Redline (2009) (with Isaac Sutton)

[00:00:04] Welcome to Movie Oubliette, the film review podcast for movies that most people have mercifully forgotten. I'm Dan. And I'm Conrad. And in each episode, we drag a forsaken film out of the Oubliette. Discuss it and judge it to decide whether it should be set free. Or whether it should be thrown back and consigned to oblivion forever.

[00:00:27] Movie Oubliette, the films others tend to forget. Come with us and let another Movie Oubliette. Welcome listeners to episode 171 of Movie Oubliette, the Hemisphere Spanning Podcast with me, Dan, learning how to knit here in Melbourne, Australia. And me, Conrad, getting addicted to jet lag the game in Cambridge, UK. That sounds tiring.

[00:00:57] In this podcast, we discuss forgotten genre film, sci-fi, horror and fantasy because futuristic car racing is much better with a stirring romance within a rainstorm of missiles in a war zone and a biological weapon, kaiju decimating everything. Hello, Conrad. That's the way I love it. Hello, Dan. So you are knitting there in Australia. Yes, I'm learning how to knit. I don't know.

[00:01:27] It's been one of those sort of personal bucket list things I've wanted to learn how to do. So I'm learning how to knit. And I've got a scarf. It's this long now. Oh, wow. I'm impressed. Yeah. There's multiple colours there too. I mean, it's just like a multi-colour ball of yarn. So it's a bit cheaty. It's cheaty. Yeah. But it's my first knitted item.

[00:01:56] It's the basic knit stitch. It's very easy. You know, just learning the basics for now. And then I will move on to making many more scarves in different colours. Because I feel like that's all I can do right now. Knitting is all the rage now. I think, doesn't Timothee Chalamet knit on set in his movies? Does he? Oh, I'm as cool as Timothee Chalamet. That's amazing. There you go.

[00:02:26] So Conrad, jet lag? Yes. Sounds awful. Yes, it does, doesn't it? It's a YouTube channel. And I believe it was recommended to me because when I went on my first ever flight, I watched so many YouTube videos about catching flights just to understand how airports work. Right. And also I used to watch Tom Scott all the time. And the current series of jet lag, the game on YouTube stars Tom Scott as their guest collaborator. Yeah.

[00:02:55] And it's a game where they are currently trying to, they're playing sort of risk, but in Europe. So there are two teams flying around Europe trying to claim countries before the other team does. Okay. And they have to do a stupid challenge in each country that they land in, like eat the national dish, you know. Yeah. Or, you know, something along those lines. And it's insanely fun. And the guys that do it are really great company.

[00:03:23] And it's a very, and it's also a bit of a travelogue as well. So it's quite fun. Wow. Wow. That sounds, yeah. I mean, getting to go to all these countries must be amazing. Yeah. Well, they're in the European Union, so they're able to cross borders without too much hassle. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I love that. It doesn't happen in Australia because you go 20 hours this way and you're still in the same country.

[00:03:52] They do have a season where they're playing a game in Australia, but I don't know which game it is. They have various ones. Okay. Right. Oh, wow. Yeah. It's good fun. Check it out. Yeah. Sounds like fun. It definitely is. And we are also joined by someone who is patiently listening, friend of the show, one of our favorite guest appearances. It is filmmaker, writer, YouTuber, all manner of very talented things. Isaac Sutton. Hello, sir.

[00:04:22] Hey. Welcome back again. Thanks for having me back on, y'all. I love being on this podcast. Yes. We love having you here. It feels like a while. Wasn't it Guillermo del Toro last time? Yeah, Kronos was the last time I was on. But, you know, always. Oh, no, no. That was last time I was on with you. Me and Dan did a special episode from Highway to Hell. That's right. Oh, yeah. Highway to Hell. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:04:51] Yeah, we had two Isaac episodes in one year, but then we skipped you for some reason. I don't know. I don't know. You know, sometimes it's hard to line up schedules in three different parts of the world. But I'm so happy to be here today. So thanks for having me back. It's great to have you here. Well, you've been busy because I just saw you dropped your media recommendations for 2024,

[00:05:20] including my favorite ever thing, which is a dance recap. Yes. So I started making these best of media compilations back in literally 2016, I think, 2017 when I was in college with my friends. And it was just something I could upload to my YouTube channel for fun.

[00:05:40] And at one point I did some kind of a dance thing and it has become a tradition to, you know, boogie on as different media pops up in the background. So I love making them, you know, if you want to check them out. Dear listeners, I know Dan and Connor, I know my YouTube channel, but I'm Isaac Last Name on YouTube, not the male pregnancy one, the normal one. There is always the normal one. Connor had that warning.

[00:06:10] Connor warned him. It still has more subscribers than me. So. Yeah. If you hit a channel with an engorged stomach and groaning, that is not the right way. That's not it. But yeah. Scary stuff. Scary stuff. I guess it's time to read the mailbag, Conrad. What do we have today?

[00:06:35] Well, we received a lovely long email from Brayden, who said, one character that I think deserves a little more examination in Psycho 2 is Lila Crane Loomis. Ah. She continues the theme of dominating mothers and you can tell her family has lived in Norman Bates' shadow the entire time. It's briefly mentioned that Sam Loomis died in the years before Norman was released.

[00:07:02] It wouldn't surprise me if he died prematurely just to get away from Lila and her obsession. Yeah. And let's not forget that Marion invoked the worst karma onto herself through her crime. Lila, however, ignores the fact that Marion was on the run when she stopped at Bates Motel. In her eyes, her sister was a tragic victim and deserving of the justice she feels her family is being denied.

[00:07:27] Perhaps karma once again proves who's in charge when Lila's inner voice tells her to enter the Bates mansion at the wrong time. That's a really good point. Yeah. It is. Yeah. I hadn't thought about that. But she does. She is the domineering mother. She is. That's probably why Mary sympathizes with Norman so much. Yeah. Oh, yes. That's right. Anyway, thanks, Brayden. It's lovely to hear from you. Yeah.

[00:07:54] And, of course, we heard from Serge of Cold Crash Pictures. Hello, Serge. Hello, Serge. On The Final Countdown, he said, The Final Countdown is a weird little film. One part feature-length Twilight Zone episode, one part Navy propaganda. It ends without a resolution and nobody actually counts down to anything. No. Exactly. With the countdown.

[00:08:22] And it's also kind of good. Movie Oubliette does a great job chronicling its many faults and a few of its charms on the latest episode, and it's especially fun to get the perspective of two non-Yanks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because we were less impressed with the military hardware, I think. No. Yeah. Not so impressed. Incredibly valid.

[00:08:52] Anyway, thank you so much for writing to us and messaging us on all our social media platforms. We do love hearing from you. Yes, yes. We also got a message from one of our listeners, Jasmine. And this was in regards to me talking about watching all the Oscar-winning best pictures of all time from the very beginning.

