Kite Liberator
KITE LIBERATOR (カイト リベレイター)
In the previous series "Kite," a killer—Sawa—suddenly disappears after she avenges her parents' death, and no one knows where she is. Several years later, a figure dances airily on the dark side of a big city. She is an angel of death, killing her victim gracefully and disappearing. Monaka is a normal high school student, though this quiet and modest life has a darker side. An angel of death is Monaka's other persona.
Synopsis
In the previous series "Kite," a killer—Sawa—suddenly disappears after she avenges her parents' death, and no one knows where she is. Several years later, a figure dances airily on the dark side of a big city. She is an angel of death, killing her victim gracefully and disappearing. Monaka is a normal high school student, though this quiet and modest life has a darker side. An angel of death is Monaka's other persona.
Recommendations
Reviews(18)
5hreddy
April 16, 2008
Well, this is a tricky one to review as it's something that most people will have mixed feelings about as the original Kite was a very interesting work in its own right. But as you can see from the ratings I'm part of the contingent that liked it. Story: First off I'll start by saying that I thought it was very interesting that they made a non-hentai sequel to a hentai-pigeonholed movie. Whilst the original focused on a gritty underworld story of corruption and violence (which featured nudity), Kite Liberator takes a completely different tact and focuses more on a kind of action-based sci-fi plot. Somemight say that the absence of sex scenes makes the anime not seem like a true sequel and I would have to agree to some extent, but I feel that to do a sequel too similar to the original would have inevitably not have been as good. Now, back to what's at hand. The OVA in general is quite well paced. Even though it is only an hour long in length, the way the plot is constructed makes it feel like a full-length movie. In it's own right, the sci-fi plot is quite entertaining but I was disappointed with massive leap in terms of content from the gritty original to something completely fictional. At least with Kite you could imagine the events happening in real life. The story element is something that most people will have differing views on but I think 7 is a fair score for this component. Art: Well, I have to say that this was one of the standout features of the OVA. It was excellent, to put it simply. The combination of computer graphics as well as more traditional constructions made it very pleasing on the eye. Everything was well-rendered or accurately drawn and this component stood out justifyably, fully deserving the 10. Sound: Another case of "doing what it says on the tin". The themes worked well with the scenes throughout and the sound effects and timing were spot on. The stereo effects were really accurate and made listening to the movie through headphones much more enjoyable than through standard speakers. Characters: I felt you could empathise with the characters in the story quite well in a similar way as you could for the first movie albeit for different reasons. The main character really kind of reminds you in a lot of ways of Sawa from the first film. The only problem I had was that story didn't fully explain some of the character details and I was sometimes left wondering about a particular part of certain characters' backgrounds. Overall, I would have to say that whether or not you've seen the first film, this is something interesting in its own right and it something well worth watching even with some of the issues that exist within it. 8/10
