Kite Riding

When I said, "Go fly a kite," this isn't what I had in mind.

Wobbles: Hey, look at that guy tied to a kite!
SpongeBob: Do not be afraid, earthbound people. I am not a flying monster, I am just one of you!

— SpongeBob SquarePants, "The Sponge Who Could Fly"

Flight is cool. Kites are cool. So it stands to reason that flying on kites would be even cooler. This trope is when flight is provided by riding a giant kite.

While the trope is usually seen as used by ninjas, that doesn't limit examples to just when it's used by them.

Subtrope of Flight. Not to be confused with kiting.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• In Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls, Namenba's kimono can be used for gliding.
• Bleach. In anime episode 355 Izuru Kira arranges a kite-flying contest between the Soul Reaper squads. As the contest gets competitive, Ikkaku Madarame and Captain Soi Fon fly using their squads' kites. As they fight with each other Izuru Kira comes flying in on his own kite to break it up but crashes.
• There is an episode of Digimon Adventure 02 where Shurimon ties himself to a kite and introduces himself to a villain who wishes to fight him whilst airborne and stuck to the kite.
• Doraemon: Nobita and the Windmasters has Doraemon and friends visiting the Wind Village, whose citizens, including the gang's new friend Temujin, can control the wind. Cue Doraemon taking out a giant kite — which he calls the "Dora Kite" — so everyone can take a ride on it.
• In one Lupin III episode, the evil Fuuma Ninja use large shinobi kites to reach the top of Tsukikage Castle, with Goemon using another ninja kite to reach and duel them.
• In one episode of Miss Machiko, one of the main students and a teacher end up flying on a giant kite by accident and eventually fall into a sauna where the eponymous Ms. Machiko is bathing (of course).
• The Cursed Warrior filler arc in Naruto. The first episode of the arc shows the eponymous Cursed Warrior gliding in the dark, terrorizing a village. A few episodes later, it is revealed that he wasn't actually gliding, and that he was just riding a large black kite to give off the illusion of gliding, and that the "Cursed Warrior" was actually the feudal lord in disguise.
• When Rouge the Bat in Sonic X tries to fly off with a Chaos Emerald, E-91 Lady Ninja, one of Dr. Eggman's Robots of the Week, extends the kite out of her back to give chase.
• In Yaiba, Goemon Ishikawa makes his exit after his introduction by grabbing a wall panel which is promptly pulled off the wall by his minions and turned into an impromptu ninja kite.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!. The anime-exclusive ninja duelist Jean Claude Magnum uses a magic card called "Great Kite of Ninja" to let one of his Ninjas fly. After he loses, an actor in a costume of the monster uses an actual giant kite to kidnap his opponent.

Comic Books

• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: In the climax of volume 1, Fu Manchu's men use war kites to fly up to Moriarty's airship for a counterattack.
• X-Man: During "The Fall of the Mutants" event, Longshot becomes a human kite, pulling his fellow X-Men to the Adversary’s base.

Film — Animation

• In Toy Story 3, Woody gets out of Sunnyside Daycare by riding a kite.
• Wish Dragon: A young Din and Li Na are dragged by the kite they flew together. They do this again years later with a dragon costume, although it helps that said costume was the mystical Long in disguise.

Film — Live-Action

• An ewok in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi uses a kite to attack the AT-ST Walkers from above.
• The third Swordsman film, The East is Red, has a scene where a couple of samurai launch an aerial assault while on kites.
• In Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Japanese pilot Yamamoto is introduced being strapped to a kite and having to be pulled back on the ground to check the news of the big international air race between London and Paris.

