Houseki no Kuni Series Final Thoughts: Phosphophyllite: The Paradoxical Protagonist (Part 2: Subpart A)
This is part 2 of my final analysis series, though it’ll also be in parts. The next few posts will focus primarily on Phos, but other characters will be mentioned.
Please read my post here before continuing! Thank you for your patience!
Part 1: A True Hidden Gem
I knew I wasn’t going to get a lot of attention with my first post since it’s been over a year since I last made a meta post, but I’m still going to continue regardless! Most of this section is done, but I want to share what is finished now so I can focus on the unfinished parts. Thank you to everyone who’s reacted so far! (This also ended up being the longest section, so it’ll likely be posted in parts as well!)
Warning: I will be pretty critical in this section when talking about Phos’ character. I’m sure some will strongly disagree with my statements, and that’s completely fine. Your view on these topics are totally valid and I welcome those who want to share. What I love about this series and Phos is that they can draw varying opinions about them and they are all fair and valued, so long as we aren’t completely demonizing those who have opposing opinions on them. I hope you will still enjoy this regardless. I’ll also admit this part of my embarrassingly long dissertation is one of the reasons why it took me so long to complete it. I’ve rewritten this too many times and I now wonder if it makes any sense. If it doesn’t…sorry in advance. Also, I may end up making a lot of edits in these posts so, again, sorry in advance.
It goes without saying that Phos was one of the most fascinating protagonists I’ve seen in a long time in manga. They embody the concept of doing the wrong thing for the right reason and vice versa, and watching them go through their journey was one of the most nerve wrecking things I’ve read in a long time. I loved that there were decisions that Phos made me feel conflicted, even when I knew where they were coming from. I also liked seeing other fans respectively revered or reviled Phos and their actions throughout the course of the story. I think one of the reasons why Phos’ actions are so impactful in this story is because of how relatable they were in many aspects, and as readers, we can’t help but want them to have the life they deserve. While Phos did, in a way, get a happy ending, it’s hard to ignore the fact that it was achieved because someone else laid out most of the journey for them. Like I said in previous posts, including part 1 of this finale post series, Phos had been beating to the beat of someone else’s drum, both knowingly and unknowingly. And this was all achievable due to Phos’ dual nature of being selfless and selfish at the same time.
Before I continue, I’d like to make it clear that a character displaying selfish attributes isn’t a bad thing and it doesn’t make them a bad person. The same notion applies for a character displaying selfless attributes; being selfless isn’t always considered a good thing nor does that mean the person is a good person. I see these two traits as sides of the same coin that can be both beneficial and detrimental to a character’s identity. And a character can simultaneously be selfless and selfish, which I believe applies to Phos. I know I’ve tried to explain this in other posts, but I do think I’ve gotten a better grasp of this belief, so I’ll attempt to do so again and show how the two complimentary traits are exhibited through Phos’ character arcs:
Phos’ Selflessness: The Noble Double-Edged Sword
One of the most recognized and often celebrated aspects of Phos’ character is their altruism. Behind their playful, aloof, and cheeky persona is someone who wants to help others despite their physically (and emotionally) weak nature. But despite their circumstances, including the support or supposed indifference of others, that didn’t deter Phos from wanting to help others, even when it put Phos’ own physical and mental well-being in danger repeatedly. Heck, Phos literally sacrificed physical parts of themselves, both intentionally and accidentally, for everyone else’s sake as well as their own to become stronger and wiser. But as we’ve seen throughout the course of their story, this always came at a cost; sometimes that cost was their mental wellbeing, and other times it was their emotional connection with themselves and others.
Speaking of others, in addition to physical sacrifices Phos had made, Phos made another type of sacrifice that greatly impacted their life: they sacrificed their character and willingly became a villain in the eyes of the gems. Though this persona became a reality during the second to last arc with Phos leading the lunarians to destroy the remaining gems, the initial part of this arch can be seen as Phos making another sacrifice for everyone’s sake. Though it up for debating on how far Phos thought ahead with this plan or if it even was their intention, Phos was aware of what they were doing when they first brought the first set of gems to the moon and it’s naïve to believe that the other gems would have viewed Phos in a positive light after that, especially with what occurred during their second visit. But I also see Phos taking this villainous role as a necessity that effectively pushed both the Earth and Moon gems out of their comfort zone and forced them to take action that ultimately led to better things for both groups:
For the Moon gems, they discovered there was more to life than what they had before. They all found a new sense of self, through discovering new interests and applying themselves in different ways. They recognized how limited they were on earth and the new setting that offered more opportunities for them allowed them to explore themselves. This was especially the case for Diamond, Cairngorm, Goshe, Amethyst, and Alexandrite.
