The Orphen Novel Gallery
Twenty volumes, one painter, one long command shouted at the world.
This is the paper shelf of the main series: all twenty covers of Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: The Wayward Journey, in the original Fujimi Fantasia Bunko editions, volume by volume from May 1994 to September 2003. Yoshinobu Akita wrote every book; Yuuya Kusaka painted every cover.
The English titles given here are the ones J-Novel Club publishes under for the first twelve volumes; the last eight are literal renderings of the Japanese titles. Dates are the Japanese first-edition dates.
VOLUMES 1 TO 10
The Fujimi Fantasia Bunko originals, 1994 to 1997
Volume 1
Heed My Call, Beast! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 5 May 1994.
Volume 2
Obey My Command, Doll! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 9 September 1994.
Volume 3
Rest Within My Heart, Ghost! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 11 January 1995.
Volume 4
Gather in My Forest, Wolves! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 19 May 1995.
Volume 5
Erase My Past, Assassin! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 20 October 1995.
Volume 6
Come to My Tower, Successor! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 19 April 1996.
Volume 7
Convey My Will, Demon King! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 20 August 1996.
Volume 8
Rain on My Holy City, Tears of Blood! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 20 January 1997.
Volume 9
Train Your Arrow Upon My God, Apostate! (Act 1) Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 20 June 1997.
Volume 10
Train Your Arrow Upon My God, Apostate! (Act 2) Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 17 October 1997.
VOLUMES 11 TO 20
To the end of the journey, 1998 to 2003
Volume 11
Sink Into My Dream, Paradise! (Act 1) Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 24 April 1998.
Volume 12
Sink Into My Dream, Paradise! (Act 2) Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 21 October 1998.
Volume 13
Guide My Fate, Magic Sword! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 16 April 1999.
Volume 14
Seek My Heart, Devil! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 19 October 1999.
Volume 15
Envelop My Despair in Green! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 26 April 2000.
Volume 16
Dance Upon My Battlefield, Visitor! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 18 January 2001.
Volume 17
Let Gunfire Echo in My Garden! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 20 August 2001.
Volume 18
Wander My Mansion, Phantom! Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 20 March 2002.
Volume 19
Open the Door to My Sanctuary! (Act 1) Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 20 March 2003.
Volume 20
Open the Door to My Sanctuary! (Act 2) Fujimi Fantasia Bunko · 20 September 2003.
READING THE COVERS
What the grids showThe command titles
Every subtitle is an order Orphen gives the world: heed my call, obey my command, come to my tower. Read down the spines and the twenty titles form one long act of defiance, which is the character in a sentence.
One artist, nine years
Yuuya Kusaka painted all twenty covers, and the grids double as a record of his art changing across the decade, from the bright, crowded early paintings to the darker, quieter final volumes.
The two-part books
Volumes 9 and 10, 11 and 12, and 19 and 20 are single stories split into first and second acts. The covers pair accordingly, so a shelf missing one half is visibly incomplete.
The label mark
Each cover carries the Fujimi Fantasia Bunko mark at the lower left and the illustration credit to Kusaka at the lower right. Those two details are the fastest authenticity check on a loose copy.