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Katsuhiro Otomo's Steamboy in Theaters

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the if-you-haven't-seen-akira-you-suck dept.

echocharlie writes "Steamboy is rolling into US theaters on March 18. The movie features the notable return of Katsuhiro Otomo, who hasn't directed an animated film since Akira, so big things can be expected. The film opened in Japan earlier to mostly rave reviews. The english cast features Anna Paquin, Alfred Molina, and Patrick Stewart. That's interesting casting since all three have had prominent roles in comic book movie adapatations (X-men, Spider-Man 2, and X-men respectively), not to mention Mr. Stewart's famous sci-fi ties. Anime films without Pokémon in their titles haven't fared well at the US Box office (see Appleseed, Tokyo Godfathers, Ghost in the Shell 2, et al.). Hopefully with an adequate number of theaters carrying the film, Katsuhiro Otomo's latest opus will gain the exposure it deserves."

39 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. Huh? by Telastyn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    And what about Spirited Away, or any of Gibli's other US releases? They've done fantastically well from what I understand.

    1. Re:Huh? by mr+i+want+to+go+home · · Score: 2, Informative
      Here in Australia we're lucky to have Madman releasing all kinds of good stuff - including Steamboy and all Studio Gibli's films. They used to be a DVD only outfit, but since last year have been distributing films too.

      Upshot is, I went to see Steamboy late last year. It is visually spectacular, although I thought the plot was really disappointing. It's basically another "evil-creature/machine-stomps all over Tokyo", except it's not Tokyo it's 19thC London. Seemed a real shame that they went to so much trouble with the animation, and had a really nice premise, but let it all down with a poor story.

      Well that or I've got a bit older and pickier now ;) Go see it anyway.

    2. Re:Huh? by mblase · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "Spirited Away" did well on DVD, partly because it won the Oscar for Best Animated as well as about a dozen other major and minor awards.

      But it was never a bit hit in theatres, which is what really matters as far as counting profits is concerned. Most anime, as the submitter pointed out, isn't. I don't think we're a culture of "cartoons are for kids" any longer ("Shark Tale" was probably the first American animated hit targetted at older kids and teenagers).

      But anime has two things working against it in this country. First, most theatrical releases are subtitled, not dubbed, and most Americans dislike watching films in other languages when we have so many English-language films to choose from instead. (Foreign language films in general do poorly at the box office here.) And second, they're just not widely promoted -- partly because the distributors know about the no-dub-no-sales factor.

  2. Any ideas where this is playing? by nb+caffeine · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Id like to see this, but fandango doesnt even have it listed as a movie. Any idea where i could find information on where this might be playing? not that it will ever come within 100 miles of where i live, being in the middle of nowhere.

    --

    "Something's wrong with you...and I hope we never do meet again." - Deftones When Girls Telephone Boys
    1. Re:Any ideas where this is playing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      At an nntp server near you.

  3. TETSUO!! KANEDA!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...STEAMBOY!!

  4. We're carrying it by KingOfTheNerds · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I work at an AMC theater here in Pennsylvania, and I know that our theater is going to be carrying steamboy. I have a feeling that no matter how good the movie is it will be hard to convince people to come see and appreciate anime.

    --
    Want to learn about anything sexual? Check out the sex wiki:
  5. Midnight Eye has a review by abucior · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here. The quick summary: Beautiful. Too bad they didn't spend more time on the script.

  6. As usual Europe has to wait!! by Tetsugaku-San · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Anyone know a UK / Europe release date? The site has japanese, American and French . . .

    --

    My Portfolio
  7. Re:I can already see it by icebrrrg · · Score: 3, Informative

    why would he get steamed? gillian anderson, clair danes and the rest of the cast who worked on princess mononoke didn't get steamed about its performance in the US box offices. they took the roles because they either believed in the material, loved the script, liked the medium, respected the director, or some combination thereof.

    check out this interview with her, about her participation in mononoke.

    "I've always been a fan of animation, period. It's always been a big part of my life."

    --
    nothing worth possessing isn't possessed. or something.
  8. Why? by Jukashi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why does everything "good" have to be liked by MILLIONS of people? Isnt that the mindset that creates steaming piles like "Be Cool" - make the most bland-least-offensive-lowest-common-denominator-dr ivel possible to maximize profits? F that.

