Houseki no Kuni
Land of the Lustrous

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I'm not a huge fan of the way the plot has been progressing lately (spoil chapter 80).

I like this series, but I can't help but feel the quality of the writing has degraded ever since Phos went to the moon, so I thought I'd discuss it a little here and get some opinions. This might get a little long, so there's a TL;DR in the bottom.

The major issue with this arc is that we're switching from a mostly character-driven story to a mostly plot-driven story. While LotL obviously has a good plot, most of it came from how characters interact with each other and Phos ... learning about the world and changing within it. Other than "lunarians are attacking", there really isn't much happening in the world.

We take a sudden shift from Phos just wanting the truth to Phos tries to end the war between the gems and the Lunarians. The arc starts off great, because you're not sure who's side you should be rooting for, or if you should even be rooting for Phos because he seems kind of evil and suspicious trying to lure people onto the moon (granted, it's for a greater purpose, but being a lunarian spy is just creepy).

The problem with this is that after that point, we almost get no character interactions outside of Phos, Adamant, the Prince, and Cairngorm. Everyone else seems to have been thrown to the side so we can get more time to move the plot forwards. Characters like Dia, Amethyst, Alexandrite, etc have barely appeared at all in the last ~15 issues other than a few cute scenes, and we barely see the perspective of any of the gems on earth. This already makes things iffy, but lets talk a little on what the main characters have been doing in this arc.

The prince and Cairngorm
I like the idea of Cairngorm being broken of their curse and becoming more like their own character, while some people called him evil it really isn't the case, as he did thank Phos for bringing them to the moon and did show some appreciation despite everything. Other than that, the relationship between the prince and Cairngorm really isn't going anywhere. Other than Cairngorm wanting to become a lunarian, all their time spent together could've been utilized better. I'd rather have seen the rest of the cast getting some love.

Feels like some parts are missing?
Since we're mostly spending our time on the moon, we don't get any perspective for what's happening with most of the characters. We see the earth gems visibly upset about some of them leaving to the moon, but that idea doesn't get expanded at all. Also, some things that should've been there just... Aren't. For example, we never saw Rutile's reaction to Padpara being revived and shattering him other than this one panel in chapter 70 (which was heavily rushed and hard to follow imo). Considering we just had a huge time skip, I doubt they'll ever talk about this.

I wish some characters would explain how they're feeling so we can understand their perspective. Dia looks alright on the moon, but are they happy? The earth gems look frustrated, but do they not have any doubts about killing the moon gems they used to love? We never got any of that.

What the hell is going on with Cinnabar?
Cinnabar's arc just makes NO sense. The first encounter with Phos, he said he wanted to go to the moon. After that, they literally thought to themselves "If you had just asked to team up... I would've said yes". When talking about finding the truth, Cinnabar said they haven't decided on trusting Adamant or not, indicating that they're willing to work with Phos in finding the truth. In general, they're distant but very close friends with Phos. After all their interactions, Phos FINALLY tells him the truth, and FINALLY asks to team up, but CINNABAR SAYS NO?????

What the hell? It felt like they threw out all of Cinnabar's development away in one chapter. Not only that, but cinnabar treats Phos as an enemy and even attacks him in chapter 70 FOR NOOOO REAAASOOON. Literally just tried to kill the one character that legitimately cares about them. Are you telling me he didn't actually care about Phos after all this time? I hate what they did with cinnabar this arc, hopefully there's a reason for it.

TL;DR
This arc is kind of messy story-wise. Everything is happening a little too fast and we're not getting developments in the right spots. Some characters like Cinnabar aren't acting like themselves at all just to cause trouble for Phos. I honestly doubt most of them should be as heartless as they're being now. It feels like the writing has gotten a little lazier and more plot-heavy but sacrifices character development to move things forwards. Hopefully things will get better in later chapters.

I still like the story and would love to see what happens next though.

[Spoiler Warning]

I really do like Houseki no Kuni's wonderful characters and whimsical fantasy tone -- until it loses it along with most of its charm and Phosphophyllite's sanity. From chapter 19 onward, Houseki no Kuni's tone and pacing suffer bouts of schizophrenia. Excessive and often repetitive action scenes drag out the midsection of the currently released chapters, littered with gratuitous "deaths". The most interesting and nuanced characters are sidelined until all that's really left to focus on is Phos, Cairngorm, and Adamant -- and maybe Cinnabar, too, since the mangaka really likes to remind you that Cinnabar exists just as you're about to forget.

