Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

An average remake of the original beloved anime classic.

In celebration of the 25^th anniversary of the original light novels created by Orphen series mastermind Yoshinobu Akita, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen is a new adaptation and remake of the original beloved series. The latest version of the saga comes from acclaimed animation powerhouse, Studio Deen (Ranma ½, Fruits Basket). Fans of the iconic franchise can rejoice in enjoying new installments.

Orphen (Showtaro Morikubo) is back in action once more. After a successful run as a top student of his Academy, Orphen finds himself broke and financially troubled (with nothing to show for himself too). The (somewhat) lazy and hopeless hero of the story can find no way to figure out his finances until he is joined by the fantastic duo of Dortin (Mai Fuchigami) and Volkan (Marie Mizuno) in developing a quick money-making scheme of epic proportions. Yet danger looms on the horizon. Orphen's sister, the kind Azalie (Yoko Hikasa), is turned into a fire-breathing dragon capable of soaring through the skies. Can Orphen manage to save his sister before its too late?

The remake approaches the material in a somewhat different way from the original. Given the massive gap in production years, the animation style is decidedly different from the first version of the series. The new adaptation has a modern look by comparison. Using new character designs by Takahiko Yoshida (Big Windup!, Welcome to the NHK), the animation style gives a new spin on the classic material.

The dub features some decent efforts by the voice-cast. Though one might typically want to opt for the original language version, the English voice-actors contribute some worthwhile efforts. Funimation is well-known for making good dubs and this is no exception to the rule. A worthy effort featuring the voices of David Matranga (as Orphen), Brittney Karbowski (as Volkan), Ry McKeand (as Majic), Josh Grelle (as Heartia), and R. Bruce Elliott (as Uoar).

"Ka me ha me haaaa!"

The art direction by Kazuhiro Arai (Attack on Titan: Junior High, Lupin III: Dead or Alive) gives the production some aesthetic weight that carries the series forward. Though it is by no means one of the best animated series of last year, Orphen does have some decent background art-work. The design of the dragons and fantasty elements seem creative enough – though still somewhat bland. The art looks crisp and modern but lacks some of the charm of classic cell-based anime. The approach to the material works – in moderation – but never manages to over-perform traditional cell-based animation approaches.

One area that could have used some more work is the lackluster music by Shinnosuke (Monsuno, Blue Exorcist). The score is average-at-best and never manages to pull one in to the world with ease. This musical backdrop is merely passable and never gives adequate character themes or dimensions to enhance the storytelling. The music merely exists.

On a more positive note, the charming storytelling is sometimes worthwhile. Though the storytelling is uneven (the beginning act is stronger than the final batch of episode scripts), the screenplays by Reiko Yoshida (Digimon Adventure, Angelic Layer) are still noteworthy for adding enough creativity to the mix. It's refreshing to see that the main script-writer for the program is a female-writer – something unfortunately not as common as it should be in Japanese anime.

Directed by Takayuki Hamana (Psycho-Pass, The Prince of Tennis), Sorcerous Stabber Orphen is entertaining – to a degree – but far from a modern classic. The series starts off on a strong note but seems rushed to a degree and it loses some steam towards the conclusion. The anime could have been significantly better with some extra fine-tuning, but the end results are still decent. As a director, Hamana seems gifted at crafting action scenes that are suitably engaging. Sorcerous Stabber Orphen never approaches the greatest of action-hits like Dragon Ball Z or My Hero Academia but it has some fun moments. Worth a watch.

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Funimation Entertainment, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The series looks quite stunning in high-definition. The level of clarity and detail is exceptional. The animation looks clean, clear, and vibrant. The color reproduction is satisfactory. Throughout the entire first season of the series, the action-scenes seemed sufficiently presented and managed to avoid any egregious issues with compression artifacts. There is some slight banding on display in a few scenes – but nothing drastic. A strong encode.

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented with two lossess audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 stereo (with English subtitles). Either option will provide viewers with an enticing lossless audio sound mix. Dialogue is crisp, clear, and easy to understand. The music score is well reproduced by the encoding. The sound-stage is vibrant and engaging.

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The release includes an o-card slipcover. On disc extras are as follows:

Advertising Spots (HD, 4:29)

Promo Video (HD, 00:17)

Commercials (HD, 00:34)

Textless Opening Song (HD, 1:32)

Textless Closing Song (HD, 1:32)

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen is an entertaining but imperfect anime series. The action is moderately entertaining and the storytelling has moments of whimsy. The animation is decent – but a far cry from hand-drawn, cell-based anime. The series seems to lose momentum as it goes on and the impressive beginning isn't matched by later episodes. Even so, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen is passable entertainment for those looking to chill and relax for a few hours of easy-viewing. The Blu-ray release features strong video-audio and fans of the series will want to add it to their anime collection.