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MILGRAM is pretty good for what can be told through music videos and voice dramas.

I’ll be reviewing all the characters, with the exception of Shidou simply because I refuse to watch his music videos/listen to his audio dramas since I think he looks ugly. That’s literally the only reason. Sorry Shidou enjoyers, you’re (probably) cool.

Unless stated otherwise, presume I haven’t listened to a character’s voice dramas and am basing my opinions on them only off their music video’s and their appearances in minigram.

011/The Warden/Es:

Obviously, I’m starting with the first character to get a music video, who also happens to be my favorite character from MILGRAM!

Es ... is way more than a self-insert for the viewers and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. Despite being the only character with only one music video and one voice drama, they’re a great written character with a whole ton of potential that I hope it gets used.

They’re a pseudo-cultist. Not technically apart of a cult, but the way they dedicate themselves to their work, have no idea who they are without their work, and get angry at those who try to say “hey maybe you should take a break from working” is very reminiscent of cultist behavior. Please keep this part in mind, it will become important in another character’s section.

I have a theory that they used to be apart of the cult that the character I mentioned previously is in and it started out as a crack theory I made up for fun but tbh I think it has some merit. Mainly because of their whole “pseudo-cultist” thing.

I find their dynamics with the prisoners to be interesting, but I’ll keep that discussion for each prisoner’s part so you have some context about the other person in the dynamic.

Their one song, Undercover, is catchy. They also have a very good voice. I’m glad there’s covers of all the prisoner’s songs because I adore their voice and need to listen to it as much as possible.

Oh, and they have a good character design.

01/Haruka Sakurai:

The first prisoner, Haruka! I… honestly don’t know much about him, but I will be reviewing him based on what I do know!

He’s an attention seeker, and that’s why he committed his crime. Okay, well, it’s way more than that but that’s the basis of it! He also probably has autism. Or bpd. Or both… most likely both. I’m no psychologist though, so I can’t outright say he 100% has both of them.

He has two songs: Weakness & All Knowing And All Agony.

Weakness is catchy, but its MV is definitely what I think is the best about it. Very cool looking.

All Knowing And All Agony is catchy as well… significantly more then Weakness to me, but it’s MV doesn’t have much to show for it unlike Weakness. I like both songs a lot, though.

I think an innocent vote would benefit him more then a guilty vote.

02/Yuno Kashiki:

We’re only three character’s in and suddenly I need to state my opinion on abortion to properly talk about a character… I’m pro-choice, so my Yuno review will be biased in the direction that she’s innocent.

If it wasn’t already obvious enough, it’s highly likely her crime is abortion (unless we’re going with the “all the prisoners killed themselves and this is actually just the afterlife” theory, which is interesting but I’m taking this all more at face-value). Unlike the rest of the prisoners, she’s less of a “do you think her murder was justified” moral dilemma and more of a “do you think she’s a murderer” moral dilemma.

She doesn’t like being coddled and thinks it’s stupid that she got voted innocent in the first trial. I don’t have much to say on her personality, I honestly don’t care much for her… she’s a good character, just not my type.

She has two songs: Umbilical & Tear Drop.

Umbilical is catchy. I don’t have much to say about it.

Tear Drop is a better song than Umbilical. It has a good MV as well.

Any vote would benefit her, honestly. Of course I believe her to be innocent, but that doesn’t mean voting her in that direction would benefit her.

03/Fuuta Kajiyama:

He’s chronically online. I swear this is important to his character.

His crime was him cyberbullying some girl on twitter into killing herself. Yeah, uh… that’s why him being chronically online is important.

I find him a bit interesting since it’s clear he feels actual remorse for his crime. But he’s also in denial about it, none of his music videos showed his victim’s face and the first one didn’t show her at all. Anyways that’s all I can say about him right now, what I truly find most interesting about him is tied to another character and you need the context of said character to have it make sense.

He has two songs: Bring it On & Backdraft

I don’t like either of his songs much. The MV’s are okay though, Es got shown in Backdraft’s MV so it’s the better one.

