English Dub Review: Sorcerous Stabber Orphen “Come to My Tower, Successor” ; “Celestial Artifacts”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Come to My Tower, Successor finds Orphen taking the fight to the Uoar class after learning about their plot from Azalie. Claiomh and Majic tag along to help him, although neither is much help in the end. They breach the walls of the Uoar fortress, but are immediately separated when Hydrant finds them. While Orphen battles his nemesis, Claoimh and Majic face their own trials. In the end, they’re able to overcome Uoar Curlaine with some help from old friends like Forte and Azalie.

In Celestial Artifacts, Azalie reminiecnes about the adventure when she and Childman disocered the Sword of Baldanders, and the day that everything changed for her. Meanwhile, Orphen is preparing to follow her to Kimluck. Majic has to choose between studying at the Tower and sticking with his master, while Claoimh’s biggest task is making sure she’s got everything packed. They have a long way to go still to find what they’re searching for, but at least they’ll go it together.

Our Take:

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen finishes up its first season with the thirteenth episode, plus an OVA that Funimation is calling episode fourteen. It’s a bit of a strange conclusion due to this addition, but for the most part it isn’t too distracting, since the OVA picks up shortly after the final episode.

Come to My Tower, Successor is the more exciting of the episodes. Due to Azalie’s helpful explanations, Orphen goes on the warpath against Uoar Curlaine and the rest of the Uoar class. It’s full of the usual fight scenes, but they’re not just between Hydrant and Orphen this time. Because Claiomh and Majic tag along, we get to spend some time in their shoes. Claiomh is, of course, one of the best characters of the show with her spunky attitude and effervescent good humor. So it’s kind of weird seeing her getting choked and attacked by one of Hydrant’s minions. When Leki saves the day, I was worried that Claiomh would be relegated to merely a comedic relief role, but she got a good whack on the head in, which I appreciated. Majic gets a chance to prove himself to Swaine, and even though it doesn’t go as well as he might have hoped, it was still cool to see him step out of Orphen’s shadow a bit.

The episode ends on a fairly happy note, with Orphen, Forte, and Azalie conquering Uoar Curlaine and his class with Orphen’s secret assassination technique taught by Childman. Thanks to Orphen’s diary substitution, even the real Transcript is safe from the Uoars. It was pretty funny when Orphen pulled that trick out, but I can’t help but wish that Claiomh had been pulled into the loop on it, since it would’ve given her a bit more to do.

In Celestial Artifacts, we get a bit of an epilogue to the season’s end, as well as some hints into the future. The flashbacks with Azalie on the hunt for the epic sword with her master Childman are interesting in that they give us background on the two of them and the relationship they shared, but it’s a bit overlong and bland. I almost forgot that it wasn’t the main portion of the episode, it went on so long. The most engaging plotline for me was Majic and the choice he has to make about his future at the Tower of Fangs.

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen finishes off with a bit of a rocky end, but it did so in a way that did a good job integrating the other characters. While it’s a little disappointing that we don’t get a more complete ending yet, it does promise more content in the future, which is sure to be a good thing for fans of the show.