English Dub Review: Sorcerous Stabber Orphen “Ghost from the Past”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The presence of the lookalike assassin going by “Krylancelo” lays psychological siege to Orphen and Leticia. Connecting the dots between Orphen’s past and present, they reflect on the former while trying to make sense of the latter. 

Our Take

Picking up right where he left off, the mysterious Orphen-lookalike assassin continues his tirade of trying to psyche out the real Orphen. The lookalike lays claim on the identity of “Krylancelo”, listing all of the “necessary” requirements. The talented sorcerer dubbed “The Successor of the Razor’s Edge,” which is later revealed to mean the successor to Childman’s legacy. Trained in the silent art of assassination by Childman himself, on track to become one of the best sorcerers in the Tower. 

This is all information that, at first, seems foreign to us as Orphen has never mentioned any of this. It’s all deployed in such a way to call into question the entirety of Orphen’s past. 

And that is exactly what we receive this episode: a surfeit of fine details regarding Orphen’s past and his upbringing in the Tower. This comes to us in the form of flashbacks, which, while they’re all from Leticia’s perspective, the focus of almost all of them is unquestionably Orphen. We also, once again, get some additional background information about the other members of Childman’s class in yet another flashback to their school days. We’ve had so many of these so far that it feels like we’ve been introduced to them at least three or four times by now. We also learn that a “Stabber” is a Tower-trained assassin and not just part of an awkward title translation. 

It’s a decent framing device, where one character is explored and interpreted through the eyes of another, as it also allows us to learn about Leticia herself. However, most of what we do learn about Leticia that isn’t new doesn’t amount to much. Evidently, almost everyone in her class had a crush on her, which is flattering, I guess. 

Surprisingly, there isn’t much else to say about this. In contrast to the previous episode, which tended to drone on a bit with the exposition, this one is fairly cut-and-dry. We receive almost everything we need in an orderly fashion; a little too clean perhaps. The missing piece of the puzzle here is the true mastermind and their motives. The lookalike alludes to the possibility that it may be Azalie, which seems suspect considering her situation, but it’s also the only plot twist that wouldn’t involve some unknown asshole showing up at the last minute.

Speaking of the entire situation with Azalie, Orphen ponders it yet again and does come very close to spilling the beans in front of Leticia. Leticia even has a correct hunch that Orphen is hiding something, and as she says, she is more than entitled to that information. Unfortunately, the progression of this scene is unceremoniously interrupted by the rest of the plot. 

Orphen heads out to rescue Claiomh, who was kidnapped by the lookalike while on a mission to search for him with the asinine dwarf brothers. As he heads out, Orphen stubbornly refuses any backup offered to him and goes into an unexpected fit of self-reflection. He starts doubting whether he has been the real Krylancelo all along or if he is actually the failed lookalike. This is very sudden, and rather solemn coming from him. Things are almost certainly going to come to a head in the next episode, but now at the last minute, Orphen’s determination is coming into question.

As for this episode, as said before, it just quietly put everything relevant on the table in a timely manner. It’s certainly helpful, but it comes off as relatively unembellished. Some may find the embellishing this show usually does is a bit haphazard, but I’d prefer haphazard to tedious.