List of Spriggan characters

This is a list of characters for the manga series Spriggan written by Hiroshi Takashige and illustrated by Ryōji Minagawa. The story takes places in the last years of the Cold War where mysterious and unknown artifacts called out-of-place artifacts were discovered in various parts of the world, leading to secret wars between various forces against the ARCAM Corporation, an organization that placed itself the guardians of the OOPArts in order to prevent them from being used as weapons.

Concept and creation

Protagonists

Yu Ominae

Yu Ominae (御神苗優, Ominae Yū^?) is main leading protagonist, stationed at ARCAM's Japanese branch. He is known for being a high school delinquent to his teachers and classmates, he is secretly a special Spriggan agent for the international conglomerate ARCAM Corporation. As such, Yu gets thrown into missions in and out of Japan when out-of-place artifacts are involved in a mission.

Yu is called upon by ARCAM to conduct black ops for the company, which results in several disruptions from his studies. His most dangerous mission to date was to be deployed into the South Pole in order to eliminate the South Pole Shrine. After the successful operation to eliminate the rampaging Fire Snakes from the South Pole Shrine and defeating Markson's Trident forces in the South Pole, Yu was seen attending college after graduating from his high school. He is still posted at ARCAM's Japanese branch, attending to a mission in Mexico to secure the Gold Statue of Pachacamac and secure the safety of his classmate, Nanako Kondo. Yu Ominae is voiced by Showtaro Morikubo in Japanese and Chris Patton in English.

Jean Jacquemonde

Jean Jacquemonde (ジャン・ジャックモンド, Jan Jakkumondo^?) is a French Spriggan operator who is based in ARCAM's French branch. His werewolf appearance is mainly due to use of ancient biotechnology that gave him the ability to shapeshift into one. During his time with the Spriggans, he actively assists Yu Ominae in battling enemies of the ARCAM Corporation from Turkey all the way to the forests of Japan fighting Machiner's Platoon soldiers to brainwashed COSMOS child soldiers. In his first appearance in Turkey, Jean has his first werewolf transformation when Little Boy riddles him with a barrage of bullets. Eventually killing his assailant in his werewolf stage Jean overcomes platoons of Machiner's Platoon soldiers sent to stop him.

When Jean is deployed in a mission to Romania, he confronts his father who told him of his heritage. In an operation in Ecuador, Jean is severely wounded by Oboro and left for dead. Fortunately for Jean, Percup Ramdi performs an operation that manages to heal Jean of his wounds and further acceleterate his rate of self-healing. In a mission to prevent COSMOS from extracting Rie Yamabishi to the US, Jean stormes a US Army base in Japan along with Yu and Oboro. However, they are unable to prevent COSMOS forces from escaping.

Jean, grudgingly, teams up with Iwao Akatsuki and Bo Brantz, two of ARCAM's most fearsome enemies in sabotaging a Trident operation when Larry Markson attempted to harness the power of the South Pole Shrine in order to take control of the world. With Bo's death, the three took on Larry's forces before they are able to get rid of the Fire Snake with the help of Yoshino Somei, Rie Yamabishi and other ARCAM personnel who were forced to assist Trident in gaining access to the fiery artifact. Jean Jacquemonde is voiced by Takehito Koyasu in Japanese and Andy McAvin in English.

Tea Flatte

Tea Flatte (ティア・フラット, Tia Furatto^?), whose real name is Tea Flatte Arcam, is a British Spriggan operator stationed in ARCAM's British headquarters. Born in Britain during the times of the wizard Merlin, he bestowed upon her immortality and made her go out and protect relics that were found to be not made by human hands from being used for wrong purposes. Tea's possesses a special ability called "Calling Beast" that allows her to summon illusions to fool enemies into insecurity and have their souls drained. She first participates in Romania for an assignment with Yu and the others to investigate what Trident agents were doing in the country. Later on, she is dispatched to Britain to subdue a group of Neo-Nazi militants that are trying to secure the Holy Grail. She teams up with Yu and Yoshino in defeating Kutheimer's group when the Adolf Hitler clone attempts to use the Vajrayana scepter after her and the other ARCAM agents and Yoshino before it blew up due to its overuse. Tea later participates, in a side role, in assisting Yu's infiltration of the S.S. Eugenio E to recover the Ark of the Covenant, which was captured by Trident operator Sidewinder.

