Summer 2022 First Impressions – Spriggan

Streaming: Netflix

Episodes: 6 (45 minutes apiece)

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: The ARCAM organization is guided by the writing on a mysterious golden tablet, imploring anyone who might read its words to protect the artifacts and technology from the ancient world from being misused. When an altar is found beneath Mount Fuji that seems to have connections to an ancient civilization which had the power to control the volcano’s eruptions, ARCAM seeks the help of young linguistics professor Yamabishi to decipher its cryptic writing.

Of course, Yamabishi’s skill and the potentially limitless power offered by this altar also draws the attention of several other factions, including those out of Russia looking to claim the power for their own world-dominating aspirations. Luckily, professor Yamabishi falls under the protection of Yu Ominae, ARCAM’s elite fighter, code-named “Spriggan.” With his orichalcum body armor and keen fighting sense, Yu is a force to be reckoned with. But Russia has its own elite forces – will Yu’s abilities be enough to prevent the power of Fuji’s Flame Serpent from falling into the wrong hands?

Impressions: I have a pretty shameful anime collection. What I mean by this is that I buy a lot of anime that I have ever intention of watching, but then never seem to find the time. The original Spriggan animated film from the late 90’s is one of them. I snatched it up from a used book store several years ago for a steal, and then it got placed on a shelf where it’s existed quietly ever since. When this new take on the story was announced I gritted my teeth for multiple reasons. Firstly, I was once again reminded that I’d never watched the film. But secondly, upon seeing the key art I had the sneaking suspicion that it was a CG anime, and boy am I tired of having to sit through mediocre-looking CG anime.

There’s not much to be done about the first point beyond just watching the movie (which I surely will at this point), but on the second, at least, my fears were assuaged fairly quickly upon watching this first double-length episode. The CG is used sparingly and for what I think it does best – framing and depicting person-on-person combat, and meshes near perfectly with the traditionally-drawn animation. Not only that, but for those moments where a person with a CG body is shown with an uncovered face, the facial features seem either entirely hand-drawn or at least corrected to look like “normal” anime. I wish so much that more series that use CG animation would go this route, because it manages to pull in the better features of both techniques in a way that visually makes sense.

Having crossed that hurdle, the story and execution of this episode hearkens back to some of the better nostalgia of 1990’s anime. Reading the copy off of the back of the DVD box, a reviewer from E! called the film “A compelling mix of Raiders of the Lost Ark and James Bond adventure,” and as corny as that sounds this episode does in fact give off that kind of energy (though without quite so much of the misogyny of some of the material used for comparison, thankfully). I think stories about lost civilizations and ancient artifacts are timeless and fun; they play on our collective urge to imagine technology and wonder beyond our own current means. While we’re technologically pretty advanced, it’s an entertaining thought experiment to imagine that a time of esoteric magic and world-changing power that may have existed outside of our historical memory.

I sort of assumed a lot of things about this show before watching any of it. “Why yet another remake?” “Why do these Netflix shows always use CG?” “I bet this is going to be a chore to watch.” I think we all sometimes indulge the more critical parts of our brains when we maybe shouldn’t. But I think it’s also a lot of fun to be proven wrong in a dramatic way. This episode was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to watch more of the series.

Pros: Anime nowadays is full of jerks. I’m sure that sounds overly-dramatic, but I’ve stopped trying to keep track of how many times anime series just absolutely revel in the maladjustment of their so-called protagonists. Yu is a great lead character whose brash and youthful personality manages an appealing shounen hero quality while also making it clear that he enjoys what he does and actually goes through life not completely loathing his own existence. He’s immature in ways that make sense without relinquishing his kind and friendly nature.

The action animation in several of the scenes is really good! Any concerns I had about how the show looked were quickly wiped away in the face of the well-drawn and choreographed fights.

Cons: There are some aspects of this episode in particular that feel a little touchy considering current events. I think it was always a running joke in some shows from my youth and prior that Russians tended to make good villains, mainly because my country has often had an uneasy relationship with theirs. That’s a subject that could probably be discussed at length many times over, but considering what’s currently happening in the world it seems much less cordoned off in the world of fiction.

Content Warnings: Violence/gore including a lot of blood and dismembered bodies, kidnapping, non-specific talk of religion.

Would I Watch More? – This episode pleasantly surprised me with its compelling action, well-contained story, and appealing characters. I’ll definitely watch more – and maybe even watch the movie now, too!