Houseki no Kuni

In the mysterious future, crystalline organisms called Gems inhabit a world that has been destroyed by six meteors. Each Gem is assigned a role in order to fight against the Lunarians, a species who attacks them in order to shatter their bodies and use them as decorations.

Phosphophyllite, also known as Phos, is a young and fragile Gem who dreams of helping their friends in the war effort. Instead, they are told to compile an encyclopedia because of their delicate condition. After begrudgingly embarking on this task, Phos meets Cinnabar, an intelligent gem who has been relegated to patrolling the isolated island at night because of the corrosive poison their body creates. After seeing how unhappy Cinnabar is, Phos decides to find a role that both of the rejected Gems can enjoy. Houseki no Kuni follows Phos' efforts to be useful and protect their fellow Gems.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Phosphophyllite Main

Kurosawa, Tomoyo Japanese

Antarcticite Supporting

Ise, Mariya Japanese

Diamond Supporting

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Cinnabar Supporting

Komatsu, Mikako Japanese

Padparadscha Supporting

Park, Romi Japanese

Bort Supporting

Sakura, Ayane Japanese

Rutile Supporting

Uchiyama, Yumi Japanese

Yellow Diamond Supporting

Minagawa, Junko Japanese

Alexandrite Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Kongou-sensei Supporting

Nakata, Jouji Japanese

Kamei, Hiroshi Producer

Takei, Katsuhiro Producer

Kaneko, Hirotaka Producer

Yamazaki, Yoshihiko Producer

Reviews

May 2, 2024

xDean_

Recommended

Houseki no Kuni is undeniably a stunning anime. Its unique concept of using jewels as characters is quite uncommon, and the way each character's traits mirror the characteristics of the gem they represent adds depth to the narrative.

In the initial seven episodes, particularly the first half of each, there's a sense of monotony and repetition that might leave some viewers feeling bored. However, the allure of the series lies in its captivating fight scenes. The animation during these battles is breathtaking, with each character's movements and the way light reflects off their hair being particularly striking. Additionally, the sound design, such as the noises made ... when the characters walk or interact, effectively reinforces the idea that they are gems rather than merely humans with gemstone colors.

Initially, the direction of the plot in the first few episodes may seem unclear, as the series appears to lean towards being an action-oriented slice of life. However, as the story progresses, viewers become increasingly drawn in, eager to learn more about the Lunarians, the intricacies of the world in which Phos and their friends reside, and the deeper layers of the narrative.

Overall, I would rate "Houseki no Kuni" an 8/10. While the initial episodes may require some effort to get through due to their repetitive nature, the series gradually becomes more compelling with each episode, thanks to its stunning animation and evolving storyline.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Oct 24, 2023

Justykanna

Mixed Feelings

Land of the Lustrous comes with a strange premise, and I feel like your likeness of this has to do with one element. The main character.

Story and Characters: Land of the Lustrous starts us out in a land where crystal-like beings exist. They are headed up by their father figure, Kongou, who acts basically like a superpowered monk. The crystals themselves are named after various gems such as Diamond, Emerald and Alexandrite. They have a nice distribution of personalities, along with different hardness, something they are judged on a few times in the early going. Phosphophyllitte (or Phos, for ... short), finds it hard to find their place in life because their body is made up of a relatively brittle material and they are incredibly clumsy. One day, Phos is tasked with creating an encyclopedia of their world. During this task, they stumble upon Cinnabar, a crystal who never goes near their homebase because everyone fears their power. Along with the encyclopedia, one of the early storylines is if Phos can find a job in which they can spend more time with their fellow crystals.

One of the very likely deciding factors on if you’ll like this series is if you enjoy watching Phos. They badly want to find a role among the crystal allies and feel alienated when they can’t manage to do anything right. For someone who isn’t involved much with the others, Phos has a surprisingly chippy attitude. They always want to find something they can do and, even if Phos doesn’t necessarily prove people wrong, they want to show them that they are more than useless. I like this mindset quite a bit in a show that maintains a ‘light’ feel like this one does for prolonged periods of time. As we carry on with the series, they find more and more ways to be helpful. They become much more level-headed as Phos learns more and more about the body that is constantly evolving. This can feel like a bit of a cheat code because of how they go about the growth, but they rarely get carried away, and that makes for a mostly enjoyable watch.

An issue with this series’ story is that it can be hard to follow the main objective of the episode. The encyclopedia idea feels like it hangs around for a little too long and the entire saga of finding a job for Cinnibar could have been shored up much earlier than it was. It’s unfortunate because Cinnibar seems like a decent character and where they leave them off makes it seem like there’s some real emotion in there. Their sensei, Kongou, doesn’t seem to mind leaving Phos to learn on their own, and aside from being incredibly strong, you can tell he doesn’t try and be too strict with any of his crystal-children.

