Spoilers for the ENTIRETY of Land of the Lustrous !!
What does it mean to be "human"? Humans will carry out the most abominable of deeds in order to fulfill their goals—their seemingly genuine intentions contrasted by the cruel acts they partake in. This idea is reflected in our main character Phosphophyllite and their journey. Despite making many questionable decisions and mistakes, Phos' goals were well-intentioned—there's nothing inherently wrong with seeking the truth and wanting to change the flawed situation that everyone was forced into.
Phos follows many of the traits that define being a human: the almost child-like naivety at the beginning of the series, the unwavering sense of curiosity in search of the truth, the underlying desire to find heartfelt connections with others, and the fierce demand for vengeance as those you once cared for decide to forsake you. But in exhibiting traits of a human, everyone, Gems and Lunarians alike, treated Phos poorly for it, and in the end never got punished for it. Phos was neglected, Phos was manipulated, and Phos was anguished by the people Phos tried so desperately to protect. No one seemed to care about Phos up until the very end. Humanity seems to be painted in such a terrible light throughout the series—what was Ichikawa's intention for the story? Is Land of the Lustrous just a story about how much humanity sucks, that to exist as a human is merely just to suffer?
Naivety is a trait that is well-associated with the early years of any human life, and Phos is no exception. Phos at the start of the series is marked by their sense of innocence, something portrayed through their lack of any awareness, their out-of-nowhere self-absorption, but most of all: their always lacking self-esteem. Phos, for centuries, has been left without any role to fulfill and has been belittled for that fact, and this has caused Phos to feel a strong disconnect between themself and the other Gems. Phos has always wanted to branch out and be useful in some capacity, more than Phos themself is capable of, and as a result this feeds into Phos' inherently selfish desire. Phos is tested when they are actually given the opportunity to play a role: when given the task of making the encyclopedia, Phos is very reluctant and avoids doing so at every point, and when given the opportunity to fight, Phos freezes in fear. In spite of all that, Phos will still crave for change, a longing for something more than what they already have and are capable of doing. Even Phos' self-imposed task of finding a fun job for Cinnabar was mainly for themself (will go into this in more detail later)—even if well-intentioned at heart, it's a selfishness that can only really be called human.
Phos has always held onto the sophomoric thought of, "If I just tried this, everything will work out." This innocent belief is shattered when Antarcticite is taken away by the Lunarians as an indirect result of Phos' desire to change. Like we saw the last time with Phos' new legs freezing after the Amethyst twins were almost taken away, Phos' alloy arms work against them. Phos claimed outwardly that they wanted to help Antarcticite, but subconsciously Phos was fearful to take further action, and the alloy arms reacted to that thought.
Even after it became known to us, the reader, that every Gem had some level of suspicion towards Kongo, Phos was the ONLY one who had the impulse to delve into it, the only one who wanted to strive for something separate from the never-changing path that all the Gems were complacent in following for the rest of eternity. The addition of Lapis' head forms the bridge between Phos' desire to know more and the capability of being able to do so (and also makes for a really cool character design). It's what gave Phos the insight required to make those inferences, those leaps to judgement in order to alter the perpetual cycle that all the Gems were previously stuck in.
Isolation (and Cinnabar)
"If only you had simply asked to pair up, my answer would've been different"
Ironically enough, it's Phos' impotence that allowed Cinnabar to bond with the rest of the Gems on Earth, while Phos continued to become isolated from everyone else. Cinnabar's self-isolation was just that, a self-imposed isolation. Sure, Cinnabar's Mercury was dangerous to everyone and caused Cinnabar to feel ashamed of themself, but as we see later on (and this goes back to my previous point of Gems unwilling to find solutions at their own discretion), there are work-arounds to Cinnabar's condition such as the custom-made bed made out of obsidian for Cinnabar to sleep in with everyone else over winter. Through the common goal of protecting Kongo, Cinnabar was able to find their own purpose and form genuine connections with all of the other Gems back on Earth, thus unintentionally fulfilling Phos' promise of finding Cinnabar a fun job.
