Spriggan (1998)

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

Director:

Hirotsugu Kawasaki

Writers:

Yasutaka Itô, Hirotsugu Kawasaki

Stars:

J.D. Hawkins, Chris Patton, Kevin Corn

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:
Ryuji Aigase	...	Colonel MacDougal
C. Markham Anderson	...	ARCAM Explorer, Additional Voices (voice)
Ross Bautsch	...	COSMOS Yu (voice)
Bob Biggerstaff	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Victor Carsrud	...	Additional Voices (voice)

Storyline

Yu is a young man who has a past he desperately wants to forget. His present is that he is a superhuman top agent for Arcan, an organization dedicated to protecting ancient artifacts to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. However, he receives several bloody messages, culminating in the suicide of a friend, telling that Noah would be his death. In response, Yu travels to Turkey to visit the Arcan dig at Mount Arrat, where Noah's Ark is supposed to have rested. Along the way there and at the destination, he learns of forces of his past have returned to stop him and sieze control of the Ark, which turns out to be an alien device of ultimate power.

---

Plot Keywords:

artifact | power | noah's ark | psionic power | blizzard | 

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Spriggan Website (English)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

12 October 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Спригган

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$7,420 (USA) (12 October 2001)

Gross:

$7,420 (USA) (12 October 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bandai Visual Company, Studio 4°C, Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Fatman and Little Boy are the names of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

---

Goofs

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.

---

Connections

Referenced in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001)

---

Soundtracks

"Jing Ling"
Performed by 'Saju'

User Reviews

raiders of the lost arc on drugs with akira

Yu is a member of the group ARCAM; a organization set to hide and stop people from uncovering ancient artifacts. Yu is also a Spriggan, an elite fighting machine. He's strong, fast, agile and extremely deadly. When one of Yu's friend commits suicide with the message that Noah will be your grave, Yu starts to investigate. Colonel MacDougall, a psychic experiment kid, has found Noah's Ark and intends to use it to start a new world.

Spriggan is a visually amazing animation that puts you right into the action. The action sequences are fast paced and intensely violent. The inter film moves at a lightning pace, it doesn't stop to take a breath. So in that respect it isn't boring. But the draw back is the script. At times it seems heavy handed and doesn't explain everything. It doesn't have much depth to it, but its a very interesting topic to use. The action does pick up the flaws of the script, but action cant always save a film from bad writing.

Taking it ques from Raiders of the Lost Ark and Akira, its a wild and extremely fun ride, it just could have been a lot more.