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.

Directors:

Hirotsugu Kawasaki, Katsuhiro Ôtomo

Writers:

Yasutaka Itô (script), Hirotsugu Kawasaki (script)

Stars:

Shôtarô Morikubo, Ryuji Aigase, Takehito Koyasu

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shôtarô Morikubo	...	Yu Ominae (voice)
Ryuji Aigase	...	Colonel MacDougal (voice)
Takehito Koyasu	...	Jean-Jacques Mondo (voice)
Katsumi Suzuki	...	Little Boy (voice)
Ken Shiroyama	...	Dr. Meisel (voice)
Sakiko Tamagawa	...	Margaret (voice)
Kenji Takano	...	Fat Man (voice)
Fumihiko Goto	...	Turkish Agent B (voice)
Dai Matsumoto	...	Manager (voice)
Hiroyuki Oshida	...	Guard B (voice)
Ikumi Kimura	...	Stewardess (voice)
Katsuhisa Hôki	...	Turkish Agent A (voice)
Kenichi Sakaguchi	...	N.C.O (voice)
Kinryû Arimoto	...	Yamamoto (voice)
Masaaki Yajima	...	Narrator (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.

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Plot Keywords:

older actors younger roles | driving | knife | power | artifact | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

A music CD soundtrack was released by ADV Films.

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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.

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Quotes

Little Boy: Whats the matter Sprggan? Can't take it?

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Crazy Credits

"The Spriggan Ice Cream Social Club"

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Alternate Versions

In the original subtitled prints of the film, Dr. Meisel says, "You Americans are so arrogant" in the scene where he's walking with McDougall. On the US DVD, the line was later changed to, "You're the product of arrogant minds." This was changed due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

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Connections

Referenced in Kill.switch (2003)

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Soundtracks

Jing Ling
Performed by Saju, Dennis Gunn, Nitza
Composed by Kuniaki Haishima

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.

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

5 September 1998 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Spriggan

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,420, 14 October 2001

Gross USA:

$25,824

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$25,824

Company Credits

Production Co:

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

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1