Spriggan

A structure is found in Antarctica. The thing called Noah's Ark is not a ship; it is a device that can change the climate and, if used, reshape the world. An American military unit takes the site. Yu Ominae looks like a school student but works for an organisation: ARCAM finds and seals objects left by older civilisations. Yu is sent to Antarctica. Facing him are an officer in armour and a young boy; the boy has powers of the mind and nobody can stop him. Hirotsugu Kawasaki directs; Katsuhiro Otomo supervised the production and worked on the screenplay. Showtaro Morikubo and Takehito Koyasu are among the voices. It is a Japanese production. The source is the manga by Hiroshi Takashige and Ryoji Minagawa. The animation is ambitious for its time; the movement and effects are dense and hand drawing is used together with computer work. The matter it treats is whose hands the technology is in; the object itself is neutral and the question is who will use it. The narrative selects one story from the source and passes quickly over the background. The action is at the centre; the story passages are kept short. The narrative shows the violence openly and the child character is inside it. Its limit is depth; the characters are thin, the narrative fast, and the ending explanatory. Who it is for: viewers who like nineties Japanese animation and action science fiction. Who it is not for: it is shallow, loud, and the ending conventional.