Houseki no Kuni (TV) Episode 9 Discussion

Username23489023 said:
Three more episodes.

Will she take the fight to the luminaries and get antarcticite back?
Will she just die off without a greater purpose?
Will it just end randomly like a slice of life?

Username23489023 said:
Also, why are the luminaries hunting them? Why can’t they just mine gems.

Zeando said:
@VarunaBles If you've read the manga, you shouldn't really answer those questions, let the anime-only watchers speculate with what they have.
But sort of agree it would be nice to have more discussion about the manga, in the manga forum.

VarunaBles said:
You're right, sorry. Let me edit that so it becomes more vague. However, he was pretty much asking what the future of the series was. Nobody would answer if he asked that in the manga's sub-forum, though.

Areku2021 said:
They sounded like rhetorical questions/speculation to me.

even something seemingly-innocent like "no, you'll have to wait and see tee hee" is a spoiler because it tells the person that certain plausible things won't happen.

tl;dr, please don't bring up/talk around future events/info unless specifically asked, and then Thank you.

kyoudai said:
I knew that many viewers would be shocked with Phos' metamorphosis this week, but I'm a little surprised so many people are saying they miss the old Phos. My interpretation is that Phos fundamentally hasn't changed quite as much as it seems in this episode. There are moments, in fact, when the old personality still shines through. It's more of a change in behavior and mood (which is temporary) than in personality (very deeply rooted and what defines us as individuals).

A combination of sleep deprivation/starvation (light = nutrition), depression, guilt, and hypervigilance probably caused by PTSD (seeing Antarc being shattered and taken) all add up to really flatten Phos' mood and behavior. The guilt especially is driving him to work more diligently — even overwork, from Sensei's point of view. I haven't read much farther in the manga yet (another 8 chapters), so I can't say with any certainty (and wouldn't if I could), but my guess is that when Phos starts to feel less depressed and deal with the feelings of guilt, a fraction of the old personality will reemerge. He won't be exactly like he used to be, but somewhere between the old and the new. Which would probably be where he should be, actually.

venn2009 said:
Aww... Phos has finally gotten strong... and mature too. The loss of Antarcticite had a profound effect on her. It's still kinda sad overall, but at least Phos is now someone who is very capable. I'm actually liking the new Phos, even though I'll miss the perky troublemaker Phos, lol.

I'm not liking Bort at all, TBH. Never did back in earlier episodes, due to her mean streaks, and not now either since it looks like she's just up to something. Yeah, she's strong too, always has been, but... perhaps she's jealous of Phos' new power (and popularity)? The preview doesn't give me any friendly vibe from what's about to happen between the two. Hopefully Phos can kick some major buttocks, to show Bort who is the new "top warrior" in town.

VarunaBles said:

It's a shame they didn't change the intro song. It doesn't really suit the post-winter arc.

Saffron_entity said:

Skipped writing what?
Not everybody deals with death the same way. It's not always the same 5 stages that people seem to think it is. It's not uncommon for people to have huge sudden changes in personality without any "growth" after a huge sudden loss. Demanding "growth" when there is absolutely no need for it is silly. Though a scene where Phos cuts his hair would be fantastic...

A lot of his personality change in this episode is just exhaustion and grief.

Anatithe said:


There is always something behind the changes that can be displayed, especially when it comes down to characters. It does not happen with a snap of a finger. The way Phos is, it's simply too inconsistent. It's almost like introducing a new character that has a microscopic speck of their original.

Also, Anta is not even dead...

TsundeReaper said:
She forgot about Cinnabar then remembered her later on? How is that possible

And Cinnabar didn't hibernate?

WieczornyKac said:
I like when everyone thinks that this Phos is mature and serious, but inside it still is childish. :)

redpandagirl said:

Phos's change wasn't that abrupt, from what the beginning of winter to the battle with the Amethysts and going to the ocean have told us, it's that Phos was in the process of becoming more serious, it's just that losing Antarc sped it up. Not to mention not a lot happened after Phos lost Antarc that winter, there would've been no reason to see it, even in a montage. It would've detracted from episode 9's ending.

Anatithe said:


In what world becoming "serious" means to abandon majority of your own persona and become a clone of a person you hanged out with. Becoming serious is a one thing, inconsistent character writing is whole another.

Anatithe said:
In what world becoming "serious" means to abandon majority of your own persona and become a clone of a person you hanged out with. Becoming serious is a one thing, inconsistent character writing is whole another.

sorathecrow said:
The same world where losing half your body means losing half of your memories--the stuff that makes you the person you were. So she's half the person she was when she started the show, she's haunted with hallucinations of a person whose death she feels responsible for, and she feels the only way she can atone is by "getting serious" and taking up Antarc's sword, so to speak. Antarc is a role model for Phos, and in the months since Antarc's death Phos has been trying to emulate her. This seriousness is compounded by the fact that she's barely slept and feels guilty, so it's put a damper on her personality.

