Happiness is found in erosion of the self. When the quest for meaning ends and all that is left is a quiet contentment for what you have in the now. When, in spite of all you've been through, you can cast your experiences aside and simply say "Now, let's play!"

Houseki no Kuni might not be for everyone, it might be just be one of these works that's a bit too niche for the general audience to the point of making many reader irrationally angry with its choices, especially in the later half of the series. But to those with the sensibilities to resonate with its themes of existentialism and the way it is handled through zen zen buddhism, this work is surely one that will leave a deep mark.

A review needs over 2200 characters to be posted on this site and to be perfectly honest, while this is the kind of work that deserves the kind of long winded deep analysis you can find in those 1h-2h video essays. Well for one this is not my forte and I also believe that such an inhenrently personal and philosophical work only requires a couple of vague words that can spark the reader's imagination and interest and let them come up with their own expectations and interpretations.

What I can say however, is that this series stands out for many reasons, and perhaps the most noticeable one being its art. Ishikawa has a style that is very unique in the way that she makes the absolute most out of very little. It is minimalist but jam packed with meaning. The mastery she has over black and white composition makes for trully breathtaking pages. Many of which it is hard for anyone to share for anything very quickly becomes as huge spoiler in this series.

Another way in which this manga stands out is its characters, mainly its protagonist Phos but everyone else as well. Phos is a character whose initial clumsiness and naivety makes very likeable which makes his evolution throughout the series a greatly divisive point amongst readers. For who is Phos really? Without going too much into spoilers, Phos is more than your typical protagonist who grows by surviving a bunch of tribulations. No, he's first and foremost the very personification of the ship of theseus in that the character is literally taken apart and made to be something else entirely as the series progress. Some will love him throughout despite the transformation while others will mourn the sweet innocent phos of the early chapters.
And that is fine because this is not a work that is made for everyone, it is made for Phos first and the author and master Ishikawa second.
And us? Well we're just in for the emotional ride and a whole lot of questions.

Go read Houseki no Kuni.