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Omg Anime-ERA, how come you didn't tell me SPRIGGAN was so tight!?

Vex

Vex

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,213
This clip popped up in my feed (some blood beware) Some sort of mercenary unit vs a "fatman" and a "wire assassin":



This is unbelievable animation. The detail of smoke and snow crushing. The sound design of metal bending and busting. The way the camera moves around the hand drawn (?) action. The choreography. OOOooooh SHIT!?

They don't make em like this anymore wow. I want to cry.

That turbo guy with the wires was LETHAL. As is the normal guy in the blue coat. Fast af. OOF.
 
NESpowerhouse

NESpowerhouse

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,703
Virginia
Vex said:
Ahh so the plot is the weakness. Cuz I'm looking at this and Wondering why I've never even heard of this before.
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It definitely seems like the movie is made for those familiar with the source material, so in that case, I would recommend giving the manga a look as well. It's pretty decent from what I've heard.
 
Galaxea

Galaxea

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,423
Orlando, FL
any word on the new Netflix Spriggan? Is it a show based on the manga or a movie? I remember watching the movie a long time ago.
 
toy_brain

toy_brain

Member
Nov 1, 2017
2,207
Vex said:
They don't make em like this anymore wow. I want to cry.
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They sure don't.
Back in my younger days when I was a really embarrassing anime dweeb, this is one of a very small handful of DVD's I could get a 'normie' to watch and they'd really enjoy it. It has great animation, plenty of action and violence, minimal downtime, and the plot (while ultimately forgettable) was easy to follow.
I think the ADV dub was also decent-ish for the time.
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,246
Vex said:
This clip popped up in my feed (some blood beware) Some sort of mercenary unit vs a "fatman" and a "wire assassin":



This is unbelievable animation. The detail of smoke and snow crushing. The sound design of metal bending and busting. The way the camera moves around the hand drawn (?) action. The choreography. OOOooooh SHIT!?

They don't make em like this anymore wow. I want to cry.

That turbo guy with the wires was LETHAL. As is the normal guy in the blue coat. Fast af. OOF.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


The director was also part of Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Ninja Scroll. Pretty much the triumvirate of the 90s western releases.
I just bought the 4K releases of the first two as well, and they still hold up.
 
Hoggle

Hoggle

Member
Mar 25, 2021
6,121
Haven't watched it in over a decade but the plot is very thin. Loved the animation though. Wish my DVD wasn't a 240p non-anamorphic copy.
 

mrmoose

Member
Nov 13, 2017
21,272
NESpowerhouse said:
It definitely seems like the movie is made for those familiar with the source material, so in that case, I would recommend giving the manga a look as well. It's pretty decent from what I've heard.
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Is it even still available? IIRC Viz didn't even release all of it (though they did finish Project ARMS at least, which is similarly not available anymore)
 
XaviConcept

XaviConcept

Art Director for Videogames
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
4,970
Best thing about that movie is just watching the cool clips and not watch the movie. Shame too cause when its good, its amazing.

I believe the manga is highly regarded though, if you wanna get into that.
 
Violence Jack

Violence Jack

Drive-in Mutant
Member
Oct 25, 2017
42,022
Spriggan had some slick visuals and great action, but no one could tell you what it was actually about. That was par for the course with quite a few OAVs back then.
 

Deleted member 11637

Oct 27, 2017
18,204
lvl 99 Pixel said:
I feel similarly about other 90s gorefests like Ninja Scroll. At the time it was something to show the other kids who weren't really into anime how edgy it was, even if they were ultimately really juvenile pieces of media.
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Yeah, the writing was rarely the point of a lot of these projects, and while it's a shame a lot of them don't hold up, others I had ignored at the time are fantastic.

Bubblegum Crisis: great music, otherwise meh.
Dirty Pair: 10/10
Gunbuster: still a guilty pleasure
Armitage III: god awful

Spriggan is...fine, but I'd still be tempted to buy a North American Blu Ray if it ever released. Is the commentary track on the Spriggan DVD worth a listen?
 
Charsace

Charsace

Chicken Chaser
Member
Nov 22, 2017
2,872
Gunbuster is a classic and still one of the best sci-fi anime. That ending was powerful.
 