[00:09:16] And we did actually have some discussion about a movie that she mentioned, Sunrise, me and Conrad. But unfortunately, I cut it out of the episode because it was a little bit of a tangent. But yeah, Sunrise was a movie that did win an award from the Oscars because the first Oscar, Jasmine has now explained to me, because I got confused when you mentioned it because it didn't come up when I was doing my research.

[00:09:42] But she mentions that the very first Academy Award Best Picture, there were actually two awards for Best Picture. The first award being titled Outstanding Picture and the second award titled Unique and Artistic Picture. So yeah, Wings won Outstanding Picture and Sunrise won Unique and Artistic Picture. Honestly, bring it back.

[00:10:11] And Jasmine goes on to say, it was as prestigious and was really their way of awarding two films the top honor. In my opinion, Sunrise is one of the greatest films ever made. And everyone that loves film should see it. And I did watch it last night. Oh, great. And it is really interesting because it starts out almost like a really dark, morbid thriller. And then it turns into this really sweet, romantic movie.

[00:10:40] It's quite, yeah, it's very engaging. It's a completely silent film as well. I mean, there's some sounds in key places, but there's no dialogue. And yeah, it's a very sweet movie. I actually really enjoyed it. Oh, good. I'm glad you watched it. I remember it being very beautiful, the second half of it. And just visually quite stunning. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's Murnau. I don't know if you've seen that one, Isaac. No, I have not. I have not gone. I've gone back that far. Yeah.

[00:11:09] 1927 is quite far to go. Almost a hundred years. Yeah. All right. Well, I guess we should move on to the film for today. What are we doing? Yes. Isaac, you're one of the few guests who's allowed to go into the Oubliette. Go and find it for us, please. I will. I brought my car to set today, so. Oh, wow. I know that the Oubliette's kind of a racetrack in itself. I think it all very maze-like. Oh, yes.

[00:11:39] Transformers are all sorts of things. Let me get ready to engine. Love that. Okay. I'm going to get in there. That's some acceleration. There's a jump. I better put the nitrous thing in. Oh, wow. Okay. Screech to a hog. Got out of there. Okay. Wow.

[00:12:11] That's amazing. You crossed the finish line with your hair. You know, some people think the pompadour's too much, but I've always said if this exact situation came up, it would come in handy. Indeed. So it proved. What did you grab for us as you flew through the Oubliette then? Well, in my hand is Redline, an anime film from 2009. Oh.

[00:12:38] So it seems the story for this one happens in the distant future. On another world, there is a racing tournament that is completely different from any other death by racing tournament you've ever seen in film. Redline is the biggest, most dangerous event, and the entire galaxy's eyes turn to Robo World as a motley crew of Daredevil's take on an illegal track.

[00:13:04] There's sweet JP, a man with a slick pompadour whose talent on the road is matched only by his troubles off it. Cherry boy hunter Sonoshe, whose love for the sport inspired JP to race in the first place. And about a million other insane characters who whiz by so fast you can barely even clock their backstories. The bets stack up, the engines roar, who will win? Watch Redline and find out. Can't wait.

[00:13:48] Welcome back. Jack, we're talking about Redline, the 2009 Japanese animated science fiction film. I had never even heard of this movie. I had no idea it existed. So thanks, Isaac, for bringing it to us. When was your first experience of it? Yeah. So I love anime. I'm a big anime dork at this point.

[00:14:14] I kind of became aware of it, I guess, around like 2015. It came out in the States around 2011 and was picking up a lot of buzz in the animation community because so much of it is hand-drawn. And I didn't watch it until much later, like 2022 or something like that. I found it at a second-hand store and was just like, oh yeah, this is that movie that all those people were talking about forever ago.

[00:14:44] I should check this out. Bought it for like five bucks or something like that on DVD and was just like, this sucker's crazy. I had no idea. I was not prepared for the movie that came to me. It's so like rambunctious and wild. And I thought it would be a good thing to bring to the Oubliette crew because it reminds me

[00:15:13] so much of like the technical showcase movies that y'all cover, like Highway to Hell, like all of these like big, intense kind of creature-y focused films that just throw everything, everything at the wall. Yeah. That's the main reason why I thought you guys would enjoy it today. Yeah. Redline has been on my watch list for a while.

[00:15:39] I've heard about it, but this was not what I expected the movie to be. I thought it was going to be one of those really moody, like dark movies, almost like Blade Runner, but with cars. Yeah. But it's really not. The word that I would say to sum up this movie is carnage. It's just absolute carnage in every frame. Like there's explosions, people getting wiped off the planet. It's insanity.

[00:16:08] When I was watching some of the special features, one quote the narrator says is a film that defies all logic and it really does. It's just utter chaos. Yeah. So the team behind this, I think it really started with the audio director and the story credit. I'm going to massacre all of these names. Katsuhito Ishii.

[00:16:31] He said that he was living in Sonoma in California and noticed that his next door neighbor's son was just constantly tinkering with this car. Like he had a classic American sports car and he wanted to make a movie that would get his attention, this guy. So it's cars, explosions and women's bodies and it just does not stop.

[00:16:59] And he called it unabashedly dumb is kind of what they were heading for. But at the same time, information overload, the director talked about Takashi Koichi. I'm probably saying that wrong too. I think it might be Koichi. Koichi. Okay. Thank you. So he said that it's, they were aiming for information overload rather than simplification, which is common in animation.

[00:17:26] And I saw one reviewer that say that, you know, if Akira is an assault on the senses, then this is all out warfare. And I thought that was a good way of summarizing what happens because it barely breathes. Yeah. For me, it felt like I was watching Fast and the Furious on crack.

[00:17:48] I was like, if Fast and the Furious was, yeah, Akira with like kaijus in a war zone, then that's red line. And specifically kaijus named Funky Boy. Yeah. We gotta, we gotta make sure they get that detail in there. Funky Boy is the name of the giant baby? Question mark. Yeah. That like shoots lasers out of its mouth. Yeah. It vaporizes everyone. So awesome. It's insanity.

[00:18:17] And comes out of nowhere. So it's a fairly standard tale of an underdog sports person. It's a guy who drives racing cars in these big, ridiculous races. He's the honorable one amongst all of them because he does not use weapons or try to interfere with his competitors. Whereas there seem to be no rules. Yeah. But he doesn't do that. He has some sort of moral code. Seems to be quite a sweet guy. He also has a crush on one of the other races, Sonoshi.

[00:18:47] And he barely qualifies for the next round because two people drop out because this next planet that they're going to for the next race, I think this is weird. Just imagine that a Grand Prix is just foisted upon a country. It's not like organized with their participation. No. It's like, we're coming and it's happening in your town. So good luck. Not just in your town, in your highly classified government base. Yeah, exactly.

[00:19:16] This is like if they announced it was happening in Area 51 tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. And as for your security or your sovereignty, screw that. We're going to drive through here at high speed and destroy things. And you just have to live with it. That's how it works. So they're going to this incredibly hostile planet that does not want them there. Robo-wheel. Robo-world.

[00:19:41] During the course of which they're trying to compete in a race whilst an entire planet is trying to destroy them. Yeah. That's the setup. Yeah. It's a lot. It's a lot. Yeah. And amongst that, you have just the craziest assortment of races with like craziest backgrounds, craziest names.