Literature

• In Ben and Me, Ben rigs a platform on his kite for Amos and a zipline he can ride down, which Amos enjoys immensely. As Ben begins to study electricity, he hints multiple times that Amos riding on the kite during a thunderstorm would greatly benefit his study. Amos declines. However, the day Franklin "discovers" electricity, he sends Amos up in the kite like usual — and Amos doesn't find out till too late that he's removed the zipline.
• Dies The Fire. Norman Arminger and his Portland Protective Association is able to use his knowledge of medieval history to dominate the post-Change world, but it's pointed out there are some things they didn't have back then, like hang-gliders, so one is used to fly someone in behind the walls of a PPA castle at night so the gates can be opened.
• In King and Emperor the Waymen experiment with manned kites, mostly crewed by young boys. The kite crews wear a winged pendant for Volund, smith of the gods who made wings to fly away from his captors. Shef makes a kite for himself as well, but doesn't fly it very well, to his eventual detriment.
• The Kite Rider, a children's story set during China's Song dynasty and the reign of Kublai Khan. Before setting out on a voyage a ship's crew "tests the wind" by sending a kite with a man attached into the air. The man dies during the flight and his soul goes into the clouds. Later the man's son must ride a kite into the clouds to save his widowed mother from being forced to marry the man who killed her husband.
• In David Brin's The Practice Effect, someone carrying a large umbrella was caught in a powerful storm, which gave him the brainstorm for a kite. For a long time, tethered kites with soldiers riding them were used for patrol and defense, then another genius had a lucky/unlucky break when his tether broke and he invented a hang-glider, which became the word in advanced warfare, until Wizard Nuel came from a distant land...
• Rowan of Rin: The Forerunners of the Travellers use large silken kites to fly ahead of the rest of the tribe and warn of potential dangers, the cover depicts them being shaped like gliders.
• In Tom Swift and the Cosmic Astronauts Tom Swift Jr. invents a "space kite" which uses cosmic rays as the "wind" and a gravity accelerator as the virtual string to keep it tethered to a body (planet, asteroid, etc.). It's designed for two people to be in. He gets this idea from watching some kids fly a regular kite.

Live-Action TV

• LazyTown: In "Defeeted, Stingy is almost lifted up into the air by a kite, only to be brought back down by Ziggy for no apparent reason during the musical number; possibly a usage of Stock Footage.

Tabletop Games

• The semi-nomadic Yellow-Red Chanari of Rocket Age's Mars use one man gliders, which give their highland fortresses the impression of being nests for great flying animals.

Video Games

• Final Fantasy IV: The After Years has Zangetsu the ninja, who uses the ability "Human Kite" to fly into the air and then dive down to attack enemies.
• Ganryu has ninja mooks on kites who tries attacking Musashi from above and below platforms.
• The Gladiator have enemy archers on eagle kites as a Goddamned Bats variety of enemy, who can snipe you out of the air while you're busy dealing with bosses.
• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity: Impa of the ninja-like Sheikah attaches the corners of her Paraglider to her hands and feet to glide as if it was a kite. Master Kohga does the same thing when he's unlocked.
• Kid Niki: Radical Ninja has enemy ninjas riding on kites.
• In the "Twilight of Edo Japan" chapter of Live A Live, Oboromaru infiltrates the castle of the Ode Clan by flying on a kite.
• Monster Hunter: Rise: In keeping with Kamura Village's Far East/Japanese aesthetic, the Meowcenaries in this game are seen riding kites when going on missions for materials.
• Ninja enemies on kites are a recurring enemy in the city and fortress in Ninja Emaki.
• In Ninja Spirit, the Stage 5 Boss Battle is with the Tribe of the Nine Wind Demons, all nine of whom are arranged on a giant flying kite emblazoned with the kanji 影 ("shadow"). Smaller kites carrying individual enemy ninja appear in the following stage.
• Samurai Warriors: Nene, being a Highly-Visible Ninja, attempts to spy on an enemy castle by flying on a huge-ass, bright yellow kite (to go with her equally bright yellow outfit, naturally) in the dead of night while there is a full moon. To no-one's surprise but hers, the attempt fails and she would have face-planted several hundred feet down if not for Hanzo.
• Sekiro: Some of the Nightjar ninjas keep an eye on Ashina Castle by clinging to large kits tied to the Castle. If they do spot an intruder, they will leap off the kite and glide down with a cry of "WOOOOOOOOOO!", which will probably be a One-Hit Kill on the confused intruder.
• In Shinobi III: The Ninja Master, Round 2 begins with you riding a horse in the foreground while ninjas dismount kites flying in the background and run after you.
• Spiritual Assassin Taromaru have enemy ninja on kites attacking Taromaru as he's on the seas.
• The Legend of the Mystical Ninja has a goofy cutscene with Dr. Yang (Ebisumaru) flying on a kite. The Boss Battle against Sasuke begins with him deploying a group of ninjas from a giant kite, then he brings the kite closer as the battlefield for the final phase.
• In Tiger Road, kite-riding ninjas appear as Airborne Mooks as your hero tries climbing up a waterfall.
• Time Zone: The 1632 world ends with a rooftop Boss Battle against a ninja on a kite.
• Unravel: Yarny hitches a ride on a kite during one of the levels.
• In Warframe, the Tenno landing craft are designed to evoke the image of ninjas stealthily dropping into the enemy territory on kites. They have rotating airlocks on their undersides that keep the Tenno hanging horizontally until they're ready to drop.
• World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria: Many of the flight masters on Pandaria send you aloft on ornate Pandaren kites that can cross the entire continent. Such kites are available as flying mounts as well.
• The second level of Wrath of the Black Manta has the player fly a kite through an Unexpected Shmup Level segment where the Black Manta shoots down other ninjas flying kites.