His guilty vote in trial one did seem to benefit him, but I do think he deserves innocent votes.

04/Muu Kusunoki:

Her murder is just toxic and doomed yuri.

Her crime was killing her bully (but also the one she bullied?) with a box cutter. She’s one of the prisoners whose crime isn’t up for discussion, it was clearly shown in her trial one song.

She pities herself and originally showed herself to be a weakling who was bullied for no reason, but when she got an innocent vote she just quickly dropped her facade and showed who she actually was; a self-centered rich girl. But it would be very hard to fake a music video with how MILGRAM’s system works so I do genuinely believe she was bullied, she just was also a bully.

She has two songs: After Pain & It’s Not My Fault.

After Pain is a very catchy song, and I adore it. The MV is good as well.

It’s Not My Fault is also catchy, but After Pain is better. The MV is prettier than After Pain’s, though.

I have no opinion on what she should be voted.

As previously stated, I will not be doing 05/Shidou Kirisaki.

06/Mahiru Shiina:

Oh boy, do I have a whole bunch I want to say about her! I have no idea how much I will say about her, but there’s a whole bunch of thoughts about her in my head!

Her crime was most likely causing her boyfriend to kill himself because of a mutually toxic relationship.

She is obsessed with love and fashion, and not getting it when Es says they don’t care for love. But what I find the most interesting about her is the fact she is definitely suicidal (or I’m taking the things she says way too literally, but I really don’t care).

The one thing keeping her alive is love. Her love for her boyfriend, her love for love itself, her love for fashion, her love for everything! But she’s said multiple times that without love, she sees no point to living. It’s more painful to her to be told her love made her unforgivable than being incapacitated. She can’t see why anyone would think life is worth it to live without love. She doesn’t care about the kind of love, romantic, platonic, familial, it all is why she lives. If she doesn’t have that, then life is useless.

Anyways uh. She has two songs: This Is How To Be In Love With You & I Love You

TIHTBILWY is catchy with a pretty MV.

I Love You is also catchy with a pretty MV, but it says a lot more about her as a person.

I’ve listened to both her voice drama’s which means I can talk about her and Es’ relationship! Yippee!!

In Love Is Mine, her first voice drama, she’s a happy-go-lucky person who coerces Es into having more of a normal conversation then an actual interrogation, and gives plenty of information both about her and Es!

In Love Is (Un)Dead, her second voice drama, she’s much less cheerful after being incapacitated. She still believes being told her love is bad is worse than any sort of physical injury, though.

I think she deserves to be innocent.

07/Kazui Mukuhara:

His crime was probably being the cause for his wife killing himself. And that’s probably because he told her “I’m not actually into you, bye I’m gonna go kiss the bartender now!!!”

… okay uh. I don’t actually care for him that much so I don’t have too much to say about him but. He’s good at representing societal pressure/the problems with heteronormativity!

He has two songs: Half & Cat.

I cannot get myself all the way through Half. I’m sure it’s a great song but it’s so slow and the MV is so boring I can’t stand it.

Cat is catchy with a cool MV. I guess.

I don’t have any opinions on what he should be voted.

08/Amane Momose:

She was previously referred to in Es’ section and Fuuta’s section and now I get to talk about her yippee!

Her crime was killing someone for not following her values.

She’s an actual cultist! Just a straight up cult member. No metaphors when it comes to that, she’s just a cultist.

She’s the youngest prisoner, at 12 years old. She persists that she’s too small for her mind and she doesn’t wish to be treated as her age.

Okay let’s get to what I find really interesting: her dynamics with other characters.

