Manga turned anime, Steam Detectives has fun with references sources as diverse as Sherlock Holmes to Gigantor.

Steam Detectives. Case 1 - 6.
TV series (26 episodes), 1998-1999. Director: Yasushi Murayama. V.1-2, five episodes/125 minutes; v.3-6, four episodes/100 minutes. Price & format: DVD bilingual $29.98. Distributor: A.D.V. Films.

Kaiketsu Jouki Tanteidan (The Extraordinary Steam Detectives) began as a manga serial by Kia Asamiya in 1994, and had acquired a popular following by the time this 26-episode TV adaptation (animated by XEBEC) aired from October 7, 1998 through March 31, 1999. This “steam-punk” boys’ adventure is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to international popular fiction from the 1880s through the 1950s, with recognizable in-group references to Vernean sci-fi, Sherlock Holmes, such 1910s fictional master criminals as Arsene Lupin and Fantomas, numerous boy-detective/inventor series, American 1930s noir crime pulps and 1940s superhero comics, up to Yokoyama’s 1950s Gigantor manga.

Steam City is a 1920s-ish “everycity” with elements of London, Paris and Tokyo where all machines including giant robots (called megamatons) are steam powered. Narutaki, the famous boy detective, helps police Detective Onigawara and Inspector Yagami solve crimes with his megamaton Goriki, which is better than anyone else’s. Goriki was built by Kawakubo, Narutaki’s elderly butler who was a devoted friend of his deceased parents.

Narutaki is also helped by his big-sisterly assistant, the nurse Ling Ling. Together, this group defends Steam City from such costumed villains as the Crimson Scorpion (a femme fatale who only steals valuable beautiful objects), the Machine Baron (who only steals scientific marvels, and who wants Goriki), Le Bled (a debonair boy phantom thief and self-appointed evil alter-ego of Narutaki), Dr. Guilty (a mad scientist who wants to destroy Steam City for refusing to recognize his genius), and Knight Phantom (who bears an insane hatred for Narutaki and vows to kill everyone dear to him).

Steam Detectives is a curiously uneven series. The animation quality is poor and the music is inappropriate. The first 13 episodes are so juvenile and buffoonish as to make the age advisory of 15+ look considerably exaggerated (although some of the humor is very witty); then the last 13 episodes become so brutally and even sadistically melodramatic as to make the age advisory look underrated. Episode #16 is a moral debate between nurses Ling Ling and Lang Lang as to whether a terminally-ill child should be forced to undergo an operation that has less than a 1% chance of saving her, or allowed to die with dignity; this is excellent, very touching, and totally out of place amidst the earlier slapstick humor and the later battle violence.

The DVD extras and liner notes include extensive creators’ commentaries that will be of more interest to serious anime collectors (Asamiya lists Batman as one of his major influences, plus lots of Japanese manga and early TV anime unknown in America) and animation students (director Murayama points out many problems and flaws due to the limited budget and short production time) than to average anime viewers. It is hard to guess for whom Steam Detectives is most appropriate.