Let's start with:
Redline (2009)
"Redline" is the biggest and baddest motor-race in the entire Galaxy, where a select few test themselves and their machines to the limit. There's no restrictions on engine-size, very few safety measures and firing missiles at the competition is actively encouraged.
To add an extra element of fun, this year the contest is being held on the fiercely xenophobic Roboworld and the locals have promised that any "Redline" racer even arriving in their atmosphere is going to get turned into a cloud of singed atoms.
Bequiffed Human racer "Sweet JP" made it through to Redline on a fluke. His car is in bits, his support team detest each other and The Mob are looking over his shoulder but what the hell, he's pretty sure he can win anyway. And he's just met a girl he rather likes.
Pity she's one of the other racers.
There is no other way of describing this anime but "OTT". I mean there are lot's of other words I could use: "Colouful", "Bold" and "Brash" all come to mind. "Restrained", however, doesn't.
The colour palette is all bright colours, the character designs are gloriously unhinged and if you asked a ten year old boy to design a racing car for the year 3000, he'd come up with something like these, only the Redline cars have more engine, more firepower, more everything.
Think "Wacky Races" updated for the 21st century and created by petrolheads fuelled on Red Bull and bad amphetamines.
But is the animation any good?
It's by Studio Madhouse, so what do you think?
Everything is so bright and- one the race gets started - so intense that visually, this is the most jawdropping thing I've seen in quite a while.
Provided you don''t want your anime tainted by anything resembling reality, this one is enormous fun. Here's the trailer. Play loud after eating lots of sugar
Compare and contrast with :
The colour palette is all bright colours, the character designs are gloriously unhinged and if you asked a ten year old boy to design a racing car for the year 3000, he'd come up with something like these, only the Redline cars have more engine, more firepower, more everything.
Think "Wacky Races" updated for the 21st century and created by petrolheads fuelled on Red Bull and bad amphetamines.
But is the animation any good?
It's by Studio Madhouse, so what do you think?
Everything is so bright and- one the race gets started - so intense that visually, this is the most jawdropping thing I've seen in quite a while.
Provided you don''t want your anime tainted by anything resembling reality, this one is enormous fun. Here's the trailer. Play loud after eating lots of sugar
Compare and contrast with :
Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack (2012)
Newly engaged Kaori and her friends Erika and Aki arrive in Okinawa for a holiday. With the three being quite different personalities there's a certain amount of tension bubbling under the surface but frankly this is a minor concern compared to the large, angry shark on mechanical legs that just smashed it's way in through the window and tried to eat them.
Understandably shaken by the experience Kaori tries to contact Tadashi, her fiance, but is horrified to discover that Tokyo has been overrun by scuttling fish-cyborgs and Tadashi isn't answering his phone...
I picked up this film expecting it to be goofy monster-fun and I really should have looked at the credits list more closely because "Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack" is based on a manga by Junji Ito.
Over the years I have read precisely two manga that have seriously disturbed me and Junji Ito wrote both of them. (Uzumaki and The Enigma Of Amigara Fault )
So less "Goofy monster fun" and more "Weapons-Grade Nightmare Fuel".
The premise may sound silly - and it is - but as Kaori struggles to get back to Tokyo the film gradually descends into something darker and weirder. Without wanting to give too much away, the invasion of fish is only the curtain raiser and by the end we're looking at something between "Zombie Apocalypse" and "Return of The Old Gods."
The animation is functional rather than pretty, the characters especially having that "flat" look you see in some tv anime. The animation crew do make up for it with their work on the fish-beasties and the scene where a Jumbo jet tries to land on an infested airfield is quite impressive, as is the initial shark-attack.
Apparently there's a lot of changes from the original manga - the story is condensed quite a bit, characters are mucked about with and the ending is quite different - so if you're a fan of the manga you may not like this. I, on the other hand, couldn't really say I enjoyed it but it was an interesting viewing experience.
Problem is, I'm confidently expecting my upcoming nightmares to feature lots of scuttling mechanical legs.
Trailer here if you're interested:
The premise may sound silly - and it is - but as Kaori struggles to get back to Tokyo the film gradually descends into something darker and weirder. Without wanting to give too much away, the invasion of fish is only the curtain raiser and by the end we're looking at something between "Zombie Apocalypse" and "Return of The Old Gods."
The animation is functional rather than pretty, the characters especially having that "flat" look you see in some tv anime. The animation crew do make up for it with their work on the fish-beasties and the scene where a Jumbo jet tries to land on an infested airfield is quite impressive, as is the initial shark-attack.
Apparently there's a lot of changes from the original manga - the story is condensed quite a bit, characters are mucked about with and the ending is quite different - so if you're a fan of the manga you may not like this. I, on the other hand, couldn't really say I enjoyed it but it was an interesting viewing experience.
Problem is, I'm confidently expecting my upcoming nightmares to feature lots of scuttling mechanical legs.
Trailer here if you're interested:
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