Leader's Bookshelf | Kanesa Fujiwaraya

On the “Heretic” Within

Rather late to the party, I have been watching the anime “Orb: On the Movements of the Earth.” It is a contrary streak of mine, but I don’t much like jumping on whatever is popular.One of my quiet pleasures is to enjoy yesterday’s trends in private, once the world has cooled on them. Of course I knew about “Orb.”With Sakanaction’s theme song adding to the buzz, I imagine a great many people were watching it in real time when it aired. It seems the wave that came late has finally reached me (laughs). I started a few days ago and am only around episode five, but it is already very good.There was a rumor that watching it makes you smarter, and I can see why. The story is set in fifteenth-century Europe. Heliocentrism — the idea, now known to everyone, that the Earth turns — was rejected on religious grounds in favor of a geocentric universe.Anyone who advocated or tried to study heliocentrism was branded a “heretic” and, for defying God, put to death. It is the story of people who risked their lives to prove that the Earth moves. I won’t say more for fear of spoilers, but the

Lookback

I encountered a work that made me want to check its meaning repeatedly. It’s “Lookback” by Tatsuki Fujimoto, the author of Chainsaw Man. It has also been adapted into an animation, with music by Haruka Nakamura, whom I adore. The anime can be watched on Amazon Prime. It was the first time I had encountered a work that made me want to understand the creator’s intention so strongly right after finishing it. That’s how much I believe this work allows for various interpretations. The story begins with an elementary school girl named “Fujino” who is good at drawing, and another girl named “Kyomoto” who is also good at drawing but doesn’t attend school. They each serialize their work in the elementary school class newspaper. Without ever meeting each other, they reach graduation, and Fujino is asked by the teacher to deliver Kyomoto’s diploma to her house as fellow contributors to the same serialization. This is where they meet face-to-face for the first time. From there, their lives change dramatically, and eventually Fujino becomes a successful manga artist, while Kyomoto goes on to art college. Then an incident occurs. I’ll omit details of this incident as it would completely spoil the

2025.01.22

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On the “Heretic” Within

Lookback

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