Spriggan is a 1998 film based on the Noah's Story Arc from the original Spriggan manga. It was directed by Hirotsugu Kawasaki, with the screenplay by Kawasaki and Yasutaka Ito, and produced by Studio 4°C. It was released in Japan on August 21, 1998.
While it is a standalone movie, it has Adaptation Distillation and Pragmatic Adaptation done to it by taking tidbits from other manga chapter arcs to expand on it, which are going to be Mythology Gag.
The film contains examples of:
- Adaptation Distillation: The film contained scenes that showed Yu's failed brainwashing when he was COSMOS and the bombing of Yu's high school, both scenes from the manga's Dragon Veins Map arc. Unless you read the manga (either the Shogakukan version or the translated versions that are completed), you won't know why the scene was in there. Watching the film assumes that the viewers are familiar with the Noah's Ark story.
- Assassin Outclassin': After Yu is picked up in Ankara, he's being hunted by Turkish-based assassins. This also includes his supposed ARCAM contact at the Atatürk Airport. He kicks their asses.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Machiner's Platoon is called the "U.S. Machine Corp." in a riff on the U.S. Marine Corps. And of course the two American cyborgs codenamed Fat Man and Little Boy.
- Not My Driver: After Yu enters Turkey, he quickly realises someone has killed and replaced his Turkish ARCAM driver when he sees another car full of goons following them. He proceeds to throw the driver out of the vehicle, leading to a car chase.
- Oh, Crap!: At the beginning of the film, Yu has a small panic when Tanaka blows himself up on the school's rooftop.
- One-Woman Wail: During the activation of the Ark.
- The Reveal: Fatman reveals that he's Yu's ex-COSMOS commanding officer and the one who masterminded the brainwashing of Tanaka to conduct a suicide bombing attack.
- Scenery Porn: The movie shows various shots of the Turkish countryside when Yu drives a jeep to Mount Ararat.
- Suicide Attack: Yu encounters one of his classmates, Tanaka, on the roof of the Shogakukan 3rd High building. He realizes that Tanaka is not himself when he struggles to go through with activating the detonator to blow up the explosives strapped on his chest. Yu theorized that someone wanted Tanaka to be in the school to blow up the place.
