Uoto is launching two new manga at once — Hallucination Meat in Shogakukan's Weekly Big Comic Spirits later in 2026, and Test Taker/Cheaters in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon in early 2027, that one as writer with Kyo Yoneshiro drawing. Which is the right moment to talk about what Uoto did last time, because Orb: On the Movements of the Earth is the most quietly serious anime Madhouse has made this decade and plenty of people still have not watched it.
Quick answer
Orb: On the Movements of the Earth (*Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite*) is a 25-episode historical drama from Madhouse that aired from October 2024, streaming on Netflix and ABEMA. It adapts Uoto's manga, serialized in Weekly Big Comic Spirits from September 2020 to April 2022 across 8 volumes, published in English by Seven Seas. Uoto won the Grand Prize at the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in April 2022 at age 24 — the youngest ever. SenpaiRanks tracks Orb at 7.43 adjusted against a raw 8.35, a gap that tells you something specific about how this show is received.
Where it comes from
Fifteenth-century Poland, under an inquisition that treats heliocentrism as heresy. The manga runs a relay: characters die, and the research they were killed for passes to whoever picks up the notebook. That structure is why the adaptation needed 25 episodes rather than a single cour — the story keeps replacing its protagonist.
Uoto was 22 when the serialization started and 24 when the Tezuka Grand Prize landed. It also took a nomination at the 68th Shogakukan Manga Awards and placed 22nd in Da Vinci's 2022 Book of the Year manga list. The follow-up, 100 Meters, got a film in Japan in September 2025 and a GKIDS North American run that October.
Is it actually good?
Here is where the dual axis earns its keep. Orb's raw average is 8.35 — very high. Its adjusted score is 7.43. That gap is not the site punishing the show; it is the correction for a self-selected audience. People who finish a 25-episode period drama about astronomy under the Inquisition were always going to like it. The adjusted number estimates how it lands with a broader anime audience, and 7.43 is still firmly good.
So the honest answer to "is Orb worth watching" is: yes, if you have patience for a show whose action scenes are arguments. It is dialogue-dense, slow in the middle, and the payoff is intellectual rather than emotional. If that reads as a warning, it is not the show for you — and a single MyAnimeList number would never have told you that.
Both axes are on the show page. Rate it there once you have watched it; the board only means anything because anime watchers move it.
When you can watch it
Netflix and ABEMA carried the original run, and streaming rights shift by region — the platform row on the show page is the current answer rather than whatever a 2024 article said. Physical and digital manga are the fallback: eight volumes from Seven Seas, complete, so there is no waiting on a hiatus.
For more Madhouse at this register, Akira's 4K re-release is the obvious neighbour. If Orb's "ideas as plot" approach is what you want more of, the best cyberpunk anime board is the closest adjacent list.
What Uoto does next
Hallucination Meat goes back to Big Comic Spirits, the magazine that ran Orb — Uoto drawing as well as writing. Test Taker/Cheaters is the more interesting experiment: Uoto as writer only, in Afternoon, a magazine with a very different readership. Neither has a confirmed date beyond "2026" and "early 2027".
Whether either gets an anime is years away, but Orb's adaptation existed because the manga won the biggest prize in the medium. That is the pipeline worth watching. In the meantime, the fall 2026 premiere calendar and this year's box office ranking cover what is actually shipping now, and the Studio Ghibli AI-images story is the other industry thread worth your attention this month.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Where can I watch Orb: On the Movements of the Earth?
A: It streamed on Netflix and ABEMA from its October 2024 premiere. Rights vary by region — check the platform row on the SenpaiRanks show page for your territory.
Q: How many episodes is Orb: On the Movements of the Earth?
A: 25 episodes, produced by Madhouse.
Q: Is Orb: On the Movements of the Earth good?
A: SenpaiRanks scores it 7.43 adjusted against a raw 8.35. It is strong, dialogue-driven historical fiction — excellent if you want ideas as plot, slow if you want action.
Q: Is the Orb manga finished?
A: Yes. It ran in Weekly Big Comic Spirits from September 2020 to April 2022 and completed in 8 volumes, available in English from Seven Seas.
Q: What awards did Orb win?
A: The Grand Prize at the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in April 2022 — Uoto, then 24, is the youngest winner — plus a 68th Shogakukan Manga Awards nomination.
Q: What is Uoto writing next?
A: Hallucination Meat in Weekly Big Comic Spirits in 2026, and Test Taker/Cheaters in Monthly Afternoon in early 2027 with artist Kyo Yoneshiro.