Stop checking your calendar! Yes, it’s 2019 and we’re talking about Orphen!
A brand new trailer has been released for the upcoming 25th anniversary reboot anime series for the 1998 classic, Orphen. Lasting 81 seconds, the preview shows off quite a bit of action and character footage while also confirming that the series will finally see its premiere in January 2020.
Getting into the details of the series, as you can imagine the staff and cast are vastly different from the original series (you didn’t think they were going to pull in the original cast 25 years later, did you?). Sitting in the director’s chair this time around will be Takayuki Hamana working off scripts written by Reiko Yoshida. Takahiko Yoshida will be designing the characters and Studio DEEN will be handling the animation. In terms of the cast, Showtaro Morikubo will be returning to the title role of Orphen. Supporting him will be Rumi Ohkubo as Cleo, Yuusuke Kobayashi as Majic, and Marie Mizuno as Volkan.
Yoshinobu Akita’s Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Haguretabi light novels launched in Fujimi Shobo’s Dragon Magazine in May 1994. The series ran through September 2003 and spans 20 volumes. A second series, Majutsushi Orphen Mubouhenran in Dragon Magazine from 1996 – 2003, spanning 13 volumes.
The project received two anime TV adaptations in the 1990s.
The first series, Orphen, premiered in the Fall 1998 broadcast season and ran for 24 episodes. Hiroshi Watanabe (Slayers – The Motion Picture, Hell Girl: Three Vessels) directed the series at J.C. Staff, with Masahiro Aizawa (Digimon: The Movie, Slayers Gorgeous) providing character designs.
A sequel, titled Orphen: The Revenge, debuted in Fall 1999. Toru Takahashi () directed the new season at J.C. Staff, with Masahiro Aizawa returning to provide character designs.
ADV Films originally released both titles in North America. Sentai Filmworks has since acquired the title. They describe Orphen as:
When the most prestigious university of magic in the land loses Orphen, their most talented student, they’ll do anything to get him back. Unfortunately for them, Orphen has bigger plans than majoring in spell casting – namely tracking down a mysterious dragon, the Bloody August.
Together with his young apprentice, a spoiled heiress, and two cranky trolls, Orphen must battle both the Bloody August and his old teachers, advanced sorcerers who posses frightening power and even more dangerous secrets! Experience the magic, the adventure, and the excitement that spawned the hit video game of the same name.
Via pkjd
New Promotional Video Released for Orphen Reboot TV Anime – L.B. Bryant
