Article Contents

1. Introduction and General Notes
2. Episode 1 Notes
3. Episode 2 Notes

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Introduction and General Notes

Welcome! Yesterday, the first two episodes of Orb: On the Movement of the Earth were released. Unfortunately, I still can’t find a legal platform for streaming it. Given the premise of this anime, though, there was no way I wasn’t going to watch it. I expected to like Orb, and I was correct. In fact, I absolutely love it so far. It’s the anime I’m most excited about in Fall 2024.

I have a bunch of notes and thoughts on these episodes, but I didn’t really discuss the audio-visual components in those sections. So, very quickly, I’ll tell you that both are fairly high quality. The music was composed by Kensuke Ushio, an extremely talented composer who wrote the music for A Silent Voice, Devilman Crybaby, Chainsaw Man, and more. So far, I’ve loved what little music I noticed in Orb. I also love the opening song, “Kaiju” by Sakanaction. (The ending song, “Aporia” by Yorushika, was nice as well.)

The voice-acting cast for Orb is amazing, though we’ve only heard a few of the main stars so far. I do mention a few of them in the sections below. As for the visuals, they are not exactly stunning, but they’re certainly creative and stylized enough to entertain me. The studio that made this anime was Madhouse, which typically has decent production value. Now, without any further rambling, let’s get into the episode reviews.

(Note: These reviews do not contain detailed recaps of events, but rather, my thoughts and responses to certain moments, characters, and themes in these episodes.)

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Episode 1 Notes

Episode Rating: 10/10

The opening of the pilot is grim, showing a man of the church torturing a heretic. He is using a “pear of anguish” device to split open the victim’s jaws. Afterward, there’s a second torture scene at a different time with the same character: Nowak, a church inquisitor voiced by Kenjiro Tsuda. (And what a good casting choice! Tsuda’s voice can be very sexy or very creepy, depending on what type of character he’s bringing to life.)

Nowak begins removing the nails of a scientist whose research materials go against church teachings. We learn from this scene that Nowak is insanely serious about torture. He won’t just slowly remove all ten of your nails. He’ll also keep you long enough for your nails to regrow in order to remove them again. Rinse and repeat. All the while, Nowak is either enjoying himself or complaining about wanting to go home early.

This depiction of the church is very historically accurate. Christians terrorized and slaughtered inquisitive minds for centuries, keeping science and progress at a standstill. As if the torture scene wasn’t enough, there is also a brief execution scene later. Our main character Rafal sees a man being burned at the stake. It’s a disturbing sight. The man’s face is mostly burned off, and I assume his throat has already burned so he’s so longer screaming. But one of his eyes is still there, and it meets Rafal’s gaze.

(October 13th 2024 Edit: If you go to the comment section, you will see a discussion wherein a religiously indoctrinated person denies the academic consensus of historians regarding the Church’s historical violence and oppression of independent thought. I recommend reading the discussion to see the weak arguments, poor-quality sources, and levels of denial for yourself. The moral of the story is that critical thinking is just as important as ever.)

Speaking of our young protagonist, Rafal is an interesting and unusual boy right off the bat. I like his personal philosophy that his belief that “rationality equals beauty.” Despite being twelve, he knows and that one must be extremely pragmatic to survive. Since he’s naturally a practical and rational thinker, survival has been easy for quite some time. He got himself adopted by a good man. He’s well cared for and well-educated. He’ll even have the chance to study at a university.

Rafal’s nearly idyllic life comes to an abrupt end when he meets Hubert, a heretic researcher who was allowed to live after he publicly recanted his “sin.” Hubert is huge and intimidating, with keen senses that immediately identify Rafal as a bright and capable boy. Like Hubert himself, Rafal is a great student of astronomy. But nobody in their right mind would risk life and limb to help a heretic continue his forbidden studies. Thus, Hubert uses force and threatens to kill Rafal if he refuses to help.

It’s only natural for a rational and clever boy to agree to Hubert’s demands long enough to escape and report him to the church. But despite his own better judgement, Rafal doesn’t report Hubert. He loves astronomy. Like a true scientist, he was eager to see the stars from the new vantage point that Hubert promised. And wow! That location did not disappoint. The starry skies were gorgeously clear and vivid on that mountain plateau. Rafal couldn’t hide his enthusiasm if he tried.

I absolutely loved the scene that follows, as Hubert tells Rafal about the rotation of earth as well as heliocentrism. It was a beautiful moment when Rafal suddenly realized that the idea might be valid. The boy is stunned, and as the weird old man continues, he becomes enthralled. The music was great for this scene. Also, the casting for Hubert and Rafal is fucking perfect. Nobody else could have done this dialogue quite so well.

(Maaya Sakamoto, voice of Rafal, has been my favorite female seiyuu for many years. Although she has voiced many female and male characters since the 90s, she is probably most famous for voicing Ciel Phantomhive in Black Butler. Hubert is voiced by Show Hayami, a man with a very deep and somber voice. He’s been in many different series, but I know him best as Tokiomi from the Fate /Type Moon franchise.)

While we’re on the subject of Hubert, I want to stress the fact that he’s strange and unnerving. He’s not necessarily a morally good person, since he’s willing to threaten a child with death just to continue his own personal dream. I definitely don’t love everything about Hubert, but I like him much more than any church sycophant. Characters who are a bit unhinged and obsessive are usually right up my alley. And if they are scientifically inclined, that’s even better.

