Sphere: The Movement of the Earth

Our merry group of heliocentric heretics welcomes a new member to their group. And I think they have a winner. I liked Jolenta from the first minute. Despite the boring academic setting, Orb cleverly presents her with a simulated action scene that immediately conveys both her passion for learning and her anxiety at the evasion she has to bend over backwards to avoid. join.

It hasn't escaped my thoughts. Note that over the past few weeks, Orb has been relatively light on female characters. In fact, I think Jolenta is the first named woman mentioned in the story. Still, better late than never, and with Jolenta, Orb certainly seems invested in promoting the misogyny of the time. The male students treated her cruelly, the one guy who was nice to her was an asshole who only wanted to take credit for her work, and her father, while somewhat encouraging, told her to keep her head down. However, Jolenta could not give up her passion for science. She's adorable and has a badass personality, and her personality would be interesting to match with those of Oczy and Badeni.

Incidentally, while the story tries to keep this a secret by hiding his face, Jolenta's father is definitely Nowak. I can see how the framing could work in the manga and perhaps it would make a neat change in the story line. However, that doesn't work very well when the actor playing the character in the anime has one of the most distinctive voices in the industry. I can recognize Kenjirō Tsuda's signature purr anywhere. This isn't a rebuttal to the anime, but I just find it funny that the adaptation still tries to obfuscate it. It could be an opportunity to retell the story to avoid or rework the big final reveal.

More importantly, Nowak's daughter becoming a sordid heretic will almost certainly make for some intriguing drama and/or introspection later on. He's no stranger to killing children (Rafal is only a few years younger than her), but keep in mind that he rationalizes that brutality because he wants to ensure a peaceful world for his daughter. However, like most patriarchs, he did not understand that she would be her own person with her own agency. If she contributed to proving heliocentrism, it would be the perfect ironic nail in the coffin of his legacy, and if he considered her a heretic, then so be it. would undermine his entire reason for being an Inquisitor. Nowak may have set his sights on heaven, but no matter what happened, he was doomed.

Returning to Oczy and Badeni for a moment, their banter reveals deeper layers to their personalities and relationship. Again, I'm struck by the irony, and I think it's funny that Oczy, the assassin, is the duo's moral compass, while Badeni, the monk, is an egomaniac. century. True, Occy was almost certainly motivated by fear of judgment and damnation at the hands of a vengeful god, but that doesn't change the fact that he felt obligated to honor respecting the wishes of a complete stranger, does not bring him any material benefits (in fact, quite the opposite). And it's not surprising that Badeni doesn't care about anyone or anything beyond his ultimate scientific proof, but his complete lack of remorse is quite remarkable. These are also great developments. I felt like I had a stronger emphasis on the character of the two and it set up a story that wasn't just about Occy learning astronomy. There are also many opportunities for Badeni to learn humility.

Badeni's most serious comment this week was a request to burn all research documents if he himself did not live to prove their hypothesis. He figuratively disregards Orb's greatest theme to date: the continuity of human scientific development across generations. I also like that Orb emphasizes this point by contrasting Badeni's pride with Jolenta's completely reasonable desire to gain credit and respect. Both of them are fighting against the status quo, but Jolenta, by virtue of being a woman in 15th century Poland, is much lower on the social ladder than Badeni and she is asking for more modest recognition much.

Although Jolenta is pleased when the count asks to verify who actually wrote the treatise, she reaffirms her commitment to research when she solves Badeni's puzzle behind her schoolmates' backs. If there's an advantage to being Nowak's daughter, it's probably that she already has a good understanding of what battles to pick publicly. It's cute how she appears to be in a hurry to be bad and her idea of being “bad” is to secretly do her homework. Being the nerdiest person in a story about astronomy might be quite a feat in itself, but she's well on her way to proving her mettle in that field.

As I write this, this review feels more disjointed than usual, but that reflects that I liked a lot of the little details in this week's episode. For example, I like to briefly mention the research done by Arab astronomers. When I was taught this history in school, it focused on figures like Copernicus, Brahe, Galileo and the rest of the major figures in Europe. In reality, however, scholars in the Middle East conducted much scientific research during the so-called “dark ages,” and that research had an underappreciated impact on the world. with the expansion of Western thought and knowledge as the Renaissance finally began. I don't expect Orb to leave the European setting, it's nice to see that it doesn't limit itself to a Eurocentric historical setting.

Finally, a fun fact: this week I learned that “oczy” is the Polish word for eye. That would certainly make my final argument in the previous review even stronger. The more you know.

Rating:

Globe: Of the Motion of the Earth is now streaming on Netflix.

Steve is on Twitter while it lasted. He was busy thinking about the orb. You can also see him chatting about trash and treasure on This Week in Anime.