[00:20:06] You have our main protagonist, Sweet JP and the love interest, Cherry Boy Hunter, Senoshi McLaren. Which I don't really even understand what that means. They've got a robot car man called Machine Head. A magical duo, sexy Sailor Moon girls called the Super Boynes. One called Boy Boy and the other one called Boss Boss.

[00:20:34] You've got characters like Lynchman and Johnny Boy, Gory Rider, Trevor and Shinkai, Miki and Todoroki. And they also introduce this in the sort of broadcast like race expose segment, which is like broadcast on TV. And it's just insanity. Like some of these characters are dirty cops. You've got magic characters. You've got bounty hunters.

[00:21:03] And they're not all human. Yeah. No. They're all. I think that's really one of my favorite parts of the whole film, honestly, is the intros of all of these crazy like blink and you'll miss it characters. Because they just like are instant setup, instant payoff. And then you just move on to the next thing. Yeah. You know, like their dirty cop one is so fun. There's no explanation as well. He's having an affair with his other fellow cop or something.

[00:21:33] I don't know what's going on. They just, they glaze through it and you're like, what? What did I just watch? It reminds me of that episode of Rick and Morty where they're watching the intergalactic cable channel. And it's just like, what is going on right now? I don't get it. Yeah. And the sexy twins. Super boy. Yeah. Super boy. Their names are apparently words that are used in Japan for the bouncing motion of women's breasts. Oh, is it?

[00:22:03] Right. Of course it is. They're pretty much a one gag pair and they take turns in their interview on TV mimicking Sharon Stone's basic instinct leg crossing move. Oh yeah. And they appear to co-drive a robot and sit in large, big orb-like boob cockpits on the top of it. It transforms from a car into a woman car with translucent breasts. Yes. Yeah.

[00:22:31] And there's a very strange scene where it's fighting the robot army and it's... By tickling them. Yeah. It's very... I didn't really understand what was going on. Like, there was magic involved or something. I'm not sure. Yeah. Their planet is magical. It's... I think it's like very Sailor Moon-y. Like you were saying. Yeah. Yeah. Like ultra-sexualized Sailor Moon. Yes.

[00:23:01] I mean, you do have these colorful, like, two-dimensional characters, but you do have the sort of themes of love with Senoshi and JP, but also friendship with JP and Frisbee. So these two characters have grown up together. They've always been friends. And Frisbee's always been his mechanic or engineer or something. He's always designed his cars.

[00:23:23] And you have that sort of dynamic because Frisbee is owing a ton of money to these mafia bosses. So he teams up with JP to fix these races where he, like, installs these bombs into his car so that he will always come last until the final stretch and then never win. And then they win tons of money because they fix it. So that always happens.

[00:23:53] It's interesting. It is interesting. There's a sense of themes amongst the chaos. Yeah. It's, like, the most basic story ever. You know, they, like, really condense it down into he loves this girl, they're racing a track. You know, we're not reinventing the wheel with Redline, right? I mean, I feel like you couldn't, though, because there's so much going on visually. Right.

[00:24:22] You kind of have to have something quite basic, I guess, as a foundation. That's why it works is because they layer the chaos on top of something that is so straightforward. And, like, even the, like, side character craziness. Those work because they are complicatedly simple. Yeah. You know, like, it pops in for a half second. You're like, why is this guy dressed like this guy's Batman and Robin, I guess? Are there, like, a weird vigilante people? The bounty hunters. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:52] You, like, instantly kind of recognize what they are and then they flitter away. And then you're into the next thing and you instantly know what's kind of happening and then it flitters away. And if they got any more complicated, I think it would just be, like, experimental. Yeah. You know what I mean? But it's just basic enough to be entertaining. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I wanted to ask you, Isaac, about, like, the visual style.

[00:25:19] It did really remind me of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Yeah. Like, it has that kind of silliness but also that really comic book, like, almost two-dimensional look to it. Like, it doesn't look too dynamic in terms of, like, depth of field. It feels very flat but in a very, very comic book way. Like, lots of sort of, I guess you'd call it cell shading. Yeah. Deep shadows that are painted on there. At points.

[00:25:46] Like, they have, like, very defined shapes, I guess. Yeah. Like, but fluid, like, so they have a lot of, like, movement and dynamism. One of the things that they talked a lot about in the behind the scenes and stuff that I was researching online was, like, they were having a really hard time figuring out who was going to lead the project up because they have to do so many, like, soft movements and balance it with hard car machinery parts. Sure, sure, sure.

[00:26:16] And so they were, like, the only person who does that well is freaking Miyazaki, right? Right. Like Studio Ghibli. But I think that this approach kind of makes everything a little harder, right? It gives everything those angles in Redline. Like, you see the edges more. Where Miyazaki's approach is everything feels fluid. Like, you see a Miyazaki plane or car or something. It's all rounded. It kind of bounces. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right?

[00:26:45] But the stuff in Redline is jagged. Yeah. And it moves, like, it moves like a car crash. You know? It's true. Like, it has a sense of, like, everything's very shiny. Yeah. Kind of harsh but clean at the same time. I don't know how to describe it. It's very unique. Yeah.

[00:27:05] It did remind me of Eon Flux a little bit as well with some of the kind of distorted effects that they used on the characters when they were going at high speeds. And some of how close it was often with all the characters. Like, it felt very almost grotesque sometimes with how it was animated. Especially in the- He's got blood coming out of his nose and stuff. Yeah. And just not really explaining anything.

[00:27:34] Like, when Teno's she's eating what looks like a lobster seafood pasta dish, but everything is just worms. I don't know. It's like, okay. That makes sense, I guess. But there's another show that kind of reminded me of The Max, which is, I think, another MTV show from the 90s, which also has very sort of stark, like, black outlines and sort of dark shadows as well.

[00:28:02] It was an animation style that I didn't expect in this movie. Yeah. It doesn't remind me of, like, sort of more conventional, I guess you would say conventional anime, like Vampire D or Ninja Scroll. That feels more expected. This looked different, I guess. Yeah. A lot of this style in the 2000s. So, the 90s, right, were anime renaissance.

[00:28:27] I feel like most people typically understand that, you know, Pokemon came out in the 90s. And stylistically, it set the tone for a lot of what anime would be, right, in general. There were older anime stuff that found popularity, like, across the West. You know, Speed Racer, obviously. Yeah. Asteroid Boy, stuff like that. But the 90s really solidified anime as a cultural force.

[00:28:56] And, you know, those dark shadows, kind of a darker brooding vibe was really gaining a lot of popularity, like the Aeon Fluxes of the world. And in the 2000s, you start to see those things soften up just across the board in general. Sure, sure. Like, you know, I think a great example is the move from Cowboy Bebop, right? One of the most famous anime. It's my favorite. In the world. It's so good.

