Steamboy, like Edward and Lloyd, eventually traps itself within its own machinery. Some of the chase and battle scenes are gorgeous. Steamboy's animation is spectacular, mixing computer-generated backdrops with hand-drawn cels. It's an action film and, at times, a great one. Though Otomo is clearly no fan of automated weaponry, it would be misleading to suggest Steamboy is primarily an antiwar essay. It's like seeing a baby picture of Hitler. Otomo doesn't cute-ify his weapons, instead making it clear that we are witnessing the introduction of modern killing machines. And the airborne soldiers carry bombs in sheaths, delivering payload like kids tossing newspapers. One member of the armored 'aquacorps' ends up in the drink, unable to climb from the boat to land. Lloyd and Edward's research, it turns out, is being used to launch a new breed of automated weapons: battlebots, flying soldiers and other beta-version implements of destruction.Ĭompared with the tools of modern warfare, these weapons might seem quaint.

Steamboy reminds us that humans make machines, so humans should take responsibility for the damage machines can do.Īnd Steamboy's gadgets do plenty of damage - half of London takes a beating. Modern machinery is streamlined, mysterious and obviously mass-produced.

Why does that matter? Because, as with our food, we've lost track of where our machines come from.

They are beautiful, too - they look hand-wrought, and like they might actually work. Steamboy's machines are often big, unwieldy things, with gears and cogs, and smoke spitting out of bulky pipes. And Edward describes science as the 'shimmering gift of the gods.'īesides the talk, Otomo proves he has thought deeply about the role of machines in our culture. Steamboy's characters make plenty of pronouncements about science: 'No risk, no progress,' Lloyd declares during a dangerous test run of his new machinery. At stake, of course, is the future of the planet.

Steamboy anime city