Catalyst Castle

This is a belated review as I saw Steam Boy most recently almost a month ago. Steamboy is an anime movie directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo, who directed the anime film Akira (I’ve never seen it, but it’s famous). Steamboy is pretty much my only exposure to the steampunk subgenre of science fiction.

The story focuses on a family of scientists in Victorian England who develop incredible steam powered inventions. James Ray Steam’s father, Edward, and grandfather, Lloyd, are working together on a secret project in America, but they split ways after an accident that leaves Edward severely injured from a blast of steam. A short time later, back in England, James receives a mysterious package from his grandfather. The package contains a steel ball, about the size of a basketball, and a letter from his grandfather telling him to protect it from a company called the O’Hara Foundation. Only a short while later, agents of the Foundation attack James’ house in an attempt to steal the Steamball, which contains super-compressed steam, thus launching an action-packed thrill ride as everyone battles for this new energy source. The O’Hara Foundation, now allied with James’ father, wants it to power new military weapons that they aim to sell to any nation who can afford them. The British government want it for their own ends. James simply wants to make sure that his family’s invention is used for good and not evil.

The movie had good animation, with lots of computer enhanced art. The character designs were somewhat bland to my eye, but were clean and a little more on the realistic side of anime. Overall, the movie reminded me a bit more of Disney-style animation than of typical anime. One of the most interesting visual aspects of the movie was the mechanical designs. The high-tech vehicles were steam-powered and looked like something that could come from the industrial revolution. I especially liked how they used series of moving magnifying lenses to mimic the functions of cameras and video screens. The only major drawback to the art that I noticed was that many of the interior scenes seemed very dark, which made it difficult to really appreciate the interesting interiors of some of the buildings.

The music score was OK, but not really exceptional. The voice acting for both the original Japanese language track and the English dub were good, and the English dub featured the voices of some well known actors including Anna Paquin, Patrick Stewart, and Alfred Molina. In some parts, though, the voices seem a bit overwhelmed by the music and sound effects. It would have been nice if they hade made the dialog track just a bit louder.

Overall, it is an interesting movie. It has good quality animation and some neat ideas. One minor detail of the film that I really enjoyed was the credits. As the credits roll at the end of the film, a slideshow plays in the background that gives hints to how the story might continue, with James Ray Steam using his steam-powered gadgets to become a high flying war hero.


Roleplaying
Because of my obsession with roleplaying games, I tend to watch most movies and shows with an eye for what I could take from it and apply to gaming. Here are some ideas from Steamboy.

Alternate History: Steamboy presents an alternate history in which the Victorian era achieves technology far in advance of the real industrial revolution. I know I’ve seen other examples of this, and it’s a fun creative exercise to ask what history might have been like if certain scientific discoveries were made earlier. Using this in an RPG could be a neat way to add a little different flavor to the typical Sci-Fi game.

Family Conflicts: Most of the story in Steamboy revolves around three generations of scientists in the same family, with two of them ending up on opposing sides of the main conflict, and the youngest one having to choose which one to follow. I’ve used family connections to add to the drama in Dogs in the Vineyard, but it might be interesting to use this tactic more often in other games.