Kite (film) - Release History

Release History

Kite is controversial in its depiction of extreme gory violence and strong sexuality and nudity, including graphic rape scenes involving a very young Sawa. The DVD description states: "College student by day, vigilante by night, Sawa protects the innocent and mercilessly kills criminals in this intense Japanese anime."

Subsequently, the OVA has been released three times in the United States, each with less censorship than the last (with the most recent release being reputedly uncensored).

Kite was also banned in many countries. However, it is considered an anime cult classic by some fans.

Two versions were initially released: the "Original Version" (rated 16-Up), which doesn't include sex scenes and the adults-only "Director's Cut" version (rated 18-Up), which contains nearly 15 additional minutes of unreleased footage, making it 60 minutes in total. This Director's Cut version removed some scenes found in the original Japanese release such as few shots of sexual contact between Akai and Sawa, which is removed. A third release, labeled "Uncut", contains Kite in its original Japanese version. All contain all of the violent aspects of the film, but the general release only contains a scene featuring a mature Sawa naked at the end and brief nudity. The other two contain scenes of extremely graphic sexuality and graphic nudity. This film was re-released on DVD in 2008 entitled Kite Remastered (16-Up version), and Kite Remastered: Special Edition (18-Up version) to coincide with the release of the sequel Kite Liberator. The special edition version of Kite Remastered still has the same footage from the Director's Cut version with some scenes omitted.