Houseki no Kuni

I am writing this review because I believe I hold an uncommon opinion. Don’t worry, it’s spoiler free. Allow me the time to tell you a story.

Once upon a time, a little boy was shopping at a mall with his mother, when he passed by a brightly lit shop window sporting an inviting neon sign at the entrance, labelled simply “Candy.” The display case under the sign had a large, swirly lollipop in it, each swirl being a different color. Eager to satisfy his taste buds with the sweetness of a candy he has never ever seen before, the boy tugged on his mother’s coat ... collar, begging for her to buy him the seemingly delicious treat.

The mother, not even bothering to look at the price tag, took a single glance at the ridiculous lollipop and told her son, “It’s not worth it, I’ll buy you something else.” Being a stubborn little boy, he sat down onto the floor and refused to move a single step. Exasperated, the mother led the boy into the shop and paid for the candy.

The boy, overjoyed at his victory over his mother, licked his lollipop with vigor. After a few licks, he noticed the lollipop didn’t taste proper. Taking a look at it, he noticed that he’s been blending the different colored swirls with his disobedient tongue. Despite realizing this, the boy noticed that there was nothing he could do to salvage his ruined lollipop. Not knowing what to say to his mother, he finished it silently.

Later that night, the mother asked the boy, “how was that lollipop?” The boy, not wanting to admit his own wrongdoing, plastered a smile over his face and replied, “it was great.”

What is the moral of this story? There are a few.
1. Just because something is new and fancy, it doesn’t mean that it’s good.
2. A weird blend of themes and flavours will not always leave a good taste in your mouth.
3. Mainstream consumers do not want to admit the faults in their initial judgement.


<Artstyle and initial thoughts: 10/10>
How does this relate to the anime Houseki no Kuni? It should be quite clear. The “innovation” in this series is the usage of CGI. In the brief history of anime I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing, there has not been an instance where CGI was used well. Naturally, a show that executes a controversial style well would receive positive attention. Admittedly, the artstyle for this show suited its purposes well enough, so I have no complaints. In fact, talking strictly cinematography, art and sound, this show is unparalleled at creating an immersive atmosphere. Now, if that’s the case, why did I imply that the show “isn’t good?” Speaking of the show’s purposes, you’ll see soon enough.

This show is complicated in many ways. Plot, characters, setting, all of it. Allow me to clarify. Complex shows are not intrinsically bad, in fact, that’s far from the truth. However, shows that end up complex due to blatant execution issues are BAD. Not even god tier art can carry such an aimless, thoughtless story.

<Setting and Plot: 3/10>
Let me start with the setting. The worldbuilding in this show is highly fantastical, and the explanation behind how everything ended up the way it was sounds like something a 13-year-old whose idol is his geologist grandpa would come up with. Sure, it’s ludicrous, but there’s nothing wrong with a good laugh, but I digress. The premise of the show is surprisingly amazing for philosophical explorations on rational sentience and immortality. On top of that, the CGI artstyle compliments this setting very well, leading to some extremely beautiful scenes. Sounds like fun and lollipops, right?

No. Here comes the plot. The first two episodes work to introduce the characters and the world, but it suffers from a major writing issue. It leads you to believe that this show is a social commentary emphasizing on the hierarchical nature that results from self contained communities, and how each character suffers as a result of their own mental insecurities and lack of identity. That doesn’t sound too bad, if it actually followed up with what it set itself up as.

After a series of slimy (ha, ha.) events, you find yourself in a confusing spot halfway through the show where you start to wonder where this show is going. Remember what I said about the setting being an optimal one for philosophical exploration of unique themes? You actually get some of that. Just three lines of dialogue unrelated to the plot, then the show wants you to forget about everything that happened in the first half of the show in favour of some shounen style character development, which is carried out for the remainder of the show, to my massive disappointment. Sadly, the first half of the show provided weak narrative exposition at best and pretentious, irrelevant babble at worst, and this was actually the good half of the show.

Do you like repetitive, meaningless fights with no emotional implications or plot strings attached to it? This was the case with most of the fight scenes in Houseki no Kuni. The typical end result of each fight is that our main character "develops." You'll see what I mean.

<Characters: 2/10>
Don’t we all love that classic slice of life “conclusion,” where a stupidly dramatic event drastically alters the characters beyond recognition, in a weak attempt to add dimension to the cast? Wait a second, I hate that. Referring back to the plot section, I mentioned that the first two episodes set the show up for a character oriented exploration? I guess it wasn’t completely off the mark, if Dora the Explorer is your type of “exploration.”

