Story & Characters
Continuing with the trend of reviewing animated series from the late 90s, I'm actually diving back to a show that I've
been rather fond of over the years. Well, I should say that I'm really fond of the first season. It's a show I've
watched numerous times and had a bit of controversy for what the English adaptation did to the script. It's also got a
bit of sword, sorcery, and a whole lotta anti-hero! I'm talking about Sorcerous Stabber Orphen!
Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (I will simply refer to it as Orphen from here on out) is the product of Yoshinobu Akita and
Yuuya Kusaka. It first started out as a light novel, which expanded into a manga before getting an anime adaptation and
a video game release for the Playstation 2. Orphen can be classified in the same category a series like The Slayers
can. It's a fantasy adventure series with a cast of various characters and all sorts of spells and other such fantasy
creatures. Orphen was adapted into an anime by J.C. Staff during 1998 and went until 2000, when the second season
stopped. I'm going to be doing something a bit different for this review, since I found that both seasons of Orphen
differ slightly and can actually be viewed on their own.
With that in mind, I'm going to break things down a bit differently here and do two reviews at once, since technically
they are two seasons of a series. Let's jump right in, shall we.
Season One starts us off by introducing us to Orphen. Orphen himself is sort of a stereotypical these days, but back
then (at least in my eyes) he was unique and memorable for being this "badass" anti-hero type character. He's
rude, unapologetic and to the point, but he's also got a heart of gold deep down inside. Orphen was also regarded as a
gifted sorcerer who originally studied at the Tower of Fang, an infamous magic school, before leaving due to a horrible
incident involving his childhood friend, Azalie. Five years after he left the school, he has been diligently working
towards trying to save her, all the while trying to stop Childman, his former professor at the Tower of Fang, and others
he use to call his friends from destroying this "Bloody August". Just how does Azalie and this "Bloody
August" tie together?
Orphen finds itself in the traditional world of sword and sorcery, and while being fairly unoriginal at times, I found
that the story itself was rather nicely told. Orphen finds himself in a small town called Totokanta, where he is
"training" a young man named Majic, who just happens to be the son of the landlord of the place he is staying
at. I put quotes around training, because Orphen spends most of his time lazing around and sleeping, you know, like
what most sorcerers do. This all changes when a young woman named Cleao comes back from her boarding school to find
Orphen peeping upon her. The reality of the situation is Orphen is there for other reasons, which involve a mysterious
sword that is kept in Cleao's family house. The plot unfolds and we find ourselves following Orphen, Majic and Cleao as
they embark on an adventure together.
When looking at the first season, it would be rather easy to simply put the series in sort of the traditional anime
section. You've got the loner badass (Orphen) a tsundere (Cleao) and Majic, who seems to be a mish-mash of bland
personalities. However, if you were to simply take it all at face value, you'd be greatly missing out on what the show
has to offer. As the story unfolds, we learn more about these characters and find that these assumptions are greatly
mis-informed. Cleao, while seeming as a very naive and spoiled child, actually works hard to support Orphen and prove
her worth as a part of the group, while Orphen opens up to Cleao and Majic more as things progress. Characters are
given greater depth and as a result we care about the adventure that's going on and more importantly, we get to enjoy
watching each of them grow. We want Orphen to succeed and more importantly, overcome all obstacles in his path and this
is what really makes Orphen stand out.
Season One isn't going to turn heads or set new standards, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do and as a result it
not only is very enjoyable, but it's also a blast to watch. Being a fan of the fantasy genre, I've always found this
season to be a treat and it's a show I've come back and watched several times before because of how they hit just the
right notes. There are definitely faults, and the show doesn't truly push past anything to make itself a memorable
adventure, but when all is said and done it is an enjoyable adventure.
First season : 7
So with the first season being an enjoyable romp with some clichés here and there and some filler used very cleverly,
one would bet that a second season would greatly build upon that, right? Wait.. Why is Orphen in some weird, ugly
looking world, running away from something and oh look, there's a bunch of barbie-doll looking Cleao's calling out his
name and now he's missing his shirt? Oh wait, it was a dream? So Orphen wakes up and Cleao is sleeping right next to
him. Oh, so Orphen is in her bed? Or probably the more likely she wandered into his bedroom at night, I think? Wait,
so she's using Leki, a wolf-like creature that she acquired in the first season, to attack Orphen randomly and now
there's a huge dip in the quality of animation?
What's going on, and what have you done to my Orphen series?!