The character of Hubert brings to light an interesting idea: In the fifteenth century, to be a good scientist, you had to be at least a little bit crazy. Some people think of scientists today as hyper-logical. They are seen as people who follow very rational paths. But before the Enlightenment era, it was anything but rational to think for yourself. It could get you killed. People like Hubert were insane, and I’m glad they were. Thanks to them, science survived and humanity improved.

Rafal also has the makings of a great – and slightly insane – scientist. Despite his pragmatic attitude and love of pure rationality, he can’t stop his mind from chasing after new knowledge and experiences. Both Rafal and Hubert are extremely promising characters. I’m so excited to see more of them!

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Episode 2 Notes

Episode Score: 10/10

I found it appropriate that Rafal didn’t immediately accept Hubert’s model. Believing that it defied common sense and Christianity, Rafal sought to prove the model wrong by working on the math and physics of it all night. Any true scientific endeavor starts with the idea of trying to disprove a hypothesis. Also, let’s take a moment to appreciate how fucking smart Rafal is as a student. He’s twelve, but he’s doing at least highschool-level calculations, if not university level. Impressive!

Now let’s get to the depressing part of the second episode. After all that gushing about Hubert I did in the previous episode review, he went and got himself killed. Damn it! That’s so frustrating! However, I see his death as a critical turning point in the story of Rafal. I had assumed that Hubert was morally grey, but in the end, he gave up his life to cover for Rafal. I doubt he ever had any serious intention of killing a child, if he’s the kind of person to give away his life like that. Rest in peace, Hubert. (:sob:)

Before we review what happened after Hubert’s death, I want to discuss the old man’s beliefs. He clearly rejected Christianity and its foundations of scripture, believing instead in a God of Nature who poured its essence into the natural world. Whether Hubert’s God was interactive or deistic is unclear, but either way, his thinking was progressive and far ahead of his time. This is just another reason why I love Hubert and grieve his passing.

Quick tangent here. In case anyone remembers or cares, I am an atheist. (The majority of scientists in today’s age are secular and/or atheistic as well, for what it’s worth.) So, wouldn’t I have liked Hubert even better if he was an atheist? And if he was an atheist, would that have been accurate to the times? No and no. I don’t have to agree with a character to love them and their personality. Moreover, there’s a very good reason that Hubert wouldn’t realistically be an atheist. Let me explain.

Atheists have always existed in every age. However, people involved in early academics were traditionally well-off and successful. In order to rise to this level, they had to be approved by the Church. Therefore, they were almost entirely theistic. If they were studying the natural world in the 1400s, they were of course indoctrinated to believe in the Christian God. But if they could conquer the fear and brainwashing, they might end up with something more like Hubert’s God.

Either way, early scientists were likely to maintain some kind of god-belief for two reasons. Firstly, it’s because they had to stay in the Church’s good graces. Secondly, it’s because they simply didn’t have the same knowledge and logical arguments back then that we do now. This was before the scientific revolution. It was much more reasonable 600 years ago to be a theist. That’s why it makes the most historical sense for Hubert to believe in God.

After Hubert’s death, Rafal discovered the hidden trove of his research materials and the letter asking him to burn it. At first, Rafal did what was the safest and practical thing: he obeyed the letter and set the documents on fire. But as he stared at the flames and remembered Hubert, he decided to trust in his intuition that heliocentrism could be correct. So, Rafal saved what was left of the research materials.

It was a truly beautiful scene, but I do have a slight issue with part of it. This anime keeps bringing up the idea of “pragmatism versus intuition.” It’s an important theme that represents the changing mindset of Rafal. However, I want to point out that neither option is “good science” in the technical sense. Science does not rely on common sense or staying safe from criticism, even if that’s the most rational thing for a person to do in order to stay alive. Rafal’s “pragmatism” is based on fear and not truth.

Hubert’s “intuition” is also not scientific or geared toward truth. It’s closer to what some call faith. Science does not rely on “gut feelings” or strong hunches. Strictly speaking, neither Rafal nor Hubert are being scientific. But that’s okay with me. No scientist is perfect – least of all astronomers from the 15th century. What’s important here is Rafal’s character psychology and how he’s deciding to embrace uncertainty over safety. While this isn’t really science, it’s an important ability for a researcher to possess.

I love how determined Rafal becomes now that he’s made his decision. But he quickly discovers that he can’t be too bold and still get the future he wants. He is forced to lie in order to further his goals and keep himself safe. This may sound wrong, but I strongly identified with Rafal when he was lying to his guardian. Like him, I had to live a lie to stay safe in my family of origin. If we were honest, we would never have progressed or escaped. So, neither Rafal nor myself feel guilty about our necessary lies.

My final notes for this episode are about Nowak the Inquisitor. Episode 2 taught us more about him, his psychology, and his motivations. I’m pleased that he’s got some kind of reason instead of just being evil for evil’s sake. Nowak seeks to protect the peace so his daughter can have a good life. Heretics and their accomplices are people who threaten the peace, so it’s acceptable in his mind to torture, arrest, and execute them.

Despite having “a reason,” Nowak is clearly a sociopath without much ability to empathize. The fact that he can torture people and feel nothing is proof. And if he was a rogue mercenary before being hired by the bishop, this makes even more sense. Even Nowak’s love for his daughter sounds like a sociopath’s love for his most treasured possession. I’m fascinated by this terrifying character and I look forward to even more intense moments with him. That concludes my thoughts and responses for now.

~Thank You for Reading~

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