Spriggan (manga)
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| Spriggan | |||
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| スプリガン (Spriggan) |
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| Genre | Action, Adventure, History, Military, Shōnen | ||
| Manga: Spriggan | |||
| Authored by | Hiroshi Takashige, Ryoji Minagawa | ||
| Publisher |  Shogakukan |
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| Serialized in | Weekly Shonen Sunday Komik Remaja (Defunct) |
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| Original run | 1989 – 1996 | ||
| No. of volumes | 11 | ||
| OVA: Spriggan | |||
| Directed by | Hirotsugu Kawasaki | ||
| Studio | Studio 4°C, Toho | ||
| No. of episodes | 1 | ||
| Released | 1998 |
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| Runtime | 90 min. | ||
Spriggan (スプリガン Supurigan?) is a manga series created by Hiroshi Takashige and Ryoji Minagawa during the early 1990s. For a short time, it was known as Striker in the North American English translation since it is the meaning of Spriggan when it is translated from Celtic. [1]
Contents |
[edit] Story
Many years ago, an ancient civilization once ruled Earth. They were known for advanced artifacts and machines, but were destroyed in the end due to the misuse of their creations. Creating indestructible message plates written in Hebrew, these people left messages for later generations, informing them that if they could not find a good use for their creations, they should be destroyed.
Various entities such as 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. Only the ARCAM Corporation can stop these forces from destroying themselves with these "advanced" machines. With the help of its military arm, the ARCAM Private Army and their elite secret agents known as Spriggans (or Strikers), ARCAM plans to turn the tides of battle against those who would threaten the safety of humanity by using the dangerous artifacts.
[edit] Characters
Yu Ominae is a Japanese Spriggan agent stationed in Japan. He is the main protagonist in the manga and in the OVA.
Jean Jacquemonde is a French Spriggan agent stationed in France. He is a fierce lycanthrope, only being able to transform if he sees his own blood and revert to his human form if people are dead, wounded or gone from his area of sight.
Tea Flatte is a British Spriggan agent stationed in Britain. She has mystical skills, including the ability to summon Calling Beasts. She also happens to have secrets of her own.
Oboro is a Japanese Spriggan agent stationed in Japan alongside Yu. He uses Qigong and Dim Mak attacks to disable or kill his opponents.
Yamamoto is the head of the ARCAM Corporation's Japanese headquarters. He is also believed to be an ex-Spriggan agent.
Rie Yamabishi is a Japanese American linguistics expert who has graduated from Cornell University and works as a professor before returning to her native Japan and assist the ARCAM Corporation in several events.
Yoshino Somei is a teenaged mercenary and thief who steals out-of-place artifacts to the highest bidder.
Mayzel is an ARCAM scientist responsible for refining Omihalcon into various weapons and equipment.
Iwao Akatsuki is a Japanese operative working for the Trident Corporation.
Bo Brantz is a German Neo-Nazi fanatic and agent who works for Kutheimer's Neo-Nazi faction based in Egypt.
Larry Markson is the American head of the Trident Corporation, serving as its de facto leader while using Campbell Company, the Clovers Heavy Industries and Takasumi Zaibatsu as legal cover.
Henry Garnum is the British ARCAM Corporation official who was secretly in league with Larry Markson after gaining some influnce over the company.
Sho Kanaya is a brainwashed COSMOS child soldier of Japanese origin.
- See also: List of minor Spriggan characters
[edit] Organizations
- ARCAM Corporation
- Founded in the United States, it has branches covering all countries from across the globe. Its mission is to covertly secure and/or destroy all ancient artifacts (whether they would be items, machines, ruins, etc.) from all known enemies that may use them for their own benefit.
- Its breakthrough was the refinement of Omihalcon, a strong metal that was used for ARCAM's Armored Muscle Suit and on Yu Ominae's Omihalcon combat knife. MJ-12 and Trident Corporation were able to refine their own Omihalcon suits, mostly based/stolen from ARCAM's research.
See ARCAM Corporation for more information.
- ARCAM Private Army
- The ARCAM Corporation's paramilitary wing, its duties vary but their main purpose is to conduct offensive and defensive operation on various out-of-place artifact locations and its aggressors, ranging from private corporate military wings to national militaries.
See ARCAM Private Army for more information.
- Trident Corporation
- Founded by NATO originally as an R&D Division, it soon went rogue and broke away for unknown reasons and was soon declared as an illegal organization. Currently, it stands as an artifact-recovering corporation and it is heavily funded by the Campbell Company (European Corporation, possibly British), the Clovers Heavy Industries (American Corporation) and the Takasumi Zaibatsu (Japanese Corporation).
