Spriggan (manga)

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Spriggan
Spriggan Japan Cover.jpg
Manga volume 1 cover, featuring Yu Ominae
スプリガン
(Supurigan)
Genre
Manga
Written byHiroshi Takashige
Illustrated byRyōji Minagawa
Published byShogakukan
English publisher
ImprintShōnen Sunday Comics Special
Magazine
DemographicShōnen
Original runFebruary 22, 1989 – February 5, 1996
Volumes11 (List of volumes)
Anime film
Directed byHirotsugu Kawasaki
Produced by
  • Kazuhiko Ikeguchi
  • Kazuya Hamana
  • Haruo Sai
  • Eiko Tanaka
  • Ayao Ueda
Music byKuniaki Haishima
StudioStudio 4°C
Licensed by
ADV Films
ReleasedSeptember 5, 1998
Runtime91 minutes
Game
Spriggan: Lunar Verse
DeveloperFrom Liquid Mirror Software
PublisherFromSoftware
GenreAction, adventure
PlatformPlayStation
ReleasedJune 17, 1999
Original net animation
Directed byHiroshi Kobayashi
Written byHiroshi Seko
StudioDavid Production
Licensed byNetflix
Released 2022 – scheduled
Wikipe-tan face.svg Anime and manga portal

Spriggan (Japanese: スプリガン, Hepburn: Supurigan) (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written by Hiroshi Takashige and illustrated by Ryōji Minagawa. Spriggan takes place in the last years of the Cold War where mysterious and unknown artifacts called out-of-place artifacts (OOPArt) are discovered in various parts of the world, leading to a secret war between various forces against the ARCAM Corporation, an organization that placed itself the guardians of the OOPArts in order to prevent them from being used as weapons. It was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazines Weekly Shōnen Sunday and Shōnen Sunday Zōkan from 1989 to 1996.

The manga was adapted into an anime film by Studio 4°C in 1998. A PlayStation game called Spriggan: Lunar Verse was also based on the manga with some material created for the game. An original net animation (ONA) anime series adaptation by David Production is scheduled for a 2022 premiere on Netflix.

It was initially released as Striker in the North American English translation.

Plot[]

Main article: List of Spriggan characters

Many years ago, an ancient civilization known for their advanced technology once ruled Earth, but were destroyed in the end by their misuse. So, they left messages for later generations in the form of indestructible message plates written in ancient Hebrew, informing them that if they could not find a good use for their creations, they should be destroyed.

Various paramilitaries, national armies, and armed private forces began to secretly search for these "mysterious artifacts" in order to be used for their own good and against their enemies. The ARCAM Corporation and their military arm, the ARCAM Private Army, can stop these forces from destroying themselves with their elite secret agents known as Spriggans (or Strikers).

Media[]

Manga[]

The manga was initially published by Shogakukan in Weekly Shōnen Sunday from February 22 (issue #10 of 1989) to December 6, 1989 (issue #51 of 1989).[2][3][4] It was later published in Shōnen Sunday Zōkan (renamed Shōnen Sunday Super in 1995) from August 15, 1992 (issue #8 of 1992) to February 5, 1996 (issue #2 of 1996).[5][6][2] Eleven tankōbon volumes were released from June 18, 1991 to June 18, 1996,[7][8] with reprints in both 2001 and 2006 (including the unpublished stories "First Mission" and "Gold Rush").[9][10][11] In North America, Viz Media translated and published three out of eleven volumes of the series, titled as Striker, after it was first serialized in Manga Vizion before the company curtailed further translation.[12]

In Europe, two volumes were published in France and in French-speaking countries and territories by Glénat under the name Striker[13][14] in the Netherlands by Big Balloon, eleven volumes in Germany by Planet Manga,[15] and three full volume in Spain and in Spanish-speaking territories and countries by Planeta DeAgostini in 1993 followed by a reprint from 1996 to 1997[16] with another reprint announced on July 15, 2021 via its Spanish Twitter account.[17] Together with Ranma ½, it was the first manga published in Portugal, by Texto Editora in 1995.[18]