[00:29:25] It is amazing. It's an exceptional anime, right? And it holds a lot of that 90s DNA with it, right? With those dark shadows, with the brooding atmospheric stuff, right? Yeah. And then you go to the director's next work, Ceremony Champloo, right? Right, yeah, yeah. And it's a lot softer, right? It's a lot brighter. The colors come out a lot more, right? And that is really like the stylistic shift you start to see going into the 2000s. Right.

[00:29:54] As things kind of become a little bit more bubbly and round and different like that. You still have plenty of those dark-edged shows, right? But I think this movie is definitely like part of that stylistic shift away from the 90s for anime. Yeah. And the animation studio that does is Madhouse Incorporated, which was found in 1972 and is responsible for like all the greatest animates. I looked at the list.

[00:30:24] It's just endless. Like Wicked City, Ninja Scroll, Perfect Blue, Vampire Hunter D, Metropolis, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Trigun, which I really love, Death Note, Paprika, Wolf Children, Parasite, and the first season of One Punch Man as well. So, I mean, that is like an astounding. Madhouse is probably the most successful studio in Japan.

[00:30:54] Like, you know, Ghibli makes bangers and they hit them out of the park. But Madhouse has such an intense, insane catalog of not just films, but TV shows. It's really arresting, I guess. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I would say C.O. Ghibli is more, I mean, it's not wholesome, but it's more sort of, I guess, family targeted. Whereas Madhouse stuff is, it's for adults. Like, Redline is not for children.

[00:31:24] Well, they should really be watching it. I was like, this is a good thing to bring up, I feel like, is who is the audience for Redline? Because I think it's like clearly targeted at little boys, right? Well, yeah, I would say teenage boys. Like, I mean, I hate saying this, but it is a boys movie. Like, I watched it with my wife and she did not give it.

[00:31:51] So it's definitely aimed at guys that love cars and women, I guess. But I would say it's not too exploitative. I've seen way worse anime. There's definitely worse anime out there in terms of the representation of women, but this one's not great. This is not great, but it's not atrocious.

[00:32:14] Like, I have seen some really bad, quite good reputation animes that I'm like, this does not age well at all. Like, there are some scenes in this movie that I'm like, what do you like? It's not the best. But it's not the worst. I've seen way worse. Oh, gosh. I think it's, you know, I listen to the director's commentary and they talk a lot about being inspired by Shonen Jump. Yeah.

[00:32:43] But this movie is not actually based on manga at all. It's entirely original, which is like, that floored me because most of the best things are based on manga normally. Right. Yeah. So I think they took a lot of lessons from these, like, Dragon Ball, One Piece, kids anime. Yeah. Kids series that you would find in Shonen Jump magazine. Yeah, sure.

[00:33:09] And like, the through line in general on Redline is that it's over the top. Yes. They don't press a button. They like smash through a glass case to press a button. Yeah. They don't shoot a rocket. They shoot 16 rockets that all combine into one rocket and then explode. Yeah. Yeah. That is like how they do it. And so I think they took a lot of these like speed racers eras of the world.

[00:33:32] They looked at these like more juvenile works and then kind of like exploded it and made it the most violent version of itself. Yeah. Yeah. You know, sexualized version of itself. I can appreciate that, you know? Like even when Redline doesn't hit for me, which I'll say from just a personal perspective, right? Redline's like not my favorite anime film, right?

[00:33:59] Redline's a fun one for me because I feel like it exemplifies kind of what people think in the back of their heads about anime, right? Yeah, sure, sure. A lot of people who don't really watch anime think that this is anime, right? Like all anime exists like this. And I'm like, no, it doesn't. But in Redline, it kind of does, you know? Yeah. It makes it hard to talk about the medium in general. But I think it also showcases the fact that I don't think this could ever be live action. No.

[00:34:27] I think anime is the only medium this could ever be. I think if it was live action, it would be ridiculous. Yeah. It wouldn't hit the same. Yeah. The closest thing I can think of to live action in this kind of style or ridiculousness is like the 90s Batman movies. Like Batman Forever, Batman Robin are just campy ridiculous. So stylized. And very stylized.

[00:34:52] And this is kind of like what Redline is, but it works with anime because it defies logic. Like you have JP's car skipping across water like it's a rock. Like it's just skimming across the water. Like it doesn't make sense, but we're watching it anyway.

[00:35:14] You know, we should really talk about the ending, which is just like what is going on in the ending. They really skidded into that one, huh? Yeah. Completely defies logic. So, I mean, big spoilers here. They're at the final stretch. They put the steam. Steam light. Steam light. Yeah.

[00:35:40] So normally to activate the nitrous booster, they put these nitro caps into this whatever machine engine and they get a boost. Like in, you know, the Fast and Furious. But there's this extra booster called the steam light, which Sonoshi possesses for some reason. Her dad gave it to her. So you have the final stretch. You've got Funky Boy obliterates everyone. All the cars are like totaled. Sonoshi's car is totaled.

[00:36:09] So she decides to join JP in his car. So at the final stretch, JP, Sonoshi in his car. And then Machine Head is also at the final stretch. And he has a steam light for some reason. And they're going full throttle. But JP just can't get any faster. And then I think it's Frisbee and the old man mechanic together.

[00:36:33] And they detonate the bomb that's strapped to JP's car because it gives him extra speed for some reason. I don't know. And that happens. And of course, the car is complete. It just does not handle this amount of power. And it just explodes. And you think, oh my god, it's the end. But no.

[00:36:56] Sonoshi and JP burst out of the exploded car as just regular humans and run to the finish line. What just happened? And then they kiss. And then a giant, like, pixelated text comes on screen that says love in big letters. I know. And then credits. And you're like, what?

[00:37:25] It's like instantly shut off. Like, the valve, it's like, you go so, so fast. It feels like your car exploded. Like, it's very abrupt. The pacing in general of this movie is rough, I feel like. Which is ironic. It feels like pretty standard. I don't know. It feels like a pretty standard car racing setup or sports movie setup.

[00:37:53] You have the big race at the start. JP loses. Then his car's totaled. You have this big, like, middle section where it's just all the characters. And then you have backstory of JP and Sonoshi. Then the big race at the end. And he wins. It's pretty standard. I think the structure is pretty standard. But I think, like, the time you spend in those areas is really condensed.

[00:38:20] Like, the beginning race is like 30 minutes. It's quiet. It's a big chunk of the movie. Yeah, yeah. They take a lot of time. They just don't want to be in all these other little character places. They just want to race. Yeah, yeah. You know? So it feels like the ending, it's just kind of like, okay, the race is over. We got to end the movie. We got to end the movie. Yeah. You know? Like, somebody forgot to tell them that they have to, like, wrap some things up after the finish line.

[00:38:49] They really don't care about it. Yeah. They just are like, and over. Yeah. I mean, a lot happens in that final race, though. I mean, you have all the robot army. I was satisfied. There's just so much going on. They go through a minefield at one point. There's, like, characters that dig. The car is digging underneath the mines. I don't even know how that happens. Yeah. It looks like a big ball. And then Funky Boy shows up.