- Its greatest breakthrough was with the creation of the Omihalcon Armored Machine Suit. One of its users was worn by Japanese Trident Corp. operator Iwao Akatsuki, apparently based on ARCAM's Armored Muscle Suit. They use discovered ancient artifacts in order to refine them as potential military weapons.
See Trident Corporation for more information.
- COSMOS (Children Of Soldier Machine Organic System)
- A black-ops unit of the US Army and sponsored by the Pentagon, most of its soldiers are child soldiers who were kidnapped by CIA agents/US Army soldiers from around the world and brainwashed.
See COSMOS for more information.
- Spriggans
- Part of the ARCAM Private Army's divisions, consisting of special agents recruited by the ARCAM Corporation in order to do covert work in hostile areas without compromising the company.
See Spriggans for more information.
[edit] Mystical Artifacts
(This list is incomplete)
- Fire Orb
- Discovered near Mount Fuji in Japan by an ARCAM archaeological expedition, it soon became the "apple" of the CIA and the KGB as it possessed extraordinary powers. ARCAM made its first move and had sent for Rie Yamabishi in order to get more details on the artifact.
- The orb allows the user to control any active volcano anywhere from around the world.
- After the Russians have failed, COSMOS stepped up its attempts to locate it and kidnapped Rie and Akiha during a COSMOS-led operation on ARCAM's Japanese branch in order to secure details on the location of the Fire Orb.
- Instigators: U.S. (CIA), Russia (KGB and Spetsnaz)
- Location: Mount Fuji, Japan
- Status: Sealed by lava after Koichi Moroha had used the orb to unleash the lava from Mount Fuji.
- Mask of Palenque
- An ancient Mayan mask discovered by Professor Sasakura from the ruins of Palenque in Mexico, it was said that it came from an old Mayan ruler, who had came from outerspace as his coffin was depicted like a pilot on board a spaceship.
- It briefly possessed Kagaho Sasakaura, which gave her psychic abilities such as levitation and fireball projection. It had 10 rings that accompanied the mask.
- Instigators: Ironarm, Professor Sasakura (Under influence of Tezcatlipoca)
- Location: Palenque, Mexico
- Status: Destroyed after Tezcatlipoca's spirit was sealed back in the Itlachiayaque mirror by Yu Ominae and Hatsuho Sasakura.
- Noah's Ark
- Believed to be an ancient transport that held various lifeforms, including dinosaurs and mythical creatures like minotaurs instead of its portrayal from the Bible. It also served as a weather control device that could bring another Ice Age by using an inverted triangle message plate on its controls, which uses the message plate.
- Colonel MacDougal, in an act of desperation, committed suicide by activating the Ark's self-destruct mechanism, taking the Ark and its sleeping occupants with him.
- Instigators: Machiner's Platoon
- Location: Mount Ararat, Turkey
- Status: Destroyed after Colonel MacDougal had used the Ark's self-destruct device.
- Berserker
- An ancient killing robot created several centuries ago, it was known that two know Berserker robots were activated. One in India, where it killed several ARCAM employees in its Indian facility before some of its personnel activated the base's self-destruct device, killing it and its occupants.
- In Britain, British military scientists had reactivated a second Berserker by applying several electric charges before it went on a rampage. Yu fought it to the death and destroyed it by slicing its head off, activating a self-destruct device that had the force of a single bomb.
- Instigators: British Army scientists, British SAS, Professor Mauser
- Location: Rural Britain
- Status: Destroyed when Yu decapitated the robot, activating its self-destruction mechanism.
- Crystal Skull
- Made from an ancient substance, it uses a strong degree of power when the right amount of energy is applied to it. Used in Alexandria's Lighthouse as a source of light and as a weapon.
- Yu Ominae and Oboro recovered the artifact from Kutheimer and his Neo-Nazi terrorists after overpowering them in Egypt.
- Instigators: Neo-Nazis led by Kutheimer
- Location: Egypt
- Status: Stored in ARCAM's US Headquarters
- Program YAMA
- A set of computer input codes discovered by ARCAM scientists during an expedition in an ancient temple, the programming turned against the employees when it sealed off an ARCAM facility in the US and flashed the words "YAMA" at various computer screen around the world.
