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Sorcerous Stabber Orphen Novels Get New TV Anime

A new television anime adaptation of Yoshinobu Akita's Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (Majutsushi Orphen) light novel series has been green-lit. The anime's production committee opened a website for the anime on Friday. The anime commemorates the series' 25th anniversary in 2019.

Regarding the new anime, Akita commented that people might wonder why an anime is being produced now, but he remarked that things just turned out that way. He also noted that no one is more nervous than him about revisiting a work over two decades old. He jokingly described his original work as something written by a "young idiot," but that people with actual skill will work on the anime. Original novel illustrator Yūya Kusaka similarly said that when the editor of the novels contacted him, he also asked "Why again? And why now?" But he said that because there are people who would like to make the anime, he could say nothing else so long as they carried their passion to the end.

Akita began the light novel series in 1994 with illustrations by Kusaka. The series revolves around the titular sorcerer, whose quiet life is interrupted by the advent of both an apprentice and a young woman with a sword Orphen needs.

The novels spawned the 1998-1999 anime of the same name as well as the 1999-2000 anime Orphen: The Revenge. ADV Films released both anime in North America, and ADV Manga later published the novels' manga adaptation. The novels have over 10 million copies in print.

Muraji is currently serializing a manga adaptation titled Majutsushi Orphen Haguretabi - Wa ga Mei ni Shitagae Doll. The manga is currently on hiatus and will return this spring with a new arc.