Review of Land of the Lustrous

I came into Houseki no Kuni with zero expectations and was completely blown out of the water. I mean, a CG anime about diamond people in this day and age? What is this, waifu Steven Universe? All jokes aside, Houseki no Kuni is an absolute gem of an anime that deserves every shard of laud that comes its way. The world of The Land of the Lustrous is mysteriously fascinating. The viewer is given very little about the world every episode and it makes you hunger for more. Who are these crystal people, why are they here, why are they sought after? Tell me more,show me more, I want more. It's a very novel universe and feels fresh among the high school isekai battle harems that are flooding the anime market at the moment and that's what makes Houseki stand out so much.

Houseki has revitalized my interest in CG animation. We've watched shows fall apart with terribly lazy CG such as Berserk 2017 and lamented for more hand drawn remakes of such abominations. But Houseki changes the game. They didn't say "let's just use CG characters" they said "how can we use CG to make our characters" and they drew on it. The art is truly unique in the fact that they limit full CG to fight scenes and just use partial CG and normal hand animation for facial expressions to make the CG seem more natural, more anime and less jarring. It's a wonderfully new experience in my eyes and I hope other animators will continue in Houseki's art direction if they choose to use CG.

The OP at the end of the first episode is when I knew I had a hard on for this show. It fit so perfectly, came out of nowhere and sounds absolutely amazing. I was so excited for the rest of the series just based off of this one song. The rest of the soundtrack fits the show very well, from the operatic music of the Lunarians that are mysterious and terrifying to the many sounds of Phos, the sound direction of this show is phenomenal.

This show is a coming of age story and the only way to handle that is through great characterization and Houseki nails it on the head. Not only the way we see Phos grow and develop as a character but the characterization of so many different character remaining unique and memorable truly drove this show home.

So at this point we have an incredibly well built universe followed by a unique art style that WORKS, followed by an amazing soundtrack and voice acting topped off with incredible characterization. I'm gonna have to recommend this to any anime lover because of how phenomenal it is. Truly a hidden gem of the season.