Orphen Season 2, or referred to as Sorcerous Stabber Orphen Revenge is the second season produced by J.C. Staff. Since
the series is considered to be a second season, I will be reviewing it as such and boy, I really wish it wasn't. It's
really hard to begin explaining what my problem is with the overall story and character aspect of the second season,
because it seems like this is almost an alternative universe to the first season, even though the difference overall
aren't terribly major. Majic is now a huge ladies man, or at least the show plays him up to be far more so than the
first, and every episode ends with Orphen's signature attack. Everything about Revenge strikes the audience as cliche
and what's more, a complete opposite of the first season.
What exactly do I mean by this? Revenge sort of comes across as a by-the-numbers type of show, where it loses most of
it's identity to branch off into something that's more stereotypical. I've got a hunch that the studio got together
and had a meeting to discuss this and I'm thinking it might of gone something like this.
"Well, the first season of Orphen did pretty well, and while the storyline was rather dramatic with bits of comedy
nicely woven into it, there were some people that thought it was a bit angsty. What should we do about the second
one?"
"I know! Let's make it more comedy based, with a lighter color palette and a more simplistic art style along with a
more upbeat music."
"That's a great idea, but what about the story"
"That's not important right now! Right now, we need to focus on making sure that the opening intro is absolutely
stunning to lure people in, and improve the soundtrack over the original, but confuse fans of the first season. We want
to pull in more people, because the first season wasn't the big success we wanted it to be. So, let's try to make it
more comedic and still keep the action from the first season to make it more like The Slayers was, except without the
likeable characters or depth! However, since we want to make sure not to invest too much money into this show, the
overall quality is going to be subpar for animation, but that's fine because the show itself is more whimsical!
"
"Wait, that doesn't sound like a very good idea..."
"MEETING ADJOURNED!"
I want to emphasize that Revenge is not a terrible show. You can definitely do worse in the fantasy area, but the
problem is Revenge is touted as the second season to Orphen, and not a alternate universe or a re-telling of the series.
By drastically changing the tone of the show, along with other tweaks, they ended up with a product that's only
similarities are a few things here and there, and the characters. Even then, I would say that the characters themselves
seem to be a downgrade of the first season.
Speaking of characters, wow. Boy are characters a huge downgrade . Remember all that progression between Cleao and
Orphen? Apparently the team behind Revenge didn't. Matter of fact it seems like a lot of the development and character
descriptions were torn up and thrown on the floor and then just sort of stabbed at randomly to newly construct the
characters for Revenge. Cleao and Orphen spend so much time childishly bickering about the last piece of food on the
table, or about her for stumbling into Orphen's bed and then using Leki to attack Orphen. Seriously? My previous words
might of been a bit harsh, but after watching the first few episodes of the show it really becomes apparent that while
there are similarities, they most certainly aren't the characters that we've grown with. The only characters that has
truly stayed the same is Volkan and Dortin, and considering that these are just secondary characters that isn't enough
to help push the show back up.
However, keep in mind that this comparison is based upon what was developed in the first season. The comedy is
definitely a hit and miss aspect, with some parts being absolutely hilarious and others a bit too excessive and cliche,
but I have to admit even despite these additions, they just feel out of place in Orphen. I hate drawing upon
comparisons, but considering that this is the second season I can't help but to critique it more harshly because of
that. Yet another example of what would of done just fine had it been a stand-alone addition.
So what about the story?
Not very much better, to be honest. The story itself has minimal linking to the previous season and devotes far too
many episodes to simply pandering around with filler that doesn't really help show character growth, or progression of
any sort.
Honestly, one would be forgiven if they simply dropped the show after five episodes, because honestly nothing happens to
keep the viewer interested and when the plot finally does get going, unfortunately it's at a point that I like to
describe as "Too-far-gone". I simply did not care what was happening or what could end up happening, because
the show had taken so long to establish itself. Honestly, I was just simply watching episodes just to get them out of
the way after awhile, and that is never good in a series.
By no means is Revenge terrible, but it's sadly apparent that not much care was given in terms of how the story
progressed. While the story itself isn't actually too bad, it was just set up far too late and couldn't save the mess
the show had already made.
Second Season : 4
End score was rounded up
Rating: 6
Art
The first season of Orphen has a very distinct look to it. There's no doubt that J.C. Staff really wanted to give the
first season that special something and for a good portion, it shows. Characters are rather detailed, lighting is
nicely done and spells have a nice oomph to them, with each one being rather distinct.
