Houseki no Kuni

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Japanese: 宝石の国

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Type: Manga

Volumes: 13

Chapters: 108

Status: Finished

Published: Oct 25, 2012 to Apr 25, 2024

Genres: Action, Drama, Fantasy

Theme: Anthropomorphic

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Afternoon

Authors: Ichikawa, Haruko (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.99¹ (scored by 58,645 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #14²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #73

Members: 170,914

Favorites: 18,727

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8.99

Ranked #14Popularity #73Members 170,914

MangaAfternoonIchikawa, Haruko (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /13

Chapters: /108

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Land of the Lustrous

Volume 1
$12.99 $5.99

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Synopsis

Long ago, Earth was struck by six meteorites, creating six moons and leaving a lone island in their wake. Those who could not make it to the island sank to the bottom of the ocean, where, over time, they slowly turned to crystal. As countless millennia passed, 28 of these crystallized lifeforms, known as the Lustrous, rose from the depths and resided on the island. Led by the wise Kongou-sensei, they must defend themselves against the seemingly infinite number of Lunarians, inhabitants of the moons who seek to harvest their valuable bodies for crafting weapons and jewelry.

Houseki no Kuni centers around Phosphophyllite, a young gem about to turn three hundred years old. Clumsy, extremely fragile, and having no visible talent, they are one of the weakest gems around, unable to help in the fight against the Lunarians in any meaningful way. But as the battle with the otherworldly invaders rages on, they soon learn that power comes at a cost that no one should have to pay.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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BackgroundHouseki no Kuni ranked 10th in the 2015 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! for the Male Readers division. The series was nominated for the eighth Manga Taisho Award in 2015 and placed 13th in the final ranking.

The series was published in English as Land of the Lustrous by Kodansha USA from June 27, 2017, to November 4, 2025. It has also been released in Spanish by ECC Ediciones since September 17, 2019; in Brazilian Portuguese by NewPOP Editora since November 5, 2021; and in Polish by Studio JG since May 24, 2024.

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Phosphophyllite

Main

Antarcticite

Supporting

Cinnabar

Supporting

Diamond

Supporting

Padparadscha

Supporting

Bort

Supporting

Lapis Lazuli

Supporting

Rutile

Supporting

Yellow Diamond

Supporting

Alexandrite

Supporting

Reviews

Apr 24, 2024

Fguyretftgu7

Recommended

it's over. it's finally over.

what started out as a charming, albeit slightly unsettling, story of cute rock humans fighting fluffy moon aliens quickly became one of the wildest, strangest and most provocative plots i've read yet in manga. seriously, this manga gets really weird. not too incomprehensible, nor pretentiously abstract, but if you want a simple action mystery story Land of the Lustrous probably isn't for you.

PLOT:
plot is good. it's not what i'd say is the selling point of LotL, but it's definitely paced well enough to never feel like a scene drags too long. the plot gets really weird halfway through, and some might ...

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Jan 5, 2026

Actimelizateya

Mixed Feelings

Funny

This manga is one of the most mixed bags I have read in recent memory. It has such an intreseting array of qualities while sporting some heavy grawbacks that really hinder the overall experience. I will try to explain my case in different blocs.

-Art: I would say this is one of the strongest suits for the manga, the characters all feel unique and have designs that are important for their crystall counterpart. The action is fluid and frenetic although it can feel chaotic, especiallly when the author aims for some horror vacui panels as they sometimes lack detail. Even with this, the art department gives ... very beautifull panels that can be appreciated even without context.
-Character design: even though visually the characters are appealing and stand on their own, the way the author makes them is weird. Some of them are very serious while others are unreasonably goofy, others change their personality after some chapters for reasons that happen off narration. But for me the biggest issue is the appearance and dissapearance of characters, as there are 28 gems that supposedly inhabit a narrow space, but somehow you only get to know some of them after 100 years because our protagonist does not talk nor meet them in that time?? I don't know, it seemed that some characters like watermelon tourmaline or zircon are only there to reach the 28 gem mark while others like padparadscha or antarcticite serve mostly as plot devices to force change or motivate other more relevant characters.
-Argument: my biggest turn down when giving a score. It starts pretty fun/happy go lucky girls story, which quickly morphs into a journey of self actualization and the search for truth in a strange world. I have no problem with this section of the manga as it is very dinamic and entertaining while making you think about the engines of creation of the world inhabited by the lustrous. However, as the plot thickens, it gets increasingly esoteric and rooted in buddhist theology. Maybe it is because i am an ignorant westerner but for me the repeated calls for ¨greater good¨ and reaching nirvana and the justifications given do not hold water konwing the scale of harm and manipulation some characters inflict on others. This leaves the last 2-3 tomes in a really weak spot compared to the rest of the manga, as the message shifts from ¨the search for truth is an unforgiving goal that will require both mental strife and sacrifice coupled with some important changes in your life¨ to ¨the yearn for nothingness is the just punishment for the sins of our idiotic predecessors, let's embrace it even if we are capable of fixing the problems they created¨.

