Created by the ever elusive Kia Asamiya (Silent Moebius, Nadesico), Steam Detectives is a mixture of influences from many detective shows and books, but the most obvious being Sherlock holmes and Batman, although there are many more subtle one's in there if you look hard enough. Focusing around Narutaki, a 14 year old genius detective who's parents died when he was very little. He carries on the family detective agency, aided by his butler Kawakubo, nurse Ling Ling and her megamaton (robot) Goriki, they solve crimes in Steam city.
The series varies in pace, but this is a good thing. After one or two serious cases it allows the viewer/reader a breather and pauses for a light hearted and humorous tale before going back again.
The characters are very colourful and varied, Narutaki whilst being a brilliant detective is still a kid and gets easily embarrassed around Ling Ling. The villains all have their own agenda's and reasons for what they do, although my favourite villain is Lu Bread, also a boy like Narutaki he is a master criminal and a fairly even match for Narutaki, although it becomes clear later in the story that he would never actually kill Narutaki. The polar opposite to Knights Phantom who's only goal is to kill Narutaki and everyone close to him.
The solid characters and wonderful Victorian setting make this something every anime and/or manga fan should at least take a look at, as it is fun, inventive, and at times extremely clever. It is a nice change of pace and one of the more original series of recent times. The manga is better than the anime, but nearly two thirds of the anime is original stories, some of the characters get more in depth backgrounds due to this and some characters that seemed overused in the manga are barely used in the anime, seeming as if they were trying to balance things out a bit.
Highly recommended, my second favourite series of all time (just after Urusei Yatsura).
Review by Alia |
