Review of Land of the Lustrous
This review DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS for the anime, and this review is based off of only an anime-watcher perspective Figuring out where to start when talking about this show is tough. Land of the Lustrous showed up on my radar thanks to a friend's profile picture catching my interest, leading me to take a look into the show. The CG was offputting at first, but I was willing to give it a go, which was easily one of the best decisions I've ever made. The story starts off very slow, introducing each of the colorful members of the cast you'll unfortunately not learn that much about,aside from a few key characters such as Diamond or Bort or Cinnabar. However, this is an issue mostly remedied by reading the manga, as I believe 12 episodes was the show's biggest hinderance. Phosphophyllite is easily one of the best written characters I've had the pleasure of watching. The idea of "is something really the same as it was before if you replace every part" shines through in this show, and it resulted in such a well written character. Watching the last episodes as Phos tries to come to terms with Kongou-sensei potentially hiding a more sinister secret, or how everyone else is trying to cope with this same idea and hiding it behind a veil of acceptance is a strong way to end off the season, if only it kept going. One of the roughest parts of this production is the 12 episode limit, as I stated before. It results in a lot of the side characters not getting the same development they would, and most tragic of all, Antarcticite not having enough time to be developed for their death to be nearly as impactful as it should've been, considering how Phos changes afterwards. To try and close off this review without rambling more, I'll give my thoughts on each section relative to the anime.
Story-8/10
I wanted to put the story higher but after reading the manga, the adapted story in the anime really doesn't compare to how insane the manga's story is. Another issue I have is that the anime ended off at a very odd point, not staying fully true to what happens in the manga, but its a minor complaint as there wasn't a very good ending spot if they took it one for one.
Art-10/10
Easily the best part of the anime adaptation, Studio Orange blew this out of the park. If for some reason you are reading this far and still haven't watched it yet because of the CGI, I strongly recommend just powering through 2 or 3 episodes, it will grow on you eventually. Not much to add to the conversation outside of what has already been said, its just stellar.
Sound-10/10
Something the manga could never compare to is the OST, which is also very well done. The tracks all fit their situations perfectly, and deepen each scene. Standouts are the opening theme which does a good job matching Phos in the anime, but sure doesn't fit if you look at the manga, as well as the haunting theme of the Lunarians, which has a calm but terrifying feeling when you hear it.
Character-8/10
Phos is the sole focus of the anime, and everyone else gets put to the side due to time constraints. Phos has excellent character writing, and only gets better as the show goes on, but unfortunately anime-onlys dont get the same depth for some of the side characters.
Overall-10/10
This show means a lot to me personally, its the first thing I say to anyone who asks for a recommendation without a second thought, no matter what the person's tastes are as I feel this show is easily enjoyable by anyone. There are flaws with the anime's adaptation, but I couldn't have asked for a better production considering how much wider it made the reach of the series to a new audience. If you get into the series through the anime, I strongly recommend continuing the manga in the chance that a season 2 never happens, or takes a painfully long time to come out. Also feel free to check out my review on the manga, which touches on things a bit differently