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Orb: On the Movements of the Earth (TV).




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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
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Location: Frisco, TX
PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2024 6:32 pm Reply with quote


Orb: On the Movements of the Earth (TV)

Source: Manga (completed @ 8 volumes by Uoto)

Demographic: Seinen

Animation Studio: Madhouse

Genres: drama, mystery, psychological, science fiction

Themes: astronomy, discovery, Europe, gore, historical, idealism, Inquisition era, persecution, religion, torture, tragedy

Plot Summary: 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.

Air Date & Platform:
October 5, 2024 (Saturday)
Available on: Netflix

Episode Count / Runtime: 25 episodes
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Two Madhouse productions in a season! But this one's on Netflix. Sounds like an interesting premise. I always get a kick out of how backwards old-world mentalities can be, especially the ones deep-rooted in religion.


Last edited by Tony K. on Sun Oct 06, 2024 11:37 pm; edited 3 times in total
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 2664
PostPosted: Sun Oct 06, 2024 6:08 am Reply with quote
The first two episodes are amazing and yet they very much convinced me that the show is not for me. I can handle a bit of darkness/tragic events taking place in an anime and still be fine watching it but I have a limit. Orb is very effective in showing what it was like living in the 15th century and how fear of the unknown and thinking outside the norm might get you a horrible death. It is an age where religion rules and where anything that conflicts with that will be dealt with. It is also very much a show that I could see ending very tragically.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24156
PostPosted: Mon Oct 07, 2024 11:32 am Reply with quote
Episodes 1 & 2

First, let me assure you all that I didn't start watching this because I misread the title and thought it was called Orbs: On the Movements of the Oppai, okay? In any case, I like it despite a distinct lack of boobies. I certainly hope that Novak the Torturer comes to a hideous end. The MC's attitude reminded me a bit of the salaryman who became Tanya in the Saga of Tanya the Evil. His smug conviction that he understands how to get along in life is very similar, and it seems he's in for the same kind of upheaval that Tanya experiences despite her longing for the quiet life well behind the front.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 1586
PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2024 4:17 am Reply with quote
Welp, Blood old buddy, I have to say that watching the first episode of Orb: On the Movements of the Earth was one of the weirdest anime experiences I have had. Which is saying something. It's a great anime in my opinion. It's well made on every front, voice acting, writing, even lighting which is not something I'd usually consider in an anime as they're drawn, not, y'know, lit. But the use of darkness to give a sense of oppression is pretty impressive here. The music is great but its heavy and foreboding for the most part and not enjoyable at all. In fact, I did not enjoy this anime at all. But I feel compelled to try to force myself to watch more of it because I should? Kind of like the way I always eat Brussel sprouts if any traitorous friend or family member serves them at a meal. Like it's a penance I feel I should pay for watching The Healer Banished From the Party is in Fact the Strongest or something.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11600
PostPosted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 4:13 am Reply with quote
Can't say I really cared for the kid, at least not up until the end.

So I guess the necklace is the title character and we'll be following it as it bounces from person to person? I.e., the orb will be the center of the story's universe?
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Otohiko



Joined: 08 Jul 2024
Posts: 33
PostPosted: Tue Nov 05, 2024 5:30 pm Reply with quote
One thing I'm starting to pick up on with this series is probably a major reason some people really like it, but others bounce off it: it's written in a way that doesn't really evoke cinematic realism, but is instead a lot more like a theater play. There's some elements of classical tragedy here - basically you have a whole chain of heroes whose downfall is their tragic personal flaw, unique to that character, which might never have even been an issue if not for an inconvenient set of very unlikely coincidences. You have the long monologues, and scenes feature very few characters, with lighting (or absence thereof) often playing a key role. There's even a few "Chekhov's guns"! Seen from that point of view, a lot of the overdramatic or overly-convenient scenes make a lot more sense.

Personally, I really like this approach, and it's really helped me not get too hung up on details around things like historical realism. I don't want to spoil anything, but the manga later even lampshades (a bit subtly) some of the common criticisms I've seen of this show - there is a good reason why the inquisition here seems abnormally cruel and isn't actually very accurate to how things generally were in 15th century Poland, for example, and why many of the characters are so unlike historical figures associated with heliocentrism (in fact only one such figure actually appears in the entire series). Because it's really not about those - instead, it's a dramatized "unhistory", about outliers in weird circumstances who ended up being left somewhere just off the margins of history. That makes it very different from a lot of other historical anime, which tends to focus on fictionalizing real historical figures who are, for one reason or another, actually remembered. Keep that in mind - it might help you make better sense of this show as it goes on.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24156
PostPosted: Tue Nov 05, 2024 6:14 pm Reply with quote
@ Otohiko: that's an interesting take. I hadn't really keyed into the theatrical aspect of the show but I can see where you are coming from. I'm really enjoying this myself because I find the clash of personal philosophies quite interesting, especially how they motivate various characters to do things. And I find the over arching theme to be a resonant one with me: the quixotic struggle for truth against an implacable orthodoxy that ruthlessly maintains the status quo. And, finally, I have to admit: set an anime anywhere other than a Japanese school and you pretty much automatically have my attention.
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