Review of Land of the Lustrous

I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did. This show is ultimately about the human internal struggle, but represented in literal symbols for characters. There's an element of horror in this that is unmatched by anything I've seen before. I must also allow a note that I have not read the manga (yet?), so my review is based solely on watching the anime blind. The art direction is super solid. 3D animation is usually skipped away from in anime, and more preferably used as a backup tool, but Orange uses Land of the Lustrous to take complete advantage of it. At times, the3D models do look a bit stiff and uncanny, but overall it really works in the favor of the story. The way the gem hair is textured and animated is absolutely delightful in particular! The lighting and art direction is wonderful too.

Sound direction is solid too, and I have to point out that specifically during a certain arc, the sound design works in favor of the eerie story progression. The voice acting is fantastic. The entire soundtrack is on Spotify, which is how I actually became finally motivated to try the show itself. The track Sunspot, the theme of the enemies in the show, is chilling and is easily the most memorable song. Both the opening and ending song are beautiful and grew on me quickly.

The characters are a mixed bag for me. Half of them seem to be obnoxious 'anime archetypes', but the other half show promising nuance and agency. My favorite character, Bort, is a battle-obsessed demon who cannot communicate their emotions openly, which I found very enjoyable and endearing. Phos is a very fascinating and human character, who the audience will find no trouble relating to once the story starts to kick up it's pace.

The show in general is very compact. My only true nitpicks lie with small strange things in the story itself, but those quirks can be attributed to the original writer being...possibly questionable. The relationship between the Master and the Gems can be seen as borderline weird, in which it can switch to being sweet and interesting, to possibly reflecting something off about the creator's own views. Also, there's a few ridiculous jokes, and there's times I swear when the animators intended for some shots to be sexualizing. Not funny!

All in all, it's just a good show. Nothing super groundbreaking, and it definitely feels like the manga could contain more context... I'll have to check it out.