Koike also contributed to the first digital animation in Blood: The Last Vampire (2000) for Hiroyuki Kitakubo ( Robot Carnival, Roujin Z), Samurai Champloo (2004) by Shinichiro Watanabe ( Cowboy Bebop) and even Dead Leaves (2004) by Hiroyuki Imaishi ( Gurren Lagann) as well as the third Patlabor film, Patlabor WXIII (2002). Koike got his start as a kind of apprentice to Kawajiri as an in-between animator or key animator on works as early as Wicked City, Demon City Shinjuku, Cyber City Oedo 808, Ninja Scroll, Memories and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust all with Kawajiri.
It is indeed a fusion of these influences from Kawajiri, Kirby and Mignola that really light up the raceways of RedLine. The look and feel of Mignol's work as well as comic legend Jack Kirby is somehow meticulously infused in this live action comic art. There is much influence on the animation and design work by the greats in comic books. Those truths are self-evident in his animation particularly Mignola. Koike's influences ranged from, as noted, Kawajiri, but also the likes of Frank Miller ( Daredevil, Batman, Sin City) and Mike Mignola ( Hellboy). He was born in 1968 (hardly a spring chicken) and entered the world of animation beginning with Studio Madhouse straight out of high school. But let's not race to the finish line (oh stop) of this post just yet as we take a closer look at the science fiction world of the phenomenal RedLine by Koike. Koike's historical rearing in anime, too, will put things in perspective. We can only hope Kawajiri has one more big film left in the gas tank (pun intended here). But it is without question that Kawajiri's impact and legacy lives on whether through his direct contributions to film as with RedLine or through the works of rising stars who clearly were raised and reared on Kawajiri like Takeshi Koike. His last notable effort as director was likely Highlander: The Search For Vengeance (2007). It would appear in recent years, perhaps as a result of aging (it happens), Kawajiri has stepped back from the director's chair to work rather behind the scenes, once again, as an animator and storyboard artist. This reality is very much in evidence and on display here for the magnificent thrill ride that is RedLine. It's much longer than his work as a screenwriter and director, but what work Kawajiri did direct certainly ranks and places him among the masters and indeed one of those artists that would influence the likes of Koike. His master contributions include the likes of personal favorite Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972-1974), Harmageddon (1983), The Dagger Of Kamui, Memories and Metropolis. Like Kawajiri there is a machismo and tough guy testosterone coursing through the film's veins. His work is at once jarring and beautifully heroic.īorn in 1950, Kawajiri's profile work as a key animator and storyboardist is indeed long. Every Jack Kirby-esque frame is a gem and never disappoints. Koike too brings his own intense graphic style to this otherworldly place that so often enticed us to the works of Kawajiri.
Still, this is very much Koike's film and he carries the Kawajiri torch when it comes to painstaking, extreme quality. Kawajiri also contributed The Running Man to short film anthology Neo Tokyo (1987) here not to mention a segment for The Animatrix (2003) collection produced by the then Wachowski brothers (Larry turned Lana is no longer a brother). Kawajiri was the auteur behind such classic films as Wicked City (1987), Demon City Shinjuku (1988), Ninja Scroll (1993) here, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) as well as the sci-fi cyberpunk thriller OVA Cyber City Oedo 808 (1990). It's true that Kawajiri was a key animator on RedLine (as he was on 2001's Metropolis for Rintaro and Katsuhiro Otomo) and thereby had a direct influence on the film stylistically, but it's also clear that Koike, a young upstart certainly took a few cues from the great director and emulates the look of many of Kawajiri's hyper-stylized, hyper-violent, but beautiful visuals to hostile, gritty but often picturesque worlds. Rule breaker Kawajiri has made a career of taking us to the edge and over the cliff with amplified sex and ultra violence in big heaps of graphic visual detail, but he always had a story to tell too.
Jumping ahead a bit on our analysis of all things Kawajiri it's worth noting that motorheads who love the energy of a stellar, out-of-this-world (literally) race film would be wise to take note of RedLine. You may not actually see the name Yoshiaki Kawajiri in the sleeve credits of the electrifying uber-race film RedLine (2009) by director Takeshi Koike, but his stamp or influence is all over this film.