Review of Land of the Lustrous

in these modern days when the anime industry is at its pinnacle peak as dozens of strange anime are being made based on either the manga or light novel counterparts. yes im talking about anime that features anthropomorphic characters. anime about animals and anime about blood cells they have them all and Houseki no Kuni is no exception. In fact, its rather an underrated gem (no pun intended) which fell under most peoples' radar just because they found out that it uses CGI animation. Now let me tell you why they are wrong. Land of the lustrous takes place in a strange world that isinhabited with genderless gems that can actually talk. The story tells us of a precious gem named Phosphophyllite, the main character who "works" along side with the other gems and their Sensei,the guardian and father figure of the gems whom he guides them in their daily lives with only one purpose; to defeat a group of Moon beings called Lunarians which always appeared in the sky sometimes very near to their residental places just to kidnap the gems for some apparent reason. In the first early episodes i found the premise of the plot very confusing as it didnt provide us adequate information on what the plot is actually about but after you proceed watching until the very end,you can realise that the story is a breath of a fresh air,something that seems to be rarely found in modern anime nowadays because its not only just about the daily lives of the gems but it also unravels the origins of the gems and has an overbearing sense of mystery which will keep you captivated until the end of the episode.

Now before you say " oh no its another CGI anime? look what happened to berserk 2016 are you telling me that i should give houseki no kuni a try?" well damn right you should as its artsyle and graphical animations are some of the most gorgeous ive ever seen in recent years. in fact i could proudly say that it if the anime participates in any animation awards, it will probably win which it actually did in the 2017 CG World Awards in the "Best Work in CG Animation" category. The battle animations are absolutely top notch i really enjoyed every single moment of it they are so fluid and polished its like im watching a cinematic cutscenes of a video game! that doesnt include on how vibrant the world of houseki no kuni is from the animated grass fields to the environments as a whole. there is a reason why it was nominated in many animation category awards and you know what? it totally deserves it.

The tranquill osts of the anime really captures the setting and the characters where at one moment you feel the sense of calmness as the gems gazed into the beautiful environments monologing their curiosities about themselves and the world around them while in other moments you can grapse the ambience of epicness when the gems are fighting with the Lunarians in the sense that it actually creates some sort of balance with the right usage of the music. I could say the same with the openings and endings especially the intro which does a splendid job representing the struggles of the main character trying to comprehend the world around her.

Perhaps the strongest selling point would be the characters themselves especially in terms of the main character's interaction with the other gems. You got Phosphophyllite which has the lowest hardness according to the Mohs Scale (measurement of qualitative ordinal scale characterizing scratch resistance of a particular mineral/gemstones) compared to her (i had to used "her" as although the gems are genderless,their voice actors and body figures resembles that of a female so yeah) other friends but at the same time behaves like a hyperactive child wanting to show to her growth and maturity to her friends which she fails miserably as she always puts herself into trouble resulting in many unforseen accidents from being kidnapped by the lunarians to letting one of her comrades to be in various vulnerable situations. At first you may find her annoying,constantly boasts herself that she can do anything despites her being the weakest and the most fragile of them all but as the series progresses you will realise that her characterisation will drastically improve as she experienced occurings that teaches her the harsh and brutal reality in front of her eyes. While she maybe had that kind of personality at the begining but i actually found her really cheerful,a happy go lucky girl which she always embodies a smile in my face. That is how massive her level of character development is.

Moving on to the side characters is also something that i have to praise to the animators for actually creating characters that blends really well in their world. Its one of the few anime out there that potrays the side characters not just being you know side characters that dont contribute any subtle or meaningful happenings to the show but here we have Dia (a diamond gem) probably the side character that i love the most and she is absolutely adorable i feel like i wanted to hug her! However he struggels seems to be different compared to the MC as her characterization in general is to proves to the one she loves,her best friend Bort that she can take care of herself which i think something that i appreciate. Other characters while not being that crucial to the overall plot also had their own distinguishable personalities to carry their own weight.

In a nutshell, whether you are offended to the fact that the characters are genderless despites being gemstones or not, Houseki no Kuni is definitely worth the watch. Although it had some minor flaws which could influence the enjoyment of many viewers, i really recommend this anime to almost every anime fan out there. from the beautiful CGI animations to the well rounded plot to how fantastic they incorporated the chemistry between the characters, its another one of those "anime that features humanized characters" genre that you should place in your watch list. overall i give it a 9.3/10