The supporting cast is usually defined by a single, one dimensional trait that dominates their entire character. This is evident in Diamond, Cinnabar and Bort. The rest of the many characters are not worth mentioning. There is some very weak development by the end of the show, but this was not the anime’s focus.

My dear Phosphophyllite. You developed so much, its almost as if you underwent a chemical change (pun and sarcasm intended). This character’s journey of self discovery was the aim of the show, yet her changes are not only inconsistent with her former self, ridiculously dramatic, but also violates the laws of chemistry. The sequence of events that led up to who the character became by the end of the show was definitely the result of inadequate planning and incompetent writing, evident by a chain of stupidly dramatic incidents that served no other purpose than to turn Phos into a more dynamic character.

Perhaps you don't agree with my criticism that Houseki no Kuni's characters lack depth, if you've seen the show. It's difficult to argue this point without spoiling anything, but I'll say this: our only knowledge of Phosphophyllite is her current desires and motivations, which progress from a linear lack of self worth to a sentimental attachment to a certain dead character following a short time skip. Both of these plot devices lack narrative backbone and portrays Phosphophyllite as incredibly shallow and her actions extremely simple. There was not a point in the show where I questioned the motives or psychological states of a single character, because this shallowness is present in the entire cast. There simply isn't enough information or character exploration in the show.

My last point lies in my disappointment that the basic premise of immortal people was not evident at all in the characters’ behaviour. In fact, every member of the cast acts like a 21st century high school student, which ruined the immersive atmosphere the art desperately tried to create.

<Final Thoughts and total score: 5/10>

It may be clear by now, but my biggest issue with this show is the obvious lack of direction in its narrative, mismanagement of dramatic structure and insignificant ending. I am aware that the anime does not adapt the entirety of the manga, but hey, I’m just reviewing what’s here right now.

Would I recommend this show? If you’re interested in sitting through a 12 episode tech demo, be my guest, but don’t place many expectations on the storyline to provide a compelling analysis of a theme, or the characters to bring any entertainment.

I will reiterate that the art was beautiful. There is no denying that. After all, isn’t a big, swirly, colorful lollipop enticing? Just don’t forget, mommy warned you...

Overview:

Houseki no Kuni was one of the most beloved anime of 2017, so I immediately put it on my watch list...where it sat until last month. I went in really expecting to love this series, but I didn't know anything about it besides apparently there are gemstone girls. Maybe they'll sing about making a giant woman? Point is, I'm going in fucking BLIND. The show has areas where it sparkles, but I found myself more bothered by the flaws.


Visual aesthetics and animation:

The big thing about Houseki that makes it unique is that it's among the first "good looking" entirely CGI anime. I put good looking ... in quotation marks because I utterly despised this show from a visual perspective. It's true that Studio Orange knew what they were doing. The CG animation isn't simply incompetent and laughable like Berserk 2016 or 2017. The problem is that this final product was exactly what Orange intended...and it makes Bug's Life look like staring into the face of God by comparison. I want you to think about that. A Bug's Life was made in 1998 using computers that are fucking DINOSAURS and written with laughably obsolete programs.

CGI does cut labor costs and makes it so studios don't have to pay tons of employees (like Kyoto Animation does) or outsource to Korea. However, it's been over 20 years and CGI in anime overwhelmingly still sucks. (pulls out giant clock) IT's TIME TO STOP! If Studio Orange is the glorious standard bearer and it's getting destroyed by 90s Pixar, that's a bad sign. The best CGI action scenes in Houseki look marginally better than the vector fights in Elfen Lied. Congratulations Orange, you beat a D-list hentai studio from 2004. You still cower in fear of Toy Story 1 from 1995.

Another problem with CGI in anime is that it ages so poorly. Stand Alone Complex looked ungodly awesome when it came out; however, it now looks clunky and dated. This isn't true for everyone, but I have far less tolerance for bad CG than I do for bad hand drawn animation or bad practical effects. I have a large collection of schlock OVAs from the 90s that were made by mediocre studios, and every one of them looks better to me than Houseki. Nobody has a lot of love for Oriental Lights and Magic, who made the original Berserk and Pokémon. They liked to animate as much as I enjoy eating tar. All they do is still images and recycled loops. However, OLM made this schlocky OVA called Gunsmith Cats about cute girl bounty hunters in Chicago. This wasn't a high budget project and wasn't expected to be a major success, but it looks AMAZING compared to any CGI anime I can think of. I would rather anime go back to bargain basement OVA quality from the 90s than continue on its current CG route.