Animation, overall, is fairly fluent and when it looks good, it really looks good. However, the animation itself is a
mixed bag. While there are points when this series really looks incredible, the quality seems to be all over the place
as sometimes characters will look more muddled at one point and others look rather detailed.
J.C. Staff certainly wanted to make this a high quality series and I give them props for trying, but unfortunately time
hasn't been kind to the other potions of this show, as backgrounds sometimes look a bit flat and characters don't
exactly fit properly, but this is very rare. There is one constant throughout and that Orphen has a much darker, old
school look to it. This is actually what I've always loved about the first season is the excellent choice of art
direction, even if the quality overall was varied and ultimately the show definitely shows it's age after fourteen years
and at times that isn't a pretty thing.
On a completely side-note, what the heck is with the different art style featured in the last episode of the first
season? I seriously kid you not, it's completely different in appearance than the rest of the show, and sort of
jarring. It looks great, but my gosh is it different.
FIrst season : 6
Sadly, this huge transitional change the story made is also shown through in the artwork. The animation itself isn't
nearly as sharp or detailed as this time around, and seems to have a much more whimsical and light-hearted look. While
this isn't a bad thing, it's definitely a huge drop in overall quality than from before. And when I say a huge drop in
overall quality, I mean it fell-off-a-cliff kind of drop.
To be honest, I'm not actually too sure what happened, but the show definitely looks like there wasn't much of a budget
to work with. Characters are very lazily drawn, and animated. There's a much greater difference in quality overall
than the first season and the backgrounds look even worse. It's really hard to come up with positives when it seems
like they took the problems of the first season and focused expanding them. I really can't stress enough that while the
art is still tolerable, it's a huge dip in both animation and backgrounds. By far the only thing I can truly compliment
is that the show stands more on average ground sometimes and the intro is rather nicely done. However, that simply
cannot save the incredibly noticeable downgrade in animation, and it's even worse when the series actually looks pretty
decent because these blemishes are significantly more noticeable and far more common than they were in the first
season.
While there are definitely more series out there with more flimsy animation, this definitely sets a low bar for the
series and by far is my biggest gripe with it. Truly, what a shame.
Second season : 3
End score was rounded up
Rating: 5
Sound
Orphen season one is a bit of a unique character when it comes to the sound. Let's deal with the elephant in the room
first off. The English dub was handled by ADV Films, and as previously mentioned in two other reviews I covered that
were series dubbed by ADV Films in the 90s, this one has a modified script. To be completely outright, modified
wouldn't do it justice as they have completely changed large aspects of the dialogue when it was dubbed over. This was
the series that got me into the habit of watching anime with subtitles on, just to see how much was changed in the
dialogue. While I applaud ADV for their creativity to branch out and try something new, the unfortunate result is
characters are completely different in some cases, saying things that are completely unlike their original dub counter
parts. I'm surprised they didn't draw on Goatees and make them speak in a deep voice to symbolize some sort of parallel
evil twin. This was viewed as a huge issue by those that watched this series, since it ended up changing a lot of the
cast and story elements and in some cases completely removing them.
However, despite this the dub isn't actually terrible. It's actually rather amusing to see how they chose to handle
things and we are still told an interesting tale. For myself, it was the voice work that really made it worth the
experience and I personally considered the overall difference to not be that significant. David Matranga (Orphen)
brings an incredible dynamic range of vocals and really helps us feel Orphen's pain and happiness while Hillary Haag
(Dortin) and John Swasey (Volkan) do a fantastic job of providing some hilarity throughout the series as the duo that is
constantly pestering and following Orphen around. The dub isn't truly spectacular, but the cast certainly did their
best to work with the new script.
However, it's the sub that's the true winner here. While the dub was far more varying in depth, the sub itself presents
a level of subtly with the work. Showtaro Morikubo did a great job of keeping Orphen level headed and calm throughout,
while still giving us a dynamic range. The show stealers, for me, were Mayumi Iizuka (Cleao) and Kazue Ikura (Volkan).
While Iizuka's vocal work may come across as a bit annoying, I felt that she truly fit the role of Cleao perfectly and
felt far more natural despite being rather high-pitched, while Kazue Ikura was just absolutely hilarious to listen to
playing Volkan. My only complaint is they decided to make Omi Minami play Majic's VA, which is a bit odd since Majic
isn't exactly a little kid, he's a player! but seriously, the voice work just did not stick with the character at all.
That, and Leki, the pet that Cleao claims as her own during the show, gets rather annoying too. Not ear-grating
annoying, but after awhile it does start to wear on you.
