- The Tower of Fang
On this page we'll be archiving our updates about official Orphen content. Things like book releases, comic updates, the like. It's not a page for our site updates, those are posted in the change log on the home page.
- Latest Rambling
Its been radio silence for a long time. So, what's going on?
Life hit like a truck over the past couple years, and I'm slowly finding my way back to my hobbies, which includes revisiting this project. I've decided that I want to move forward with google translating the books, due to some glaring issues with the official translations, which I found wrote out character deaths and development, frequently changed or skipped over the entire context of countless scenes, frequently confused scenes (including adding characters into scenes they were specifically not supposed to be in), and often had confusing setups (such as transitioning into a different scene mid-paragraph.)
When I started this project, it was because I wanted to read the book in their original context. I don't want to read a heavily altered version. However, in the process of this discovery, I also realized that much of my own project was atrociously bad, and had the same glaring problems. So, I've started to rewrite the books in their entirety. I will go back and do this in proper order, but for now, I am also still working on Volume 6. I've added Chapter 3, but I need to proofread it. Chapters that haven't been proofread will have an asterisk by them.
If anyone happens to stumble across my humble little site in the future, please know that I continue this project out of love and passion for the original series. This is a series that inspires me, that I am excited to continue to work on and learn with as I slowly study Japanese. I am by no means well versed in the language, so please know that my crummy little translations will have plenty of glaring issues in their own right, but I hope they will provide some context to things that otherwise seemed confusing.
As a final "Huh?", I am doing this in no particular order. I started with rewriting Volume 6, and will be rewriting volume 2 next (because I had a lot more fun reading that one after Volume 1). I'll start from Volume 1 after I'm finished with Volume 2, and will update in the update notes below whenever something has been changed.
- Latest Rambling
Whoo, its been a while!
So, I'm not dead yet, and ironically chose the uprising of Orphen content as my opportune time to take a break from the project. I've had time to watch the series grow and figure out where I wanted to go with my own projects. Ultimately, I've decided to continue my insane goal to google translate every Orphen book ever just because I want to know what they say.
I'm just stopping in to say hey, things are still going to happen. Eventually. At some point. For now, I've added Afterwords to Volumes 1, 4, and 5 of Stray Journey, along with some spiffy new banners. I've also gone back and fixed some of the naming inconsistencies in the volumes that are already posted, and almost have Volume 6 complete.
You can now view the whole book's navigation at the bottom of each page, and skip between chapters as needed. The other volumes have afterword links in their navigation, but they're broken. Mainly because I haven't rediscovered those books in the abyss of my library yet. (How many years has it been? And my reading space is still a heaping pile of Orphen media.) They'll be added whenever I dig them up again.
If there's anyone still out there, thanks for sticking around! Most updates will be posted in the changelogs below.
- Latest Rambling
Although 2018 isn't Orphen's actual anniversary, its just been announced that Majutsushi Orphen: Hagure Tabi will be receiving a brand new anime adaption! Plans for the series are now underway, with little information outside of an official site now linked off of the main SS Orphen site.
The current anime site currently houses a brief commentary from the author of the series, Yoshinobu Akita, and the main artist for the series, Yuuya Kusaka. We'll detail this as best we can below. But anyway, since it carries the name Stray Journey we can assume that it'll follow the story of the books. This is a love hate thing. I would've loved to finish them before the anime began, but I couldn't ask for more than a new anime to begin with! Something I never imagined would be possible for this franchise.
Commentary from the series author, Yoshinobu Akita:
"Wow, it's a new anime. I think that "Why now" is where everyone's mind is at, but that's just how it goes. After more than twenty years, when they pointed out what I'd written again, I had more of a cold sweat than anyone... The original is the work of a stupid young man, but the anime is being made by the right people, and we're happy to see it."
Commentary from the series artist, Yuuya Kusaka:
"When I got the story, I think my first thought was "What, again? Why now?" just like most people. In fact, I think I even said that to the editor in charge over the telephone. In my case, it all felt the same, ever since the Yosunobu Akita BOX released in 2009. Which was just before the equally unexpected "VS. Kokichi / Shueisha" (* Not sure what this is), which also lead to the question of why, so it's a bit of a strange feeling.
The older I get, the slower I paint, and it makes me happy to think that people who are good at painting are working on Orphen. This is about those who wish and dare to work on Orphen now. If they can run through to the end with that same passion, then there's nothing left to say here. I hope people who liked the new Orphen series before, as well as those who are watching it for the first time will be pleased. Thank you.
In other news, the Stray Journey manga continues!
That's not the only exciting news, however. The Stray Journey manga has continued over at Comic Clear, which had I paid better attention between intervals, would've been obvious. The story picks up at Volume 3, with the introduction of Hirietta. We've also been made aware that the Volume 2 books are simultaneously going on sale this month. You can order them here and here. Or if you're not shy of importing, scoot on over to Gamers Online Shop where ordering the books will come with a special bromide (print, basically), as seen here. Limited while supplies last, so it's no guarantee that you'll get them when you order here.
- Latest Rambling
We officially have the first chapter of the Origin Project! You can find it here. Because it's on Nicoseiga, you'll need an account to view. Thankfully you can also log in with various social media accounts. It looks like things are just starting to get interesting in the story when we're left on this lovely cliffhanger!
Although it may seem sort, Part 2 is expected to drop on January 1st, I believe. This'll include the second half of the story. From then on, it should be one complete story a month, though it's unclear if they'll all be split up into parts or not. Hopefully, they're also matched with their corresponding story, like the first one was.
- Some More Rambling
So the lack of updates. Basically, I stopped working on the Origin Project (story parts) because as it turns out, they're only publishing the first story. The rest would take so long to transcribe/translate that I'm just not willing to take that time away from Stray Journey. Which I've got a couple chapters written up for Volume 6, but haven't had the time to proofread or format. We're still deciding between working on the Origin Project comics or the Stray Journey comics. Probably Stray Journey. I'm not dead. I'm just lazy.
- Season 4: Episode 2, New Comicalized Announcement!
Season 4: Episode 2 of Stray Journey: New Series is up for pre-order on sites like Amazon, Tobooks, etc.! It features all new art of Beijito, and some cleaned up art of Ratsbane and Edge. For those who aren't familiar with these books, they're rereleases of Stray Journey: New Series, featuring Orphen and his three kids. These are rereleases of that story, with new covers. It is not another sequel.
A couple weeks late, but they've also concluded the poll for which shorts from the Reckless arc would be brought to comic formats! The options consisted of the short stories at the end of the Reckless books, involving days at the Tower of Fang prior to the whole Azalea event. This means we'll get to see into the lives of Orphen, Hartia, Azalea, Leticia, Komikron, etc., before the shit hit the fan. The comic will run for 10 months, featuring 1 story per month.
- Drama CD Rerelease, New Comic Poll
With the conclusion of Volume 4 I thought I'd take a moment to talk about some upcoming Orphen stuff. For one thing, two of the Drama CDs have been re-released on their own, through TO Books website. Search for 魔術士オーフェン to find them. These are the same CDs that were included with the limited edition books from the new series.
They've also hinted that one of the Orphen stories will be up for a 10-month consecutive comic, which you can vote for here. When you vote you'll be able to get a free desktop wallpaper.