The secret organization ARCAM operates independent of national loyalties and uses skilled special operatives known as Spriggan. It is these powerful super soldiers that allow ARCAM to defend powerful artifacts from a defunct civilization and prevent them from falling into the hands of people who wish to harness the power for their countries. Yu Ominae is a Japanese Spriggan under ARCAM’s purview that must defend their most recent discovery – Noah’s Arc – from rogue American military.
Spriggan has a few problems, certainly. However, it is nice to see 80’s anime comebacks. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Spriggan, then head on down below.
Anime Like Spriggan
For Fans of Teenage Super Soldiers
Full Metal Panic
Specialized troops armed with state-of-the-art weapons, Mithril is an organization tasked with stopping terrorism and keeping the peace on earth. However, their success hinges on the Whispered, individuals that possess remarkable knowledge of machinery and devices. Enter Sousuke Sagara who is tasked with protecting Whispered candidate, Kaname Chidori. In order to do so, he joins her in high school, but while he has a talent on the battlefield, it seems that doesn’t transfer as well to the classroom. However, the enemies of Mithril are just beginning to make their move.
Both series feature teenagers that are employed by organizations and are highly skilled super soldiers. As such, they both have a certain cocky confidence to them outside of the battlefield, but have a singular focus on their mission when the time comes. Spriggan has a denser concentration of cool fights, but Full Metal Panic takes the time to inject levity, character growth, and flesh out the plot.
Aldnoah Zero
Upon the discovery of a hypergate on the moon that could teleport humans to Mars, humanity became split. After years of warfare, an uneasy peace was forged between Martians and Terrans until the Martian princess was assassinated on Earth. Inaho Kaizuka, a high schooler who witnessed the assassination, suddenly finds himself pulled into this interplanetary conflict.
Both series are all about school kids who are also skilled enough to be world saving heroes from the first episode of their series with little explanation as to how. Aldnoah Zero is a mecha war-based series, but like Spriggan it enjoys focusing more on cool fights rather than all the other things like character motivations.
Ga-Rei Zero
It is the duty of Japan’s Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division (SDCD) to protect citizens from the unseen. While their job is to take out monsters quickly and quietly, they currently face a challenge of a different nature – a betrayal from within. Both Kagura and Yomi, the daughter of the family that adopted Kagura, work for the SDCD as exorcists. However, the stress of the job begins to wear heavily on them both.
Both series focus on young teens that work for an organization. However, while Spriggan is more sci-fi, Ga-rei Zero is distinctly supernatural in purpose. However, both series focus on the young soldiers and the cracks that begin to form in their ranks. While Spriggan starts to touch on that in the end, Ga-Rei Zero dedicates itself to it.
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For Fans of Relic Hunting
Sirius the Jaeger
In 1930’s Tokyo, vampires have infested the city to feed. To deal with the problem, the authorities have contracted the Jaegers, a diverse group of mysterious individuals, that have been tasked to hunt down the vampires. Yuliy is the most skilled warrior of the Jaegers and uses his werewolf blood to augment his abilities. However, their cooperation with the police is really just a front. Yuliy and the rest of the Jaegers are fighting vampires to protect the mystical Ark of Sirius, a relic whose power can change the world.
While Sirius the Jaeger is distinctly a supernatural show, like Spriggan, a shady organization is using their powerful agents to protect a relic from the past. However, it is not countries that want this relic like in Spriggan, but rather vampires.
Hunter x Hunter
Twelve-year-old Gon Freecss is determined to become a world-class Hunter, a skilled individual that performs all manner of dangerous tasks, just like his long-absent father. However, Gon finds that the path to achieving his goals is more challenging than he could have ever imagined, but in order to overcome it, Gon recruits some powerful friends. does grows distinctly darker as it goes on.
What it has most in common with Spriggan is not the setting, but rather the purpose of the hunters. ARCAM gathers and defends relics while Hunters exist for a similar purpose, but operate in a more freelance capacity.