With so much to say about the voice work, sadly the music takes a back seat and in a big way. The series offers decent
mood pieces to match each scene, with the exception of the intermission music (I can still hear it in my nightmares) the
soundtrack itself is fairly standard fair part of the time and mostly poor for the rest. There are a few tunes
throughout that standout, but sadly can't help make the sound section anything more than average. The exception to this
being the few tracks that involve guitar work.
First Season : 6
So, with all of these negatives for the second season, how does sound fair? Well, surprisingly well.
Ironically, with the change in tone, the English dub this time comes out straight ahead and swinging. I found that it
seemed to fit the theme of the show far more overall than the Japanese. While the Japanese certainly wasn't bad, there
was just something about the way the English VAs handled the script that really fit far more so this time around and
made it more enjoyable to watch. While the script wasn't modified to the same extent that the original was, the change
actually fits more appropriately with the show itself. Both dubs are good, but the English gives it that little extra
something.
Sound itself also sees fit to rise above the previous season, and being the only category that does so as well. This
time around we're treating to a bit stronger of a soundtrack that, while not memorable at all, felt far more fitting and
more dynamic than the first season. A huge improvement overall in the entire score. Especially compared to that
equivalent to nails on a chalkboard song in the first season.
Second Season : 7
End score was rounded up
Rating: 7
Presentation
The first season of Orphen is one interesting experience. By today's standards, a lot of the show is pure cliché and
slightly below average, but the story itself holds up remarkably well. When the show shines, it really does shine
brightly and when it doesn't, it's very noticeable. I wouldn't expect anything less out of a show that's now fourteen
years old. Orphen has a few issues here and there and it really shows in the sound, art and some of the plot. However,
it still doesn't change the fact that the first season is a very enjoyable journey with characters that grow and a
fairly interesting world and plot to boot.
With all of this in mind, it's even more of an embarrassment that the second season of Orphen is what it is. Everything
seems to take a back seat with the exception of the sound. However, the biggest question of all constantly popped up
when I first watched this show, and during my re-watch. Why would they completely stray away from what worked during
the first season?
Since my adventure back into the world of Orphen, another question popped up. Why did we even get a second season in
the first place? Everything was nicely wrapped up and the story left on an open ended note. Making another season
that greatly breaks the formula that worked so well and focusing on the problems that were scattered throughout the
first season only makes this even more forgettable. I'm not even too sure what the connection between both shows is, as
one does not need to view the first season in order to watch the second, with the exception of the characters that were
introduced in the first season. The only saving grace is the fact that this time around, things are much more
light-hearted and the comedy is pretty decent.
Overall? Go watch the first season if you're a fan of fantasy series and don't mind a bit of age. It's an enjoyable
journey with a few bumps along the way. Just be careful if you plan on venturing down Orphen season 2's path, because
it's a destination that few ever come back from with a smile on their face. It's such a shame too, because the world,
characters and lore in Orphen could make for something truly outstanding. Sadly, that will never be realized to its
full potential.
First season : 7
I just don't know what to say. This is the second time I've watched Revenge, and for the first time I find myself with
the exact same feeling I had back when I first watched it. I've wanted to really like this show. To really get into
it. Sadly, no matter how much I want to, I am just completely unable to.
Had this been a completely different show, or an alternative universe with the same characters, I have a feeling that
Revenge would of faired so much better overall as a show. The first season of Orphen wasn't a masterpiece, but it had a
lot of strong concepts going for it that really could of been expanded upon to make it one. Sadly, J.C. Staff decided
to stray away from the majority of the elements that made the first season strong in the first place. It really is such
a shame, because by itself Revenge isn't terrible.
However, Revenge is quite far from good. Poor art and unmemorable characters introduced to this season really don't
help anything. Then, taking the previous season of characters and throwing it all in a blender just ended up leaving
this show as a blemish on the series itself. The show is definitely watchable, but if you were a fan of the first
season and wanted to see more of that then Revenge is going to be a test of patience and tolerance. If you disliked the
first season and wanted something a bit more akin to The Slayers, and that's only in comparison to the sheer level of
comedy and the fact that it's fantasy based, the second season might be more up your alley.
The more one looks at both of the seasons, the more one gets the impression of that they weren't meant to be joining
seasons. Although, they have been re-released in the United States under a complete collection, so therefore it is
being treated as such.
Second season : 4
End score was rounded up
Rating: 6
Final Verdict
6.00 (average)
Reviewed by CyanideBlizzard, Mar 08, 2012