Es; … okay so I haven’t actually listened to either of her voice dramas so I can’t speak on their actual dynamic BUT THE PARALLELS!!!! THE PARALLELS BETWEEN THEM!!!! I can’t find the words to express my thoughts about them but eueueuheueueue please trust the parallels I love the parallels

Fuuta: So this 12 year old may or may not have recruited a 20 year old man into joining a cult. Yeah uh… I think they’re cool though. 0308 siblings so real!!! Fuuta got hurt badly in trial two for the same reason as Mahiru and had to be treated by Shidou and Amane was not a fan of that for the reason below:

Shidou: Okay so I know nothing about Shidou but what I do know is Amane HATES him. Her cult opposes modern medicine and believes prayer is the true way to help people and giving them medicine/doing surgery on them/that kind of stuff is interfering with the gods’ plan for that human, and he’s a doctor. Must I say more?

Mahiru: Mahiru had to be treated by Shidou and, as previously stated before, she did not like that!! Yeah so the 12 year old may or may not also be trying to recruit a 22 year old woman into her cult and isn’t failing…

She has two songs: Magic & The Purge March.

Magic is a cute song at first but when you actually realize what the lyrics mean. Yeah, not very cute anymore is it? It’s catchy though and has a cute MV so I like it.

The Purge March is catchy. I mostly prefer Magic but I think the lyrics of The Purge March are more interesting.

Both innocent and guilty will make her worse, so vote whatever you want I don’t care.

09/Mikoto Kayano/John Kayano:

I… should not be allowed to speak on them. Not because I’m biased or anything, I decided I was allowed to talk about Yuno and I’m very biased when it comes to her, I’m just not a system.

“His” crime is mass murder. Specifically, John’s crime is, Mikoto is innocent and doesn’t remember doing anything like that.

Once again, I should not be allowed to speak on them so I won’t! Go ask a system who is a MILGRAM fan for information about them,. Or just look at the fandom wiki.

They have two songs: MeMe & Double.

I do not like MeMe.

Double, on the other hand, is very catchy and I love it.

You should vote based on if you think the host of a system should be charged for another alter’s crime.

010/Kotoko Yuzurihara:

She’s so pretty I want her so bad

Her crime was likely her vigilantism.

She’s the reason Fuuta and Mahiru were injured really bad but she’s pretty so it was fine! In all honestly I’ve listened to her audio dramas and watched her music video’s yet I still cannot form a proper opinion on her or explain her personality.

She has two songs: Harrow & Deep Cover

Harrow is fine. I don’t have much of an opinion on it.

Deep Cover is… also fine. Still don’t have much of an opinion on it.

She’s Es’ self-proclaimed “savior” and Es is very much an unwillingly “saved” person. She calls herself their “fang” and is just like “I mean, if you’re not gonna punish the guilty prisoners with being beaten half to death then I guess I have to do it myself!” (She only got to Fuuta and Mahiru before John beat her up when she tried to beat him up) (She got voted guilty trial 2 for this)

Vote her whatever you want, I once again don’t care.

Overall, MILGRAM is fine. You should listen to it if you want.

KonoSuba is average and doesn’t deserve its high rating.

Art/Animation: 5/10
It’s average. Nothing to say about it.

Characters: 6/10
I liked most of the characters! Megumin is my favorite, but I think Aqua is good as well. The MC who I forgot the name of is like any isekai MC, extremely forgettable and contributes little to the appeal.
But I rated the characters only a six because of the blonde one, who I also forgot the name of. She is the cause of all evil and I despise her… okay, maybe that’s an overstatement, but I don’t like her.
She’s a masochist, which already isn’t an enjoyable type of character ... most of the time in my opinion. But her masochism is the kind which gives me such horrible secondhand embarrassment I can’t stand it! If it weren’t for her, I would’ve rated the characters probably an 8, but she exists and ruins everything. I could barely get myself to finish the anime because of her.
Character designs are fine. Aqua is cute, Megumin is a bit basic but I still like it, and the masochist one who I hate has a good design that I think is the only enjoyable part of her. Oh, and the MC looks like every isekai MC ever, unsurprisingly.

Plot: 6/10
It’s forgettable but I liked some parts, like the whole cabbage thing and the part where Aqua is in a cage. It’s still mostly forgettable, though.
Turn your brain off and you’ll probably enjoy most of it.

