With yesterday’s news that the upcoming Redline anime may already be locked in for a US release, it seems appropriate to spotlight the directorial debut of Takeshi Koike this Screenshot Tuesday.

 

World Record is one of the nine anime shorts that made up 2003′s landmark Animatrix, and it was always one of my favorites. The plot is as visceral as it is basic: an Olympic-level sprinter manages to break free from the Matrix through sheer strength and willpower. Despite its simplicity, this short manages to carry quite a wallop, mostly thanks to Koike’s skills as a character designer and storyboard artist.

You’ve never seen sprinting portrayed this way in an anime, or anywhere else for that matter. Music, sound effects, and animation are all orchestrated perfectly in a coordinated demonstration of just how intense and maddening the sport of running can actually be.

Between the physical intensity of this short, and the extravagant adrenaline-filled trailers we’ve already seen for Redline, there can be no doubt in my mind that Takeshi Koike will hit the ball out of the park as Redline‘s director.

 

As always, click on the images for the unresized versions.