    1. Re:Why? by Fyz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Maybe, but popular stuff tends to get more cold hard cash to produce, and even though that isn't enough by itself to produce high quality material, it certainly helps.
      Personally, I can't stand the run-of-the-mill anime with their 'flying' backgrounds and fixed character-only-moves-his-mouth stuff. They did that to save money on the budget. GITS 2 was an incredible achievement in animation that wouldn't have been possible without some major dough.

      And finally, it is hardly a fools quest to try to promote some quality entertainment into the brainless mainstream. Let's try and raise the bar.

    2. Re:Why? by fm6 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Studio Ghibli movies cost a lot to make. If a lot of people don't go to see them, distributors and investors will lose interest, and there won't be any more.

      Entertaining a mass market is always a tradeoff. On the one extreme you have whorish content-free Hollywood crap that aims to please hundreds of millions of mindless drones. At the other extreme you have navel-gazing art films that aim to please only themselves. There's nothing wrong with trying to find a place in the middle.

  9. Saw it on an ANA flight... by EvilMagnus · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...last November.

    Short version: starts strong, fades towards the end.

    It's very pretty. It has some wonderful set-pieces and amusing character ideas (Stephenson-sama, for example. And Scarlett.) but boy does the Grand Finale go on for far too long.

    It's not *quite* "TETSUO!" "KANEDA!", but it's close. Ah, well. At least the steamball doesn't turn out to be a Dragonball with Supa-Seijin powers.

    --
    -EvilMagnus
  10. Patrick Stewart by cOdEgUru · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Ummm... Reason they went for Patrick Stewart for one of the voice overs could also do with the fact that he voiced "Lord Yupa" in the newly released dubbed version of "Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind" . Man did quite a good job there as well.

    I hope Steamboy turns out to be as good as Akira. The initial reviews are not that encouraging however due to the movie's lack of emotional depth. But the visuals are supposedly breathtaking and I will pay for that.

    --
    Rapid Nirvana
  11. Will the DVD be in Japanese? by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I sure hope the DVD will be available in japanese with english subtitles.

    I'm not a big anime nut, but I just get an awkward feeling when I watch anime in english.

    --
    If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
    1. Re:Will the DVD be in Japanese? by westlake · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Too bad Americans are too fucking stupid to read subtitles

      Too much can be lost in a subtitle.

      This is particularly true in readings by a classically trained actor like Stewart, who can breathe life and meaning into words which would otherwise lie dead on the page.

  12. Box office scores... by zalas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Anime films without Pokémon in their titles haven't fared well at the US Box office

    It looks more like the problem is getting theaters to take the risk of showing it. If more theaters adopted these movies, they might fare better, and the difference wouldn't be as large. For example, if you divide the grossing number by the number of theaters that it was shown in, the difference isn't that significant anymore. Maybe it's just a chicken and the egg thing...

    1. Re:Box office scores... by UWC · · Score: 3, Informative
      I was surprised that Nashville's only real arthouse type theater had GitS2 on its US opening week, on the larger of the two screens at said theater. The same theater also had Tokyo Godfathers, but that was significantly after the US premiere. I'm hoping the Otomo name will be enough to get Steamboy at least to that theater, maybe a bigger one or two, and hopefully soon. The Cowboy Bebop movie was at a particular Regal Cinemas theater that tends to get the slightly better known little-known movies for a week, but that was only like the week before it came out on DVD.

      All that said, the only anime I've seen playing on more than one screen in middle Tennessee was Spirited Away, and that was after all the Oscar rumblings; it was only at that Regal theater previously. Spirited Away is also the only one I've seen play for more than one week around here.

      Oh, hey, that arthouse theater will be showing Appleseed for a week starting Friday! Whee! And Sky Blue for a couple of days in April... though Sky Blue is Korean. No mention of Steamboy on their site (http://www.belcourt.org/). I guess I can hope that's because it will be at the Regal...

      --
      Honor Among Slackers. A veri
  13. Box Office Performance by PhiznTRG · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The problem is not necessarily public acceptance but studio marketing. Looking at the linked box office data it is pretty obvious that movies released to very few theatres (e.g. "Cowboy Bebop") don't do as well as movies heavily marketed and released to thousands of theatres. (On "Tokyo Godfathers" - that isn't the type of movie that the general public would like anyway - crossdressing old men in cartoons are not kid-friendly...)

    "Spirited Away", which did pretty well despite all the effort by Disney to not market the movie, shows that anime can be successful when done right. The fact that it took an Oscar to get the public to notice the movie is sad, when Buena Vista could have had a real hit on it's hands. There are more and more Miyazaki movies on DVD in places like Target now but the marketing is still minimal (though I have seen commercials for Naussica).

