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: Fantasy

Theme: Anthropomorphic

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Afternoon

Authors: Ichikawa, Haruko (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.97¹ (scored by 52,579 s)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #15²

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

Popularity: #80

: 156,644

Favorites: 17,109

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Kodansha USA

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8.97

Ranked #15Popularity #80 156,644

Ichikawa, Haruko (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /13

Chapters: /108

Land of the Lustrous

Volume 1
$10.99

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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 ed, 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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Background

Houseki 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 has been published in English as Land of the Lustrous by Kodansha Comics USA since June 27, 2017. 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

ing

Diamond

ing

Cinnabar

ing

Padparadscha

ing

Bort

ing

Lapis Lazuli

ing

Rutile

ing

Yellow Diamond

ing

Alexandrite

ing

Reviews

Apr 6, 2025

notweebo

Recommended

This manga is genuinely one of the biggest emotional heart wrenching stories that led me through highs and lows, excitement and depression, and introduced themes that were deep enough that when I tried to think about them in a real world context I had to reevaluate my worldview.
TBH watch the anime, check out the one volume it missed in the manga, then just read where it left off in the mid thirty chapters. This is a manga to read if you like well written characters, emotions and drama, suspense, and deep themes. In my opinion this manga is good enough to not just be ...

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Apr 18, 2025

vrataski_

Mixed Feelings

One of the most recently published manga I have read. Calling it unique is an understatement, as I'm not even sure who this appeals to. It has strong shoujo manga tropes, as well as an all-girl lesbian fantasy feel to it, but somehow mixes a religious and psychological backdrop to it all. In fact, the character cast feels like a japanese version of Steven Universe, the setting is very unique and the art is also very refreshing. These are obviously all very good things, but these pros quickly became cons the longer the manga went on for.

- The character cast is too unstable (as ...

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Mar 1, 2025

y_u_do_dis

Not Recommended

Funny

Well-written

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 irabilis 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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Houseki no Kuni
Land of the Lustrous
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