Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
super_toad_fan
This is the perfect steampunk anime movie, for sure.
The visuals are great. The story is filled with exciting 2h of watch time.
It felt like I was in the Victorian era, everything, from the colors to the movement, was thoroughly thought out.
Also the characters were realistic and I cared a lot about the villans and the good characters too.
I would definitely rewatch this movie.
I liked the message about capitalism and the working class, as well as the themes of helping humanity, for better or worse.
I can also recommend this movie for kids around the age of 10, as well as for adults, it’s the perfect mix.
Read at the sourceambyG
This is such an eyegasm. peak animations of the era. Not to mention, the one behind Akira is the one making this. Steamboy is such a marvel of animation.
..and only in animation. In contrary, The writing didn't help to elevate the film.
The writing is mediocre. I really hate how repetitive the dialogue could get.
Heck, i wish i could edit the film so Scarlet doesn't appear in the film. If i cut her out, the film would stay the same. Every time she appears in the film (expect when with Ray), she's like a fly who suddenly appears in front of us.
I guess this movie was going to be an OVA series, they decided to expand it into the film.
I think it didn't help it spread the plot thin, making it simple (or even cut things, as seen in the epilogue in the credits. a sequel we never get :( )
All…
Read at the sourcefh1478
My Family Is Full Of Steam
Steamboy Is the movie with a lot of energy, just like a steam engine, but it gets lost in its themes and animated spectacle.
The anime is absolutely master fully animated. has some amazing backgrounds and steampunk technical design. character design is also distinct and really wall animated, with some weight behind every motion.
Where it suffers ultimately is in its pacing. It's action segments Just go on for way too long, so it becomes tiring instead of energidrik. It feels like a way too big story, slim down to 2 hours, and it is jarring.
That's what a noise me about the movie. It has such a great potential behind it, but it's just lost in the steam.
But it's such a unique mess with such great themes behind, it so I will recommend it.
Read at the sourcesir_biggy
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,this was what I felt throughout the show I don't want to even waste words on this show to be honest so I'm just gonna jump right in
Animation is alright... FAK, the animation is great, the details, the background the intricate movement of the machines, the colours, WOW,just woww, it reminded me of studio ghibli's work. Animation's a ten
The characters, the FACKING CHARACTERS though, why in God's green earth would you write characters so.... ugh that's the only way I can describe this piece of DOGSHI-.... hahhhh i need to breathe, how can you be considered a genius and be contradicting your so called "genius" by making the most brain dead decisions ever. None of these characters are even memorable in the slightest, never have I ever wanted to drop-kick a child as b…
Read at the sourceBensonas
Steamboy was a frustrating watch to be honest. This has been on my list for such a long time with me waiting for the right moment to watch it. Well, I finally watched it and as above, it was frustrating. Here is why
Starting with the animation. I can't say a bad word here. It was, to be honest, flawless. It's a beautifully animated steampunk world. This might be the finished example of steampunk in animation I have ever seen. The animation inside of the steam castle, at times, blows you away. At best it's either making you watch in awe or at worst making you watching still in awe just to a lesser extent. It's excellent. It's a 10/10
Music I thought was practically non existent. I'm likely completely incorrect but I just came aware remembering nothing of the music. I'm aware this film had…
Read at the sourcea_last_flower
ART:
I felt like I was seeing a Disney animation, 100 Dalmatians.
The details behind every gear must have made the animators spend a lot of time.
The scenes inside the moving tower, with those elaborate doorways, full of gears, deserve a 10.
I liked the camera following the characters like a dolly rather than the usual right-left transitions
SCRIPT:
1866 quarrel between father and son, two scientists with different ideas. On the one hand, science seen as progress for the well-being of humanity, on the other, science used as the destruction of the enemy for a utopian equality of the human species. Who will be able to put an end to this quarrel?... The nephew. The future of the world in the hands of young people is what I have always believed in, and still believe in. Those who watch a…
Read at the sourceAlc-Mai_Sunny
Animation is consistently good/amazing, has some fascinating ideas and approaches the morals over technology, though maybe it could use more. The movie is mostly action and the characters are mostly meh, not having much to them-rather being there as puppets to play/make the story happen. This is all steampunk style so if you like steampunk and engineering, id say this is a pretty good fantasy-like story. Its exciting, full of action, and fun to watch. I do like the steampunk style, although it is not my favorite I still enjoyed watching this movie, but I dont think Ill rewatch it.
I would mostly recommend this to anyone who has interest in steampunk engineering fantasy worlds. The animation does not disappoint, and the overall execution feels alright-mostly glancing over at exciting, actio…
Read at the sourceBorde77
The good first. The cgi and animation hold up almost 20 years later. It really is a beautifully shot and designed movie. The compositing basically seamless and the effects animation is gorgeous and had me gasping as you can feel the weight of giant machines fly and fall apart. This all pains me to rate this movie so low given the technical prowess.
The Bad. Everything else. The story, the plot is mid, the pacing is slow. There are no redeeming characters, they are all frustratingly incompetent and either terrible humans or too stupid to still be alive. There are several scenes where our hero is cornered and the villains take 20 secs to walk 10ft to snatch them, giving the hero enough time to come up with a way out. Motivations are confusing and the message is clunky.
SPOILERS?
Nobod…
Read at the sourcethiccvader
The most British anime with an alternative Victorian-era war setting and surprisingly, it's by far the best steampunk-related “animation” I've ever watched. Well, kind of.
At first, Steamboy seems promising with its philosophy of science versus science as the nation's military forefront plot, whereby scientific achievement is acknowledged as a scale to maximizes power. Those two very distinctive beliefs are stimulated by Dr. Eddie and Dr. Lloyd which also happened to be the main character Ray's dad and grandpa. Dr. Eddie believes that science as mankind's modern God should have been used for military purposes while at the same time, Dr. Lloyd believes that science should be used for the greater good and not for the greedy shareholders in the capitalist world.
But as time progresses, the…
Read at the sourceKishinEgg2
The premise of this movie is that steam is a ridiculously powerful source of energy (which it kind of is when you think about it) and that in Manchester, England a boy named James Ray Steam ends up receiving a metal ball filled with powerfully concentrated steam from his grandfather, Lloyd Steam. He can’t let it fall into the wrong hands or its immense power could be used to take over the world (or something of that sort). This movie features top-notch animation, great voice-acting (especially in the English version, surprisingly with the likes of Patrick Stewart), and a story that is easily comprehended by Western audiences. While Otomo does have surreal works that even rival some of Satoshi Kon’s, this is most certainly not one of them. Costing a whopping $22 million and ten years to mak…
Read at the sourceVR_Densha_Otaku
I grew around steam and I loved it,
the art has to be some of my most favorite steampunk-esque work done to date, it feels grounded and yet I know it's not real.
Loved the Alterative history about it, and I'm a big fan of "what if's?" and so forth
I also like the fact that it looks and feels like victorian england, the arcitecture of the streets and stations feel like the UK hecc the trains look and sound like they were there (I could name some of the engines that looked like desgins lifted off the Midland railway) which I applaud,
Ok yeah some of the English voice dubs are grating but I can deal with them..
Read at the sourcevattgholu
Fantastic art, beautifully rendered animations that feel very fluid. For a movie titled "Steamboy" I strongly expected steam punk aesthetics throughout the movie and was met higher than my expectations. Character designs and artwork regarding its historical setting was contextually very accurate, and made for a very swift immersion for audiences into the world and beginning of the plot. Easily the strongest aspect of enjoy-ability from this movie.
The several chase and action scenes of the movie involving lots and lots of Steam powered machinery was very fun.
Most flaws lie in the writing of this movie, and it is rare for me to rate a movie above a 5 with lacking writing as it is arguably the heart of any movie.
Firstly, the introduction, usage, and portrayal of the MacGuffin of the mo…
Read at the sourceminachan24
Well, here's the good thing I can say about Steamboy: it's gorgeously animated and has great character designs. It's stuff like this that makes me feel that anime is the true successor to classic Disney animation, not this 3D animation garbage that's so popular now.
Okay, the bad news: the story starts off well and explores a very interesting theme of how inventions in the wrong hands can be used for evil, especially by the military. Everything goes swimmingly halfway into the movie, and then things get very confusing and hectic by the time we get to the Crystal Palace. Things go from bad to worse in the last act--it just goes on and on and on and on and on and on...and just when you think it's over, goes on and on and on some more until your eyes glaze over or you start looking at your w…
Read at the sourceTyrannicswine117
Warning possible Spoilers
Steamboy is one of the very few anime's that is set in my home country, the UK, during the Victorian era and for a movie, which concentrates on steam and the power of invention it was definitely an entertaining 2 hours.
