Forum - View topicHas anyone seen Steamboy and Howls Moving castle yet?
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countertop
Posts: 2 |
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Interested in reviews of those animes.
Let me know.Cant wait to check them out. thanks |
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Gauss
 Posts: 519 Location: Finland |
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Well, I saw Steamboy back in September at a film festival. It was subtitled in English so I have no idea what the dub will be like. The story is set in an alternate 19th Century and for the most part takes place in London (Is it me or is this a new minitrend in Anime? Read or Die, Hellsing and... tip of my tongue... had a British setting). The protagonist is a boy called Rei who has a knack for working with steam engines. This particular talent runs deep in the family, as both his father and grandfather are geniuses who have pushed the boundaries of steam technology until it equals 20th century oil powered internal combustion engines. The wealthy arms-dealing Ohara Foundation is in turn very interested in the military applications of such advanced technology. Hi-jinks ensue, culminating in a spectacular battle involving really cool mecha demolishing central London.
The art and animation is amazing, gorgeous eyecandy. There's a lot of computer animation but done in a good way (unlike say in the Sakura Wars movie, which also had nice eyecandy and advanced steamtech but as soon as the mechas moved it was jarringly obvious the animation was done with 3D CGI models). Artwise the characters resembled Ghibli character designs more than "tradional" anime/manga characters. Extra kudos for the original and interesting technology designs. Just as important as all the technology is the human drama playing out between grandfather, father and son. The young arrogant heiress to the Ohara foundation also plays an important part. The resolution of interpersonal conflicts is fairly typical of a lot of Japanese anime, but I happen to like such endings. However, I liked even more that the ending left you with a feeling that nobody really underwent a fundamental change of personality. Coupled with scenes where the good guys turn out to be people who are quite ready to use deception in the name of the greater good, I really began to enjoy the shades of grey and deep characterizations. Indeed, Steamboy is in a sense very much a story about a young boy maturing quickly as he learns that decisions have consequences. Decisions that are hard to make when time and again he discovers that even those nearest to him can't always be depended upon. Sometimes people outright lie but more often their worldviews simply clash with what Rei considers to be good and right. Something that slightly annoyed me in the subtitles was that they never anglicized names. I'm pretty sure Ohara was originally a japanization of O'Hara. Rei in turn could have been written as Ray (he is after all British). Oh well, diehard fans would probably be demanding the heads of the translators if they had done this. Still, if you have seen/read Oh My Goddess! which would you prefer? Verdandi, Berudandi or Belldandy? As an additional bonus the end credits had a lot of still frames of Steamboy 2 showing in the background (which will apparently see Paris trashed in more mecha battles and Europe plunged into World War I about 40 years early). The Ohara heiress will make a return and I got the feeling she still has plenty of arrogance in her. I also strongly suspect Rei's father remained as blinded by the pursuit of science as before. Rei himself was playing Steamboy the superhero. Overall, Steamboy squeeks into my Miyazaki-dominated top five list of best Anime movies I have seen. |
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mrgazpacho
Posts: 316 Location: Australia |
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Hey, if it's good enough for Tokyo Tower, it's good enough for its big sister 
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imaginary_num6er
 Posts: 53 Location: In the U.S, was in Japan for 18 years |
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I also watched SteamBoy over the summer and I was little bit unhappy how the previews showed most of the action. Nonethless, it has cool animation relative to the enourmous amount of money invested in it. As you would probably notice, the Ohara foundation and the World Exposition in London are slightly anachronistic, which the directors themselves noted in magazine reviews. In addition, one of the reasons why the story is a little weak (unless this is the first episode), is because the directors changed the storyline over and over again before getting the final product. I personally never thought of it as a "first" episode and thought SteamBoy was SteamBoy, end of discussion. This is because I thought the still frames in the end were just sort of a "epilogue" showing what happened after Steamboy..Hope I am wrong.
In terms of Howl's Moving Castle, I will plan to watch it in Japan when I go back to Japan this December. |
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Gauss
Posts: 519 Location: Finland |
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Well, there will apparently be some sort of follow-up. I think it will be another movie or OVA but looking at the previews in the end credits an awful lot seems to happen after this movie. Just maybe we are looking at a TV or OVA series?
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