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KNI风E or Knite is a webcomic on Website/DeviantArt by Yuumei. Set in China, the story follows a curious group known as the Knites, who fly kites with lights attached to them into the night sky from tall buildings to give a semblance starlight to the smog filled Chinese city below, from which the protagonist, Sen, is a member of. The story begins on a morning when another boy, Kai, unexpectedly shows up to "thank" Sen, but things are not as they seem... The characters are realistic yet deeply flawed and the story explores important themes relevant today. Coupled with the artist's skill, it is a beautiful and poignant story.

It can be read on the [[http://knites.deviantart.com/gallery/ dedicated DeviantArt account]]. Though intended to have 8-10 chapters, it was unfinished until 2016, when Yuumei announced she would be making a DarkerAndEdgier reboot of the comic, with the characters older and a more mature story. The reboot can be read [[https://www.yuumeiart.com/knite here.]]
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!!''Knite'' provides examples of:
* AbusiveParents: Sen's stepmom [[spoiler: tried to ''strangle him'' because of a ''remark he made.'']]
* AgeLift: Sen, Kai, and their peers are teenagers in the reboot, and their designs are updated to reflect this. In the original comic, they were middle schoolers.
* AnimalMotifs: So far Kai has been associated with a squirrel, Min-Min a bunny, and Sen a swallow.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Kai presents himself as cheerful and friendly, but can be scathing when provoked.
* BilingualBonus: The rather odd "t" in "Knite" is actually the chinese character 风, which means "wind"
** If you understand Chinese, Kai's name (sometimes present on the shirt he wears as the character 开) means "open" and Sen's name (生, which can be seen on the back of his shirt instead) means "birth"
* BookDumb: Sen. If his test scores are anything to go by...
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Min-Min is defined as Kai's sweet little sister who is undeserving of her current fate of being ill and possibly dying.
* ClassRepresentative: Ling.
* CoolBigSis: Fei can qualify.
* CorruptPolitician: Kai and Min-Min's father is one.
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Sen, Kai, Min-min, Ling...in fact most, if not all of the characters fall under this trope as Yuumei colours their hair in pretty realistic hair colours.
* TheCynic: Sen's attitude suggests he has some aspects of this, and [[spoiler: surprisingly, this is who Kai really is.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: The reboot is intended to have a darker and more mature theme per WordOfGod, reflected in the updated character designs to reflect that Sen and the other characters are now teenagers.
* DefeatEqualsFriendship: [[spoiler: When Fei, annoyed by Sen's antisocial behaviour and refusal to let Fei and Ling help him put stars in the sky, she proves to Sen how she can put more stars in the sky because of her friends. Sen relents and this is how the Knites were formed.]]
* DelicateAndSickly: Kai has a younger sister named Min-Min, a sweet little girl who's sick and always bedridden. [[spoiler:He later reveals that her illness is terminal.]]
* DontYouDarePityMe: Sen has this attitude.
* EmpathicEnvironment: Chapter 3. [[spoiler: After Sen lost all his kites except one, his stepmother nearly strangles him, Sen refuses Kai's help and Kai leaves, there's a thunderstorm outside.]]
* TheFaceless: The face of Sen's stepmother is never shown, and often hidden from the side by her hair.
* FreudianExcuse: Sen has that attitude of his because [[spoiler: his mom left him when he was five, his dad gives him up as hopeless and he has to live with his abusive (and probably slightly deranged) stepmom.]]
* GreenAesop: Has one about political and corporate corruption and how industrial conditions unchecked hurt more than the environment, they hurt people, too.
* HitMeDammit: Sen has this moment with Kai. Kai tells him to close his eyes and then flicks his forehead.
* HopeSpringsEternal /ForHappiness: Sen's out look on life.
* HotBlooded: Sen, in the sense that he's quick to anger and fight.
* HeroicBSOD: Sen after [[spoiler:Kai's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech before his departure to US]]
* IronicNurseryTune: How the first chapter starts off. It is a real Chinese song from the 1950s when China was industrializing, and what makes it truly ironic is that they really did not know the detrimental effects industrialization would have on the environment at that time.
** Chapter 3, the song that Sen's stepmother sings is a Chinese nursery tune "世上只有妈妈好" (translation: Mother is the best in this world) Draw some parallels as to [[spoiler: how Sen's stepmother is singing this to her imaginary child (she is infertile), how Sen's real mom left him and to Yuumei's past of parental divorce.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Sen comes off as cold because of his troubled family life. Kai isn't much better, only that it's hidden under his amiable facade.
