Land of the Lustrous goes on the list of shows I regret not watching sooner. Despite a few hang-ups with character development, I found it to be great.
So, the CGI put me off for a long time and it might have been even longer if I hadn't committed to a yearly watchlist. There are a lot of little details to appreciate with the style: the way that light reflects characters' hair onto their clothes, small movements used to further sell a joke or sentiment and various special effects like water/liquids.
3D space also makes more elaborate camerawork much easier to pull off and Land of the Lustrous often takes advantage of that. The part where this was most apparent for me was during a chase scene in the school where a character was being pursued by a monster.
Sound design really stands out, the characters all sound how they look which is awesome. The gemstones' footfalls all sound appropriately solid and rocky, slimy things are all goopy and floofy things are literally clouds with legs.
The OST has a distinctive Asian quality to it; they've incorporated many traditional instruments which pair nicely with the themes and visual design. The Master and the Lunarians both look distinctly Buddhist which, looking back, is actually a pretty big hint to the mystery surrounding the two. OP and ED are nice although I don't think either will enter my rotation.
Everything the gemstones do is in relation to the Lunarians, beings from the moon who attack and abduct gemstones for unknown reasons. Everyone has a job whether it be defense, recon, research or fashion design. This is not the case for Phosphophyllite, the youngest of the lot at 300 years old. Phos is a bit of an outlier in that they bungle every position they get assigned to in one way or another. A good portion of the season is devoted to showing viewers these bungles and Phos' frustration (and apparent indifference) with themself. Near the end, things shift and the story focuses more on the mysteries of the world with Phos determined to uncover them. Overall, it felt very much like it was establishing the main character and not much else. Of course, this is a partial adaptation so that's to be expected and what's here is still a great set up, just know that you will be left with a couple of unanswered questions by the end. What was all that slug queen business?
The worst thing I can say about the supporting cast is that Bort's VA overdoes it a bit, the character themself is just what you'd expect from a super serious warrior type. What frees them from the shackles of cliche I think is their relationship with Diamond; Dia is the cute and cuddly to Bort's rough and tumble. Being only a single cour I wasn't expecting everyone to be super fleshed out, and while Phos understandably gets the most attention, humor and feelings of affection are used to great effect toward hinting at character personalities and backstories.
Before delving into Phos, I'd like to add that exposition is thankfully kept to a minimum. Other than benefitting the story it's trying to tell, it made for a much more enjoyable watch.
I'm devoting the last big bit of this to the main character, because while I do like them, there were a few things that irked me. Since the show didn't adapt everything a lot of what I say might be refutable which I'm actually hoping for because I really don't want to dislike Phos.
Firstly and most prominently throughout: Phosphophyllite is very inept and lazy and rude. No big whoop as far as anime protagonists go, and the show calls it out all the time. My issue with this particular portrayal of these traits is that they're lingered on for longer than is necessary in my opinion. Those bungles I mentioned earlier are many, and Phos starts to come off as less quirky and more abrasive over time. Now, even without having read the manga this might be explained by them being immortal and also a literal gemstone but the viewers are all human beings. Thinking about it, there's this scene where Phos asks what death means. This hints at their and the rest of the community's understanding of the concept so perhaps I shouldn't be too harsh. Even with that in mind however, it does make the show difficult to watch at times; that kind of indifference hurts like nothing else.
Okay, so their personality aside, what else is the matter? For one thing the loss of their limbs, for another why Antarctictite's abduction should carry any more meaning than the other mistakes Phos has made.
They first lose their legs after they are betrayed by someone. A while later they lose their arms because...reasons? This goes unexplained in the anime. Here's the issue: it's also not explained why everyone else can't just hack off limbs to better equip themselves against the Lunarians. They'd lose their memories sure but are they really so precious when compared to the power they'd gain? One of the characters even jokes about it to Phos whose only reaction is a stunned expression. I'm not a Googles – I'm not a minerologist but if I were to venture a guess I'd say it's because Phosphophyllite in the real world has some kind of special properties that allow it to bond better with other minerals. Although, a cursory glance at the Wiki page for Phosphophyllite doesn't seem to support that assertion. Additionally, one would expect such an important point to be made explicit within the narrative. Despite that I do like how Phos' personality changes as a result of the repeated dismemberment. That was a strange sentence to type out. On that same note I like how their legs seem like a plot point that the story will eventually get back to regarding the secrets of humanity.
The final issue I had was why Antarctictite's loss was such a big deal for Phos. How are they different from any of the others they've endangered? Amethyst getting crushed right before their eyes was just another Tuesday I guess. See, one could explain it by saying that Phos was closer to Antarc and that it was the first time that Phos had actually lost someone as opposed to simply horrendously disfiguring them. One could explain it like that, but I would still be dissatisfied because that whole winter section just felt like a "this is the part of the story where they grow up so whatever happens must affect them in a big way" sort of arrangement. And that's a shame because Antarc, like everyone, was a really dope character.
To wrap up, I probably should devote a line or two to Cinnabar. Honestly, just like Phos, I don't have anything to say. While the two of them are cute together that's all it feels like: a bit of titillation. To be fair, Phos sort of makes good on their promise by the end and it seems like Cinnabar will play a bigger role going forward. I'll reserve further comment for fear of the source material invalidating everything.
I am very eagerly holding out hope for a second season.