Houseki no ... Kuni's greatest sin is wasting your time, which comes to a head when Phos is forced to learn about the existence of humans again despite already learning the information some 40 chapters earlier. After 40 months (this is a monthly series, so storytelling time is precious), Phos finally learned information they had already learned and then forgotten. No new information is gained, so for the reader this is a colossal waste of storytelling time. The long stretch of fights in the midsection of the 61 chapters play like a groundhog day loop of Phos's failures, wearing down your energy to continue reading.

The art is simplistic and rough, with Clamp-like spaghetti limbs. Each of the gems wear the same clothes and have roughly the same face, making them hard to distinguish save for their distinct hairstyles. The roughness of the art begins to take its toll the more Phos's design changes with each "upgrade" they receive. These upgrades come in the form of new materials to replace Phos's lost body parts, roughly corresponding to the Seven Treasures of Buddhism and meaning to date there are likely 2 more upgrades left. This gives Phos a Frankenstein's monster appearance of mixed colours and a messy design that doesn't do the art any favours.

I really do want to like Houseki no Kuni more. A lot more. But I'll keep reading it anyway.

First of all, I wanna make clear that this manga is very enjoayble, I literally read almost all of it in 1 day, of how good it was to read. BUT, it has a lot of problems(to me) that makes it not as good as I would like it to be.The first problem is, the characters. It would be a lie if i say they're "empty" or something like that, but, for me it's pretty clear of how most of them just exists in order to develop Phos, more than themselves(like Antarcticite). Dia was the one that i was looking for big development but as ... i said, besides Phos, other characters don't really have that much of screen time, or deep development(but they do have development don't get me wrong, but not as deep as i wished them to have), so in the end i wasn't even thinking about her anymore.
Second of all, i don't really like the way they treat the emotional parts. Mainly because of the dialogues. The're too simple, and if that wansn't enough, these emotional scenes are always short, so I can't really have time to feel any deep emotion, and i really don't like how serious situations and silly ones are interspersed. It's sad because the art alone itself, is more deeper than with dialougues.
And last of all is, i think the concept of the series is perfect, but the execution is not what I was looking for, i truly don't like how they do the time-skips, and how the unniverse is not very explorable.

But, even with these defects I still give this a 8.0, because it defintely is above medium media and I really love the concept, and like I said it's truly enjoayble to read, so i respect these qualities a lot, but even with giving it a 8 i still have mixed feelings.

(Spoilers Ahead)
Honestly, Houseki no Kuni is one of the hardest manga to rate; I am conflicted on many levels.

I will say what drew me in was the awesome concept: Earth, where humans are extinct and all that's left is sentient immortal gems and their interesting culture. That's why I love season 1 of the anime so much. It helps that there are great characters (anime only) with development, great art/CGI, and tense battles.

But the story filled me with many emotions. I started off feeling happy and chill for the first dozen chapters, but as the chapters passed, I have been filled with frustration, weirded out, ... and disgust. But that was the author's intention, to make the reader feel this way, so that can be considered a success. But personally, I wanted a light fantasy with great characters and only the occasional dark moment, e.g., a gem getting kidnapped to the moon. But a manga must have progress, and that was the path the author chose. It's just how I feel matters a lot to me, and feeling like shit is a no go. I still completed the manga, with great difficulty because I wanted to see where Phosphophyllite would end up.

It's amazing how vile the content matter can become, not in a crude gore sense but in a psychological and emotional sense. The whole manga is focused on Phos, whom I very much like and usually rooted for, barring some disagreeable choices (randomly trusting someone you've been at war with your entire life and who has turned all your friends into dust to "decorate" the moon) - are you kidding me? Actually, I enjoyed all of the characters for the first 43 chapters. After that, there was a shocking downward spiral where I fucking hated every single character except Phos, Adamant, and Antarcticite. All of the Earth gems became hateable and cult-like, and all of the main moon residents were disgusting and creepy. Phos was the only one left, and she got destroyed and scattered by the earth gems for simply pleading for Sensei to pray. Sure, she manipulated some gems to go to the moon, which I hated, but that doesn't mean they had to act like psycho scum. Another thing I hated was the romance between Cairngorm and Aechmea, from the first to the last moment. Every time I saw it, I wanted to vomit and claw my eyes out. Cinnabar, in her need to feel connection, betrayed Phos for fake love.