Oboro

Oboro (朧^?) is a skilled Qigong martial artist and is capable of paralizing his opponents with a single touch, known as Dim Mak. Oboro is called on by the ARCAM Corporation to infiltrate a Neo-Nazi faction in Egypt. His cover is responsible for helping Yu and Suzuko Kawahara neutralize Kutheimer's operations in Egypt. Oboro later participates with Yu in a mission to Iraq to protect Sister Kate, who had the Apocrypha of Rockis, which cultists from the Magier Heunri Balez wants to use to conjured demons. Later on, Oboro returns to Thailand and assists Yu and Yoshino in fighting against Cheng, who had honed his Qigong skills to seek revenge against Oboro.

Later, Oboro apparently betrays ARCAM and attacks an ARCAM Special Private Army detachment in Pakistan and is able to defeat Jean Jacquemonde in his werewolf, placing him in critical status. An enraged Yu defeats Oboro in single combat, but Oboro walks away with bruises on his face while smiling at his former student. However, towards the end of the manga, he assists Yu in disabling Trident's communications with Takashi, which prevents Larry Markson from calling in additional reinforcements to the South Pole.

Antagonists

Iwao Akatsuki

First appearing in the Forest of No Return chapter, Iwao Akatsuki (暁巌, Akatsuki Iwao^?) states that he wishes to team up with Yu Ominae and escape the forest. Although Yu sees him as an enemy as ARCAM and Trident were battling for control of the out-of-place artifacts, the two eventually work together with Yoshino Somei to escape the cursed forest.

Iwao later appears in Romania as part of a Trident taskforce to eliminate Yu and other Spriggans. Although Larry Markson orders the destruction of the medieval fortress used to lure the Spriggans in, Iwao comes into the rubble and rescued Yu, showing that he has a sense of honor. He is later placed in charge of the SS Eugenio E, which is secretly transporting the Ark of the Covenant. After encountering Yu again, the join forces to see what the Ark had to offer and to ensure the safety of the civilians when Sidewinder retrieves the Ark.

Nearing the end of the series, Iwao is targeted for termination alongside Yu, Jean Jacquemonde, and Bo Brantz by COSMOS forces. After the death of Bo, the trio venture on to the South Pole, where they disrupt Larry Markson's plans to militarize the use of the South Pole Shrine.

Bo Brantz

A secret agent for a Neo-Nazi faction based in Egypt, Bo Brantz (ボー・ブランツェ, Boo Burantse^?) served as Kutheimer's chief bodyguard in his organization. Though his fighting skills were impressive, it is merely the result of his use of steroids. This proves to be a disadvantage against Yu Ominae and Oboro since the two were able to outwit him. Eventually, Oboro paralyzes Bo, but encourages Bo to retrain himself and forget his use steroids.

Yu later encounters Bo again during an operation to recover the Holy Grail from Kutheimer. This time, Bo has retrained himself without the use of steroids, but is still unable to defeat Yu. Bo later encounters Yu, Tea Flatte, and Yoshino Somei in the secret cave where the Vajrayana was kept. However, when the Vajrayana explodes due to psychic overload from the Adolf Hitler clone, the cave is destroyed and Bo is one of the few survivors.

Realizing that he has no place to go, Bo joins Trident where he forms a steady alliance with Iwao Akatsuki. On the SS Eugenio E, he fights with Yu for the last time before teaming up with him to save the passengers. Nearing the end of the series, Bo teams up with Iwao to fight off COSMOS after the two are targeted for termination by Trident. Although they are able to stop COSMOS with the help of Yu and Jean Jacquemonde, Bo is critically wounded and later dies from his injuries.