Overall, this is a forgettable anime with some good scenes and a character who makes me want to rip my eyes out and my ears off just so I never have to see or hear her again. I think most people will find this much more enjoyable than I did.

I’m retconning my old review. This anime is great, actually, and my old review no longer holds up after I finally read the manga and paid proper attention to the plot.

Art/Animation:
9/10.
The 3D looks AMAZING. It’s mixed with 2D, which you probably won’t notice unless you pause on a specific frame, so that allows the animation to truly shine.
But I have one small complaint- the manga’s art is simply better. But I don't think what made it so great could be properly recreated in animation. The use of detail (or lack thereof) in the manga looks really good in my opinion, but you didn’t come here ... for a manga review. But simply, the anime couldn’t live up to the manga’s art, so only if someone didn't read the manga would there be no complaints.

Characters:
7/10
I adore how the characters were done. This is the only part I think was done better than the manga- in specific, character designs. They just look better in the anime’s art style.
I enjoy the character’s personalities as well, my favorite is definitely Cinnabar. I love how they portrayed them.
But I rated character’s an 7 because of something that technically doesn’t have much to do with the character’s themselves- rather, how they just CUT OUT GHOST QUARTZ! WHO IS REALLY IMPORTANT!
For those who have only watched the anime (you should read the manga btw it’s great), Ghost Quartz is a character who technically appeared before Padparadscha. The anime, for some reason, decided to cut out the part where Ghost was introduced and quickly skipped to Padpa. Once again, this wouldn’t be a complaint if this wasn’t adapted from a manga. While Ghost isn’t one of my favorite character’s, a character only introduced due to them is genuinely in my top five.
But there’s still all the other great characters! Especially Cinnabar. Cinnabar is the best character. I’m biased, but who cares.

Plot:
7/10
I won’t mention how they messed up the timeline by skipping two chapters, that was just talked about. Instead, I’ll talk about everything else! And this is where the retconning truly comes in.
My original review complained about how Phos didn’t learn to deal with their weakness (admittedly, this was originally in the character part, but I think it’s better to talk about it in the plot review), and rather simply got stronger. This no longer holds up with the context of the manga. And even with only considering was what in the anime, it still doesn’t hold up simply because they didn’t just “get stronger”, they were traumatized in order to get to the point they’re at.
And for another retcon, I actually quite like how early Antarc was killed off. I don’t hate them at all, but I think having someone actually show some care for Phos (excluding Diamond) and then just being taken while Phos couldn’t do anything was a great way to traumatize them!
A part I’m not retconning is that my favorite scenes are still the mutilation ones. Specifically the part where Phos gets their arms chopped off. That will always be my favorite scene just because of the fact that even though Phos decided they’d prefer to not have their arms chopped off just because they might get stronger ones, it still happened. They still lost their arms, because of that original want for them gone. And the ice floes pretty much just being their intrusive thoughts is even better! Maybe I like that part because I can relate to it in a way (the intrusive thoughts part. That’s what I relate to), or maybe I’m just a weirdo, but that scene changed me. Once again, I think this scene is great, and it’s yet another reason I believe people should watch this anime.
But then again, this plot kind of fails to be perfect without the context of things that haven’t been adapted into the anime.

Overall, please watch Houseki no Kuni, it will change you and I mean that in a good way. Or a bad way? It depends on the person.

For those curious, here’s my old review with some comments from current me. Also ignore how I spoke of the character’s with he/him, that’s what’s used in the official translation even if it’s not accurate:

This is one of the few anime’s I’ve actually finished, and it was worth it to finish.

Art/Animation: 9/10
I really like how the 3D looks, I was definitely hesitant to watch it at first when I realized it was 3D because past anime’s I’ve watched that weren’t 2D were… questionable, at best, but this surprised me with the quality! There were a few scenes where it looked questionable, but nothing that made me want to stop the series right there (I’m quite “sensitive” to quality in animation, so this means quite a bit!), so it’s easy to ignore those.
Note from current me: ??? I have no idea why I said I was sensitive to animation quality. I do not care as long as it’s watchable.