Setting and characters:


I'm going to avoid spoilers, but Houseki is about Earth in the distant future. A meteor blasted Earth into several pieces and fragments of human DNA managed to evolve over a billion years into several different species. These species represent the human body, mind, and spirit. While this isn't exactly how evolution works, this is NOT a hard science fiction. It's 1 billion+ years in the future and the Earth's climate seems unchanged. At that point, the Sun would be a red giant and Earth couldn't possibly have liquid water, let alone plant life. There are around 25 gemstone people and they're all immortal. However, the Angel people from another chunk of Earth wish to break them into pieces and use them as jewelry for...some reason. I have no idea why an energy based species from a billion years in the future would have the concept of jewelry and be attracted to shiny things like primates are. The gemstone people, who are asexual but present as cute girls because marketing, must protect themselves and fight off the invaders.

Our main character is Phosphophyllite, who is the weakest of the gems using the Mohs hardness scale from human geology. Yes, they are using a human scale invented 1 billlion years in the past. I don't know how they found out either. Phos is loveable enough clumsy girl who everyone thinks is good for nothing. She is assigned to become a researcher and learn more about the planet, themselves, and their enemies. They are immortal and have existed for thousands of years, but apparently they still need to learn these things and haven't assigned a researcher before now.


This brings me to my last problem. Houseki has some of the worst exposition dumps I've ever seen in an anime, or really anywhere. Phos is constantly learning stuff about her species so she can explain it to the audience. We're supposed to believe she is thousands of years old and doesn't know basic things about her anatomy. Characters will spout dialogue like "I'm a diamond, so remember I'm the toughest on the old human scale!". You've known this person for 3,000 years! I think she remembers you're a diamond sweetie! Imagine if I went up to my co-workers that I've known for 6 months and just announced "I'm WHITE! My skin burns easily according to the melanin scale!". These gem girls have known each other for 6,000 times longer, so it's 6,000 times dumber than that.

Overall:

Houseki does have positive aspects. Some of the fight choreography is really cool. The characters gradually grow on you and their desire to change both physically and mentally could provide for some fascinating psychological drama in the 2nd season. It deals with questions of identity that have the potential to go somewhere interesting. This anime just wasn't for me though. I had to absolutely force myself to sit though it and I won't be checking out season 2. If you liked Houseki though, more power to you. I'm a weird guy with some pretty awful taste in anime.

Note: I have not read the source material (manga), so this review will be based on the anime alone.

The only word I could use to describe the world of Houseki no Kuni (Land of the Lustrous) is “bizarre”. It certainly takes an amazing amount of imagination and a dose of craziness to come up with an unique world like this, but I can’t help but feel that this is also exposed as the anime’s weakest point. It took a lot of time and effort to explain even the basics of how the world works, and even then the world feels difficult to understand. This is ... not helped by the fact that unlike sci-fi or fantasy worlds based somewhat on reality, the viewer can’t populate the background of Houseki no Kuni with activity. It's just a barren world that is hard to believe in.

This overly simplified world is contrasted with a huge ensemble of mostly forgettable characters, often appearing for only a few seconds at a time. This is not helped by the fact that they have long and convoluted mineral/gem names, making them even less memorable. When a character is promoted to the center of the story, they feel as if they serve no further purpose than to forward the plot, and (with the exception of one) become irrelevant within two episodes. The main character Phos is the only one with any semblance of development, but while its shift from from beginning to end is striking, barely anyone else mattered.

The ending is obviously incomplete. While there is a nice connection to the beginning, ultimately it shows you the door to its manga continuation more than anything remotely satisfying.

It's a unique story for sure, but as a whole I don't feel like it's gone anywhere in these 12 episodes, and an overall disappointment.

The art of Houseki no Kuni is marked by its generous use of 3D animation, which is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it presents the textures and reflections of the gems very well, and makes for some VERY dynamic fight scenes, but on the other hand, facial expressions and tiny movements (such as head tilting) feels rigid and unnatural.

That said, this is still probably one of the best and most extensive use of 3D animation I’ve seen so far, and it would be hard to imagine some of the scenes (especially towards the end) without it. But I wouldn't rate it as an unmitigated success -- whether or not it's good is still pretty much up to personal tastes.

The OP and ED are nice, memorable tunes that aren't too generic, but it's the OST and insert songs that shine here. There's an varied selection of styles, and many of the tracks fit the mood of the scene nicely.

In the end, Houseki no Kuni is a puzzling anime for me: Puzzling world, puzzling story, puzzling characters, and a lot of it remains unresolved till the end. I would suppose the Manga would provide a lot of answers to my questions, but as a non-manga reader, it's hard to give it a more satisfactory score until the second season is out.