D Gray Man
After three years training with one of their prestigious Generals that saved him as a kid, Allen Walker is finally ready to join the Black Order, an organization of exorcists that fight Akuma and their leader, the Millennium Earl. With their Innocence weapons, Allen and his fellow exorcist embark on a journey to stop the Earl’s plot of ultimate destruction.
D Gray Man is more the shounen battler, but it bears many similarities to the seinen sci-fi Spriggan. Most notable is that both shows really enjoy their biblical references and bending them into their plot. Furthermore, both series are about young skilled soldiers working for a nationally independent organization.
Katanagatari
In Edo era Japan, Shichika Yasuri practices one of the most unique sword styles among a culture of unique sword styles, a technique that uses his own body as a blade. As the seventh head of the style’s school, he lives in exile with his sister Nanami until the ambitious Togame barges into his life. Togame tries to recruit him on her mission to collect the twelve unique swords known as the Deviant Blades for the shogunate. Interested by the girl more so than her mission, Yasuri accepts, only to later find the challenge in collecting these swords is defeating the legendary swordsmen that wield them.
While different in setting, both Spriggan and Katanagatari are about a skilled young fighter that is collecting relics. However, this time there is not necessarily an organization that is ordering it in Katanagatari, but things are happening behind the scenes.
For Fans of Paramilitary Intrigue
Canaan
Journalist Mino and photographer Maria are currently working in Shanghai documenting strange events at a festival. However, when a battle erupts there between two masked men and a mysterious white haired girl, they get caught in the cross fire and are saved by Maria’s old friend, Canaan. However, the mystery deepens even further when a virus breaks out and Canaan must confront her past to stop it and the sinister plot surrounding it.
Both Spriggan and Canaan focus in on gritty worlds and super soldiers that can do magnificent physical fights without the use of magic. Furthermore, they set up interesting intriguing military-esque plots, but really are most interested in showing you fights.
Jormungand
After being raised in a conflict area and living as a child soldier, Jonah hates weapons, but when he takes a job as a bodyguard to the arms dealer, Koko, he is left with no choice in the matter. Alongside a number of other skilled bodyguards, Jonah must protect Koko and her idealistic goal of world peace in a vicious world.
Both shows follow organization that operate outside the government. The big difference is that the arms dealers in Jormungand have absolutely no pretense of being good guys. They have a noble ultimate goal, but the way to get there is pretty shrewd. Regardless, like Spriggan, it remains an episodic adventure filled with all kinds of interesting and morally gray characters.
Black Lagoon
Average business man Rokurou Okajima found his life turned upside down when he was captured and held hostage by a mercenary group in Thailand called Black Lagoon. After learning how disposable his life was to his company, he decides to quit the salaryman life and join the very group of mercenaries that held him hostage. While he finds himself unexpectedly good at their various work, his ideals about the world vastly clash with those of his companions.
While Spriggan is more sci-fi and the soldiers are all organized in a rather large organization, it seems that any one of those characters would be perfectly at home in the world of mercenaries that is Black Lagoon. Both shows are episodic in format where the characters go to a place and have an interesting battle. Black Lagoon takes the time to give the characters some moments to be fleshed out, but there’s no great plot here, there is only the next job.
Hellsing Ultimate
In this world, there are monsters that lurk in the darkness. Ones waiting to devour everything you are and hold dear. To stem the tide of this darkness is the Hellsing Organization. Commanded by Integra Hellsing, the organization’s powerful military force dedicate their lives to fighting monsters. However, their most powerful weapon is the vampire, Alucard, who turned against his own kind in service to Hellsing. Now with his new vampire assistant Seres at his side, he must battle not only monsters, but anyone that stands in Hellsing’s way.
While Hellsing is supernatural, it is set up in much the same way as Spriggan. Both series are about organizations that work in the shadows to prevent chaos. They also employ a number of skilled military individuals to carry out this work. However, Hellsing focuses on their nigh-unbeatable vampire that the organization has subdued and uses as a weapon. You don’t quite get the feeling that he might lose many fights like you do when watching Yu sometimes in Spriggan.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Spriggan? Let fans know in the comments section below.
