Ask John: Will the Real Kite Please Stand Up?

Question:
I am wondering if “Kite Uncut” is the fully uncut version. I am aware that there were 3 releases of Kite and that only one of them showed the movie in its full form.

Answer:
There are probably a lot of people that know the answer to this question. There are also probably a large number of American anime fans and consumer who aren’t aware of the differences between the various domestic releases of Kite, especially since the recently released “Kite & Mezzo Forte” double disc set may significantly confuse consumers. As a public service, I’d like to clarify the exact contents of the various American releases of Kite and Mezzo Forte.

The original American DVD release of Kite (DVD SKU number AWDVD-0082) excises all of the sex from the original hour long Japanese release and combines the remaining footage into a single 45 minute long episode.

The so-called “director’s cut” (DVD SKU number KVDVD-0202) contains edits to six scenes from the two episodes, totaling about 20 seconds of footage cut from the original Japanese release. 20 seconds of missing footage may not sound like much, but when you count to twenty out loud you’ll realize precisely how long 20 seconds is. When it comes to anime, a lot can happen in 20 seconds!

Kite Uncut (DVD SKU number KVDVD-0416), also commonly known as the “Kite Special Edition” is the only fully unedited and uncensored version of Kite available on American DVD.

Mezzo Forte, the stylistic sequel to Kite, is available on American DVD in two different versions. The censored version (DVD SKU number AWDVD-0120) removes both of the sex scenes, resulting in five minutes of missing footage. The uncut version, also known as the “director’s cut” (DVD SKU number KVDVD-0131) is fully unedited and uncensored.

As if all of this wasn’t already confusing enough, the recently released Kite & Mezzo Forte Double Pack is available in two different editions, and at least one of them is not what it claims to be. The Kite & Mezzo Forte Double Pack is available in an edited version (DVD SKU number AWDVD-0813). That’s self-explanatory. The double disc set is also offered in a version that claims to be uncut. The “uncut” Kite & Mezzo Forte Double Pack (DVD SKU number KVDVD-0812) was solicited to retailers as including the “Kite Special Edition.” The DVD packaging front cover states, “2 Uncut sexed-up titles combined,” and the rear cover states, “Two uncut, sexed-up anime titles restored to their original running times!” However, as if distributor Media Blasters either changed its mind at the last minute or recognized an error at the eleventh hour, a sticker attached to the exterior of the DVD states, “Contains Kite: Director’s Cut and Mezzo Forte: Uncut.”

While the Kite & Mezzo Forte Double Pack claims to contain a fully uncut version of Kite, it does not. The Kite & Mezzo Forte Double Pack includes the slightly censored “Kite Director’s Cut” DVD; not the fully uncut Kite Special Edition that the packaging and distributor solicitations promise.

February 4, 2015 update:
A digitally reconstructed cut of the Kite “International Edit,” the combined censored original American release of the two OVAs, was released on domestic Blu-ray by Media Blasters at some uncertain date in late 2014 after originally being scheduled for a February 26, 2013, release date. The domestic Blu-ray was released individually and in a two-pack release with the domestic Kite: Liberator Blu-ray. Roughly two-minutes worth of footage from the original second OVA appears on the Kite Blu-ray release culled from sub-DVD quality master video. Six shots on the domestic Blu-ray are alternate angles or shots that did not appear in the original 1998 International Cut. And the domestic Blu-ray contains newly generated English language opening & ending credit rolls.

Sample upscaled screenshots from the domestic Blu-ray: