Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
sir_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 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 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 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…
Read at the sourceDivergence_1_EVO
At first I expected this movie to be pretty lame, but when I saw it was made by Katsuhiro Otomo, my mind completely changed and I knew I was in for a real treat.
At first this movie seems very un-anime like, as this anime is set in my own country, the United Kingdom, but in the Victorian era. The cities of Manchester and London are portrayed quite well in this movie and some of the artwork is just gorgeous; however; where Steamboy really shines is in it's use of 3D, and we know that Sunrise 3D is quite choppy sometimes, but this is barely even noticable and you are able to admire the intricacy that this movie has, but... there are a few bad points unfortunately.
The story's kind of weak, but it's enjoyable; however; the movie felt kind of... empty at parts and sometimes the animation wa…
Read at the sourceDanim3
With nearly 9 years of production time and a budget of 2.4 billion yen (over 20 million dollars), Steamboy is the most expensive Japanese animation ever to be made.
And oh boy you can see that. Large-scale views of London, with tons of people, details of the fictional machines, and, especially, the steam - everything is done perfectly, creating an amazing world that instantly swallows you in its depths of this future-in-the-past scenario.
The story of goes back to the 19th century England, when steam still was the main source of power. One day, a young child Ray Steam, working as a maintenance boy in a factory, receives a package with an ingenious device called "steamball", born in an experiment of his grandfather, Lloyd Steam, and his father, Edward Steam. Just after that, mysterious pe…
Read at the sourceFOLC0N
Visually it is very well done, even if the art work does come across as simplistic at times. Regardless it is visually stunning and a joy to watch.
The main character follows the standard Hollywood track of an unlikely hero trying to save the day. However the story structure is new and kept my interests through out. By the second act you really do care what will happen to the characters. Great characterization with an original story line.
Steam boy has great voice acting as well as super musical score of the film. The Manchurian lead boy genuinely sounds Manchurian. Plus the score fits and helps set the atmosphere.
My only strong criticism of this film is that I personally would not watch it again; there was nothing spectacular enough to make me want to watch it again. Nevertheless I w…
Read at the sourcedatOneperson
This movie was overall a good idea, but after watching it, it was nothing spectacular.
What stood out the most was the "machine" aspect. There were lots of things moving throughout and it definitely held your attention. I liked how the "family of geniuses" was concentrated on. You were able to root for the good guy more because of it, at least thats what I did.
Still overall, there was some good this and that, but nothing was amazing.
Read at the sourceSkadi
Steamboy is intended to be one of those grand adventure stories set in fantastical world with pure hearted heroes and nefarious villains. It certainly has high production values and some incredible CGI effects and action. But in the end it fails to really deliver those ambitious goals.
The plot of Steamboy is really nothing all that original. If you've seen any adventure stories before then the overall premise is going to feel very familiar to you. The story centers around the boy Ray Steam, who is an inventor from a family of inventors. After he receives a mysterious package from his grandfather he soon finds himself chased by villains who want it for themselves. The story has lofty goals but by the time the movie ends, I found myself confused about what actually happened and what the pu…
Read at the source770312
Story: The retelling of history has been done many times in various series, it can be fun a lot of times, but Steamboy really dropped the ball this time. Many times actually, Ray just couldn't keep a hold of it. [oh snap, a pun] *ahem* I'm still not really sure what they were trying to do with the story. Apparently the kid's father had some skewed view on science and decided to start a war with Britain. There wasn't much of a lead up to this, it just kind of happened at some point. There are far too many obstacles for Ray. Each time he is tasked with doing something some random person or thing gets in his way. Yeah, obstacles make the story interesting and all, but not when they are so ridiculous and far fetched... and numerous. This is a retelling of history and this is an anime, but the…
Read at the sourceIlyaoh
I base my reviews on my feelings, my thoughts and my enjoyment referring the specific series. So this is not a overly professional critic's review.
First off all, I bought this straight on DVD the moment it got released, so my experience with audio/subtitles etc. Can be a bit different then the people who watched it from fansubbers.
The fact that I bought it on DVD is because people who worked on the hitmovie, Akira, also worked on Steamboy for several years, noticeable from the drawing style.
We'll go right further with that. The animation in Steamboy is really amazing if you ask me, the steam itself, the fast scene's on the steamball and Ray's own invention are truly fascinating, I missed most of the original story, just to be amazed by the animation. (May this be a warning to people…
Read at the sourceBeatnik
This is the weirdest anime I've ever seen.
It's not 'weird' as in something ridiculously abstract or disturbing, but weird in other ways.
The alternate-history setting is a visual feast for the eyes via Production I.G's commitment to detail and quality animation. The dub is actually really good, and this is coming from a guy who hates dubs. But in a story like this where its set completely in 19th century England, it would be too strange to hear Japanese voices, so the heavy Manchester and cockney London accents fit very well with what's going on. Yeah, an anime set entirely in 19th century England, with no Japanese characters, weird already.
And damn if what's going on isn't bloody amazing. I actually think this is a two act story which is very interesting and unconventional. For any…
Read at the sourcemdauben
An amazing looking movie, with spectacular artwork and animation. Unfortunatly, the story and characters were not of the same high quality. An enjoyable enough movie to watch, but it fails to capture the magic of a true classic.
Read at the sourceXinil
First, let me say that I wasn't expecting much going into this film. Seeing as how it isn't directed by Miyazaki and I hadn't heard much of anything about it, I didn't plan on being impressed. Well, much to my surprise, I really enjoyed Steamboy. Sure, it wasn't anything miraculous and magical like Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle, but it had some of that "wonder" to it.
Some of the decisions the characters made were a little too "that wouldn't happen", but aside from some of those, I really, really enjoyed the story.
Biggest gripe I had with the movie was the animation. I couldn't see about 20% of the film because it was too dark. Quite a few scenes are nearly pitch black and unless you have some crazy contrast, you'll miss what's going on.
All in all, definitely an enjoyable wat…
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