Anime fans who came of age in the late 1990s will probably remember ¡°Kite.¡± The sexually explicit straight-to-video anime release told the story of an exploited young woman turned assassin (a la Luc Besson¡¯s ¡°Leon: The Professional¡°), and gained enough notoriety stateside to reportedly influence Quentin Tarantino¡¯s ¡°Kill Bill¡± and inspire a forgettable live-action remake with Samuel L. Jackson.
¡°Kite¡± was written and directed by Yasuomi Umetsu, an animator known for his distinctive character designs and detailed animation ¡ª one reason ¡°Kite¡± is still revered among fans is for its jaw-dropping action set pieces. On the back of its success, the animator went on to helm several girls-with-guns properties, like ¡°Mezzo Forte¡± (2000), ¡°Mezzo DSA¡± (2004) and ¡°Kite Liberator¡± (2008), the latter two dropping the sexual content for mainstream audiences.
Now ¡°Clockwork Girl,¡± the first chapter of Umetsu¡¯s new project ¡°Virgin Punk,¡± is out in limited theatrical release in Tokyo and Osaka. Umetsu has apparently been working on the project with anime studio Shaft for over a decade and, for better or worse, it¡¯s exactly what you¡¯d expect.
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