Steamboy

Set in an alternate Victorian Britain, Steamboy centres on Ray Steam, a young inventor from a family of scientists. A metallic sphere arrives from his grandfather, a researcher who has been away in America, and Ray soon learns that the device holds a powerful new form of energy. The O'Hara Foundation, which has funded the family's work, wants the sphere for itself and pursues him to London, where preparations for a world's fair are under way. What begins as a chase becomes a struggle over how such power should be used.

The film was released in 2004 and runs 126 minutes. Katsuhiro Otomo directed, working from a screenplay he wrote with Sadayuki Murai; Shinji Takagi is also credited as director. It followed Otomo's Akira, Neo Tokyo, Memories and Spriggan, and preceded Short Peace. The voice cast includes Anne Suzuki as Ray, Katsuo Nakamura as Dr. Lloyd Steam, Manami Konishi as Scarlett O'Hara St. Jones and Keiko Aizawa as Ray's mother. Production involved Bandai Visual, STUDIO4℃, SUNRISE and the Steamboy Committee, with Shinji Komori and Hideyuki Tomioka producing and 120 crew credited.

Made for about 26 million USD, the film returned roughly 19 million USD worldwide, a shortfall against its cost. Audiences rate it 6.9/10 on TMDB across 511 votes, while critics give it 6.1/10 from 93 reviews, a slightly cooler critical response than the audience one.