Spriggan

This movie had so muh going for it. Great production value, the animation was excellent, and the action, while more-than-a-little over the top, was extremely fluid. But what happened? I just don't know. I think a developed backstory would have helped. Without that, the protagonist guy is little more than a fungible super-powered action star. It's true, it felt way too much like Akira. I've seen countless anime feature films, but for some reason I felt my perspective was too Western to appreciate the way the director tells the story. It's a tough call. Bottom line, I would have preferred rented it than buying it. It's not a "bad" film, and yes it's worth seeing just for it's stylised action-sequences and art, but this isn't the kind of movie you can watch over and again like other anime.

Spriggan (1998) is a relentless action-packed anime that throws logic, subtlety, and storytelling structure out the window in favor of nonstop brawls, explosions, and conspiracy. Based on the manga of the same name, it's very much a product of its time-with visuals, pacing, and dialogue that scream "late 90s anime."

Kevin and I from the K J and A Podcast describe it best: "This movie is 90% action and 10% everything else." That "everything else" includes a loosely strung-together plot about ancient alien technology (OOPArts), government black ops, psionic kids, and an ancient ark capable of controlling weather, life, and stasis-yep, it does everything.

The animation is surprisingly fluid and detailed for the era. The action choreography stands out-especially the city sword fight, the Jeep minigun scene, and the brutal hallway brawl with Fatman. Kevin praised it as "one of the best anime fights from the 90s," while I noted the fight scenes often seemed like "setups for trailers more than natural plot beats."

The characters are mostly archetypes: the brooding teen super-soldier (Yu), the creepy child villain with god powers (McDougal), the cigar-chomping cyborg thug (Fatman), and a handful of scientists there to yell exposition. The story hints at something deeper with Yu's dark past in Project COSMOS, but barely scratches the surface.

It's not essential viewing, but definitely a fun one if you're into 90s anime explosions and overpowered protagonists yelling things like, "I'm a f***ing Spriggan!"

Spriggan is an animé action film of extreme proportion. With production supervised by Katsuhiro Ôtomo (director of Akira), this is not surprising. Our main character is Yu Ominae, a 17 year old special operative, code named Spriggan. The story is one of warring covert government factions as they race to take possession of "Noah's Ark", an ancient artifact with immense power.

All this seems simple enough. Yu is the stereotypical action hero; he catches swords with his bare hands, dispatches "bad guys" without flinching, sustains near mortal injuries and still manages to hurl abuse at his oppressors, and yet, still swerves to avoid hitting innocent pedestrians. Our bad guys include a big guy with body armour and replacement cybernetics with a very, very large gun, a small guy who is fast and also cybernetically enhanced, and a mysterious, small boy.

Spriggan is based on a comic that ran in Shonen Magazine in Japan between 1989 and 1996. As such it has a following in Japan, but in the west (where it was known by the title "Striker") it has very few fans, as distribution of Japanese manga and animé is only now beginning to pick up.

As far as production values are concerned, Spriggan is a showcase of modern cinematic animé. Huge rotoscoped panoramas form gorgeous backdrops for scenes such as a car chase through the streets of Turkey and you feel a true sense of immersion in flurries of mountaintop snow. What little CG there is, is integrated fluidly and adds to the film, unlike in many other productions where it may distract the viewer. The score is brilliant and the 5.1 surround mix caught me off guard. A couple of times I caught myself turning to see if there was someone behind me.

I am generally a fan of subtitled animé, so I watched it in this form first. It is interesting to note that in most animé the character animation is done before the voices are added. However, in this production (as it was a cinema release), the voices for the Japanese tracks were recorded first and then the animation was made around those tracks, much in the same way Disney movies are made. Now this may bode poorly for the English dub, as the mouths instead of flapping open and closed are actually forming the shapes of words, yet great care and attention has been put into the English dub. In places the English track is a lot more plausible than the Japanese... it makes more sense that folks at the Pentagon sound like Americans. Had I my way I would change languages tracks part way through so that the English stuff is in English and the scenes set in Japan were in Japanese (more like in Blood: The Last Vampire) but that is just me being finicky. (If you get a chance to see the DVD you may want to check out the ADR team's commentary.)

I feel that Spriggan is a film that has used mythology from other cultures and Christianity (in much the same way as Neon Genesis: Evangelion) to make the plot seem more interesting and arcane to a Japanese audience. The word Spriggan describes a faerie from Cornish mythology, with an ugly visage, large head and small body, and a penchant for stealing babies and replacing them. This draws some symbolic similarities to the main character as he is a character of power in a small body who was "adopted" by his organisation at a young age. I don't know how readily Americans will receive this film, as it portrays the American government in a bad light and says blatantly that the Christian Bible is wrong.

Spriggan has a running time of 90 minutes. The first 60 of those play pretty much as a stereotypical action/adventure flick, but at about 60 minutes it starts getting weird. All of a sudden the plot moves from high action to metaphysical stuff and that may leave the viewer behind or feeling a little disjointed. During this section are some pretty cool visuals but to my mind the plot falls flat on its face. It seems that the film has fallen into the old animé trap of freaky villains and blood-spattered heroes yelling at each other for a bit, having their final confrontation, barely tying up the loose ends of the plot and then the bad guy threatens that there will be a sequel.

In overview, I'd say that this is a technical film enthusiast's dream, not for kids, a good film for action buffs and a poor one for people who like good drama. So, to quote Douglas Adams: "Ten out of ten for style, but minus several million for good thinking".

Directed in a style similar to western action/adventure films (esp Indiana Jones) the art leaps off the screen. The backgrounds are particularly well done, and the animation is smooth. Though I did notice some scenes that were almost experimental in there use of techniques. Particularly shading in some scenes and the methods they use to do motion blur. It looks great, but it's often only employed once and so is somewhat inconsistent. The story which has been summed elsewhere is very easy to follow and stays within action movie lines quite nicely, though for this reason it's easy to find it lacking any kind of stimulation. Otomo's hand can be seen in the way certain scene play out, and the style of animation, though not the individually drawn cel. The music is good, but traditional action fare. The voice acting is on, except for that child col. when he laughs, it sounds so forced, even the non-Japanese speaking will pick up on it. So if you like action oriented animation, or are drooling for another Indiana Jones movie (plus anime staples like cyborgs, psychic powers, and armored muscle suits) Spriggan is one the best films to come out that fits that bill perfectly. Look for a Region 1 dvd and VHS later this year (2001). They're even speaking of a theatrical release. In the meantime, unless you speak Japanese look for a fan sub.

A big, loud brash anime that in many ways has more of a Hollywood blockbuster feel to it than a normal anime film. This film moves along at a smart pace, with very few, if any slow patches.

The animation is of a high standard, especially the scenes set in Istanbul, although some of the CGI effects used in the film were not necessary. Spriggan has one of the best English dubs yet seen in anime, the quality of the voices & the technical mixing of the soundtrack both excellent. A must see for anime fans. 8/10