Orb: On the Movements of the Earth is an anime adapted from a manga of the same name. Orb is written & illustrated by Uoto, an artist with time in the game but his work is only now picking up steam with the adaption of Orb and more recently 100 meters (adapted to a movie, go watch it). Uoto’s strengths here are easily his attention to historical detail and his unique art style (why does everyone have fucking insane eyeliner). However I’m talking about the anime here. The anime was produced by the legendary Madhouse and licensed for Netflix. The anime follows the idea of heliocentrism as it impacts people throughout a fictional 15th century Poland. To add on to the prestigious names the original soundtrack was produced by Kensuke Ushio. With all this Orb is an anime destined to prevail, does it do that? Keep reading to find out.

Orb looks great. It was animated by Madhouse and their list of works is jam-packed with stand-out entries. The company who produced Paprika is not expected to fail. Orb is not as surreal as Paprika but it does not have to be. The anime as mentioned above follows the protagonists throughout mid century Poland. It’s a boring and a drab place but the anime keeps you grounded in its presentation of Poland. Nothing to harp on here but where the anime really stands out is in its sky-boxes. It’s fitting that a show about an astronomical model would have a beautiful sky. The sky in Orb could almost be listed as its own character with how prevalent it is to the story and the characters with in it. To stick to my repertoire I would compare it to a Bethesda game, when you look up in the wilderness of Skyrim you’re stopped in your tracks and you need to take a moment to admire it. That’s how I felt about the sky in Orb. Every scene with the sky not only looks gorgeous but carries such significance with it that I was in light tears(or near tears) every time it was shown. Lastly the music here sounds amazing. The opening and ending songs check all the boxes. They’re instantly catchy and hook you in to listen to more. The opening itself is quite special in that regard it starts almost instantly with a vocal and after 25 episodes it gets catchy. The original soundtrack work is also great and fits with in the time. The harpsichord is used in full effect.

Now onto the characters. Just as I mentioned that something as the sky could be considered a character, the main character in Orb isn’t one singular character but instead an idea, heliocentrism. Heliocentrism serves as the driving force in this show against its antagonist. Antagonist? Antagonist is hard to define here there are several things in show that are against heliocentrism for example, geocentrism is posed as the direct counter to heliocentrism, the idea that the Earth is the centre of the universe and not the Sun. This isn’t a show where two anthropomorphic ideas duke it out, this is a show about the people who embody these ideas. On the side of heliocentrism you have Rafal, Oczy, Badeni, Jolenta, and Draka. People whose lives have been impacted by the search for truth. On the other hand there exist people who live to defend geocentrism. Mainly seen as the relentless Nowak, an inquisitor who has a particular disdain for heliocentric ideas. Nowak is supported by the church in his endeavours. This is not to say that Orb paints every man of the cloth as some dogmatic murder machine designed to snuff out life. Badeni is actually a monk and he’s devoted to the truth, Oczy and Jolenta are also devout believers of God. The characters here change as the times progress but one thing that remains constant is heliocentrism and the pursuit of the truth. With heliocentrism humanitie’s greatest qualities are highlighted, such as our perseverance and willingness to seek the truth. Likewise geocentrism seems to highlight some darker sides of us, just look at what the church did to heretics back then.

To answer my question yes, Orb does prevail as a wonderful anime backed by some industry greats. But it’s not only the industry powerhouses that make it so great. Ueto’s attention to detail and focus on drama is also a large part as to why Orb is so great, whether it’s the grounded setting or the stellar cast of characters everything here is done perfectly. Oh yeah, watch 100 Meters!