[00:39:16] And then you've got, is it Colonel Volton? One of the robo guys. Symbiotes with some weird, like, body horror entity. And becomes this massive, like... Crocodile sludge! I don't even know. I don't even know what's going on. And he battles Funky Boy because the obliterator gun is, like, gone. Like, they didn't obliterate Funky Boy enough because he can regenerate.

[00:39:44] And then the final stretch, there's no road. But then a spaceship just appears out of nowhere and creates a road. It's like, there's a lot. There's a lot going on in that final race. There's just so much happening. You really have to lean into it. You gotta lean in. I feel like if you question too much, if you are... You gotta meet this one in its own terms.

[00:40:13] Truly, it's that kind of movie. You know? There are some movies that you can go to and just be impressed by. Right? And then there are some movies that you have to kind of be like, Okay, I will submit myself to you. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You really do. You really just have to go, it's fine. It doesn't make sense. Just, yeah. It's fine. And if you're not, if you're not, like, if you don't do that, you're gonna have a bad time. Yeah.

[00:40:43] I mean, I want to ask Conrad, like, what was your impression? Like, you've barely seen any anime. You've seen Akira. And have you seen any Miyazaki? No. Wow. Oh my god, I'm so sorry. So, yeah. My only experience is Akira, which I think is a completely different animal to this. I wanted to ask, because this film took seven years to make, which I believe was unusual.

[00:41:12] And they made a big thing out of it being hand-drawn, 100,000 hand-drawn cells. Although during the making of, you can see them doing computer simulations on birds and things. Yeah. I saw that as well. Like, they say there's one shot where it's before effects and after effects. I'm like, that's not hand-drawn after effects. No. That's definitely computers. It is, yeah.

[00:41:39] So, is this unusual being hand-drawn in 2009? Did it stand out from the rest of the crowd? My experience is that, yes. Right. Okay. So, this was like an era where CG was encroaching more and more into anime. And they were using it for a lot of shortcuts. Mm-hmm. Right? So, not like, you know, CG effects and things like that, necessarily. It's like, think like Treasure Planet.

[00:42:09] Yeah. Right? Where they would do this hybridized style where mostly vehicles would be CG or backgrounds would have a lot of CG elements. Mm-hmm. Because they didn't want to draw all of it. Yeah. Right? I think what's unique about Redline is that it is hand-drawn and then graphics and things like that are put on top of the hand-drawn elements. Sure. I mean, I think what benefits from the hand-drawn aspect of the making of this movie is just the crazy physics in this movie.

[00:42:39] Like, having cars just bouncing across water. Or, like, when they put the nitro caps in, the car doesn't just, like, boost into high speed. It, like... The perspective warps. It spasms around. Like, it's going through different directions. It's crazy to watch. Especially JP's car, which is just a Trans Am. It's like a very Earth-looking car. And everyone else's looks like spaceships. Yeah. It doesn't make a lot of sense.

[00:43:09] But having that hand-drawn aspect, it feels very fluid. Which I don't know whether that could have been achieved with CG. Like, sort of that early 2000s CG for me, I don't really like because it feels too solid. It feels too... Like, you're just looking at an object spin around.

[00:43:29] You kind of want that stretching and distortion that you have with hand-drawn to sort of exaggerate things like speed or guns and missiles exploding and stuff like that. You can see, like, examples of it used well when it's used sparingly. Yes. Right? Like, you watch Paprika. You watch, like, a lot of Satoshi Kon movies have CGI elements. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? Not Perfect Blue because it's too old. But, like... Perfect Blue is amazing. Yeah. Oh, God. Perfect Blue.

[00:43:58] We're getting off topic. This is such a good movie. It's so good. But Millennium Actress has plenty of CG elements, right? Like, they're just kind of weaved into the traditional ones, right? Yeah. And, like, I think Red Line has a similar thing, but it's really not as obvious where the CG is in Red Line. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

[00:44:22] Because, yeah, I don't like the CG parts in Treasure Planet or even, like, Futurama, the episodes where, you know, you've got a spaceship and it's obviously CG. Like, you're doing these kind of pans around the spaceship. It's like, yeah, that's totally CG. And it just doesn't... It sticks out to me. Yeah. And you've got everything hand-drawn and you stick in some CG stuff and it just... It feels really mixed-meaning. Yeah. Right? Yeah, yeah. Same thing with, like, Atlantis, The Lost Empire.

[00:44:52] Yeah. Right? Yeah. Like, it combines in a way that's a little uncanny. It feels odd. It's jarring. It's jarring. Yeah. And I don't think it's, like, completely, like, ugh, I can't watch this. Yeah. You know, levels of... I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, but it is a very specific style. Right? And I think Red Line somehow kind of, like, circumnavigates that style in its usage. Yeah, I think it does.

[00:45:17] I mean, I was surprised to find out it was hand-drawn because I thought, oh, surely this is CG. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, CG enhanced, I guess. Or hand-drawn with CG enhancements. Now it's time for Random Trivia! So, Isaac, what fascinating piece of trivia did you jump into your Nitro Booster today?

[00:45:40] Well, I wanted to shout out the fact that there is a prequel to Red Line that exists out in the world. It's called Trava Fist Planet, and it follows the red duck kind of looking guy, as well as his furry compatriot. It's a four-episode little miniseries about their adventures surveying a dangerous planet

[00:46:08] and was a big reason it helped Red Line get made. Oh! It actually came out before Red Line in 2003. Oh, sure. So it's almost like a pilot, almost. Yes, almost like a pilot. Almost like a pilot. Wow. Yeah, it's an OVA, right? It's an OVA. So it's just like a very condensed miniseries that was put out on, basically for purchase

[00:46:37] in anime markets, direct-to-consumer. Yeah, yeah. So... Yeah, I love OVA. So apparently it stands for Original Video Animation. But yeah, it's a very condensed miniseries. So like, I don't know, four episodes, sometimes even less. But I find them really good because there's more to expand on than just a two-hour movie.

[00:47:02] But it's not a 26-episode series where you get filler or episodes don't really matter. It's all condensed and it's perfect. Yeah, for sure. All right. Okay, and that's our trivia. Yeah. I mean, I guess we should talk about the music. Yes. The music is... It meets the visuals. It is just in your face. I can't wait to hear the jingles for this sucker.

[00:47:32] It's in your face. It's obnoxious, but in all the best ways. Like, it feels like... It feels like what you're looking at. It's a lot of... Yeah. Yeah, it's 2009's techno. No, it's lots of very, very fast guitar loops. It was released in a breathless 42-track soundtrack album. Wow. None of the tracks are more than two minutes long, but I think that's probably as long as you could put up with them for.

[00:48:03] Yeah. I mean, it serves the purpose. I particularly like the fact that some of the characters in the movie have their own theme tune. Yeah, right. Every time they show up. I'm obsessed with the, like, R&B English vocal stims that they have throughout. Oh, yeah. You know, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh. It's so quirky. They have, like, a... I don't know what you call it. Title card, I guess.