    There is a disconnect between what the Adult Swim alpha geek will consider good anime and what will do well in theatres (see Pokemon). The influx of Japanese manga and anime is growing, though, I suspect that we will see more movies released in theatres once the studious catch on to the growing trend. Kids that under five now will not think that Anime is strange or foreign, which will directly impact public acceptance of anime as a legitimate movie choice.

    1. Re:Box Office Performance by hashbrownie · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Looking at the linked box office data it is pretty obvious that movies released to very few theatres (e.g. "Cowboy Bebop") don't do as well as movies heavily marketed and released to thousands of theatres.

      The same could be said for most products. For instance, cookies sold in very few stores don't do as well as cookies sold in many stores.

      Trust me, there isn't a conspiracy here. If Buena Vista thought that investing $10 million more in marketing would have assured $20 million more in box office receipts, they would have done it.

      "Spirited Away", which did pretty well despite all the effort by Disney to not market the movie, shows that anime can be successful when done right. The fact that it took an Oscar to get the public to notice the movie is sad ...

      Sorry to burst your bubble, but the Academy Awards aren't a pure meritocracy. Studios spend lots of money on "For Your Consideration" ads touting their pics for Oscars. Did you ever consider that Buena Vista spent its marketing budget on winning an Oscar for Spirited Away instead of on highway billboards? It's a formula that's worked for indie pics in the past, and it worked in this case as well.

      I know it's frustrating that anime is slow to catch on here, but there is no conspiracy. Michael Eisner would sell his grandmother to add 1% to Disney's profits.

      --
      Fax Baba!
    2. Re:Box Office Performance by PhiznTRG · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I agree, partly, but there really is more behind it then Disney (or BV) didn't think the movie would do well enough to warrant marketing it more. Part of the problem is an aversion to non-Disney material and another is past experience (Princess Mononoke - a more adult film and something Disney doesn't have experience with) not being good for Disney.

      The Oscar was based mainly on the merit of the film, and fame of Miyazaki, and not any real push by Disney. Part of the reason that Disney relented to release the film in the US was that it won 1st place at the Berlin Film Festival in early 2002.

      Disney did not have merchandise rights for Studio Ghibli films - just distribution rights. If you were a Disney exec and had to decide whether to push "Spirited Away" or try to get people to buy more "Lilo & Stich" toys, which would you do? This isn't a a conspiracy per se, but it does help support that a lack of marketing hurt the film's commercial success and that it was Disney's choice.

  14. It's going to have a tough time, because... by NitroWolf · · Score: 4, Interesting
    It's going to have a tough time with a name like "Steamboy."

    Akira is cryptic enough that American audiences wouldn't have a problem with it. But "Steamboy" is going to be a major problem with US audiences. The title, frankly, sounds pretty fruity. Couple that with the fact that most people will initially dismiss it as a "cartoon," and you've got a recipe for failure.

    The whole concept of naming things in Asian culture versus American culture is really at odds, and things that sound ok or even good in Asian languages sound absolutely hideous, sexual/pornographic (LG/Lucky Gold anyone?), or just plain silly.

    Porco Rosso sounds like a kids show.

    Princess Mononoke is average, nothing particularly detracting about it, but nothing to make you think either.

    My neighbor Totoro / Totoro next door sound like a black and white haughty French film that's only been seen by 7 people in the world outside of Cannes.

    Naussica of the Valley of the Winds - really long title that doesn't flow exactly right (too many "of"'s in there).

    Ghost in the Shell - this one had potential if marketed right, but it sounds like a horror movie, and just plain wasn't promoted properly.

    Perfect Blue - Sounds like the name of a good pr0n movie.

    Wings of Honneamise - This sounds like flying Hollendaise sauce. Really sounds food related. The life story of Julia Childs or something, perhaps!

    I know I'm missing some, those are the ones I've seen/can think of off the top of my head, and in just about every case, the name just doesn't seem to be something the average American is going to want to see. Steamboy is not going to be an exception. No matter how good the movie is, the name is going to be a HUGE turn off to people.

    The studios need to have a message board where people can submit English names for these shows that are appealing to the target audience... and that audience votes on the best name. This would save a lot of marketing dollars, and also, I think, provide the title with the best possible name for the money as it were.

    Eh...

    Just my 2c worth

    1. Re:It's going to have a tough time, because... by angedinoir · · Score: 2

      Clearly you're the authority when it comes to determining pornographic names for movies. Good Job, keep it up.

