Synopsis
Every five years, an exhilarating race called Redline is held, and the universe's most anticipated competition has only one rule: that there are none. Racers are pushed to their absolute limit—a feeling that daredevil driver JP knows all too well. Having just qualified to participate in Redline, he is eager to battle against the other highly skilled drivers, particularly the beautiful rising star and the only other human that qualified, Sonoshee McLaren.
But this year's Redline may be far more dangerous than usual—it has been announced to take place on the planet Roboworld with its trigger-happy military and criminals who look to turn the race to their own advantage. However, the potential danger doesn't stop the racers; in fact, it only adds to the thrill. Relying solely on his vehicle's speed, JP prepares for the event to come, aiming to take first place in the biggest race of his life.
Redline is an animated movie which show how hand made drawings animations can still been down even today as it's one of the more beautiful and colorful animation style work I have watch for a very long time. A 7 years works under Madhouse with second key animation from Gainax, you can see how much effort by the animation team have spend in this movie. The amount of actions and detail on screen at any part of the movie is so vast that it's recommend for repeat viewings to notice the work. The art style is very unique, with so many different color was used while the character designs are fresh and very interesting to see (so many unique aliens lifeforms and so many vibrant color).
As for the story, is not going to win any major award in the story line department and they're few minor plot issue I notice when I am watching it (mostly near the end of the big race). Despite of the typical cliches style it follow, it's very well paced and very fun to watch. The action scene is fast and full of adrenaline while the drama at times feel cheesy but fits well with the films attitude. It isn't trying to set out to challenge our minds but more to show off the epic race between the racer in the movie while try to entertain us.
For the characters development side, almost all of the characters in the movie are fit into the typical stereotype characters which don't have the complex, deep and thoughtful. Most are present themselves as larger than life like the movie. The characters are written to be more entertaining which you notice it as you follow them. Even with this, they're some character development which you notice mostly toward the two main characters, JP and Sonoshee.
As for the music, I can't really say much. It get the work done to push the tone of the scene in the movie but kinda feel sublime. For the dub, the English dub sound great as do the Japanese dub so, either one work fine for this movie based watching it in both dub.
Overall, Redline is a movie I would recommend for people who want to see beautiful animation while at the same time want to go through the over the top experience this movie is giving (go into the movie for the experience not for the story line). Would recommend for anyone who either love animated or even non anime fans.
(I had time to waste). I'm surprised with the amount of shounen stuffs I missed, but really it was quite balanced between the plots, never in one moment where it was cringe enough for me to face palm or anything. Awesome, just awesome series.