[00:48:30] The title of the movie shouts out, like, the director by name. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Is that a common practice in anime? No, I've never seen that before. That you sing the director's name. No, no. I've never seen it before. Yeah. The music is just as off the wall as the animation is. Yeah. I mean, I guess it is very 2000 sounding, but it's, like, not really copying anything. Like, it feels... I don't know. It feels in the world of Redline. But it is very in your face, though. Yeah.

[00:48:59] Like, when I think, like, techno-key soundtracks and stuff, I think, like, 90s era. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Like, I think most people do. And this one's just a lot funkier than anything that was going on. No, I don't... For me, it didn't sound too cheesy. Like, it didn't sound like we were watching Matrix or Blade or anything. Like, it felt very unique to Redline for me. Maybe it's because it is Japanese, so it wasn't sort of tainted by the sort of Hollywood style

[00:49:27] of cheesy techno music that America was doing. I don't know. Yeah. I couldn't tell you either. I'm not sure. But I really enjoyed it. I don't know. It got me pumped. Like, hearing those kicks and then, like, that snare roll. It's just... You've got to have a snare roll. Yeah. Yeah. But the snare roll goes for ages. It's like... It just keeps going. It's insane. Yeah. Are you familiar with James Shimoji?

[00:49:57] Yeah. I mean, I looked up his IMDb. He's done the Loop in the Third movies. And that's all I could really recognize. Yeah. I guess he just kind of has stuck with this director for most of his career. I want to ask, what's your stance, Isaac, on dubbing? Like, did you watch it in the original Japanese? Or did you watch it English dub? What's... I knew this question was coming. Are you a purist or... Or am I a filthy heathen?

[00:50:30] Here's the thing, right? Dubbing has gotten a lot better over time. Yeah. Modern dubbing compared to 90s, 2000s dubbing. It's a very different ballgame than we're playing here. In general, I watch mostly dubs. I have a hard time focusing on what's happening in the show when I'm reading it like that. Yeah, sure. And for Redline, I think... Redline's a very interesting case because there's so much visual input that it's almost

[00:50:58] like if you're reading the subs, it's like you're not even going to catch it all. Yeah. You know? I know. That's how I started watching this. Like, I started with the Japanese. I was like, this is impossible. I can't. I can't keep up with everything. I have to watch it in English. And the dubbing is not too bad. I actually found it okay. I've watched animes where the dubbing is intolerable and I just have to switch back to Japanese because it's just not good. It's just real rough. Yeah.

[00:51:27] But the voice actors in this are like legends. Patrick Seitz, Salts, who voiced JP. He's in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure as Dio. Yeah. He's in Attack on Titan. He's in Seven Deadly Sins, My Hero Academia, Fairy Tail. Like, he's in a lot. And same with Snoshi's voice actor, Michelle Ruff. She's in Demon Slayer, Lupin III movies, Bleach, Digimon.

[00:51:56] And also Jojo's Bizarre Adventure as well. So, like, I mean, the voice acting is top notch, like the English dubbing. Like, it's good. The Redline dub is good. They sound very familiar, though. Yes. Like, when I heard JP and Frisbee's voice, Liam O'Brien, they sound like, I've heard you in lots of it. I think the biggest tragedy when it comes to some of these dubs, and specifically Redline's

[00:52:23] dub, is that you miss a lot of the nuances of the sound design in some of those dubs. Oh, really? Yeah. Like, the mix isn't as good. You know? Wow. But it's the price you pay for not knowing Japanese. Yeah. Right? Like, when you don't know the language inherent, you're gonna, there's gonna be a barrier there. It's inherent to the thing. You know? So you just have to choose what you value. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:52:48] And I feel like you do lose, I mean, you lose some of the dialogue as well when it's translated. It's sometimes not as funny. Like, sometimes when I've watched movies with subtitles, the dialogue's a lot funnier than watching it with English dubs. So there's that as well, when things just don't translate. For sure. But I get the subs over dubs movement. I respect it. I don't want people after me. Yeah. No. I'm the same. Like, I feel like if the English dub works, it's fine.

[00:53:17] I've watched all the Miyazaki movies I watch with English dub. I'm sorry. I mean, look, if they're out here hiring, like, legends to do it, you know? I mean, yeah. Might as well check it out. There's a lot of really famous Hollywood actors that do the dubbing for Miyazaki movies. Like, this is not basic voice actors. These are pros. You're not going to your local theater and watching, like, you know, half-hearted Shakespeare rendition. This is freaking, you know, Jeff Scorn-Levitt's up there.

[00:53:47] Yeah. It's funny, though, because there are some countries where you always watch the all-country dub. Like, initially, like, all the movies are dubbed in Italian. And you get the same voice actors dubbing the same American actors all the time. So you've got the Italian Tom Cruise that does all of Tom Cruise's movies. He's... It's really funny. Maybe he can be the live-action version. Can we get him over here? Yeah.

[00:54:15] Coming to you live from the Movie Oobly at theater, it's the prestigious Moobly Awards. Yes, it's the Moobly Awards. It's time to nominate our favorite fiery exploding parts of the film in a number of impossible ending categories. Best quote. It's got to be aim the cannon at Funky Boy. He's out of control. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:54:42] That line does not make sense out of context. It's so beautiful. I love anime. How are you, Conrad? Well, I watched the movie with subtitles on it. Oh, did you? I think this afforded me with extra material for the quotes because some of the translations, I don't know if they were accurate, but they were fun.

[00:55:07] So when Colonel Volton is shouting at Dr. Saboose, who's busy dealing with the provocative racing duo, the Superboynes, and he shouts the deathless line, Dr. Saboose, quit playing around with those pervs and tits. At least that's what's appeared on my screen. So that's what I wrote down. I do not remember that in English.

[00:55:36] They definitely changed that. Yeah. I had a feeling they did. I thought I was gaining something special. Best hair or costume? It's the pompadour. It is, right? It is. It totally is. It can't be. It's amazing. It's huge. It's so good. It's like Elvis times 100. He's got wings off the side of it. Like, it can't be contained. Yeah.

[00:56:03] And he's got like a switchblade comb that he pulls out to sweep it back. It's the ultimate call. Yeah. Must take a lot of maintain. How are you, Conrad? An honourable mention, I would say Sunoshi looks pretty cool with her lime green hair with pink tips and her yellow and pink hair pin that she always has in there as well. Yeah. Yeah. I think she looks great. She's cool.

[00:56:33] Most naughty moment. Maximalism is pretty 2000s. Oh, yes. We were just throwing a lot of shit on screen in the 2000s. I watched Deja Vu the other day. Oh, yes. Is it Denzel Washington? Denzel Washington. Yeah, yeah. And like, you know, just like as much visual input as possible. You know.

[00:57:01] I think this is very much in that vein. Yeah. I would say most 2000s is just like car movies being really popular. That's so true, actually. Fast and Furious came out in 2001 and then Too Fast, Too Furious in 2003. Then Tokyo Drift 2006. And then Fast and Furious. I don't understand the titles of these movies. Like, why is Fast and Furious without The?

