Cheap Orphen - Spell of the Dragon (Vol. 1) (DVD) (Hiroshi Watanabe (II)) Price

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Customer Reviews of Orphen - Spell of the Dragon (Vol. 1)

Orphen starts out just about the same way as any other anime or TV series does. The characters are introduced: Orphen, the main character, and his I-don't-care attitude, Majik the innocent apprentice, and Cleao the annoyingly stubborn girl that gets sucked into the plot by a twist of fate. Seeming too cliche for you? Well then, perhaps I forgot to mention the unwelcome teachers from Orphen's past chasing after him. Or maybe the fact that Orphen is trying to save a terrifying dragon named the Bloody August from those teachers for his own personal reasons.

Yes, it's the lovely thing called foreshadowing that makes us want to throw down another thirty bucks for the next DVD, and it works so wonderfully. Granted, there are only 3 episodes on this certain volume, but there is so much promise in these three episodes that you can't help but love it. Characters quickly begin to develop and plot quickly begins to thicken. Yet beneath all the dark thoughts and mysterious memories, there's comedy that will put a smile on your face. The sarcastic attitude of Orphen is what made me laugh, and get this, it was the ENGLISH track that did it.

Yes, you heard me right, the ENGLISH track. The voice acting is professional and doesn't sound forced like most anime. I actually think that the American dialogue was much sharper than the original, but maybe that's just because I'm not Japanese. But in any case, there's something to be said about the translation job in the Orphen series. It's so surprisingly good...it's almost scary.

Orphen is for just about anyone who enjoys some good magic action every now and then, and perhaps for even the people that don't. Give it a try and decide for yourself.

Not too Shabby!
Orphen-Spell of the Dragon is the beginning of a story about a spellcaster called Orphen. The story starts out with Orphen and his apprentice Majic at Majic's father's pub yakking and Majic being as good as Orphen someday, while his father is still a bit skeptical about it all. Orphen drops his drink and then uses a spell that makes it seem as if he is reversing time, because the glass comes back together the exact same way it shattered. Later, it shows Orphen and Majic in a desert like place and Orphen boasting about his ability and then Majic marveling when Orphen blasts a bottle, yet it comes back to them and Majic starts making stupid cracks about Orphen being so "good".

Well, later we find the duo "birdwatching". Orphen is up in a tree with Majic's binoculars looking around. A girl in the mansion nearby named Cleao is starting to undress when she sees light reflecting on the binouculars. She runs downstairs, grabs a very large sword and runs out to confront Orphen for allegedly
"peeping". Then somehow (I forgot exactly) the conversation turns to somehow turns to "The Bloody August". Then some huge green dragon appears with ghosts around it. Orphen grabs Cleao's sword (just so the noobs know, it is called the Sword of Baltanders) and starts waving it around calling the dragon calling it Azilie, and so on and so forth. I won't go into much detail, because I don't really want to spoil it.

This is a great anime for any anime lover.
Though it might be a little up there for noobs, any anime veteran will quickly catch on. This is one of the first anime that has all of these supernatural powers that I could comprehend on the 1st episode!

animation-I really can't say how beautiful this is. Of course, almost every anime has top notch animation.

dub-I am going to get a small group of anime fans, buy a huge stack of poster board, 1,000 boxes of matches, 1,000 cans of gasoline (or propane), markers, wood sticks, and tape, and we are going to march around all of the companies in the U.S. that dub anime and BURN THEM TO THE GROUND!! The supplies will be signs saying: "FOR THE LOVE OF ALL ANIME, STOP THE BAD DUBS!!!!!!!"
This dub was awful. What, there might have been, 3 parts that were good?

music-pretty good! I think the opening song is better than the ending. I always seem to like the opening song better than the ending.

voice acting-Orphen's voice was great! I thought Majic's voice sounded a bit young. Mariabelle's and Cleao's voice were definitely way too young.

overall rating-4 out of 5. Dub cost it the five. Sheesh, how hard is it to make a good dub, for crying out loud. Nonetheless, this is a GREAT anime.

Orphen? What the heck is that?
This DVD was a total impulse buy, and looking back, I'm very glad I was so eager to spend my money on that day.

First off, I am not a fan of fantasy. Having said that, I'm not quite sure what drew me to this title, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

One of my favorite things about this anime is Orphen himself - he does not look like your typical main character. With his leather jacket, black pants, and red headband, he looks like a bad guy, but looks are decieving. Orphen is a very interesting character with a mysterious past, and by the end of the first episode, the viewer knows that there's a lot more to this story than they've been shown so far.

These first three episodes are like a trilogy; they all run into each other to make one long story designed to introduce us to the anime, and it does this well. We are introduced to Orphen's student Majik and a girl named Cleo who has a crush on Orphen, but would never admit it. We also meet the troll Volcan and his sister, Dortan. Volcan's anti-Orphen attitude is quite amusing, though he can become quite annoying at times.

This show has well-placed comedy and a very good story; one that left me excited and interested in what the next volume held in store. Needless to say, I threw the second disc in my DVD player as soon as the third episode finished.

What amazes me most is that this show could have such a strong hold on me when I'm not particularly into fantasy. I definitely recommend this show - it doesn't get enough recognition.