SPRIGGAN, a Japanese animation film from director Hirotsuge Kawasaki, centers on Noah's Ark, a powerful artifact from an ancient civilization that is discovered on Mt. Ararat, Turkey. The discovery sets in motion a diabolical plot by the U.S. Pentagon to claim the object as its own property. Opposed to the Pentagon is Arkam, an organization employing armored solders, including the film's protagonist, Yu Ominae, a teenager with superior reflexes. Yu must summon all his strength to defeat the Pentagon's operatives: agile Little Boy, the tank-like Fat Man, and the super powerful brain Captain MacDougal, who looks less than 10 years old. The action in SPRIGGAN will more than satisfy explosion enthusiasts, while anyone who follows the career of the film's supervisor, Katsuhiro Otomo (AKIRA), will appreciate yet another story of a psychic child, a leitmotiv in Otomo's work.

Sketching for the animation was done in Turkey to provide realistic faces and backgrounds to the film, while computer animated effects inside the Ark are as disorienting as the effects in last third of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. The film is based on a manga of the same name, three volumes of which have been released in the U.S. as STRIKER. SPRIGGAN is the directorial debut of Kawasaki, whose love of the ultraviolent manga is evident in the film.

Original Production Year: 2000.

Theatrical release: October 12, 2001 (NY).

"Spriggan" is a fairy or elf from British folk tales; they are the caretakers of hidden treasures and act as bodyguards for fairies. The petite creatures can transform thesmselves into giants when threatened.

"Kawasaki is a big fan of the original comic, and he wanted keep Yu as close to the original as possible. That was very difficult to do. We had to work a lot on his face, because a slight difference in the positioning of his eyes or nose made a big difference. Jan has slant eyes in the original comic, but we made them more foreign-looking. Little Boy and Tanaka are also different from the original. I think we did good job adapting them. The most difficult suggestion from Kawasaki was to make the characters realistic but not plain."--Character designer and animation director Hisashi Eguchi, in comments that appear on the official SPRIGGAN web site.

"I made music for films such as THE STRANGEST STORIES and NIGHT HEAD. They also had very dark themes. This time I tried to make music that focused on the 'mind' aspect, and I succeeded in reaching for a different sound. Technically speaking, I have been trying to make new music by adding cyber space-like noise on the top of regular orchestral music. I consider the music for SPRIGGAN the most sophisticated work of its kind."--Composer Kuniaki Haishima, in comments that appear on the official SPRIGGAN web site.

Excerpt: "He's been indoctrinated with the objectives of the United States!"--General describing the brainwashing of a Cosmos soldier

"I'm not a number."--Yu to Captain MacDougal

"Still alive after that? You must have the life force of a cockroach."--Captain MacDougal to Yu Ominae

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Special Edition
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 - English
Dolby Digital 5.1 - Japanese, English
DTS - English
Subtitles - English - Optional
Additional Release Material:
Trailers: ADV Previews
Audio Commentary: Matt Greenfield - ADR Director, Voice Actors
Isolated Audio Track: Soundtrack

Hirotsuge Kawasaki: japanese anime director

Katsuhiro Otomo: Japanese anime director, AKIRA/STEAMBOY

Kuniaki Haishima: composer

"...SPRIGGAN features some of the finest Japanese animation seen in a dog's age..."
"[A] fascinating blend of western influences and Japanese perspectives."