Redline, just Redline, when I discovered the film more than 4 years ago I was still quite a novice in manga and Japanese animation, so to follow in the same afternoon Redline and in the same style Dead Leaves ah it's a shock, and the shock is still present 4 years later.

Directed by Takeshi Koike that I know mostly for his Lupin III trilogy: The Tomb of Daisuke Jigen, The Blood Mist of Goemon Ishikawa and The Lie of Fujiko Mine (but we'll come back to that) it's a project that Koike had a hard time making, having taken 7 years of preparation and more than 100,000 drawings by hand (in comparison Akira was 160,000) and I congratulate the man's iron will because he gave birth to a delirium, a real delirium, the one made with generosity madness and communicative amusement.

The story is ultra-simple and assumes to be minimalist because it can be summarized simply: In a SF universe, we follow racing drivers in particular JP and Sonoshee, his pilots will have to compete in a race having turn the 5 years Redline.
Simple scenario yes but Koike fills this simplicity by the characters and the universe, person of a rare class, everyone has a look of hell that it is charismatic / crazy / sexy / muscular / 4 arms / metal head, everyone is iconized and recognizable for lack of having a development and a background hyper developed really congratulations to Koike and Katsuhito Ishii for this range of mouth, It makes the universe very fascinating even though it is only shown, as I said above the spotlight is mainly put on JP and Sonoshee, they have the most screen time and especially develop a romance that has the intelligence to be in the background and subtle but that does not prevent us from believing in this couple without it seeming forced, in addition there is a good humor sometimes cartoonish, sometimes naughty in short we have a good time throughout the film.

Technically it's obviously where the film shines and where Koike shows his style, in my intro I said I knew him mostly for his work on Lupin III, but seeing Redline again I recognize his style and his gimmick that he instilled in his trilogy or as a chara-designer on A woman named Fujiko Mine: Very lively animation and never fixed, stylized shadow, male character with a long face, deluge of violence sometimes bloody and always full of idea, pulpy and well sexed woman (even if it is a common point with Lupin of base), Moreover the chance makes well the thing because at the time of the presentation of the hunters of bounty Lynchman and Johnny Boya, it makes us a reference to the famous plan of the first opening Lupin with the competitor who runs in front of a brick wall illuminated by a source of round light and escaping has blow of fires.
The sets are full of life, there is always a character moving or doing an action in the background, the shadows in full black give a nice aesthetic that would not have had less pronounced shadows, the camera is very free and that's just the middle of the movie when we lay the foundations and the characters, because the races as well as the intro and the end, but it's the festival.
Imagine F-Zero GX for the speed, Jak X for the violence of the weapons used and Split/Second for the random events that modify the circuit and make boom in all the directions, it is this level of madness, the intro initiates us "nicely" has the speed of madness of the vehicles all with a design not possible of class and rich in arsenal, but when arrives the Redline the real one you have to hang on.
Where do I start? The fact that during the whole race the competitors are attacked by Roboworld soldiers? The Superboins twins who switch to the typical Go Nagai mecha mode to kill some of them? JP who mismanages his boost to the point of doing a barrel roll at 1000kmh which takes him out of the track because it turned him into a flaming top that ricochets on the water (I told you the movie was funny) and this is the first minutes of the race, it lasts 35 minutes, I'll gladly keep you in the dark about all the crazy ideas it has in store for you, but I'll warn you just for the climax, if the movie works on you, you'll at least break the ropes cheering for the finalists on the home stretch, and I'd rather not imagine anyone invested to the max.

Ah and not to help the desire to jump and hit his desk of adrenaline during the viewing we have the soundtrack of James Shimoji well rock as it should and in the tone of the film, listen to me anyway, and whether in VO or VF the cast is possessed by their roles assigned contributing to the pace without dead time and the atmosphere monkey of the film.

Redline is to be experienced more than expressed, it's the animated porn of Formula 1 and Mario Kart fans, 10 years later it's still very impressive.
Lean on it, enjoy it as it wants you to enjoy it, and be interested in Takeshi Koike's recent work as well, he has been successful since this movie.