Characters: 8/10
I liked all the characters when we first met them, but… as the series went on, I couldn’t help but find myself a bit adverse to the changes in Phos’ character. When I was first watching it, I related quite a bit to how Phosphophyllite was weak yet still wanted to be a fighter, but I don’t like that he so quickly became “strong”… Instead of learning to deal with his weakness and cope with it, he just… became stronger. Maybe I’m misinterpreting this, though. But I do like basically everything else about the character’s personalities — I felt like all the characters were great.

Their designs definitely brought the score up, I loved how they looked! My favorite is Cinnabar for sure.
Note from current me: … yeah uhm. This is what I most retconned. I still do relate to the OG Phos, but I don’t mind that they became stronger. It makes sense.

Plot: 7/10
Major spoilers here, I will NOT be holding back with my opinions.
It started out great, I was hooked at the beginning. But I really do dislike the killing off of Antarc, I wish we got more time with him. The cliffhanger sucked for sure, but I don’t want to read the manga because it seems like it has a LOT of changing, and I don't like major changes (Perhaps that’s also why I dislike how Phos became strong…), so I have to deal with it.
For some more positives: Literally everything to do with Cinnabar was amazing (I could be biased, though. He’s my favorite.)! I genuinely enjoyed a lot of it — it felt as if the plot really worked with the characters, and like everything was just made with quality in mind! And this may be a little weird, but I think that Phos wanting to destroy their arms was a good part, I enjoy it when character’s want to do life-changing things to themselves, it keeps me intrigued.
Note from current me: Okay I know I didn’t retcon the favorite scene thing but could I have been a bit less edgy...? But hey I still do think the scenes with Cinnabar were all amazing!

Overall?
It’s a great anime to watch, though some people may not like it… It’s very deep (to me), and covers some heavier topics… But I do think if you can handle it, definitely watch the anime!
My original review had the “mixed feelings” thing. I changed that since yeah no I recommend this now.

A beautiful Manga with a few flaws.

STORY: 7/10

Compliments:
I don’t feel lost while reading it. This is a problem I tend to have, mangas make me feel lost while reading and I don’t understand what’s happening. But I could understand what was happening in Houseki no Kuni most of the time without problem. It shows everything clearly.
Angst doesn’t feel forced. Once again, a problem I tend to have. I tend to dislike angst because it feels weird and forced, but all my favorite scenes in HNK are the angsty ones. It doesn’t introduce it too soon or too late.
The foreshadowing is great. When you reread it, ... you notice all the details that foreshadow to what happens later (eg. Cairngorm being forced to wear cutesy clothes on earth, and then starts wearing cutesy clothes on the moon), yet those details are easily mistaken for being unimportant on your first read. It really feels great.

Complaints:
Feels kind of rushed past ~vol 8. It could definitely have benefited from focusing a bit more on what happened and giving us more scenes with the characters during the chapters closer to the end. I understand this is Phos’ story and it’s gonna focus on them, but would it have killed the author to give us more time with the others? Perhaps how Diamond became an idol? Or literally anymore time with other characters? Seeing actual cinnabort interactions would’ve been AMAZING.
Way too ambiguous towards the Lunarians true intentions. Perhaps this is a me issue, but it was impossible to figure out any sort of sense of if the Lunarians are liars or not. I enjoy morally grey characters, don’t get me wrong, but it was basically impossible to figure out anything about the Lunarians not stated.

