Spriggan Special Edition (1998)
Animation Production: Bandai Visual/Shogakukan/TBS/Toho/Studio 4C
Released by: ADV Films
Running Time: 90 Minutes
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

In recent weeks we’ve been watching a lot of releases that demanded a certain degree of attention and time investment due to their multi-layered plots, complex character development and/or unique universes the stories take place in. Looking for something a little different and more action oriented to take on I decided to pop in ADV Film’s new Special Edition release of Spriggan into my DVD player.

Although I’ve heard of this film before this was my first time checking it out myself so I was looking forward to seeing something in the spirit of all those great summer flicks we love to watch each year, which is how Spriggan has been described to me in the past as being like (that is, a fun popcorn movie). Let’s take a look at this one and see what it’s all about.

Story

"The ancient artifact known as Noah’s Ark has been uncovered. Buried underneath the North Pole and forgotten since before the birth of history, the Ark holds the potential to elevate its controller to the status of a god... as well as the power to wipe mankind from the face of the Earth in a second! Now, a desperate battle erupts across the planet as two secret organizations race to recover the lost ark - one seeks to destroy it, and the other wants to use its massive power to enslave the human race! Monstrous half-human cyborgs face off against Earth’s ultimate defenders, the secret organization known as ARCAM and their elite agents, the Spriggan, in an epic duel with the future of the world as the prize!"-- ADV's Spriggan Special Edition Page

Review

Let me start by saying that Spriggan is one HELL of a movie. From beginning to end it captured my attention and never let go for one second. Simply put this is one of the most fun-filled, action fests that I’ve come across in the anime world that wasn’t done in a completely mindless form. Spriggan actually had a great story and interesting characters to back up its main attraction and that’s key to the success of any good action thriller like this one.

The basic premise is a simple one, Noah’s Ark has been found and it is determined that it possesses technology beyond that of the current civilization and may hold powers beyond our imagination. After the discovery is made two secret organizations enter a desperate race to claim the Ark and its secrets as their own, the Pentagon, which thinks the Ark can help the U.S. establish itself as the ultimate super power and the secret organization known as ARCAM, a clandestine group that works undercover to secure ancient artifacts believed to hold great powers or technology to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands as this would mean certain catastrophe for the world.

At the center of this conflict we find a young man by the name of Yu Ominae, who despite his appearance as a typical high school student is in reality ARCAM’s top Spriggan operative. His physical abilities and strategic combat mindset are second to none and these prove rather useful as he's pitted against impossibly strong opponents in his mission to find out who is after him and why they want Noah’s Ark. Supporting him are several other ARCAM operatives as well as the scientific research group heading up the Noah’s Ark project.

While at first this setup may sound like something ripped off from the Indiana Jones trilogy of films or something akin to them, the only real connection that could be made here is that in both this movie and that series the main character is on a mission to recover or protect an ancient artifacts connected to biblical stories and preventing people with evil plans for those items to find them. The execution of this theme in Spriggan stands in great contrast to those of the classic Harrison Ford movies as it takes place in a more futuristic world where advanced technology is helping both sides out in their individual quests.

The overall direction of the movie is action oriented, featuring several mind-blowing battles that slowly snowball from beautifully choreographed gun exchanges in the middle of a Turkish market, to an amazing hand to hand combat scenes in the mountain range where the Ark is located, to the unbelievable final encounter deep inside Noah’s Ark, which goes beyond the physical combat we’ve see throughout the movie and into a more metaphysical realm of action. Each of these scenes is masterfully crafted in such a way that you can’t help but think that real actors were filmed and traced to create the 2-D cel animation used to convey the characters. In a way you could say it’s very Disney-esque.

The plot which is mostly there to help setup the fight and gunplay scenes is quite interesting and proves to be just as fun a component of the film as the eye candy is. The last thirty minutes in particular when all the main players assemble inside the Ark are by far the best and prove to be a good wrap up of the movie, albeit it feels a little open ended, almost as if they wanted the door open for future Spriggan projects, which I’m sure is the case, based on the popularity of the original manga work by Chu Takasige and Ryoji Minagawa, which Spriggan is based on.

Character development in Spriggan is limited, due to the 90 minute running time, but what did make the cut is excellent. Yu being the film’s main player sees the most profound evolution by the end of the story thanks to a series of flashbacks and revelations, but other secondary characters like Mac Dougall and Fat Man also get their moments to show us why they act the way they do and why they stand against ARCAM’s top Spriggan operative.

On the production end there is no question that a good amount of money was invested in the animation as it shows. Everything has that refined, ultra-smooth cinematic touch to it that few anime titles have outside of big releases like Ghost in the Shell, Akira or Spirited Away. Characters move realistically, vehicles are rendered with great attention to detail and the background art sometimes is life-like. The one area that surprised me a bit were the computer rendered effects as they came off as less than impressive in some instances. That's not to say they were poor, but compared to the hand drawn animation they just didn't seem as good.

The soundtrack for Spriggan is lush with several compositions that are befitting of a film with exotic locations and a grand scale plot like this one. Orchestrated pieces range from instrumental-only compositions to tracks that make a hauntingly good use of chants for atmospheric effect. With this Special Edition release ADV Films includes a copy of the full soundtrack on CD so there is ample opportunity for you to enjoy each composition on its own, which to me is a huge plus. The voice acting for both the Japanese and North American casts is fantastic with both of them turning very realistic portrayals of their 2-D personas.

So what makes this package a Special Edition release of Spriggan? First there’s the packaging, a beautiful box with the triangle used to turn on Noah’s Ark embossed in the front. Inside this box you’ll find both the movie and the soundtrack on individual cases. The soundtrack includes 20 musical selections from the film and is definitely worth listening to. The DVD contains the movie in its original aspect ration of 1:1.85 and in anamorphic widescreen. Language selections include both the Japanese and English tracks in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. There is also an option for the English soundtrack in DTS Surround Sound. Extras include staff commentary with Matt Greenfield and Christopher Bourque, voice actor commentary with Chris Patton and Kelly Manison. Finally, previews of other ADV Films’ releases are included.

Final Thoughts

If you love anime you simply have to include Spriggan in your collection. With this release ADV Films has given us the definite version of the film and as such I can’t recommend it highly enough. This the type of movie that really takes you back to why it is that you love anime.

A must buy! Simple as that.

Jeffrey Couto