Kite Liberator

KITE Liberator (カイト リベレイター, Kaito Ribereitā) is a 2008 direct-to-video anime action science fiction thriller film^[1] and second installment of the film series. It was directed and written by Yasuomi Umetsu, who previously directed the first film in the series.^[2] The film was released on March 21, 2008 on DVD and on November 25, 2014 on Blu-Ray.^[3] Unlike the first installment of the film series, Kite Liberator does not include an extended cut, therefore, it is the first in the franchise not to be a hentai. It was licensed in North America by Cinedigm.

Plot

Taking place ten years after the events of the original "Kite" film, this second installment opens with Kōichi Doi, a researcher for Defy Foods, returning to a space station. Doi had been researching methods of preserving bone mass in zero gravity through diet. After Orudo Noguchi and another crew member are later found to have space radiation exposure and ordered to discontinue missions, Noguchi asks Doi to deliver a package to his daughter Monaka for her birthday. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, two police officers pursue a violent criminal named Tsuin through the streets and into a train station. After shooting two bystanders in the women's restroom, he takes a young girl hostage and hides in a stall with her. However, the lights go out in the restroom and the pedophile is attacked by the assassin known as "The Angel of Death" (Sawa) who quickly disarms and shoots him, leaving a pile of feathers on his corpse. Later that night, Monaka goes to work at Apollo 11, a maid cafe patronized by perverted regulars. Monaka plays the part of a nerdy, clumsy high school girl while in public making her a vulnerable target for harassment. Monaka's older co-worker Mukai does not take kindly to these customers however and retaliates in certain cases, such as spiking a customer's drink with habanero or kicking them in the crotch. Monaka's manager later receives a phone call from the real Tsuin, the older twin brother of the criminal killed earlier that night, saying his brother had been killed by someone called Gaga.

Monaka returns home to find the package from her father, a bracelet made from rocks from Mars. Back on the space station, Orudo and the other crew member's condition has worsened, their bone volume rapidly increasing. The on board doctor realizes the condition was caused by a combination of the space radiation and Doi's food. On her way to school, Monaka passes by the apartment complex to look at the floor plan. After school, she bumps into her manager and sees Mukai with a child. The manager explains that Mukai is a single mother though he does not know what happened to the father. That evening, Monaka goes inside the apartment complex. When the owner returns to the same place, Sawa appears and takes out the owner of the building.

On the space station, Orudo and the other infected crew member have transformed into homicidal, bulletproof monsters who quickly kill most of the crew and ISS police units. They are able to stop one of the monsters by blowing up the space station, though they are unable to find the other. The doctor and Doi along with the others are able to escape the station though the incident draws Defy Food Company to hire agents to get rid of evidence that may jeopardize their reputation. The same night, after working at Apollo 11, Monaka and Mukai converse while playing with fireworks, discussing Mukai's life and reminding her a little of the past. On her way home, Monaka runs into Gaga, the police officer chasing the pedophile a few days before. She asks him to not tell the school that she is working at the maid cafe as a minor and he agrees before asking her on a date. During Monaka's short conversation with him, Gaga revealed he doesn't trust the restaurant owner much while Monaka also expressed her wish to quit her waitress job soon.

As one of the monsters from the space station emerges from the sea nearby, agents from Defy Foods demand the doctor's and Doi's silence concerning the space station incident. The next day, Monaka is told her next mission is to kill the monster now roaming the city. In preparing for her mission, Monaka's gun choice is noted by the manager of Apollo 11, saying it's the same gun-make used by the real Sawa before she disappeared. The same night, Gaga returns home only to be attacked by Tsuin. After Gaga turns on his TV, they start the gunfight before Tsuin flees the scene, starting a foot chase. Not so far away, Sawa uses the sniper to engage the monster. She ceased fire only to find it completely bulletproof like the other. She uses the machine gun, then explosive shells. Neither method works for the monster. Having running out of options, eventually pinning her to a wall, she loses the blue lens and the monster recognizes her from her bracelet and eyes. He hesitates, giving Sawa enough time to shoot it through the mouth since she found a weak point, forcing the monster to fall back onto a car in the street. He attempts to show affection towards her but she brushes his hand away just before the car explodes. Doi convinces her to join him in a car to debrief her and it is revealed that one of the monsters that she defeated was her father, Doi then calls her Monaka. Monaka quickly kills the two agents driving as they pull guns on her and then turns and shoots Doi. While exiting the garage to find her father, Monaka was ambushed by Tsuin who takes her hostage. Threatening to kill her if Gaga got any closer, Monaka breaks free and murders Tsuin. Gaga approaches but finds Monaka has escaped again, leaving only her hair ribbon behind. On the run again, Monaka passes a truck that explodes as the now regenerated monster exits the truck. The two make eye contact.

Cast

Reception

"Umetsu's work has been a favorite of mine since I saw his designs in the Megazone 23 Part II OVA all those years ago as well as numerous things since then. Hopefully it will be another ten years before he can be pulled back to this franchise so he can focus on more interesting projects." — Chris Beveridge, Mania.^[4]

"The straight-forward nature of many scenes doesn't quite maintain the goals of the piece as a whole. But taken as a gentle, self-reflective Tarantino-style satire, it works." — Justin Sevakis, Anime News Network.^[5]

References

1. ↑ "KITE LIBERATOR　カイト リベレイター(2007)". allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved December 5, 2015. 
2. ↑ "Kite Liberator". Newtype USA. Vol. 7 no. 2. February 2008. p. 63. ISSN 1541-4817. 
3. ↑ "KITE LIBERATOR". mediaarts-db.jp (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved December 5, 2015. 
4. ↑ Beveridge, Chris (April 29, 2008). "Kite: Liberator". Mania. Retrieved February 8, 2011. 
5. ↑ Sevakis, Justin (April 25, 2008). "Kite Liberator". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 8, 2011. 

External links

• Kite Liberator (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia