When 3D CGI is used in anime, it’s generally speaking been a bit of a mixed bag.
Largely, it’s been used as a cost cutting measure because why pay animators to spend
hours drawing a single frame when you can just toss a character model at a computer
and have it do the work for you.
This is an obviously an oversimplification, but you get the point.
Most times I’ve looked at it as an unwelcome, but sometimes necessary, tool used by animation
studios to create the work that they do.
While I can point to several examples of when CGI was used with subtlety to great effect,
even going back to say the 90’s when Cell animation was still king, we can all think
of a few times when an anime has used some godawful CG.
Ranging from works somehow cross the uncanny valley into so-horrible-it’s-good territory, but
more often than not, are works that infuriate us enough to go Berserk.
So when a series comes along that’s being touted as a fully 3D-animated series
with no 2D whatsoever, I become heavily skeptical.
It’s a good thing then that the series in question today is just so gosh darn purdy
that it doesn’t matter anymore.
Ladies, gentlemen and others, my name is Arkada and today on Glass Reflection we’re taking
a look at the 2017 anime produced by studio Orange and based off the manga by Haruko Ichikawa,
Hoseki no Kuni, Land of the Lustrous.
Let’s Jam.
The story of Lustrous takes a bit to actually get ramped up, mostly because it doesn’t
start with any kind of base of reference for us to draw a comparison with narritively.
If it started in a school, medieval town, or space station, we could at least start
with a point of reference as to what we are in for.
Instead, its story about anthropomorphic gems has to do a boatload of world building to do before
it can start to draw us in, which can be perceived as one of its few flaws.
All of the main characters in Land of the Lustrous are based off of real gemstones found
on Earth, with particular emphasis placed on their strength or hardness and their personality
developed from the gem’s actual traits.
For example, Diamond is beautiful, strong, and lights up like a disco ball, while Cinnabar
is distant, possibly toxic with all the floating mercury,
and hides a MissingNo out by the shore.
All of the gems live in some kind of flatlands and don’t have much of an outside purpose
besides just living their lives, and listening to the one monk dude, who isn’t a gem but
has lived for hundreds of years and so probably isn’t human either.
Our main character Phos is a bit of a lazy layabout, mostly stemming from the fact that
the actual gem Phosphophyllite is known for being extremely brittle and prone to breaking,
something that happens here quite often.
Despite this, Phos is still trying to find some purpose to existence besides just lounging
around enjoying the sunshine.
Much of the surface plot to this series has Phos battle internally with finding a raison
d’être , sprouted forth from a desire to help fellow gem Cinnabar, who keeps to themselves
and sticks to the night patrols to avoid interaction with others.
The journey that Phos takes helps develop this world that we don’t know much about,
as well as the rather large group of gems which populate the show’s cast.
It’s hard to imagine, at least on the onset, who would be interested in a show about talking
rocks.
It’s not like that’s ever been done before.
Oh wait.
I kid, of course.
Though while it’s easy to make the comparison between Lustrous and
Steven Universe, it’s not an accurate one.
Lustrous is like if Steven Universe was going through an angsty teenager phase of naïve
outlooks counteracted by a harsh reality.
The writing of the series, barring its slow introduction, is one of the things that make
this show unique.
So much of each individual character is tied down to the actual science behind the gems,
which is then highlighted even further by placing the mantle of Main Character onto
a gem that physically can’t handle the pressure.
Phos is initially a conduit of internal anguish and self-loathing.
But Phos starts to get grander ambitions, to fight against the world that says no, and
eventually becomes a role model for anyone who is battling their own personal inadequacies.
Of course the Phos that exists by the end of the series is a very different character,
and if you were to compare them side by side, it would be difficult to tell the similarities.
This all leads to what I personally believe to be the current downfall with Lustrous’
narrative, though this is a temporary problem to be sure.
Beyond Phos, there’s virtually no development of the secondary cast.
All other gems get introduced with some key personality traits and never expanded
upon due to time.
Both Phos and the world itself is where the development goes.
In fact, when you tear down the unique elements of the world and the story itself, there is
much about Lustrous that would fit into a very generic mould of a Magical Girl anime.
Perhaps this explains the overly feminine design of the characters whose gender originally
in the manga was far more ambiguous.
And you know, this heavy focus on Phos would be fine if that led to any semblance of a
narrative conclusion by the end of the series, but it doesn’t.
That said, it would not be wrong of me to say that Phos’s character arc is one of
the best in anime from last year, perhaps even the last couple of years, but the one
thing it’s really missing is the final payoff.
The culmination of why Phos went through this transformation in the first place,
but apparently that's a story for another season.
All of that is made up for in spades however, because Land of the Lustrous is one of the
most visually beautiful anime released at present.
