What Is the 2020 Orphen Anime?

The new Orphen anime was announced for the novels' twenty-fifth anniversary and premiered on 7 January 2020, animated by Studio Deen and directed by Takayuki Hamana, with Reiko Yoshida writing the first two seasons and Kenji Konuta the last two. It is a fresh adaptation of the novels, not a sequel to the 1998 series: the Azalie story starts over, and this time the production kept going, through the Battle of Kimluck in 2021 and a final double season in 2023 that carried the story into the Urbanrama and Sanctuary arcs and to the novels' end.

One thread ties it to the vintage show. Showtaro Morikubo returned as Orphen, the only cast member to do so, so the voice of 1998 opens the remake and closes it twenty-five years after he first played the part. Funimation streamed the series as it aired, English dub included, and the catalogue later moved to Crunchyroll.