Review of Land of the Lustrous
Who says that 3D CGI is dead... Houseki no Kuni is some of the few promising fully 3D CGI animes that lives up to it's CGI work, sure almost every work from Polygon Pictures and the few from SANZIGEN in LA's point of view has also done it, but Houseki no Kuni undoubtedly made waves in it's incorporation with it's 3D CGI to beautiful and fluid degrees. LA already raving on it's CGI, Houseki no Kuni's plot is also nicely blending in both it's character development and evolution with it's interesting world building that Houseki no Kuni's world is placed in, that of a world wherecrystallized humanoid beings called Gems inhabit the world whilst Lunarians "break" those Gems. Phosphophyllite or Phos voiced by Tomoyo Kurosawa is a fragile Gem where she encounters Cinnabar voiced by Mikako Komatsu and makes it her goal to find a job better than the night watch for her, as Cinnabar being a substance made of mercury making her a self-made loner due to her toxic substances around her.
Houseki no Kuni explores both it's mysterious world as well the character development of the Gems in the process be it relational issues to character evolutions mainly coming from Phos but all those characters and plot lurks a secret...
LA will say this at the very least, as much as Phos early on is a nuisance and careless dreamer due to Phos' fragility as a Gem, Phos gets some of the best development in the series being the main character and all and this comes in the form of something unexpected that just utterly shatters Phos' perspective of the world Phos is in, changing Phos into a more headstrong and stoic yet having bouts of existential crisis about the situation and events that latter befalls Phos and those around Phos that you can't help but sympathize with Phos and see how much Phos has grown for the better or worse.
In terms of the rest of the cast, they have their own quirks here and there as typical of an ensemble cast, from Bort voiced by Ayane Sakura as the utterly stoic badass with little emotions, Alexandrite voiced by Rie Kugimiya, the Lunarian fanatic, Jade voiced by Ayahi Takagaki the tsundere and Rutile voiced by Yumi Uchiyama the doctor of the Gems but has a penchant for dissecting things and LA's favourite Gem Diamond voiced by Ai Kayano, probably the only Gem that stood by Phos early on and all of Phos' hijinks good or bad. For the characters themselves, they have a sense of relevance as the plot needs them to, comedic relief or not, but in the case of actual plot relevance, then Cinnabar, Bort, Diamond, Rutile and Sensei voiced by Joji Nakata, the Gem's Master and the only human character to have the most plot significance.
Now as for the world building in Houseki no Kuni, thta comes in the form of Phos exploring the world and the plot subtlety tells of these world building elements from the smallest such as how Gems are born to larger more interesting ones mainly of the belief of the three species of "flesh, bone and soul", "flesh" being the Admirabilis representing the wildlife but in it's most early life form...like...slugs but could also represent the sea, "bone" being the Gems themselves but could also represent land and the "soul" which are the Lunarians but also "skies". Phos befriends all three of them and though little hints about the world are told through exposition from other Gems, LA's most interesting element of Houseki no Kuni's world building is that of the "flesh, bone and soul" and what this has to do with Sensei...nonetheless world building was done spectacularly and "almost' seamlessly and made LA engross into it's world like world building is suppose to.
The animation, done by Orange as LA aforementioned utilizes it's 3D CGI in such detail and precision that it's seamless and fluid at the same time, the 3D CGI that even lends itself to with it's battles are just amazingly done, from the simple shine of the Gems, to the quick fluid battles of the Lunarians and the Gems are just amazingly done. From the simple backgrounds to the great 3D CGI work on the Gems that almost makes the Gems look like Gems as they shine and sparkle to heck even getting FUR done well, LA can't praise the 3D CGI work that Orange has done enough and the great attention to detail in utilizing it's 3D CGI to it's fullest potential.
The voice acting is no slouch either gathering a variety of veteran and well known voice actors, from Rie Kugimiya, Mikako Komatsu, Kanae Ito, Ayane Sakura, Ai Kayano, Joji Nakata, Mariya Ise, Yumi Uchiyama, Saori Hayami, Maaya Uchida, Mamiko Noto, Ayahi Takagaki, Romi Park, Chiwa Saito and Tomoyo Kurosawa as the main protagonist Phos and ohh boy does LA need to priase the ever living heck out of Tomoyo Kurosawa's performance as Phos as she did an AMAZING job as Phos, from the energetic but naive to the stern and serious all with her own little quirks about her that just made Phos Phos. If there was an MVP to Houseki no Kuni's voice work then it easily goes to Tomoyo Kurosawa...with Ai Kayano following in second.
With all the amazing praise LA is giving Houseki no Kuni, is there any flaws to Houseki no Kuni itself?, well if LA HAD to nitpick then it would be that if you don't like some of the Gems especially when it comes to Phos, Bort and maybe Diamond then it could be a problem, especially with how Phos just brings misfortune every time Phos does something but that defense can be settled from Phos' character evolution but that doesn't kick in until almost past halfway through the anime. Bort and Diamond is a different situation altogether and more or less picking sides and LA will be unbiased and leave it at that. The only other thing would be that Houseki no Kuni itself leaves itself open to a "read the manga" style ending giving us huge plot points still not told with that secret only growing larger and larger, so yeah the finale is your typical "read the manga" ending but LA wouldn't say that utterly defects the anime as a whole in this case as the ride in Houseki no Kuni's world and it's characters were a great experience and sure a non conclusive ending is annoying but nonetheless...
Houseki no Kuni is another 3D CGI anime that shows off what 3D CGI can really do and gives us it in beautiful spades and Houseki no Kuni did just that, sure Houseki no Kuni's characters might give discourse but that of good kind but even with that, the anime's world building and it's character evolution of Phos as a character made Houseki no Kuni something definitely solid as an anime (no pun intended) even if it gives us a non conclusive ending, it's one of those anime that LA can say to ignore the "ending is paramount" even though LA WANTS to know more after watching the finale.
Houseki no Kuni is a shining beacon to what an anime done in fully 3D CGI can be done to it's fullest potential and what it's capable of...