The one major plus side in having a fully CG anime about colourful gems is just how
clean and reflective the CG can make it look.
It’s an example of a series is that beautiful because of its CGI, and not in spite of it.
A lot of the cinematography in this series looks like it’s set up to appear 2D if shown
in still frames, but to have the range of motion that 3D allows.
Something that’s not really been done to this scale before.
What this has allowed though is for you to be able to take a screenshot from almost any
scene, and have it look beautiful.
Now the show’s director Kyogoku is no stranger
to the blending of 2D and 3D animation.
Previously he was the director of the anime series Love Live School Idol Project, a franchise
known for swapping to 3D animation for the dance numbers that the cast performs
Channeling that to a full series is just a logical step.
While the character designs of the gems are a far cry from those of Japanese idols, the
combat scenes in the show do play off as a kind of intricate dance that’s not really
able to be replicated in either 2D animation or live action.
Having these scenes done up in 3D allows for the camera to be free-range, untethered by
either the laws of physics, as a live action production would, or the careful planning
of animation storyboards.
Lustrous also had, in this humble fan’s opinion, the best intro sequence of last year.
Long-time viewers know that I like to judge an anime opening by three pieces of criteria,
the visuals, the music, and how both of these things fit the themes and narrative of the
show itself.
Lustrous checked off all three boxes with ease.
Other shows from last year had more engaging visuals, or a song that I would listen to
on repeat for days after hearing it the first time, but Lustrous was the only one from last
year to me that I believe did all of that on top of being extremely fitting for the show
that it was representing.
However, as we wind down to the end of the video, I should explain why after all of this praise
I still don’t consider Lustrous to be the best anime of last year, that was a title which I instead
handed to Kinema Citrus’s Made in Abyss.
The final two episodes are mostly my reasoning.
While I stand by my statement that the character arc of Phos is one of the best in recent memory,
the final moments in this arc are left with many a door left open, many a question left
unanswered.
While Abyss did a similar thing in regards to many a plot thread, Lustrous’s way of
wrapping things up felt less like a conclusion and more like a cliff-hanger.
And after so many years and so many shows that never get sequels, I have become less and
less enthused when such an ending is used.
Not only is it a cliffhanger to Phos’s own story, but in the final episodes the narrative
is still introducing new characters and doing last-minute world building instead of trying
to wrap things up.
It’s like when you’re trying to leave for work in the morning but constantly think
of “just one more thing” you have to quickly do before walking out the door, leaving you
rushed and exhausted because of it.
It’s that sort of feeling.
It doesn’t help that the production of Lustrous began a number
of years before the show even aired, leaving the very real possibility that it might
be quite a number of years from now until we get a sequel, if we ever do.
But I can still recommend for you to watch this series.
As such, I am pleased to give Land of the Lustrous the Glass Reflection rating to Buy It!
It is a visual spectacle that sets an extremely high bar for the next series that wants to
come around and be animated entirely in 3D.
Now at least there’s something favourable to compare it to, instead of some of the…
less-than-stellar 3D animations of shows past.
If you are interested in watching Land of the Lustrous, you can stream it from Amazon’s
streaming service or the streaming service HiDive, if you have access to either of those.
If not, then the series will also be available on home video formats from Sentai Filmworks
in the near future.
If you’ve watched Lustrous and can’t wait to find out what happens next,
in case a second season never materializes, then you can head over to our friends at Bookwalker
and pick up the original manga digitally!
There will also be a coupon code in the description in case you’ve never used their service
before, so check that out.
FOR ALTERNATE ANIME RECOMMENDATIONS!
I have no illusions about attempting to recommend another 3D animated series to you guys because
the quality just won’t compare to this, even with something like Kemono Friends, which
I adore.
I do.
Not many others...
However, I can still make recommendations based on similar narratives.
So I’ll start with Haibane Renmei, a series about a young angel-like being named Rakka
who was just born into a world that she does not understand.
You might find the story of Rakka to be similar to Phos in a number of ways, though Rakka
is nowhere near as bubbly personality-wise.
Second recommendation goes to Sound of the Sky, another series with a different kind
of visual spectacle, but one that has a deeper story hidden beneath its layers of beauty.
This one does lean much further towards the Slice of Life genre than Lustrous ever did
though, so just keep that in mind.
Between those two, you should hopefully find something to your liking.
As always, a very special thank you to my patrons who make these videos possible and
support my work.
You guys are fantastic and I can’t thank you enough.
But specifically I’d like to thank Patrons: Victor Ekmark, Ryefan Boneapart, Rune Jachobson,
Joshua Garcia, Calhoonboy, and Siri Yamiko for being especially awesome.
And until next time ladies, gentlemen, and others: Stay Frosty.