Spriggan (1998)

Director:

Hirotsugu Kawasaki

Writers:

Yasutaka Itô (writer)
Hirotsugu Kawasaki (writer)

Release Date:

12 October 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

They were looking for a sign. What they found was a warning.

Plot:

An elite superhuman agent must stop a foreign military unit from seizing control of an ancient artifact that holds the key to ultimate power.

Plot Keywords:

Power | Artifact | Noah's Ark | Turkey | Roof

Cast

  (Credited cast)

J.D. Hawkins	...	ARCAM Guard 2
Chris Patton	...	Yu Ominae (voice) (as Christopher Patton)
Kevin Corn	...	Colonel MacDougall (voice)
Ted Pfister	...	Dr. Meisel (voice)
Andy McAvin	...	Jean-Jacques Mondo (voice)
Kelly Manison	...	Margaret (voice)
Mike Kleinhenz	...	Fattman (voice)
Spike Spencer	...	Little Boy (voice)
John Paul Shephard	...	Yamamoto (voice)
John Swasey	...	Mr. Smith (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
C. Markham Anderson	...	ARCAM Explorer, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Ross Bautsch	...	COSMOS Yu (voice: English version)
Bob Biggerstaff	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Victor Carsrud	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Kevin Charles	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Jason Douglas	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jennifer K. Earhart	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Ralph Ehntholt	...	Pentagon Black Ops, ARCAM Explorer (voice: English version)
Bob Elliot	...	Pentagon Black Ops, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Foley Gang	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Tiffany Grant	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Matt Greenfield	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Todd Greenfield	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
John Gremillion	...	Intelligence Officer, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Hilary Haag	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jay Hickman	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Junie Hoang	...	Additional Voices
Don'l Johnson	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
John Kaiser	...	Pentagon Black Ops, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Andrew Klimko	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Mark Laskowski	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Jason Lee	...	Additional Voices
James Marshall	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Vic Mignogna	...	Arcam Security 1, Additional Voices (English version) (voice)
Rob Mungle	...	Pentagon Black Ops, Customs Inspector (voice: English version)
Frank Page	...	Pentagon Black Ops, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Phil Ross	...	ARCAM Explorer, Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Paul Sidello	...	Turkish ARCAM Agent (voice: English version)
Randy Sparks	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Greg Stanley	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Kurt Stoll	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Adam Taylor	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Kira Vincent-Davis	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Brett Weaver	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Amanda Winn Lee	...	Additional Voices (as Amanda Winn)

Also Known As:

Spriggan (USA)
Spriggan (Greece) (DVD title) [el]
Spriggan (Spain) [es]

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

France:90 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-15 (video rating) (2005) | Australia:MA | Germany:16 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R

Company:

Bandai Visual Company

Trivia:

Based on the Japanese Manga "Striker".

Goofs:

Continuity: During the fight with Colonel MacDougal Ominae's arm was broken in multiple places and left hanging limp. However, when he was falling with Jean after escaping the Ark he used the broken arm to shoot his grappling hook and hung from it, then after landing was using his 'broken' arm as if it weren't injured at all.

Movie Connections:

References Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

One of the best Anime ever made

Spriggan is arguably one of the best Anime to come our way. Based upon the manga of the same name, Spriggan tells the tale of Ominae Yu, an elite commando/superagent/operative for a powerful corporation known as ARCAM, whose mission is to protect and defend various ancient ruins scattered around the world. The codename Spriggan is to denote men and women with special abilities and skills in the employ of ARCAM whose combat abilities far surpass that of a normal human being. Ominae Yu is Japan's No.1 Spriggan but he is not the only one in the world. Namely his best friend Jean-Jacques Mondo who is France's top Spriggan.

Personally, I've read the entire manga series and watched the anime way before it was released in the States. I basically loved the story and concept behind Spriggan and enjoyed every minute of the anime. Although some fans may argue that the anime didn't do justice to the manga by omitting certain unique features and characters which is somewhat central to the original story. But we must remember, this is a movie. It could not possibly squeeze in hundreds of pages of details into a 90 minute show. I admit I was somewhat disappointed by the changes. However, my fears were quieted when I saw how they brought alive the entire plot by introducing better script, better dialogue and better cinematography. Not to mention advanced animation techniques supported by cutting edge CG. However, the production staff chose the manga's second volume which tells about the discovery of Noah's Ark as the main plotline's premise rather than first volume. I guess Noah's Ark is a far more interesting story to tell and I have to agree on that.

With a strong plot and cool-looking fight scenes that is fluidly animated to create a level of realism rarely seen in other big-budget anime movies, Spriggan still has some quirks that I need to mention. Except for Ominae Yu, Fattman and Colonel MacDougall, the rest of the cast's background were not clearly fleshed out. We were just told they were either the villains or the good guys and that's it. Other than that, this anime movie is definitely worth a watch many times over. Spriggan is truly a classic.