My only problem with this show is that mainly all of the character development goes into Phos and no one else, which kind of ruined her character for me. As she change too much, too fast and she ended up as a completely different character by the end which I didn’t like. All the other characters in the show either get no development or very little development.
Also the show hints at lore for the world but then drops it immediately and never goes back to it.

Overall, I don’t like Phos, the story could be better but the visuals are great.

How many times have you gone past a river with plain grey rocks residing on the riverside without paying attention to any of them? However, on each of those riversides, there is an exceptional rock. A rock that catches your eye, even for a slight moment. In that single moment, your attention was on that rock. Despite never caring about or seeing that rock again, it managed to divert your attention on itself for an entire moment. All because it stood apart from the regular grey rocks, the ones you can always see. It was a true gem.

The word Phosphophyllite is derived from its chemical ... composition, phosphate, and the Greek word for “leaf”. Phos starts the series as this exact definition. They are nothing but a name, symbolizing a leaf. A simple leaf on a large tree, dashing along with the others as the wind comes and goes, eventually withering away slowly as the winter grows closer. Phos, however, decides to make a change. Instead of striving to survive, Phos chooses the other path; to live. To make a change is to completely throw away what one has achieved in the past, throw out everything unnecessary and focus entirely on the end goal. While being one of the lowest Gems on the Mohs scale, rated a 3.5/10, Phos is repeatedly ridiculed for their small hardness, albeit in a playful way. As Phos encounters new foes, their body changes. Learning what it means to be betrayed, what it means to be helpless, what it means to truly lose someone, what it means to unveil a small secret that leads to a mystery of an unimaginable scale. As Phos grows, so does the world around them.

Houseki no Kuni was a peculiar watch. On the surface, it seems like a playful ride with a plethora of characters and a wide color palette with an underlying dark bottom that was yet to be uncovered in the 12 episodes. Upon taking a deeper look, there never was a playful ride, it was a dark, bottomless pit all along, with nothing but despair laying in wait for the characters. Houseki no Kuni handles its atmosphere amazingly, having the aforementioned atmosphere change, just like the seasons in the show do. The Winter is presented as cold and unforgiving, bloodlusted and dangerous, whilst the Fall is hot on the surface but can become a storm in an instant, fitting for the events that happen during these seasons.

Handling of atmosphere and the central idea of the main character is unfortunately where the positives end for Houseki no Kuni. With the youngest of the Gems, Phos, being 300 years old, the amount of basic things that is unknown to them or the other Gems is simply astonishing and completely ruins the learning experience of the world with the show treating the audience like they are completely unknowledgeable about basic gems. The show feels the need to present Diamond as the most beautiful and hardest Gem, something which everyone that has ever talked to another functioning human being should atleast have a somewhat of understanding on. Having known someone for 300 years and them still introducing themselves as the hardest gem would eventually just make me stop talking to them entirely. How egotistical do you have to be to continue rubbing it in my face? Touching upon the way the Gems are structured again, the audience is somehow expected to not know anything about diamonds but is supposed to have complete understanding of the Mohs scale. In the Mohs scale, even a slight difference of 0.5 can have a huge difference in how hard the gems are, this is not accurately depicted in the series at all. Whilst still having a relatively small hardness, Phos should still be able to withstand a decent amount of pressure before breaking, however, that is just not the case in Houseki no Kuni where Phos is repeatedly broken down in the dumbest ways ever, one of them being literally walking on rocks.

Establishing an idea for the direction of the show but then throwing it away can be extremely infuriating to watch. Houseki no Kuni is a master at this, seeing as it repeatedly does this to the point where it makes me want to jump out of my window. The first 2 episodes perfectly set the ground for a critique on society and how to overcome stereotypes and what it truly means to be unique, not just below average. Houseki no Kuni then just decides to not use that and throws it away. Later in the series, a similar thing is shown when the show is given the perfect opportunity to take a risk and go to an entirely psychological approach, which could have made perfect sense considering the massive potential the psychological side of immortality has and the impact the theme of immortality could have had in Houseki no Kuni.

There are 3 letters most anime fans, mainly Attack on Titan fans, dread the most when it comes to animation. CGI. CGI is repeatedly frowned upon as inorganic, clunky and weird, Houseki no Kuni, however, has some of the best CGI that has ever been seen in anime. It somehow feels deep, yet fluid, sharp, yet smooth. There is this unknown feel to it that makes it a joy to watch.