Finally, it ended with the worst outcome where all the scum changed into Lunarians (which is lame; gems are more interesting), and they get to live happily together, while Phos is forgotten about by all except Antarcticite (Adamant barely seemed to care), and she is left to suffer for 10,000 years. If the author actually makes more chapters, I don't think I could stand seeing that scum. But I hope Phos would have a happy ending, although I don't see how that's possible.

Honestly, this is a decent manga that I read and finished because I loved the Anime. It actually got me to write this review because I had so many thoughts. Not a lot of media will actually do that, and I thank it for that. But I actually don't want a season 2; I will not watch it knowing how the manga progresses.

Story = 8: An objectively quality story; I will say the story and concept kept me engaged enough to complete 95 chapters.
Art = 7: Very aesthetic and unique, but the fight scenes are difficult to read.
Characters = 6: I liked all the characters at the start, but hated everyone but Phos, Adamant, and Antarcticite by the end.
Enjoyment = 3: My personal taste is that I like manga and anime that make me feel happy, tense, and entertained, not actively making me feel disgusted.
Overall = 7.5: I can't change how I feel, but this is the score I think it deserves.

Here is my honest point of view for this manga :

Goodpoint:
-art style : it’s really different , the use of black scenery make this world amazing . 8.5/10
-thematical : for those who like budhisme and the why of the life , your served it’s overflowing . 9/10
-originality : i’m always amazed by authors who can create a world with nothing commonly in it , there is no basement of society . 10/10
-dialogue : the dialogue are really enjoyable , it make me remember monogatari series , and the panel cutting are exceptionnel 10/10

Badpoint :

-characters : honestly i have rarely seen a main character ... as dumb as this one , making the same mistake again and again , also i feel that 1/3 to 1/2 side characters are useless , and let’s not forget about the lacks of emotion from the gems , who give you a feeling of nobody care 3.5/10

-story : enjoyable until the 30 first chapter , but after a while it get repetitive and just plain . 5/10

-the battle system : i think the author just forgot about it , the fights are boring fighting the same npc and the system of hardness make no sense since everybody break of the same manner 2/10.

Overall 7/10 : it’s kind of a slice of life with celestial beings

Really getting some Steven Universe x Evangelion vibes, says the guy who's only ever watched Steven Universe and Evangelion.

This review is mostly spoiler free in terms of actual plot details, but does discuss changes in tone and vibes across the story that could be considered light spoilers to some.


*~ Plot ~*
LotL's story begins in a straightfoward manner: Fight the bad angel-looking guys that appear and appear randomly and attack, and along the way develop the cast of characters and expand on the worldbuilding. If you enjoy watching an underdog with no fighting capabilities slowly but surely make their way up the ranks as they develop ... new abilities and the like, then the first half of this manga is for you. Good for a casual read, though I personally found the opening volumes to be the weakest part.

There's a problem that potentially comes from the shift in tone over the course of the story as it is such a large change from how it starts that many readers might consider it jarring. The tone only gets darker and darker with later chapters, and character motivations become less clear as we learn more about them. The true foundation of the story is based on uncovering a bevvy of mysteries that Phos's companions seem completely uninterested in, which leads to both frustration and even some ostracization. The story also delves into some of the underlying implications of the gems' existance, as well as the nature behind their beloved Sensei and the goal of the Lunarians in a way that had me flip flopping on who I trusted more, or if I trusted either side at all. The mangaka does a good job at mirroring the reader's curiosity with Phos by having him start off ignorant and care free before escalating to actively seeking out information even at the risk of their own safety and social standing.

I think the best way to describe the change is that if you read the first and last chapters of the story without context I highly doubt many people would recognize that they were part of the same story. In fact, Phos himself goes through such vast changes that they become a walking Ship of Theseus.

It's also worth noting that if you don't enjoy stories where the main character becomes the "punching bag" so to speak, constantly experiencing hardships, trauma (both physical and mental), and just overall being beat down then this is not the story for you. Honestly, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that it is nearly biblical how much the progression of the plot and happiness of the characters hinges on Phos really going through the ringer.

Overall the story is good, but the first volume is like a half empty bag of chips compared to the final volume's full course meal.


*~ Characters ~*
This definitely was the weakest part of the story for me at first. The characters all seemed to blend together (both in terms of characterization and art), and even with the way Phos was given a chance to get to know his companions better one by one through various escapades they all seemed fairly one-note. This won't be an issue for some, but for others it will make the opening chapters feel hackneyed. There are some interesting implications and results that come from the characters being made of gemstones that I won't get into because of spoilers, although these are primarily explored through Phos as they grow and change across the story. I will say that the gems can be put back together after being hurt, so if you don't want to see the characters getting smashed and wrecked on the regular then this is a good warning not to read this as despite not being made of flesh there are scenes that could be considered body horror adjacent.