It’s a similar case for the Earth gems. While their setting stayed the same, their foundation was still shaken. Not only were multiple members of their group taken to the moon, the one who committed the act was one of their own, who then proceeded to return to attack them again. By having something so drastic happen with them, plus their reduced numbers, forced them to reflect how they lived in their society and readjust. Doing so ended up helping them restructure their society a bit by helping those who felt out of place, specifically Cinnabar and even Adamant, feel more connected with everyone. And because Phos inadvertently caused the Lunarians to stop attacking them for a while after their third return and imprisonment, the Earth gems found other ways to find fulfillment, like Bort finding joy in training jellyfish. So yeah; most of the gems ended up gaining a renewed look of their immortal lives, and it was thanks to Phos becoming the bad guy. And even after Phos ended up eradicating the remaining gems in a brutal manner, they all still ended up getting a “good” ending by having them be revived as Lunarians, temporarily freeing them from their previous never-ending cycle of suffering as gems. Though technically, the former gems just traded one form of immortalized suffering for another within a fake Nirvana. But at least that world still provided them with more freedom than they previously had on Earth.
Phos’s final acts of selflessness can be found during the final arc, the first being with the remnants of humanity. Instead of condemning them to continue being in the never-ending cycle of existence, especially after being left alone on Earth and being forced to witness horrifying images for centuries, Phos not only chose to forgive them but save them one last time. Though I can understand why some fans were not happy with this, I think it fit not only with the Buddhism theme of the story, but I think this action was more cathartic in a sense that Phos had decided to let them go for their own sake rather than just the other’s sake. Still, granting them relief by praying for their non-existence is an incredible act of selflessness when considering everything that had led to that point. This also showed how despite how much Phos had changed, they still had their empathetic side that is willing to forgive those that harmed them. Phos showed that forgiving side several times in the story, like when they gave a piece of themselves to the Admirabilis princess (I forgot her name and don’t care to remember). The fact that this trait was still present inside Phos even after everything shows how innate that compassion is.
The other final acts were their interactions with the pebbles and Eyeball in the final arc. Remember, Phos still had disdain towards humanity, but even after learning that the sentient pebbles they found had traces of humanity within them, Phos still stayed with them and cherished them, despite the inner turmoil they experienced. And when the Earth was getting destroyed, Phos made sure all the pebbles and Eyeball made it on the Dues Ex Machina ship to escape while they stayed behind. Again, while Phos’ main goal was to stay on the dying planet so they can truly end their suffering and burn away the last bit of humanity within them, they still prioritized the lives of the small but intimate community they created, even though they too had remnants of humanity within them. All of these actions truly cemented how selfless Phos was till the very end.
Before I progress further, I’d also need to highlight Phos’ first goal to help Cinnabar as another example of Phos being selfless and kind. While part of their motivation was to repay Cinnabar for rescuing them, Phos genuinely wanted to do good by them because they empathized with Cinnabar. They were two weak gems who felt like burdens and wanted to find their place and feel truly loved within their gem society. While their situations weren’t exactly the same, there’s enough similarities between them for Phos to see a bit of themselves in Cinnabar and they just want to help them. However, I say there’s another hidden motive for why Phos wanted to help Cinnabar that may highlight Phos’ selfish nature. I’ll go more into that in the next section.
Anyways, I hope I was able to demonstrate that despite some of their decisions, Phos was a good-hearted character who’d done so much good thanks to their selflessness. However, while this trait shows Phos’ good attributes, it unfortunately reflects the bad ones that sadly highlight how being too selfless may not be a good or healthy mindset to embrace.
For one, Phos’ willingness to sacrifice their body and mind to help others subsequently resulted in them neglecting their own needs to the point where Phos ended up literally losing themselves. It’s kind of ironic, actually, for while most of the gems end up gaining a better sense of identity thanks to Phos’ actions, Phos ended up losing their own in more ways than one. Phos literally destroyed their body, mind, and identity all the way to the end of their story. And while in context of the story and in relation to Buddhism, where this progression is good and necessary for one to free themselves from suffering, the ideology of sacrificing yourself until you are no longer “you” can be also viewed as an unhealthy mindset to have, especially doing so wasn’t part of your intent.
In addition to this, being willing to sacrifice yourself too much not only leading to the development of unbalanced relationships with others, but it also leaves you exposed to those who’d take advantage of that side of you for personal gain. The best example of both, of course, is Aechmea who built a clearly unbalanced relationship with Phos but also exploited the heck out of them. What makes this sad is that to an extent, Phos was aware of what Aechmea was doing to them, but they still went along with it because they shared the same goals. But even so, this dynamic they built on Phos’ extreme self-sacrificing nature clearly showed how easily someone can be taken advantage of when embracing this mindset to a fault.
I hope I did a decent job showing how being extremely selfless is a double-edged sword for Phos, including how it simultaneously worked in their favor and disfavor. Now, I’m going to delve into what I view as Phos’ selfish side. I can’t promise that I’d do a good job showing how this selfish side can be good and bad for their character, but I’ll try.
Subpart B is mainly done, but I want to finetune some parts. Subpart C is what I'm currently working on, and it's a doozy.
