Ranked #130

Redline

Takeshi Koike's debut feature, more than five years in the making. Redline is an anime about racing, only presented like nothing we have seen before. Produced by Madhouse, with second key animation by Gainax, music from James Shimoji and a cast and crew pumped with everlasting potential, this is certainly one of - if not the - most adrenaline filled anime film to date.

If you've seen a film about racing before, then you know how the plot in such a film tends to unfold. Essentially it isn't so different in Redline, but the larger than life presentation coupled with the phenomenal experience this film brings about is second to none. The story itself is both exhilarating and incredibly well paced. The action is, as you would imagine, fast, fantastic and full of adrenaline and the drama is cheesy, but the kind of cheese that puts a smile on your face. The crazy antics in Redline make clear that it isn't to be taken too seriously and coupled with the fact that the characters and art compliment the story so much, you're able to look beyond the cliches and appreciate the film for what it really is: an exhilarating thrill-ride that doesn't set out to challenge our minds, but to simply entertain and in that respect, the story definitely delivers.

The tagline for Redline is 'WITNESS THE FUTURE OF ANIMATION' and they weren't joking. Madhouse handled the production, with second key animation primarily from Gainax. The films total development took seven years, a huge majority of that time was spent in production. The film contains over one hundred thousand hand-made drawings and the amout of detail and action on screen is so vast that you're going to want to give the film multiple viewings. Interestingly, Takeshi Koike (the man behind Trava, the World Record episode from The Animatrix and responsible for the animated segments in The Taste of Tea) not only served as the director, but also the animation director. Considering this is Koike's debut feature, it just goes to show that Madhouse had a lot of faith in the man and for good reason... he doesn't just deliver, he delivers tenfold. The animation in Redline is, quite simply, mind-blowing. The film is full of colour, detail and beauty like no other, the art style is vigorous and unique and the character designs are fresh, exuberant and interesting. This is animation at its best.

The soundtrack - mainly consisting of various electronic tracks - is sublime. It fits Redline's fast-paced visuals and cheesy drama oh so well. The sound editing is top-notch and the ending song will leave a smile on your face. The voice acting is superb, but then again that is to be expected when you get some of the best Japanese actors in the business involved. Takuya Kimura - SMAP member and leading star of Love and Honour, part of Yoji Yamada's Oscar nominated samurai trilogy - handles our main man, JP. Our leading lady is voiced by none other than Yu Aoi, an actress who has appeared in many award winning Japanese films, multiple of which were directed by national treasure Shunji Iwai and last, but certainly not least, JP's partner, Frisbee, is voiced by Tadanobu Asano, quite possibly one of the very best actors working in Japan today and to quote anime journalist Helen McCarthy - casting him was a stroke of genius.

The main characters all very much fit into simple archetypes. You have the extremely cool - but sometimes clutzy - JP, along with the sexy love interest, Sonoshee and the mysterious partner, Frisbee. Similar to the story, the characters are quite conventional. They don't do anything new, they're not hugely complex and they don't need more than a paragraph of analysis, but that is besides the point. The characters, like the story, are themselves larger than life, quite literally. JP and Sonoshee together make up about half of the human population in the entire film, everyone else belongs to their own alien race. The story and characters are very much two sides of the same coin - the characters aren't there to be complex, but to entertain us, to build the scale of the film to do their job as the archetypes we know and love. The characters give the film its flavour and they're incredibly fun and amazing to behold on screen.

Redline is a film not to be taken too seriously and anyone doing so has certainly missed the point. Needless to say, if you want a realistic racing film then you have come to the wrong place. However, if you want a fast, funny, eye-watering, explosive experience that'll pump your enjoyment scales to the max and suck you into a world that words like 'amazing' and 'vigorous' can not even begin to describe, then this is the film to do it. Redline is like one huge, epic, colourful, mind-blowing, rollercoster of a Newton's Cradle. Every element just continuously works together and bounces off each other to create one tremendous overall work that is certainly quite magical to behold. Redline is more than a film, it is an experience. read more

Ah Redline, what words can I use to describe this epic adrenaline rush? To be honest words are not enough, this is one of those films that you have to see to fully comprehend its greatness. However I am going to attempt to pass on my thoughts of this film in this review of what feel is one of the best anime films I have ever seen. Period.

Now in when it comes of the plot of Redline it is short, sweet and straight to the point. The film follows our main character JP, a driver who wants to race in a tournament called Redline which is held every five years. However he fails to qualify for it and just when he believes his dream is over, by chance two people drop out of the tournament which gives him a qualifying place.

It has been mentioned by critics and viewers, that Redline lacks a plot or that the story comes across as lackluster and while I can understand that point of the argument I can also argue against it. The film has enough of a plot to work in cohesiveness with the rest of the film and while it's not overly complex or thought-provoking it doesn’t have to be. I would like to think of it this way: Would your rather watch film with an overly drawn out plot and character development which could be potentially tedious and slow down the fast-paced nature of the film? Or would you want to watch a film with a condensed plot that has enough story and personality to make you care about what you are watching? Personally I prefer the latter.

When it comes to the visual presentation of Redline, words fail me. I mean seriously, no words can truly say how beautiful this film really is. Japanese animation studio Madhouse have crafted one of the most visually stunning animated films in existence, you really have to see it in action to comprehend its awesomeness. Firstly there's the character design, from the human-based characters to all of the other alien races and cybernetic beings that reside within Redline's world, the designs are diverse, unique and interesting. Secondly you have the vehicles which are also fabulous, coming in many different shapes and sizes, from simple to completely crazy designs, with individual quirks and weapon arsenals to be admired. And lastly there's the locations of the film that vary from the rocky crayons where races are done to spaceships floating above planets, all of which have an incredible amount of detail that draws your eyes in especially on a large cinema screen.