Larry Markson

Larry Markson (ラリー・マーカスン, Rarii Makusun^?) is an influential figure in Trident Corporation, allowing him to gain access to assets in various national militaries to claim out-of-place artifacts for military purposes. Markson's first appears in Romania in an operation to confront the Spriggan agents that were assembling there. Though Trident's forces were defeated by the Spriggans, Markson is satisfied that the Spriggans were driven off.

As the series progressed, he gains the cooperation of ARCAM's President, Henry Garnum, in securing the relics from the South Pole, including the ability to use the South Pole Shrine. Although he has the initial cooperation from ARCAM personnel, Iwao Akatsuki—who had been targeted for termination by Markson—Yu Ominae, and Jean Jacquemonde arrive and foils Markson's attempt to unleash the Fire Snake.

Henry Garnum

Henry Garnum (ヘウンリー・ガーナム, Heunri Gaanamu^?) is the president of ARCAM Corporation. During his time, he builds a shadow coalition of supporters within ARCAM and creates contacts with Trident leader Larry Markson. After taking control of ARCAM's field operations, he orders Rie Yamabishi, Professor Mayzel, Ms. Margaret, Yamamoto, Percup Ramdi and Eva McMahon to the South Pole to assist Trident in excavating and studying the artifacts, including the potential military use of the South Pole Shrine. However, his operation came to an end when Yu, Jean and Iwao took the initiative to stop him and his alliance with Larry. Supported by Yoshino Somei and by Oboro and Takashi Ominae behind the enemy lines, they were able to quell any attempts to use the Fire Snake to bring world domination.

Sho Kanaya

Sho Kanaya (金谷唱, Kanaya Shō^?) is deployed into Yu's school secretly to locate him on the orders of Colonel Khoury. He is able to fool many of the school's student and faculty body that he was a regular student. Though Yu Ominae is able to uncover his real identity when he notes the reactions of his classmates on the scars found on his back when he changed his shirt, Sho wounds Yu with a knife when he confronts him alone at the school's rooftop before detonating C4 explosives as he escapes. Yu manages to escape the explosion with minor injuries. Before leaving, he mocks Yu by addressing him under his old COSMOS codename, Number 43.

Later on, he leads a mission with several COSMOS platoons in raiding ARCAM Japan's headquarters and kidnapping Rie Yamabishi and Akiha Ominae to lure the Spriggans from hiding as they were an obstacle in the US Army's attempt to locate and study the pieces of the Mappa mundi. Though it is a failure, Sho mets up with an unknown man during his escape.

While in the hands of the Trident Corporation, Sho is augmented so as to increase his psychic powers in communicating with his fellow COSMOS soldiers. With it he orders the platoon leader to commit suicide since his unit was being overwhelmed by the combined forces of Yu Ominae, Jean Jacquemonde, Iwao Akatsuki and Bo Brantz. He latter tosses his psychic headband that connects his mind onto a computer used to help increase his augmentation strength after a failed assassination mission, indicating his frustration with Larry Markson and the others.

Other characters

Yamamoto

Head of the ARCAM Corporation's Japanese branch, Yamamoto (山本^?) took in Yu Ominae in as a ward after he found out that Yu was a former COSMOS child soldier. Yamamoto trained Yu in military and guerrilla tactics in order to let him be activated as a Spriggan agent while being his handler. He was responsible for calling Rie Yamabishi back to Japan after learning that she was related to Yu Ominae due to their history.

Yamamoto became more and more involved with the company when he fought against COSMOS soldiers from raiding the interior of ARCAM's Japanese headquarters. Later on, he was forced to work with Henry Garnum when he went to the South Pole with Rie Yamabishi and other ARCAM personnel so as to harness the power of the Fire Snake from the South Pole Shrine. At the last minute, he and the others turned on Henry Garnum and Larry Markson, defeating their forces stationed in Antarctica and quelling the Fire Snake before it went out of control.

