Redline

The film is directed by Takeshi Koike. It took 7 years to animate. It is an Sci-Fi, Action, Racing movie. The film was structured like the average racing movie with 3 parts. It was fast paced and the plot was quite messy. The was quite a bit of fanservice, which I did not like at all. The main characters had lazy and terrible backstories. They were also very unlikeable and I was not rooting for them. The Protagonist, JP was boring and could have better character development, his girl, friend and fellow racer Sonoshee is really annoying and all the other characters are really forgettable. The animation took 7 years to animate, which is obviously a long time but it did not look that nice and it had terrible composition. They often added details too many unnecessary items. The character designs were very ugly and unappealing as well. I watched the Sub and the voice acting was below average and the soundtrack was decent. This movie is quite forgettable and I'll probably never watch it again. I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone.

I found some impressive elements : a look of clenching teeth, wide-angle composition and the speed in car race scenes. Also I liked the matte color scheme and character design like Ai Yazawa's and Hirohiko Araki's put together and split in half. Inspite of the comfortable languor, most scenes except for actiom ones were too unique to follow it. Particularly I felt the briefing scene in the seafood restaurant was unnecessary. The design of creepy pasta and town like a lawless area were nice though.

Rating: 4.0 No CGI in sight, probably the best 2D animation ever made (although I don't like the art style). The plot itself is absurd they literally decided to race on a planet that told them they would be killed if they did. It also had a lot of racing clichés. Overall I really only enjoyed it for the animation 4 stars for that.

I gave it a 1 star because i thought the 7.5 rating was too high so i wanted to bring it down a bit... and so far its the only 1 star review so i feel special. NEGATIVES * GENERIC PLOT * CORNY LINES POSITIVES * cool knife-comb * original animation style * the effort and dedication to do this.

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.

I saw this film in Adelaide as part of Madman Entertainment's 'Reel Anime' festival. Redline is directed by Takeshi Koike, whom you'll know as long time Madhouse animator working under Yoshiaki Kawajiri on such legendary anime films as Ninja Scroll & Wicked City. So you know what to expect lookwise. Lots of dark shading & fluid, really well choreographed action movement. Redline is no exception! An absolutely incredible amount of effects animation on display here. Explosions & detailed mechanical carnage abound. Every shot of any character is just dripping with attitude too - very cool stuff. I won't say too much about the story other than to say it is a fairly straightforward racing tale. Follows the typical formula - racing, a bit of background stuff, then the BIG race... Fairly familiar in that regard, but the visual side of this film - the car designs, the architecture, the costumes - are really original & just plain cool! As I've said above, the animation is awesome & the shot choices are really dynamic & exciting to watch. A visual feast! Sit back & soak it up!

Watching the movie was a bit like a roller-coaster ride. The entire movie is one really long, action packed, colourful, adrenaline-fueled, shrill and loud drag race for your brain - which is the movie's main strength, as well as its most prominent weakness. There is (unfortunately) little explanation concerning the characters, the locations and the entire story... but seriously, if you want action, you care little about the story, right? Or do you? At least you are being told that it is taking place in a different galaxy. As mentioned, the movie is visually rather stunning and I really had to watch some sequences in slo-mo, otherwise it's really hard to keep up with everything happening there. In terms of presentation it sort of reminds me of "Heavy Metal (1981)", but just here and there. Most of the time it's your good Japanese anime. The characters are rather shallow and the end is - without giving too much away - rather unfitting. Seriously? "Death Race" with a lousy love story? Which, IMO belittles enjoyment greatly, because it does not further the story, nor does it make any sense - at least to me. I second the notion that you should watch in on a big screen, volume up to 11. So, if you want some in-your-face crazy action, grab a serving of popcorn, gulp an energy drink, or two, and enjoy the ride. Not a brilliant movie, but better than your average anime.