But I feel that the main aspect that makes Redline so great is the fluidity of the animation. The quality of the animation in this film is actually insane, with several sequences of high-octane action crafted with some beautiful choreography, nicely placed camera angles and great use of speed. Everything moves in such a smooth manner, with no moments of slowdown or inconsistencies whatsoever. The film delivers an experience like no other in the animation department and really conveys on the concept of speed, pushing you to edge of your seat and beyond.

But what is a film without a good soundtrack? Luckily Redline happens to have a brilliant soundtrack crafted by James Shimoji, which compliments the visuals wonderfully. The soundtrack is mainly composed of techno-based music, but it works well with the action on-screen, its explosive, fast-paced and it sounds so good! Also personally I felt that Redline's soundtrack really reminded me of the video-games F-Zero GX and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, both of which have great soundtracks with explosive music that sounds great on the highest volume level. I also have to note that the sound editing in this film is tackled perfectly as well.

In terms of the enjoyment of Redline, I say be prepared to fall in love with this film. After watching the trailers for this film you get a rough idea as to what you will be watching, however those trailers cannot prepare you for the whole film. As a lot of people know this genre of film has been done before, after all Redline is a film about guys, girls and cars. But what Redline as film does well is give us a familiar format to work with, but it's covered in such an innovative, stylised and charismatic fashion that you will be left in awe after you see it. Also throughout all of the chaos and mind-blowing visuals, Redline never feels like it's heading into unnatural territory, in fact a lot of aspects about Redline feel realistic and believable.

Overall Redline is an experience that I feel everyone should enjoy. It's a like a rush of energy that's exhilarating, fast-paced and unforgettable. Takeshi Koike, Redline's director should feel very happy about the film that he has crafted and considering his previous work before coming onto this project I'm not surprised that this film turned out to be a success. Again I feel the need to mention Madhouse's insane skills as an animation studio as they have created a film full of action, charisma and style unlike any other film. There are so many individual things about the film that's weird and wonderful and completely unexpected, but overall I say watch this film and experience the epicness that is Redline! read more

Redline is excellent proof that you can have too much of a good thing. Especially when you neglect everything else in the process.

The first 10 minutes do an excellent job of letting viewers know what’s in store for them. It’s here that the film treats us to an intense and gorgeously animated race sequence and equally beautiful backgrounds and character models. From there on out it’s clear that the films intent is to overwhelm the viewer with adrenaline-filled races brought to life with mouth-watering animation and sound. Storyline and character development are of the lowest priority.

It’s no surprise, then, that Redline sticks closely to the usual 3 act structure. We’re first given a taste of things to come while the personalities and motivations of the major players are established, topped off with introducing the long term goal. The second act is all about the preparation with some rudimentary attempts at character development while act 3 is the main attraction: a 40-minute onslaught of non-stop racing packed with over-the-top, high speed moments and more explosions than 3 Michael Bay films put together.

Sounds good on paper. But Redline goes so overboard with its spectacle that it somehow becomes a bit dull. It’s simply too much.

First off, there are too many characters. The main characters are pretty forgettable and the only contestant who was somewhat cool was the established champion. The film further hurts itself by introducing subplots and characters who aren’t related to the race. A sizable chunk of screentime is reserved for a b-story involving an evil government (basically space-China) that’s out to stop the race and dig up some ancient weapons or something. Ultimately they’re only there to cause tons of explosions and other kinds of destruction. This in a film that’s already filled to the brim with explosions and spectacular set pieces.

This is Redline’s second excess. There is simply too much going on in the third act. A big race alone would have made for a wonderfully thrilling climax but Redline throws in an obligatory mafia subplot as well as the aforementioned evil government. What it all leads to? Stuff getting blown up and more stuff getting blown up.

This wouldn’t have been so bad if there was a reason to care or even some sense of urgency but there isn’t. All the cars race at impossible speeds and run just fine even after taking enough damage to wreck 10 spaceships. The result is that tension is basically nonexistent in this film. Nobody of note dies and damage to the vehicle is shrugged off so easily that one gets the feeling the only thing at stake is the film’s running time.

It’s a real pity seeing as the film is brilliantly animated and incredibly stylish. The film had a production history of 7 long years and you can tell when watching it that all that time was well spent in honing the stunning visuals to perfection. It’s no exaggeration that this is a new benchmark in terms of pure animation. The film’s many characters have detailed, instantly distinguishable models and are fluidly animated, machines roar and rush over surfaces with incredible speed and there’s even the occasional use of deformed animation for stylish effect that’s very effective. The visuals in Redline are a labor of love and the best part is that it overwhelms the senses in a way that seems difficult (perhaps impossible) to replicate in another medium.

In the end, that makes it all the more tragic that these gorgeous visuals aren’t telling a story worth caring about. Worse yet, its main hook (the visuals) simply can’t be used to carry a 100-minute feature film. Some serious editing could have reduced it to have its length and it would’ve made for a better-flowing and much more enjoyable viewing experience.

