Redline
I am looking at my calendar and seeing that it is once again time to dip a toe into the murky waters of anime. Under the microscope today is Redline, a tasty combination of interstellar racing, futuristic weaponry, gangsters, and muscle cars. I suppose there are some people out there who won’t like this, but considering the features listed above, I think it should be required viewing for everyone. In fact, it is available for free at Manga.com and Youtube, so there is no excuse to not check it out right now.
Let’s get the technical stuff out of the way first. Redline is the directorial debut of one Koike Takeshi, who has worked in the past as an animator on many notable things that I have not seen. His decision to hand draw everything gave the film a seven year production time, and no doubt a correspondingly sprawling budget. The visuals are appropriately jaw-dropping, much edgier and, dare I say, realistic than typical anime. I’m not really an expert and will leave further commentary to the pros, but Redline is a feast for the eyes. James Shimoji wrote a soundtrack of throbbing techno beats that powers the action. Most of it isn’t really my bag, but I would drop the “Redline Day” theme in a club set once in awhile, were I to ever start DJ’ing. Finally, I had subtitles on for reference, but didn’t pay close enough attention to the translation to comment. The DVD I borrowed had the Japanese version; streaming options appear to only have the English dub, which I have thus far avoided. All of these points are better addressed at anime specific sites, by people who know more than I do.
Now for the fun part, wherein I explain why everyone should watch this. The single biggest reason to enjoy Redline, besides the incredible animation, is the protagonist, JP. He has a massive pompadour (called a ri-zento in Japanese), looks like a particular sort of Japanese punk, and appears to drive a late 60s vintage Pontiac. He also has a heart of gold and ends up losing races because he is too nice. I’m not generally a fan of yanki- (literally “Yankee,” but actually a fashion for juvenile delinquents), but anyone who drives a muscle car in rocket-powered, far future faces is alright with me. Bits and pieces of his life are told in flashback during the buildup to the big race.
The race itself, called the “Redline,” is held every five years for winners of various smaller races – the Yellow Line, Blue Line, etc. It is the World Cup of racing, probably illegal, effectively rule free, the center of a galaxy’s worth of gambling, and held at random places throughout the universe. This time it will be on RoboWorld, the domain of a particularly crazy and xenocidal dictator. Naturally, he wants nothing to do with the race and promises to blow everyone to smithereens if they so much as try to race on his turf. A real life parallel might be found if someone sponsored an airlift of elite rally car squads into North Korea, with the finish line in downtown Pyongyang. JP backs into the Redline to race against a motley assortment of humans, machines, and aliens.
The supporting cast is appropriately weird. JP’s best friend and fixer has mob connections and wears zoot suits. This mechanic looks like a creepy ode to a character from Spirited Away. The RoboWorld dictator and his posse are suitably over the top. One of the other racers, Sonoshee, catches JP’s eye; they may have some sort of past. If the characterization is not particularly deep, it is at least entertaining. The people aren’t the star of the show here, but they are sufficient to move the story along between races.
Most of the plot beats follow a typical sports underdog path, albeit one with exploding rocket-powered cars, alien mob bosses, gigantic and vengeful babies, egregious boobs, and three extra tablespoons of awesomeness. There is even a love story I can (mostly) get behind. It’s a bit like Star Wars pod racing done right. I think it’s one of those movies to show to people who wouldn’t normally watch anime, since it skips a lot of the dumb stuff and gets right to NASCAR with laser cannons. Realistically, what more could I ask? I give it three thumbs up, because I’m one of the multi-limbed aliens in the stands.