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A review by cyanide_latte
Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (Manga) Vol. 1: Heed My Call, Beast! Part 1 by Yoshinobu Akita, Muraji
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Took me a while to get around to this, but I'm glad to see that this exists, all the same. The Orphen anime (at least for me) existed within the middle ground of Record of Lodoss War and The Slayers when it came to 90s high fantasy anime heavily inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. I've always had a soft spot for it, and I eventually collected the original manga that was released for it. (One day I may find the original anime on DVD, but that's something I've been chasing for a while because it's always been expensive even before it went out of print/production.)
I've yet to see the remake anime, I don't even know if it's been completed or cancelled, and I don't even know if this manga adaptation has gone beyond this volume and the second one. But I loved getting to read this. It has a lot of the same humor but also more of a balance with the serious elements of the story, and the way that story elements I'm familiar with are being presented differently here, in a way that still feels like it has a natural flow but a pretty fast pace that's very punchy and direct.
I will say that I think this manga, this reboot, seems more geared towards existing fans rather than hooking newer people. I'm not sure how to explain that there are just little things here and there in this volume that really feels like this is aimed at existing Orphen fans, but maybe someone who's never experienced this before might find value in this. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing where this goes, even if there's not much else to this manga series and it got cancelled or dropped.
I've yet to see the remake anime, I don't even know if it's been completed or cancelled, and I don't even know if this manga adaptation has gone beyond this volume and the second one. But I loved getting to read this. It has a lot of the same humor but also more of a balance with the serious elements of the story, and the way that story elements I'm familiar with are being presented differently here, in a way that still feels like it has a natural flow but a pretty fast pace that's very punchy and direct.
I will say that I think this manga, this reboot, seems more geared towards existing fans rather than hooking newer people. I'm not sure how to explain that there are just little things here and there in this volume that really feels like this is aimed at existing Orphen fans, but maybe someone who's never experienced this before might find value in this. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing where this goes, even if there's not much else to this manga series and it got cancelled or dropped.