Steampunk works

[kfcpanda]

Anyone know any good steampunk series?
That is, Victorian era environment with guns & stuff. (Guns/Conflict required)
Male protagonist 16-21 year old necessary
Romantic subplot preferred
Magic optional
Can be anime/manga/light novel/game, I just have a real inclination to read/see/play something in this genre.

So far in this category, I've played Resonance of Fate, played Fable series, watched one anime which involved one of the characters being foretold he was going to die alone and after the whole city dies, he dies at an altar thinking about the priestess's words (I forget the name of this one)

[Haak]

Steamboy is the obvious choice, though the main character is a kid.

[Stealther]

Definitely thought first suggestion would be Last Exile here.

[kfcpanda]

Hmm are there any that present more conflict, especially in the way of pistols/guns?
Not really looking for the melodramatics like Steamboy or Howl's Castle

As for Last Exile, I'll check that one out sometime, it sounds familiar

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by Haak

Steamboy is the obvious choice, though the main character is a kid.

Seconding Steamboy... You'll might be hooked after few seconds of watching. Its quite an expensive anime movie.

[MisaoFan]

To make simple, check AniDB site and looks for "steampunk" tag if you need.

[Sackett]

Last Exile

Not anime, but rather a webcomic, but I'd still suggest Genius Girl at geniusgirlonline.com

[Kirarakim]

You know what I actually think Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water has a bit of a steam punk feel to it.

And come to think of it, I think Laputa: Castle in the Sky can also be considered steam punk.

Although I admit they don't fit your other requirements as the main characters are quite young, still classics though.

[Classified Info]

I myself am a fan of steampunk, and actually saw some title that had a bit of it:
Gosick: It's settled in the victorian era, and it's about a guy and a detective girl, who go investigating through some cases, while their relation deepens; after the first half, things start to really move, and there will be some more action and romance; i really liked it, but the boy and the girl (15-16 years aged, iirc) are quiet, not the gunslinger types.

Baccano: this probably is the closest to what you are looking for: it follows 3 different timelines, and its settled in the 900. It got guns, it got action, and it got romance. There actually isn't one main protagonist, it's in third person; it got even some funny elements, it should entertain you, but it's just that; there aren't mechanized platemails or guns shooting charged bullets, sadly.

Fullmetal Alchemist: it got some features, classical of the steampunk, coupling it with some magic (alchemy): the protagonist got a mechanized arm and leg, in the style we like . There is some background romance, but it's mostly action. It's an awesome title in general, since every character gets developed, the animation is great, and you can see everyone growing during the series (it lasts 64 episodes). It's settled in the early 900.

Sadly i wasn't able to find titles that could really be labeled as steampunk; those are the closest that come in my mind. Anyways, if you really like steampunk, i suggest you to play an old game of 2001, called Arcanum of steamworks and magick obscura;

Spoiler for game synopsis:

despite the old graphic, it's the best steampunk game you'll find out there; it just fits the definition of steampunk: it's settled at the end of the 800 century, and the beginning of 900: the main town resembles the London of the victorian era: the game is about the conflict between magic and technology; the steam engine makes his appearance, new weapons get developed and magic is slowly falling behind: it's very customizable, and you can choose to either make a technologist character (going around with mechanized platemails and porn-guns shooting acid/charged bullets/flames/BLADES/cannonballs or some axe injecting poison or spilling flames, or throwing any kind of bombs to the enemy, from electrocution granades, to molotovs to grenades that could take down an ogre) or make a wizard (there are fuckloads of magic schools: fire wind earth water air, the classical, but those aren't even the best: spell colleges that deal with teleporting, resurrecting the dead, disintegrating, healing, stunning, mindcontrolling, invisibility, summoning monsters etc). You can also choose to be neutral, and just go melee, and pumping up strength, speed and hp. You can choose if to be a persuasive dude, making others do whatever you want and skipping the rough work, or an ugly and unable to talk dude with just fierce power, destroying anything. You can choose to turn in the quests and get the reward, or to kill the quest giver and get the reward anyways, lol (even tho this gives you evil reputation). You can choose to earn your money by questing and selling, or to rob others and picklock chests, or to even gamble. You are really free to do whatever you want, and therefore even the romance is up to you: throghout the game you'll encounter a female follower, that you can choose to pick up, or kill, or do nothing, and she'll eventually... there are even brothels haha. You can choose between many races (Human, dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling, orc, ogre) and even a particular trait (like less stamina but more intellect, useful for tech characters, since you need intelligence to learn recipes and craft the cool stuff, or less intelligence and more physical power, useful if you are going for an ogre melee). Depending on what you choose, the game can either turn easy or hard. Depending on how you act throughout the game, you'll get different endings: in my opinion, the most funny character is a technologist, because you craft anything by yourself, and the stuff just looks fucking cool. I'll post you a screen of my character later on, so that you get the idea of the epicness. You'll have to deal with the graphic tho.

