Land of the Lustrous, v.1

Land of the Lustrous is set on a world that has been battered by meteors several times over the course of its history, to the point that all life was driven into the ocean. Some of the surviving beings eventually sank to the bottom and were consumed by microorganisms, transforming them into inorganic substances that eventually formed into crystals (I know, it’s bizarre, but just try to accept it). Those crystals eventually became 28 (ish?) genderless gemstone-based beings that washed up onto the shore. Those gem beings are the series’ good guys. Beings from the moon, called Lunarians, periodically attack the gem beings so that they can capture them and break their bodies down into weapons and decorations.

The series’ main character show more is a gem being named Phosphophyllite (Phos). Phos desperately wants to become a member of one of the watcher and fighter pairs that protect everyone against the Lunarians, but unfortunately Phos is so brittle that that’s out of the question. So far, Phos has been unsuited to every task they’ve been assigned to, which is why I suspect the latest task Kongo, the group’s leader, has come up with is probably just busy work. Kongo asks Phos to compile a natural history.

Phos starts off by talking to the tragic and dangerous Cinnabar, because that’s who everyone keeps saying they should start with. After that, Phos spends some time with the Diamond fighting pair, Bort and Dia. And then there’s an incident with a giant snail.

This volume was weird. I requested it after reading Katherine Dacey’s review, so I knew going in that it would be beautiful and strange, but reading a review about it wasn’t quite the same as actually experiencing it. I loved it, at first, but then I became unsure, and the whole thing with the snail was just odd, like it was aimed at a different audience than the rest of the volume.

After I finished I let it percolate for a while, which turned out to be a wee bit too long. Suddenly my library due date had arrived and I couldn’t remember enough details about what had happened to write a proper summary. I didn’t quite reread it, but I did flip through the whole thing in order to refresh my memory, and to my surprise I liked it more the second time around. The world info was even weirder after giving myself some time to think it over, and, although the artwork was still gorgeous, the gem characters were still a bit hard to tell apart, but...there was something appealing about it all.

The artwork was a large part of what drew me to this series in the first place. Dacey’s review has one of my favorite sequences, the horrifying and beautiful moment when one of the Lunarians is sliced open to reveal arrows made of a captured gem being. Although the history of the gem beings was just plain bizarre, it was the Lunarians who were truly alien. They were perfect, beautiful, and incredibly creepy. I’m curious about them, but part of me hopes that Ichikawa will opt to keep them a mystery.

Unfortunately, there were times when the artwork definitely aimed more for style rather than clarity. The battles were gorgeous but occasionally difficult to follow. Also, like I mentioned earlier, the characters were sometimes hard to tell apart. Those things are part of the reason why I’d like to see the new Land of the Lustrous anime - muddled manga action scenes sometimes turn out better when adapted for anime. That said, it seems awfully early in the series' run to be turning it into an anime.

The world and characters grew on me, although this volume didn’t exactly give readers much. Phos was one of those borderline annoying characters that everyone just sort of puts up with. I’m crossing my fingers that Phos at least manages to come through for Cinnabar, as unlikely as that seems. Dia and Bort’s relationship intrigued me, and I’m hoping there’ll be more on them in the future. The whole thing about Dia’s arm confused me, though.

Of all the characters, the one that intrigued me the most was Cinnabar. Most of the gem beings are only active during the day because the organisms that hold them together feed off of sunlight. Cinnabar is the only exception, having been essentially banished to night patrol for everyone else’s safety. Lunarians have never attacked at night before, but it’s the only time Cinnabar can patrol without risking hurting anyone - Cinnabar unintentionally oozes (and sometimes vomits) a poison that destroys everything it touches. The poison can even cause irreversible damage to the otherwise immortal gem beings.

The properties of all the gem beings are based on the properties of the real minerals on which they're based, so each gem being’s hardness is based on the Mohs scale (the numbers are even used in the text). Since I knew nothing about cinnabar, I looked that up and was delighted to learn that Cinnabar’s poison was probably mercury. So those tidbits were kind of cool, and I’m wondering what other gem-related info Ichikawa might work into the series.

