The official Steamboy Website has announced that Katsuhiro Otomo's latest anime feature will be released to theaters in Japan in July of 2004.  Steamboy is Otomo's first anime feature since he released Akira in 1988.  

 

Otomo began working on Steamboy in 1995, but difficulties in financing the 2.4 billion yen (about $20 million) project delayed its progress.  Hayao Miyazki's Princess Mononoke, with a budget of some 2.35 billion yen, previously held the record for the most expensive anime production.  Steamboy has some 1850 shots, which required 180,000 drawings and some 400 CG cuts.

 

Set in Victorian England, Steamboy is a retro science fiction saga in which a powerful new energy source is released into the midst of the 'Age of Steam.'  Given the increasing prominence of anime here in the States, it would appear likely that Steamboy will be shown at U.S. festivals in 2004 and perhaps even get a theatrical release in order to qualify for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.  If Steamboy is well received, it could stimulate interest in both the Akira DVD and manga.