Houseki no Kuni (Land of the Lustrous)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Country of Jewels

Japanese: 宝石の国

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 7, 2017 to Dec 23, 2017

Premiered: Fall 2017

Broadcast: Saturdays at 21:30 (JST)

Producers: Mainichi Broadcasting System, Kodansha, Movic, AT-X, TOHO animation, Tokyo MX, Q-Tec, Kyoraku Industrial Holdings, BS11

Licensors: Sentai Filmworks

Studios: Orange

Source: Manga

Genres: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

Theme: Anthropomorphic

Demographic: Seinen

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.39¹ (scored by 197,142 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #187²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #490

Members: 460,429

Favorites: 13,524

Available At

Official Site

@houseki_anime

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AniDB

ANN

Streaming Platforms

Crunchyroll

HIDIVE

May be unavailable in your region.

8.39

Ranked #187Popularity #490Members 460,429

Episodes: /12

Synopsis

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]

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Background

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Houseki no Kuni
Other:	Houseki no Kuni PV

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

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

More staff

Staff

Kamei, Hiroshi

Producer

Kaneko, Hirotaka

Producer

Takei, Katsuhiro

Producer

Yoshida, Kento

Producer

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Opening Theme

"Kyoumen no Nami (鏡面の波)" by YURiKA

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Ending Theme

	1: "Kirameku Hamabe (煌めく浜辺)" by Yuiko Ohara (eps 2-7, 9-11)
	2: "liquescimus" by Tomoyo Kurosawa (eps 8)
	3: "Kyoumen no Nami (Orchestra Ver.) (鏡面の波(Orchestra Ver.))" by YURiKA (eps 12)

Reviews

Dec 23, 2017

MetaThPr4h

Recommended

Absolutely beautiful, Houseki no Kuni sadly flew under the radar of a lot of people due to the lack of initial hype, but I hope this changes over time because this anime really deserves a lot of love.

The setting is so interesting and full of mysteries and unknowns to discover, what happened to the world to become like this? Who are the gems, or the moon people that seem to be after them? Houseki knows how to make the events ocurring hooking to watch and it's such an enjoyable experience from start to end.

Along with the intriguing story we also have a fantastic cast ...

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Feb 16, 2018

psuedonymph

Mixed Feelings

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 ...

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Mar 24, 2018

mathemagican

Not Recommended

[SPOILER WARNING]

Houseki no Kuni is a show where the most boring, flat cast of characters do absolutely nothing for 12 episodes amidst one of the most barren, uninteresting environments I've ever had the displeasure to see. Ill attempt to break down why this show assumes the audience is brain dead and is generally an offensive watch.

First: what this show does right!
Animation: HnK won best CGI in the crunchy roll anime awards, and id agree with that sentiment. Some of the shot composition is really well done, and the movement is very fluid. The CGI is well done and never ... comes off as jarring. I was really excited when i saw Phos laying in the grass as it was truly gorgeous to look at.

Sound: This anime got an amazing OST it frankly doesnt deserve under any circumstance. What an absolute waste of brilliant music. Most of the sound design works well too. HnK is a joy to listen to.

Now the rest:
Character: The cast of HnK is absolutely forgettable, with the exception of Phos who is so poorly written, it makes me want to gag. On that note, Ill break down Phos.
Phos is presented as a character living in a utilitarian society with no utilitarian value. I found this to be a very interesting and intriguing way to introduce a character arc, especially within the confines of the physical aspects of various crystalline structure. The first few episodes seem to want to embrace this character arc, as some quick research shows there is some structural merit to Phosphophilyte itself that other crystals dont share. However, this seems to be too complicated for the author to actually realize, and so HnK decides instead to continually break down Phos's body in favor of other tired and boring gimmicks shared by the rest of the cast. So we first see Phos broken down via dissolution, which magically gives her the ability to converse with the sea creatures (whose name i cant be bothered to remember), though this is later revealed to be simply the sea creatures selectively conversing with Phos in order to take advantage of her. Nothing comes of this. Second, Phos is given legs of a different gem stone which gives her super speed. Nothing comes of this. The author clearly cant decide on a consistent way to develop Phos's character and attempts to force Phos into a tragic scenario where they must watch another character "die" in front of her eyes. This scene has no weight as death in this show has by this point been established to have no weight. Thus Phos comes away from her tragedy with gold and platinum arms that do the exact same thing Cinnabar's body does. So by the end of the show, Phos's character has been stripped of any chance to shine as inherently unique and replaced by the same stock gimmicks given to the rest of the cast. Phos only has value when she casts aside her identity. This is a clear sign the author has no fucking clue how to write a convincing character arc, and this is reflected in the rest of the characters.
The rest of the cast: They almost entirely exist in the background making the occasional snarky or edgy comment which constantly falls flat. Kongo sleeps, and occasionally shows up to be a bad ass, Barts is a diamond thats somehow better than the other diamonds even though black diamond is supposed to be crude (props for working that aspect into her character, making Barts ever so slightly less dull than the rest of the cast). Diamond tries to be affectionate but gets through to no one. Everyone else falls into obscurity as quickly as their introduced. Cinnabar is sad because she is poisonous and no one wants her, but no one does anything about it. Every one is a one trick pony with no impact and no agency.

Narrative/ Plot
Its fine for a show to have a boring, flat cast of characters if there is a narrative that holds up the show, but HnK's narrative is non existent. A bland cast of characters fights a boring monster of the week that goes no where. How dull. The biggest sin this show commits is that the writers realize the show is complete garbage and attempt to shift the tone by forcing a tragedy out of no where, but as previously said, this falls completely flat, has no foresight, comes out of nowhere, and just comes off as a lazy attempt to make the show edgy. HnK is certain the audience is brain dead enough to accept what happens though, but the "death" of Antarcticite is frankly offensive as a plot device with Phos being inexplicably trapped in a prison, unable to do anything but watch. Anyone paying attention knows that no one is actually dying though since gems can always be resurrected at the plots convenience, which was previously established early on. The plot then attempts to pit Phos against Kongo but goes exactly no where with it. On a final note is the arc, or rather lack there of, for Cinnabar who is exactly where she started by the final episode.

Ill reiterate: Houseki no Kuni is a complete train wreck which assumes its audience is brain dead in an attempt to sell pretty visuals and aesthetic as a passable show, and its absolute transparency is frankly offensive to sit through. I wanted to drop this show at episode 3, 4, 6, 8,9,10 but stayed based on the assurances of others opinions that the show would come through at the end, only finishing the show past episode 10 due to being so close to completion.

DO YOUR SELF A FAVOR AND JUST LISTEN TO THE SOUNDTRACK THIS SHOW DIDN'T DESERVE AND THINK OF YOUR OWN STORY TO ACCOMPANY THE MUSIC. YOU COULDN'T POSSIBLY COME UP WITH ANYTHING WORSE THAN HOUSEKI NO KUNI.

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Poll: Houseki no Kuni (TV) Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Dec 23, 2017	314 replies	by AllSeeingAnime »» Mar 9, 8:50 PM
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Houseki no Kuni

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Phosphophyllite

Antarcticite

Diamond

Cinnabar

Padparadscha

Bort

Rutile

Yellow Diamond

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Kongou-sensei

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Houseki no Kuni

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

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Visit MALxJapan
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