Sorcerous Stabber Orphen

I am wondering whether I actually want to write anything about this anime series because it was definitely the most boring show I have seen in anime season Winter 2020. If it had not dropped on Tuesday, when my schedule was pretty much clear, I probably would have quit Sorcerous Stabber Orphen after the first few episodes. Most of this generic show is very pedestrian. The animation looks quite old-fashioned, because the manga is not exactly the freshest, most up-to-date series. The soundtrack is simply awful, it suits most of the scenes like kissing a lover passionately in the middle of a cemetery does... I simply cannot answer the question of whether it is so terribly uninteresting because it is a bad adaptation, because I am unfamiliar with the manga series, and I have never watched the earlier 1998-99 adaptation either. What I can say, however, is that this anime series feels very rushed, sometimes it over-explains things, and at other times does not explain enough, the atmosphere of the show is pretty bad and some of the twists are just bizarre... Add to that a not-so-interesting main male protagonist who calls himself Orphen although virtually no one else actually calls him that. Next up, there is a pretty ordinary sidekick and a girl whose purpose is unclear - I have no idea if she is there just for fun, or as an attempt at a romantic interest. Then there is Azalie who is behind everything (probably even the main male protagonist’s morning diarrhea), appearing out of nowhere so suddenly that I almost jumped out of my skin, and she just gets away with everything like it is nothing, plus she is probably not evil, just complicated... It is just rubbish, a mediocre, and bizarre fantasy, which probably would have had some potential if it had not been so stupidly directed... 3.5/10. (01/04/2020)

I basically feel about the same as I did with the first season. A lot of things in the plot are a bit strange, like even though the main protagonist himself does not know whether he is Kyrylancelo or Orphen. Somehow I am supposed to accept that he is able to defeat his enemies with statements like "I am me!"... I also do not particularly find their emotional responses believable, so even when the main protagonist is telling Azalie about his sorrows or screaming at the top of his lungs, I just feel indifferent, it just does not move me. The world it is set in and its history has some good qualities and potential I could get into, like I was fascinated by some of the background details at times. However, it all seemed to be presented in a really erratic and confusing way, and when I was suddenly bombarded by an outburst throwing a load of information at me, I had to go back and watch it again, just to try and get my head around it. The characters were still just as uninteresting, but the soundtrack was a bit better this time, and the animation was about as good as it was last time. So why did I watch it? I do not know, I guess I was just hoping for something better than the first season, maybe I am going to find that I start enjoying it someday, however, so far still nothing. 3.6/10. (31/03/2021)

Season 3 of Orphen is as mediocre, B-grade, and occasionally silly as the previous two seasons. Not much has changed, the only thing that has improved is the music, which I actually liked this season, and it worked in connection with the story. The animation is still rather weak, and the dialogue still feels forced. The story doesn’t offer any powerful emotions or coherent ideas. This season gets a maximum of 3.9/10. But despite all that, I'll still be watching Season 4! Why on earth? Because, for me, this is the equivalent of the live-action fantasy The Outpost. It's strictly a B-grade fantasy. I doubt that I’ll ever give any season a better rating than 5/10, but I want to finish watching it so that I can compare it to everything else. I mean, to be truly able to appreciate the pinnacle of gastronomy, you should also know what ready-made meals from the supermarket taste like. I hope that makes sense... And if not, take it to mean that I'm a fantasy fan and I'm willing to finish a series that isn't that great simply because it's a genre that I find interesting. Who knows? Maybe Orphen will surprise me sometime in the future, even though I'm not getting my hopes up... (05/04/2023)

The ending of Orphen was just as bad as the entire series, if not worse. After the final episode, I can’t believe what the hell I have just watched. What is the whole point, and what am I supposed to take away from it? The direction was terrible, and the final episode seemed so cheap... As if it wasn't enough how weird the entire grand finale in the dragon sanctuary was. I struggled to understand what the hell was going on, who was who, and why everyone was fighting each other. The final disjointed, sloppy episode was the proverbial cherry on top and brought an utterly unsatisfying conclusion. This whole series is a huge disappointment, and the epic finale is an epic failure that barely manages to scrape together a weak two stars. 2.5/10. (28/06/2023)