Sex, Eroticism, And Violence In Yasuomi Umetsu's Anime Kite And Mezzo Forte - Part II

Mezzo Forte: Violence, Sex, And Comedy

In Mezzo Forte (2000), whose versions, depending on whether they include sex scenes or not, range from 50 to 70 minutes, Yasuomi Umetsu revisits many of the themes and visual strategies of Kite, but with a lighter and more comedic tone. The main character, Mikura, is a skilled and sensual assassin, a member of a team of mercenaries. The plot, which blends action, science fiction, comedy, and eroticism, is less dense than Kite's but equally provocative.

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Two Distinct Versions

Like Kite, Mezzo Forte was released in the United States and Japan in two distinct versions: one with the removal of graphic sex scenes and another that keeps them fully intact. In both, however, the more violent elements were preserved. The North American release features 20 minutes of additional material not included in the Japanese edition, but none of the pornographic scenes present in the director's cut were incorporated. The edited version of Mezzo Forte completely excludes the sexual scenes, leaving only two nude sequences, in which female breasts and genitalia are shown uncensored. Furthermore, an international version was released in Japan on July 23, 2004, containing the same extra 20 minutes, but without including any of the adult scenes present in the director's cut or the uncut version.

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Sex-Crazed Tormentors

In this OVA, explicit sex is incorporated more conventionally within hentai logic, with scenes of penetration, voyeurism, and comedic situations quite different from what we see in Kite. To achieve this, Yasuomi Umetsu uses graphic elements reminiscent of action cinema and European adult comics. Thus, the eroticism in Mezzo Forte, even with explicit sex scenes, is more playful, in the sense that the character Mikura herself has wet dreams or deceives her sex-crazed tormentors with an android copy of herself. The work dialogues with other Japanese and Western productions that feature sexual warrior women figures, such as Ghost in the Shell or 1970s exploitation films. However, Yasuomi Umetsu's authorial mark is revealed in the fusion of explicit sex and mise-en-scène, a result of his technical and narrative mastery.

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From Murders to Underworld Conspiracies

The Mezzo DSA series (2004) expands the universe presented in the OVA, structured into 13 episodes that develop the characters more broadly and in greater depth. Here, the focus shifts from stylized violence to the dynamics among the DSA members and their interactions with other characters, as well as the resolution of multiple cases ranging from murders to underworld conspiracies. The series significantly tones down the explicit sexual content present in the OVA, opting for a more balanced tone between action, comedy, and drama.

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Behind the Premium curtain you can discover one aspect that strongly differentiates the series from the film, more about Yasuomi Umetsu's stylized character design, an analysis of OVA Kite Liberator (2008),  how the eroticism in his anime is traversed by two perspectives, one tragic and the other comic, and 45 additional images.

Click HERE for volume one of our small illustrated guide to the perverse Hentai Universe

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