** Dickson is one as well, flying his own kite at night [[spoiler:''just so he can cut the Knites' down'' to make his statement about how the Knites are just hopeless dreamers.]]
* MeaningfulName: Kai in Chinese means "open". Kai, the charismatic, teasing, sociable guy who is ''open'' to everyone.
** Also Dickson. Three guesses why, and the first two don't count.
* MisplacedRetribution: The business of Kai's corrupt father causes environmental degradation. Guess who ends up paying for it? [[spoiler: Min-Min.]] Oh, and lots of women who end up infertile or have miscarriages, like [[spoiler: Sen's stepmother]]
* MissingMom: Sen's mother left when he was five years old.
* MrFanservice: Kai. Dear god, ''Kai''. The comments of fangirls throwing themselves at him will not stop.
** Sen can qualify, because of Yuumei's art style.
* MotionComic: Made with Adobe Flash, the comic uses a bit of motion to be read. Is classified as a Flash Webcomic.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: Kai's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Sen.]]
* OrphanedSeries: The original comic was LeftHanging on the cliffhanger of [[spoiler:Kai leaving for America.]] It was eventually {{reboot}}ed with a new story, leaving the original story unfinished.
* ParentalNeglect: Sen's [[spoiler: mom left him when he was five, and his father has given him up as hopeless, on top of leaving him in the care of his abusive stepmother.]]
* PerpetualFrowner: Sen. then again, if you had a home situation like his, you wouldn't be smiling either. It's hard to say how many times he smiled but he's been frowner since he was 5.
* {{Portmanteau}}: The title is a combination of "night" and "kite." And then it has the Chinese character of "wind" in its official logo.
* RainbowSpeak: Important words and objects tend to be '''[[color:red:red]]'''.
* RageAgainstTheAuthor: Yuumei drew [[http://yuumei.deviantart.com/gallery/24250483#/d3addcy a comic]] where Sen had learned that Knite was going to be published, and was worried that people wouldn't be able to read it online for free anymore.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler: Kai gives one to Sen about how the Knites' actions have resulted in excess battery use and further pollution, and how Sen is ignorant and naive and would not understand anything about environmental conservation because he doesn't go to school. Also a WhamLine which shows his HiddenDepths]]
* RedOniBlueOni: Sen's Red to Kai's Blue. The former is quick to upset, while the latter is more calm and amiable.
* SceneryPorn: Yuumei's art is consistently and beautifully drawn with an eye for detail, particularly in the scenes depicting the lights of the city at night.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: Why [[spoiler: Kai offers money whenever he first meets a person.]]
* ShouldntWeBeInSchoolRightNow: Kai asks Sen how he goes to school if he stays out all night flying his kites.
* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: Dickson, which is why he [[spoiler:cuts the Knites' kite down with his own.]]
** [[spoiler: Kai has this moment with Sen.]] Yuumei then {{Lampshades}} it in TheRant almost word for word.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: It looks like Sen and Kai are on opposite ends of the scale.
* SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness: The webcomic is always swinging between the two extremes. One moment it's Kai teasing Sen and laughs to be had...then the next it's a MoodWhiplash back to the cynical themes the webcomic embodies.
** The Chapter 4 beta pages. The scene can be as angsty as hell but the author's comments will just kill the moment.
* TheSmartGuy: Kai, who is streetwise, resourceful and savvy. He can fall into CrazyPrepared, because you can be sure that by meeting you he's surely done some "research" on you...
* SoapOperaDisease: Min-Min's illness. It is not known what she has, although it has been guessed at, however, [[spoiler:it is terminal and she doesn't really have a very long time in which to live]].
* SpeechBubbles: While there are no bubbles, each character so far has their own unique font, possibly a visible shorthand for their voices.
* TruthInTelevision: There are people in China who fly kites into the air with Christmas lights attached to them, but it is unclear whether or not they do it to put the stars back in the sky.
** The [[spoiler: corruption and environmental degradation present]] should ring a bell.
* WhamLine: [[spoiler: Kai's entire TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Sen.]]
** [[spoiler: Kai: ''"I won't be in this country by tommorrow."'']]
** [[spoiler: Kai: ''"Min-Min never had a future to begin with...."'']]
* WickedStepmother: Sen's stepmother was willing to [[spoiler: choke him over an insult.]]
* WideEyedIdealist: Sen. Yes, he's an anti-social jerkass but he still believes he can fill the night sky with artificial stars.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: How Sen sees Kai and Ling, though that's because he's an antisocial loner with attitude problems.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: Min-Min, [[spoiler: being terminally ill.]]
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