In Asia, the manga was released in Hong Kong by Jade Dynasty,[19] in Indonesia by Elex Media Komputindo,[20] in Malaysia as part of an installment in a fortnightly comic magazine, Komik Remaja (but was cancelled during the Noah's Ark story arc due to 'inappropriate religious elements'), in Singapore with all 11 volumes fully translated by Chuang Yi in English,[21] in South Korea by Daiwon C.I. with the first 11 volumes followed by the 8 volume bunkoban[22][23] and in Taiwan as eleven full chapters translated into Mandarin by Tong Li Comics under the Youth Comic series label.[24][25]

Volume list[]

No. Japanese release date Japanese ISBN
1 June 18, 1991[7]4-09-122591-8
2 August 9, 1991[26]4-09-122592-6
3 September 18, 1992[27]4-09-122593-4
4 March 18, 1993[28]4-09-122594-2
5 August 10, 1993[29]4-09-122595-0
6 May 18, 1994[30]4-09-122596-9
7 August 10, 1994[31]4-09-122597-7
8 March 18, 1995[32]4-09-122598-5
9 August 10, 1995[33]4-09-122599-3
10 March 18, 1996[34]4-09-122600-0
11 June 18, 1996[8]4-09-122836-4

Film[]

A film adaptation of the manga, using the Noah's Ark story, was produced by Studio 4°C[35] and distributed in Japanese cinemas by Toho. The movie was directed and story boarded by Hirotsugu Kawasaki,[36] written by Kawasaki and Yasutaka Itō,[36] and supervised by Katsuhiro Otomo.[37] Hiroshi Takashige and Ryoji Minagawa had a hand in assisting the director through production. It made around 350 million yen during its debut in Japanese theaters.[38]

A Japanese release of the film on DVD was released by Bandai Visual under their Emotion label on April 25, 1999.[39] ADV Films released the film in a limited theatrical release in the United States on October 12, 2001[40] and on DVD in all English-speaking countries outside Asia on April 23, 2002, with a special edition released on February 15, 2005,[41][42] with the exception of Australia and New Zealand, where the film was distributed by Madman Entertainment.[43]

The film was distributed in Hong Kong and some other Asian countries under Neovision[44] and released in Taiwan by Proware Multimedia International.[45] In Europe, it was produced in German by Anime Connection of Germany,[46] in Russian by MC Entertainment,[47] in Dutch by Dybex,[48] Italian by Dynit,[49] in Polish by IDG[50] and in Swedish by Sandrew Metronome.[44]

Spriggan was released in Japan on Blu-ray Disc format on November 11, 2007,[51] with another release on July 25, 2008.[52]

Video game[]

PlayStation cover of Spriggan: Lunar Verse.

On June 16, 1999, FromSoftware released a video game adaptation in Japan and Asia of Spriggan for the PlayStation named Spriggan: Lunar Verse with an initial street price of ¥6,090.[53] It can be played by either one or two players.[53] It was a 3D action-adventure game, and it anticipated design elements which were later popularized by action games such as the Devil May Cry series and modern Ninja Gaiden games.[54]

A soundtrack of the game, composed by Keiichiro Segawa, Tsukasa Saito, and Yuji Kanda, was released by Absord Music Japan and distributed by King Records on November 26, 1999.[55] It has a total of 27 tracks.[55]

Original net animation[]

An original net animation (ONA) series adaptation was announced on March 11, 2019.[56] The series will be animated by David Production. Originally set for a release on Netflix in 2021,[57] it is scheduled for a 2022 premiere on the streaming platform.[58]

The announcement was made by Netflix Japan's Twitter account in the April 2019 issue of Shogakukan's Monthly Shōnen Sunday (Gessan) magazine.[56][59] The series is directed by Hiroshi Kobayashi, with Hiroshi Seko handling series' composition and Shūhei Handa designing the characters.[57] Shōhei Miyake serves as the assistant director.[60]