- When Yu, Jimmy and an ARCAM Special Private Army (ASPA) tactical team proceeded to recapture the compound, they found out the virus brainwashed its occupants by flashing the words "KILL THEM ALL!" before they arrived. In fact, one of the ASPA soldiers became a YAMA pawn when he saw the words on a computer screen, turning against his comrades and firing his weapon before he was disabled by Yu with a karate chop to the neck.
- During the infiltration to the facility's main computer room, the virus turned the tables against the infiltrators by using deadly steam, electrified water and extreme heat that killed an ASPA trooper when he tried to fire his Steyr TMP in a hallucination that resulted in his death from burns.
- Program YAMA, before it wiped itself off the facility's mainframe, told Yu that he captured the facility in order to show the changing attitudes of humans towards their own planet from his initial intent to destroy humankind.
- Instigators: YAMA Virus text codes
- Location: United States
- Status: None, wiped itself off facility's mainframe system
- Holy Grail
- Used in the Last Supper and believed to been used by Joseph of Arimathea, it was said that it had Adolf Hitler's soul in it when some of his blood was collected to the chalice before it was kept in Britain. Kutheimer and his Neo-Nazi cohorts used it to bring back Hitler's soul into one of his cloned bodies in order to access their storehouses in Britain.
- Instigators: Neo-Nazis led by Kutheimer
- Location: Britain
- Status: Unknown, last seen in the hands of Yoshino Somei. Possibly taken away by Yu and Tea.
- Vajrayana
- Also known as Indra's Lightning Bolt, it was discovered by the Nazis during World War II and was sealed off in one of their safehouses in Britain after discovering its true potential.
- The resurrected Hitler used it against Yu Ominae, primarily as a test subject to show off his weapon's potential before an overload killed him and most of the Neo-Nazi officials and soldiers in Kutheimer's faction. Bo Brantze was the only survivor.
- The weapon was known to channel a certain amount of a person's psychic energy (If he/she has psychic powers) and changed into energy blasts.
- Instigators: Neo-Nazis lead by Kutheimer
- Location: Britain
- Status: Destroyed when Hitler accidentally overused the artifact
- Ark of the Covenant
- Found in the S.S. Eugenio E by Yu Ominae and Tea Flatte after Yu went onboard the ship, infiltrating it as a Campbell Company employee.
- Instigators: Trident operatives lead by Iwao Akatsuki
- Location: Onboard the S.S. Eugenio E
- Status: Taken away by Sidewinder, a Trident operative who was assumed to be a double agent.
[edit] Fictional Locations
(This list is incomplete)
- Forest of No Return
- A mystical forest in India. In Indian folklore, it was said that the god/hero Rama had cursed the forest when he found out that Sita was kidnapped by Ravana. In revenge, he uttered a curse throughout the entire forest. In the Spriggan world, the forest was still cursed and civilians would never go inside the area, fearing that something would happen to them.
- Rumors have abounded that a hidden tablet was inside the forest, which detailed the "recipe" for the nectar of eternal life. Rulers have waged war against one another in order to find the so-called tablet and in modern times, Trident and ARCAM had sent their operatives to the Forest of No Return so as to locate the tablet. In a short of time, the parties have turned into zombies and lay in wait for new prey to come and find them. Iwao Akatsuki of Trident was lucky to escape after most of his squad was converted into zombies by various spirits in the forest.
- Yu Ominae, Yoshino Somei and Iwao Akatsuki were forced to team up in destroying the curse by locating the center of the forest, which was the "God Tree". Destroyed by using a statue of Rama and Yu's psychic powers drawn from his Armored Muscle Suit, the curse was lifted and the forest returned to its original state.
- Phantom Island
- Located east of the Philippines and to the south of Japan in the Pacific, it had never showed up in any maps or in any geographic textbook due to its mystical nature. Numerous ships and planes have made their landing into the eerie island, but have been lost over time due to an anti-space/time continuum that envelopes the entire island when it disappears once in a few years.
- Located on satellite by ARCAM researchers, Yu Ominae and Steve Foster manned the S.S. Rosinante in order to head to the remote island. Yoshino Somei, unfortunately, tagged along after hearing news that ARCAM had an expedition there and joined in via hangglider. Trident also got word of the appearance and has deployed one of its warships to the area so as to get ahead of ARCAM and finding the island's secret. The island was closely guarded by Curly statues, the mysterious six-armed guardians of the island that were immune to firearms, but vulnerable to brekage from martial arts.
- It was probable that the authors were inspired by the case of the Bermuda Triangle phenomenon.
