Orphen 9/10

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

The Mourning Bride - William Congreve

Luckily your average woman doesn't have the ability to turn herself into a 50ft dragon at her disposal. Of course Orphen takes place in a world where this is possible, and hilarity ensues.

This show has always stood out to me as one of my top 5 best looking hand-drawn/coloured shows. The character designs in this show are truly my all time favourites. Such great character designs are complemented with excellent backgrounds that really show alot of detail. Now of course the series has 2 episodes where the animation takes a real nose-dive, luckily these are somewhat filler episodes and don't detract much from the overall enjoyment of the show. There are ALSO a couple of episodes where the animators tried out a computer scanned and coloured style. This is one of those early attempts and looks OK considering, but I could do without the jarring difference in the look between these episodes and the rest of the series. The opening themes are somewhat forgettable but I enjoyed the end themes, particularity the second one. The music in the episodes themselves is really great and the entire series starts with an excellent scene that is scored perfectly. The VAs are alright but Cleao's voice can get on my nerves and Leki makes the most annoying noise ever, I can't even describe it. Orphen ran for 24 episodes in 1998-1999.

The plot here is pretty basic but effective. A young sorcerer named Orphen has left the mage guild, the Tower of Fangs, to save his adopted older sister Azalie. Azalie was turned into the monstrous dragon, Bloody August, by a magical sword and the Elders of the tower are out to destroy her. On his quest Orphen is joined by Majic, his young apprentice picked up during his travels; Cleao, a young girl who now owns the magic sword and wants adventure, and Leki, a baby deep dragon that Cleao discovers and keeps as a kind of pet. There are also the comic pair of Volcan and Dortin, two diminutive troublemakers that are constantly running into the party during their travels, causing problems and providing comic relief. Orphen's main nemesis is Childman, his and Azalie's former master, sent by the Tower of Fangs to destroy her.

This series runs 24 episodes and only 4-5 of them do I consider filler. The race to save Azalie occupies the entire series and the plot here feels really well thought out and cohesive throughout. The quality of the writing is consistently good and there are even some well placed plot twists to keep you really interested in what's coming next. We also see some real character growth in this series as Orphen becomes less obsessive about his quest, Majic gains some confidence and Cleao gains some maturity from being a headstrong spoiled brat in the beginning.

I really liked the last 4-5 episodes of this series as the relationship between Cleao and Orphen is brought to the fore. Cleao realizes she's competing with the Azalie that Orphen remembers and is trying to save, this leads to a more thoughtful and introspective Cleao that I liked alot more than the shrill, bitchy Cleao. It's a pity this "better" Cleao is all but absent from the next series. I also reckon the ending of this series is one of my all-time favourites as well.

Fantasy setting, beautiful art, great story, interesting characters. Highly recommended.