Majutsushi Orphen Hagure Tabi (Sorcerous Stabber Orphen)

In a world of magic and monsters, Krylancelo Finrandi and his foster sister Azalie Cait-Sith were once promising students of sorcery, prodigies at the famous Tower of Fangs. But an experiment gone horribly wrong warps Azalie's appearance, trapping her in the form of a dragon.

Elders at the Tower—more interested in preserving their reputation rather than their students' lives—drive off the transformed Azalie and cover up the incident. Outraged, Krylancelo strikes out on his own, taking the new name of "Orphen" and vowing to return Azalie to her normal state.

Five years later, Orphen's quest has stalled. A chance encounter brings him face to face with Azalie again, but he still has no way to restore her body. And with a hostile group of sorcerers hunting her down, he may be running out of time. The past and present collide as Orphen tries to find how to save Azalie from their former teachers and friends.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

This series was made to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the light novels it was based on. Yoshinobu Akita began the books in 1994. The first season adapts contents from volumes 1, 4, 5 and 6 from the light novels.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Majutsushi Orphen Hagure Tabi
Alternative version:	Majutsushi Orphen, Majutsushi Orphen: Revenge
Sequel:	Majutsushi Orphen Hagure Tabi: Tennin no Isan

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Orphen

Main

Morikubo, Shoutarou
Japanese

Everlasting, Cleao

Main

Ookubo, Rumi
Japanese

Lin, Majic

Main

Kobayashi, Yuusuke
Japanese

Cait-Sith, Azalie

Supporting

Hikasa, Youko
Japanese

Volkan

Supporting

Mizuno, Marie
Japanese

Leki

Supporting

Allenford, Hartia

Supporting

Ban, Taito
Japanese

Powderfield, Childman

Supporting

Namikawa, Daisuke
Japanese

Packingham, Forte

Supporting

Maeno, Tomoaki
Japanese

Dortin

Supporting

Fuchigami, Mai
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Yoshie, Terushige

Producer

Oomori, Shinji

Producer

Urasaki, Nobumitsu

Producer

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Opening Theme

"Calling U" by buzz★Vibes

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Ending Theme

"Yosoku Funou Days (予測不能Days)" by Mai Fuchigami

Reviews

Mar 31, 2020

Harucchan

Recommended

Honestly, I can't understand all this hatred towards this series. As a Cinema graduate, I was taught to look at things objectively. This series is no masterpiece and, as I haven't watched the original, I have no grounds to compare.

The story is a bit confusing, so I don't know if the hatred stems from here. The story was very rushed - if I take into consideration the comments of those who watched the original. The script could've been better elaborated so that the story would’ve had a better flow - maintaining the interest and suspense.

It's really entertaining as a whole if you watch knowing ...

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Apr 12, 2020

PixelB

Mixed Feelings

I went into this show knowing basically nothing other than the fact that this show was adapted from an old LN back in the day.

I decided to give it a shot, since the synopsis didn't look that bad. But, it's very, very unmemorable. It was produced in 2020, but it really feels like it was produced in 2005, with a slightly updated artstyle. I mean, the animation is just not up to par at all. The only compliments I can give is that CGI is used at the bare minimum, and the CGI isn't that bad. Other than that, it really looks dated, and not ... something a 2020 production should really create.

Everything else is just as antiquated. The story is right out of a 90's anime. Well, what do you expect; the original LN series was released in 1994. Obviously, it's going to look like it. But it's not like old series are bad at all. There are a bunch that I like with a similar style to this one, but are just done a lot better. The only one I can think of right off the bat are Slayers!, which was pretty good, and Gokudou-kun Manyuuki, which was amazing. Both have very similar styles and were released around the 90's to 2000s. However, despite having similar qualities, Orphen has absolutely nothing going for it unlike the other two shows, which had their own charm that made them good.

Orphen is just your bland formulaic story straight from a few decades ago. A cast of characters featuring a tomboy girl lead, "mysterious MC," and an eager student, this show pulls a lot of your classic and typical tropes into the main cast. You also got your comic relief characters as well that show up every story arc. Something like this is fine if you are like Slayers, because Slayers, despite being a fantasy story, is focused around comedy/action, while Orphen is more about serious fantasy story, so having some corny comic relief centering around your token cast of characters is very disharmonious to the overarching plot of the story. The main cast of characters, other than MC and Azalie (maybe the other childman students as well if you're stretching it) are basically comic relief. And very formulaic, predictable comic relief at that. The same exact "funny" and "stupid" things happen, so it gets old after a few episodes.