Phos is lonely in a way that is different from Cinnabar. While Cinnabar chooses to isolate themself from the others, Phos is lonely because very few, if any, of the other Gems choose to reach out to Phos despite Phos choosing to associate with the rest, and the few that were able to actually empathize with Phos were taken away to the Moon. When Antarc was taken, Phos suffered great mental anguish for it, but all everyone cared about were the new gold arms, and soon after Phos' second partner Ghost gets taken away. Everyone else, Gem and Lunarian alike, starts to use Phos, but Phos themself has nobody else depend on, resulting in them bottling up all of their intrusive emotions. Can you blame Phos for breaking down? Even the two Gems that Phos had the most faith in, Cinnabar and Cairngorm, attacked Phos. Of course that's not to say Phos didn't make mistakes, Phos has a plethora of those, but that doesn't justify the suffering that they endured over the course of the series because of it.
"The most human emotion is vengeance"
Humans, throughout all of history, have always been strongly linked to a strong sense of vengeance whenever conflicts arise. Being creatures of revenge, one of the primary go-to instincts whenever one feels they have been wronged is to reciprocate that feeling. Betrayal, anger, envy—these are some of the many emotions essential to the human condition that also foster vengeful emotions.
Everything Phos tried to do, even if good intentions, led to no positive results. Nothing they were doing was working, and only caused further harm to everyone around them. Consequently, Phos felt like they had no place to belong no matter what they did, a feeling that many humans experiences at some point. Out of desperation, Phos tried to do the only thing that they could think of: a peaceful deliberation with the Gems that Phos had once been fond of. Instead, this faith is forsaken as the Gems shatter Phos and tear Phos apart mercilessly. Indeed, it's this marriage of insecurity and betrayal in an environment that was so cruel to Phos that bred those vengeful emotions, that compelled Phos to want to give up on everyone that they once cared about.
Acceptance & Concluding Thoughts
All the way up to the end, everyone that surrounded Phos seemed to hold little regard for Phos. Phos tried to fix everyone's problems, yet Phos constantly found themself in a situation where they were pushed away by everyone with no one willing to help Phos. In the end, Phos was able to grant all of the wishes of the Lunarians and Gems by praying them away to nothingness, seemingly facing no consequences for how they treated Phos. In being a human, Phos seemingly got the most inhumane treatment of them all. This begs the question, was Ichikawa just trying to write an elaborate critique on humanity, shining humanity in what appears to be a negative light?
I don't think it's any secret that Ichikawa follows, or at least is heavily inspired by Buddhist ideologies. From the visual motifs to the thematic elements, many of the signs of a Buddhist story is there. A widely-used mantra practiced in Buddhism is the idea that "letting go will free oneself from suffering". In the end, Phos accepts their circumstances and all of the events that have occurred thus far and has thus moved on from the feelings of anguish and malice that they had once harbored towards everyone else. At the very end, Phos decides to stop seeking validation from others and instead find validation and love in their own self—an enlightenment and acceptance that took over 10,000 years for Phos to comprehend in spite of the many disgraceful actions that the Gems and Lunarians have enacted towards Phos.
After so long, Phos was FINALLY able to find solace and companionship within a handful of simple rock lifeforms and the powerless form of Kongo's brother. Despite being a faraway departure from the complexities that made up the Gems and Lunarians, it's the simplicity of these new life forms that allowed Phos to connect with them so much more intimately than Phos had ever done before with the Gems. Phos was finally able to find happiness after what seemed like an eternity of struggles and hardships. At the very end, the pure form of Phos, the one that was human from the start, was given a second chance to pursue a new, unfiltered life with the rock lifeforms—a sort of "rebirth", if you will. Returning to the initial question, I don't believe Land of the Lustrous was written to critique humanity in a negative way or to view human life as a form of suffering; rather, what I think Ichikawa was going for was to show to us, the reader, that living is in equal part suffering and contentment. It's true that a lot of the manga seems to demonstrate humanity in a light of havoc and misery, but I think the last several chapters showed us that there can still be good and purity within it all. There is no "good or evil" or anything so black and white in our world, and this applies to the Gems and Lunarians as well: they were only a consequence of the influences around them and the circumstances that the world handed to them. We're all insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe, so we should all live our best lives and find value in the things that are truly meaningful to us.
Credit to @ keroswikee on Twitter/X