As it is, Redline is a stunningly animated but overlong film with such incompetent storytelling that it cannot reach its full potential. One can only hope that first-time director Takashi Koike’s next project will be a lot more polished. As it is, the talent is there. It simply needs to be honed and guided properly.
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"Redline" is a film of style. It is a simple story that doesn't take itself too seriously. But this piece is truly art, you could watch it for that reason alone.
It's reminiscent of something Gainax would produce, but with a little extra kick of spice added.

The story of a racer who just can't turn down any race, along with everyone else in this film.
This film makes me think of a film version of an uncensored F-Zero.

For the art department. This movie should win an award. This is seriously the reason to watch this film. The execution, character design, machines, action, SPEED! Everything is done with excellent detail, and you really feel like you're apart of these races. Just beautiful.
Takeshi Koike should direct more anime features.

As for characters, most are very obvious. Mainly all characters are adrenaline junkies who want more speed and want to WIN!
Many plot points are quite obvious and cliche, and you will know all of them as soon as you watch the film. Does this take away from the experience? Not. At. ALL!

JP is an old fashioned racer, with the help of his mechanic, an old friend Frisbee, he can win. If it were not for Frisbee fixing the races because of his deals with the mafia.

Sonoshee is one sexy babe, and she's the :Spoiler: love interest for JP in this picture (It's no spoiler). Her dream is to win the Redline.

There are many other quirky supporting characters that enter races, qualify for the Redline, and get in JP's way.
But, it's all in the execution.

The sound department in this production. The SFX should get an award as well, especially with the well executed explosions and vehicle sounds.
All the seiyuu are excellent.
The music is very good as well, it reminds me even more of F-Zero.

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If you are interested in any way in speed, animation, execution, and style, you're at the right place.
This is quite a beautiful film!

This film deserves my 10, because it does what it is trying to do perfectly.
Beautiful art, fast paced story with some well executed down time, and a perfect experience!
Another great Madhouse production has hit streets.

As I said before, Takeshi Koike should direct more anime features! read more

Someone showed the Japan­ese ‘Wacky Races’. They were not impressed. “They call this ‘wacky’?”, they said. “We’ll show them wacky”.

You have never seen an anime like this before.

Red­line is an experience.

The story is about some punk-ass racing driver JP. He’s got­ten him­self into some match-fixing scan­dals but, due to some unfore­see­able coin­cid­ences, he wound up qual­i­fy­ing for Red­line, the worlds biggest racing event. The only rule is your vehicle must use wheels. Plus, to make things inter­est­ing, they decided to hold the race on Roboplanet, home to a war­ring civil­isa­tion who vow to kill any racers who dare enter their planet. Why hold the race there? So the TV rat­ings for the galaxy air­ing of Red­line shoot through the roof and so the anim­at­ors have plenty of oppor­tun­it­ies to anim­ate pretty explosions.

Not that any of this really mat­ters. The plot is a tedi­ous frivolity that’s just there to jus­tify the crazy sequences they put these char­ac­ters through. You couldn’t even hear the expos­i­tion and explan­at­ory dia­logue over the explo­sions, rev­ving engines and thump­ing soundtrack, to the point that sub­titles would often appear on the screen when I couldn’t hear any­one actu­ally say­ing any­thing. The real sign of this is the final scene, which I won’t spoil, but acts as a sign by the cre­at­ors that you weren’t meant to be tak­ing this ser­i­ously in any way, shape or form. It’s such a bril­liantly corny way to end the movie that you can’t help but applaud the auda­city of it all.

Red­line is all about the visual exper­i­ence. As little import­ance as they might have had, it’s really a shame I had to pay some degree of atten­tion to the sub­titles because I prob­ably missed so many little details. Each scene is full of little eye­c­atches to com­pli­ment the over­all pic­ture. From the Red­line cham­pion Iron­head, a 3 metre tall fella with a head of, sur­prise sur­prise, iron, strok­ing his teeny tiny dog dur­ing an inter­view, or the hero in JP’s dream snog­ging two girls at once, the movie is full of these little amus­ing details that act as winks to the audi­ence. I’d almost say it didn’t have enough of these, which is kinda like say­ing Death Note needed more Latin chant­ing, but I could have done with a few less explo­sions and a few more cars fly­ing through the air with their wind­screen wipers on. There’s only so many ways you can make an explo­sion look inter­est­ing. I’m pretty sure Red­line used up every single method, and made up a few of it’s own, but the eccent­ri­cit­ies with anim­at­ing other incid­ents is what made me love this movie.

Red­line is aim­ing to have as much fun as pos­sible. That’s how the brain behind the series works and drives what the movie does next. Com­pare this to Panty and Stock­ing for a second. P&S uses the auda­city of it’s anim­a­tion tech­niques to pro­voke shocked responses of “OMG did they just do that!?!”. Red­line uses it’s anim­a­tion for the power of fun. You can tell how much the cre­at­ors enjoyed work­ing on this. If any­thing, it looks like they might have had too much fun and were forced to cut out parts of the movie to make it more man­age­able. There cer­tainly appeared to be a chunk of the final race miss­ing as it leaped from mid­way point to the fin­ish line. All things con­sidered, they prob­ably made the right choice if they cut out some scenes from there. The movie was just the right length, any­more might have killed the fun just that little bit, but it did leave the final race feel­ing a little bit disjointed.

