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.
