Synopsis
Sawa is a school girl, an orphan, and an assassin. A corrupt cop controls her, assigning targets to kill and listing the crimes these men have committed to make their deaths seem justified. Some of that control is tied to Sawa's deceased parents and the promise of revenge. When another orphan, a teenage boy named Oburi, is brought on to assist Sawa, the two teenage killers form a bond. As they heal each other's emotional wounds, they begin to dream of a life that no longer unfolds under the shadow of murder. Note: The work originally debuted in Japan as a two-episode OVA, and over the years it has been re-edited and reissued in numerous forms. Japanese releases: • A KITE (February–December 1998) — the original two-episode OVA. • A KITE INTERNATIONAL VERSION (July 2000) — re-edited to combine the episodes into a 45-minute single OVA with all sex scenes removed. • A KITE PREMIUM COLLECTORS VERSION (December 2007) — a bundle containing the original Vols. 1+2 and the INTERNATIONAL VERSION. • A KITE Special Edition (April 2015) — a digitally restored Blu-ray re-release carrying a smaller censorship mosaic. North American releases: • Kite (April 2000) — based on the international version; sex scenes are removed entirely and the story is presented as one combined episode. • Kite: Director's Cut (January 2002) — released under Media Blasters' Kitty Media (Adult) label; restores the sex scenes except for roughly 12 seconds of footage involving a minor, also as a single combined episode. • Kite: Special Edition Uncut (September 2004) — also on Kitty Media; restores the previously removed footage and is presented in two episodes like the original. • Kite: Integral Version (September 2024) — released by Discotek Media; contains all three previous North American cuts on a single Blu-ray disc. For simplicity's sake, only the first OVA release is counted in this entry.
Background
This OVA has been released in three versions: a censored version; a "director's cut," with an extra fifteen minutes of footage; and the original "uncut" version, which remains uncensored. The uncut version contains graphic sexuality and graphic nudity, which led to the OVA in its original state getting banned in many countries.
