Sorcerous Stabber Orphen

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen
Cover of the first DVD of Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Spell of the Dragon.
魔術士オーフェン (Majutsushi Ōfen)
Genre	Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Light novel
Majutsushi Orphen Haguretabi
Written by	Yoshinobu Akita
Illustrated by	Yuuya Kusaka
Published by	Fujimi Shobo
Demographic	Male
Imprint	Fujimi Fantasia Bunko
Magazine	Dragon Magazine
Original run	May 1994 – September 2003
Volumes	20
Light novel
Majutsushi Orphen Mubouhen
Written by	Yoshinobu Akita
Illustrated by	Yuuya Kusaka
Published by	Fujimi Shobo
Demographic	Male
Imprint	Fujimi Fantasia Bunko
Magazine	Dragon Magazine
Original run	February 1996 – October 2003
Volumes	13
Manga
Written by	Yoshinobu Akita
Illustrated by	Yuuya Kusaka
Published by	Fujimi Shobo
English publisher	ADV Manga
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Dragon Magazine
Original run	1998 – 2001
Volumes	6
TV anime
Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Begins
Directed by	Hiroshi Watanabe
Written by	Masashi Kubota
Studio	J.C.Staff
Licensed by	Sentai Filmworks
Network	TBS
Original run	3 October 1998 – 27 March 1999
Episodes	24
TV anime
Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Revenge
Directed by	Tōru Takahashi
Written by	Mayori Sekijima
Studio	J.C.Staff
Licensed by	Sentai Filmworks
Network	TBS
Original run	2 October 1999 – 26 March 2000
Episodes	23
Light novel
Slayers x Orphen
Written by	Hajime Kanzaka & Yoshinobu Akita
Illustrated by	Rui Araizumi & Yuuya Kusaka
Published by	Fujimi Shobo
Demographic	Male
Imprint	Fujimi Fantasia Bunko
Magazine	Dragon Magazine
Original run	2005 – 2005
Volumes	1
Game
Orphen: Scion of Sorcery
Platform	PlayStation 2
Anime and Manga Portal

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (魔術士オーフェン, Majutsushi Ōfen^?, lit. "Sorceror Orphen") is a series of Japanese fantasy adventure novels and manga, two anime television series (Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Begins and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Revenge), and a video game.

Synopsis

Azalie, Orphen's best friend who had helped him get through the prestigious magic school, The Tower of Fang, has some connection with the beastly dragon, the Bloody August. To uphold the magic school's reputation, the dragon must be destroyed—but Orphen isn't about to let that happen so easily, for this beastly dragon is Azalie: she had been transformed due to tampering with something with which she shouldn't have. People whom Orphen thought were his friends suddenly seem as though they are enemies in the race to get to Azalie first. Orphen leaves the school, furious with the fact that they want to destroy his best friend.

After five years, he finds himself living in the quiet town of Totokanta and taking on a student - Majic Lin, his landlord's son. Life is quiet and fairly lazy until the day Cleao Everlasting comes home from boarding school, and stumbles into Orphen's quietly laid plans for the sword that sits on her family's mantle; the Sword Of Baltanders. It turns out that the sword is actually one of three magical artifacts that Orphen will need if he is to save Azalie. But the Bloody August assaults the town looking for the sword, the Tower's forces show up as well.

To find the other pieces of the sword, Orphen sets off with his apprentice, little miss Everlasting and two short-statured misfits, but at all times they need to stay ahead of the Tower of Fangs and its sorcerers, who believe that bringing Azalie back would reveal a mistake so great it could bring the Tower down - and, of course, ahead of Azalie herself who, as the dragon is more powerful than both Orphen and the Tower, and is driven solely by the need to transform back into her human self.

Characters

Main characters

Orphen (オーフェン, Ōfen^?)

• Voiced by: Showtaro Morikubo (Japanese), David Matranga (English)

Orphen is the main male lead. Fans claim "he comes off as a 'badass' kind of guy", because of his apparent lack of emotions, dedication to finish what he is working on as soon as possible (his eagerness to stop helping people he feels he doesn't have to help), and his 'coldness' towards people he doesn't know. He is partly an anti-hero throughout the entire series. The only time his attitude changes is when the subject of Azalie is brought up. He will do anything for Azalie, as they have quite a history together but Orphen keeps his feelings and the story about Azalie to himself at first, only opening up later in the series. He and Azalie were brought to the school together because it was believed that they possessed a strong amount of magical power within them. This proved correct; Orphen was a magic-prodigy. Orphen eventually becomes the greatest sorcerer in the world. His true name is Krylancelo Finrandi (キリランシェロ・フィンランディ, Kiranshero Finrandi^?), and the sorcerers from the Tower of Fang (Hartia, Azalie, Leticia, Childman, and Flameheart) still refer to him like that.