I don’t know at this point whether this series is one I’d recommend, but I’m intrigued enough to want to continue on.

Rating Note:

This one was a toss-up between 3 stars and 3.5. I settled (uneasily) on 3.5. I'm letting beauty and intriguing strangeness trump clarity and focus, at least for now. I may change my tune after reading volume 2.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Beautifully illustrated and painfully reflective of how we grow up. The main character, Phos, is the youngest of twenty-odd gems, and it shows. She's selfish, self-centered, and irresponsible. She's also caring, ambitious, and stubborn. The manga takes you through her journey trying to become a fighter, as well as finding a purpose for her fellow gem, Cinnabar. As she ages, loses friends, and loses pieces of herself, it's analogous to a child maturing - shedding the shards of the less favorable parts of ourselves to become more skilled and wise adults. However, it's a bittersweet process because she also loses some of the bits that make her so endearing and lovable.

I'm eager to find out where her journey takes her.

This is a review of the entire series (up to volume 12, since volume 13 isn’t officially released physically in English yet). This does contain some spoilers but I try to leave out enough context that the series will still be enjoyable even if you read my review.
Land of the Lustrous is my all-time favorite manga. I watched the anime on a whim one day, not expecting much, but it was so much better than I expected. It took no time for me to buy the manga (since I really doubt season two is going to release anytime soon, and even then, this will probably need three seasons to completely adapt the manga without cutting out parts)…
And it was even better than the anime.
The plot was enjoyable, though one of my very few complaints is that show more the pacing speeds up around volume 7~ and I did quite enjoy the slower pacing it began with, and I always wanted to know what would happen next. This is, obviously, the part I can discuss the least without spoilers.
The world building is absolutely amazing, I usually don’t really care about world building, but I adore the world of Land of the Lustrous. I can’t properly explain it, you just have to read it.
And the characters are the best part. Though are a bit too many side characters, I actually found myself enjoying almost every character.
Phosphophyllite is the main character, and they definitely go through the most changes… seriously, if I didn’t read the series, I wouldn’t be able to comprehend the idea that the original Phos and the prayer machine Phos are the same character. But I think that’s what makes them interesting, they’re a living ship of Theseus. At what point are we no longer reading about Phos, but a new character completely? The most interesting Phos is Phos after they get Lapis’ head, since they are no longer morally good. They become an anti-hero, someone who is doing so many wrong things believing they are doing right. I love it, it’s my favorite kind of character. I also like the Phos at the beginning, they’re jealous of all the other gems for being able to fight when they can’t due to how weak they are (since real-life Phosphphyllite is one of the most fragile gemstones). You could say their wish to be able to fight got granted, but it wasn’t truly worth all the trauma. I can’t say much more without just explaining the entire series, but Phos is definitely an amazing character and is fit to be the main character.
Cinnabar is pretty much the other main character, and they’re my favorite. I see people often completely miss everything about their character because of live, five lines of dialogue at the very end, and it pisses me off. Cinnabar’s entire character relies on the fact that they care so much about others that they are willing to completely isolate themself from everyone else just to make sure nobody gets hurt by their mercury (it’s called poison in the official translation, but it’s obviously mercury, since the reason real life Cinnabar is toxic is because they contain mercury). Everyone else is scared of them, everyone except Phos, which makes them react badly to Phos’ attempts at being their friend. They can’t possibly comprehend someone not being terrified of them. It makes them a really, really good character. They are the villain in everyone’s story, even their own.
Those are really the only two main characters, everyone else is definitely a side character, which makes me a bit disappointed since some other characters could have really interesting characters if given more time (like Benitoite), I think that if the series had a few more volumes with chapters focused on other characters that aren’t just Phos & Cinnabar there could’ve been so many more great characters… but, I’m not going to focus on the potential. I’ll talk about the side characters too, since they still are enjoyable!
Diamond is definitely one of the closest side characters to being a main character. They are very much interesting, they show the most concern for Phos during a lot of the series. Most of their character relies on their relationship with Bort. They are partnered with Bort during the beginning of the series, and they view themself as inferior to Bort since they aren’t as good as fighting as Bort. I, unfortunately, can’t explain their character very much without spoilering one of the arcs of the series.
Bort is less of a main character than Diamond, but they are also interesting. They are obsessed with fighting, and are the strongest fighter throughout most of the series. They don’t care as much about Diamond as Diamond cares about them. I can explain even less of their character than Diamond without spoilering one of the arcs of the series… but I think they’re still a good character.
Ghost Quartz was, for some reason, not included in the anime? They instead put Padparadscha’s chapters at the end, even though Ghost Quartz’s chapters happen before them? It confuses me but it mostly just disappoints me that people who only watch the anime won’t know about Ghost Quartz. Anyways, they’re definitely one of the most unique characters, because they have another gem inside them! The other gem doesn’t get to talk, but Ghost Quartz often talks about them. I think it’s makes for an interesting character!
Cairngorm is the previously mentioned gem inside of Ghost Quartz. I think it’s a bit debatable if they’re a main character or not because of the sheer amount of influence they have, but since they’re introduced later into the series and don’t get as much influence near the end, I still think they’re can be considered a side character, but I don’t really care about that. What I do care about is how absolutely amazing of a character they are, they’re definitely one of my favorites. At the beginning, after being released from Ghost Quartz’ body, they’re mean and harsh yet protective of Phos. Even when Phos loses their head, they’re willing to give up their own head for Phos (I think that would’ve been extremely interesting, but it doesn’t fit the theme Phos’ new body parts have so it makes sense they got Lapis’ head instead). I won’t spoil it, but a few volumes after they get introduced, they have a major change in personality for a very, very interesting reason that you might be able to guess if you’re paying attention to them. A lot of people hate them after this reveal, but I don’t really get it… not gonna lie, if I was them, I would act the same way.
Those are really the only characters who are important and aren’t only important after something happens in the plot after their introduction. (Other than Kongo, but I don’t really have much to explain about him.)
Anyways, if you’ve read this entire review, PLEASE just read Land of the Lustrous. It’s one of the best manga ever. And don’t hate on Cinnabar or Cairngorm. An angel loses its wings every time someone hates on them. show less

