Review of Land of the Lustrous

Note: I have not read the source material (manga), so this review will be based on the anime alone. The only word I could use to describe the world of Houseki no Kuni (Land of the Lustrous) is “bizarre”. It certainly takes an amazing amount of imagination and a dose of craziness to come up with an unique world like this, but I can’t help but feel that this is also exposed as the anime’s weakest point. It took a lot of time and effort to explain even the basics of how the world works, and even then the world feels difficult to understand. This isnot helped by the fact that unlike sci-fi or fantasy worlds based somewhat on reality, the viewer can’t populate the background of Houseki no Kuni with activity. It's just a barren world that is hard to believe in.

This overly simplified world is contrasted with a huge ensemble of mostly forgettable characters, often appearing for only a few seconds at a time. This is not helped by the fact that they have long and convoluted mineral/gem names, making them even less memorable. When a character is promoted to the center of the story, they feel as if they serve no further purpose than to forward the plot, and (with the exception of one) become irrelevant within two episodes. The main character Phos is the only one with any semblance of development, but while its shift from from beginning to end is striking, barely anyone else mattered.

The ending is obviously incomplete. While there is a nice connection to the beginning, ultimately it shows you the door to its manga continuation more than anything remotely satisfying.

It's a unique story for sure, but as a whole I don't feel like it's gone anywhere in these 12 episodes, and an overall disappointment.

The art of Houseki no Kuni is marked by its generous use of 3D animation, which is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it presents the textures and reflections of the gems very well, and makes for some VERY dynamic fight scenes, but on the other hand, facial expressions and tiny movements (such as head tilting) feels rigid and unnatural.

That said, this is still probably one of the best and most extensive use of 3D animation I’ve seen so far, and it would be hard to imagine some of the scenes (especially towards the end) without it. But I wouldn't rate it as an unmitigated success -- whether or not it's good is still pretty much up to personal tastes.

The OP and ED are nice, memorable tunes that aren't too generic, but it's the OST and insert songs that shine here. There's an varied selection of styles, and many of the tracks fit the mood of the scene nicely.

In the end, Houseki no Kuni is a puzzling anime for me: Puzzling world, puzzling story, puzzling characters, and a lot of it remains unresolved till the end. I would suppose the Manga would provide a lot of answers to my questions, but as a non-manga reader, it's hard to give it a more satisfactory score until the second season is out.