    2. Re:It's going to have a tough time, because... by seffala · · Score: 2, Informative

      The canonical example, of course, is Nissan trying to name the Z series "Fairlady" after the play. Someone in the states had the wit to pry off the Fairlady marques and re-label it after the internal part number: 240Z.

    3. Re:It's going to have a tough time, because... by ajs · · Score: 2, Insightful

      [Examples of movies that translate poorly to English, as a reason that they'll "have a hard time" in the US]

      Porco Rosso [...] Princess Mononoke [...] My neighbor Totoro / Totoro [...] Naussica of the Valley of the Winds [...] Ghost in the Shell [...] Perfect Blue [...] Wings of Honneamise

      Ok, so let's look at the movies that we Americans DO like for examples of those excellent title ideas, shall we?

      Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- Top grossing movie in the US, 2001. WAY too long, name sounds like someone who should be living on the street. Harkens back to all those bad 70s movies that tried to bring european legends to the big screen. Yuck!

      The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring -- Second highest grossing movie of 2001 in the US. Again, WAY too long. Sounds religious. "Fellowship of the Ring" sounds like it should be the title of a gay porn movie.

      Shrek -- Third highest grossing movie in the US of 2001. I make noises like this when I sneeze. WHAT THE UNDEAD MOTHER OF STARBURST FRUIT-CHEWS WERE THEY THINKING?!

      Monsters, Inc. -- Fourth highest grossing movie in the US of 2001. Here we combine the child-unsafe hint ("Monsters", thus excluding many of your target audience by parent decree) with the mundane horror of American corporate life ("Inc."). Clearly either a) someone was on crack or b) this was translated from the Hindi.

      Rush Hour 2 -- Fifth highest grossing movie in the US of 2001. This is a sequel, so you can't account for naming, but still... a movie about the worst part of everyone's day?! And they TOLD YOU THAT in the title?! Again. Gotta be the crack.

      Go ahead. Pick a year. You can do this with ANY set of movies.

      Japanese movies will continue to do well in the US, with the only barrier being how well they are promoted (of course, the bad Japanese movies won't do any better in the US than they do in Japan... for the most part).

    4. Re:It's going to have a tough time, because... by NitroWolf · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Hey, I'm not disagreeing with you at ALL that there are tons of stupid name for purely American movies. I agree with you 100%.

      That doesn't negate the fact that if Japan wants the movies to be accepted in America, they are going to have to come up with better names, even surpassing the names Americans come up with for our own crap.

  15. English Dubs by Xetrov · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'll tell you why noone wants to watch English dubbed anime -- because it is crap.

    Surely I'm not the only person who has noticed how dull and lifeless the voice actors usually are in English dubs. It seems they try to time their words to fit the mouth movements of the characters, making the speech sound very unnatural. They also have no emotion.
    It could be that the English actors dont care, maybe it is "just a cartoon" to them.

    I watch a lot of anime. Always in Japanese with English subs. Which brings me to the next point - why do foreign movies have to be dubbed? Few things annoy me more than people who will not watch a movie simply because they "have to read" it.

    1. Re:English Dubs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      See Cowboy Bebop, where an English VA beats Megumi all over.

      See Fruits Basket, an anime so perfectly cast I have YET to meet a fan of the show that thought badly of ANY many char english VA.

      See Tenchi, another legendary cast...many of whom are old school Disney VA's.

      There exhist many good VA's some of them are better than others, some of them are REALLY tallented...some of the SUCK ASS and were HORRIBLE mistakes.

      But truthfully alot of what people prefer have nothing to do with quaility and EVERYTHING to do with preconcieved notions based on which ever language they saw first of a show they like.

      BTW the anime club at our university REGULARLY votes to watch dub over sub...we usually show choice clips from the main chars on both. This semester when 3/1 three dubs voted, one sub voted.

    2. Re:English Dubs by natrius · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Few things annoy me more than people who will not watch a movie simply because they "have to read" it.

      People watch movies to be entertained. If they don't want to read subtitles, that's their deal. It's their free time.

      Few things annoy me more than self-righteous people.

    3. Re:English Dubs by Saxerman · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I'll tell you why noone wants to watch English dubbed anime -- because it is crap.

      I used to be you. I used to dismiss all dubs as total crap merely because all the dubs I had heard were, in fact, total crap. And, for the most part, they are still total crap, but that doesn't mean it's all bad. As Anime slowly moves closer to main stream there are a number of vendors pushing for better quality dubs. I now find it disingenuous to dismiss them all as crap, even if the vast majority of them are.

      why do foreign movies have to be dubbed?

