Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: About the Movement of the Earth

Japanese: チ。―地球の運動について―

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 8

Chapters: 62

Status: Finished

Published: Sep 14, 2020 to Apr 18, 2022

Genres: Award Winning, Drama

Theme: Historical

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Big Comic Spirits

Authors: Uoto (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.10¹ (scored by 2,879 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #597²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1782

Members: 12,182

Favorites: 197

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8.10

Ranked #597Popularity #1782Members 12,182

MangaBig Comic SpiritsUoto (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /8

Chapters: /62

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Synopsis

In fifteenth-century Europe, heretics are being burned at the stake. Rafal, a brilliant young man, is expected to enter university at an early age and study the era's most important field, theology. But Rafal values Reason above all else, which leads him both to the shocking conclusion that the Earth orbits the Sun, and into the hands of the Inquisition!

A decade later, two members of the Watch Guild, the dour young Oczy and the cynical Gras, find a hidden stone chest that details the secrets of the universe Rafal left behind. Dare they try to change their own stars by selling the heretical texts, or would that only lead to the stake and the fire?

(Source: Seven Seas Entertainment)

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Background

Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite won the Grand Prize at the 26th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize awards in 2022. In the same year, it was nominated for the 15th Manga Taisho Award and the 46th Kodansha Manga Awards in the General category. It ranked second in the 2022 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! for the Male Readers Division. In 2023, the manga won Best Comic at the 54th Seiun Awards.

The series was published in English as Orb: On the Movements of the Earth by Seven Seas Entertainment as 2-in-1 omnibus volumes from November 21, 2023 to December 17, 2024. It was also released in Italian by Dynit from January 20, 2023, to March 22, 2024.

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More characters
Characters

Rafal

Main

Badeni

Main

Oczy

Main

Nowak

Main

Jolenta

Main

Draka

Main

Brudzewski, Albert

Main

Schmitt

Supporting

Hubert

Supporting

Potocki

Supporting

Reviews

Mar 16, 2025

MickeyMinaj

Recommended

A Relay Race.
This part-fiction | part-reality story is not focused on completing a collective goal, but rather more heavy on passing off the baton to the next best available person whom they might or might not even know/seen/heard of. Complete faith in not just themselves, but also in strangers that in the rarest of probability 'might' be interested in taking their legacy forward. That's Orb and it's protagonists for you in a nutshell.

Having just finished the anime adaptation too, I must say this is one of those very rare storytelling masterpieces that no matter in what medium; would excel in relaying what's supposed to ...

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Oct 12, 2023

jingo123

Recommended

Well-written

About the Movement of the Earth is a nice story about humanity's purpose told through the struggle for heliocentrism. It goes through the lives of its multiple main characters while they fight for this cause, each having their own personal struggles, covering different themes alongside the main one.

The themes are brought up thoroughly in long dialogue that are tied into the story itself. The characters talk A LOT about philosophical ideas in these blatant lecture-style ramblings (?). It feels more like the characters are having debates in the middle of whatever's happening in the story. But more often than not, it does feel quite natural. ... I'm not saying it's realistic but it does fit the manga's tone.

This does get annoying sometimes, and the lack of visual presentation does not help. I don't mind the 'ugly' drawings, but some panels are just bland or even empty. It makes it feel like I'm just reading a script for a play or something. Actually, the story is structured like a stage play. There's a bunch of characters explicitly ranting towards each other or to themselves, and the scene ends with one big moment. Idk if that's accurate but the plays I've watched are like that (I've only watched 2 of them).

Best part about this manga is its depiction of the value of human life in the pursuit of a greater purpose. There's something romantic about hundreds and thousands of people giving up their lives for a single cause or idea, especially when this cause ends up lasting an eternity (eg: the pyramids, any religion). The forgotten lives of the workers that built the pyramids might seem meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but the fact that they contributed to one of the greatest legacies of humanity, it gives their lives meaning.