- Reverse Babel Tower
- Created in Iraq as a way of summoning demons in the old days by ancient demon worshippers, it was largely forgotten until cult members of the Magier Heunri Balez rediscovered it after one of Balez's bodyguards used a psychic cyclone to unearth the entire ruins during infighting between Iraqi and Western soldiers in northern Iraq. Inside was a pentagram called the Magical Circle of Chaos, which was the only way that demons could be contacted. American, British and French special forces have been secretly deployed to the north of Iraq, since it was a UN-controlled territory, to locate it. Unknown to them, the Iraqi army had also deployed its soldiers in order to ward off any foreign soldiers, as well as to secure the ruins of the Reverse Babel Tower. The Balez cult had tried to kidnap Kate in order to obtain the Apokryphe before traveling to Iraq to secure the tower.
- Gathering the corpses of dead commandos as a catalyst for using the circle, Balez wanted to use Yu Ominae by trying to brainwash him, but resisted and injured him when he punched the cult leader in the face. He died when the tower collapsed.
[edit] Franchise
[edit] ISBN codes
- For more details on this topic, see Spriggan (list of ISBNs).
[edit] Translation issues
[edit] End of English translation
Many fans of Striker/Spriggan were outraged after VIZ Media had cut the translation project of Striker in North America.
There were a number of possible reason on why it was done:
- contained lots of anti-Western subjects; most of them were directed to the United States. [2]
- Excessive violence since it has little on plot and more on fighting with scenes that have depicted blood. [3]
- Questionable subject matter (e.g. using teenagers for the most part as Striker operatives and killing adults with firearms, psychic skills or martial arts)
But the biggest reason that the editors of VIZ Media cut the project was due to poor sales in North America, even if Spriggan was popular in Asia and Europe.
Some people were surprised that VIZ Media kept the story of Neo-Nazis and the appearance of Adolf Hitler, as well as the appearance and origin of Noah's Ark.
As such, the only English translation commercially available on the market is Chuang Yi's ongoing translation of Spriggan. [4] 4 volumes have been released in English as of 27 March 2007.
[edit] End of Translation in Other Languages
Aside from the VIZ translation that was curtailed, Spriggan was also abruptly halted in translation in France by Glenat and in the Netherlands by Big Balloon from Europe. In Asia, Komik Remaja of Malaysia had halted the translation of Spriggan after a few chapters.
[edit] References
- ^ Trigunometry's Spriggan Manga Review. Retrieved on January 28, 2007.
- ^ Anime News Network's Spriggan Page. Retrieved on January 28, 2007.
- ^ Manga Obsession's Spriggan Review Page. Retrieved on January 28, 2007
- ^ Chuang Yi's Spriggan Page. Retrieved on January 28, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Spriggan Fansite
- Official US Website (English)
- Spriggan Mailing Fan Site
- Spriggan OVA at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
- Spriggan Manga (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
- Spriggan Volume 1-6 Manga Summary in German
- Spriggan Volume 1-11 Manga Summary in German
- Spriggan Glossary Site (Japanese)
| Characters |
|---|
| Yu Ominae | Jean Jacquemonde | Tea Flatte | Oboro | Yamamoto | Rie Yamabishi | Yoshino Somei | Mayzel | Iwao Akatsuki | Bo Brantz | Larry Markson | Henry Garnum | Sho Kanaya | Minor Spriggan characters |
| Organizations |
| ARCAM Corporation | ARCAM Private Army | Trident Corporation | COSMOS | Spriggans | Minor Spriggan organizations |
| Mystical locations |
| Forest of No Return | Phantom Island | Reverse Babel Tower | South Pole Shrine |
| Mystical artifacts |
| Fire Orb | Mask of Palenque | Noah's Ark | Berserker | Crystal Skull | Program YAMA | Holy Grail | Vajrayana | Ark of the Covenant | Megiddo Flame | Gold Statue of Pachacamac |
| Other mystical items |
| Armored Machine Suit | Armored Muscle Suit | Hihiirokane | Magical Circle of Chaos | Message Plate | Omihalcon | Soma |
| Others |
| Franchise | ISBN Codes |
Categories: Cleanup from March 2006 | All pages needing cleanup | Manga series | Anime OVAs | Shōnen | Action anime | Action manga | Adventure anime | Adventure manga | Spriggan | Viz Media manga | Anime of the 1990s | Manga of the 1980s | Science fiction anime | Science fiction manga | Philosophical anime | Philosophical manga | Supernatural manga
