The show is about a ten-year-old boy who has a genius aptitude for solving crimes in a turn of the last century setting much like London. The boy, Narutaki, carries a powerful handgun but relies more on his wits and skills to survive various villains who seek to end his career. He is helped by a remote controlled robot, Goriki, that resembles a large mech-robot in a number of other series and is powered by steam, much like the robots in Sakura Wars, except no one need pilot Goriki internally. The style of the anime is much more retro than most current releases on DVD and some people will like that more than I did. To me, this style often looks cheap and made on a low budget but it had a few bright moments in the included five episodes on this DVD.

The only power source of the time is coal and thus the city is powered by steam derived from the fossil fuel. Most technology is based on steam power and there are cars and such but nothing very advanced otherwise. The young boy, his butler, nurse, and robot fight a number of super powered bad guys and their own robots in a number of situations. It has its own style and I think it's worth checking out but it seemed like an acquired taste. I didn't get the second volume in the series so a few minor plot points in this one didn't make sense making the replay value suffer. Here's a breakdown of the episodes:

Episode Eleven: Steam Fantasy:
A series of jewelry store robberies point to a mythical protector of Steam City, The White Dragon. The boy detective, Narutaki, suspects foul play, in the form of the Crimson Scorpion but will all of them find a surprise visit by a certain mythical beast as interesting as I did?

Episode Twelve: The Machine Baron's Fatal Error:
The Machine Baron airlifts a large robot into the town square and warns the city to evacuate. Narutaki thinks something fishy is going on and the Baron's midnight escapades as a peeping Tom probably fit into it. Will the city offer the Baron Goriki, as the Baron demands, or will Narutaki figure out the Baron's plans?

Episode Thirteen: Narutaki Vs. Ling Ling: A Tiny Battle:
When evildoers aren't attacking the city, things seem a bit peaceful, too peaceful, for the team. Domestic bliss turns sour when Narutaki and Ling Ling have a prolonged argument over her missing cat, Michan. The two care so much about one another that they sublimate their feelings and the friction creates increasing tension between them.

Episode Fourteen: Novel: The Horrific King Steam: :
A famous author has the distinction of predicting crimes in his novels or is someone stealing his ideas? Ling Ling seems infatuated with the author and soon tries to figure out the secret herself. Will Narutaki be able to save her from those who would do her harm? Will he be able to solve the case in time or is all lost?

I'm going to rate this one as a Rent It since the technical limitations, combined with the spotty nature of the content were not worth more. The animation style seemed a bit cut rate to me with limited movement and backgrounds, not to mention detail in the main characters too, and while the audio was very solid, especially the music, I'm left with the impression that this series is running out of steam.

Picture: The picture was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame that it was shot in. It had a lot of static shots with limited movement going on and much of the actual movement of the characters was done by using stationary pictures and moving the camera. In all, not the best style of anime to interest me although the colors were muted to fit the story setting and the picture mostly devoid of artifacts.

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of a 5.1 Dolby Digital English track or the original 2.0 stereo Japanese track with optional English subtitles. I thought the English track was better this time and displayed more separation between the channels. The music was well done here and I think it warrants a bit of attention by fans.

Extras: There were some trailers, a Japanese opening, a short text interview with some Japanese voice actors, some sketches and a paper insert with song lyrics in English and Romaji. This isn't a lot but at least there were four episodes here.

Final Thoughts: Despite a few moments of creative thought, the series is limited by the low budget look of the show and the lack of character growth. The extras were limited and the replay value weak so rent this one before buying it, even big anime fans.