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魔術士オーフェン
24
TV
Finished Airing
Oct 3, 1998 to Mar 27, 1999
Six years ago at the magic school known as the Tower of Fang, a grave accident happened involving the magical sword Baltanders and the magic user Azalie. Unable to control the sword's power, Azalie was transformed into the shape of a great dragon who since that day became known as Bloody August. Krilancelo, a young magician at the Tower who cared greatly for Azalie found much to his disgust that the elders of the Tower of Fang were less than willing to save Azalie and wanted rather to pretend the accident never happened. Angered by their stand, Krilanceloa swore that he would find a way to return Azalie to her former self. Thus he forsook the name Krilancelo and declared himself Orphen, leaving the Tower and his magical studies behind to wander the world... (Source: ANN, edited)
7.7/10
Average Review Score
78%
Recommend It
9
Reviews Worldwide
Orphen is not something that will leave you thinking you just watched one of the greatest animes of all time. It's a good fantasy story presented in a nice way. The opening statement might sound negative but it's better to be blunt about it, it's not. The story is enjoyable and the best thing about the anime. Some nice changes to pretty common story elements make Orphen get a story that is good and solid. The mix of humorus sceens and action and battle scenes it done very well and in a way that helps the story along and doesn't feel like it has been putthere just for the heck of it. There are fightscenes but they are generaly not long. They are far from the battles of animes such as Dragon Ball or Bleach where they stretch on for several episodes with one episode dedicated to the yelling needed to power up. If you are a fan of these battles I whould not recomend Orphen to you for it's fight scenes. The battles mostly over after a few strikes. If you have read the Lord of the Rings trillogy you can expect the battles to be much in the same way when it comes to presentation. More focus on what happens before and after a fight than the actuall battle. They are not overly short but no longer than they need to be since they are not the main focus of the story. That is the hunt for the relics needed to transform Azalie back to her normal form before the Tower of Fang (called Talon`s Peak in the story synopsis) can kill her. I like the art style of this anime. You can see that it's not a very new anime by just looking at it but with a fantasy story it doesn't hurt to think old. The backgrounds are detailed without having any real details. It might sound odd but it's the best way I can describe it. Everything has a good amount of colours in diffrent shades. Grass and stone are not one colour with another shade for shadows and highlights. They are done in the same style as paintings or the old disney films. The characters are done in the three shades way mentioned above with the addition of another colour for lighting effects and fit very good onto the background. The magic spells could have done with some more detail, they are very simply drawn but then it's pretty hard to add shadows to something that glows strong enough to make make all other shadows look weak. The characters fullfill their roles very well even if they are very sterotypical in most cases. Despite that they are fun and fit into the story and they don't feel to sterotypical untill you start to analyze them. It whould have been fun to see a bit more character development from Majic and a bit more so from Cleo. It whould have been fun looking back at the anime but nothing I found myself thinking about while watching it. The others are done nicely enough. The soundtrack did what it's supposed to. Be in the back but wasn't very intresting with the exeption of one track which was great. I also liked the opening and closing songs especially the closing ones. More personal taste than anything else in this case I'd guess since they are pretty standard. You'll like or love them while you watch but forget them after a while when they get replaced by the next thing you watch. I whould highly recomend it to people who want to watch a good fantasy anime that has a good mix of story development, action and humor. If you want a anime with lot's of actions and battles or a very deep and serious (in terms of theme) anime you should continue your search. If you are looking for something good to watch in general, you could could easily do worse than watch Sorcerous Stabber Orphen. Also for those who are not to elitist to watch dubbed anime. The english dubs are good.
Click an episode to read its synopsis.
