Steamboy vs Akira?
The comparison is inevitable, but in many ways, these two are as different as can be coming from Katsuhiro Otomo.
First up, an unbiased and objective review.
Steamboy is set in Victorian England, during the Industrial Revolution where machines and men learn to coexist. Ray, son of inventor of steam machines, Prof Eddy, and grandson of another great steam machine inventor, Prof Lloyd, is the protangonist of the story, who received a mysterious package from his grandfather one day containing the marvellous Steamball. No it's not a new dimsum dish! This Steamball is a mechanical metallic sphere that can hold an untold amount of steam that can, among other things, power an entire city, enable flight, spray hot steam at enemies and warm your feet at night.
Suddenly two sinister characters appeared at Ray's home and tried to wrestle Steamball away from him, hurting his whole family and his home in the process. Ray ran off under heavy pursuit, and eventually ended up facing his father and grandfather on opposing camps, fighting over the Steamball to fufil each of their own destructive ideals. This predictably led to wanton destruction of the lovely city of London, as is the prevailing idea in Otomo-san's works. For him, cities always have to be destroyed in heart-breaking, gut-wrenching and eyeball-battering detail. And the artwork is completely breath-taking - the intricate details, beautiful backgrounds, dazzling destruction, painstakingly complex animations...no wonder this took 10 years!
Plot-wise, Steamboy touches on the evils - not of technology, which is simply a tool, but of men (Disclaimer: I use "men" as a classification of "mankind", not the gender as most women possess the same weakness), who are basically selfish bastards (bitches), evil and inept at handling power. And Ray is torn between the ideals of his patriach and grand-patriach - who deserves the Steamball? What should its power be used for? Hmm best to use it as a rocketpack to fly around with! And that's what Ray is doing in the film most of the time - escaping from both sides using the Steamball - hence the "Aviator" goggles on the film's artwork.
Overall a watchable rollicking ride with masterful animation, although it gets rather draggy near the end.
Second, my biases.
The intention of Steamboy, clearly, is not to be a grungy underground hit that will touch the hearts of cyberpunk fans, but goes all out to woo the audience who lap up Hollywood films. (Yes the day dreaded by anime fans has come true - anime studios are pandering to the appetites of the richer audiences who like more meaty visuals and sweaty action and less of that unfathomable reflective and subtle naunces so typical of Japanese anime.
And I love cyberpunk themes. Steamboy, although hinting at the "evils of technology" theme, delivered it in such a sweet and affable way that it doesn't hit you at all.
The setting is well drawn and artistic but...argh...no I don't like old London scenes, I don't like history but I adore futuristic sci-fi and fantasy. Give me big robots or strange monsters any day.
Yes I'm so predictable. Which leads us to...
Third, the winner is....
Well no prize guessing which one I prefer. Akira shocked the heck out of me and beat my eyeballs into submission with the violence and horror. Although I'm no masochist and I do get sickened by too much of that, Akira was simply nothing short of magnificent. Unfortunately, altough Steamboy's story is more well-developed, artwork more elaborate and animation more visually (and probably technically) superior, I prefer Akira despite its flaws (like weird music, incomprehensible story and er...senseless violence?) - because of its theme, its shock value, its many instances of making you yell "that's so ****ing cool!".
Thanks to Girlosopher and Kenzicool for the loan of Steamboy!
The comparison is inevitable, but in many ways, these two are as different as can be coming from Katsuhiro Otomo.
First up, an unbiased and objective review.
Steamboy is set in Victorian England, during the Industrial Revolution where machines and men learn to coexist. Ray, son of inventor of steam machines, Prof Eddy, and grandson of another great steam machine inventor, Prof Lloyd, is the protangonist of the story, who received a mysterious package from his grandfather one day containing the marvellous Steamball. No it's not a new dimsum dish! This Steamball is a mechanical metallic sphere that can hold an untold amount of steam that can, among other things, power an entire city, enable flight, spray hot steam at enemies and warm your feet at night.
Suddenly two sinister characters appeared at Ray's home and tried to wrestle Steamball away from him, hurting his whole family and his home in the process. Ray ran off under heavy pursuit, and eventually ended up facing his father and grandfather on opposing camps, fighting over the Steamball to fufil each of their own destructive ideals. This predictably led to wanton destruction of the lovely city of London, as is the prevailing idea in Otomo-san's works. For him, cities always have to be destroyed in heart-breaking, gut-wrenching and eyeball-battering detail. And the artwork is completely breath-taking - the intricate details, beautiful backgrounds, dazzling destruction, painstakingly complex animations...no wonder this took 10 years!
Plot-wise, Steamboy touches on the evils - not of technology, which is simply a tool, but of men (Disclaimer: I use "men" as a classification of "mankind", not the gender as most women possess the same weakness), who are basically selfish bastards (bitches), evil and inept at handling power. And Ray is torn between the ideals of his patriach and grand-patriach - who deserves the Steamball? What should its power be used for? Hmm best to use it as a rocketpack to fly around with! And that's what Ray is doing in the film most of the time - escaping from both sides using the Steamball - hence the "Aviator" goggles on the film's artwork.
Overall a watchable rollicking ride with masterful animation, although it gets rather draggy near the end.
Second, my biases.
The intention of Steamboy, clearly, is not to be a grungy underground hit that will touch the hearts of cyberpunk fans, but goes all out to woo the audience who lap up Hollywood films. (Yes the day dreaded by anime fans has come true - anime studios are pandering to the appetites of the richer audiences who like more meaty visuals and sweaty action and less of that unfathomable reflective and subtle naunces so typical of Japanese anime.
And I love cyberpunk themes. Steamboy, although hinting at the "evils of technology" theme, delivered it in such a sweet and affable way that it doesn't hit you at all.
The setting is well drawn and artistic but...argh...no I don't like old London scenes, I don't like history but I adore futuristic sci-fi and fantasy. Give me big robots or strange monsters any day.
Yes I'm so predictable. Which leads us to...
Third, the winner is....
Well no prize guessing which one I prefer. Akira shocked the heck out of me and beat my eyeballs into submission with the violence and horror. Although I'm no masochist and I do get sickened by too much of that, Akira was simply nothing short of magnificent. Unfortunately, altough Steamboy's story is more well-developed, artwork more elaborate and animation more visually (and probably technically) superior, I prefer Akira despite its flaws (like weird music, incomprehensible story and er...senseless violence?) - because of its theme, its shock value, its many instances of making you yell "that's so ****ing cool!".
Thanks to Girlosopher and Kenzicool for the loan of Steamboy!
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