CHARACTERS: 8/10

Compliments:
Character development never feels forced. Everything that happens to the characters doesn’t feel weird, and what happens to them affects them makes sense (eg. Phos’ hallucinations post winter arc)
Beautiful designs. Nothing much to say here, I just really like their character designs.
Enjoyable dynamics between the characters. Diamond and Bort’s relationship is my favorite, the envy Dia has and Bort not caring makes for a very interesting dynamic. Other notable dynamics are: Cinnaphos, Cairnphos, Cairnghost, basically any dynamic with Phos.
Cairngorm is one of the best written characters. I will die on the hill that post-moon Cairngorm is great. The reveal Cairngorm still had some Ghost Quartz in them and it was affecting their personality was amazing, and the way they changed after fit very well. Not caring for Phos anymore, dressing more uniquely, and being more feminine in general.

Complaints:
All of those great dynamics with Phos just get THROWN OUT AT THE END! None of them really care for Phos. The closest one to caring, in my opinion, was Cinnabar, since they felt guilty for… well, not caring. That’s more care than the rest of the former gems had, which says a lot!
Phos’ Antarc hallucinations are gone once the moon arc starts? They don’t get brung up again (if I remember right), for some reason.
The only Lunarian to feel properly fleshed out is Aechmea. The rest aren’t really too fleshed out… which annoys me, because they had great potential.
To properly understand the characters, you need to read the other HNK books… which don’t have official English translations. Understanding any of the post-transformation characters basically requires reading Party at The End, which I don’t believe has an official English version. You have to find an unofficial translation somewhere, which is frankly REALLY ANNOYING. And if you want to read it in any language that isn’t English or Japanese? Hah! Good luck finding a translation. This could be fixed if we just got official translations of the books.

ART: 10/10

Compliments:
Unique compared to most manga art styles. I really like how it looks, and how it isn’t exactly like the rest. It really fits HNK.
Simple when it needs to be and beautifully drawn when it needs to be. Some mangas have problems with having fitting art styles for scenes, and they refuse to be experimental. This manga does not have that problem.
How Diamond is drawn. That’s it. That’s all. I just REALLY like how Diamond is drawn.
Just… really well done.

Complaints:
I genuinely can’t think of any complaints.

Okay I have only read volume two (yes I am serious I haven't read volume one. Just volume two.), so take this with a grain of salt...

Oh my god its the best manga I have read. Its simple, an easy read, just small stories with the sillies... You don't even have to start at the beginning to enjoy it!! What more could you want from a manga!?

Okay, well... Perhaps its not the absolute best. There's a few problems:
Its a little too simple. It doesn't have much plot, you can really just read whichever chapter and you'll (probably) understand it, and while I personally like this ... I understand that plenty of readers won't.
Its not serious. At all. Once again, I like this quality of it, but it's not something all readers will enjoy.
And finally, the characters tend to feel one dimensional. They don't feel like there's much to them, and while that makes it a simple and calming read... That doesn't make it the best by a mile.

Overall, I adore this manga and believe more people should read it!! Criminally underrated!!

I’m only on volume two, so bear with me here… but oh my is this manga 10x better then I expected.
I picked out two volumes of it at the library, not expecting much (I was trying to get enough books to last me for at least a week), but I now need to read more volumes.

Story? 8/10
The story is nice, but a bit overused… I don’t have much to say about it.

Character designs? 9.5/10
It would be 10/10 but there’s this one character that I just hate his design. I forgot the name though… anyways, I love the way everyone else is designed. Especially how Iguin ... looks. I also like Agotts design a lot

Character personalities? 8/10
Im unsure of much about the characters, but I think the personalities are cool.

Art? 10/10
The art looks great. The amount of detail is amazing!! And I just like the art style!!

I think this is about what reviews should cover, so the end.

It’s a cute anime that’s nice for relaxing.

There’s not too much of a giant plot, it’s pretty relaxed, and the comedy is nice.
It doesn’t use embarrassing moments as comedy, which makes it a nice anime for people who get bad secondhand embarrassment but still want to watch a comedy.
It deserves a second season because it feels kinda… not completed. It feels like it was made for a second season!
The timing of the actual story can get a little confusing, but the story is still pretty intact.
The characters personalities do feel a little not unique, but I still feel like that the most important ones have ... good enough personalities.