Another storyline that is contained within this series is that of the Lunarians, a race of cloud people who seek to capture the crystals in an apparent attempt to use their bodies as visual ornaments. There’s a lot more to them than that, but their place as the series antagonists doesn’t feel too out of place. I always appreciate when series give a race of people plenty of different forms and they mostly do that here – outside of the garden variety soldier anyway.

Outside of the handful of characters explained about, there are a lot of side characters to make up this race of crystal children. Most of them are just there to add to the plethora of personalities, but there are a few more standouts. Bort has an extremely short temper but is one of the most skilled fighters among their ranks. They clearly have an attachment to Diamond, who isn’t the strongest fighter. Rutile acts as the crystal’s doctor, which was desperately needed consider how much of few of our characters limbs would chip or break. They have a part, but aside from this, they aren’t terrible significant. Ventricosus is a bit of an unknown character but provides a nice mix in the early going. While none of these characters are standouts, some of them do prevent the plot from dragging too much.

As a whole, the story was a bit of a mixed bag because of how uneven the pacing was and how much they jumped between storylines. Phos is a strong character, even if annoying sometimes, and I could see audiences not attaching themselves to that character too much. (Story: 6/10, Characters: 7/10)

Art: Land of the Lustrous does something that basically no other series can do – make full CG work. Because of the nature of this series, full CG actually wasn’t a bad idea. It allows the crystals colours to pop and shine and it makes for a fantastic experience as a result. Shapes never really look off and the quality is maintained throughout the entire series. This simply never happens in other CG shows (partial, or full), and Orange should be applauded for their work here. (10/10)

Sound: A lot of the OST were very light tunes, but faster pieces were very apparently during the fighting sequences. I wasn’t overly attached to the OP or ED, but they match well here. Voice cast was very strong, with Sarah Widenheft (Phos) being the main stand. She’s exceptional and doing younger-looking character voices and I’m glad she pulled it off here. Everyone was very strong, which is good to see considering I’m not familiar with a lot of them. Standouts include Genevieve Simmons (Bort), Shelley Calene-Black (Rutile), Brian Mathis (Kongou) and Luci Christian (Ventricosus). (9/10)

Overall: Land of the Lustrous is a decent watch for a strong main character and some okay side characters. The production value here is exceptional and I’m curious if this happens more in the future. Ultimately, I couldn’t buy into the story itself as too much of it felt incomplete. (7/10)

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Nov 10, 2019

theRealGuyFieri

Not Recommended

The Land Of The Lustrous? More like 'Saitama and the crystal gems: the inexistances of a storyline'
To start of this review, I want to just say that I was looking forward to watching this. After seeing Beastars and how beautiful a show it was and that this show had 'fantastic' reviews of 8/10, I was really hoping to be amazed by the studio and the show. Well, after watching, I can say that, my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.

Let's start off at the first episode, I was amazed, I was hooked and was looking forward to where the show will go. At ... the second episode there was a little head-scratcher, I let that pass and still continued to watch. By episode 3 the whole show went downhill from there. But I will not be ignorant and ignore the ups about the show.

-SCORES-
Character: 5/10- some is well developed while others are just shallow and weak
Design: 8/10- I'll give it to them the design characters are nice
Environment: 7/10- I love the place they are in, just wished there was more and the dove in deeper in the surroundings
Music: 6/10- The ost is great but there are many cases where the music just doesn't fit with the scene
Writing: 2/10- It's so bad. Little connection with episodes, there are plots that are just random and unnecessary, some parts rushed some parts too slow, pacing is off till I get a headache, plus why TF does the main character and the supporting character change all of a sudden in ep 9. Yes they want to show development of the main character but why is such a bad manner. Was the antarcic girl such a big impact on her, we barely knew her. Moreover, 'fantastic' why of ending off the show with small supporting character plots that confuses the show even more. Finally, the last episode concludes Pho's quest to find a 'job' for her surprisingly called 'friend' Cinnabar that actually fails to fit the bill and we are left with nothing.
Art: 8/10- Details are there and it's pretty

-CONCLUSION-
My God was this such a painful show to watch, the storyline is not there, I don't get where the fuck does the studio get their writers from, even if it was adapted from the book I can clearly see it's super rushed. Plus why is the speech they say so abstract, some of what they are saying contradicts their past sayings and almost nothing can be made out of what they are saying. I am at majority of the times wondering what the fuck just happened and why the fuck are they doing this. I just wished they thought the whole show out more thoroughly cause I really see potential, even if this painfully boring story was adapted from the book they could have taken extra measures to improve. I can see why people like it due to the visual and that I can agree, but storywise, I don't see the hype around the show and I am let down.
EDIT: I read the manga and I just can't understand why the studio couldn't fit more in episodes instead of dragging and making the pace so slow. Like if they intend on doing a season 2 they could at least end of the series with a part that hints to it, could be that Pho is closer to finding the truth.


and if they can't solve the issue why the Lunarians are trying to kill them then, isn't all of them gonna die one day and there is absolutely nothing they can do, just live on that stupid island defending any attacks and carry out everyday activities? wack yo

light 3

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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