Dunfisch

Dunfisch

Member
Oct 25, 2017
222
Man, I've had a DVD of this ages ago. I still remember the DTS track being like "Daaaaaayum" - you really could feel the oomph when something blew up. The sound was top tier.
 
hikarutilmitt

hikarutilmitt

"This guy are sick"
Member
Dec 16, 2017
11,482
âś“ Studio 4C
âś“ Katsuhiro Otomo
âś“ Late 90s movie release

I mean, it has hit written all over it, particularly for the Western anime-watchers that aren't super deep into things beyond the "mainstays" like akira, GITS and, well, other Otomo stuff.

The story won't mean a whole lot unless you've read the manga, because it adapts a particular story arc from it. The good news for (potential) fans is that Seven Seas has licensed the manga so it'll finally get a full English release.
 
Rackham

Rackham

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,532
There's a few really well animated but boring anime movies. Not sure why you'd want to watch them unless you really just want some fluid animation
 
BlackGoku03

BlackGoku03

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,283
Vex said:
Ahh so the plot is the weakness. Cuz I'm looking at this and Wondering why I've never even heard of this before.
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It helps if you've read the manga but overall, the movie is pretty self contained and easy to understand.

But yes, it's a great looking film and I've got it on DVD.

They're making a Netflix anime series with the same name…
 
Ruisu

Ruisu

Banned
Aug 1, 2019
5,535
Brasil
Oh it's a movie? They do still make these and they usually also have pretty amazing animation. Unless you mean like, the semi-realistic setting with guns and military vehicles and such.
 
New002

New002

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,716
The story was nothing to write home about, but I still loved it back in the day if only for the action scenes. Still have my DVD copy.
 
Metal Gear?!

Metal Gear?!

Member
Jun 26, 2020
1,749
Spriggan's plot is basically "you're watching episodes 3 and 4 of a 4 episode OAV series from the late 90s" and this honestly happened way too many times to count.


Darkspellmaster said:
It's one of those anime where the msnga is better and your better off watching clips.
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I don't know if I would call the manga better, but it's amusing how different it is from the original manga, which is old enough to be a cold war era work where the titular Spriggan corps use their super cool crysis nanosuits to fight off both America and the Soviet Union, and Noah's Ark is more like the traditional wooden boat depictions but is impenetrable because it's frozen in time. The movie successfully pivots the setting to being criticism of pre-911 but post-WTC 1993 Bombing War on Terror American Imperialism. Amusingly the studio expressed concerns with how critical the movie was of America but the writer pointed out how intensely cynical and critical American entertainment of the time was of its own government, citing the X-Files, and you know, fair point.
 
Ra

Ra

Rap Genius
Moderator
Oct 27, 2017
12,261
Dark Space
I remember popping in the Spriggan DVD that I got during one of those amazing sales Rghtstuf use to run, and my dad just so happened to sit down next to me.

That was the first anime movie he sat through the entire thing and really enjoyed, thought is was great.
 
OP
OP
Vex

Vex

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,213
Erigu said:
I think I like that part better:

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Yo, the way he threw the knife at that camera at the end! That was fly as fuck! I was wondering who he was talking to.


But yea, the animation has a certain "realism" to it that I can't say I see often. It is almost like they traced over real people to get it looking right because I honestly don't know how people come up with stuff like that. When the guy started walking towards the MC with that blade, it looked so realistic movement-wise that it made me feel uncomfortable lol! Bravo! Amazing animation!
 
Doomguy Fieri

Doomguy Fieri

Member
Nov 3, 2017
5,289
I love so much about this era of anime. Not just how many OAVs had very high quality animation, but the dumb story tropes. A little hunched over freak with a high pitched laugh. Heroes with body types that could be described as "square."
 
theMrCravens

theMrCravens

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,326
I know this thread is about the original OVA, but couldn't find any for the new Netflix show released this week, which was pretty dope.

I really enjoyed it. The 6 episode format was good too.
There's some slight animation quality dip at times (from 2D to speudo 3D), but it isn't noticeable that much compared to other Netflix shows.
 
neoak

neoak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,341
Watching episode 2 of the series which covers the same ark as the movie.

Damn man, the series is such a downgrade in pacing, characters, action lol. If only it was hour long episodes at least.

The voice they casted for McDougal for the series, meh.

Movie still holds up so good. Too bad getting a BD is pretty much impossible.

And the music in the series is so Zzzzzzz.... Movie OST was too good.
 
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