"Redline" anime from Madhouse--in ANIMATION MAGAZINE

Koike and Ishii in Locarno, Switzerland

Ribbon-cutting for debut of "Redline"

Heart Like a Wheel -- ANIMATION MAGAZINE

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Sunday, October 25, 2009 By: Roland Kelts

Redline, Takeshi Koike’s heady new anime feature, embraces the car culture of the West.

Two years ago the staff at Madhouse, one of Japan’s most adventurous animation studios, sat me down in a screening room in west Tokyo. A sequence of spasmodic images blazed across the screen: long sleek race cars burning past elaborate robots and rubber-faced aliens; mechanical ships soaring, bursting into flames and smashing into skyscrapers—and, most memorably, contorting humanoid faces with bulging eyes and curdled lips, grimacing and shrieking. The action ended as abruptly as it began: with a slashing crimson silhouette of a drag racer and a thin red band bearing the title, Redline.

The five-minute trailer soon appeared on the Internet and at successive Tokyo International Anime Festivals. Buzz and curiosity swelled. And after six years in development, Redline finally had its world premiere this summer at the prestigious Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland. [Read more HERE]