[00:57:29] Another sequel that came in 2009. I have no idea. Because they're all the same. Then you've got other car movies like Gone in 60 Seconds in 2000. Death Race in 2001. The Taxi remake with Queen Latifah. And Jimmy Fallon was in that movie in 2004. That one's deep in the oubliette. Talladega Nights 2006. Italian Job 2003.

[00:57:58] And Animator Movie Cars in 2006. We were just obsessed with car movies in the 2000s. It's crazy. Yeah. Now, you're right. I also looked up racing. And there are 42 matches for feature films released in that decade. Oh, wow. For the word racing in IMDB keyword search. Yeah. Yeah. I just love cars. I don't know why. Favorite scene.

[00:58:25] I love the opening sequence. I love a yellow line. Just the whole yellow line sequence. Especially at the very end. It's where, like, the mob boss is smearing cocaine on his lips. And it's, like, really gross and crunchy. And, like, Frisbee's got 12 guns pointed at him or something. And the car is exploding. It's just, like, such a, you know, it's over the top. Yeah. Yeah. And then, like, you know, she's car.

[00:58:54] You find out it's actually a hover car. She flies into the water and she starts just becoming a speedboat. And that happens. It's like, what? So sick. Yeah. It's a pretty incredible opening sequence to introduce the film. As a tone setter, you can't get much better than that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I did think to myself, this is an even less safe sport for spectators than robot jocks.

[00:59:22] Because there are swathes of people being swept off cliffs on tight corners. Yeah. Yeah. Blown off the stand as the leaders group rockets by. Like, it just seems like a really unfriendly sport for spectators. Yeah. Most cliche moment. I mean, this is kind of a movie that is all cliches. Yeah. There's so many cliches that it becomes not cliche. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's like, you know, there's the wise old mechanic.

[00:59:52] They're getting involved with fixing a race. You know, he's a rocker who's got a sordid past, but he's got a heart of gold. He's a sweetheart. She's the pure hearted ingenue, you know, who's like been working so hard. Like, all of these, like, every character is like a cliche, but it amalgams to something more than the sum of its parts. Yeah. I think. How are you, Codred?

[01:00:20] I've got a villain with an ironically cute name. Funky Boy. Oh, yeah. After they mentioned his name, I did not imagine this Lovecraftian bio weapon kaiju monster that suddenly ripped out of the ground and started tearing the whole place up. Yeah. So I would say in the same vein, we have the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Ah.

[01:00:47] We have Fluffy the guard dog in Harry Potter. And of course, Audrey 2 in Little Shop of Horrors. Ah, yes. Because how could Audrey be scary? But Audrey is. Yeah. Cute name. Terrifying villain. Yeah. That's a good pack. Yes. Best special effect. I love every crowd shot. I don't, I like, it's hard to say what is an, is not a special effect in this movie because it's an animated film. Everything's a special effect. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:01:17] It's like, I feel like if anything qualifies, it's the crowd shots because there's so many different characters that all have unique designs, right? That all move in very specific ways. Like, they're crazy. There's so many of them. Yeah. Yeah. I love the crowd sequences. I mean, my, my favorite special effects was all the speed distortion effects. So every time they put a nitro cap in, things just stretched out.

[01:01:47] Like the cars just went like really elongated and their faces would, would kind of distort and contort around. Oh, it's such a great representation of, of speed. Yes. Yeah. I would agree. That was something that they mentioned in the making of that they're taking advantage of one of the flaws of hand-drawn animation, which is, as you've talked about, that you can create this kind of distortion, which the computer never could.

[01:02:14] Well, I mean, yes, it could, but it wouldn't be as organic and squishy and fun as this is. Favorite sound effect. I really liked Funky Boy. The zap, the zap sounds, because there's a shriek followed by this kind of weird phasery synthy, synthy, zap sounds and then everything just explodes. It's, it's amazing. It's such a good sound effect. Yeah.

[01:02:42] I had his wind up before he, he fires. Oh, yeah. Because nothing fills me with dread and horror. Like the sound of a baby winding up for a really big meltdown. Yeah. Yeah. That shrieky sound. Yeah. Oh no. In a supermarket, on a flight. Yeah. As soon as you hear that sound. On a foreign alien world. Yeah.

[01:03:10] Mine was just the different buttons and switches throughout the film. Yeah. Like every car has its own unique little gear shift sounds. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. You know, sometimes they're like, ch-ch-ch-ch. Like they have like a high pitch or like a synth to them. And sometimes they're much more mechanical. Like you can tell they really cared and put a lot of thought into each sound design for each car. And I thought that's really cool. Yeah. Most funniest moment.

[01:03:40] I like the Super Boing transformation sequence. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like was not expecting it the first time I saw it. Yeah. Yeah. And then all of a sudden there's this giant dancing robot woman. Robot. Yeah. Yeah. So, so off the wall. Tickling, tickling their enemies to death. Yeah. Uh. That's crazy. Of course. Of course. Why not? Why not? Oh.

[01:04:11] But yeah. Uh. Mine came earlier with Sonoshi relaxing in her apartment and she's watching a news item about her and she expresses off screen dismay that they have chosen to focus the camera shot on her butt. Yeah. Right before she sits down into shot on her sofa and it's revealed that she's topless. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:04:34] So I thought, okay, so you are criticizing the objectification of women in choice of shots, the male gaze in television. And then she sits down and her tits are out. Yeah. Uh. Immediate disconnect. That's pretty funny. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm.

[01:05:05] Hi, this is Melinda Mock from Retroblasting and you're listening to Movie Oubliette. Okay, final verdicts. Should Redline be propelled out of the Oubliette with a nitro cap and be worshipped by its intergalactic fans? Or should it be vaporized by Funky Boy and be thrown back into the Oubliette, lost in the ether of endless darkness? Isaac, you've brought us Redline.

[01:05:34] And what's your final verdict? I think Redline is valuable. I think it's a great film. When I got Redline from the DVD store a few years back, I had no idea what I was getting into. And I think that is the best way to approach Redline is as just this curious little thing, right, that you stumble into. Mm.

[01:06:00] And I think that makes it, A, a perfect Oubliette film and also a perfect little piece of art, right? It's very specific. It's not going to be for everyone. Mm. But I'm glad that it exists and I want more people to see it. Mm. Mm. So, yeah. I say, you know, nitro booster out of this sucker. Yeah. But what about y'all? What about y'all? Yeah. I mean, it wasn't what I expected. It really wasn't.

[01:06:27] It's just like a sensory overload of just chaos and carnage. Uh, I think a lot of people won't really understand this, like, especially people coming from non-anime worlds. This is like full on. Um. But I really enjoyed it. I really loved the, in your face, just adrenaline pumping insanity of this.

[01:06:54] Like, it's enough story and themes to be fine. But we're not, we're not watching this for the themes. We're watching it for the insanity. And that's what was, yeah, most surprising. And I loved it. I really loved it. It's a movie that knows exactly what it is. Yeah. That is one thing you can't take from Redline is like, it was so confused. Like, like, I think it was pretty clear that it did what it wanted to do. Mm. You know? Mm.

