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Orphen Anime Review

Orphen Box Art

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen

3.5 stars / TV Series / Adventure / 13-up

Bottom Line

Simple, but generally fun and engaging fantasy anime.

It’s Like...

...Slayers and Berserk got together and had a well-adjusted, good-natured child.

Vital Stats

Original Title

魔術士オーフェン

Romanized Title

Majutsushi Oofen

Literal Translation

Black Magic Warrior Orphen

US Release By

Sentai Filmworks, ADV Films

Genre

Fantasy Action / Adventure Comedy

Series Type

TV Series

Length

24 25-minute episodes

Production Date

1998-10-03 - 1999-03-27

What's In It

Categories

Look For

  • Swords 'n Sorcery
  • Monsters
  • Peeping Toms
  • Shrimp Men

Objectionable Content

  • Violence: 2 (moderate)
  • Nudity: 2 (moderate)
  • Sex: 2 (moderate)
  • Language: 1 (mild)

full details

Plot Synopsis

The story takes place in a rural world with a few bits of technology laced throughout. Our hero, known only as Orphen, is a sorcerer who has been staying in a small town for the past year. He's been living with the owner of a little pub/inn. He's behind on his rent, but has been teaching the owner's son, Majic, well... magic. As it turns out, he has a motive for staying in this town: The Sword of Baltanders, which is being housed in a mansion along with a mother and her two daughters, the youngest being a spunky, quick-to-judge girl named Cleao. One day when Orphen is keeping an eye on the sword, Cleao spots him and automatically assumes he's a Peeping Tom. That turns out to be the least of everyone's worries as the infamous monster, Bloody August, suddenly appears. But Orphen somehow knows the beast and keeps referring to it as Azalie. Who is Azalie? What is Bloody August's connection with the sword? And why does that annoying Dortin always seem to keep popping up with his sister Volcan to cause more trouble? Majic and Cleao will have to journey with Orphen in order to find out!

Quick Review

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Orphen is nothing earth-shattering but generally well-made, entertaining and fun to watch. Fans of both serious and comedic fantasy anime will likely find a happy middle-ground with this series. While Slayers is mostly off the wall and goofy, Orphen is more down-to-earth. While Berserk is dark, gritty and violent, Orphen never takes itself too seriously. The visuals, save a few minor oddities late in the series, are attractive, with particularly nice backgrounds, and the acting in both languages is fine (though ADVs translation leaves something to be desired in both cases).

If you're looking for a good fantasy anime with some nice characters and an engaging plot, Orphen should satisfy those needs. It's not perfect, but I found it pretty worthwhile in the end.

Read the full-length review...

Related Recommendations

There's a sequel series called Orphen's Revenge, or something, which is coming sometime from ADV. Otherwise, El Hazard may be a good bet if you liked Orphen (though it's sillier). Arc the Lad is a bit more serious, but Orphen fans may enjoy it.

Notes and Trivia

Orphen started out in 1994 as a lengthy series of light novels by Yoshinobu Akita with illustrations by Yuuya Kusaka. A second series of novels joined that one a couple of years later, and in 1998 the story was spun into a larger franchise including a medium-length manga series, this anime series, and the sequel anime series, "Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Revenge," and a video game released in 2000 for the PS2. The video game was available in the US, as was the manga.

In an unusual crossover, there is also a single-light-novel match-up with the big one in anime fantasy, Slayers.

The original title, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, was shortened by ADV to Orphen at the request of the Japanese licensors, supposedly so it would help build a stronger bond to the PlayStation 2 video game. Probably not the greatest strategy on the part of the Japanese, as the PS2 game was rather poorly-received over here.

US DVD Review

Available as 6 separate DVDs for a full retail of $29.99 each or collected together as a "brick" (multi-disc keepcase, in this case six) for a mere $89.98, these DVDs are decent, standard ADV productions. The video transfer is only decent at first (some noticeable grain and ghosting can be seen) but things get cleaner and sharper as the show progresses and the two digitally animated episodes look great. The Japanese and English audio are decent and come the appropriate subtitle tracks: full dialogue, songs and signs for the Japanese audio and a stream for songs and signs for the dub. As far extras go they're pretty repetitive. All volumes have creditless opening and closing sequences, production portfolios and ADV previews, but the fifth volume has a Japanese commercial and the sixth one has a roughly five minute Japanese featurette. There's also a funny Easter Egg concerning the dub on the third volume. Both language casts are well credited.

It has since been re-released by Sentai Filmworks as a box set that also includes the second season; the content is apparently the same as the ADV box set version.

Parental Guide

About 13-up for some violence and mild mature content.

Violence: 2 - A few deaths and some violence, but nothing overly graphic.

Nudity: 2 - Some skin, but the really naughty bits are either covered or are not detailed.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - Cleao frequently freaks out. Everyone's a pervert in her mind (she's right only once, I think).

Language: 1 - Pretty light on the Japanese side.

Availability

Available in North America from Section 23 on a bilingual "Complete Collection" box set that also includes the sequel series, Orphen II. Was previously available from ADV on six bilingual DVDs or a "Perfect Collection" box set of the whole series, and prior to that on six dubbed VHS volumes.

RightStuf carries the box set: Orphen DVD Complete Collection.

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Amazon