As part of the Scotland Loves Anime festival, Takeshi Koike, who showcased his latest film Lupin the IIIrd the Movie: The Immortal Bloodline, presented a retrospective of his debut film Redline, which, even at 15 years old, still works as well as ever.
The film follows Sweet JP (Takuya Kimura), one of many hopefuls racing in the galaxy’s most popular race, Redline, who has the same goal in mind to prove they are the best in the galaxy. The film took seven years to complete, with hand-drawn animation and 100,000 frames.
That sense of craft really strikes you right away. Those visuals become a character in their own right, ensuring a frantic and exaggerated energy. Without that craftsmanship, I don’t think film could flourish.
Discovering this film for the first time, Redline really proved to me that animation is more than just visually stunning; it’s an extension for Koike to convey an incredible energy that matches a film about galactic racing.
The energy is frantic and overexpressive, but the world Koike has created is one of extension, which is the idea that simple racing cars feel obsolete, that you need to have those adjustments.
One of the most interesting examples is Machine Head (Kôji Ishii), who has become a living machine whose body powers his car. The contrast between the characters is really fun, as you have someone to root for who is in this race for the love of racing, not trying to take any shortcuts. The contrast really works.
There is a romance element with Sweet JP and a fellow racer, Sonoshee McLaren (Yu Aoi), but Sweet JP’s first love is racing before anything else. I don’t really buy into it. Kimura, as Sweet JP, exudes confidence when he is going at full speed. Instead of being afraid that he might crash, he views it as a challenge of how far he can push the needle.
After 15 years, Redline is still such a striking debut from Koike, showcasing how animation becomes a character in its own right.
Review Courtesy of Matthew Allan
Feature Image from IMDb