To finish it off, i would say it is like a japanese version of steven universe were the characters are more fleshed out, the action is more frenetic and the lgbt coding is toned down. If you enjoy pretty art and the themes i explain, go on. If you enjoy buddhist theology, read it whole, if not, leaving it at tome 11 leaves some room for imagination and might be more enjoyable that dragging on for 20 more chapters that are a lot less interesting than the overall manga and bombard you with a way of thinking that you might not approve of.

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Mar 1, 2025

y_u_do_dis

Not Recommended

Funny

Spoiler

This is a very subjective, opinionated review. The score solely reflects my overall feeling after having experienced the anime and the manga. There will also be spoilers, so please keep this in mind when reading.

I, like many of the people who decided to read this manga, were people who originally watched the anime and wanted to know where the story goes. I absolutely loved the OST, the animation and the ideas that were being thrown around and just the world building in general. Humans being split into Bones, Flesh and Spirit... How cool is that!

So, I read the manga with the above in mind. ... I may not have much experience with manga, but even I can tell that the art was really nice. And initially, I was honestly having a great time. I was intrigued by the Sensei’s secrecy, the relationship between the 3 human forms and the balance of the whole “ecosystem”.

However, one thing I left out in my initial impression of the show was how I always felt uneasy about how incredibly mistreated Phosphophyllite was throughout the show. The only time she ever got praise was once she started replacing her body parts with parts that made her “better” (and in turn, cause her to loose her memory, and by extension her sense of self). It was quite easy to drown out this uneasiness when watching the anime, since I was distracted by the amazing visuals and the OST, and she still seemed kinda happy with her “family” so I didn’t think much of it.

The manga makes this whole “suffering builds character” thing much more front and center, especially around the time that Phos finally reaches the moon, and its also the point in the story where I find myself building a distaste for the story.

Another thing that really irked me is the whole "relationship" between the Prince and Cairngorm. It romanticizes their relationship throughout the whole manga even though its predatory, icky and manipulative. I assumed that they would eventually turn this into a plot device later and make Cairngorm "snap out of it" but that never happens. They just end up getting what they wanted even though they backstabbed Phos at every turn. This leads me to my biggest issue.

Phos sacrifices her sanity left and right just so she can finally have some peace with her family, but they all end up betraying her one by one. The story ends up boiling down to a cycle of Phos suffers -> Someone else gets what they want. Rinse and repeat until the story is done. The people who betray her never get punished, but instead get rewarded for it. What was the author trying to achieve here? Are they just trying to say “Humanity bad”? Humans will betray you at every turn to get what they want because they are selfish? No good deed goes unpunished?

The one good thing I was interested in was the world building, and I felt like that took a huge back seat once Phos reached the moon. I felt like the Admirabilis did not get enough development. Outside of the 2 rulers, they felt like they just kinda existed and did not have much effect on the story. Another thing was the whole thing with the ice voices. We learn they are human souls that got trapped in the water, but again, they don’t get used much in the story outside of that. And this whole asspull with the doohickey machine that turns the gems into Lunarians was a stupid ploy to get rid of the whole cast as soon as possible so the author can focus on maximizing Phos’s suffering. It genuinely felt like the first and second half of this are completely different beasts, with the second half being a huge departure from the story that I fell in love with in the anime.

With all of this in mind, why do people love this manga so much? Is this a form of Stockholm syndrome, where people were in such a long cycle of being depressed that they start liking it? Seeing someone who is as happy and innocent as Phos get constantly put down at every turn, while the people who decide to become Lunarians and use her in the end to get their salvation after leaving Phos to suffer on Earth alone for 10000 years just made my blood boil. And after all this bullshit, it all ends with Phos deciding to commit suicide on Earth cause any form of humanity is “bad”. This was not satisfying, there were no revelations, I just feel like I wasted my time.

TLDR: Being Phos is suffering, and this whole manga is a massive fuck you to anyone who wants to see her rewarded for her efforts or see her achieving any sort of happiness.

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Poll: Houseki no Kuni Chapter 20 Discussion Stark700 - Oct 30, 2014	4 replies	by Safrichh »» Mar 26, 6:18 PM
Poll: Houseki no Kuni Chapter 19 Discussion Stark700 - Oct 16, 2014	5 replies	by Safrichh »» Mar 19, 5:42 PM
Poll: Houseki no Kuni Chapter 18 Discussion Stark700 - Oct 10, 2014	2 replies	by Safrichh »» Mar 13, 5:46 PM
Poll: Houseki no Kuni Chapter 17 Discussion Stark700 - Oct 6, 2014	3 replies	by Safrichh »» Mar 8, 4:52 PM
I haven't read it yet, but... Brute_Beauty - Mar 6	8 replies	by __Beatrice__ »» Mar 8, 9:00 AM

Houseki no Kuni
Land of the Lustrous
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