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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Spriggan (Supurigan) (1998)

Spriggan (Supurigan) (1998)

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Released 13-Jun-2002
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Anime	Main Menu Introduction Menu Animation & Audio Scene Selection Anim & Audio Audio Commentary Featurette-Character Designs Featurette-Vehicles & Equipment Featurette-Key Backgrounds Trailer-Tekken; Gasaraki; Evangelion Trailer-Ninja Resurrection; Sin: The Movie; Samurai X DVD Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	1998
Running Time	86:45 (Case: 91)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (54:30)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Hirotsugu Kawasaki
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Chris Patton Kevin Corn Ted Pfister Andy McAvin Kelly Manison Mike Kleinhenz Spike Spencer
Case	Click	Starring
RPI	$34.95	Music	Kuniaki Haishima

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Auto Pan & Scan Encoded	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

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Plot Synopsis

Spriggan is a Japanese animated action adventure where two groups battle over an ancient relic that has the power to change life on this planet.

ARCAM is a secret organization that was formed to protect ancient relics that are located around the world. This organization employs a number of highly trained warriors known as Spriggan who help to protect these relics and fight the forces that wish to harness their power. When Noah's Ark is discovered buried inside a mountain in Turkey, the ARCAM organization takes control of the site and begins to examine the ruin. Spriggan Yu Ominae travels to the Ark site and he must defend it from a number of cyborgs who work for another mysterious group led by Colonel Mac Dougall who want to activate the ruin and control its enormous power.

This anime feature is based on a manga that was published in Japan from 1989 to 1996 and was adapted to film by Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira). The film uses a number of computer generated sequences that are well integrated into the traditional cel based animation that is used for the majority of the film. This feature is an enjoyable, fast-paced action film that should appeal to any action anime fan.

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Transfer Quality

Video

The stunning video transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced.

The transfer is consistently sharp throughout and is always able to capture the fine details that are present in the original animation. During dark scenes, the transfer displays excellent levels of shadow detail and it is able to accurately reproduce the original animation. No low level noise was detected at any time during the transfer.

The colour palette displayed during the transfer has a sombre, slightly blue tint throughout. This colour choice works well with the on-screen action and it helps to emphasize the cold locations featured in the film.

No MPEG artefacts were detected at any time during the transfer.

A very small number of aliasing artefacts are present during the transfer. Examples of these artefacts may be seen at 10:03 and 10:12 but they are quite minor and are only minimally distracting to the viewer.

A number of small film artefacts may be seen during the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 2:27, 3:27, 6:44, 11:39 and 35:51. Each of these artefacts are quite minor and they are only minimally distracting to the viewer. Some grain is visible during the transfer and this does increase during shots with integrated CGI but this is never distracting.

A single set of English subtitles is provided for the transfer. These subtitles are presented in yellow but when multiple people are speaking white text is used to differentiate the characters.

The non-distracting layer change occurs at the start of Chapter 13 at 54:30 during a fade-to-black.

*Video Ratings Summary*
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

English and Japanese 5.1 448 kbps audio tracks are provided for the main feature. I listened to both tracks in full and found them both to be of excellent quality.

The dialogue is always clear and easy to understand during the transfer.

As this is an animated feature, there are the expected obvious problems with audio sync for the English soundtrack. The Japanese dialogue was recorded before the film was animated and consequently there are only minimal sync problems with this track. At no stage during the transfer were any audio dropouts detected.

The stunning score by Kuniaki Haishima makes its presence felt throughout the transfer and it always suits the on-screen action.

The surround channels are used very aggressively during both tracks throughout the transfer and they are able to create an enveloping soundfield.

The subwoofer channel is used very aggressively throughout the transfer for numerous explosions and sound effects as well as the score.

*Audio Ratings Summary*
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

ADR Commentary

This is a feature length scene specific commentary by ADR director Matt Greenfield and ADR engineer Christopher Borque. This track is surprisingly very interesting and covers numerous areas of the English production including casting, recording techniques used, the audio mixing, the video transfer, problems faced when translating to another language and some of the history behind the film.

Character Designs (2:24)

This is a video segment displaying various character designs presented with a musical Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and16x9 enhanced.

Vehicles and Equipment Designs (2:44)

This is a video segment displaying various vehicle and equipment designs presented with a musical Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and 16x9 enhanced.

Key Background Designs (3:24)

This is a video segment displaying various key background designs presented with a musical Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and 16x9 enhanced.