Surreal fantasy manga that pushed all the right buttons for me. Art was weird and sometimes murky but alluringly so. Story was uncomfortable in a good way.

The title caught my eye and I've been wanting to try manga for a long while. I really enjoyed the premise of the story and do plan to continue through the series. However, I did rate it down as some image spreads it really confusing to understand what was going on and who was talking.

Land Of The Lustrous volume one is a beautiful manga. It's a a captivatingly written story about a world inhabited by living gems, who take the forms of beautiful, angular women, and their sensei. They must do battle against waves of enemies called Lunarians, who attack with volleys of arrows that the Lustrous fend off with their swords and powers. I'm particuarly fond of Bort with her long black hair and dark powers. Land Of The Lustrous contains some truly gorgeous imagery drawn in a style I've never encountered before and which I am quite fond of. I intend to collect and read all of the volumes of this fantastic manga.

I got this manga through the Amazon Vine program to review. It sounded like a really unique story from the description but the story actually ended up being a bit bland and confusing. The artwork is very beautiful but again a bit hard to follow at times.

The story focuses on a race of gem-like humanoid lifeforms that have apparently taken over earth after a catastrophe destroyed the organic lifeforms there. The Lustrous fight a never ending war against darkness (which seems to come from an alien source) and are valued by their hardness value. This book follows the softest and most delicate Lustrous named Phos.

I liked the geological and gem references; these gave the story a bit of a scientific spin at times which I enjoyed. In general show more the story was pretty boring though and took quite awhile to get moving; it was also hard to follow at times. A lot of the Lustrous look similar and some of the panels are hard to figure out.

The artwork is beautiful and definitely higher quality than a lot of manga out there. Additionally there are some full color pages included in this volume.

Overall this was okay but not great. I probably won’t continue on with the series because I found it kind of confusing and just wasn’t all that engaged in the story. show less