EDIT, Here the screens of: Equipment display, game graphic, me relentlessly mutilating people with my porn-gun:

PS: I want you to watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1mX8ptsmBM since i found a fellow steampunk dude

[Haak]

Originally Posted by kfcpanda

Hmm are there any that present more conflict, especially in the way of pistols/guns?
Not really looking for the melodramatics like Steamboy or Howl's Castle

Actually there's plenty of guns and conflict in Steamboy. In fact the film leads up to a spectacular steampunk battle.

[Kirito]

Why don't you give Howl's Moving Castle a shot.

[kfcpanda]

Ah, I'll give Steamboy and Last Exile a shot when I get a chance then.

Nadia/Laputa, the M.C.'s/plots are a bit too out there for my taste.
Gosick I've seen already.
Baccanno, that's the one I was talking about! I thought that one was pretty interesting
Fullmetal Alchemist, hear a lot about it, everyone likes it...except me. I just don't find it interesting.

I've seen and don't like Howl's Moving Castle or any of Miyazaki's other works sorry

[Kleo Scanti]

Sakura Wars. The male protagonist in Japan and Paris series may be slightly older than 21 (though you never know), but the one from New York series is clearly a teenager.

[kfcpanda]

Hmm, is there anywhere I can get a plot summary or something along those lines of it?

[creb]

Now and Then, Here and There

My favorite description of this steampunk anime (source: http://riddlerreviews.wordpress.com/...e-and-there/):

Now and then, Here and There is the story of a noble and righteous King attempting to bring peace to his ruined and dry dominion in a world where there is not much reason to hope for the better. His is a country not unlike our own, fighting, paving the way in a world which seems lost, giving security with his great vision.

This man’s name: Hamdo the ruler of the gargantuan flying battleship Heliwood, seeing to it that one day his forces will unite the weakened world and bring peace and stability to all. To do this, the king must hold possession over Lala-ru, a mysterious creature that looks like a not so ordinary young girl, but is indeed something much more. She does not eat, does not sleep, and feels no ill effects from the weather. Even more incredibly Lala-ru is the owner of a strange pendant that holds enough water to cause another flood, and only she can access its power.

Lala-ru is indeed our antagonist of the story. For no matter how King Hamdo pleads and begs her to restore his people, Lala-ru selfishly refuses, with the fact that every time she releases water from her pendent she comes closer to death. This selfish little one goes so far as to travel to a different dimension: modern day Japan (a strange country of made up origin) where she enlist the help of a brash street urchin who only wants Lala-ru to himself.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by kfcpanda

Hmm, is there anywhere I can get a plot summary or something along those lines of it?

Go to wikipedia for spoilers.

[Kleo Scanti]

Originally Posted by kfcpanda

Hmm, is there anywhere I can get a plot summary or something along those lines of it?

If the question was about Sakura Wars, here you go:

SW Tokyo TV. There are also two sets of OVA for this, the first one tells the same story as the TV series, the second is a collection of side stories not relevant to the main plot, but very nice and lighthearted. Mostly.

SW Paris.

SW New York.

[Ferp]

Valkyria Chronicles has Victorianesque building design, but they have more or less WW1 weaponry, and tanks. Romantic sub-plot.

[kfcpanda]

Hmm, alright read up on Sakura Wars.
Seen Now & Then, Here & There before.
Seen Valkyria Chronicles as well, I liked that one I remember.

[Cosmic Eagle]

The Steampunk series of games by Liar-Soft

Steampunk + Lovecraft what more could you want.

All set in Victorian times. The latest game Sona-nyl is set in New York.