Minagawa Ryouji 皆川亮二

Supurigan [Spriggan / aka Striker]
スプリガン
written by Takashige Hiroshi たかしげ宙
serialized on Shounen Sunday,
11 volumes @ Y500
[ 01:9106| 02:9108| 03:9209| 04:9303| 05:9308| 06:9405| 07:9408| 08:9503| 09:9508]
[ 10:9603| 11:9606]

Shounen Sunday Special. Young high school student and special forces agent Ominae Yuu is a Spriggan, the name for a special agent on a mission to defend the world from the technological relics of an ancient civilization, many having devastating destructive force which could tilt the balance of power worldwide. Lucky for him, he has his armored muscle suit and PSI powers to help him against the villains.

A typical fighting shounen manga. It did have good points, such as strategies on both sides - a hero who can use his head for other things than smashing the bad guys is worth of note. The characters were also quite developed, had an awful past - and this part, too, was quite good.

See also:
o Spriggan Homepage
<http://www.spriggan.co.jp/>

TRA:(F)Glenat(E)Viz Communications(G)Carlsen Verlag(I)Planet Manga
APG:

Kyo
Ｋｙｏ
written by Takashige Hiroshi たかしげ宙
serialized on Shounen Sunday,
1 volume @ Y500
[ 01:9610]

Shounen Sunday Special. A boy with an IQ of 250 and a lazy policeman pursue a criminal who controls important, state-of-the-art science technology. {009}

Arms
ＡＲＭＳ
serialized on Shounen Sunday,
22 volumes @ Y390
[ 01:9710| 02:9801| 03:9803| 04:____| 05:9809| 06:9812| 07:9903| 08:9906| 09:9908]
[ 10:9911| 11:0002| 12:0005| 13:0007| 14:0010| 15:0012| 16:0103| 17:0105| 18:0107]
[ 19:0110| 20:0201| 21:0203| 22:0206]

Some months ago I read Spriggan. The problem with Spriggan is mainly that it becomes repetitive, in the end. And while it is well above things like Dragonball, and a good reading, it didn't leave me much.

Then, after its end here, the publisher announced Arms, the newest manga from the same writer. And I skipped it, expecting it to be just more of Spriggan. But a friend lent me the first volumes, and they proved me wrong.
We still have teenagers fighting, and secret organizations; but things are much different. "Arms" is the name of a sort of weapon, made of nanomachines. It is implanted on a human body and, if it isn't rejected, it makes a very powerful weapon. So our main characters were implanted with arms, and they fight with them.
But that is just the small part of it. These young people have had quite an horrible life, and things are getting worse, and react to it in normal ways, feel fear, or hate, and together try to fight them. The Arms are much more than mere weapons - I won't say more not to spoil, but they cause a lot of trouble to our young heroes other than giving them help.
Also different from Spriggan is the atmosphere, much darker. Violence brings death, actual death, to the ordinary people and to the others. Then our heroes would like to live a normal life, and they try very hard. It takes quite a lot to get together well between them, and they remain not of one mind; also, other people join and help them, while new enemies (enemies?) turn up.
But the hardest battle lies in their hearts (and not only in theirs). And then there are the villains. Definitely not the "BWAHAHA" type, many of them fight to prove themselves worthy in an organization that seems to hold no respect for nothing - not feelings, not Life. But what for? Why? There's not the mere villain planning to conquer the world. Something else is there, a Great Goal to achieve which nothing seems too much. It certainly has something to do with Humanity. Could it be something that our heroes would try to achieve too? And what does all this have to do with "Alice in wonderland"?

Many questions rise and are developed as the plot twists. And the characters seem well developed, too.

In short, I recommend it, especially to those who like Eden. Arms has much in common with Eden, only the author is a little more optimistic, which I prefer. {011}