Spriggan
-Basic Info.-
American Distributor: AD Vision
Genre: Action
Episodes: N/A Theatrical Film
Executive Producers: Akito Yamashita, Hiroo Takimoto (Written by Katsuhiro Otomo, Mr. Akira)
My Suggested Age Group: 17 and up
Release Form: DVD
-Animation-
Incredible. Snow is amazing and the incorporation of effects like CG smoke into backgrounds add to the magnificently smooth quality of the animation.
Score: 10 of 10 (A)
-Story line/Plot-
Very in depth considering how quickly the film moves. Most of it occurs over the course of a single day, as opposed to films cramming weeks or months into 90 minutes. The ideas are deeply philosophical and extremely controversial. I admit, as a Christian I was made slightly uncomfortable by the manner in which certain religious references were made. I still enjoyed it though.
Score: 9 of 10 (A)
-Characters-
Wow. There are some powerful characters in "Spriggan." The main character, Ominae Yu, is probably what Heero Yuy would be like if he had an ego, a larynx, and no Gundam. There are some powerful moments (I know I'll get ridiculed for this but the voice acting was incredible in the dub) and Yu is definitely the focus of the picture. But there are some impressive occurrences among the lesser characters; such as a Scientist who comes to his own line between his humanity and his scientific curiosity. And one interesting thing that is not often seen was put in this film- The villains are in fact Americans
Score: 9 of 10 (A)
-Music-
While not quite up to par with Escaflowne and Mononoke Hime, the Soundtrack of Spriggan is respectable. The music fits very well but the same theme is used several times. The notes are accompanied by a vocalist and are powerful and dark. What's more, the staff knew how to incorporate silence into the film and did so very effectively.
Score: 8.5 of 10 (B)
-Content-
Spriggan is a very powerful film. But it has a major, major drawback.
The violence. To give you an idea of how intense the blood is.....The final dialogue on the DVD has about two curse words in all 90 minutes. However, the staff of ADV wanted to be certain that Spriggan received an "R" rating because THEY thought it was so intense that they created an alternate dialogue for the film containing language requiring an "R" rating just to be absolutely certain that the film was rated "R." But the violence spoke for itself so they didn't have to use it..........Listen, this is intense stuff. The amount of blood in Spriggan rivals AKIRA and the original VAMPIRE HUNTER D. The general summary is that all living things(even mecha) have about 7 gallons of blood. They can lose all of it and either remain fighting or die depending on their feelings at the moment. I liked the film but it must be scored appropriately.
Score: 6 of 10 (D)
-Final Score-
Spriggan receives a 87% (B).
-Summary-
Mankind has finally acknowledged that the civilizations of the past had an incredible power. A power controlling life itself. The people of that world grew sinful and were destroyed by God. Now, the secret multinational organization known as ARCAM was created for the sole purpose of keeping the secrets of that power buried, but...
"Noah will be your grave..."
In the mountains of Turkey, the ancient relic known as "Noah's Ark" has been found. This was the source of that ancient power. The power to control life and death for every single living thing on the planet. The U.S. Machine Corps. has sent it's most powerful agents to reprimand humanity while ARCAM must destroy the Ark before it's terrible power is realized. But one deranged mecha Colonel cripples ARCAM in a single strike and there is only one hope left for Earth. The lone remaining ARCAM elite soldiers;
The Spriggan...