released 01 jun 03 / last mod 01 jun 07 / greg goebel / public domain
* When I ran across details of the SPRIGGAN anime movie, I recognized from the description and cels that it was a video version of a manga by Hiroshi Takashige and Ryoji Minagawa that had been published in English as STRIKER. While STRIKER had been little more than a violent and not very original action story, if characterized by good artwork, the SPRIGGAN video was produced by Katsuhiro Otomo, of AKIRA fame, which added some interest to it.
The video follows the story line of the manga closely. After the discovery of ancient and potentially dangerous artifacts of a lost (and possibly not entirely human) civilization, an organization named ARCAM is formed to uncover and control these artifacts. Since there are a lot of bad guys who want to get their hands on these items, ARCAM is heavily armed, with their most formidable assets being the "Spriggans" (the "Strikers" of the English manga version), who are super-powered combat-trained teenagers -- sort of like Max / Jessica Alba in the DARK ANGEL TV series.
In a cavern in the top of Mount Ararat in Turkey, ARCAM stumbles on to their greatest find to date: Noah's Ark, which turns out to be an artifact of almost unimaginable power. A Pentagon group moves to take control of Noah's Ark from ARCAM, and the only things that stand in their way are two ARCAM Spriggans, Yu Ominae and his partner Jean.
The whole story concept owes something to INDIANA JONES, if implemented in a more techno style reminiscent of THE MATRIX. Despite following the manga story line closely, Katsuhiro Otomo has managed to make the story his own, trimming off some of the hokier features of the manga -- while adding in a new DARK ANGEL-like subplot to show the origins of Yu Ominae that actually enhances the story considerably. It also adopts Otomo's gritty, realistic (in the visual sense at least), and dark artwork style. In addition, SPRIGGAN has elements reminiscent of Otomo's AKIRA and, in the finale, the B-movie sci-fi classic QUATERMASS AND THE PIT.
* The first conclusion about SPRIGGAN is that it is very violent and entirely preposterous. To which the production crew would reply: "We know!" The whole thing was designed as a pure action flic, and not only makes no compromises with that formula but is downright enthusiastic about it. The viewer doesn't care how preposterous the story is, being too distracted by a thunderous, adrenalin-soaked, guns blazing on full auto, blood-spattered, high body count, maximum overdrive thrill ride. It's also supported by excellent, conscientious, "give the customers their money's worth" production values. The artwork is, if maybe not groundbreaking, consistently first-class; much attention is paid to details, particularly of weapons; and the action choreography is so wild that it could be viewed again just to see all that is going on.
SPRIGGAN is a pure guilty pleasure. Yes, it's wildly violent, but violence is what it's all about, it couldn't exist without it, and if you can buy into that you'll probably like this movie.