Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite

Twelve-year-old prodigy Rafal believes in living rationally, so as to earn praise and respect from society while not being led astray by his emotions. To this end, he publicly states his intention to study theology—the academic field held in highest regard in early 15th century Poland. However, an encounter with a mysterious man upends Rafal's life, sparking an illogical desire to instead pursue his passion for astronomy.

Rafal is determined to prove the beauty and rationality of heliocentrism—the theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun. This belief is considered heretical by the powerful Church, which promotes geocentrism—the Sun revolving around the Earth—as the sole truth of the universe. Those whose beliefs do not align with the will of the Church suffer unfathomably gruesome consequences.

In pursuit of evidence for a heliocentric model of the universe, Rafal grapples with obtaining precise calculations and building empirical theories. His greatest challenge, however, lies in conducting this research discreetly—lest he wish to meet the same fate as other heretics.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Rafal Main

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Badeni Main

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Oczy Main

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Nowak Main

Tsuda, Kenjirou Japanese

Jolenta Main

Hitomi, Saya Japanese

Schmitt Main

Hino, Satoshi Japanese

Draka Main

Shimabukuro, Miyuri Japanese

Hubert Supporting

Hayami, Show Japanese

Heretic Supporting

Sanpei, Yuuki Japanese

Potocki Supporting

Makishima, Kouichi Japanese

Okamoto, Junya Producer

Yoshida, Yuuki Producer

Yamazaki, Yukari Producer

Oka, Tsunenari Producer

Reviews

Oct 24, 2024

SgtRohn

Recommended

Preliminary (4/25 eps)

Tired of isekais of the season (Re:ZERO) that, even great, no longer provide the same satisfaction, either due to being predictable and repetitive or after watching countless of them every season? Or perhaps you're tired of the endless floodgates of rom-coms that halt all progress beyond will-they-won't-they shenanigans? Maybe you're tired of an anime being so anime-y with high speed movements and action scenes that are full of flashy effects (Dandadan) for the sake of the rule of cool? Boy, do I have the perfect show for you!

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the animes I mentioned above. I myself watch them. ... But sometimes, you know how you're just looking for something with a bit more "Oomph!" that offer something new and unique in this era of repetitive isekai and action/battle shounen animes? Well, move aside Re:ZERO/Dandadan, because a new competitor joins the race for best anime this Fall 2024!

An unexpected and possible Anime of the Season material (perhaps even AotY if it can stick the landing, otherwise it's still too early), Orb: On the Movements of the Earth is an anime that goes against the tides of common anime genres of the season. The story takes a page in ancient history (15th century Europe) depicting a battle of truth: to prove the truth of the cosmos while facing the possible prosecution from the church and its inquisitors, and leaving behind footnotes for future generations to build upon and continue the legacy of the collective human knowledge.

First, the story isn't something you'd expect to come from an anime. Like Vinland Saga, the author knows the story it wants to tell. Every scene thus far doesn't waste the audience's time with pointless monologues and flashbacks. It doesn't treat the audience as idiots, laying out all the details in front of you and handing it on a silver platter. No, this anime wants you to figure it out for yourself using the characters' motivation and their actions and goals. The structure of the storytelling relies on the atmosphere and tension you feel for the characters, and the pacing makes you easily forget that each episode runs for 24 minutes, with those 24 minutes only feeling like 3 minutes because of how engaging it does its dialogues and conversation between each characters. It's very well-executed and balanced, a stark contrast from most animes these days.

Secondly, speaking of characters, the author knows how to create them, and knows when to write them out of the story. You know how animes kill off a character, but before that happens, they show you a flashback of that character's past with their happy memories? *cough* JJK Season 2 *cough* It's as if to say "Go on! Feel bad for this character and cry as I kill him/her off." Or even worse, when they kill off that character for the sake of developing another character? *cough* JJK Season 2 again *cough* Well, screw that! This anime will punch you in the face when you least expect it. Writing a character, and a compelling one at that, is half the battle in writing a good story. You have to know when to write them off the story too (a lesson I wish Tensura would learn with how much useless characters it has). The author certainly knows when it wants to up the ante, whether by killing off its characters, or by introducing new ones. Plot armor? Nope, we don't have that around here! What we do have are unexpected twists you won't see coming a mile away.

Lastly, it's done by Madhouse! What more could you want? Of course, don't expect Frieren-levels of animation. This isn't that kind of anime. If you're looking for an action anime, then this might not fit you (HOWEVER.. I request that you at least watch the first 3 episodes. This anime deserves it, I swear). It's art style resembles that of Attack on Titan or even Vinland Saga, so no cutesy anime girls here or moe character archetypes (certainly no -dere character archetypes either).

Overall, this is a fantastic anime (on its way to be a masterpiece if it sticks the middle and landing). If you're looking for a unique story that is as far from the usual anime tropes as possible, Orb is an anime I simply must recommend. I will glaze it as much as possible and ensure that it rises from being a dark horse anime of the season to being an anime that is well-known for its quality storytelling and compelling characters. And if you liked it, remember to suggest it to your friends or acquaintances who watch animes as well. As I've said, it doesn't have the usual anime tropes of moe/loli/dere characters, so this is a pretty safe recommendation that won't get you side-eyed by your friends.