Ulti­mately, because of the dis­reg­ard for nar­rat­ive, the movie doesn’t hold much weight. Hence I don’t think it will make quite the splash some of the early reviews pre­dicted it would make. But Red­line is such an incred­ibly fun film that I find it hard to see how people won’t get sucked in by it’s atmo­sphere and inten­tions, grin­ning like a maniac right the way through the film. Are you not enter­tained? Is this not why you are here?

::Edit:: I've seen this movie 3 times now and decided to hike the score up from an 8 to a 9. If anything, it gets more fun with each rewatch read more

Well If i was to describe Reline in a phrase(sentences overrated), id say "Eye Candy". Redline Is not something you watch for the plot, but for the epic animation; its fluid moves, Its epic turns, and most of all when the nitro kicks in and we all got to plaid (space-balls anyone?). Well im going cut this review short. Well because its only a 1 hour 42 min movie that some how has found its way on my Ipod (by legal Means).

Story:7/10 Average, not something for the plot. Its about intergalactic Racing deal with it.(all i can say is the disrespect).(NO SPOILERS IN MY REVIEWS, NOT EVEN A HINT. YOU'LL GET MORE FROM THE SITE SUMMERY THAN ILL EVERY GIVE)

Art:10/10 Hand drawn over 7 years, hands down the best art ive seen in anime thus far (but not art direction). Everything is frame by frame 30 fps, full movie quality with epic moves that send shivers down your spine.Ill say it again its, "eye Candy".

Sound:9/10: Its second Best part is the song, which seems to go in time with the animation so well it makes everything look cool. To describe the sound all I can say is UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ(look up Yellow line if you want).

Character 8/10: The Characters have virtually no development(its a 1 hour 42 min movie, what you expect?). Basically the characters are as they are presented. Yet, these Characters are so well drawn and unique that you cant help but to somewhat like them. Redline throws us a pot with a funky Universe and a dash of weird Aliens and Machines . That with stellar Character Design paves the way for the movie. Its this Varied Colorful cast of intergalactic racers that give the Characters 8/10

Personal Enjoyment:9/10 im a person for the plot so that hurt a little, but the Visuals and the epic moments just drew me in, Id recommend this to anyone, because almost anyone can like it. If you wanna spend a good 102 min well. Then look no further than Redline.

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I'll give credit to Redline that it made for quite the impressive achievement in animation as it was completely animated by hand, which is unheard of these days with computers essentially being used to create all of the animation used for modern anime titles. The movie was brimming with plenty of detail and depth in depicting the violent races that took place in the movie and showing off the scenery of Roboworld as the racers prepared and raced on the planet's surface. The animation depth was slick enough to create the illusion of speedy movement depicted with the racers and any collateral damage coming from the manic action that took place in the movie. Character designs are definitely out of the norm for an anime title as well where many of the aliens and robots seen in this movie are made to be quite bizarre and out-of-the-ordinary, with only JP and Sonoshee appearing to be designed like typical human anime characters.

In terms of plot, Redline is quite simple focused mostly on JP's efforts in trying to win the Redline race and the militaristic robot armies of Roboworld trying to sabotage the race. It is mostly dependent in depicting Redline's manic races and over-the-top characters who are either trying to win the race or wipe out the racers thus feeling mostly stylish in its premise. Those who look more for style over substance in their anime movies will get a definite kick out of how crazy the racing and characters are in Redline while those wanting a bit more depth to their anime will find this movie to feel like a novelty. Sadly though, I have to go along with the latter opinion as Redline relies entirely on its gritty premise and presentation to hook in viewers and it doesn't have much else memorable for me to want to come back for more viewing.

While definitely a great visual treat and a decent manic romp while it lasts, I feel quite indifferent towards Redline as it oozes mostly in style and doesn't have any worthwhile substance to make me dive in for seconds with the movie. I guess your mileage will vary on whether or not the movie wows you more than my experience with it. read more

Like many others said, you don't watch Redline to be captivated by some intriguing plot. You watch Redline to see some kick-ass animation, and as long as you keep that in your mind it's a very enjoyable movie.
Within the first 5 minutes of the movie I was wowed by how impressive the animation, art, and backgrounds were. Right off the bat I was reminded of works like Afro Samurai or Tekkonkinkreet, both "animation porn", if you will. Redline isn't trying to be a deep or intelligent movie, no, it's supposed to amaze you visually and it does that perfectly.
Redline has lush backgrounds, fantastic race animations, and an awesome art style akin to anime from the 80's or 90's. It's soundtrack isn't anything fantastic but it does just what it needs to do in being fast paced and exciting.
The only true flaw the movie has is it's lack of strong character development. Though it doesn't affect how much I enjoyed the movie, the characters were weak and almost cliche, with JP being the generic gangster and Crab being the typical pretty girl with a passion for something. Personally this didn't affect me but I could definitely see how someone could be bothered by it.
In the end it all comes down to personal preference, Redline isn't a thought provoking movie, but it's definitely a landmark movie in Japanese animation in regards to it's style and aesthetic. If your a big fan of anime or just animation in general Redline is a must see. read more

I'v been wanting to watch this for a while now,needless to say it was worth the wait.In a universe with all manner of alian creatures exist the most arduous,trecheruos,nerve recking racing tournament in the galaxy,Redline.The story takes place with a guy called JB who is a professoinal racer but due to his 'shady' past is forced to compete in underground match fixing .He is force to compete at redline in order to pay for his debt, but his situation gets even more complicated as there are those who hate redline and will stop at nothing to see it destroyed .