The adaptation is part of a partnership with Netflix to have the anime aired around the world.[61]

Reception[]

Wilma Jandoc, reviewing the film adaptation in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, wrote that it primarily stands out through its portrayal of the United States, which plays an antagonistic role. Jandoc described the depiction of "the U.S. leadership" as "at once so mismatched and perfect that it's funny," approving of their portrayal as power-hungry but expressing disbelief at the concept of the U.S. government being deeply concerned about the environment. At the same time, Jandoc remarked that "any other country could have been put in its place—Russia, China, North Korea—and still it would have just been a nation's name, nothing more," feeling that an opportunity for more substantial criticism was missed.[12]

References[]

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  3. ^ 週刊少年サンデー 1989年 表示号数10. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  4. ^ 週刊少年サンデー 1989年 表示号数51. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  5. ^ 週刊少年サンデー増刊号 1992年. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  6. ^ 週刊少年サンデー超（週刊少年サンデー増刊） 1996年 表示号数2. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
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  9. ^ スプリガン〔保存版〕 1 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  10. ^ スプリガン〔小学館文庫〕 1 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
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  25. ^ 轟天高校生 7 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on March 26, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
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  29. ^ SPRIGGAN スプリガン / 5 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on June 3, 2004. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  30. ^ SPRIGGAN スプリガン / 6 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on June 3, 2004. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  31. ^ SPRIGGAN スプリガン / 7 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on June 3, 2004. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  32. ^ SPRIGGAN スプリガン / 8 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on June 3, 2004. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  33. ^ SPRIGGAN スプリガン / 9 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on June 3, 2004. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  34. ^ SPRIGGAN スプリガン / 10 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on June 3, 2004. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
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  37. ^ "Katsuhiro Otomo Biography". Akira 2019. Archived from the original on August 22, 2018.
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  39. ^ スプリガン【劇場版】 (in Japanese). Amazon Japan. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  40. ^ "Spriggan". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
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  45. ^ 商品列表 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on September 16, 2011.
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  47. ^ "DVD License" (in Russian). Archived from the original on March 25, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  48. ^ "Anime". Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  49. ^ "Spriggan" (in Italian). Dynit. Archived from the original on November 12, 2007.
  50. ^ "Spriggan" (in Polish). Archived from the original on February 11, 2009.
  51. ^ "スプリガン (First release)" (in Japanese). Amazon Japan. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  52. ^ "スプリガン (Second release)" (in Japanese). Amazon Japan. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  53. ^ Jump up to: a b "Spriggan: Lunar Verse" (in Japanese). FromSoftware. Archived from the original on June 10, 2012. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  54. ^ Allistair Pinsof (September 20, 2012). "It Came From Japan! Spriggan: Lunar Verse". Destructoid. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
  55. ^ Jump up to: a b "Spriggan Lunar Verse Original Sound Track". VGMdb. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
  56. ^ Jump up to: a b Pineda, Rafael Antonio (March 11, 2019). "Spriggan Manga Gets Netflix Anime Series by David Production". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  57. ^ Jump up to: a b Mateo, Alex (October 5, 2020). "Spriggan Netflix Anime Reveals Visual, Staff, 2021 Premiere". Anime News Network. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  58. ^ Pineda, Rafael (July 8, 2021). "Spriggan Anime Series' 2nd Teaser Reveals 2022 Delay, More Staff". Anime News Network. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  59. ^ Beltrano, Jei (October 6, 2020). ""Spriggan" anime series premieres 2021 worldwide exclusively on Netflix, visual and staff have been revealed". Ani Radio Plus. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  60. ^ Pineda, Rafael (May 6, 2021). "Netflix's Spriggan Anime Unveils More Staff, New Visual". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  61. ^ "NETFLIX GROWS ANIME PROGRAMMING THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS WITH LEADING JAPANESE PRODUCTION COMPANIES". Netflix Media Center. March 11, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2019.

External links[]

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