Based and Orbpilled

[dorchadas]

Yesterday, after binging it over the course of a week and a half, I went to a discussion about チ。―地球の運動について― (chi. chikyū no undō ni tsuite, "Orb: On the movements of the Earth"), a series about the progress toward the Copernican Revolution, and talked about it for an hour and a half. Summary: ★★★★★

Discussion below spoils the entire show:

The biggest thing we talked about was...was it all real?

The first twenty-three episodes take place in "The Kingdom of P" in the 15th century, and while it's clearly based on Poland, it's never actually called Poland. No places are named, no firm dates are given. There are twenty-three episodes of that, with multiple character deaths, torture, and the light of knowledge being passed on from character to character over time despite attempts from the Inquisition of the "Religion of C" to correct the heresy until the last death at the end of that arc. And then the episode after that is explicitly set in Poland in 1468 and the main character is the real Polish astronomer Albert Brudzewski, and this arc features characters from the Kingdom of P but with wildly different personalities and actions. Rafal, the the person that I thought was going to be the protagonist of the whole show until he was burned as a heretic in episode 3, comes back as a mentor to Albert Brudzewski when Albert was young (Rafal here is in his late teens, already older than he ever made it in the Kingdom of P). Except here Rafal is such a zealot for knowledge he murders Albert's father for thinking that some knowledge shouldn't be widely spread and is imprisoned by the civil authorities.

So, what gives?

My take was that Orb was mostly about the unknown parts of history. We know that Albert Brudzewski was very influential on Copernicus but how did he get his interest in astronomy? Orb posits an entire series of events, because even with the changed characters, a letter from the first arc is still delivered in the second arc, and while passing in the street Albert overhears someone saying it's about a book called "On the Movements of the Earth." He thinks, "What? The Earth moving? Nonsense" and then stops, and stares up at the sky with a thoughtful expression, and the anime ends. A whole series of people and lives intersecting and affecting each other, all to raise a question in the mind of a single man, who taught another man, who led to heliocentrism.

There are a lot of discussions online of people trying to make sense of this. Thinking it's about parallel worlds, or trying to figure out if the one Rafal is a reincarnation of the other Rafal, and I admit, some of that is probably the medium--the popular anime that people watch does not really go for metaphor. This is not an isekai show, it's about the unknowable nature of most of history. This even happens internally to the Kingdom of P--the Inquisitor Nowak is the villain for most of the story, torturing and killing devotees of heliocentrism, but he learns at the end that belief that heliocentrism is not a mortal sin, deserving of torture and burning to avoid the fires of hell, is not official doctrine of the "Religion of C." The local bishop just really didn't like astronomy and hired a former mercenary to go around persecuting heliocentrists, but Nowak spent most of his life thinking he was doing G-d's work and not realizing that he was just enacting one man's personal vendetta. People don't seem to get that while it is about the specific actions (because, well, for 90% of the show that's the plot), it's not about them in the grand scheme of things.

The message of Orb is that your actions matter even if the specifics are not remembered, because the influence of those actions is carried forward by other people, who influence others who in turn carry their actions forward, and so on. The name of my great-grandfather is written down and I could look it up if I wanted to, but I don't know it. But he still affects me every day, because he raised my grandfather, who raised my father, who raised me.

There are other themes, like how knowledge cannot be suppressed and the truth comes to light eventually--even though Oczy's book only had one copy published, that copy was burned, and the one person who read it before that dies, the title sparks Albert's imagination and ignites the fire of a celestial realignment.