Firstly i love the animation which is a combination of what you'll see in dead leaves,invader zim and a barbie commercial.the sound is great and the characters are all interesting with none of them being anything close to normal.The weirdness of the characters is surpassed only by the competing cars themselves.If you think speed racers mach 5 is cool,wait till you check out these rides.The diologue is also great,a lot of funny insults and humour.A truely great peace of work and must see. read more

Story:
Good story line, background information was provided on the main characters which allowed for me to relate/sympathize to the characters more. The main story follows the Redline tournament, but the little bit of romance between the characters added to the excitement and thrill of the race (plus you actually got to know a little bit bout the other competitors too)
The overall mix of fantasy, racing, creatures of all sorts, humour and large baby-like monster thingy made it a fun watch.

Art:
The art was clean and crisp. The building/planet designs and the range of cars was spectacular and the characters themselves were very interesting. It was especially refreshing to have that range of designs for all the characters from the creatures to the humanoids (i dunno what you call them) on roboworld. What I found particularly interesting was the fact that the artists/ director/ whoever weren't afraid to make the characters look the real thing - like when JP uses the hyper speed or whatever, they show that he is using and his facial features change with it, not keeping it pretty boy face (if you get what i'm saying) - like their not afraid to make the characters look ugly :P

Sound:
Music/sound was great and fitted the story well.

Character:
Favourite was JP, but all characters were unique, funny and pretty interesting. Even with Frisbee being a bit of a 'sus' in the beginning your never really positioned to hate upon anyone of the characters - even the evil guys at Roboworld - can be viewed as a flaw but it definitely isn't.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie! I loved the racing, the romance (not over powering/ all of the story but enough to make it refreshing) the art and the overall plot of the story. One of my new favourites and a must see for all!
I rate it 10/10 :D read more

Way back at the turn of the century a short OVA series was released that went by the name “Trava”. It was a quirky series that was noted mostly for its visual style. The think bold shadows and lines were very much not unlike those of a comic book and it sported some very interesting and experimental animation. It was co-directed by Takeshi Koike, who instead of going on to direct some more anime seemingly stuck in the background and directed bits and pieces of animation here and there. More specifically, he was also behind the Afro Samurai promo, a section of the Animatrix and Iron Man’s pilot. All of them had the same style as Trava, thick and bold shadows and incredibly stylistic animation. While it appeared that Koike wasn’t heavily involved in the industry, in reality Madhouse had went ahead and turned his work on the second set of Trava OVAs into a full feature length film. And so Redline came into existence, complete with different main characters and plot, however taking place in the same continuity as Trava.

Redline’s story won’t raise any eyebrows. What will raise eyebrows is how it’s told. Redline doesn’t aim to woo the audience with its writing; however it does use its visuals to make the plot sincere and engaging. The plot is also pretty retro and it’s a callback to anime in the late 80s and 90s with its sci-fi setting and crazy character designs. This is reflected in every aspect of the movie, from its themes to romance and even the fanservice. This isn’t by sheer coincidence either, the old-school style is there to remind people of a time when anime was built solely on the sweat and tears of the animators and staff, when anime was just taking off and was a lot less commercial than it is now. Although Redline does nod its head to its predecessors, it never completely wallows in nostalgia either. It boldly stands on the shoulders of giants saluting the past yet painting the way forward for the medium, taking risks and daring steps forward. It may not amount to anything more than a pipe dream in the end but its stride is more than enough to inspire complete and utter glee from the audience.

The single most important factor and noticeable aspect of Redline is without a doubt its animation. Anybody can tell you that after watching 20 seconds of footage. So what exactly makes Redline’s animation so special? Well for one, it’s nearly animated entirely on 1s i.e about 24 drawings/frames every second. You don’t see this in many anime movies let alone TV anime, the animation itself is on the same level as Akira, Satoshi Kon flicks and Studio Ghibli movies. However unlike these movies, the animation is VERY stylized almost to the point where the subjects can look horrendously off-model but all of it has a point. The name of Redline’s game is speed, and that’s something it portrays very well, better than any live-action movie, better than any book and better than any video game. Redline is a revelation, it shows us why 2D animation isn’t obsolete compared to its 3D counterpart and most of all; it’s a towering triumph for animation as a form of storytelling. The animation tells the story in Redline, from the visceral car/mecha porn fights to the more subtle moments of romance and characterization. This movie doesn’t achieve all of this through exposition nor monologues and not even the cast. And yes, plenty of anime have done this before but Redline really drives home the power of animation and how it can be used to really enhance the experience. More importantly, could Redline be possible as a live action work? No, it only works in the medium it was created for. It’s not really possible to brush aside the visuals for this movie nor is it possible to say its all style and no substance. The style is the substance in this case; Redline is all about the visuals as a vehicle for storytelling and in that sense you can’t really talk about Redline’s story without also addressing the animation, mainly because they are so tightly knit together. There a certain art to delivering cheesy popcorn entertainment to the audience and Redline does it the same way many landmark works before did it, by showing the audience instead of telling them, by raw energy instead of robotic puppeteering. I can’t stress the importance of what Redline is trying to do and how it’s trying to do it. It’s a visionary piece of work that restates the strengths of 2D animation and plays exclusively to its tune. It’s uniformly the Akira of this generation in terms of influence it’ll propagate over the industry. The only real difference is the environment in which both movies were released and Redline comes at a time where its presence stands out all the stronger compared to all of its peers. The audio design is fantastic as well, the cars themselves on nitro often sound like jets, which really goes a long way into convincing the audience of the speed and momentum each vehicle has. The crashes and explosions are gratuitous and glorious and the soundtrack is techno. Not the hipster kind but the UNTZ kind, the music is tailor-made to pump up the audience and like the animation, is there to enhance the experience.