I have to admit, this show had a good start. It didn't have the best art, but honestly, the beginning was fine. Comic relief was fresh and it had a good pacing and story. When the girl and boy join the MC is where the story takes a turn for the worse. Before that, you had a pretty compelling main storyline where you were wondering what was going to happen next, and what the characters were going to do. This more serious plot is ruined by the characters. That being said, the overarching plot in the series is not that bad. However, it's really not amazing, and not something I'll sit through to actually watch. The story loves to take very long detours involving arcs that really don't matter at all. And these arcs are all very mediocre and boring. It goes a little something like this: powerful enemy appears--->MC gets beaten or something/someone gets kidnapped---> MC powers up or something --------> some random "funny scene" happens------> MC saves the day, move on. This formula is dreadful and something that should be kept away in the embarrassingly bad tropes of the 90s.

As a result of all these flaws, Orphen gets a 5/10 for me. It's absolutely not worth watching, but at the same time, it's not exactly the worst show in the world. It's just painfully bland and formulaic. It's a show that really didn't need an new adaption because it's nothing special. I'm sure the original 99' anime was just as predictable and boring.

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Mar 31, 2020

KANLen09

Not Recommended

Being someone who's never watched the original 1998-1999 run of Orphen, I can definitely say that I wasn't missing out on anything much. But hearing that a soft reboot of this is greenlit for achieving monetary milestone sales of the LN (and coincidentally the 25th anniversary of the series), I decided to take a gamble on this new "refreshed" retake, but holy cow, more than making justice to the original run in the first few episodes (I'll give it that), this adaptation managed to be something worse, and not for the lack of trying.

If you'd ask me what magical fantasy series stood out in the ... 90s, there was some of the action-adventure shows that easily had made their mark as classics like Slayers, the mediocre Bakuretsu Hunters, or even in the 2000s with shows like Kaze no Stigma. Those shows can be recommended in a heartbeat. But Orphen? That is only through word-of-mouth or by sheer coincidence that your TV cable service actually was showing anime that was brought over to the West when it got popular in the late 90s.

And believe me, in writing this review I had to scour for information for people that knew the source material better than me, and from one source I can quote that: "Some things are give-or-take when comparing the 90s to this version, like the magic summoning (which is what the novels actually had that was justice, the "I summon thee, <insert element name>" part and such). The story itself is as standard fare as magical fantasies go, and telling the MC's story (in this case, Krylancelo/Orphen) and his relationship with the character cast, poised with the figure of being the best of the best and with the usual villainy stuff. Whilst the character effects are loosely inspired from Slayers, their weights on Orphen do vary from relation to relation, and honestly to me are nothing but a bunch of nuisances, as much as I want to get invested in them. They may aren't be in 1998, but definitely now in 2020.

And of course, who else than getting Studio Deen for the job, because and with honesty, it's the studio where all the shitty works go when there is no future for the shows under their belt (only in rare cases like KonoSuba and the highly-rated production shows where they ACTUALLY excelled), and this show is no exception. And I'd get it, Studio Deen, par on their horrible record, has been around since the mid-80s, and for Orphen to accomplish the 90s style with modern animation, that does not mesh together in times such as now. "All style and no substance" is the only way I can brand this show.

The OST is one to be laughable at. I mean for one, the original VA for Orphen, Shoutarou Morikubo is asked once again to recast his voice for the reboot whilst all the others are new VAs that are unlike Orphen's. And that pretty much removes close to naught with the nostalgia for people who'd watched the 90s version and thought that it was a nice and good show (bar the insane fillers of that). The OP I've gotta admit, it sounds and feels like a joke while trying to recapture the 90s cheesy opening's feel, but while it's average at best, it's definitely catchy and one of my guilty favourites. Can't quite say the same for Mai Fuchigami's ED, I don't know why but her song repertoire is beginning to feel like it's on a B/C-grade songlist that's to hear once and forget about it.

More than trying to replicate the trend that is with Dororo last year in the realm of creating classic reboots that surpass the original, this show is an abject failure in all respect and to the people that enjoyed the 90s version, I'd say this is even worse than Orphen: Revenge, and even if you don't take my word for it, try this for yourself at your own risk. This isn't a show to reintroduce a franchise that's long gone from a classic era, but rather warrants people to try the original 24-episode run instead that's better in every way.

In a nutshell, only attempt this if you have time on your hands to waste. Believe me, I've tried to look at this show positively and give it a chance, but it always threw the potential away.

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Majutsushi Orphen Hagure Tabi

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Orphen

Everlasting, Cleao

Lin, Majic

Cait-Sith, Azalie

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Leki

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Packingham, Forte

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Majutsushi Orphen Hagure Tabi

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Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

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Characters & Voice Actors

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Reviews

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