So this is a movie I saw brought up from time to time as an anime that is absolutely beautiful to watch, but I never heard anything else beyond that. So I finally got around to watching it, and I sort of see why. It's not that the story is bad, but everything in this show takes a back seat to the animation. It's not something I often put too much time into discussing in my reviews, and this is often because a trailer will suffice. I'll talk about any kind of odd inconsistencies that you aren't' likely to see without watching the show, but as there is none of that I saw here. Beginning to end, Redline just looks amazing and has a distinct style to it that separates itself from any other anime I can think of.
I can understand the obsession with just how good this movie looks. In a lot of ways it's very much style over substance, it completely disregards just about any kind of sense for how anything would operate and just goes balls out in its execution. It's animation, you aren't constrained by the logic of the real world. So if you can make it look awesome for the sake of it, why not? That seems to be the guiding principle behind the show's animation, and it's amazing for it.
That said, beyond the visual spectacle, what exactly is this movie about? What I am about to describe doesn't sound like a compliment at first, but it is. Does anyone here remember the show Wacky Racers? It's a bunch of Hannah Barbara characters just joining in a race with all kinds of wacky antics. Well someone saw that show, decided to make an R-rated version of it, and give it a budget far larger than any show with the concept has the right to have. Also, there is a side plot centering around government secrets and multiple world-destroying bio-weapons and a space satellite capable of incinerating large areas instantly. That's the side-plot because what's important here is winning the big race.
Seriously, this movie is just Wacky Racers but anime, and it's wonderful for it. Of course, there needs to be an actual plot since it's not just a short episode airing on TV, it's a full-length movie. And the show goes the route of a guy who has been involved in racing and a mechanic who works with him to fix races. That said, he is a legit racer and wants to win the big one. It's not the most original plot, even for the time this movie came out, but it works because the characters are all incredibly likable. The relationships are really interesting with how much faith Sweet JP has in his mechanic, despite the fixing and shady mafia dealings, his simple yet kind of beautiful history with one of the other racers, and so much more that I could go on about.
If you cut out all the fluff, you honestly have enough story to justify a short rather than a movie, so there ends up being a lot of padding that doesn't add to the narrative, it's largely just there to give the creators all the reasons they could want to cram in as much over the top action as they possibly could. But even all that looks so good it doesn't matter if it's filler, it's all amazing.
That isn't to say the story is bad, it's good. Wanting to follow your dreams, the things that inspire those dreams, even one of the more believable romances in anime. JP just wants to get out there and be the best racer he can, and knowing he has the talents wants to finally win the big one, and eventually, the story that inspired him to get out and race on his own. It's beautiful how small and simple it is. A story this grand and wild is started by just a small moment in time that he found meaning in, something that most other people may never even have remembered. Despite the show being full of a bunch of secondary plot threads about war, bio-weapons, government secrets, poverty, for JP none of that matters. It's this one thing that is so important to him that he fights past all of this just to win a single race.
Redline is a fantastic movie, and I think it deserves to be known for more than just a visual spectacle. It most certainly is, no questions about it, but there is a lot of heart backing all of that up. A great cast, wonderful chemistry between the characters, and a lot of heart and passion behind it. Redline is a perfect example of something I love about anime, the ability to put so much effort into the most ridiculous of settings, all while treating it seriously. This movie is more than worth the watch, it may be one of my favorite anime movies of all time.
Oh.. it's awesome!