      We hear words much faster than we can read them. I also watch all my Anime subbed and on some of the dialogue heavy titles, you get content overload. I'm specifically thinking of the Ghost in the Shell series Stand Alone Complex, but there are certainly others.

      The more mental cycles you spend reading, the less you can devout to admiring the artwork and noticing subtle movements. Most people don't have onboard subtitle processors, and don't see the need for one. And with the wealth of content available in their native language many fail to see any reason to learn new tricks.

      --

      A steaming cup of soykaf would be real wiz right now.

    4. Re:English Dubs by echocharlie · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I'll tell you why noone wants to watch English dubbed anime -- because it is crap.

      I'll agree that there's a lot of crap out there, but there is also stuff that is dubbed well too. You do a disservice to the hard-working actors and directors that take pride in the job they do. As the companies gain experience, the dubbing jobs have been progressively getting better. It's amazing the difference a few years makes.

      Compare the first dubbed episode of Ranma to the latest episodes of Inuyasha and you'll see what I mean. Both series are dubbed by the same company (Viz) by the same voice director using the same dubbing studio (Ocean Studios). The difference is dramatic. The voice talent pool has been growing as well.

      Surely I'm not the only person who has noticed how dull and lifeless the voice actors usually are in English dubs.

      Yes, they sound duller than their Japanese counterparts, but that's a cultural thing. If the English voices were instructed to use the same timber and intonations as the Japanese actors, they'd be accused of extreme over-acting. What is normally accepted in Japanese language and conversation doesn't translate well into English.

      It seems they try to time their words to fit the mouth movements of the characters, making the speech sound very unnatural.

      That's what the whole dubbing (ADR: Active Dialogue Replacement) process is about. If only we didn't care as much about matching lip flap. The Japanese lip flaps often don't match up as well as the audio on the English dubs! I suspect we are too concerned with the finished product ending up looking like a low-budget kung-fu movie.

      I watch a lot of anime. Always in Japanese with English subs. Which brings me to the next point - why do foreign movies have to be dubbed? Few things annoy me more than people who will not watch a movie simply because they "have to read" it.

      Foreign movies have to be dubbed because the market conditions dictate it. There are statistics that show that dubbed version of movies will outsell subbed versions. And it's not even close, most of the time. Luckily, for us diehard fans DVD's give us the best of both worlds.

      --
      AnimeNEXT anime convention
  16. The real question to me is.... by Kunta+Kinte · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Why do they do so well in Japan??

    Am I the only one around here that believes a lot of those 'great' anime films are terribely shallow? Is there 'intelligent' anime out there?

    Miyasaki's movies are great, I've seen just about every one released in the US. But besides one or two over movies and series ( eg. Metropolis, Cowboy Bebop ), Anime movies quite often suffer from...

    Flat Characters - Eg. Isolated loner teenager

    Standard Plots - Eg. Isolated loner teenager becomes empowered.

    Bad Art - Eg. Static screens that hold for seconds as dialog proceeds.

    Bad titilation - Eg. Half naked girls that look 15 but have supermodel bodies.

    Etc, Etc.

    I continue to search through those movies, hoping to find gems ( I watch a lot of film ). But not holding my breath.

    --
    Based on upvotes, Ageism is the only "-ism" Slashdotters care about and think isn't SJW
  17. Re:stop bringing over garbage by potatoBBQ · · Score: 2, Informative

    You make it sound like Japanese companies control what anime we see here... Japanese companies aren't responsible for "shipping over" anime. U.S. companies like Columbia TriStar, Disney, etc. pick up the rights to distribute whatever anime they feel like showing here.

  18. The Distribution Problem by CodeBuster · · Score: 2, Informative

    The problem in the United States is distribution and promotion. The bad anime, Pokemon and the like, is promoted like crazy as part of a general marketing fad with tons of cheesy merchandising tie-ins, while truly artistic and meritorious achievements such as Ghost in the Shell (Kôkaku kidôtai), Princesss Mononoke (Mononoke-hime), Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi), and Howl's Moving Castle (Hauru no ugoku shiro) get short changed big time on promotion and distribution. There is a large audience in the United States for quality anime, but the problem is that the audience is not concentrated in any one geographic area except in very large cities and metropolitan areas. Thus, these films generally only open in very large cities (1 million+ population) on a very limited number of screens, usually in smaller or special interest theatres, and with very limited promotion and marketing.

