Spriggan (manga)

Spriggan (Japanese: スプリガン, Hepburn: Supurigan) is a Japanese manga series written by Hiroshi Takashige and illustrated by Ryōji Minagawa. Spriggan takes places 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.

Spriggan
Spriggan Japanese manga cover by Shogakukan
スプリガン
(Supurigan)
GenreAction, science fiction, thriller[1]
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
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
StudioDavid Production
Licensed byNetflix

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. A new anime adaptation by David Production has been announced.

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 issue #10 on February 22, 1989 to issue #51 on December 6 of the same year.[2][3][4] It was later published in Shōnen Sunday Zōkan from issue #8 in 1992 to issue #2 on February 5, 1996.[5][2] Eleven tankōbon volumes were released from June 1991 to June 1996,[6][7] with reprints in both 2001 and 2006 (including the unpublished stories "First Mission" and "Gold Rush").[8][9][10] Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd.'s licensing arm in North America, Viz Media, translated and published three out of eleven volumes as Striker after it was first serialized in Manga Vizion, before the company curtailed further translation.[11]

In Europe, two volumes were published in France and in French-speaking countries and territories by Glénat under the name Striker[12][13] in the Netherlands by Big Balloon, eleven volumes in Germany by Planet Manga,[14] 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.[15] Together with Ranma ½, it was the first manga published in Portugal, by Texto Editora in 1995.[16]

In Asia, the manga was released in Hong Kong by Jade Dynasty,[17] in Indonesia by Elex Media Komputindo,[18] 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,[19] in South Korea by Daiwon C.I. with the first 11 volumes followed by the 8 volume bunkoban[20][21] and in Taiwan as eleven full chapters translated into Mandarin by Tong Li Comics under the Youth Comic series label.[22][23]

Film

A film adaptation of the manga, using the Noah's Ark story, was produced by Studio 4°C[24] and distributed in Japanese cinemas by Toho. The movie was directed and story boarded by Hirotsugu Kawasaki,[25] written by Kawasaki and Yasutaka Itō,[25] and supervised by Katsuhiro Otomo.[26] 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.[27]

A Japanese release of the film on DVD was released by Bandai Visual under their Emotion label on April 25, 1999.[28] ADV Films released the film on DVD in all English-speaking countries outside Asia on April 23, 2002, with a special edition released on February 15, 2005,[29][30] with the exception of Australia and New Zealand, where the film was distributed by Madman Entertainment.[31]

The film was distributed in Hong Kong and some other Asian countries under Neovision[32] and released in Taiwan by Proware Multimedia International.[33] In Europe, it was produced in German by Anime Connection of Germany,[34] in Russian by MC Entertainment, [35] in Dutch by Dybex,[36] Italian by Dynit,[37] in Polish by IDG[38] and in Swedish by Sandrew Metronome.[32]

Spriggan was released in Japan on Blu-ray Disc format on November 11, 2007[39] with another release on July 25, 2008.[40]

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.[41] It can be played by either one or two players.[41] 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.[42]

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.[43] It has a total of 27 tracks.[43]

Anime

A new anime adaptation was announced on March 11, 2019. The series will be animated by David Production and released by Netflix.[44][45] The announcement was made in the April 2019 issue of Shogakukan's Monthly Shōnen Sunday (Gessan) magazine.[44]

The adaptation is part of a partnership with Netflix to have the anime aired around the world.[46]

Reception

According to Wilma Jandoc, she criticizes Spriggan for its Anti-American theme when she 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. If the issue were more relevant, perhaps it could have said something about America's lust for power. Instead, it comes off as a convenient plot device".[11]

gollark: Because that's my name.
gollark: Run `potatoplex [file]`.
gollark: No, I mean I already programmed that, it's in the code.
gollark: There is a mode where it reads lines from a file you specify, or something.
gollark: There's, er, sixel mode, duochrome mode, and slowpalette mode.

References
  1. O'Mara, Sean (September 13, 2018). "Spriggan Jumpstarts Our Look Back at 1998, 98 Degrees". Otaku USA. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  2. "サンデー名作ミュージアム". WebSunday (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on November 10, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
  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. 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. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  5. 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.
  6. "SPRIGGAN スプリガン / 1" (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
  7. "SPRIGGAN スプリガン / 11" (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
  8. スプリガン〔保存版〕 1 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  9. スプリガン〔小学館文庫〕 1 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  10. スプリガン〔保存版〕 8 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  11. Jandoc, Wilma. "Anime tackle world conquest, order". Star Bulletin. Retrieved November 2, 2008.
  12. "Striker" (in French). Animint. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  13. "Striker" (in French). Manga Sanctuary. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  14. "SPRIGGAN/STRIKER" (in German). Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  15. "Striker" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 25, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  16. Pedro Cleto (November 15, 2004). "Fenómeno Manga ameaça explosão". bedeteca.com (in Portuguese). Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  17. "Spriggan Vol.1". Yes Asia. Archived from the original on March 25, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  18. "Spriggan 01" (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on March 25, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  19. "Chuang Yi's Spriggan Page". Archived from the original on October 9, 2011.
  20. "스프리건 (SPRIGGAN) 01" (in Korean). Archived from the original on March 25, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  21. 스프리건 (in Korean). Archived from the original on March 25, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  22. 轟天高校生(一) (in Chinese). Archived from the original on March 25, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  23. 轟天高校生 7 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on March 26, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  24. James Mielke (October 18, 2005). "Interview with Studio 4C". 1UP. Retrieved February 2, 2001.
  25. "Spriggan". Toho. Archived from the original on August 3, 2016.
  26. "Katsuhiro Otomo Biography". Akira 2019. Archived from the original on August 22, 2018.
  27. Komatsu, Mikikazu (March 11, 2019). "Sci-Fi Action Manga Spriggan Gets New Anime Adaptation on Netflix". Crunchyroll. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  28. スプリガン【劇場版】 (in Japanese). Amazon Japan. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  29. "Spriggan on Amazon.com". Amazon.com. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  30. "Spriggan Special Edition on Amazon.com". Amazon.com. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  31. "Spriggan – DVD". Madman Entertainment. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  32. "Spriggan". Archived from the original on November 12, 2011.
  33. 商品列表 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on September 16, 2011.
  34. "Labelinfos – OVA Films" (in German). Archived from the original on July 28, 2009.
  35. "DVD License" (in Russian). Archived from the original on March 25, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  36. "Anime". Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  37. "Spriggan" (in Italian). Dynit. Archived from the original on November 12, 2007.
  38. "Spriggan" (in Polish). Archived from the original on February 11, 2009.
  39. "スプリガン (First release)" (in Japanese). Amazon Japan. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  40. "スプリガン (Second release)" (in Japanese). Amazon Japan. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  41. "Spriggan: Lunar Verse" (in Japanese). FromSoftware. Archived from the original on June 10, 2012. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  42. Allistair Pinsof (September 20, 2012). "It Came From Japan! Spriggan: Lunar Verse". Destructoid. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
  43. "Spriggan Lunar Verse Original Sound Track". VGMdb. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
  44. Pineda, Rafael Antonio (March 11, 2019). "Spriggan Manga Gets Netflix Anime Series by David Production". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  45. Schley, Matt (March 10, 2019). "Spriggan Manga Gets New Anime Series from Netflix". Otaku USA. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  46. "NETFLIX GROWS ANIME PROGRAMMING THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS WITH LEADING JAPANESE PRODUCTION COMPANIES". Netflix Media Center. March 11, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
Miscellaneous notes
  1. ^ Cancelled from serialization after 3 volumes
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