It's one of the most underrated anime on the platform.
Summary:
- Spriggan is an underrated sci-fi action series on Netflix.
- It's based on an older manga which was already adapted once.
- The Netflix anime is a collection of loosely related stories, and it's worth watching if you like that kind of storytelling.
Perhaps one of the most overlooked anime released on Netflix in the past few years was Spriggan. It's understandable why there was practically no talk about it: the anime was based on an old sci-fi manga (it ran in Shounen Sunday from 1989 to 1996). And the manga itself wasn't incredibly popular, so there was no audience to hype it up.
Still, the anime is very much worth at least trying out. It's considered a hit or miss due to its format, but if you like episodic series, you might like this one.
Original Movie Is Good, But It Shouldn't Be Compared to the Netflix Series
An interesting fact: this isn't the first time Spriggan gets adapted into anime. It already received a movie adaptation in 1998 — which most otaku probably haven't even heard about. Well, not like many people heard about the Netflix series, either.
The old movie is actually decent — the story is cool, but not really memorable in the long term, but at least the animation is gorgeous. As such, fans who actually watched it compared it to the Netflix adaptation — which turned out to be a completely different thing.
Spriggan Is Really Good if You Like Episode Stories
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Of course, with the Netflix anime being a series rather than just one movie, the format is significantly different. In fact, the new anime is a pretty faithful adaptation of the manga — the original one also was, but it was too short.
Perhaps the most noticeable thing about Spriggan is that there is no overarching story. It's a series of shorter stories that are loosely connected — sometimes via the characters, sometimes just by being set in the same world. While for some, this may not be a very interesting format, those who like episodic series would probably appreciate the anime.
Spriggan is cool and exciting — the anime doesn't do anything unique by itself, but it combines many interesting elements to engage the viewer.
Conspiracy theories, evil organizations, superpowers — the setting might sound generic, but the new stories will always keep you interested.
The CGI action is actually pretty solid (although not as good as the 2D sequences in the movie). The only downside is that the anime ends in a "to be continued" fashion: there's a teaser for more episodes being produced, but currently, no sequel has been announced. That said, with every episode being a mostly self-contained story, it doesn't end on a cliffhanger or anything like that.