My history with Orphen goes way back to high school. There’s a free on-demand service that The Anime Network has (and still has today) that featured a ton of shows, ranging from Wedding Peach to Magikano and to Orphen. That’s one of the reasons why I was looking forward to checking out the manga version of Orphen from Seven Seas. But since it’s been a long while, I wondered if it’d be as fun as I remembered.
So far it’s pretty awesome.
Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Heed My Call, Beast Part I is a simple story: powerful sorcerer Orphen is trying to find a way to save Azalie. The two used to be friends, and Azalie was one of the most talented sorcerers at The Tower of Fangs school back in their youth. However, an experiment gone wrong transformed her into a beast, and she has roamed the world in this form for five years. Five years after that incident is when we see Orphen, who…happens to be taking part in a marriage scam?
Luckily for him (or the ones who got him into it, Volkan and Dortin), it doesn’t take long for his past to come back — the appearance of the beast again forces Orphen to realize that maybe being at The Everlasting Estate holds the key to saving Azalie after all. But he’ll have to be fast, or else someone else he knows might just find what he seeks before he does.
There’s no big world saving adventure at this point in Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, so things are kept pretty personal and simple. Orphen, known as Krylancelo back at sorcerer school, is determined to find a way to save Azalie, and that means either running into familiar faces (expectedly or unexpectedly) or revisiting past memories. This means for now the characters have to make the story, and yes, they sure do. The two dwarf brothers Volkan and Dortin are just plain silly, but the standouts are Orphen and Claiomh, the younger sister in the Everlasting family. Both of their personalities are entertaining (from Orphen simply going from fiery to serious at a moment’s notice to Claiomh’s odd curiosity for things and eventual display of swordsmanship) and provide really fun moments throughout the manga.
The art also stands out as well. From seeing Azalie’s transformation to the battles where magic is used smartly, they certainly pop and are nice to read. Between that and the pacing — you’ll likely finish this in quick fashion — this is a very strong debut volume for Sorcerous Stabber Orphen. The story might have to be a bit more layered, but this definitely takes me back a bit to watching this show growing up.
This also reminds me that I gotta find time to read the light novel…