Anime Review: Land of the Lustrous

Along with literally everybody else in the anime community, my 'appreciation' for DGI in anime (or in general matter of factually) is tentative at best. A lot of the times, CGI takes away from the enjoyment of a series because o its jarring, in your face rigidity that takes a good bit to look past. Not to mention those often awkward CGI incorporation to regular 2D animated shows. But with the end of the 207 anime year (over two months ago, I know) CGI is getting its own kind of recognition in the form of an amazing show!

Housei no Kuni, Kingdom of Gems, or Land of the Lustrous is a great big fat ol step in the right direction for CGI animes in the future. The lst best on being compared to maybe Ajima which, while a good show, its animation left much to be desired. Housei no Kuni the anime is an adaptation of a manga of the same name that aired in the fall of the 2017 anime season. The anime is a thought provoking drama/action with character conflicts similar to Girls Last Tour and Rakugo season 2. All three of these shows were contenders for anime of the year, by the way, so let it be known that its a good show.

For a brief summary, Land of the Lustrous is about 28 immortal anthropomorphic agender gems and their guardian of sorts named Kongou sensei (also Adaminte meaning literally unbreakable) as they live on the last  piece land left on Earth, a small secluded island in the middle of the ocean, fighting off the moon people, or lunarians, who try to come down and steal away the gems. Our main character is the youngest gem of about 78 years named Phosphophylite, or Phos. All the gems have an assignment given to them to help assist in their life on the island. Many are fighters due to their high hardness, while others are doctors, sewers, carpenters, blacksmiths, etc. Phos, however, is too clumsy to create and too brittle, with only a hardness of 3, to fight. And thus, our story begins with little eager but lazy Phos receiving her assignment. To make an encyclopedia.

This is the premise of the show, a post apocalyptic world with only nonhumans left. The gems rely solely on one another and their sensei, and though they can't die, they can break. When the gems break they can be put back together but if they loose any part of themselves, they loose memories and most of the time, cannot be fixed. They can try to add on other gems or try to find a gem to add on, but this is usually lucky for it to be compatible with their bodies. Some gems that were stolen to the moon left behind shards and pieces of them like this.

As the show follows Phos and her journey to find herself a better purpose than to make an exyclopedia about a place they know virtually everything about, we delve into her psyche and the way she thinks as well as enter into some of the turmoils of the other gems. Phos begins as a naive and smartmouth youngster with no real idea about her world. As she searches more and more, she notices more, and she changes. A recurring problem with all of the gems, not just her, is finding there place on their small island. None of them wish to be useless and all of them want to protect each other. Many gems live on the island with the guilt of having let one of their partners die. They each find their own purpose, a lot of the times in loss, or suffer in their search for one to be helpful. Phos exemplifies the insecurities of the others as she herself changes and suffers in result of her search.

With such a large cast of characters, this could be expected to be one of the lower parts of the show, but most of the characters are given some sort of imitative. Their are many that are far more prominent than others, of course, but all of them have a personality of some kind. The ones with the least are shown the least. No problem of the gems is ever immedianlty solved and can really only be solved by the gems themselves and changing who they are, and how they think.

Some might be put off because of the show being entirely in CGI, but I implore EVERYONE to watch at least one episode so that you'll be able to see what CGI can do when used right. I was actually really turned off with the idea of a CGI show but was bored one night and watched it. I didn't stop until I finished. With the use of CGI, the camera angles are utilized and used as a major point of animation in the show. The fight scenes are easy to follow and very clear because of CGI as well. While fight scenes in well animated shows are usually fast, artistic and articulate, fight scenes in Land of the Lustrous are clear and vivid. Originally the show was going to be in 2D, but because of the refraction of the hair and eyes of the gems, it would've taken a long time. This problem is fixed amazingly well in the CGI because now the hair is programmed to be all unique, in place, and shiny.

The music in the show is quite nice as well. The entire show is religiously influenced by Buddhism and this theme is also apparent in the music of the series. Its all quite nice and fits the atmosphere of the show. Songs played during fight scenes fit while songs played during slow, thought thinking scenes fit as well.