Cleao Everlasting (クリーオウ・エバーラスティン, Kurīou Ebārasutin^?)

• Voiced by: Mayumi Iizuka (Japanese), Shelley Calene-Black (English)

She is the tomboyish, feisty main female lead. Her father had inherited the Sword of Balthanders, and Orphen needed the sword. She accompanies him on his journey, allowing him to hold on to the sword as long as he doesn't object to her tagging along. As the sword was a gift to her from her now-deceased father, she claims that she is only coming to ensure that she gets it back. She and Orphen fight quite a bit - mainly silly, funny fights. But having had a crush on him previously, from afar, as the series goes on, she finds her feelings for him grow. Orphen gradually becomes attached to Cleao, eventually viewing her as the person most important to him by the conclusion of the novels and manga.

Majic Lin (マジク・リン, Majiku Rin^?)

• Voiced by: Omi Minami (Japanese), Spike Spencer (English)

Majic is Orphen's apprentice, and the second-male lead. He is a friend of Cleao's, but in the manga they are not close friends since she's three years older than he is and she also spent a long time at boarding school. In the anime, they were in the same grade in school, but she has since moved on to boarding school. Majic deals with the torment from both Cleao and Orphen on their journey together to save Azalie. His father is paying Orphen to teach him, which at first seems a waste of money to his father. When Orphen repairs a glass that fell with his magic, before the father's eyes, the father's opinion about his money being "thrown out the window" disappears. Majic appears to be a good student, learning as much as he can, and retaining all of what he learns. Orphen seems to have a lot of faith in him. This gives him courage, which makes his power stronger. Majic looks up to Orphen, and refers to him as "master" upon Orphen's request. All sorcerers call their "teachers", who teach them sorcery, "master."

Leki (レキ, Reki^?)

• Voiced by: Konami Yoshida (Japanese), Suzanne Wilkins (English)

One of the race of Deep Dragon (changed to Wolfen in the English Dub), Leki is a cub who is found and adopted by Cleao, although perhaps it could be said that Leki adopted Cleao, as adult Deep Dragons are more powerful and intelligent by far than humans. Like all Deep Dragons, Leki resembles a wolf rather than a reptilian dragon, and when he uses his innate powers, his eyes will glow a bright green color. As Leki is still very young, he often exhibits young animal-like tendencies, such as chasing after a butterfly. He protects and defends Cleao whenever he feels the need to, or when Cleao orders him. She's very good to him; in fact, Cleao often treats him better than her two male companions, Orphen and Majic. Leki will not only protect Cleao, but anyone who he sees in danger. Leki's collar belongs to one of the three artifacts from the Aisle of Balthanders, the Bracelet of Nomafrozis. Near the end of the novel series, before he and Cleo depart, he bestows a surmountable amount of magical power upon her so that she may be able to protect herself.

Volkan (ボルカン, Borukan^?)

• Voiced by: Kazue Ikura (Japanese), John Swasey (English)

One of the two short-statured brothers who follow along with Orphen on his quest. He frequently refers to himself the "Masmaturian Bulldog". Volkan always comes up with their plans (which usually turn out to be poorly thought out, utterly bad ideas, and almost never work). He hates Orphen (whom he refers to as "the black wizard") and his companions, and always finds a way to ruin whatever they had in mind. It is his fault that Orphen often must use his magic on them to make them go away (himself and Dortin). Volkan wants only power and money. Any scheme he has in mind has the end result of getting him one of the two. None of his schemes ever work, however. He bosses Dortin around a lot, but in a very comical way (and probably means no real harm by it).

Dortin (ドーチン, Dōchin^?)

• Voiced by: Hekiru Shiina (Japanese), Hilary Haag (English)

Volkan's younger brother. Dortin and Volkan are often viewed as comic relief throughout the series. They are two trolls who are always low on money, and seem to always find a way to mess up whatever Orphen is trying to accomplish. They work in Cleao's basement, cutting up food and whatnot; she is their employer. As for his character, Dortin is the voice of reason (that is never paid any attention to) on his and Volkan's quests. He is kind and knowledgeable, but his swirling glasses give him a rather geekish appearance. When Volkan messes up, Dortin always tries to tell Orphen he had no part in Volkan's schemes, but they both wind up being victim's of Orphen's magical blasts anyway. Dortin is shown to be quite caring and loyal, as he begs Orphen for help in saving his brother from mushroom poisoning and, later, in defying Volkan's "order" to run from danger when a friend needed his help.