[01:07:23] And yeah, and just the hand-drawn aspect is, yeah, it's a labor of love. It's, it's amazing to witness what they achieved. Conrad. I would be interested. As the anime newbie. I'd be interested to hear your, your verdict. Well, I mean, I'm going to stand for the group of people who just come into this cold with no idea what they're coming into. Um, and yeah, I, I wasn't any clearer at the end of it, to be honest.

[01:07:51] I think it clearly is a labor of love. Technically, it's a great achievement. I think they did achieve what they set out to do. If they wanted to engineer something that would appeal to 15 year old boys with cars, explosions and, and, and women's breasts. Yeah. They clearly did it. And not in a way that's toxic or harmful in any way. I don't think. I think it's, it's, it has a sense of fun about it and, uh, doesn't take itself at all seriously.

[01:08:21] It knows what it's doing in that sense. Um, I have to say it left me completely cold. I did not know what was happening 90% of the time. And my attempts to try and analyze it in any way have kind of fallen flat because I think once you get beyond that surface level of impact, there isn't really anything supposed to be there. No, not at all. As a cultural artifact.

[01:08:45] Uh, so yeah, it doesn't appeal to me at all, but that didn't mean that I don't think it deserves to exist. Yeah. Yeah. But I will be the person that says no, throw it back in there. But I, I don't actually think it deserves to go back in the UPA because I don't think it's a bad movie. I don't think it, it doesn't do a good job of what it's trying to do. It's just not for me. So I would sound a word of caution for those who have listened to the two of you and thought

[01:09:14] this just doesn't appeal to me because, uh, if it doesn't, it's, it's not going to win you over. It's just going to slap you in the face. For a hundred minutes. I think that is so valid. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Especially someone that hasn't had sort of a background in watching anime. Like this is like pretty, it's pretty out there to watch. Oh yeah. Yeah.

[01:09:42] It's like, if you've never watched a film and then you watch a David Lynch movie, it's like, this doesn't exemplify all films and this red line does not exemplify all anime. Yeah. It's like taking a toddler to a razor head. It's a bit much. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I should, I should have come up with something a little bit. Uh, like more baby food. No.

[01:10:10] But I, I'm really glad that y'all, uh, had this experience with me and I, I have, I have loved revisiting this movie. I hadn't seen it in a while and it was a joy to talk with you guys. So thank you for, for the opportunity. No, it was great to have you, um, sort of set the context for it because yeah, I just lack that grounding. So I had no idea. So I, I found it fascinating. But we should also check in with our patrons to see what they thought.

[01:10:40] We should. Yes. Hello, Gary. Hello. Can we have the patrons vote please? They set it free. Oh, okay. All right. I wasn't sure about this because I'm not even one watches anime. No. So, uh, regular listeners. Chazilla. Redline is a fun watch, but exhausting.

[01:11:04] Like, uh, hyperaction and hyperediting. I'm thinking the writer and director popped some nitro themselves. The, the pace was so frenetic. I had to watch it in two parts. Wow. Great style though. Interesting characters with some backstory and world building. Yeah. Next time I watch it, it'll be at half speed.

[01:11:29] The alternative being doing speed myself before pushing play. Right. Let it out of the oubliet, but with a seizure warning. It's a good call, Chazilla. Thank you. That's awesome. And Jasmine, our good friend, Jasmine. She said, this is to me the anime version of Death Race 2000. The animation is stunning to be sure,

[01:11:55] but it's simultaneously and frustratingly confusing during the race scenes. More important is the storytelling as it spends much of its time building up to the big race, something it does quite well and fleshing out the competitors, only to barely do anything when the big day arrives, besides put too much focus on the fascist army. I would absolutely allow it to speed out of the oubliet, but oh, how I do wish I liked it more than I do. Mm. That's a good point.

[01:12:25] There was a lot of flashbacks and backstory for Sonoshi and JP, but they didn't really do much with it. No. I feel like she's right. It would have been a more compelling movie if they had focused more on the characters that we cared about, not the weird robot army. Yeah. Yeah. And Funky Boy. It's a very good point. Yeah, which comes out of nowhere. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:12:50] I read somebody else say that that seems like a Kaiji movie that comes out of nowhere and invades this movie. Yeah. It does. Yeah. Okay. Well, I guess we're setting this one free. Woo! Yeah. Off you go. Off you go. So, Isaac, it has been an absolutely, well, essential for me to have you here as well as a joy, as always.

[01:13:16] Can you tell our listeners where they can find more from you and learn more about anime, perhaps? Sure. So, you can find me on YouTube, Isaac Lastname. Also, I'm on Letterboxd as Isaac Lastname, if you want to follow me on Letterboxd. I log every single thing I watch and review it. So, you know, there's plenty of anime reviews in the fold.

[01:13:44] If you want more of my hot anime takes. Nice. And, of course, if you want to follow Movie Oubliette, we are on all platforms as Movie Oubliette. And you can email us at movie.oubliette at gmail.com. And if you want to keep us going, then head on over to Patreon, where you can support the show for as little as a dollar. All the way up to $10 as an executive producer.

[01:14:11] Like Chazilla, Isaac Sutton, Doggy, Serge, iconographer. He did not pay to get on this show. I appreciate the service. Serge, iconographer, Ryan A. Potter, Evan Goodchild, and Nick Hardy. Yeah, yeah. We really appreciate the support. We've got merchandise on Redbubble YouTube channel.

[01:14:39] And please rate and review us if you haven't already. Yeah. All right. Conrad, what are we doing next episode? Well, we are shifting gears back to live action. We're shifting decade to the 1990s. We will be watching the 1990 American horror comedy film, Arachnophobia. Ah.

[01:15:06] Oh, this has been on my list for the longest time. I still haven't watched it, and I'm keen to check it out. Yeah. Apparently, it's going to get a remake fairly soon. Oh, really? By Christopher Landon. Yeah. Oh. Hmm. Yeah. Well, I'm in the best country for Arachnophobia, so. Well, every phobia. Snakes, drop bears. Sharks. They're all there.

[01:15:36] I know a lot of people, yeah, this movie traumatizes them, but we'll see. We'll see. I don't have that much of a problem with spiders. No, I don't either, actually. I just pick them up and put them out the window. I mean, I wouldn't in Australia, of course. Yeah. Here I do. Depends on how big they get. Yeah. All right. Well, thanks again, Isaac, for joining us. Sorry we skipped you last year, but. You're back.

[01:16:05] We'll give you back very soon. You know me. I'm always about the movie Ooglia. No matter when you call me, I'm here. So. Yeah. Thanks for having me on again, and can't wait for round two. Yes. Yes. All right, listeners. Until next time. Goodbye. Goodbye. Bye. We review the films others tend to forget.

[01:16:33] Come with us and don't come up the movie you get. Mr. President, we can't let that funky boy run loose like that. He's going to destroy Robo World. He's going to be on the Salutium. Go to the next episode. See you, though.