From Cyber Punk to Steamboy

Jerry Beck ponders Otomo, anime and the state of art since Akira.

By Jerry Beck | Monday, March 21, 2005 at 12:00 am

Posted In | Magazines: AnimationWorld | Columns: Anime

Katsuhiro Otomo reinforces his reputation as one of the leading creative figures in Japanese animation with his latest cinematic epic, Steamboy. All Steamboy images © 2004 Bandai Visual Co. Ltd. All rights reserved.

When we last left our hero, he was submerging Toyko in an apocalyptic telekinetic holocaust…

The hero I speak of is Katsuhiro Otomo, the acclaimed Japanese animator, writer, filmmaker and comics artist. His destruction of a futuristic Tokyo was the unforgettable climax to his groundbreaking anime classic, Akira (1988).

Otomo is back on theater screens this month with his latest cinematic epic, Steamboy — his first full-length feature film since Akira redefined the anime genre 17 years ago. Steamboy reinforces Otomo’s reputation as one of the leading creative figures in Japanese animation.

The retro science-fiction epic set in Victorian England, follows 19th century boy inventor Ray Steam (voiced by Anna Paquin in the English version) who, who is entrusted with his grandfather’s invention, a steamball, capable of great power caused by high-density compressed steam. He is chased, and later kidnapped, by sinister forces connected to the Ohara Foundation at the London Great Exposition.

Ray soon learns that his father, Eddie (voiced by Alfred Molina), is behind a plan to use the power of compressed steam to turn the pavilion into a menacing moving steam castle — and prove himself a mechanical genius. Ray finds himself torn between his loyalties to his pacifist grandfather ((Lord Steam voiced by Patrick Stewart) and his power hungry father — at the same time using his wits to stop the steam castle, which begins a destructive climactic journey through London town.

Otomo’s vision has been the anti-Disney option for teens who had outgrown Nickelodeon and Saturday morning cartoons. His storytelling and direction brought theatrical animation into the new century.

Some would argue that Otomo is the most influential Japanese animator since Osamu Tezuka — more so than his prolific colleagues Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) or Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue). This is reinforced by the fact that his 1988 cyber-punk epic has become the enduring symbol of the anime genre — the alternative to the singing princesses and dancing teapots that Hollywood once considered state-of-the-art.

Otomo’s vision has been the anti-Disney option for teens who had outgrown Nickelodeon and Saturday morning cartoons — and adults who would never consider The Swan Princess a Saturday night choice at the multiplex. His storytelling and direction brought theatrical animation into the new century — and it, for many years, had Hollywood scratching its head, and trying to play catch-up.

Akira‘s strength at the box office (in the U.S., Europe, as well as in Japan) had single handedly put anime on the international map and forced movie critics, film scholars and animators to take the genre seriously. It encouraged U.S. distributors to import further titles for direct home video release — and inspired several cable networks (Cartoon Network, the Sci Fi Channel, G4 and MTV, among others) to run anime programming blocks. The Pokémon fad and Disney’s distribution deal for Miyazaki’s films have brought further financial success and prestige to the genre in the subsequent years.

But despite the growing success of Japanese animation in the last two decades, a funny thing happened to Otomo on his way back to the movie screen. Computer animation emerged to become Hollywood’s new cup of tea — commercially successful high tech, cutting edge feature animation, developed in the states, which even the suits in the boardroom can understand — and control.

In the years since Akira‘s debut, the entire landscape of theatrical animated features had changed. The Disney contemporary blockbusters of the 1990s (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, etc.) caused a tidal shift in Hollywood’s business plan for animation. The major players jumped in to the game — some finding success (DreamWorks, Paramount/Nickelodeon), others having less luck (Quest for Camelot at Warner Bros., Titan A.E. at Fox). Pixar entered the scene and created a new direction for the medium, and an insatiable desire for cartoon movies on DVD, worldwide, caused a demand for product unprecedented in film history.

