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

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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 ... a stationary object at the centre of universe. The whole series maintains an anti-establishment tone about this discovery and the cost at which it came.

Story: 10/10

It begins with Rafal, a prodigal student, encountering a former heretic who has been placed under the care of his foster father. From him, Rafal inherits the About the Movement of the Earth theory, something he first dismisses as heretical talk, but is soon fascinated with. But Rafal is not the definite protagonist of the manga. A single person didn’t bring the world to change, and it shows a lot of people contributing to the theory in their own capacities to complete it. One can say the Theory is in itself the protagonist here.

The story is rebellious at heart, with its protagonists being both endearing and vulnerable, making us root for their success. It also helps that the story opens with the consequences of being caught by the Orthodox Catholic Church – the antagonist – while investigating this theory: labelled a heretic, brutally tortured, forced to reform, and burned alive if found guilty a second time (to cast off the devil who possesses a body and guide the man to propose such ideas). This is established from the get-go how bloody the history of such a revolutionary idea was.

So, the stakes are really high from the start. But as a character in the story points out, why should anyone risk their entire life to secretly work on a “revolutionary” theory whose validity doesn’t affect anyone? True. Proving that earth moves would negate what Church had been teaching, but a farmer wouldn’t care about it. So why?

The story follows different characters pursuing this theory, with each having a different answer to this – money, curiosity, rebellion, fame, contentment – but one similarity – the thirst for truth to come to light. The manga emphasises over and over that no matter the obstacles in the path, humanity will always seek out the truth. This makes for reckless heroes, but heroes nonetheless.

Characters: 9/10

The characters in the series are fantastically written. All have well developed convictions born from their struggles and surroundings. The author is never in a rush while doing a character background or backstories, and it shows how well-developed all of them are. Even the ones who do not appear for more than 4 chapters leave a lasting impression on the readers.

But with a lack of singular protagonist, the character who stands out the most is the mercenary-turned-inquisitor Novak, the embodiment of the Church and the antagonist of the story. He is a man with a determination of a rock against those who indulge in heretical research. He is not a sadist, but is capable of gruesomely torturing people without giving them a chance to explain themselves. As a result, he is always looming over as a constant threat to the protagonists. But the reason he is such a good antagonist is the parallel development he gets throughout the story. We get to know who he is and why he has so strong convictions. And the reasons behind his convictions change over time, but it is done in a way that looks organic to his character. He also works as reader's viewpoint for all the faction politics going inside the Church, a subplot that was personally very intriguing to me.

The series is unashamedly dialogue heavy. These usually involve the church’s teachings, maths, observational records, or philosophical debates. But the author uses a clever technique to not alienate the readers. For long conversations and debates, he makes one party an intellectual and the other naïve. A little boy who is a diligent student, an uneducated swordsman who fight rich folks’ duels for them, or a gypsy girl who don’t see any point in her identity as a Christian – all provide an easy self-insert for readers so that they don’t get estranged from the long dialogues.

Art: 5/10

One thing holding back this manga severely is the art. To put is easily, it is bland. It is not expressive and sometimes look like amateur doodles. I do not ask for art to be amazing in a series which is 80 per cent talking, but it is not even on par with those expectations.

But credit where it is due, the panelling is very well done which helps a text heavy series like this immensely. It does not get tiresome to read, and panelling makes the emotional moments hit hard despite the mediocre art.

Overall: 9/10

In conclusion, go read this manga if you like historical fictions or people defying a medieval authority who censors the truth.

Or if you just want to experience a good story. Especially if you want to experience a good story.

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

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