Rie Yamabishi

Rie Yamabishi (山菱理恵, Yamabishi Rie^?) is a childhood friend of Yu Ominae during their orphanage days. she is a child prodigy who graduats from Cornell University by the age of 16. She returns to Japan after receiving a report from Yamamoto that Yu Ominae had been "spotted" somewhere in the country with a request to investigate the Fire Orb. However, she is targeted by CIA agents after arriving in New Tokyo International Airport. Rescued by Yu in time before she could be transported to a CIA safehouse, Rie is brought back to ARCAM's Japanese headquarters. She is targeted again by soldiers of the US Armored Corps. after a squadron of them infiltrats ARCAM's Japanese headquarters building by brute force while maintaining stealth. Yu once again came to her rescue and subdues them. Later on, she is targeted by Spetsnaz forces in the Japanese countryside led by Japanese KGB agent Koichi Moroha. Initially thought to be dead when she was trapped in the Fire Orb temple, she is found to be safe since the area was built to withstand intense heat.

After decoding some of the Mappa mundi to locate other out-of-place artifacts, Rie is once again targeted for kidnapping. This time by COSMOS stages a daring night raid on ARCAM's Japanese main branch and kidnaps her and Akiha Ominae, Yu's adopted sister, as a means to lure out Yu and the other Spriggans in order to eliminate them. However, the two are soon rescued.

Nearing the end of the series, Rie was "forced" to head to the South Pole and work on accessing the Fire Snake with Yoshino's help to find a way in using it from within the South Pole Shrine. However, she and some of the others, including Dr. Ramdi, Yamamoto and Yoshino Somei had decided to resist Larry Markson's efforts to use the fiery beast and release it from the South Pole.

Yoshino Somei

Yoshino Somei (染井芳乃, Somei Yoshino^?) first appearance was in the one shot story "Spriggan: First Mission", where Yoshino infiltrates a Machiner's Platoon research center in Japan in order to obtain the Megiddo Flame. There, she encounters Yu Ominae, who is also there to obtain the Megiddo Flame.

Yoshino latter appears in the Forest of No Return chapter, trying to steal the Rama sculpture. Lost in the cursed forest with Yu Ominae after pissing him off for doing a stunt, the two eventually were forced to join forces with Iwao Akatsuki, in order to eliminate the forest's curse. During an operation to acquire the Holy Grail, she is critically injured from a gunshot wound, however she is saved by the Adolf Hitler clone's good personality before it was overwhelmed by his evil personality.

Yoshino again teams up with Yu to investigate Phantom Island to locate out-of-place artifacts. However, they encounter Trident's agent and Yu's former combat instructor, Bowman. The two escape from the island before it disappears once again under a space/time continuum. Yoshino then continues to fight alongside Yu, Oboro, and other ARCAM staff members in Thailand, Japan, and eventually the South Pole. At the South Pole, she is recruited to harness the power hidden from the South Pole Shrine before she uses her necromancy powers to sabotage Trident's operations in the region.

Mayzel

Mayzel (メイゼル, Meizeru^?) first appeared in Turkey, having been sent to the Mount Ararat research facility by ARCAM in order to decipher thy mystery regarding Noah's Ark and whether it can be opened. He was able to enter the Ark after Colonel MacDougal was able to convince him to go with him or he would execute any ARCAM personnel still alive. Mayzel was goaded by MacDougal to use the Ark and wipe out all life on Earth, but resisted his offer. He was later rescued by Yu and Jean when they penetrated the Ark's interior and left Yu to battle the psychotic Machiner's Platoon commander before committing suicide by using the Ark's self-destruct system.

Mayzel is not seen later in the Spriggan series until the last few chapters, where he was deployed to the South Pole alongside Margaret and several others including Rie Yamabishi, Eva McMahon and Yoshino Somei in investigating the South Pole Shrine. Unfortunately for Henry Garnum and Larry Markson, he and the others decided to revolt against them and tried to assist Yu, Jean and the Trident defector Iwao Akatsuki in seizing Trident operations in the South Pole. Mayzel is voiced by Kenji Shiroyama in Japanese and Ted Pfister in English.

Reception

References

See also

• List of minor Spriggan characters