  19. Wonderful but flawed ending by Goonie · · Score: 2, Interesting
    For once, us Aussies saw this film well before you, last year. It was shown subtitled in arthouse theatres in the major cities. If the dubbing is done well, I actually think an English dub would be appropriate considering the film is set in Victorian England and it's a little strange having Englishmen chat away in japanese.

    The movie's plot is geek heaven, being based around the age of steam and the engineers who made it happen. A key part of the film is set in the Crystal Palace for the opening of the Great Exhibition, and it's all beautifully drawn. As others have pointed out, the climactic ending sequence is spectacular, but far too drawn out. But, regardless, this movie is a blast.

    --

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
    --Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
  20. Was at the US premiere... by May+Kasahara · · Score: 2, Interesting
    ...this past Saturday at the Directors' Guild theater in NYC. Mr. Otomo was supposed to be there for a Q&A after the show, but he fell ill; the film's animation director (Shinji Takagi) and producer (Shinji Komori) took his place.

    Overall, though it was not the best thing I'd ever seen, it was quite good. Although certain stylistic touches reminiscent of Akira are present, the overall tone of the work reminded me far more of the Otomo-directed segments in Robot Carnival and Memories-- a very good thing, believe me. The story is okay, yet (pleasantly) surprisingly Miyazaki-esque (I was reminded in particular of Laputa and Kiki's Delivery Service), and some scenes, especially toward the end, are outright spectacular in their composition and sense of imagination. The use of CG in the film also brought Miyazaki to mind, as the techniques used are much the same as those employed in Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.

    The print was crisp and the dubbing was on par with Disney's work on the Ghibli films. Sony Pictures did a great job in preparing this for American audiences, IMHO-- at least as good as their work with The Triplets of Belleville.

    My only gripes about the film concern the sound mix (way too loud in certain scenes-- as in, action movie loud-- for my tastes) and some of the editing decisions (there were a few jarring cuts, and more that a few that felt way too short. Long, lingering cuts are a strong point of Otomo's; as it seems, the opposite can hold true for his short cuts).

    Aside from those gripes, I enjoyed it, and one can definately see the ten years' worth of work (six spent in animation!) on the screen.

    P.S.- One of the questions asked after the screening were about whether or not there would be a sequel or a spinoff TV series; Mr. Komori and Mr. Takagi would neither confirm nor deny it, only saying that there's been some discussion about it. Hmm...

    1. Re:Was at the US premiere... by dethblud · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I was at the premier as well, and I think they really should have screened the questions before letting people ask them. Questions like "did you want to make a cartoon or did you want to make art?" were far from the best uses of Takagi and Komori's time. Overall, I think I liked Steamboy better than I did Akira and will see it again after the 18th. I think the review that was linked to in another comment above was way off.

  21. Translation of Japanese link by mozu · · Score: 2, Informative

    If any of you are wondering what the Japanese site is talking about, here is a crude transation.


    It has been 16 years since "AKIRA", the latest theatrical anime by the world renowed creator Otomo Katsuhiro has finally arrived! Took 9 years in making and a budget of 2.4 billion Yen (23 billion US dollars). Epic story "Steam Boy" is a hard-core blood-boiling fantasy-science-adventure-action-drama the world has been waiting for.

    The stage is 19th century England. The time when steam engine began to dominate the industry. Now a freak discovery which brings together the advance of science and the ambitions of mankind is about to be born.

    One day a boy born in a family of inventors called Ray is given a mysterious metallic sphere by his grandfather. At that instant Ray would become embroiled in a horrifying intrigue and adventure. This metallic sphere is the freak discovery called steamball. It is full of energy that has never been seen before. Is this great dicovery a miracle that would bring happiness or is this the work of the devil? Relentless pursuits by a vast organisation wanting to possess the steamball. The conflicts between Ray's father Eddie and Lloyd the grandfather flare up over their differences of beliefs on ideals of science. Then there is Scarlett, the daughter of an extreamly wealthy family, who appears before Ray. Various characters interwine and take the story to a climax never before seen.

    This work gives a feeling as if entering a world of paintings, aiming to be an appealing nostalgic adventure film. Written with overwhelming amout of craftsmanship using 18000 cells, drawn elaborately with both digital and hand illustrations. The constant pursuit and evasion. Steam mecha that appear in air, sea and land. The many exciting adventures. It is an ultimate film that has everything of animator, manga writer, and film director Otomo Katsuhiro. This is "Steamboy". Cutting edge but at the same time nostalgic and full of surprises is the new Otomo world. Coming to you soon.