I happened to pick up the first volume of Striker – yup, that old Viz version of Spriggan which came out about 20 years ago – from my thrift shop exploits.

The biggest differences between Striker and Spriggan are Rie and Jean.

Who’s Rie?

Rie, a teen genius anthropologist (…and Yu’s childhood friend, because anime is as anime does), was probably written out for continuity reasons – contrary to what someone who’s only seen the movie might think, Noah’s Ark is the second story arc in Spriggan. Yep, there’s an arc called Temple of Fire which introduces her as well as Yu. The thing is, said Temple is in Mount Fuji – a sacred site for the Japanese – which is probably why it was skipped over for the Noah’s Ark storyline. The Noah’s Ark storyline is more understandable for international audiences and is also a bigger action set piece, making it an ideal choice for a movie if delivered in a pared-down format.

Rie also provides the segue into the Noah’s Ark storyline, hence the intro of the movie of Yu as a guy who’s got no friends and yet is humanised through going to school like a Normal Anime Dude.

What About Jean?

Jean first reveals his power as a “werewolf” after being shot up in the Noah’s Ark storyline of Spriggan. Spoilers for future arcs say this will become important (Striker vol. 1 only contains Temple of Fire and Noah’s Ark, see), but obviously it wasn’t clear whether the Spriggan movie would have any follow-up until the Netflix series came out.

The Name Change

“Spriggan” is one of those names that doesn’t seem to have much significance at first, but a spriggan happens to be a type of fairy that leaves changelings – a fitting name for Yu and Jean. That’s why in the US, the alternative name of Striker exists – it makes more sense without having to explain the spriggan lore.

---

Well, if you ever get the chance, you should watch the movie, especially if you like the Netflix series (for obvious reasons) or if you want something mindless to kill a few hours with, because despite the “smoothing over” of certain aspects, the movie is very self-contained while also being thought-provoking and holds up well, even though it predates a lot of the visual effects we take for granted in anime today. Meanwhile, although it is still recognisably Spriggan at its core, Striker is very much a product of its time – from the flipped pages to the extreme story cropping – and with the Seven Seas releases now out there, it should be relegated to being a relic of the past.

If you’re wondering about comparisons to the Netflix series…I don’t have a Netflix subscription and don’t intend to shell out for one just for this post, but looks like Cartoon Cipher beat me to it.