The technicalities of the animation are also very impressive. The movie was 7 years in production, 2-3 in pre-production (storyboards and planning) and 4 of actual animation. The amount of care and effort into this project is plainly obvious upon viewing the final product, the complexity of the storyboard, the rich and detailed animation and the energetic audio design. The staff involved is even more impressive, ranging from talent like Gainax’s own Hiroyuki Imashi, all the way to grizzled veterans like Shinya Ohira. The animation in this movie is a culmination of the evolution Japanese animation has undergone over the past few decades and the results are dazzling. This is juxtaposed thematically in the movie as well. In the beginning of the movie, we are told that only “fools” with vanishing spirit continue to race in cars, which is acknowledged as a dying sport because of all the superior technology out there. This is commentary on 2D animation in general and the racers are very much alike to the animators who work in a medium that is becoming less and less appreciated over time. If you want to take it a step further, Sonoshee, the heroine is a symbol of inspiration and chasing dreams while the hero JP is symbolic of the audience themselves, smitten with the wonders of racing (animation) as a youngster and forever chasing a dying ideal out of romanticism and passion. This movie isn’t “deep” by any stretch of the word but if it had a message, I’d say it was simply trying to inspire the audience, daring them to dream for so much more.

Redline isn’t really the product of a bygone era, but more like the product of its immediate surroundings. It can entertain on any level and really, it’s a wonder just to behold it as the visuals and sound completely and utterly assault your every senses while you sit in awe for an hour and forty minutes. Even if you don’t really appreciate animation all that much, you can still take away a lot of enjoyment from the movie because in the end its just one hell of a ride that really needs to be experienced by oneself.
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This is a movie that just has too much undeserving praise. Everyone I've heard or read goes on and on about the animation. It's just 70's American style animation with more modern models and a large budget. When trying to ignore the disturbing/distracting animation, there is the english dub that brings the movie down. There were some good names in this, but the translation and their execution were just plain off on this. The music was alright the few times I noticed it and when it wasn't just a slightly alternative to a previous piece. The story is adequate at best and the characters somehow over the top and 2-dimensional at the same time. It's not a horrible movie. There was a lot of effort put into this. It's just that with all that effort, I would have wanted more than just a spectacle movie. read more

::TRAILER::
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t26m_Q6ENo
::TRAILER::

So, let's talk about Redline!
I watched this film (English Dub) last night, and I have to say it is the best motherfucking anime movie I had seen in so goddamn long. I can't shit out enough profanity to express how many assess Redline kicks! A masterpiece that took seven years to construct, consisting of nothing but authentic, hand-drawn, comicbook-styled animation from the pumps of the high heals to the feathered hair of a pompadour, with an enthralling soundtrack written to compliment every single frame, not to mention the excitable yet simply delicious plot, Redline screams of exuberance and and adrenaline. An ingenious production birthed only by a crew seeking to spin the wheels of anime offroad, against the traffic of the industry's current and monotonous trends in story and style, animation and action.

Redline is more than just shounen-inspired work with an heavy injection of adulthood. The entire movie is a wild ride to the finish line, decorated with alien dogs, babes, badasses, bioweapon, pop-culture references, explosions and more vividly designed cars than your dad's Hot Wheel collection could ever hope to boast. Perfect from start to end, Redline does more than justice to the word's definition; "the maximum engine speed at which an internal combustion engine or traction motor and its components are designed to operate." I can't wait to re-watch (Japanese Dub w/ Subs) such a great example of what anime was, is, and can be.

If you would like to know more about Redline, then check out the following links OR just hurry up and watch the fuck out of that movie:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redline_(2009_film)
http://myanimelist.net/anime/6675/Redline
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6456 read more

This movie ( which has absolutely no relation to One Piece ) is aimed at fans of racing movies, such as The Fast and the Furious. On a secondary level it will appeal dearly to anyone who loves great animation, over the top action, and not much of a plot to tire his mind while looking at the pretty lights. Anime and racing go way back as the original Speed Racer but it was only after Initial D came around that people started to care about the genre in those weird Asian cartoons. Many others tried to redo its fame but none managed to do so… until this baby came out.

VRRRRUUUUM!

The production took seven whole years just to guarantee the necessary quality and style that such a project would require. And DAMN I must say the results are rewarding you in the fullest. I mean DAMN it looks super epic gorgeous just to look at. It has this style that makes it feel like a stylish graphic novel and soundtracks full of beat. It is not a first; they did a similar style in Dead Leaves and Trava: Fist Planet but the budget alone makes this ten times cooler. Studio Madhouse once again proves that it’s the king of anime series with this beauty, and if GAINAX hadn’t made Gurren Lagann while the film was still in the making, it would have caused an unparallel tsunami of excitement worldwide in its stead. But it’s ok; I consider Red Line to be the Gurren Lagann of movies.

