Orb: On the Movements of the Earth
Short Synopsis: A gifted orphan with a knack for astronomy comes into contact with a heliocentric heretic.
Wooper: Orb: On the Movements of the Earth has yet another of this season’s dual episode premieres, and the first of those two episodes is slow enough that you really ought to watch both at once. Here I am, though, not practicing what I preach and simply showing up to praise the first one in isolation; based on Orb’s first 25 minutes, I’m expecting to follow the series for both of its consecutive cours. That’s not a decision I’m making based on its looks, which are merely serviceable – though some of its night skies are quite pretty, especially compared to everything else. Instead, it’s based on its setting (15th century not-Poland, referred to only as “P”), premise (astronomers versus the Church), and crucially, its directorial restraint. Orb understands that, although its genius main character is the conduit through whom we experience the story, there are times when we shouldn’t hear his inner thoughts. And even though the show’s animation is second rate, Orb doesn’t shy away from tracking characters through their walk cycles as they trudge through the not-Polish town where it takes place. That slow pace creates something of an oppressive atmosphere, which matches the Church’s restrictive grip on the thoughts of its adherents (this version of the Church, anyway). It’s not flashy, but it’s all very well thought out, so I’m looking forward to more.
Potential: 70%
Lenlo: I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started Orb, but a 15th century drama about heliocentrism and the churches attempts to stamp it out was not it. And yet… it sucked me in completely. The contrast between Rafal’s outgoing, positive energy, that passion to explore and learn about the stars, and the suffocating regulations and punishments of the church was chilling. Combine that with strong, compelling characters like Rafal, who must hide everything about themselves, Hubert, who seems able to see through it yet clearly suffers for his own research and refuses to stop, the Church hunter who seems to enjoy his job more than his faith, and you have a strong pilot. Of course the production isn’t great, as Wooper says it’s a rather middling show visually most of the time, though it does have its moments. Still, I’m engaged, and I’m going to watch episode 2 right after I finish this write up. Good shit. Definitely a highpoint of the season so far.
Potential: 80%
Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War
-The Conflict-
Short Synopsis: Second Season of the final arc of Bleach, where Quincy wage war on Soul Society.
Lenlo: Let’s be real, this is Bleach. You know exactly what it is and what you’re going into. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be all the way to the final season. So with that out of the way, what’s going on with the new season? Well it picks up right where the left one left off, and I mean right there. In fact I’m pretty sure the first half of the episode is just replaying the last half of the previous season’s final episode. In that sense, I’m a little concerned, because we’re already reusing footage and this is just the first episode. That said, the new stuff we did get is pretty damn baller. It’s all rule-of-cool bullshit, “Nothing I see and understand affects me” and “No YOU’RE trapped in YOUR Bankai, Uno Reverse”, but god damn if isn’t still cool. Especially when presented as stylistically as it was. Sure, there’s absolutely 0 internal consistency here, power scaling is all over the place, nothing makes any sense. But if you just wanna watch cool people do cool shit in style, Bleach seems like it’s about to go all out for its finale. So personally? I’m gonna watch it and hopefully have fun with the flashing lights.
Potential: 60%
Blue Lock S2
Short Synopsis: Season 2 of Blue Lock, where a bunch of the most egotistical highschool soccer players imaginable are forced to duke it out for a chance at the top.
Lenlo: So personally, this arc is where Blue Lock lost a bit of its momentum for me. It regains it later, so it’s not like the series is all downhill, but this is definitely a low point of the series so I’m curious to see if the anime will be able to elevate it at all. Why, you ask? Well it’s mostly all because of Shidou. Blue Lock is already an over the top series, that won’t change, if you want to see cool soccer matches with a seemingly improved production from the first season, that’s all still here. But Shidou… He’s even more over the top than that, in a bad way. The guy’s incredibly violent, one note, with a weirdly sexual world view that we will see more of as the show goes on. It’s not all bad though, with the cast cut down as much as it is that lets the ones remaining have more screen time themselves. That means more conversations like Isagi and Barou, or Isagi and Ren, etc etc. Those are nice, Blue Lock does a good job examining what “winning” and “ego” means to each character, and we’ll only get more of that as the characters are cut down for the U-20 game. All that to say, if you liked the first season of Blue Lock, especially its characters, I think you’ll have a good time here. It won’t be as good, mostly because the U-20 game isn’t the best match in my opinion, but the core is still there and everything leading up to it should be decent. If you didn’t like it though, this season isn’t going to change enough to make it worth watching, I’m sorry.
Potential: 50%
