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Language Options English/Japanese/English Subtitles

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- Series Trailer

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Steam Detectives: Case 1 (DVD)

In a sprawling metropolis powered by steam, villains take advantage of the omnipresent fog to commit countless crimes and baffle the police. Only a boy genius can unravel each mysterious caper and bring the evildoers to justice!

Aided by nurse Ling-Ling and her megamaton Goriki, Narutaki has sworn to defend the city from the outlaws that terrorize it with their mischief and mayhem. The orphaned son of a revered detective, Narutaki must use all of his wits to combat the plague of crime that sweeps Steam City.

A sophisticated marriage of the lush darkness of Film Noir with a gripping action-packed storyline, Steam Detectives is a stylish steampunk adventure that you won’t want to miss!

Steam Detectives is another anime that uses older style of animation for its template; this helps to set the stage for this alternate reality where steam drives most of the technology.

The show balances 20’s style flourishes (in clothing and atmosphere) with technology that doesn’t belong it the age (giant, steam-driven robots no less). Adding to the feel is the over-the-top villains that belong in Flash Gordon comics rather than in anime, complete with capes and maniacal laughs. The animation is not as bright and colorful as most recent series, as a matter of fact, some of the colors come across as quite dull and dark. Even more distressing is the sudden color changes in some character’s clothes – Narutaki’s overcoat will suddenly change colors just like in older ‘70s and ‘80s American cartoons.

Episode 01: Go! Steam Detectives

Local detective Narutaki is trying to help apprehend a megamaton that has been breaking into local banks, and he tries to bring down the opponent using both his assortment of weapons and his own megamaton Goriki. After the concentrated

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attack is unable to fell the giant opponent, it runs away and appears to just vanish. Narutaki spends the bulk of the episode figuring out where the robot will attack next and sets up to stop it.

Episode 02: Challenge of the Crimson Scorpion

Narutaki is on his way home when he witnesses a kidnapping in progress and manages to save the little girl who was being taken. The girl’s father is a local scientist who is currently researching a meteorite crystal (called

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meteornite… no I’m not kidding), which has the potential of supplying the city’s power for the next 200,000 years. While visiting the girl and her father, a snake megamaton attacks and manages to capture the girl. Soon afterwards, a ransom note appears offering to trade the girl for the meteornite. What will Narutaki do?

Episode 03: Machine Baron’s Abnormal Love?!

Enter new villain: The Machine Baron. This villain is a collector of all rare machines, and he has “acquired” an impressive collection of one-of-a-kind pieces and he has set his heart on a Press megamaton that is being shown at a downtown exhibition.

After being defeated when Narutaki and Goriki intervene, Machine Baron sets his sights on finding a weakness on Goriki. The Machine Baron then poses as a newspaper reporter intent on writing a piece on the Narutaki Detective Agency to collect intelligence to make sure that his next caper will not be stopped.

Episode 04: Rival, His Name is Le Bled

Ling-Ling is visited by her older sister Lang-Lang (no, still not kidding) who is also a nurse, but she assists the master criminal Le Bled. Apparently, Le Bled left Steam City in disgrace after being defeated previously by Narutaki and had his face scarred from the encounter. Drugging her sister, Lang-Lang then impersonates her sister and tries to capture Narutaki. With his deductive abilities, he notices something different and pulls his pistol on the impersonator. At this point Le Bled appears and offers Narutaki the antidote to the sleeping potion that Ling-Ling was poisoned with but only if he agrees to meet him in battle.

Episode 05: Shadowbolt

The episode begins with a gentleman driving along at night suddenly being attacked by a megamaton and subsequently kidnapped. The next morning, Narutaki shows up at the scene with the local police and discovers that the victim was a scientist in town for the “World Scientist Convention” (still not kidding). So far, only two of the scientists that have come for the convention have not been kidnapped: Dr. Holt and Dr Mayard.

That evening, the same megamaton tries to kidnap Dr. Mayard, but Narutaki and Goriki disrupt the attempt and save the scientist. The next day at the conference, Dr. Holt expresses his belief in the continuing research on megamatons and reveals himself as the cause of the kidnappings (he was uploading the intellect of the captured scientists into his robots) and re-names himself Dr. Guilty (I really wish I was kidding at this point). He now attacks the crowd and tries to capture Dr. Mayard once again; and so Narutaki is going to have his hands full at stopping this madman.

While watching Steam Detectives I keep having flashbacks to the original Batman series with Adam West and Burt Ward. This series has all of those old techniques: caped villains, color co-ordinated suits, over the top dialogue, plot holes that you could drive an armored truck through… this series will appeal more to the younger audiences.

- Tazman

(July 8, 2004)

“Glen, I have a question for you.”

“And I have a question for you, "Why are you still here?"”

- Ms. Belford and Quagmire (The Family Guy)


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