So, just like your typical blood-boiling racing movie, the goal everybody has in the story is to win in a race. That is all, do not look any deeper for more, these guys just live to race. Although there are some attempts to flavor it further by inserting some secondary events, such as miners trying to sabotage a military facility, which is hiding a weapon of mass destruction, which goes out of control, which causes laser satellites to fire upon the planet, which causes Katsuhiro Otomo to think about suing them for shamelessly stealing all his ideas from Akira, down to it the story is by far the least of your concerns and by far the weakest aspect of the film. You are not watching this for its substance but for its over-the-top style; end of story. Everything follows the rule of cool and thus you get these insane stunts and explosions which if the story was trying even a little bit to show realistically, would have resulted to the horrible deaths of all the competitors in just a few minutes after the race begins. I mean, seriously, don’t try to make any sense of it because you will be facepalming every 30 seconds and you will miss all the awesomeness of the action.

ZZZVIIINNN!

Just like the story, the characters are also nothing complicating. We basically have 8 cars with one or two drivers in each, and every one of them is there for fame and glory. They are all quite the crazy folks risking their lives for a silly race but then again the whole point of the movie is to bring out their idealism to heights of mount Everest, so they fit the whole thing. Plus, none of them are fakin wimps like most of modern shows are full of today. THIS IS GAR MAN! I LOVE GAR! They are walking down the street with their uber machoness and revealing sexuality, making everybody to just drop their jaws and look for their ejected eyeballs by the awesomeness. DIS IS DA SH1T YIHA!

The story focuses mostly on two drivers, JP and Sonoshee, as well as the childhood fiend Frizbee and his shady dealings with the mafia regarding fixed races. The first two are like star-crossed lovers and to be honest I didn’t like how they even tried to include such sloppy excuses for romance in this mess. I guess it’s necessary to show some sort of romance amongst all the madness for the first place. It’s still weak though. As for his friend, well, he is supposed to make things more grey but the way everything in this movie happen are so insane that it doesn’t mean much in the longrun. As for all the rest, they are there only for flavoring the whole thing and despite each one being presented as entirely different, they are eventually quite unimportant despite the epic stuff that blow up around them.

KAPOOOOWWWW!

Anyways, both characters and story are eventually nothing but dressing for the action, which as I said so many times it’s superb. I am usually not fond of such shallow works but it also doesn’t drag more than it should, so I don’t think I would like it if it was a series. In this case it is awesome for the purpose they make it to be; something between Oban Star Racers, Mad Max, and Death Race 2000 all in one package and hyped to over 9000 in adrenaline. If this does not get to you, nothing will.

So that’s pretty much it, a movie you watch for the adrenaline and the oozing style. It’s not going to make you think about anything but it’s a great piece of action of a level much higher that most others out there. Take it as it is or GTFO!

And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 10/10
General Artwork 2/2 (well-made)
Character Figures 2/2 (sexy/cool)
Backgrounds 2/2 (very detailed)
Animation 2/2 (smooth)
Visual Effects 2/2 (cool)

SOUND SECTION: 10/10
Voice Acting 3/3 (dumb but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Music Themes 4/4 (awesome)
Sound Effects 3/3 (cool)

STORY SECTION: 4/10
Premise 1/2 (typical)
Pacing 1/2 (so-so)
Complexity 1/2 (not much)
Plausibility 0/2 (none)
Conclusion 1/2 (cheesy)

CHARACTER SECTION: 6/10
Presence 2/2 (cool/sexy)
Personality 1/2 (generic)
Backdrop 1/2 (generic and simplistic but it’s there)
Development 1/2 (not much)
Catharsis 1/2 (not much)

VALUE SECTION: 7/10
Historical Value 1/3 (none, unless you consider it the best VRRRRUUUM movie)
Rewatchability 2/3 (partially for the driving scenes)
Memorability 4/4 (you betcha!)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 8/10
THROW IN THE PLATINUM NITRO CAPSULE AND RUN AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT!

VERDICT: 7.5/10 read more

Let me be frank: No automotive film will ever surpass the experience you will have while watching this. Not even if Top Gear released a movie (although it'd be funnier).

While the story may be very dull, again lets be frank; you don't watch the F1 Grand Prix in Monaco for the commentary therefore this area of the film is unimportant.

The artwork is quite stylised and very retro Japan animation looking which suits the completely over-the-top mood the film has. It's like Speed Racer meets Gurren Lagann. The colours are bright, lines are thick and shadows are black giving it very punchy visuals.

The soundtrack is excellent - all arguments are redundant
Very heavily overdriven guitarwork coupled with nightclub beats for the main part. Then there are the softer more melodic pieces for those wonderful character development scenes that relate to the average plot.

Characters, are very interesting as in completely ridiculous and hilarious but they have no depth to them. JP the main character has the classic Japanese gangster hairstyle, the 'Japanese' team in the race look like otaku and every other male are heavily muscled. The girls are of course sexualised beyond what any ecchi anime could achieve.

As you can tell, this is a 90% positive review so of course its enjoyable and this wont be just my opinion. It's like the movie generates kinetic energy on-screen and shoots it straight at your eyeballs electrifying your whole body keeping you on edge throughout the film.

Overall, if you can (and you will) overlook the story, you'll find that this masterpiece of animation will lock you mind and body and take you on a very wild ride across the racetrack. As Wiki nicely puts it: "Speed racer on crack" and he'll be giving you some too. read more

This anime is overrated by the reviewers I found here. Story is fair, characters are poor and there is no real plot.

The art and sound though are really outstanding, and I only feel sad such mastery was not used in a better anime.

A fair (if a bit too long for what it delivers) anime...

