The TV anime "Orb: On the Movements of the Earth(Chi: Chikyu no Undo ni Tsuite)" is based on a manga by Uoto, which was also selected as the Manga Grand Prize winner of the 26th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. The original manga was serialized in "Weekly Big Comic Spirits" (Shogakukan) from 2020 to 2022, and gained popularity as a unique manga that depicts people risking their lives to study the heretical theory of heliocentrism in 15th century Europe. The TV anime began broadcasting on NHK General TV in October, and the shocking development in the third episode in which the main character Rafal was executed also became a hot topic. The story has now moved on to the second chapter, which focuses on the substitute fighter Okuji, the monk Badeni, and the astronomy research assistant Yolenta, and many viewers are fascinated by the heart-wrenching drama in each episode. We spoke to producer Oka Tsunenari of Madhouse, the company that produced the anime, about the behind-the-scenes production. ◇The impact of "Chi." - clever structure, piercing words
Oka-san read the original manga and, like many readers, was shocked by the scene in the first volume where Rafal is executed.
"That's when I thought, 'I want to make this into an anime.' The story is about how the heliocentric theory and the necklace that represents it are connected throughout the ages, and while it has elements of an ensemble drama, I wondered, 'Who is the protagonist of this work?' There are twists and turns with each episode, and the structure is clever, including the final development, and I was amazed at how they managed to wrap it up in a total of eight volumes. I also thought it was amazing how each word pierces the heart depending on how the words are presented, how they are read, and how they are emphasized."
"Chi." has received a great response.
"I even had a classmate from college who I'd never talked to about anime with contact me for the first time in years and said, 'That was great.' I think it's because the original manga is read a lot, but I felt how amazing the work is. It's a rare work, including the fact that the main character dies so soon, but I think everyone, regardless of age, gender, or whether they're an anime fan or not, feels that it's 'overwhelmingly interesting.'"
◇Direction that highlights words
In "Chi.", there are many famous lines such as "A wrong answer doesn't mean it's meaningless," "But that could also be called 'love,'" and "Move the world." Oka and his team were particular about expressing the "power of words" from the original manga in the anime. To that end, they chose Shimizu Kenichi, who has worked on "Parasyte -the maxim-" and "ALL OUT!!," as director.
"He's good at showing the composition, and he's given us very high quality work as a character animation director. This work doesn't have many flying or bouncing action scenes, but we needed to create a production that would effectively show off the characters and lines without using too many frames. That's why we asked for Shimizu's help."
In the original work, lines that you want to emphasize can be made to stand out by the way the text is inserted, but when it becomes an anime, there is a risk that they will be lost, so he is devising a production that "allows you to concentrate on the lines."
"In scenes with important lines, we don't move the characters much, and we make the cuts longer to emphasize the lines. However, since it's a work with a lot of lines, the most difficult part is editing, and it's difficult to cut them to fit the length. Of course, we leave in the lines that absolutely must not be cut, but there are also parts where we need space, so we cut out the parts that can be cut by two or three frames and do our best to fit them in."
◇Why is the starry sky in "Chi." so beautiful?
Another important point in the animation was the starry sky. In "Chi.", which is based on the heliocentric theory, the starry sky is "one of the main roles," and in the anime, the sky full of stars is depicted very beautifully. In "Chi.", both the original work and the anime are based on "actual starry skies."
"I heard that when the original author, Uo Toyo, was drawing the starry sky in "Chi.", he looked up the actual starry sky using software that shows the coordinates of the starry sky, so I decided to use the same software for the anime. It is a planetarium software called "Stellarium" that displays the starry sky when you input the date and time and location, but for scenes where Uo Toyo had decided the date when drawing, I used the software to set the location near Eastern Europe and make the starry sky the same date as in the original. There are scenes in the anime where I lie, but the scenes where the date was decided after hearing from the author are in that form."
In producing the anime, he put a lot of effort into the starry sky, saying, "At first, I thought about making something like a 3D miniature garden and using that starry sky, but the art director gave me something much better than I imagined, so I thought I'd do that if it would work. The art director is really working hard." The starry sky in "Chi." may be so beautiful because it is expressed as a starry sky that is close to the real thing, even down to the coordinates.
The production staff is working on "Chi." every day to express the power of the words in the original work, the beauty of the starry sky, and the "pauses" that draw the viewer in. Madhouse has released many masterpieces other than "Chi." Finally, we asked about the appeal of Madhouse.
"Each producer is like an independent band of thugs, and in the case of "Chi.", I picked it up myself and thought it was interesting, so I took responsibility for the work that the producer wants to do. In that sense, being able to work on works in multiple genres may be a strength. As a producer, I can try various things. "Chi." is the most different type of work I have ever done, but I think it was good that I was able to try it."
The anime "Chi." is a challenge by the staff, cast, and Madhouse. It will be interesting to see how the drama of people who risk their lives for the heliocentric theory will be expressed in the anime.
