ORPHEN 1 - Spell of the Dragon (PG)   DETAILS:
ORPHEN - six volume series DVDs $29.95 each (Multilingual - English/Japanese) Region 4. Running time 75 mins Videos - $24.95 each ( English language) PAL VHS Available in Australia from Madman.   SYNOPSIS: Warning! May contain spoilers... Orphen, apparently the best sorcerer around but who doesn't exactly look the part, is supposed to be training an apprentice, the young, slightly naive yet well meaning Majic. However what he seems to be doing is goofing off, living off poor Majic's education fund, drinking ice-cream floats and generally not teaching anyone anything even remotely magical in nature. Sure, Majic has learnt a lot about how to miss what you're aiming at, how to clean up after someone else and, oh yeah, how to watch mansions and spy on pretty gir…er, well I mean 'watch birds'. But really, what kind of magical training is that anyway?
It's fairly clear to Cleao, home from boarding school and not impressed with her sister's distant crush on someone who's been watching her from a tree, that in the Big City such individuals are dealt with quickly and permanently. Packing an attitude, the first thing she can lay her hands on - an heirloom sword - and accompanied by the household staff (a couple of trolls with their own agendas, as well as everyone else's), she races out to put a stop to all unauthorized appreciation of nature only to find the Tom in question is the mysterious guy she fell for while away at school. And Majic's calling him Master! But what Cleao doesn't realize is that she is brandishing the Sword of Baltanders, the same sword Orphen came to the village a year ago to retrieve but was denied to him, a sword he has gone to a lot of trouble to keep an eye on.
Because someone or something else is after the sword and Orphen will do anything to stop that from happening, right down to defying the illustrious and powerful Tower of Fang, its mysterious council, the man who trained him and someone he once called friend. Suddenly everything just got a whole lot more complicated, and quite suddenly too it becomes clear that what Orphen's been doing for the last twelve months is not so much goofing off as waiting. Waiting for a nightmare he once knew as Azalie. Waiting to try and save a soul the Tower of Fang wants to destroy.
REVIEW: The Art of Light and Dark Beyond the opening credits of the first volume of Orphen lies a world of light and dark, a place where contradictions work towards the same purpose, a space where opposites co-exist simultaneously. Light adventure and dark conspiracy mix with slapstick comedy and serious drama. This is anime that effortlessly embraces the adult and the childish simultaneously and actually manages a balance between them that prevents it from collapsing in on itself into the ridiculous or bland. Instead everything just seems to come together like a charm (in the old sense of the word!) and by the end of the three-episode arc entitled Spell of the Dragon it becomes clear that Orphen is and at the same time isn't the light-weight adventure series it could reasonably be expected to be. The opposites maintain their balance skillfully and in the end you're just that little bit hooked.
And in the end, perhaps it's the very existence of these opposites that make it so fascinating. You will find yourself not so much torn between binary elements as smoothly sliding from one to the other, and experiencing little conflict in the transition. Snorting in derision at the ridiculous slapstick antics of the resident comedy-relief team (a couple of trolls with some serious interpersonal issues and some great lines) can just as easily stumble into appreciative laughter at how skillfully the same slapstick is actually applied. Gritting your teeth in annoyance at the inane (not to mention grating) stereotyping of the female characters Cleao and Mariabelle can without much effort become grudging admiration at the way these stereotypes are used to give the characters something to break away from. As the hero and main impetus of the series, Orphen himself is simultaneously predictable and surprising, his struggle to save the creature Azalie serious and moving yet his relationship with the Tower of Fang seems almost par for the course in any 'hero with a dark past' standard issue story. Even the blindingly sweet sidekick Majic (given voice by Spike Spencer, whom fans of Neon Genesis Evangelion should recognize in a flash) is almost too sweet; like a blank canvass his space invites violation and it is impossible to approach his wholesomeness without concurrently anticipating some sort of fall.
Equally fascinating, the significant yet hardly detracting contrasts in the English ADR versus the subtitled translation. On one hand the English dialogue is witty and well timed, yet on the other the translations reveal small details of the story absent from the dub, nothing intrinsic to the overall plot, just little clues and quirks. This occurs most notably in that in the translation you will actually hear the words of a spell being cast as opposed to the cocky (and ok, cool) remarks of the US version. Both are equally entertaining and informative on slightly different though no less valid levels, so what do you do? Listen to the ADR with the subtitles on? Unless you have a purist preference for subbed anime (or lets face it are fluent in Japanese), it might be worth a shot at least once, in order to get the full range of plot and expression.
The art direction itself is definitely worth noting, above and beyond the gorgeous character designs by Masahiru Aizawa. The action animation is sensitive, fluid and expressive and there's a glossy, almost sexy finish to this series I would have expected more from a Clamp-based anime, especially in the magic battle scenes (more of those thanks!). The soundtrack borders on hokey (except the opening song "Ai, Just On My Love" by SharanQ which is seriously catchy), yet for the most part the actors' voices express subtleties of emotion (particularly Orphen provided by David Mantranga, whose ADR credits include series not yet available in this country) not often heard in anime made for TV.
And as a final contrast, this is a series that spawned a PS game rather than the other way around (which is often dismayingly enough the case). Of course it remains to be seen whether Orphen can maintain the balance between all of these seemingly oppositional elements and live up to the expectations it has established in Spell of the Dragon, but the way it's shaping up signs are good. Just light enough to be addictive and serious enough to be interesting, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen will draw you in and weave its spell.
Rating: 7 Bloody Months of the Year out of 10 (August makes 8!) Reviewed by Deni Stoner   DVD EXTRAS: Production Sketches & Pop Art Orphen Trailers (the English trailer is hella cool but contains a few small spoilers)   MORE REVIEWS: Shawna James at Akadot Ivevei Upatkoon at ex:Anime

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