Houseki no Kuni is in desperate need of one thing and one thing only. A second season. Even with a 2nd season, the show would by no means be perfect, yet, because of the sheer amount of unanswered plot threads and questions, a 2nd season on its own would become great just by answering these questions. As it is right now, Houseki no Kuni is just wasted potential. What could have been a critique on society, what could have been a dive into the psychological side of immortality and is it truly worth to be immortal, what could have been a psycho analysis on Phos and the toll their experiences have had on them, what could have been a fun series with a deeper side, Houseki no Kuni is unfortunately just a plethora of “What could have been?”. In the end, what could have been an amazing series is simply an empty shell with the only thing in it being a trailer for the manga. Whilst by no means bad, it could have been so much better to the point where it is aggravating.

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)

It's not bad. The framerate is almost inexcusably low for a full CG anime. That aside, the CG itself is commendable and screenshots look like they're drawn. This series starts out pretty great. I liked the characters--especially the protagonist--and the threat is made clear from the start which puts a constant edge on the whole series. The threat has a clear direction and is well executed. However, the protagonist's personality suddenly and drastically changes for the worse toward the end. She became boring, but not unlikable. The ending was pretty lame as it just ends in the middle of a conversation that isn't even ... resolved after the credits. It's far from my favorite anime, but despite all of that, it's still worth watching if you have some time to kill, but there are probably better ways you could be spending your time since the ending isn't exactly satisfying.

Time for a somewhat controversial opinion, perhaps.

So this show is only 12 episodes long, which makes it a rather easy one to watch in-between longer shows. Therefore, despite the complaints I have, I'd still recommend trying at least the first few episodes to see whether or not it's for you. For me it wasn't, but then again, I only discovered that near the end, so there's some merit to be had.

To start things off! The show is set in the far-away future where a disaster has obliterated the land, and only very few organisms have survived/evolved. There's no more humans, and only a few types ... of simple-ish animals like jellyfish, snails, butterflies, etc.

The focus is on the gem-people! That's right - they're gems, even though they look human with a huge amount of make-up. Their anatomy and way of thinking is very different than that of actual humans, and they're effectively immortal. This mere premise brings with it a very interesting perspective on the world, which is interesting to think about.

There's 2 other notable races; the fish-people who probably have the most in common with humans, but we don't get to see much of them; and the lunarians, space-cloud-people from the moon who come down in strange cloud-space-ships every episode to try and kidnap the gem-people.

The main problem I have with the show is that a lot of crazy random stuff keeps happening, and it never fully gets explored or explained, and the characters just kinda accept it without much questioning. In addition, character interactions are very strange, to say the least; all of the gem people have a certain quirk, but they act and think rather erratically. This made it very hard for me to keep up with the story, or to relate with the characters.

Talking about the characters - there's like 50 of'm? Quite a lot anyway, and even though their names are often associated with the gem they're made of, I found it hard to differentiate them, remember them, or care for them. Especially when they randomly throw in a new character at the last-but-one episode..

Alas, the show also isn't finished yet. I'm sure(?) there will be a second season, but as it stands now, it's suuuuper open-ended, in a way I don't like. Cock-block, I think is the word?

I'm sure there is a deeper meaning to it all, or a different mindset that's needed, but there wasn't for me. I was too distracted with the giant hindu-monster-dog appearing and disappearing, the sensei bashing in walls, Phos going between happy & depressed within seconds, Cinnabar's QQ, and the general ridiculous interactions, to become invested in the story.

THE PROS!
+ Super pretty to look at. Like, the cgi is really-really good. Some "action" scenes are amazing (even if it's just running), but even quiet scenes are beautifully choreographed and animated.
+ There's probably a deeper story somewhere?
+ It's short!
+ A quirky female lead who does evolve dramatically between eps 1-12.

THE CONS
- VERY open end, needs a good sequel.
- A large cast of characters, hard to remember/care for them all.
- Questionable story, a lot of crazy unexplained things and strange interactions.

All in all I personally didn't enjoy it that much, but it is a small miracle of CGI and I'm sure there's more to it. Despite my given score I would recommend to watch it, because it's so short and unique. You won't find anything like it any time soon!

Upon finishing this, I really can't help but feel that this had a lot of missed potential. Sure, it wasn't bad to watch, having some sweet moments and nice visuals, though by the end, it's problems were apparent.