I am not a fan of racing. Things like Nascar bore me to death. I find it to be one of the worst video game ideas. And, when it comes to anime, even things like Initial D and Speed Racer aren't able to jump start my interest in racing. When I first got the intention of watching Redline, I hadn't a clue it was about racing. I was actually watching a conversation where people were discussing the animation on an anime forum and I decided that all the positive things they were saying about it was an excellent reason to watch it.

Again, I hate racing, so you should take me seriously when I say that I find Redline to be a masterpiece. A futuristic race involving people across numerous alien species taking place on a hostile planet? From that concept alone, one would probably think of the Pod Races in Star Wars. But, trust me when I say that Redline is actually far better than that mediocrity.

As I initially said, it was the discussion of Redline's animation that drew me to watch it, and I was far from being disappointed. Redline exhibited some of the best visuals I've ever seen from an anime. Never before have I seen an anime I felt could be comparable to the Kara no Kyoukai series (which I've felt has been a pinnacle of animation for a very long time) in terms of animation, if it didn't outright blow it away. The very opening of this anime of nut shells hitting the floor set the entire stage for the animation quality; showing amazing quality and details that few animes have ever actually put the time and effort into showing.

The sound is perfect. I know that it seems like it'd be difficult to screw up the sound on an anime, but Redline put almost every anime to shame when it comes to sound. Perfect voice acting, perfect soundtrack and perfect sound effects; just an overall perfect performance from the sound.

Often times when watching anime, I have this complaint that the characters aren't real. That they don't seem like a realistic archetype of what humans actually are, which is typically followed by not making very realistic choices, which then end up placing the characters into a flop of a plot because of their terrible choices. The characters in Redline are beyond believable, but their personalities and background information help you better understand them as a person. I can claim that I've known many people in my life who would do the same choices and paths as the main protagonist, JP. Although, romance seems to spark up a tad easily between him and a special girl I'm not revealing the name of, it's still fairly acceptable, for it does nothing to break the plot and helps you understand the characters even better. This is one of the few instances of perfection out of characters I have ever seen come out of animation.

The story of Redline is fairly simplistic at it's core. JP is in the biggest race in history, but his buddy is constantly selling him out to lose for the mafia for tons of money, so JP has to learn how to outdo racers with weapons and his buddy selling him out. But, on top of this, they're racing on a planet that's filled with a hostile race that doesn't want their military compounds being filmed for the universe to see and uses military and doomsday-like weapons as a means to bring down the racers. To top it all off, the people in charge of and racing in the race (called 'Redline,' so you know) are all even more pumped into racing with these added hostile odds, which all leads to huge, dramatic scenes of clusterfucks of weaponry and destruction. The plot is fairly solid, despite being filled with clusterfucks of weaponry and destruction.

As I said in the beginning, Redline is a masterpiece. I was entertained 100% of the time, and to be honest, what more do you need from an anime? read more

what a rush , just caught this as the "Featured Anime ' on otaku center and I am still pumped an hour later.

This is one of those fast paced,( don't have almost anytime to breathe) old time epics , that will have u glued to the seat of your chair .The action is fast and furious ,the sound superb , the graphics are granted a bit dated but still rock solid and you cant help but root for our boy.Even a bit of romance to sweeten the whole thing.

I normally don't like this type of anmie or manga but this had me hooked from the get go. a must see. read more

Redline is a hell of an anime. The animation is glossy as hell and stunning, the action is insane, is like watching Speed Racer on crack, and above all, it fucking rocks your brain to the limit.

The plot for Redline is very straightforward and nothing new. It's about JP, a man who is a racer and famous for his crazy spectacular crashes. While recovering in the hospital during a fatal crash, JP thinks that is time to let his passion to driving to go away now, that it until news that JP will compete in the Redline race due to 2 other racers dropping out of the race. Redline is a special secret underground race and the most brutal competition in racing history and JP accepts the offer and competes for the Redline contest. Like I said, Redline's story is nothing new or deep, but it does offer some awesome secondary characters with different personalities, that is enough to satisfy my joy in the anime.

The animation in Redline..... HOLY SHIT!!! This is quite a stunner. The attention to color and detail are fantastic, it took 7 years for Madhouse to produce this kind of animation and they nail'd it down hard. Look at the character models! Compare this to another anime design and YOU tell me which is better. The action is superb, every set-piece and race sequence makes Hollywood eat their guts out. The amount of intensity in each sequence rivals all action films in EXISTENCE! Hell, the race scenes are full of chaotic battles, that's is hard not to have fun with. It really is Speed Racer on crack and meth. The music in Redline is badass, it's techno hardcore beat really fits the excitement of the film.

If you want anime at it's finest, go see Redline. It's another stunning work from Madhouse Animation and just a cool, action-packed thrill to anime fans. So buckle up, sit back, get high as hell and enjoy. NeonKazma Out!










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Art: To say that Redline is very well drawn would be an understatement. The art is definitely something to behold. The shading is superbly done and the colors are vivid.

Animation: The animation is very fluid. And there is plenty of it. It's awesome to watch, especially with the detailed art. I like to watch it frame-by-frame to get a taste of all that awesomeness.

Choreography: Well, I expected it to be completely over the top and unrealistic but it's not actually that bad. The fight in the restaurant wasn't too bad. The ending really pissed me off though. They BLEW UP the car, and then continued running the race ON FOOT? Fucking dumb. The car must have been travelling at 10 times the maximum speed of a human. Their legs should have been broken just from the impact. Oh and also I hate racing movies.

Conclusion: Great art and animation but let down by the fact that it was a racing movie and not about fighting and killing stuff. read more