Give her a break, is what I'm saying. You're so intent on hating her and their writing that you're refusing to see the logic behind what's going on.

Anatithe said:

It does not seem like she has lost that much of her memory at all.

Making a character lose all it's uniqueness

Showing the process would actually increase the presence of Phos as a character.

VarunaBles said:

Surprisingly enough that part is adapted poorly. To clarify Phos did not forget Cinnabar. He was just not getting any sleep at all for reasons shown this ep. It's kinda like when you don't sleep for a few days and start forgetting, hallucinating, etc.


In episode 7, just after the gems bid Sensei "good night" and as Sensei says "pleasant dreams" a shot of Cinnabar is shown with winter clothes tucked away. He most likely hibernated.

elior1 said:
actully i think that part adapted well since phos said he was messed up

TsundeReaper said:
Gotta say I don't like the big change to her eyes, her eyes were like Antarc-whatever, Phos previous eyes can't do that

sorathecrow said:

She's been alive for 300 years, we've seen like a few months of her life. So she hasn't lost much of the last few months, but it's not like she can be aware of what she lost. It's just gone.

You're silly. Phos is more unique than ever. Phos still has the same goal that she's pursuing (become stronger), but it's now been augmented by "find Antarc" and atoning for all the garbage she's caused (or at least feels responsible for). You don't like that she's not happy go lucky, but tough beans, she's going through a lot right now.

Talking to you is a lot like talking to a brick wall. Phos' development has been shown every step of the way. She's always been unsatisfied with herself, and the more she's tried to get out and do something the more she's had her worthlessness rubbed in her face. Every single thing she's tried to do she's failed at.

She could do nothing when she was sold out by Ventricosus and she resigned herself to at least being useful as a bargaining chip. She blamed herself for not helping when the Amethysts got munched. She couldn't sleep from the guilt so she stayed up to try and help Antarc. The ice flows reflected her heart, illustrating that she was so desperate for a change in herself that she'd be strongly tempted to saw off her own limbs (not just physically hurting her, but destroying her "soul," essentially) to make a change. Antarc "died" on her watch. She still can't sleep, and now it's been months of insomnia and now even more guilt from someone *actually* dying. This not sleeping thing wasn't just alluded to just now--she's been dealing with that for several episodes, of course it would have a compounding effect.

Anatithe said:
It does not seem like she has lost that much of her memory at all.

...

If someone would lose effectively 40% of their memories it would easily show. The whole memory thing is just used when it's convenient.

Anatithe said:
If someone would lose effectively 40% of their memories it would easily show. The whole memory thing is just used when it's convenient.

Areku2021 said:
I wasn't going to weigh in with this because it feels pedantic, but since memory loss keeps getting brought up...

Who are you to say that Gems' memories are stored evenly throughout their body with no regards to priority? That is, perhaps important/core information is stored in/towards the torso/abdomen, areas of the body less likely to take significant damage or be permanently lost.

By important/core information, I mean stuff vital for maintaining a functional understanding of one's life/surroundings, stuff like "the bald one is Sensei, Sensei is good and strong, Lunarians are the enemy, I am weak and should run away from Lunarians, building is home, home is safe, I respond to Phos, my promise to Cinnabar", etc.

Conversely, less important details may be kept towards the extremities, since those are more likely to be damaged/lost. Stuff like "I lied to Sensei about Ventri wanting to fuck him, it was sunset when I made the promise to Cinnabar".

It's entirely plausible that Phos will never need that info again, so she'll never know what she lost because it never comes up, she just knows that she lost limbs and therefore lost memories/details. While not detrimental, losing this "extra detail" could plausibly start to impact the nature of one's character without showing outright signs of memory loss.

It's worth noting that she forgot at least some key info about Jade when she lost her legs, but then again the damage went pretty high up the thigh and could easily be getting into "core" territory.

The story is not obligated to explain this possibility to you. People say "show, don't tell"; perhaps it's time for the audience to live up to their end of the request.

Anatithe said:
That's another slight problem that the show has, the lack of actual factual exposition, there are way too many gray areas. I don't want to sit here and speculate the details either.

Areku2021 said:

... So your problem with the show is that you can't be bothered to think about it (and what it presents) for yourself? That you can't take a step back and think "gee, that doesn't immediately make sense, I wonder if there's a less-immediately obvious way in which it does." Am I understanding you correctly?

Anatithe said:
However we hardly know anything about the world nor deeper facts about any of the inhabitants. We just have a small bit of vague information that holds only limited relevance.

Areku2021 said:
So "not enough exposition"?

Anatithe said:
you figure out the rest.

Areku2021 said:
I've figured out that you want and/or need the show to hold your hand through everything.