Land of the Lustrous has a pretty interesting premise, taking place in the far future in which an immortal humanoid race called the Gems live on an island, defending themselves from the Lunarian race which constantly attack them. However, the direction the story took with it left a lot to be desired. For one, it almost entirely takes place on the island, which made the setting quite mundane ... pretty quickly. It would have been interesting to understand this setting and explore it more, and maybe give some more depth to why the world is in its current state, since the world it takes place in feels underdeveloped. The story itself felt pretty convoluted at times with no clear direction of what it wanted to do or explore. The anime is composed of a few of these “mini-arcs” that end up leaving more questions than answers. As a result of these issues, it exacerbates its issue of an incomplete world. For example, we never fully understand why the Lunarians want to hunt the Gems, other than they look good or are nice for jewelry or something of the sort. Not to mention there being an individual from an entirely different humanoid race that is shown for a few episodes, and then is rarely ever brought up again, which feels like a whole missed opportunity for developing an interesting plot.

The characters themselves weren’t bad; a lot of them have a pretty nice dynamic with each other which made for some fun moments. There were a couple I wasn't really a fan of, but most of them were fine despite not having much depth to them. Phosphophyllite was an alright main character, though I had a couple issues with her, such as her sudden character change mid-way through, as well as the almost non-existent relationship with Cinnabar that keeps getting hinted at for some reason.

As for the visuals, they looked pretty nice. Anime done with CGI isn’t something I see quite often, so it was nice for a change. Fight scenes were well done and the shots of the landscape were quite pleasing.

Overall, Land of the Lustrous had potential, but is heavily brought down by its issues in its lack of worldbuilding and story. Still, it has plenty of nice moments and is pleasant to look at, and if that’s what you’re looking for, it may be worth a watch. Considering it’s 6 years old at this point, I doubt a second season is coming; having more episodes probably could have fixed some of its issues a little.

Watched this mostly because of the hype surrounding it when it was nominated for the Crunchyroll Awards 2017, but also because of a GIF I saw of one of its battle sequences.

Story - 4

Sadly, this was the weakest thing it had going for it. Per se, there is no story that runs throughout the entire season, but there are various story threads that are introduced, but most of them are left incomplete or underdeveloped (with the exception of the winter arc). We are left with more questions than answers, in the worst way possible; they start a thread, go with it, then they leave it ... hanging at the opportune time to answer it. Sometime they even act as if it was never there, and while they (sort of) came back to one of the earliest threads in the last episode, all that left me with no sense of satisfaction when the final credits rolled.

Art - 9

Right from the get-go, I was totally on board with the 3D animation because not only was it so fluid and it worked so well with the kind of action in the battles, but that combined with the gorgeous 2D matte painting backdrops was stunning at times. I don't think I've said "Wow, that looks really good" that many times in one season of anime so far.

Sound - 8

The OP was good, but not good enough for me to want to watch it every episode, though I watched it at least twice throughout the season. I never ended up watching the Ending Theme, not that it was bad, though. The music that plays during the episodes was very good, however, and it sort of reminded me of the music in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Character - 7

There were a lot of characters that we were introduced to (thankfully not every Gem was introduced), but you could definitely see the ditinct personalities in each one. A lot of them were played for comedy, but some got more development than others, which was fair enough, given the importance placed on them.

Enjoyment - 6

The story problems detracted a fair amount of enjoyment from this (for me and my friend, who I watched this season with), but we revelled in the sheer absurdity of some moments that were given no explanation.

Overall - 6

While very weak in terms of story, this anime is a breath of fresh air in terms of using great 3D animation, delightful characters, and sweeping music.

Houseki no Kuni begins as a visual masterpiece with lush illustrations and vibrant characters dashed with an intrigue. With a hook established in the forefront of the narrative in a world of symbolism reminiscent of Buddhism, there appears to be disclarity in the direction of the anime. Houseki no Kuni tempts the audience into an intriguing mystery in regards to the battle of the gems and lunarians with a more micro focused side-plot of protagonist's Phos' endeavor to establish an emotional rectification of the lonesome and distrustful Cinnabar, yet fails to deliver on both fronts.

With comedic meandering within dialogue, and somewhat exciting action scenes, Houseki ... no Kuni continues to delay the primary focus of the fore mentioned hooks with no satisfying conclusion. Although character progression is evident within Phos' transformation throughout the series, it appears abrupt and contrived, causing the metaphor of change and reincarnation to lose its impactfullness. This 12 episode series, only manages to establish the basis of Phos' search for the truth regarding her master and the Lunarians. Its long winded and comprehensive building of both character and worlds is meaninglessly padded with seemingly inconsequential events leading me to have great disinterest in the series only worsened by a dissatisfying ending with little closure.

Perhaps I have not watched or analysed the series in the appropriate symbolic lense to truly appreciate this series. I found myself beginning to dread watching the series in hope for a it to improve. Yet ultimately I found myself at the conclusion of the series dissapointed and disinterested in the world and mystery which had only captured my interest intitially.