In terms of the expanded cast beyond our protagonist Phos, it would be safe to say that the side characters are very much side characters for much of the story, and when they do show any change it is usually quick and sometimes even partly off-screen. Phos is the main character, and as such will be the one at the center of basically every major event and revelation. That might sound like a pointless or obvious statement, but I say this to mean that when I think back on the story there are many characters who I could not describe in more detail beyond their primary characteristic that came with them when they were first introduced (i.e. This is the character that fights good, this is the character that likes doing research).

I will say that I really enjoyed the fact that the gems are all fairly androgynous (though with a clear leaning towards a more feminine look), and aside from a certain character towards the end they don't hold much of an interest in gender. They use male pronouns, but it comes across as just pure happenstance and likely would not feel or act any different with any different pronouns. They also don't have any gentials or boobs, though they still cover themselves up because why not (there is arguably a story reason for this, but I can't really get into that). Anyway, as a non-binary I just found this to be very cool.

Overall I liked Phos and some of the other characters were interesting, but most of them aren't anything to write home about (but certainly blank enough slates to write fanfic about if you're into that).


*~ Art ~*
This will probably end up being one of the more disagreed upon aspects of LotL. On one hand, if you grabbed a random panel from the manga and compared it to a frame from something akin to Vagabond then it would be easy to write off LotL's art as inferior. Many of the gems looked identitical to me, and even as they all became a bit more distinct over time they still seemed to blend together to a degree.

Stylized is definitely the best word for this manga's look, and I definitely think that the benefits of this particular style shine through moreso with the setpieces and the way the art conveys particular feelings during key moments. Similarly, the more simplified style works in the story's favor when there are panels that are much more intricately detailed when it comes to making these moments stand out, as with a story in which every stroke is as perfect as can be and panels are rich and full it can be easy for major moments to just feel like any other page.

I wouldn't say I love the art, but when it did everything it needed to and even had a few standout panels.


*~ Wrap Up ~*
To put it shortly, Land of the Lustrous is best described by Shrek's ogre and onions metaphor. There are a lot of layers to this which might not be apparent at first, and I think that this is both a strength and a weakness with the way that many readers will have a strong preference for either the first half or the second half.

It was an overall good read with some really cool moments, but also its share of lulls. 7/10

One of the most recently published manga I have read. Calling it unique is an understatement, as I'm not even sure who this appeals to. It has strong shoujo manga tropes, as well as an all-girl lesbian fantasy feel to it, but somehow mixes a religious and psychological backdrop to it all. In fact, the character cast feels like a japanese version of Steven Universe, the setting is very unique and the art is also very refreshing. These are obviously all very good things, but these pros quickly became cons the longer the manga went on for.

- The character cast is too unstable (as ... in characters disappearing, appearing, and changing way too frequently, especially the MC).
- The art quality for this manga is very fucking exhausting, as you get the 1 every 10 chapters fight scene, with admittedly great character design, that is unfortunately very unintelligible (due to the soft shading style that the mangaka went for, together with pure white / pure black backgrounds that make it even more of a mess to decypher). I feel like the art and feel the author was going for would've been way better as an anime original, as the combination of colourful gem characters and paradise-like scenery would make for some insanely lively scenes that just can't be appreciated in black and white.
- Most of the chapters have a very happy go lucky feel to it, with cheery characters and constant :P moments, that take away all the seriousness that the plot was going for.
- About the plot, this felt like an inferior version of Eden: It's an Endless World, and as magical as that manga was to me, this one felt like a lackluster cousin.
- The actual story and big answer to the plot is given halfway throughout the manga as a simple, serious, lore dump conversation, which completely kills all of the mistery and made the idea behind the plot feel unimportant.
- Related to the last point, the Manga is too long for its own good. Most of the stuff that happens is drawn out for way too long. For example, what felt like the "final arc" of the manga, ends up being literally 50% of the length.


Overall, the lack of a real MC, the constant transformation of the entire cast (as well as some characters that only impact the story negatively from the reader point of view), the inconsistent art quality, as well as the ending hiding such a strong niche buddhism lore dump, ended up mortally wounding what could've been one of the most unique mangas of the decade.