PS: Do note that while this anime might seem historical, and it does borrow elements from Late Medieval Europe, you shouldn't treat this anime as a way to get educated about 15th century Europe, nor should you treat this as historical fiction, as it plays fast-and-loose with the actual history concerning the conceiving of the heliocentrism theory and inquisition. They don't even name drop Europe itself, and they avoid mentioning where exactly this anime takes place on Earth. So just treat this as you would any fiction, and enjoy the quality anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 1, 2024

prongloaniweeb

Mixed Feelings

Funny

Preliminary (7/25 eps)

Extremely boring for anyone who isn’t an armchair intellectual. Look at the other reviews, bunch of turbo nerds. It’s just like those super low budget historical reenactments that you get in high school history in anime form.

For real tho, it’s a historical drama with very little “action”. If you find the subject of christianity vs science to be unbelievably boring (like me because I learned more than enough about the subject in school) and you can’t care about characters that only exist for 10-20 mins, then this show will probably be very boring to you too. The story, characters, and art are top tier, but ... I couldn’t possibly care less about the story, characters or the “think about this” dialogue lol.

If you really like the origin of astronomy subject then this show will probably be 10/10 to you. If you want a similar show with a far more interesting story (imo) watch Monster or Pluto.

I’ve fallen asleep while watching TV 3 times in my life and 2/3 times were while watching this show. I have to put it under the “impressively boring” category. Maybe I just have the wrong mindset, but I really tried.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Feb 26, 2025

PheasantTaste

Not Recommended

Funny

Preliminary (21/25 eps)

There's a lot that's great about this show, but I think it's fair to say that it's overrated. People treat it as some sort of historical or academic show when it's really just a cool fantasy setting with some fun astronomy themes. The show also has some pacing issues which stem partially from the simple fact that this is an adaptation from printed media.

Personally, I really dislike the depiction of geocentric thought and astronomy as a whole in this show. They present the geocentric model as some sort of monolithic, meritless, and useless tool that is incapable of making accurate predictions, contrasted against heliocentrism ... depicted as some sort of bastion of reason and aesthetics. The opposition to heliocentric thought is depicted as some purely irrational religious bogus. Way to shake your contemporary biases. To their credit, Badeni says something decent in one scene, that the concept of heliocentrism alone is insufficient to surpass the utility of preexisting models, but he then completely circumvents this issue by having a sidekick with super-human abilities to observe Venus' phases unaided and kills some prestiged caricature "geocentrist" with the power of facts and logic. He then skips hundreds of years of astronomy to single-handedly overstep the Copernican model to suggest planetary bodies travel in conic sections in order to resolve the orbits of the outer planets. While he was at it, Oczy aught to have discovered Io and personally confirmed stellar parallax while Badeni was proposing gravitation with his big galaxy brain. It's ridiculous.

This rant about "inaccuracy" is relevant because it significantly hinders the message and pacing of the show. The overarching theme is that life can be given significance and meaning by building upon the work of people before you and passing it onto the future across great gaps in time. This would have been served well by a sequence of baton-passes between various characters separated in time, introducing new ideas and technology, just as it was in history. Instead, the most they manage is a few forgettable side-characters acting as couriers of last resort (for drama). The show understates the intellectual and technological hurdles required to develop heliocentric models to tell an oversized morality story about evil intellectuals and inquisitors, only for "heliocentrism" to be "saved" by an illiterate man, some girl (whose character is less developed than compound optics in 15th century Poland), and protestants. If they really wanted a "bad guy" like Badeni, they should've thrown him in at the end to really kill the mood of progress instead of taking up the majority of the season with his antics. He could have been a nutso-Kepler who's obsessed with "useless" mathematics who burns the contents of the stone chest at the end before he's killed, only for the show to end with some kid coming to return a book he had "borrowed" so the story can complete in a circle. The kid could be a future student at Rafal's old school or something. A twist like that'll get you on the MAL top 100.

Now, with only 4 episodes left in the season, they've just introduced two more courier characters who probably have nothing to contribute except for a few moments of self-sacrifice to make copies of a journal with no critical details. Then, they treat movable type like it's some sort of new unknown technology (again, contemporary biases) that can't be replicated; are these people so incapable of casting some letters and slapping it on a cheese press? Next, they'll expect me to believe that a handful of inquisitors could easily track down a dozen motivated and organized men running for their lives in rural Central Europe with a ~6 hour head start. At this point, I'm not sure how they're going to end this season. After successfully escaping, I guess they'll meet some other last-minute character with a screw press, only to be caught by Nowak and everyone will die. However, through some miraculous turn of events, the books will get printed anyway in some small quantity. Nowak will be devastated, knowing his life was for nothing. Some guy living at Potocki's house gets 1/10. It will then be revealed that the book was apparently so epic and based that it inspires the mind of some future astronomer or something and leave it at a cliffhanger. If they were really tasteless, they'd name-drop anime Copernicus himself reading the book in an after-credits scene.

It's a decent watch, but nowhere as good as people seem to suggest.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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	Poll: Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite Episode 21 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Feb 15	77 replies	by Sui_Atom »» 25 minutes ago
	Poll: Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite Episode 24 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Mar 8	101 replies	by OrigamistToo »» 32 minutes ago
	Poll: Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite Episode 23 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Mar 1	142 replies	by Hatsuyuki »» Yesterday, 10:26 AM
	Poll: Chi.: Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Oct 19, 2024	92 replies	by OrigamistToo »» Yesterday, 1:21 AM
	Poll: Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite Episode 22 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Feb 22	106 replies	by XArceusX »» Mar 12, 12:24 AM