Earning the highest possible score for originality, as I've really and truly never seen an anime like this before, and complemented by a strong soundtrack and flashy visuals it's easy to get sucked into the things Land of the Lustrous does well. However, once you move beyond the pizzazz of its presentation and analyze this anime objectively, there are absolutely flaws to be found.

Art-

Art style is a matter of preference so it's not fair to detract points from an anime for choosing to go with an art style I don't particularly care for. This anime makes extremely heavy use of CGI, which isn't my jam, ... but it does what it does well. If you're going to make this choice, or any choice, you might as well go all in and do it the best you can, right? If you don't mind heavy CGI it's definitely a very pretty show.

Sound-

The voice acting is solid throughout. There isn't a show-stopping performer but there isn't a single poor voice performance in the English dub to single out for criticism.

The soundtrack is very strong and is likely the second best element of the show behind only its uniqueness and originality. I personally liked the theme that accompanies the show's recurring enemies, the Lunarians, and found it haunting, creepy and ominous. I also thought the opening and ending themes, while not all time greats, were a cut above the norm. In moments meant to be tense or emotional appropriate and evocative music frequently played in the background, which showed me a clear self-awareness and cohesiveness of the tone of the scene and all its elements.

Story-

As stated before, I'd give the utmost praise for originality and uniqueness. I'd also compliment the pacing as I feel the show had a great balance of action vs talking vs lighthearted moments vs serious moments, which is a sign of effort and polish which I definitely respect and appreciate.

After that, however, there are definitely a number of problems. The ending of this anime was one of the worst, least satisfying conclusions, if you can even call it that, I've ever seen. I'd argue that all three of the most important plot points in the show- How do you resolve Cinnabar's situation, What's the deal with the Lunarians, What's the deal with Sensei- are ALL left unresolved and unanswered. It's one thing to intentionally leave an ending ambiguous but this was something else. It really felt like somewhere between a slap in the face and a middle finger to ask a viewer to invest in these plot elements, build up a mystery throughout the entire show and then provide no resolution whatsoever.

Throughout the show a number of plot elements were not fully explained and things just kind of work a certain way because the plot wants them to. It definitely feels as though the writers routinely opted for very roundabout means to an end, intentionally making things as muddled and complex as possible, as opposed to opting for something simpler and more believable that would have had the same outcome.

Character development outside of the main character, Phos, is definitely lacking. Many characters are very one-dimensional and cookie cutter.

Also, and perhaps this is more of a personal nitpick than an objective one, while I give the utmost credit to the uniqueness of the base concept I couldn't help but find it just a bit weird in a bad way at times. It was just a bit strange to me to have all these gem girls in school girl uniforms running around and there's this one creepy bald guy in the background regularly caressing, holding and hugging them while they're all seemingly in love with him. The anime never took any of this too far and there are very few sexual undertones here, but it still just didn't feel quite right for me.

Enjoyment-

It's an easy watch for most of its ride and there's a good amount of action and pretty visuals to get you through its short 12 episode length without too much trouble, but I was never blown away. I found it hard to get invested in any of the interpersonal relationships when as a whole character development left a lot to be desired. Also, when the anime is simply weird to begin with and it doesn't always do the best job of explaining the what and why of what is going on, it can sometimes be hard not to feel like certain elements of the plot are really cheap, cliche or convenient.

Overall-

Super unique and original, very strong sound and pretty visuals, which seems to be all the younglings need these days, as this anime is definitely overrated. The plot leaves a lot to be desired, which is further exasperated by its insultingly bad "ending", and if this anime weren't so flashy I think it'd be much easier to see that the story here is mediocre to begin with and the execution is below average. A decent show, sure, but not anywhere near as good as the awards and accolades would lead you to believe.

+Truly unique and original base premise unlike any other I've seen
+Great soundtrack
+Solid voice acting
+Flashy visuals

-Weak character development
-Complete lack of resolution to almost all major plot points
-Conveniences
-Lack of explanation throughout

OBJECTIVE RATING- 6.5-7
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 6.5

After hearing so many good things and seeing so much beautiful fanart, I was pumped for this series. The dazzling sparkles, the petite structures; I needed to watch these amazing diamond/crystal featured characters ASAP.

While I started to watch it I noticed it was a "slower" pace anime. What I mean is that everything happened in the story very, very slowly it seemed.