Western Animation

• In Angry Birds Blues E8, Vincent rides the Blues' kite.
• In the Disney short Ben and Me, Amos Mouse rides in a pocket on Benjamin Franklin's kite on the fateful day that Ben discovers electricity.
• Captain Flamingo: In "High and Flighty", Lizbeth sees Rutger's autographed baseball in the computer monitors at the tall building, and suggests to Milo to tell the guard to get it for them to give it back to Rutger. However, after seeing four kids hanging on to his flamingo kite outside of the building where the baseball is at, Milo decides to learn himself how to fly by cutting the string holding the kids out from his kite, so that he can fly to the building himself and retrieve the baseball back. However, a bird steals the ball with its mouth, causing him to start chasing it, but the bird starts to fall in love with him and imagines that she will marry him and have children, leading her to drop the baseball back to him and gives the baseball back to Rutger safely (Lizbeth then tells the bird to back off from him at the end of the episode shortly after that).
• In the CatDog episode "Hail The Great Meow-Woof", the eponymous duo travel to a jungle island by use of a giant kite, where they meet up with Rancid Rabbit who is acting as the king of said island.
• The Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers episode "Kiwi's Big Adventure" has the Rangers attempt to recover the Ranger plane from a tribe of flightless kiwis, who think it will somehow bestow its power of flight upon them. Ultimately, the Rangers outfit the kiwis with box kites, at one kiwi per kite, which allows them to "fly" above the treetops.
• The Famous Studios cartoon "Suddenly It's Spring" from 1944 has Raggedy Ann dangle from a kite's tail in order to speak with Mister Sun.
• Franklin. In "Franklin and Snail's Dream," Snail's dream is to fly, and among the many different ways Franklin tries to help Snail achieve his dream is by placing him in a plastic cup that is attached to a kite, much to Beaver's dismiss, as she worries Snail would fall out and crack his shell.
• G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero occasionally shows the Joes and Cobras using hang gliders, though Cobra quickly got an upgrade with the rigid, jet-powered C.L.A.W. gliders.
• Goof Troop: "Hot Air" begins with Max riding a kite being pulled by P.J..
• House of Mouse: In the Silly Symphony short "Donald's Valentine Dollar", Donald chases an airborne dollar bill into a park and gets wrapped up in a butterfly kite, which he uses as wings to try and catch the dollar and also do battle with his nephews' novelty kites. He eventually gets caught in a storm and gets struck by lightning, incinerating his wings.
• The Magic Roundabout: In "Let's Go Fly a Kite", Dougal unwittingly flies away with Ermintrude's kite, before landing on the roof of the windmill where he is stranded.
• The The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh episode "Up, Up And Awry" focused on Pooh wanting to fly. Among his attempts to do so, he ties himself to a kite that is to be pulled by Eeyore riding on a tricycle, while Rabbit, Tigger, and Piglet try to stop Pooh from trying to fly.
• In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode, "The Sponge Who Could Fly", SpongeBob wants to learn how to fly just like the Jellyfish. One of his attempts is to tie himself to a kite pulled by Patrick riding a bicycle. At first, this attempt works, but eventually, the kite breaks and makes SpongeBob the laughingstock of Bikini Bottom as a result.
• An aggressive bulldog climbs up the tether to an airborne kite in Tex Avery's cartoon "Ventriloquist Cat" from 1950. The trickster cat throws his voice at the kite to make the bulldog think he's hiding there.
• In T.U.F.F. Puppy, Bird Brain's ultimate goal is to learn how to fly. In the episode that introduces his character, he is briefly seen flying by riding a $4.00 kite.
• In the Wacky Races episode, "Beat the Clock to Yellow Rock", a ranger at Yellowrock Park stops each visiting car to check for bears that hide in them to try to sneak out into the city. When Dick Dastardly finds out about this, he tricks the ranger into thinking that Blubber Bear, Lazy Luke's sidekick, is one of the park's bears, despite Luke trying to tell him otherwise. To get Blubber out of the park without the ranger noticing him, Luke ties one end of a rope to the Arkansas Chug-a-bug and the other end around Blubber while the latter holds a kite. As Luke pulls Blubber along, Blubber stays in the air just long enough to avoid being noticed by the ranger.
• Wile E Coyote And The Roadrunner: Wile E. Coyote once tried to fly by running off a cliff while holding a kite. It went as well as you'd expect.

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