Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite

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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 2,907 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #581²

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

Popularity: #1776

Members: 12,231

Favorites: 202

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Jun 22, 2024

ShekelShoveler

Mixed Feelings

Funny

This is a weird little manga. I very much enjoyed my time with it, though. TL;DR, it's not an amazing story, it's really not a good art book but it was fantastic as what is almost a philosophical text.
The story focuses on a range of characters who become entranced by the theory of heliocentrism in a geocentric world and are subsequently hunted by the inquisition. They all share their passion for knowledge and truth and struggle against their faith in the face of what they know to be heretical ideas.
Oh, right, also a warning. It's a very graphic manga very quickly.

The major downside of ... Orb's story is that it is far too wordy. Some pages are more on the 'book' part of 'comic book', and basically all of its narrative is told through the dialogue (save for a few rare moments). It can be somewhat of a fatiguing and slow read at times because of it. On top of that, its writing is also mixed. It feels strange that the characters have such thoroughly formed ideas and articulate them so well, referencing philosophical texts far beyond the historical setting.
Despite that, the dialogue is doing something right, because I loved listening (or, reading) the clashing views of each of the characters. These characters each strive to realise their meaning and ultimately find it through knowledge and freedom to different extents, and oftentimes end up debating and coming to terms with the conflict of their incomplete knowledge, which gives plenty to consider in the course of its length. Though, if the manga wanted a more compelling narrative, I feel there are ways it could've been done. I would kill for a story about Jolenta's life instead of just receiving a timeskip and seeing what came of her. Instead, it follows heliocentrism more than it does the principle characters.

The art is honestly not very good, and that is the biggest criticism I can possibly draw. It was bad enough at points that it totally ruined the impact of certain scenes. The worst one was during the emotional climax of the story as the main character of the arc looks out over the sunrise, and we get a panel of them looking like an original character from One. The character designs are also very difficult to tell apart. I don't know why they made one of the last characters we see separate from but identical (including in name) to the first character, but it greatly confused me. There are also some very out there designs, especially with the knights in the latter half of the story which were impossible to take seriously.

Overall, it would have been worth an 8 if the art was of a more standard quality. For any improvements beyond that, it would have needed to be more deft in its storytelling and careful in its writing. Ultimately, it's worth giving a go if it sounds like your thing. Give it 10-20 chapters to really get a feel for it

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Jul 29, 2022

Zrisha

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/62 chp)

About the Movement of the Earth is a historical manga, a rather underappreciated genre in the medium. But branding it merely as such takes away its allure – despite it being set in 15th Century Poland and exploring a historical finding that is commonplace knowledge now, the appeal of its central theme is both universal and timeless.

The story does not take time in establishing that theme – an authority who is controlling the circulation of information, and heroes who are risking it all to bring the truth to light. The truth here being that Earth is, in fact, moving around the sun and is not ...

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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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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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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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Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite
Orb: On the Movements of the Earth
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Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni TsuiteOrb: On the Movements of the Earth Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links

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