From there all things broke through. The story plot was very weak. The characters were "cookie cutter" characters, same bodies but with different hair and eyes. No true backgrounds of any of the characters were really explored. No answers about what is ... happening was actually answered. It kind of just seemed like a mess. I noticed this halfway through, but gave it a shot due to the amount of great credit this anime received from it's fans. Honestly though, it was nothing special. And I'm really disappointed by that..

I have to say though I still admire the character creations and the initial concept. The characters essentially being crystals/diamonds with the beautiful appearances. That I love and will most likely create fanart for as well. But, this anime could have taken it so much deeper and I really wished it had. I really was hoping for something magical..

While I'm never a fan of 3D anime, I will admit this was pretty to look at. In all honesty, I don't think these character designs could've worked in 2D animation. Characters are unique from each other and are likable in their own way. The world they live in is very interesting. The music is surprisingly well made and effective. The fight choreography is eye-catching. As far as aesthetics and presentation goes, this anime is very nice. However, with regards to its writing and editing, this anime falls flat on it's face. The difference between it's aesthetics and it's substance is pretty jarring.

The editing ... is outlandishly bad in some scenes. Characters teleport to spots they shouldn't be. Sometimes they're completely oblivious to things that are physically impossible to miss, etc. It's writing was just as bad. There are some pretty egregious plot holes in this anime. The character arc for the main character is set up perfectly but ends up feeling rushed and completely flops by the halfway mark. The worst part is the anime keeps adding more questions that it has absolutely no intention of answering. This anime is nothing but questions being narrated by a half-baked main character. It's a real shame. This anime could've been really good. When watching this anime, think of it more as an art project and less of a fully fledged anime. That way you might enjoy it more than I did.

Aggressively average. Trite, even.

Our unlikely heroine is lazy, weak and apparently not the sharpest tool in the drawer. We're off to an original start. W00t. Other very interesting characters include the saccharine guardian, the all-powerful yet occasionally goofy grand master, the cute talking animal that only the heroine can understand, the 'unique because weird' girl, the ambiguously mean school girl clique, the stern tsundere, the mean tsundere, and the tragic tsundere.

I'll give the implausible setting and circumstances of the story a pass on the grounds that this is fantasy... Well, most of a pass, anyways. I have questions. ... Questions like "if you yourselves are the targets of these otherworldly flint knappers then why do you routinely split up into vulnerable two-member patrols to seek them out," or "why are you, who habitually scoffs at our heroine, so incredulously outraged when she fails to accomplish what more experienced and competent warriors could not?" And also, what the hell is "Bort" supposed to be—some sort of weird misapprehension of Q-carbon, only "Q-car" is a sort of $%^& name?*

It's not bad, but it's not good. It's very, very... okay.

*: Yes, I did in fact look this up. No, I didn't find anything. No, I don't know why I didn't find anything. Regardless, "bort" is apparently a low grade diamond used for abrasives, and not in fact some sort of superior form as the show seems to imply. Thanks for your concern, and you have a great day now.

Warning, this anime does not end with a satisfying conclusion. The story just stops without any meaningful resolution. This wouldn't be a huge problem if there was another season, but It's near the end of 2022 and I don't think it's gonna happen.

The world feels both simple and mysterious. It's not mysterious because there is complexity hidden under the surface. Rather, it's just that nobody makes any progress in solving anything. The setting is small and there's not that much to explore, but despite that we still don't know why things are the way they are. The world doesn't feel fleshed out. We have a ... single building which is fairly sophisticated architecture on a weird sickle shaped island and everything else is just undeveloped.

The CGI is pretty, and the gem characters move nicely. But the backgrounds are fairly plain. The Lunarians have a very generic look to them. Pretty, but they all look the same and have no individuality to their animation, so they don't feel alive at all. The fighting is ok, except that the enemy is generic and lacking in agency.

The drama doesn't hit very hard. It's somewhat humorous, but not particularly endearing or emotional. The main character starts off as exceptionally useless, with some hefty aspirations but weak and without the resolve to improve. There is some character growth, but it feels too sudden, like we are seeing two different characters. Several of the other characters have distinct personalities, which is nice for something this short. There is a kind of familial loyalty between the characters; that is to say you might piss me off but I'll still do everything in my power to protect you. They explore strong themes such as people's desire to be useful, how people view and treat others who are not as capable, the pressure and responsibility that falls on those who are capable. It asks whether the mindset is more important than some innate ability, with an open-ended answer.

The OP and ED don't sound good to me. There's a gamelan inspired bgm whenever the Lunarians invade which is kinda cool, but I don't think there was any other noteworthy sound.

I feel like it's a decent introduction as a part of a greater work, but not enough happens for it to stand on its own. Maybe ok if you plan on reading the manga.