and it manages to escape to earth. Monaka, the most skilled assassin in Japan, is tasked with bringing the monster down. There's a little bit of exposition here and there, but it's mostly very straightforward. The ending leaves a lot to be desired though, as it ends on a very ambiguous note. Enjoyment: 7 Well, Sawa's signature move, the "Super Nut Buster" is still intact, and put to good use. Liberator has some of the gruesome shootings and general brutality elements of the original, and uses them in a couple of places, but is overall less gratuitous, and suffers from it. It's still decent to watch, though. Overall: 5 Kite is my new guilty pleasure. I want to like it, because it's not afraid to do something different, but at the same time, it's more of the same (in places). I think the score of "mediocre" is a good fit here. The gorehound in me loves Kite 1, but I'm okay with Kite Liberator having taken a different path. Recommend? If you liked Kite, Liberator is worth a watch. On it's own, probably not.

Kite: Liberator is the sequel to Kite which was released in 1998. Although this sequel makes references to the original by mentioning the name of the previous main character, delivers a few tidbits to draw up your own conclusions, as well as provide some background on the pistol once used by Sawa. The anime feels a lot more like a spin-off story. No matter how I look at it though, Kite: Liberator is very far from a sub-par anime and I personally think Umetsu hit a new low with this one. It's a possibility that many of the elements in this anime can be considered assubtle homages to other projects, but I simply look at it as Umetsu trying to find something or anything that works. Sadly, nothing seems to remotely add up in this jigsaw puzzle equation of nonsensical madness. This story is awful from the savage identity crisis all the way down to the junk science. The story begins with Monaka's father working on a space station slightly above the earth. Due to overexposure from the suns radiation, and in combination with a special calcium rich food he was required to eat. The man mutated into one of two hulk-like creatures with his skin texture being made of only bone (Doomsday anyone?) with very sharp protrusions being used as slashing weapons. The creature is highly resistant to bullets and is very violent. Eventually, Monaka must confront this creature. I think the biggest mistake was to remove the noirish setting in favor of a sci-fi, with superhero elements that really didn't seem to mesh well with the Kite mythos at all. The new setting feels terribly out of place and this story isn't the least bit atmospheric. Don't expect much from the characters, as most of them are nothing more than bodies to take up space. Truthfully, almost no one serves a real purpose. Monaka is nothing more than a bland stereotype with many borrowed personalities. She's a clumsy waitress by day, and competent gunslinger by night who makes appearances at the nick of time, and they just go on from there. After sitting back and thinking about this story and plot, I can't help but think that Umetsu lost whatever talent he supposedly had. Personally, I don't think he was ever talented to begin with. The plot seems to tease the viewer quite a bit, by tossing out hints that one of the characters could possibly be a grown up Sawa. The necessary clues are delivered to draw up a conclusion, but at the end of the day, it's nothing more than speculation. Things only continue to drag with one uninteresting segment after another. Monaka's life is pretty boring and the viewer will more than likely find themselves impatiently waiting for the next brutal action scene. Kite: Liberator is a very bad OVA that was even heavily panned by fans; but I'm willing to believe that some of the fans despise it mainly because there is no hardcore sex in this one. In fact, there's no sex at all. One may think that Umetsu had actually grown up since he was about 40 when he put this together. No such luck my friends, there is still very childish fan service delivered for no other reasons than just because. Umetsu is living proof that some people grow up, while others just get old. If there are any good points to this short OVA, then it has to be the nice visuals. The animation can be very fluid when it really wants to. The action scenes can be very brutal with the first one being incredibly sick and stylish. There are quite a few gun battles, and some very sick murders involving old ladies being shot to death, along with men being sliced into pieces. The CG animated scenes can have their good moments as well, but it's the 2D visuals that really shine here literally. The animation has a very nice clean polish. The character designs are very good as well as the artwork. Although the backgrounds lack the ambiance of the original, the color palettes are still beautiful and there is some decent camera work. The well orchestrated music score seems to fit the moods very well, but the ending them called My Sweet Home has a nice melody with some very good vocals and is definitely the standout. I found the dub to be slightly better than the sub. Xanthe Huynh does a better job to voicing Monaka than her counterpart Marina Inoue. Kite: Liberator is a terrible title to me, no matter how good it may be in the style department, and the sudden cliffhanger ending makes it worse. I heard rumors that Umetsu was working on a sequel and perhaps that will clear things up; but the new setting, poor story, and plot to this one are hard to over look and I seriously doubt a sequel will save this chapter. This is a very good example of an anime with no direction, and as bad it is, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it has a devoted cult following. Only give this a try if you're curious, very easy to please when it comes down to anime, love violence, or a diehard fan of the director. Highs: Visuals and ending theme Lows: Severe identity crisis, poor story, weaker plot, garbage ending