Japanese animation has been exploring the tools of computer animation in the service of their traditional hand-drawn style for years. Edward preaches about bringing science to the world and improving the lives of everyone but his boss just wants to use his dream creation, a flying Steam Castle, as the crown jewel of their weaponry catalog. It’s part Jules Verne arms race nightmare, part James Bond gadget war, and part boy’s own adventure, mixed in with a talky philosophical debate about power and responsibility.

While Ray’s slightly batty, sabotage-minded grandfather steps in to protect his grandson from O’Haras, power-mad dad Edward Steam uses their invention-a high density “steam ball” with the power of a modern jet engine-to build steam-powered tanks, mechanical robo-suits, and flying soldiers in aero-harnesses. It turns out that the father he thought was dead is alive and mechanically enhanced and working for an American armaments company, the O’Hara Foundation. Idealistic boy inventor Ray Steam is happy to tinker over his own inventions when a package from his grandfather lands him in the midst of an arms war. With Steamboy (Japan, 2004), he steps to the industrial revolution of 1866 England to take on steampunk, a historical genre of science fiction with an alternate reality of scientific advancement. Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1988 animated landmark Akira is one of the essential titles of cyberpunk cinema.

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