That was a big chunk of the discussion, though we also focused on the general structure. When I saw the first couple of episodes and Rafal was the caretaker of the supposedly-reformed heretic, I assumed that the show would be about Rafal trying to balance his theological education with his newfound interest in heliocentrism but then bam he gets found out and poisons himself just after refusing to recant, on to a new protagonist! That led to the joke among watches that the actual protagonist is the orb necklace that the heretic gives to Rafal and which gets passed from torchbearer to torchbearer as the show continues. Knowledge progresses one funeral at a time and each funeral is a pyre. I mentioned in the discussion that I thought this show was a refutation of the Great Man theory of history, since the entire premise is basically "all this stuff happened that led to Copernicus publishing De revolutionibus orbium coelestium and the majority of what it was, we'll never know." But it's also about why people seek knowledge. This is explicit because Nowak has a conversion with some poor person about why heretics believe in their heresy--heresy leads to Hell, which is the worst possible fate imaginable, so what could even be worth that? And then some of the characters say that heliocentrism itself is their faith. Terminal pessimist Oczy starts off believing that the Earth is the lowest point in the cosmos and all that is sinful and corrupt falls through the heavenly spheres and ends up here. So when he is exposed to the idea that the sun is the center and the earth moves--heliocentrism in Japanese is 地動説 (chidōsetsu, "The theory that the Earth moves")--it gives him hope for the first time and he dedicates himself to discovery.

It's so good. Watch it if you're sick of more isekai or more shows set in high schools.

There are scenes of torture, though, as a warning. Most of the protagonists do not come to good ends.


Starts with torture
Rafal banned from astrology
Evil priest bro
“Former” heretic still a heretic. Blackmails into stat observation
Hidden treasure on the mountain.
Just lie
Inquisitor has blood on his hands at all times
地動説 (earth-moving theory)
Rafal dies. Time skip!
Duel?
Orzy is a weirdo
Atheist heretic?
Conflict! Is heaven real?
Knowledge pass from person to person?
Stars are beautiful because we gaze up from the base earth
Gras falls into water, passes on the torch
Monk Badeni, must know about the movements of the heavens. Why do the planets go in reverse
Girl listening to knowledge
Badeni super arrogant. Keep all profit
Girl is inquisitor’s daughter
Her work submitted under a man’s name
Caught answering a problem!
Venus in its final phase
Ozcy learning to read
Orbits are not perfect circles
Elliptical orbits!! Based on necklace
HELIOCENTRISM!
知 (wisdom)
Torture scene. Obviously innocent “heretic”
血 (blood), chi as “terror”
The earth is moving
Discovered thanks to the necklace. Necklace is the main character! The orb
Ozct speech about carrying the torch
Hovering between life and death dream
Nowak does not understand heretics. Ask
Badeni burned everything due to narcissism
Lies! Preserved
Dies by hanging. Ozcy dies seeing the stars
Interrogate Jolenta
Letting heretics get away is worse than killing innocents. Antoni does not care.
Antoni acts sympathetic
Grabowski turned them in
Beggar tattoo pages! Hidden secrets!
“Is it…my turn?”
The heretic liberation front!
Waldensianism!
Pieces of silver
Tribesman discovers capitalism
John Ball tribe. “When Adam delved and Eve span, who then was the gentleman?”
Uncle discusses godless world
Draka finds book
Hand over the book—but the heretic liberators strike!
G-d is illogical need gnosis
Explosives, the compass, and movable type
Bishop days torture doesn’t work, but inquisitor ignores him
Draka vs Jolenta. Philosophy talk. Freedom also means freedom of thought even for heretics
Guard sister died of disease. Asked why she was even born, but died
G-d acts through humans, slowly ascending toward good
People keep treating heliocentrism like a religion
Found by inquisition!
Jolenta detonates a bomb!!
Draka carries Jolenta’s heart forward
Title Drop!
Traitor guard
Tortoise formation. Testudo!
Schmidt sacrifices himself
Nowak finds Bishop Antoni. Rant!
Antoni espousing possibility of heliocentrism
Heliocentrism private and local vendetta. Not universal. Only Nowak on it
Anticipation of capitalism
Nowak burn down the church!!
Dialogue with spirit of Rafal in the burning church
Draka dies at sunrise
Albert Brudzewski, real world astronomer
Private confession for Albert!
Taught about astronomy by Rafal!
Rafal says the important thing about philosophy is wonder (Thaumazein) and belief in the world’s beauty
Rafal murdered Albert’s fathers
Murdered for not sharing knowledge. Had secret cosmology knowledge
Priest secret worry. Left a friend for dead
We question whether we are worthy but G-d does not answer
“On the Movements of the Earth”, Albert hears in passing. From the Potocki letter
Ends with Albert thinking