Majutsushi Orphen Hagure Tabi [DUB]

This show is like spoiled milk. It's expiration date was a long time ago and consuming it will only lead to suffering. Story: An experiment goes terribly wrong at the famous magic school Tower of Fangs when a student named Azalea is suddenly transformed into a dragon, losing her humanity in the process. One of her closets friends Krylancelo aka Orphen finds her in that state and as she flies away he makes the decision to find a way to bring her back to her human form again no matter what. What I just wrote happened in the first 3 minutes of the show. In just 3 minutes they introduce the major conflict and expects you to care for what's going to happen next. This is one of the biggest problems with this show, the pacing is way to fast for it to flow naturally. Not only is the introduction just 3 minutes but it all ends after episode 3, concluding the first of four arcs. Those other arcs suffers from the same problems with the pacing, but also adds another which is that Krylacelo no longer has a clear goal for us to get invested in. The first arc could have easily been stretched out to 13 episodes instead of having it rushed like it ended up being, if so then this might have turned out really good. Other than that the world building which is something I often look forward to in a fantasy show but is very poor here. The magic system is severely lacking in depth and people can just pull random spells out of their ass with no rules or clear limitations. The few things you get to know about is quickly told through some exposition and never explained in great detail. [2/10] _________________________________________________________________ Art and Animation: It's pretty mediocre in terms of art but the landscapes are generally well detailed and the character designs are pretty simple but distinct enough so that you can tell them apart. Pretty standard stuff I know but there really isn't much noteworthy with it. It's not very creative with it's shot composition and there are no interesting shadings, making the scenes feel generally flat and boring. It's not the worst offender of this but it doesn't make it stand out much. [5/10] Some of the fight scenes were animated pretty well but through most of it's run-time the animation is at it's best average. Often looking very stiff and rushed with not a glimpse of an existing passion behind it. [5/10] _________________________________________________________________ Characters: Krylancelo is an orphan so he calls himself Orphen. He's a pretty typical "chosen one" protagonist but it was at least nice to see that he wasn't perfect and unbeatable. But like I said he lacks any real motivation to do what he does, which makes it feels like it's because the story needs him to do it instead of the other way around. He ends up travelling with a couple of friends named Majic and Cleao who both of them have a goal with following Orphen. Majic's being that he wants to become a sorcerer because he comes from a family of sorcerers and Cleao who just wants to see the world because she has never been outside her hometown before. Pretty simple but understandable motivations however they do almost nothing with them. Leaving their development to stay for the rest of the show in the backseat of a car driving full-speed towards a cliff. None of the side characters stick out from the bland pile of trash that they all inhabit. Just existing for the plot's sake while adding nothing of their own in terms of character. [3/10] _________________________________________________________________ Sound: A lot of the OST is very repetitive, both in use and the songs themselves which contributes very little to the shows overall tone. It doesn't get in the way of the show's narrative which is the nicest thing i can say about it. Overall like the show itself it's very forgettable. [4/10] Voice acting wasn't that good which isn't surprising since they had nothing to work with. The characters show almost always the exact same emotions throughout so being able to do anything above average would be pretty hard. [5/10] _________________________________________________________________ Enjoyment: I didn't want a ticket to boredom-land but that's what I got sadly. I couldn't attach myself to any of the characters since there were barely anything to hold on to, and it having a story without a clear goal in sight made me unable to care for anything that happened. The comedy is very reminiscent of the gags you would find in older shows from the 90's, which makes sense since the source material was made then. However just because it could work then doesn't mean that it does now, so if you are very familiar with that type of humor then don't expect anything new. It's a shame really since on paper this could have been a very enjoyable fantasy show that's not an isekai for once. [2/10] _________________________________________________________________ Final Verdict: It tries to bring an old property back to life again but ended up turning it into a Frankenstein's monster of an adaptation. Even if you're a fan of the novels and/or the 98 adaptation you shouldn't watch it because it will probably make you disappointed. Moral of the story, skip this!