Anime Lovers

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth kept the ball rolling with episode 6, one that some may consider the best episode of the series so far. Now that Badeni has “joined the cause,” so to say, the astronomers now have someone willing to put up a hard fight to uncover the truths about the cosmos. With great production, even better dialogue, and consistent story progression, this was another episode in Orb‘s book that should land in the top 10 polls for a third straight week.

Badeni Brings New Life to the Series

On top of it all, Badeni doesn’t just offer someone willing to put up a fight, but he’s possibly the most educated of the main characters next to Hubert, arguably even more so. While Hubert lit the spark of heliocentrism in this series, Badeni seems to have a better understanding of how everything works—even so much to the point of dumbing it down for Oczy, which also felt like it was for the audience watching, too.

Badeni’s bold and confident personality is a breath of fresh air for the series nor does he feel like some cliche hero we see so much of in anime. While Hubert was straightforward to an extreme point, Rafal had a sarcastic wit to him, Gras wore his feelings on his sleeve, and Oczy had severe trauma and anxiety from his past.

But what I love above all else about Badeni’s character is his willingness to put himself on the line even if it meant uncovering just one second’s worth of information that disapproves of everything he’s learned up until this point, even Rafal was hesitant at Hubert’s proposal of heliocentrism. Badeni? Nope. He just pukes away the nonsense and immediately picks himself up as his life has been given new meaning.

Another great aspect of Badeni’s character is that he doesn’t simply believe that heliocentrism disproves God’s creation, but that God has laid out a more complicated meaning to the cosmos that’s being intentionally left unsolved because his Abbey is afraid of learning their own model of the world is wrong.

This is historically accurate and it counters the arguments of those who criticized this series at the beginning for persecuting astronomers like a witch hunt. Throughout history, the church and astronomers have rather worked in unison with each other. While the twist here is that the church is trying to suppress such findings, it’s pretty damn close to how things went.

Badeni monologuing about how he was given the gift of knowledge from God to solve the mysteries of his creation is one of many reasons why the church and astronomers worked hand in hand. So critics from the season premiere have no choice now but to admit that this series is, indeed, starting to show some level of historical accuracy within the church and its collaboration with newfound astronomy teachings.

The Catholic church originally accepted heliocentric findings, but then later joined Protestants in its opposition. Nowadays, the Catholic church fully recognizes heliocentrism and that’s, in part, thanks to people like Badeni who used it as a means of trying to find out God’s secrets of the universe, rather than using it to downplay creationism in the first place. So not only in personality, but his ideals and views of life itself make Badeni an easy-to-love character.

Badeni’s Backstory

Badeni’s backstory is one of more than just meager trials and tribulations. Having both of his eyes burned by candlewax really showcased medieval methods of punishment, as if whipping his arm to a bloody bulp wasn’t already enough.

But Badeni’s backstory really goes to show how everyone else’s is rather messed up in a way. Hubert endured torture, was imprisoned, and then burned alive. Rafal was simply a teenager and he was betrayed by someone close to him, which led to his death. Gras lost his entire family then was met with a brutal death.

That’s also why part of me feels as if Badeni is the “new main character” more so than Oczy is at this point in the story since he endured hell to try and find more meaning in what is actually heaven. While Oczy experienced psychological trauma, he never had to endure anything on the level of Badeni, Rafal, Hubert, or Gras.

Badeni realizing his own genius is something I usually hate about characters in anime. But he still comes across as humble, especially at the end of the episode where he smiles at Oczy overcoming his fear of looking into the night sky.

He never belittled Oczy on his Mars notes either and explained everything to him so he could understand just how truly magnificent the notes from past astronomers in the chest are. So I think, after everything he faced while in the Abbey with other clergymen, having someone who will fight alongside him was an emotional moment for him.

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth Production

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth episode 6 had Kotono Watanabe return this week as episode director for the first time since episode 1. Shiyo Hatsumida (alias for Mitsuharu Yoshida) worked on the storyboard this week, marking it his first time working on a studio MADHOUSE project. Both of whom delivered on all fronts this week on Badeni’s backstory wrapped in symbolism.

The opening shots of the scene between Oczy and Badeni were beautifully simple. I still think the scene of Badeni waving his monocle back and forth in front of Oczy’s face was the best of the first part of the episode. Reminiscent of what people lost their minds over in DanDadDan with the glasses shot, Orb delivered their own in a different style.

A little detail about this episode that I loved came at the very end when Oczy overcame his own trauma thanks to Badeni’s help. While we had shots of Oczy looking up in amazement, even with a beautiful extreme close-up of his eye, the close-up shot of Badeni was of his eyepatch side while looking down. This is very telling considering Oczy has the vision to help Badeni while also playing the opposite where Oczy can’t continue without Badeni’s intellect. The little smile from Badeni was the cherry on top to end the episode, though.

But what I think intrigued me the most about this week’s direction and storyboard was the consistent placement of the candle around Badeni in both present and past. The main theme of this series has been to pass the torch of knowledge from one person to the next. So the candle surrounding Badeni throughout the episode could represent said torch and foreshadow, in dramatic irony fashion, that he was next in line. Or could it represent something else?

Some could say it represents another type of foreshadowing, especially during his backstory. Of course, viewers would constantly wonder what caused him to wear an eyepatch in the first place. So the candle could’ve been a symbol the entire time leading up to his punishment and the series itself played a reverse dramatic irony on the viewer. Either way, the writing and visual storytelling that went into it all was utterly brilliant.

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth Episode 6 Wrap-Up

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth was a testament to just how meticulous this series is with its storytelling. There are no dramatic battles with magical powers or super buff main characters. Despite Orb playing to its historical fiction genre, the portrayal of real people facing dangers that are eerily similar to those in recorded history hits a little harder when it has perfect writing and visual storytelling behind it all.

Episode 6 rating: 9.5/10
Episode 5 rating: 8.5/10
Episode 4 rating: 8.5/10
Episode 3 rating: 10/10
Episode 2 rating: 9.5/10
Episode 1 rating: 10/10

If you enjoyed episode 6 of Orb: On the Movements of the Earth then be sure to vote for it in our weekly poll! Episode 7 of Orb: On the Movements of the Earth will be released on Saturday, November 9. Netflix is streaming Orb: On the Movements of the Earth worldwide with English subtitles.

Screenshots via Netflix
©️ Uoto / Shogakukan / Orb: On the Movements of the Earth