Supporting characters

Azalie Cait Sith (アザリー・ケットシー, Azarī Kettoshī^?)

• Voiced by: Emi Shinohara (Japanese), Christine M. Auten (English)

She's Orphen's foster sister, best friend - and the Bloody August. They were in the same orphanage and came to the Tower of Fang together, believed to be magical-prodigies. She tutored him a lot, and gave him special attention. She was a great sorcerer - maybe one of the greatest. However, she had two sides to her. There was the kind, loving Azalie, and then the, as Orphen says, "scary" Azalie. After having her love declaration to someone else rejected, she seemed to be almost obsessed with her studies; she wanted more power, and one of her experiments turned her into Bloody August - name given to the dragon that first appeared in August.

Childman Powderfield (チャイルドマン・パウダーフィールド, Chairudoman Paudāfīrudo^?)

• Voiced by: Jouji Nakata (Japanese), Jason Douglas (English)

Orphen, Hartia, and Azalie's Master. He is Orphen's primary antagonist for the better part of the anime, as Orphen believes he really wants to kill Azalie. Hartia tries to convince Orphen that Childman isn't his enemy, but in the end, it fails. In actuality, he was trying procure the three talismans in order to restore Azalie himself since he felt personally responsible the tragedy that befell her. And at some point, things get even worse; when he tries to face the Bloody August, Azalie uses white magic to take over his body, leaving Childman's soul trapped in the Bloody August.

Hartia (ハーティア, Hātia^?)

• Voiced by: Ryotaro Okiayu (Japanese), Randy Sparks (English)

Orphen's childhood friend and fellow sorcerer. They met at the Tower of Fang. He is on Childman's side, instead of Orphen's, however, making it seem as though Hartia is Orphen's enemy. However, Hartia truly cares about Orphen, and has never forgotten their friendship. He is also a fan of the (fictional) manga, Black Tiger, and assumes the guise of its main character and namesake on occasion. However, the manga is fairly obscure, so Majik mistakenly assumes his name refers to the Penaeus monodon, a type of prawn sometimes called "Black Tiger", resulting in Hartia's receiving the nickname, "Shrimp Man", much to his own chagrin.

Flameheart (フレイムハート, Fureimuhāto^?)

• Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Ty Mayberry (English)

Childman's rival in the Tower of Fang and enemy to Orphen and Azalie. Although he ranks closely to Childman in terms of recognition, it is heavily implied that his mother Lady Shastanassie, one of the Elders, has influenced this. Indeed, he seems to rely on her for everything from emotional consolation to advice in his endeavors. Deprived of her guidance, he becomes quite mentally unstable, as seen at the end of the first season. Childman himself later states that Flameheart actually had very little strength or potential as a sorcerer.

Letitia (レティシャ・マクレディ, Retisha Makuredi^?)

• Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (Japanese), Alissa Alban (English)

A childhood friend of Azalie and Orphen. She is currently a member of the Tower of Fang and appears to be in love with Orphen. Orphen shortens her name to Tisha in most cases. She appears in volumes five and six of the manga.

Stephanie

• Voiced by: Karen Coffer

Orphen's old partner. Stephanie used to be a sorcerer named Steven until he was mortally injured in a battle and had to had a healer turn him into a girl to heal. Unfortunately he, now a she, lost her powers in the healing process. Now she works as an archaeologist deciphering runes of the 'dieties' that fought against the sorcerers years ago. She is first introduced in the series when the group goes to Alenhatan and her familiarity with Orphen makes Cloae jealous at first. She still lives in Alenhatan and has a boyfriend named Tim (who she eventually marries) but still often seen helping Orphen and the others when they need someone who knows how to read and use the dieties language/symbols.

Lai

• Voiced by: Vic Mignogna

Lai is a sorcerer that goes to the Tower of Fang that is friends with Hartia and is one of Childman's apprentices. Lai is portrayed as a powerful seer and is able to find people or things if he goes into a deep meditation. He can also tell people's 'presence' apart, something that gets him in trouble and sealed into ice by Azalie (who was possessing Childman's body at the time) because he noticed that her presence wasn't in the Bloody August anymore.

Mariabella

• Voiced by: Kelly Manison

She is Cleao's twin sister and is seen at the beginning of the anime. She first saw Orphen when he was watching over the Sword of Baltanders and thinks he was watching her (and thinking him handsome she develops a crush on him). She at some point was kidnapped by the Bloody August to get Orphen to give the Sword over, but both were eventually rescued by Orphen.

