Once, when I was just tiny and off sick from school, I flicked from channel to channel on the television. Daytime television is a horrible thing at the best of times, but that day is seemed worse than usual – then I found a cartoon… Years later, that half remembered, very long ‘cartoon’ resurfaced in my awareness as Laputa – Castle in the Sky, an anime from the glorious Studio Ghibli. I’d never been so happy to refind a piece of my childhood.

Laputa is set in a wonderful, air-travel obsessed world – there are giant propeller airships that ply the skies for both pleasure and war purposes, and it is on one of these machines – a passenger one – that the tale begins. Instantly there is danger and excitement and from the get go our hearts are in our mouths as a young girl plummets from the sky at a terrible pace. But all is not as it seems. Without going into the story any more (I’d hate to spoil it for you) it’s a story of ancient wise races, of sky pirates with golden hearts and war-mongers with hearts of steel. There are flying machines of every kind, honourable common people of the earth and rough and ready miners. There’s even a steamtrain chase!

Verdict: Oh, I cannot recommend Laputa highly enough. While it’s not ‘Vernian’ Steampunk – it is the Japanese equivalent. If you yearn to fly with props and steam, discovering lost lands and wonderous secrets – it is for you.

Steampunk Score: 9.5/10