A protagonist who gave up his name Searching for a dragon out of affection Accompanied by a rich girl and apprentice Who seek guidance for a better life direction With two trolls as comic relief And a organization out to stop the hero A story of trust and betrayal unfolds With chances of success being zeroWhat might sound as a familiar story One you've heard time and again Watch and you'll see what a nice story this is Here is Majutsushi Orphen - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This is my first review on MAL and, to start this off, I chose a slow paced fantasy light-novel adaption that I recommend for those who enjoy adventure stories in search of forsaken loved ones. Score Synopsis: Story - 7 Art - 6 Sound - 7 Character - 8 Enjoyment - 6 Overall - 35/5 = 7 Story - 7 The story takes a while to get going and, a lot of the time, the majority of the situations for some episodes are only brought about for the sake of comic relief. However, as the story progresses, the emotional buildup begins to improve quite well once the backstory for the protagonist, Orphen, is told. With simple but decent magic fights and a likable trio to follow, I came to enjoy the romance and the internal struggles each character undergoes. The biggest issue is the slow pacing for the overall series. Art - 6 As an anime that aired between 1998 and 1999, the art style was clearly dated but well done as a whole. Given how some scenes lasts for a long time, one would focus quite a bit on the scenery which was actually well done for its time. Still, in comparison to other anime of this time, this one wasn't able to stand out as much. Sound - 7 For those of you that have spend lots of time listening to 90's anime music, you can guess what kind of music this show had. The usual endings are calming but I personally liked how upbeat the openings were with the first opening being Jazz. Voice acting was as you would expect from most 90's anime, okay but nothing spectacular. Characters - 8 The characters are where the story really shines as the majority of this anime seemed more character driven than plot driven. Orphen, unlike most light-novel protagonists, is a cool protagonist who is a decent fighter and is sometimes a jerk to many of those he encounters. The most reoccurring female figure, Cleao, who I will admit is just there for comic relief was okay and, once the emotional aspect of the story came around, she actually became both likable and relatable. And then there's the try hard apprentice Majic who actually is the pinnacle of character development over the course of this series. As a whole, the lineup takes a while to get used to but, unlike many of the more recent light-novel adaptations, this group was quite solid. Enjoyment - 6 I'll admit that the slow pace is not for everyone including myself and the two "comic relief" trolls will actually get annoying rather quickly. And I mean REALLY annoying for some occasions. Still, I enjoyed how each character developed as the story progressed as well as how much more relatable they became. No harems, no fancy battles, just pure and well-developed character development. Overall - 7 This anime might not be for everyone given how slow and behind the times it is, but if good 90's music, a decent plot, and eventual "feels" is what you want, then I would recommend this to you.
i really liked this anime because its full of humor, action and plenty of fantasy. it was fun to watch but i'd personally enjoy it more if it had a little more depth into it. The storyline and ideas behind it, are amazingly well done but i think if they put some more dramatic moments (not the cheesy ones) it'd bring more attention. either way, over all, i'd say an 8 sounds good. the 2 points that are really missing are the lack of character development for cleo and maybe Orphens apprentice. but other than that, i'd recommend this anime to people who arent intoa very deep story line.
This will be my first review. At this moment, I believe that I would have the right eyesight to review and critique an anime considering the amount I have watched. Also, the fact that I was just too lazy to write one. :P Well just bare with me. Majutsushi Orphen... Hmmm. You can always read the description that MAL gives you but it doesn't do the anime any justice towards its story whatsoever. It has a somewhat deeper demeanor that gives the viewer a new way to view the world around them. Considering from other anime series, this one is one of the best classicanime that is possibly unknown to most people (even though there is a PS2 game for the series that came to the US). In my opinion, it brought upon the stigma of 90's anime which mostly consisted of action, adventure oriented material. One of the main reasons that it is a good anime to watch is if you get tired of watching romantic and slow paced anime then this is a nice change of pace. Another reason is that it goes beyond just the fight scenes and into what is really important which would be why people act the way they do. The sound and art of the anime are exactly what one would expect from the 90's. The only qualms I have is that the soundtrack was good but I wouldnt say it was spectacular by any means whatsoever. The artwork on the other hand was well done. Especially the backgrounds that were placed in each episode. Overall, it is an anime to watch but be mindful of some of the characters. In my opinion, be open-minded since at some point there might be ones that you either enjoy or dislike. Yet this happens in almost any series but don't let this take you away from the storyline which presents itself nicely.
Orphen is really one of those underexposed anime's that could have done better, having given it a chance. With the classic shonen cliches and some elements you don't see all the time, this story does have it's own unique personality. Being something from the 90s it is expected that there are some issues with art, but for its time (compared to other anime's from the 90s), some of the art is simply flawless. The Soundtrack of this anime is really outstanding, i have a few issues with the first ending at times and the second ending cause they didn't fit the timing of when they were played.To go from a really dark scene to a really quaint ED theme, can take a lot out of the endings of an episode. Voice acting from seiyuu's and dub actor's both fit the characters well. I preferred the dub, but that's probably cause Spike Spencer played as Majic, and Vic Mignogna played nearly everyone else :p I really do think this a fantastic anime, but just not given the exposure it could have got.