The reality is that a lot of human greatness was achieved by the sacrifice of many. It's a theme that I rarely encounter in media. Most of the time the sacrifice of the background characters is not addressed at all in favour of the main ones. About the Movement of the Earth depicts this theme with a bleak honesty on the oppression and suffering experienced by our characters, but also a feel-good aftertaste since heliocentrism did eventually prevail at the end. The fact that every characters struggle ends up being useful, no matter how small it is, also gives the reader some semblance of relief. It probably wasn't as nice in reality.

Symbolically, the fight to prove that earth was not at the center of the universe represents the rejection of selfish individual greatness. The sun will keep revolving regardless of what happens to us, same as the lofty ideas that will outlive its famed founders. But the founders themselves are a product of a greater whole. The perceived greatness of Copernicus or any other great man was built on the works of a hundred lives, forgotten by time, just like everything else in the universe.

Overall a pretty nice manga. 7-8/10

note:
this is a weird review lmao

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Jan 3, 2025

darkpixelftw

Mixed Feelings

Funny

TL:DR
Characters are vehicles for the plot, some chapters feel more like textbooks than manga and the story jumps to different characters constantly. However, there is something profound in what it has to say. Read it for the philosophy not the story.

Story: 6/10
The manga has three time skips, each following a different character (well, four including the epilogue). First we're introduced to the first protagonist and I was excited to see his journey. Then we have a time skip and I realised that there would be no protagonist to follow in this manga. In fact, we seem to follow the ideas each character left behind more ... than the characters themselves.

The first part felt too short, it was jarring to move past the first protagonist so soon. The second part was the longest and, predictably, the best. We followed one set of characters for longer and they could be more developed.

The third part was the worst in my opinion, it felt very out of left field due to how, for lack of a better word, shounen it felt compared to the grounded historical feeling of the rest of the manga.

I feel like the manga tries to tackle the historical prejudice against women in the era of the setting but it was very surface level and preachy. The main female character is pretty much immediately accepted as an intellectual equal and there is no obstacle to overcome, most characters around her is totally cool with her being a scholar. Seems weird to focus on the difficulties of female scholars when we really only see it being an issue for a chapter or two.

And yet, despite all my complaints, there is something profound here. The manga dives into the philosophy of faith and science, as well as the fact that they may not be so opposed after all. The characters' motivations behind sacrificing so much merely to advance an idea resonates with me. At times I felt like the author was the one speaking not the characters but their ideas are delivered so earnestly I can't bring myself to hate it.

Character: 5/10
The characters are used exclusively as a vehicle for their respective world views. The majority of their dialogue reads more like the author lecturing through the characters than something someone would actually say.

When I realised that we wouldn't be following any character for very long, I stopped caring all that much for each one and I wasn't surprised when I found that they were not very developed. They don't really do anything except research or talk about heliocentrism.

The main antagonist, Nowak is genuinely scary - his sheer conviction and brutality make a compelling villain. Considering he's the only character that is present throughout all three parts, this is especially good.

Art
Every part of the art is beautiful… except the characters. Buildings, nature, objects, backgrounds, all of it is great but the characters look so strange. Their faces have this strange uncanny valley quality that is genuinely distracting at times. The fact that many characters look very similar does not help. The rest of it is very good though.

Overall: 6/10
The very definition of not for everyone. Orb as a story feels rather bare-bones but it shows such passion for science and the pursuit of truth that I almost can't fault it.

Mixed recommendation: avoid if you're in it for plot or characters but if you want to understand why people pursue truth, then this manga is for you.

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Recent Forum Discussion

New shonen manga from Orb author Mackyreels - Mar 8	0 replies	by Mackyreels »» Mar 8, 5:12 PM
Poll: Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite Chapter 62 Discussion Deago - Jan 13	3 replies	by LadyMarble »» Mar 8, 3:02 PM
Questions about the ending(SPOILERS AHEAD) Yosakusan - Oct 21, 2024	7 replies	by LadyMarble »» Mar 8, 2:52 PM
Poll: Chi.: Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite Chapter 1 Discussion 18927 - May 19, 2024	3 replies	by ernescio »» Jan 9, 11:39 AM
What are your thoughts on the manga? removed-user - Mar 24, 2022	14 replies	by Uiai »» Dec 8, 2024 6:31 PM

Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite
Orb: On the Movements of the Earth
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