Reviews

How did I miss out on this when it was being published regularly and the anime first aired? It was only a few weeks ago (in the summer of 2023) where I was mindlessly scrolling through Instagram and came upon some shitpost highlighting "optimistic" and "depressing" anime/manga. You had your usual suspects- Gurren Lagann for "optimistic" and Evangelion/Berserk/Punpun for the "depressing"- but I noticed that this particular account had also included Land of the Lustrous (Houseki no Kuni) in the "depressing" field. Seeing the cover art, I was somewhat intrigued, leading me to the comments of the post and, lo and behold, someone is talking about how Land of the Lustrous could be summed up as just "pain".

They were right.

Without any spoilers, I'll give a quick review:

Land of the Lustrous/Houseki no Kuni is a reflection of the author's philosophical journey to find out what makes us human using characters that, despite looking human, are only partially so. In a somewhat-similar fashion to the popular "Berserk", the story (ironically) uses the lovable protagonist, Phosphophyllite or just Phos, to [very] thoroughly explore that idea. The use of the unique world building and character design being central to that idea of philosophical exploration and the incredible character development that these characters go through in the story is nothing short of stellar. I know the manga isn't technically finished, but it's on the last few chapters of the epilogue and I can already tell that it will resolve in a manner that leaves us, the audience, looking at and into ourselves if we haven't already. I strongly recommend this to anyone who wants not only a great story, but a deep dive into some tough, philosophical topics.

Easily a 10/10