The Theseus Paradox is a famous thought experiment, related to the voyages of the famous Greek hero Theseus. The main question it raises is that:

"When the Ship of Theseus needed repairs, most of its parts were replaced, and the parts that belonged to the ship originally are few in number. Is it still the same ship?"

Land of the Lustrous, a seinen manga by Haruko Ichikawa, raises this very question as one of the central conflicts of the story. Does this manga succeed in its attempt to answer this question, or does it miserably fail? That is going to be one of the subjects of this review. I say "review", but to be frank, this is more of a recommendation post. I'll be going over the story, the characters, and the artwork, attempting to convince you to pick up this manga.

STORY:

Crystalline lifeforms known as "The Lustrous" are living on the Earth in peace with their master. A species from the moon, the Lunarians, attack the Earth periodically in order to take gems to their planet and make them into jewelry. All of the Lustrous are assigned specific functions like battle, reconnaissance and medical care. All except for one lone Gem, the weakest and most brittle out of all of them, Phosphophyllite. Phos is not satisfied with this, and keeps pestering the master Kongo to give them a function to carry out. He eventually assigns them with the task of compiling an encyclopedia, which they deem as a useless and boring tasks. This task brings them in contact with Cinnabar, a gem who carries out the night watch and cannot get close to the other Gems due to the venom they emit from their body. Phos is touched by their plight and promises to find a job that they can do, which will be much better than the night watch.

This promise may seem basic, but it sets in motion a chain of events that, by the end, makes this manga completely different from when it began. The story is quite well paced and gripping, making you not want to put it down until you have read every single chapter. The mysteries are well-established, and the reveals are honestly some of the best executed examples I have seen in this medium. Overall, the story is fantastic, and it excels in what it attempts to do, which is acting as a means to showcase the main character and their journey.

CHARACTERS:

The characters are the strongest suit of this manga. It boasts one of the best-written protagonists I have seen in anime and manga. Phos undergoes some of the best development in the medium to such a point that their character at the end is indistinguishable from what they were at the beginning. This goes back to the main question that this manga poses: The Theseus Paradox. As Phos is brittle, their body breaks often and eventually, some of their body parts cannot be regenerated, which means that they have to use other materials to replace those parts. Every single time a body part is "chipped out", Phos loses some of their memories. The loss of these memories coupled with the replacement of the body parts provides an interesting dilemma — has Phos become a different person at the end due to these phenomena, or were they always this person, deep down?

The supporting cast is also very well realized. Characters like Cairngorm and Diamond are all fantastically written and serve their purpose well. Kongo is also a great character, and the build-up to the mystery of his character is done well, as is the reveal and the development of his character. The Lunarians are great antagonists, however, I cannot get into specifics because of spoilery reasons.

A main theme I see in most of the characters in Land is that of "freedom". Phos wishes to be free to battle against the Lunarians and contribute to the Lustrous. Cinnabar wishes to be free of the Night Watch and the poison which is more of a curse than a blessing for them. Diamond wishes to be free of their overbearing and overprotective partner Bort. These are just a few examples out of many, including the Lunarians and Kongo (cannot get into how freedom ties into their characters because of spoilery reasons). However, as Phos changes, so does their goal, going from "freedom" to something else entirely. This also plays into how they gradually become different from the other Lustrous.

Another main theme is transformation. The obvious example is Phos, with their "transformation" in both the physical and mental sense being the most drastic one in the story, but the other Gems also undergo certain changes to their mental state. The best example of this would be Cairngorm and their struggle with what their true purpose is.

Anyway, like I stated before, the characters are the best thing about this manga, specifically Phos. Read this manga for Phos' character, if nothing else.

ARTWORK:

The artwork is fantastic. It has some of the best paneling in manga, and the minimal usage of lines actually works in the manga's favour. I'm not going to linger on the topic, as I think the images I have provided speak for themselves.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Land of the Lustrous is a masterpiece. It has a gripping plot with enthralling mysteries ensured to make you keep turning the pages, one of the greatest protagonists the medium has to offer with some of the best character development, a stellar supporting cast who are all distinct and serve their roles well, and, to top it all of, fantastic artwork. The only problem is that it is currently on hiatus, which sucks. Besides that, it is perfect.

Do yourself a favor and read this manga.