Media

Light novels

The series Orphen came about when author Yoshinobu Akita with Yuuya Kusaka as illustrator created a series of light novels called "Majutsushi Orphen Haguretabi." It consists of 20 novels which were first published by Fujimi Shobo under their Fujimi Fantasia Bunko label in the Monthly Dragon Magazine between 1994–2003, and was the basis for the first anime and manga series.

Two years after the beginning of the first series, Yoshinobu Akita created a more light-hearted comedy version that still kept the action of the original Orphen series. This series was called "Majutsushi Orphen Mubouhen," spanning only 13 volumes between 1996–2003, which were published the same way as the first series.

Also published was a Slayers vs. Orphen novel. [1]

Manga

The first volume of Sorcerous Stabber Orphen was released in 2005 by ADV Manga. It tells us about Azalie, Orphen's love-interest, and best friend from six years ago, much sooner than the anime does. In the first manga we are told almost exactly what the eighth episode (titled "Azalie") of Sorcerous Stabber Orphen tells us about her. The story in the manga follows the anime but more the Novels almost exactly, except for information coming up earlier, or later.

The Sorcerous Stabber Orphen manga was created by Yoshinobu Akita and Yuuya Kusaka. The manga is split into two separate series: Majutsushi Orphen Haguretabi, which is six volumes long so far, and the two volume side story known as Majutsushi Orphen MAX. The first volume of the manga series was released in 2005 by ADV Manga.

There is also a special manga that was released called "Sorcerous Stabber Orphen Special Parody," or "Majutsushi O-fuen Haguretabi Spesharu Paarodi." It is a collection of doujinshi of Orphen put into one volume of Orphen.

Anime

• Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: The Sorcerous Stabber Orphen anime series was produced by TBS/Bandai and first released in Japan in 1999, then in North America on DVD by ADV Films in 2001. It features a combination of a fantasy setting, action and gag comedy. It is 24 episodes in length.

• Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Revenge: The second anime series was released on DVD in North America in December 2003 by ADV Films. It is 23 episodes in length.

In 2009, Sentai Filmworks released a box set featuring the two seasons of Orphen in an economic box set.^[1]

Music

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen

Opening Themes:

• "Love, Just on my Love" (愛 Just on my Love, Ai Just on my Love^?)

  Lyrics and Composition by: Tsunku

  Arrangement by: Yasuaki Maejima & Sharan Q

  Performed by: Sharan Q

• "Are You a Sorcerer?" (君は魔術士?, Kimi wa Majutsushi?^?)

  Lyrics by: Tsunku

  Composition by: Hatake

  Arrangement by: Sharan Q

  Performed by: Sharan Q

Ending Themes:

• "Last Kiss" (ラストキッス, Rasuto Kissu^?)

  Lyrics and Composition by: Tsunku

  Arrangement by: Takao Konishi

  Performed by: Tanpopo

• "What Should I Do?" (どうしよう, Doshiyou^?)

  Lyrics by: Yuka

  Composition and Arrangement by: Kaoru Sanada

  Performed by: Yuka

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Revenge

Opening Themes:

• "And then, we KISS" (そんでもってKISS, Sondemotte KISS^?) : Eps. 01 - 11

  Lyrics and Composition by: Tsunku

  Arrangement by: Ken Matsubara

  Performed by: 7HOUSE

• "Round Sun -winter ver.-" (丸い太陽 －winter ver.－, Marui Taiyou -winter ver.-^?) : Eps. 12 - 23

  Lyrics and Composition by: Tsunku

  Arrangement by:

  Performed by: Taiyou to Cisco Moon

Ending Themes:

• "Love, Yes I Do!" : Eps. 01 - 11

  Lyrics by: AKASAKA

  Composition and Arrangement by: Kaoru Sanada

  Performed by: Chinatsu Miyoshi

• "The Sweet Taste of You" (甘いあなたの味, Amai Anata no Aji^?) : Eps. 12 - 22

  Lyrics and Composition by: Tsunku

  Arrangement by: Tanahashi UNA Nobuhito

  Performed by: Melon Kinenbi

• "And then, we KISS" (そんでもってKISS, Sondemotte KISS^?) : Ep. 23

  Lyrics and Composition by: Tsunku

  Arrangement by: Ken Matsubara

  Performed by: 7HOUSE

Video game

The Sorcerous Stabber Orphen videogame is a single player console role-playing game. It was released for the PlayStation 2 console in 2000, by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan as Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, and by Activision in North America and Europe as Orphen: Scion of Sorcery. It was rated "Teen" in the North American release. Reviews of the game were mixed. It included a whole new adventure and a few video scenes with more sophistication but a minor difference in the voices and personalities of the characters.

Reception

References

1. ^ Orphen Complete Collection (2009)

External links

• Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Ex:Anime Review