Redline

Frankly I must admit that I'm not a big anime fan and this was my first anime. But to my sweet surprise this is a very good and entertaining. This has everything that you can expect in a racing related movie. I was more astonished to find out that it took them 7 years and more than 100000 hand drawn pictures to complete this movie which only increased my appreciation for the movie.

In spite of the praise that has been heaped upon Redline, I was not actually expecting it to be that good. The movie's over stylized and exaggerated characters brought Yoshiaki Kawajiri (incidentally a mentor of sorts for the movie's director, Takeshi Koike) immediately to mind, and I have never appreciated Kawajirisan's work. Within 20 minutes of starting to watch Redline, though, all of my reservations were blown away. The movie, which seems to be at least partially based on Kawajiri's similar Running Man segment from Neo Tokyo, follows a car racer named "Sweet JP" as he competes in two large races, the Yellowline and then the Redline. The Redline race happens to be held on a planet that doesn't want it to be, so the Redline racers have to dodge not only each other's artillery, but also that of the entire planet's military. While the characters are mostly light on meaningful personality, and the story is little more complex than "he's in these two races", the movie turns out to be a flashy action ride that should not be missed. While on the hostile planet for the Redline race, the story does take an Akira-style turn for the bizarre, but with all the other weird and crazy things assaulting your senses throughout the movie, it doesn't seem as out of place as it otherwise might. Do yourself a favor and catch Redline on Bluray some evening and enjoy a ride that you won't soon forget.

Redline is an anime movie directed by Takeshi Koike and written by Katsuhito Ishii. Originally Redline is a spin off anime of Trava: Fist Planet (2003) and although the characters from Trava: Fist Planet are in it briefly, this is a story that conceptually was developed from Trava: Fist Planet into a full length movie.

Redline itself is a story about a race driver JP who is in driving under influence of some Yakuza/Mafia types. Although, JP is an excellent and exciting driver he just does what he's told. When he finds out he qualified for The Redline competition he's up and about and this time ready to race the way he wants no matter the consequences. However, the Redline race is unlike any other race and is hosted in a hostile war-like environment that can get you killed just for participating. Prior to the Redline race JP meets female driver Sonoshee. Though they do hit it off right away, they slowly come to realize they have met before.

Redline takes you on an exciting ride that is visually stunning filled with hilarious animated characters. In the whole movie there is just one scene with some brief nudity but nothing that is shown in a sexual or perverted context. Personally, I would have liked them to have followed Trava's quest and competition in the Fist Planet Competition and maybe once again have a run in with Princess Mikuru, or even just have seen more of them in Redline which you do not see a whole lot of. Still Redline in itself is a cool anime movie and stands out by itself.

You do not have to see Trava: Fist Planet before watching Redline, but it wouldn't hurt to see it. I do recommend Trava: Fist Planet if you're into funny action packed anime with some nice trippy undertones and cool looking visuals. Redline is awesome! Check it out!

But Redline is absolutely brilliant. It's an over-the-top, action packed movie with great characters that leaves you twitching with adrenaline.

The animation, visuals, sound, and music really bring this movie together. Once it starts, it's a non-stop rush until the end. The characters are great and are developed as much as they need to be. As far as the plot goes, it's fairly simple, but the writing will keep you entranced.

I've seen both the subbed and dubbed versions, and they're both great. I usually avoid dubbed foreign movies, but the English cast is actually pretty good here.

P.S. Watch this movie in HD with surround sound.

There aren't any spoilers in this review, but even if there were, the whole movie is on youtube cutesy of the creators. It's English dub, which is done really well, for a movie the dub really didn't even need to be good for.

Wow is this movie an experience. OK first of what everyone is going to say, the visuals are amazing, maybe the best I've ever seen. They spent 7 years(7 YEARS) drawing this film. So it's worth watch once to look at.

The other things that keeps you in this movie, besides the awesome racing scenes, the characters are entertaining, maybe more than the creators realized. JP is a kid at heart, and has high ambitions, a great protagonist for this movie. All the other characters are fun as well.

The plot was not deep, but like it needed to be at all for a movie like this. I actually felt the movie focused to much on the roboworld plot(anyone else get a Nazi feeling from them?). It's like they were trying to emphasize how crazy the final race was going to be when I'm sitting here like "hey you have cool characters here let's develop them more." But none the less you don't need a crazy plot for this movie.

Basically, if you enjoy anime, this movie is a must see. To everyone else, if you just want to completely lose yourself for an hour and half and go on a thrill ride, than buckle up and put on Redline.