Steam Detectives Vol. 1
Steam Detectives Vol. 1
Story & Art By Kia Asamiya
Steam Detectives is a collection of stories based around an abandoned boy detective (think Batman as a kid with less angst). Narutaki: Boy Detective was left alone in the world early on when both his parents were killed by a mysterious villain...affected by this horrible event, Narutaki strives to solve crimes and help the fair Steam City, trying in a way to fill his fathers' shoes as protector to the city, whilst at the same time trying to find his parents' killer.
The first case in this series gives you the general backstory on Narutaki, not revealing everything but enough to get you interested. As the story progresses you are introduced to Ling Ling, a freightened nurse looking for Narutaki's protection from the "Steam Snatcher" a rogue that has been roaming Steam City, draining people of their blood. As the story nears it's end, Ling Ling is revealed to have been acting in cohoots with the Steam Snatcher aka her father, so as to keep him alive longer in his robotic form. Narutaki battles the huge robot but only till the TRUE villian appears....the one who murdered his parents....the PHANTOM KNIGHT. Apparently Phantom Knight lied to Ling Ling about blood transfusions saving her fathers' life and had her kill a decent amount of people for no other reason then to get Narutaki's attention.....twisted....yeah...just a smidge. The end of this case has the Phantom Knight escaping and Narutaki forgiving Ling Ling for her past crimes and having her join his team.
Yeah....I have a problem with this....a chick kills a crapload of people but...ALL IS FORGIVEN...oh and you can join my team! Whu whu WHAT?
Dude....she killed a lot of people...manipulated or not....this is not a person you really wanna let on your team....just saying.
The rest of the cases within this first volume are alright. Kia Asamiya's writing is ok...it's not great and it's not horrible. General dialogue between characters is predictable and has a A to B to C an so on type feel. I think as you get toward the fourth & final case, in this volume, Asamiya's writing does grows a little more though, introducing more interesting character dynamics with the appearances of Lang Lang and Le Bread the Boy Criminal.
The art within this volume, I liked a LOT. Asamiya shines at times when illustrating huge massive battles between man and machine. Many people will give me crap for praising Asamiya's art style, saying something like it's derivitive of past manga art styles but, I like it...plus it's the first manga-esque volume I've ever read so it's all new and exciting for me.
Overall I'd say check this out if you got the time.B-
