is questionable. Possibly based upon the real-life Robert Stephenson. Young, talented engineer and Robert Stephenson's loyal right hand. His kindness does not betray a thirsty ambition. The O'Hara Foundation's chairman's representative, whose duties also seems to be Miss Scarlett's caretaker and personal servant; he is overweight and wears glasses. Grossly obsessed with money, he continues to market his wares even when his life is in danger, with comical results. The smarter of the two O'Hara thugs, Alfred works with Jason in trying to steal the Steamball. He outlives his oafish companion, and seems to hate Ray even more. He, along with Jason, performs much of Simon's dirty work. The two of them capture Ray and bring him to London, and later attempt to kill him. Alfred does so by trying to smash him with a construction crane, but Ray deftly avoids it, causing it to slam into Alfred instead. One of the men working in the O'Hara Foundation in the United States of America. Jason and Alfred were the ones that want to get the Steamball. However, Ray Steam is kidnapped. He represents the more brutish half of the two O'Hara thugs, and engages in a vicious aerial battle with Ray toward the end of the movie. Ray's mother who volunteers as a teacher for the neighbouring children (as seen at the beginning of the movie). A friend of Ray's. Emma's brother. The Admiral Highly decorated and a Knight of the Order of the Garter, the Admiral is Robert Stephenson's main point of contact with the British Government. The Admiral is rather set in his ways, believing that men, not machines, fight wars. He displays a stereotypically British style of composure, calmly taking afternoon tea on the deck of his flagship while a battle rages nearby. Production Katsuhiro Otomo first completed a proposal of Steamboy as an original video animation of three 40-minute episodes on June 30, 1994. The pilot storyboard was completed in July of the following year. The film was in production for ten years and utilized more than 180,000 drawings and 440 CG cuts. It had a production budget of , then equivalent to . This made it the most expensive Japanese anime film up until then, surpassing Otomo's Metropolis (2001). Media The Japanese release of Steamboy featured the voices of Anne Suzuki, Manami Konishi and Masane Tsukayama. The United States release, held in a limited number