Story (10/10)
The story concentrates mainly on James Ray Steam or just Ray, his father and grandfather have found something called a Steamball, a device that can provide any steam powered machine with unlimited power, but keeping his grandfathers warnings to mind, Ray tries his best to keep the steamball away from any evil doers who wish to exploit it's power.
For a movie/film about steam, I was really surprised how action packed this was, true there are some points where it cools down like when Ray gets captured and is being introduced to the S…
Read at the sourceSidewinder51
Rate a 6
English Dubbed
There are 5 types of thinkers:Concrete, Analytical, Logical, Imaginative, Creative. I happen to be more analytical. This movie is for those that are creative and Imaginative. The movie progresses in a path taking adventure. Each path has its pros and cons. While the main character has his path already marked the anime forces the viewer to reflect themselves to see where they stand. In my view both sides were the same with slightly different agendas, making the siding choice hard. I am an adult i can only imagine it would be harder to make as a child(the main character). If that wasn't hard enough a loved one was on both sides.
Would i change anything if given the chance? No. Sure, this movie wasn't always riveting in excitement it did a good job at illustrating t…
Read at the sourceBowlingJD
The famous Katsuhiro Otomo, creator of Akira, with the help of Studio Sunrise, brings another creation of his to film. Steamboy came in the form of a steampunk adventure within an alternate timeline around 1860. In many ways, it shares similarities to Akira mixed within a Victorian-Era compared with something directly out of an H.G. Wells book. It certainly has countless original ideas and a compelling story to go along with it.
Immediately, the story opens around a young man named Ray receiving a package from his grandfather. Then, villainous men show up to get this package and thus begins the adventure of constant running away. This package contains a “steam ball” which can perfectly store steam power under immense pressures. In this time, steam has become something like nuclear technol…
Read at the sourceGarlandReese
I love steam punk stuff. I love Victorian England. So, when a legend like Katsuhiro Otomo, creator of "Akira", does a film based on that subject in that setting- you get "Steamboy". Yet, with all that going for it, it does good but falls short of greatness.
The storyline is generic. You get a boy genius, family conflict (involving 3 generations), actual conflict with steam punk technology, and off we go on our journey where it's up to our boy genius to save the day! It serves the film fine, but it's nothing I haven't seen before. Good not great. The art is wonderful and it puts you right in the middle of 1890s England with the coal smoke, the buildings, the trains, and then kicks it up a notch with some of that neat weird science that goes along with the steam punk genre. But, nothing I s…
Read at the sourceLady_Death_Cat
Let me sum this anime 4 you very easily: It's steampunk based. Those who cannot conceive this genre will most likely be displeased with this anime, those who have no idea what steampunk is will have varying views & opinions, however to those who know & in a way like steampunk then this anime is definitely 4 you.
The only down-side to this anime I see is that it is very generic steampunk but I also see this as its bet asset to those who are interested in understanding this genre.
Read at the sourcejyagan0
I found this to be a great little morality play that constantly challenges its audience from different points of view. It challenges us to define a purpose for science; do more violent machines mean more war? Does the ability to innovate come without responsibility? Should the weapon makers be held accountable for their massive “collateral damage” or are they accountable only to their corporate shareholders? This little steam-punk anime is set in the mid-1800s. Funny. I just returned from seeing Iron Man. It’s set in the 21st Century yet it asks the same questions... I liked “Steamboy” even though it made the father and grandfather out to be raving lunatics. Still, it leaves open a discussion of child as father to the man. I saw the subtitled version but I’ve ordered the dubbed version for…
Read at the sourcebedheadred
Steamboy is one of the most expensive Japanese animated movies made to date and was in production for nearly ten years. Sadly, they should have put more effort into perfecting the script for this ambitious anime.
The attention to detail sets this anime apart from all others. Each cog and gear are intricately animated in the many inventions in the movie. The architecture of Victorian London is duplicated perfectly. The CGI used was so seamless, I didn't notice. The sound track is grand and befitting of the time period.
The anime has no clear message and is clouded by characters whose purpose is ambiguous. The protagonist is faced with a situation where he must side with either the word of his father or grandfather. No evidence is presented to the viewer as to which character is more cre…
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