Spriggan

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Though I did not particularly enjoy the Anime version, I really loved this Manga. I can see how some people would not though.

If you can sit down and enjoy a movie like Indiana Jones, Predator, Rambo, The 6th Day, etc. - this manga will appeal to you. It is not meant to be taken super seriously and if you are looking for a deep touching storyline that is a masterclass in development you should look elsewhere.

However, if sci-fi Indiana Jones with crazy mythological relics (with some interesting tidbits to learn) tied in sounds interesting and fun this will be for you. Suspend the disbelief and ... enjoy the ride! There is good humor throughout the books and the art during crazy or pivotal scenes is genuinely fantastic. On the art front, the cover and color art at the front of the books are the *worst* possible examples of the art style - I don't really understand why they chose those pictures as they often look "off" compared to the actual style of the book.

There is a loose overarching storyline that is indeed tied up in the last volumes, but it is really a more episodic adventure that orbits the storyline - then dives in at the closing moments. Each of the major Spriggan you get to learn about though and you do walk away understanding each person's general backstory.

I found this to be a fantastic option for mixing it up between the volumes of my more serious manga or books. It has laughs, explosions, monsters, interesting ideas, and great art. Accept it for what it is, and you will enjoy the ride. If you take your manga very seriously you probably will not.

Spriggan is a strange series. I quite enjoyed the 2022 ONA, in fact I'd even call it a good anime. However, I thought the manga was just decent, aka "fine". Why? Let me explain. What made Spriggan good to me was the great music, fluid animation and good use of cgi, as well as solid voice acting. These aspects alone were enough to make it a "good" anime for that. The story, while passable, was never anything to write home about.

Story: There's some politics and other countries get involved, but it all boils down to "MC fights other powerful people and flexes on them". ... Basically hundreds of years ago some ancient civilization ruled Earth and left behind artifacts/relics. Generations later, organizations are on a large treasure hunt to try and retrieve these long lost relics. However, a corporation, ARCAM, is using advanced machines to prevent these 3rd parties from destroying everything around them in the process. They use "Spriggans", which are advanced agents who have special training and abilities. And our MC, Yu is one of them. You've probably heard other series sound very similar to this. Any ring a bell? That's right. This is basically manga Indiana Jones but less fun and with more politics. While not absolutely terrible, the story leaves a lot to be desired as it does not engage the reader whatsoever.

Score: 5/10

Characters: A lot of what I said in the "story" section could be applied to the "characters" section. The vast majority of the cast are uninteresting, unappealing, bland and overall boring. Our main character Yu has about as much personality as cardboard. He is no different from your typical action manga MC, and the running gag with him is that he's not sure if he's able to graduate because he skips 80% of days at school while trying to save the world (spoilers: he ends up graduating anyways because of course he fucking would). Aside from him, the supporting cast is pretty weak. Oboro was a character that existed, and Jean had some sort of appeal, but I didn't find myself getting attached to any of them. The best character in the series is probably Yoshino, but she suffers from a lack of focus/shine. If she had more relevance, Spriggan could have been elevated and been an overall better manga.

Score: 5/10

Art: By far the best part of the manga. Spriggan has good, detailed art. The background art is nicely drawn and the fights are fluid and clean. You can feel every blow being exchanged, and the characters facial expression are well emphasized through this. I still prefer the anime fights, but the manga has good fights too and overall I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the artwork.

Score: 7/10

Overall, if you're looking for a decent action manga with some politics, you can try this one out. If you're not interested in that, you can skip this one and you won't really be missing anything as there are a lot of better manga out there. If you're not sure whether to watch or read spriggan, my advice is to watch the 2022 ONA as its faster and has more to offer IMO.

Spriggan is awful. Spriggan is boring. Spriggan is absurdly ridiculous. Why mixed feelings? The more I read, the more absurd the relics/arcs of the story became. I really want to say how absurd Spriggan becomes, but then you would have 0 reason to read it other than it being a popular 80s manga. My review is very biased though due to me disliking politics/secretorganizations/history in general (I only read it because they had volumes 1-3 at my local library and wanted something for long drives). At this point I may have gone crazy from reading this, so may review may be a little wonky.

Absurdity: 10
Enjoyment:5? ... (negative points for boredom, positive points for wanting to know just how absurd it gets)
Boring: 10 (this is also due to the fact that there is a more text than usual on each page, so it makes the manga seem twice as long)

Characters: 2 (I felt 0 connection to any of the characters, Ominae Yu was pretty flat and all that really stood out was his desire to go to school despite being "super strong super soldier")
Plot: 7 (Realistically, the plot is a 7 because the concept is probably average on originality but there was not really any overarching storyline, the plot of the arcs was a crazy hodgepodge though)
Art: 6-7? (I do not really care about art in anime/manga and instead I prioritize everything else such as storyline/characters/enjoyment, due to this I do not really have a good scale of art style, Spriggan's art is most likely better than average)

Overall it is a 5. Only read it if you want to see how crazy it is or if you like politics/secretorganizations.