Sorcerous Stabber Orphen

Harucchan★ 7

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 knowingwhat to expect. The story has a lot of elements which make it interesting (though confusing). Still, it’s a good way to pass your time if you do not expect much. The action scenes are well made, and the art is fairly decent. The characters are quite captivating as well! I enjoyed a lot since I did not expect much! The story has a lot of issues; still, I've seen many anime that had these kinds of issues (or worse), but did not receive all of this hatred - maybe because they had fanservice, ecchi and other cliched people love. In conclusion, I do not get people at all: I just think there are a lot of hypocrites and horny guys in here who can’t watch a fantasy without those elements mentioned above. Honestly, I've liked this more than that I-don't-know-what-that-fuck-it-is Code Geass (which people seem to love). I'm sorry, not sorry! Peace out! Story - 6 Art - 8 Sound - 6 Character - 6 Enjoyment - 8 Overall - 7

KANLen09★ 2

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 the90s, 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.