Intro~

After several years of this anime sitting in my "plan to watch" list, I finally decided to give it a shot. Now, I was aware of this anime's existence since its release and I did hear some good stuff about it but I wasn't aware of just how good it really was and let me tell you that I am now angry at myself for not watching this show when it was at its peak popularity. In this review I'll elaborate on why I left this show untouched for so long and why I loved it (both content-wise and visually). Before I start, however, I do want to warn you of some spoilers but, I’ll let you know when that is so you can skip ahead to the next paragraph.

◆What's so special?◆

Now, why didn't I watch this anime if I knew about it and heard some great comments? Well, at the time, I started to distance myself with anime (both due to schoolwork and lack of interest). I did watch a few here and there but nowhere near the amount I consumed in my earlier days. Furthermore, I didn't plan on watching this when I first laid my eyes upon this; I wasn't really into the art style and I had an idea of what kind of anime this could be (I thought it would be more slice-of-life/slow burn kind of stuff that I'm not really into) so I just let this one go. But then... I started seeing this on my [social media] feeds and as the season went on, I saw more and more of it with consistent positive feedback. Eventually, I gave in thinking "it's probably good, it does have a cool concept, I guess I'll try it out." But it wasn't until recently that I started getting back into anime again. "But why did you pick this out of the 150+ anime on your list?" you may ask, well sometimes something just sticks out and is calling your name for no reason at all and Houseki no Kuni was one of them. I didn't really have a lot of information on this and I didn't have too much of a predisposed opinion or expectation, so I thought "why not? If not now, then when?" and I'm so glad I did.

◆Love, love, love◆

Alright, now we're at the most exciting part of this review or at least it is for me. Let me start with the visuals. Honestly, I wasn't really excited by the character designs and this is purely just my opinion. However, one thing I truly love and appreciate about this show is its use of 3d animation. Let me just state that I hate, absolutely hate nearly everything and anything 3d. This show, on the other hand, did an amazing job with the 3d work. Not once was I distracted, and really it was quite the opposite experience for me. I’d forgotten that the show was nearly completely composed of 3d rendering and I think this is the case thanks to the unique character designs. Because they aren’t supposed to be human, rather they’re gems and minerals, it’s quite less jarring to see the smooth texture on the models. And thanks to those models, Houseki no Kuni created many fun-to-watch dynamic action sequences. Furthermore, I loved how this anime was able to create an environment that wasn't too overwhelming or boring by utilizing the whole island (interiors of the home, the grassy fields, sea, and sky) as well as the different seasons and time of day to create a familiar but different setting.

On top of the stunning and unique visuals are the characters, including the protagonist Phosphophyllite (I would skip the rest of this paragraph if you haven’t watched Houseki no Kuni and don’t want to be spoiled). Now at first I wasn’t really hooked on this mc because I’m just not a fan of the naive and clumsy character trope. But, as the show progressed, Phosphophyllite grows

Spoiler, click to view

into a hardened and strong fighter after suffering from loss after loss which makes me rethink the character’s past as more endearing. However, glimpses from their more playful past are seen on several occasions, unlike many mcs in anime who completely change personalities after experiencing a tragedy.

Other characters are also quite enjoyable as well. While they do embody typical character tropes, they aren’t completely flat and boring.

Spoiler, click to view

Diamond isn’t a damsel in distress nor do they get upset at Phosphophyllite or Bort when they partner up. Bort isn’t just an angsty, lone wolf; they’re surprisingly open to helping others improve their fighting and they give insightful tips to better themselves.

The characters have their own motives and reasons for why they do what they do, such as Rutile, and act the way they do, like Yellow Diamond.

My final reason for my new-found love of this show is the nice balance of calmness, comedy, world-building, and action. Although I do admit that I found the majority of eps 1-3 a little slow or boring, it obviously wasn’t enough to put me off and they did have their fair share of surprisingly hilarious and cool moments. Looking back at it, it was a nice setup for Phosphophyllite’s character development that occurs later on in the anime.

Final note...

Although this anime’s been over for a while, I still have many unanswered questions. And, with the amount of enjoyment I had with this anime, I’ll definitely be visiting the manga to read what happens next. I hope that whoever’s reading this takes it as a sign to watch this criminally underrated anime and spread the word if you like it!