Redline (2010 film)

Redline is a 2010 anime film directed by Takeshi Koike. In a distant future, a man named JP takes on great risks for the chance of winning the film's titular underground race.

Plot
Following his dream, JP becomes a racer and gains a large following because of his retro-style sense of fashion and his frequent and spectacular crashes toward the ends of his races. He gets along with money the mob pays him for losing, although being out on bail for something possibly related to match-fixing. During a qualification race called the Yellowline, his engine explodes. On the verge of giving up, he learns that, by popular vote, he has qualified for the prestigious no-rules race called Redline after two other drivers dropped out. The reason behind this is that the government of Roboworld, the military planet the race is to take place on, is opposed to the race and has threatened anyone participating with death. But JP participates in spite of the danger.

Development
Redline was produced by Madhouse and directed by Takeshi Koike, who also wrote the storyboard and served as unit director and animation director. The film's producers were Yukiko Koike and Kentarō Yoshida. Masahiro Fukushima served as executive producer. The task of writing the script was shared by Yoji Enokido, Katsuhito Ishii, and Yoshiki Sakurai. The film's character designs, original and otherwise, were done by Katsuhito Ishii, who also served as one of the film's sound directors. The other being Youji Shimizu. The films music was composed by James Shimoji.

According to Tim Maughan of Anime News Network, Redline was released several years later than originally planned, its development having taken seven years and 100,000 hand-made drawings, which, as he points out, is all the more unusual as it is Koike's directorial debut.

Soundtrack
An official soundtrack to the film by James Shimoji (ジェイムス下地) was release on October 6, 2010.

Track listing

 * 1) Yellow Line
 * 2) Inuki
 * 3) Redline Title
 * 4) Boy's Memory
 * 5) Winner March
 * 6) Roboworld TV
 * 7) TV Show
 * 8) Roboworld
 * 9) Europass
 * 10) Mogura Oyaji
 * 11) Oasis
 * 12) And It's So Beautiful (feat. Kitty Brown)
 * 13) Shinkai
 * 14) Machine Head
 * 15) Capture Operation
 * 16) Let Me Love You (feat. Veronica Torraca-Bragdon)
 * 17) Get The Stones (feat. Andrew O. Jones)
 * 18) Crab Sonoshee
 * 19) 彼のシフトはブンブンブン (feat. Super Boins)
 * 20) Lynch Man & Johnny Boya
 * 21) Redline News
 * 22) Gori-Rider
 * 23) Miki & Todoroki
 * 24) Put-up Guy
 * 25) Red Angels
 * 26) Three-point Decomposition Cannon
 * 27) Tension
 * 28) Chatter Void
 * 29) Volton Unit
 * 30) Vertical Drop
 * 31) Moniter Room
 * 32) Sand Biker
 * 33) Spinning Car
 * 34) Trouble
 * 35) Semimaru
 * 36) Gangster
 * 37) Flying Finger
 * 38) Funky Boy
 * 39) Redline
 * 40) Exceed Limit
 * 41) Dead Heat
 * 42) Redline Day (feat. Rob Laufer)

Release
Initially, Redline was meant to premiere on the 2009 edition of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, where it would have competed in the Feature Film category. Instead, it premiered during the Locarno International Film Festival in August of the same year. Several more advance screenings were done on international film festivals during 2010. In May, Redline was shown during the Sci-Fi-London 9. In June, it participated in Annecy 2010 in the category "Feature Films out of competition". During September, it was shown in Australia as part of Reel Anime 2010. And on September 23, 2010, Redline was shown in Austin, Texas. on the 15th of October 2010 Redline was shown in Edinburgh, Scotland as part of the Scotland Loves Anime film festival.

The film will open in Japan on October 9, 2010. Coinciding with this, the film will be shown in a San Francisco-based Viz Cinema theater from October 8 through 14, 2010. Distribution in North America is handled by Manga Entertainment. In the United States, a subtitled version and nationwide screenings are planned for 2011.

Reception
Tim Maughan of Anime News Network describes the film as "something very special, very different, and insanely exhilarating." In particular he praises the film's director. "Koike has managed to make all this chaos believable", he says, adding that "Redline is the work of a genuine genius." He goes on to say that "Redline is animation not only at its best, but also largely animation for animation's sake" and that it "is the most insanely exciting, visually exhilarating anime film you've seen in decades." Maughan apparently found nothing bad about the film, as the only negative things he puts forth are that the film is "so good it seems to be all over in about 10 minutes" and that "You don't own the bluray yet."

Thomas Zoth of the entertainment website Mania.com comments that the film while not providing "a deep plot or unique premise" still "demands to be seen." "More conservative critics have declared this year's Scott Pilgrim Versus the World to be an assault on the senses. If this is true, Redline is a declaration of war" he said, going on to praise the film for its "imaginative creatures and clever designs", to note that Koike's work reminded him of Tarantino, and to compliment the film for its "soundtrack, with its memorable high-energy tracks that greatly complement the chaos onscreen." "Redline is a film of great significance", he concludes. "If anime has truly had a 'lost decade' from 2001 to 2010, where the life of the industry has been drained and replaced with rote, cookiecutter shows-by-committee, Redline shows a path out."

Nicolas Penedo for the French in Animeland describes it as the "Paris-Dakar revisited à la Ōban Star-Racers", a remake of Hanna-Barbera Wacky Races with arts inspired from Jack Kirby comics and know-how, rhythm and energy inherent of the best Japanese anime movies. The reviewer praises the animation quality considered as breathtaking, and declares that Takeshi Koike made an homage to comics and films of the 70s and 80s. On the negative, he notes the lack of scenario stating "Don't hope to find any scenario in Redline".

Kwenton Bellette and Peter Martin reviewed Redline for Twitch Film, the former describing it as a "truly out of this world experience", "Speed Racer on crack" and praised the supporting characters for being memorable and the background galaxy made of different races and creeds to be very solid. The later expresses that "it feels like every centimeter of every frame is filled with some kind of kinetic color or action or bit of business, making it an experience that is sure to overload the senses" and asserts that the writer succeed at conjuring up a feature-length anime as insane as Funky Forest.

Jon Liang of UK Anime Network comments that "A sense of the cool and outrageous is seeped into every pore of the design, ... exaggerated is an understatement here", but notes that the film's "cinema-quality smooth animation" makes "even the most alien of things move naturally and the sense of speed that is often achieved is frequently mind-blowing." He remarks that "the visuals and over-the-top action will most likely overload sensitive brain cells", but concludes by calling Redline "an incredibly exciting cinematic experience that doesn't take itself at all seriously and will leave audiences breathless come the glorious climax."