Spriggan Is anime’s generic attempt at bringing Indiana Jones to the future. While a neat concept, it feels rushed and underdeveloped. It may not be the worst anime I’ve seen, but it makes it hard to recommend.
Spriggan is about a secret government agency whose mission is to collect powerful ancient artifacts and keep them from the clutches of evil. The story focuses on Yu, a talented high school kid who, with the help of a powerful mech suit, goes travels the world hunting these powerful relics. Each episode focuses on the lore and retrieval of a different artifact.
Right off the bat, I am not a fan of the art style. It feels stiff, fragmented, and cheap most of the time. The combat is okay, but it is anticlimactic. Most of the problems are solved by ex-Machina. My biggest issue with this anime is that Yu is a generic cocky male protagonist who is perfect. Most of his dialogue involves him being cocky about his skills, and it gets annoying. When he does struggle or start to get beat, he is saved at the perfect time, and the whole thing doesn’t matter.
Another issue I have with this series is that there isn’t a good villain to drive the narrative. This series revolves around different organizations whose motives are uninspired and lazy. Most people are evil for the sake of being evil. It doesn’t help that they are destined to lose to Yu.
The problem with this anime is that it is limited to six short episodes. While I appreciate that they didn’t drag this out as much as they could have, it isn’t long enough to build the world or develop its characters. Each episode is a different adventure, and all of them are generic. This series left such a small impression on me that I have already forgotten what it was about.
You can stream Spriggan on Netflix, but it isn’t worth it. It looks cheap, the story is rushed, and there isn’t anything worth watching in it. I could make the case of throwing it on for background noise, but there are better anime out there more worthy of your data.
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Series Review: Shaman King (2021)
I used to watch the original Shaman King when it first came out long ago. It has been a while since then, and I don’t remember too much of the show, but I remember liking it and playing the game on the Gameboy. I was very excited when I saw that Netflix was remaking the anime, and while it may not be the best, I did enjoy it.
Yoh is a young shaman destined to save the world. Yoh wants to have an easy and carefree life, but his destiny won’t allow it. When Yoh turns 13, the tournament that will determine who the next Shaman king begins. Yoh joins the competition, making many valuable friends along the way. Yoh and his friends must use this competition to beat an ancient shaman who wants to destroy the world. Will they be strong enough to save the world?
This is a cheesy anime, but I believe that it is part of its charm. If you enjoy early 2000s anime, it is very reminiscent of the era. That said, this series isn’t for everyone.
The art has improved from the original series, with better-animated fight scenes. The pacing has some overall improvement, but I felt like the ending was rushed. I was very disappointed by how the series ended, but I still enjoyed it. I read somewhere that this reboot is more true to the manga, but I haven’t read the manga to know for sure. The voice acting was solid for the most part with a few of the original actors reprising their roles. The writing is a bit generic, and it feels like it was written with a younger audience in mind.
What I love most about this show is how they treat death. I was too young to appreciate the amount of work that went into writing this narrative the first time around. This time I was able to catch a lot of the references and I appreciate all the different cultural beliefs about death. Death and the afterlife are heavily featured in this series, and the series explores as many different ideas as they can fit in a season. I like that it never suggests one belief is better than others as they all seem to stem from the great spirit. It was cool to see how each belief and practice manifested as an ability. A lot of this information comes in the form of exposition dumps. I had no problem with these dumps since usually they were very informative.
This anime has its audience. It can be cringey and cheesy at times because a lot of the conflict is solved through the power of friendship. If you are a fan of the original, check it out for nostalgia. If you aren’t and are on the fence, maybe hold off because there are better anime. If you can stomach the overall cheesiness of this show, check it out on Netflix.
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