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Comments

While there may be an overwhelming understanding of, and curiosity for computer/digital artistry I believe that it is fairly clear that writer and director Katsuhiro Otomo knows and comprehends the limits of such technological advances, when they are adapted into another medium of interest. This other medium of interest is namely animation. And just as apparent as the evident artistic value of computer animation, is in fact, the subsequent value (and creative weight) of the story. Director Otomo, I think, clearly recognizes that as fascinating and advantageous mastering the digital arts can be, it means rather little should there not be a solid foundation for the project overall, namely the story. Having worked over the years in part or entirely on projects such as the revolutionary futuristic action film AKIRA, the emotionally poignant yet wonderfully comedic compilation MEMORIES, and as mentioned in the article; the tender and touching yet incredibly somber drama METROPOLIS, the intense psychological thriller PERFECT BLUE, and the fast-paced action film SPRIGGAN; having experience with various styles of filmmaking and having worked with a number of creative minds, I find that director Katsuhiro Otomo has knowledge enough to comprehend and understand the significance of a particular storyline. Evidence of this in the STEAMBOY theatrical release, can be found in the relatively simply yet influential choice by the director to make use of computer animation technology, but only to the effect that it will later round-out and/or supplement animation sequences that were already constructed by hand. This is to simply remark that STEAMBOY would not have been reliable upon computer animation in order to be an effective presentation, but only to further establish the film's visual integrity. In effect, such advances in digital artistry are purely secondary to the adventure of James Ray Steam and his struggle to identify himself with any one particular ideology as represented by family, peers, and politics.

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Aaron Bynum (not verified) | Tue, 03/29/2005 - 01:00 | Permalink

It is quite interesting to see an acclaimed director such as Mr. Otomo himself makes extensive uses of CGI nowadays. With such awesome technology, filmmakers are able to conceive anything they have dreamt of inside their minds: a world where giant flying ships and other outworldly creatures collide, CGI actors now look more real than ever (almost), and massive army of robots flying against the white sky, etc. Which actually, in fact, leads to other problems. Your article mentions much of the benefits of CGI and the surfaces of Steamboy’s universe. Unfortunately, the importance of storytelling and the movie's actual theme are not mentioned elsewhere (that actually is mentioned there: 'filled with compelling characters and startling action set-pieces' But the sole term of ‘compelling’ is not enough). 2D or 3D, the only thing that makes up for an excellent piece of work is the personalities of the characters and the unexpected outcome of the story, not the overwhelming 'big bang' effects (as you may already know). Perhaps many filmmakers nowadays are busy focusing on creating their own dream worlds rather than expressing the characters' feelings out of their mouth. I have always known that Mt. Otomo is a truly great storyteller but sometimes, like all great film directors, despite his technical wizardry, some of us may speculate that he is beginning to lose his magic touch. One good example is George Lucas (I actually admire his dedication to revolutionize the patterns of filmmaking but like everyone else, criticism is a necessity), who often spends much of the time thinking of creating realistic worlds and creatures but forgetting to create characters of credible believability as seen on his original trilogy. As a result, many fans are unimpressed with the prequel trilogy's lack of depth (the characters, not the worlds); some even consider them to be better left out of the supposedly six-part saga. Another example of this matter (this will be personal) is The Incredibles: how many times do you hear people raving about Brad Bird's latest movie? A thousand times, you may answer. People will just go for it and saying that it changes the world as we see right now. For me, I am just slightly disappointed. Disappointed because many of the crews at Pixar have done an exceptional job but despite its more fluid animation and eye-candy environments, the overall story is a bit thin. Emphasizing more on action than what really matters, many studios have reached their concussions that this sort of formula is the only way to make big bucks. But this pattern no longer fools me because there are some underrated movies that can prove to be rare gems such as Bird's previous work, the emotionally powerful 'Iron Giant'. There may be some great reactions from anime fans (of course they will say it no matter how bad an anime can be) and shallow-minded critics but REAL critics who understand the good principles of filmmaking have far more interesting comments. Words such as 'weak characters', 'shallow story', 'depends too much on CGI' are frequently echoed within our ears and minds, especially when you associate them with 'some of the most anticipated movies of the year' thingie. At the end, however, only the audience can really decide whether a particular movie is worth a movie ticket or not.