![\"redline\"](\"http:\/\/rmwhittaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/redline.jpg\")
<\/a>\nLooking to start your engines? Kick it into gear with Redline<\/b><\/i>, the deranged turbocharged anime from Madhouse Studio<\/b>. If Jack Kirby<\/b> had been the artistic director for F-Zero GX<\/i>, you’d get this a nitro-boosted sci-fi speedster that proves that hand-drawn animation can still burn off CGI.<\/p>\n
The cursory plot sets a weird cadre of drivers and their souped-up machines against each other in the ultimate intergalactic road race. The only thing cooler than rockabilly antihero JP (voiced by Tadanobu Asano) is his gravity-defying hairdo. But he’s caught between on-track rival\/unrequited love Sonoshee (Y\u016b Aoi), killer robot warlords, and gangster race fixers: Can even his turbo-charged hotrod save him now?<\/p>\n
Producers Madhouse Studios<\/b> have been getting additional buzz stateside since the announcement of their upcoming collaboration with Marvel Comics on some of their big franchises (including Iron Man<\/i> andX-Men<\/i>), and director Takeshi Koike<\/b> dabbled in speed with his slice of their The Animatrix<\/i> anthology,World Record<\/i>. Yet there’s none of that show’s ho-hum glumness. In Redline<\/i>, everything is burnished chrome and afterburn flames, and physics is for other people.<\/p>\n
Juiced up with a jazz-funk soundtrack from James Shimoji, the helter-skelter lunacy kicks into high gear for the final lap of the REDLINE race (yes, everyone shouts the word.) Seriously, rules? We don’t need no stinking rules.<\/p>\n
It’s that rarest of anime \u2013 one that would benefit from being dubbed. I know, controversial, but keeping track of the dialogue is a challenge against such a super-gonzoid background. Not that the narrative is the biggest selling point, since Koike doesn’t feel obliged to explain, well, pretty much anything. If suddenly a giant, energy-beam-blasting bioweapon erupts from the ground midrace, so be it. Just strap in. It’s worth the ride.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n