Orphen Vol. #03

By Eduardo M. Chavez     August 16, 2006
Release Date: September 06, 2005



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Akita Yoshinobu & Sawada Hajime
Translated by:Brendan Frayne
Adapted by:

What They Say
Orphen receives a nocturnal visit from a most unwelcome visitor - a ghost! Ethereal entities are the least of Orhpen's worries, though, as hired assassins and ghastly snake men appear, hungry for blood.

It's going to take a little help from the curvaceous Hirietta to provide some answers, but Orphen might not like what he finds when a trip to a ruined mansion brings him face-to-face with a powerful yet familiar evil...

The Review
Orphen has not had it very easy since he was able to finally finish his quest to help his old friend Azalie. A bounty was placed on Orphen's head. Assassins have been sent against him for some unknown reason and a sorcerer huntress in particular is willing to take all risks to get to Orphen. Knowing this Orphen tried hard to avoid confrontations but this Mad Dog would not relent. Actually, she was hell bent on forcing Orphen to take on a job for her. One that would give her peace in a strange form of vengence. Murder is definitely not one of Orphen's fortes, the Tower of Fangs taught him that much. However, once his opponents take on his friends, Orphen has to decide to break his stance in hope of saving their lives.

In an arc that was not animated, volume three presents readers a different side of the reclusive sorcerer. Orphen might seem to be a talented mage and a decent melee fighter to boot, but here we find out that it is not his nature to kill. In a brief history lesson into Orphen's past, we get to see that Orphen was quite reluctant at times to ever risk life. Even when trained by the ruthless Childman, he hesitated looking for alternatives to save lives. The internal conflict Orphen has in this volume was something I have not seen in the manga or anime before. I believe this was discussed a bit in the 20 volume light novel series, so I appreciated getting a little more background on this often rebellious character. The story itself is just as rushed as the previous volumes. Their is some concept of a plot that is warped around a lot of comedy infused action. Neverthelss, the premise was simple but fun and the context as to how Akita-sensei got to unveil more of Orphen's history was worth the read (especially since this story is new to most North American Orphen fans).

The presentation from ADV is all over the place. There is not a bit of consistency. The cover is easily the best part. ADV used their anime logo and dress. They really made the cover look clean and classy, unlike the busy Fujimi Shobo version. The inside is a mess. I have seen plenty of below average prints from ADV, but this one is bad. Very dirty (occasional ink spots) with moire problems everywhere on this dark poorly aligned production. Morever, unlike most ADV titles there are no notes or extras, so there is nothing outside of the cover that can be called aesthetically acceptable. Shame too, because overall the content was a slight improvement over the previous two releases.