I've re-watched Glitch's new pilot "Knights of Guinevere" multiple times now since its release. It's amazing! There's so many hidden details that help bring more depth to this already thought-provoking story. They were so cleaver with the marketing, too; making us audiences originally assume that Guinevere was going to be the main antagonist when in truth, she was the victim who needs to be saved!
You can tell Dana Terrace is putting her all into this. Not only is the animation and story stellar, but the characters are great! I love our three main leads, especially Frankie and Andie; their designs and their dynamic are so complimentary. Guinevere/Gwen also looks like she's be a genuinely wonderful character and I'm excited to learn about her and see how she and her "knights" will not only interact but how they'll progress the story! There are so many layers to explore and I hope we'll get that chance.
It's been a while since I've been so excited for a new indie animation project and I'm most definitely going to buy some merch to help fund it. If you like 2D animation that has dark, unnerving imagery with an intriguing plot that highlights the messed up parts of our consumer-based society, please check out the pilot!
(I know gore and body horror isn't everyone's cup of tea, so if you're squeamish to those topics, please proceed with caution. )
Part 1: Houseki no Kuni Series Final Thoughts: A True Hidden Gem
Part 2/Subpart A: A Paradoxical Protagonist
Hello there! I want to deeply apologize for disappearing off the face of the earth. It wasn’t my intention to be gone for so long. Life…hasn’t been good, I’m not going to lie, and it made it very difficult for me to complete this personal hell of a project I subjected myself to. It was supposed to be one post, but it’s ballooned to a very large monstrosity.
I swear, it’s worse than my graduate thesis and I’m still not DONE WITH THIS. Just when I think I’m close to finishing, I realize that whatever I wrote was nonsensical gibberish and I’m forcing myself back to the writing board to try to make sense of it. Thankfully, most of it is truly done and I’m just mentally ready to move on because I’m far behind in other stuff I want to do. But regardless, I hope you can forgive me for not being able to uphold my original promise and I also hope you are all doing well, all things considered. 2025…truly feels like an alternative reality.
Truth be told, I started writing this post about a week after the series officially ended. But as always, life kept me distracted and I ended up putting this post on the back burner. And when I finally got to work, it just kept growing and growing. As I’m currently writing this (August 21, 2025,) everything I’ve written out amounts to well over 40 pages! Don’t worry; they’ll be posted in parts. This part and two others are nearly ready to go. I’m just finishing up the final ones, which are sadly the hardest ones.
I truly am sorry that it took nearly two years for me to finally get this out. Because of how long it took, I honestly don’t know how well they will turn out or be received. These final meta posts are far different from my previous ones, especially since those ones were freshly made right after a new chapter’s released. These new posts will be denser and required me to make many changes because either my thoughts on certain things changed over time or I forgotten certain details due to time and life distractions despite rereading sections numerous times. I wish I handled this better. But regardless, I still wanted to make these posts as a final send off to Houseki no Kuni and the fandom. I hope you enjoy my long ramblings for the final time. (But I bet I’ll still end up making more edits later)
Anyhow… here we go!
The Land of the Lustrous: A Story We’ve Seen and Yet Not Seen Before
When it comes to creating a unique world filled with simple and yet morally complex characters and using them to tell an intriguing yet divisive story, I can only think of a few mangaka who’ve done this well. I know there are a few notable ones, but the ones that come to mind would be Q Hayashida with her series “Dorohedoro” and Paru Itagaki with “Beastars.” I think it’s safe to say that Haruko Ichikawa can be added to this list, too, because of “Houseki no Kuni/Land of the Lustrous.”
Now I want to emphasize that Ms. Ichikawa didn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to storytelling. Far from it. At least in the beginning of her story, she used many recognizable story tropes that are usually expected in a coming-of-age story like this. These tropes include, but are not limited to:
The "fish out of water" narrative
Struggle with identity
Loss of innocence
The pivotal clash against familial dynamics
Rebelling against a status quo
Journey for personal growth
All of these happen within Houseki no Kuni, so on the surface, it does seem like it is just going through a journey we’ve seen many times before. This doesn’t make a story bad in anyway! It just shows that many of the events that occurred within this story fit a timeline that we’ve seen time and time again in a typical coming-of-age story. However, I’m sure some of you may agree that despite this, Houseki no Kuni feels anything but typical. Why is this the case?
Unique Premise: Deconstruction and Embodiment of Buddhist Teachings
I believe one of the reasons why Houseki no Kuni stands out so much, besides its unique art style, is its theme. Haruko Ichikawa had such an interesting approach in how she embedded Buddhism into this story. I took a quick look around online and as far as I’ve seen, there doesn’t seem to be many manga series that focuses primarily Buddhism, surprisingly. Yes, there are series that includes it, though it’s usually to a small, almost insignificant degree, like having a side character being Buddhist or something minute that doesn’t have a big impact on the overall story. Other than Ichikawa’s one-shot collection, I couldn’t find any other series where this religion plays such a prominent and integral part in the story like this. And what makes it even more fascinating is that Ms. Ichikawa did it both overtly and (somewhat) subtly.
Examples of Ichikawa overtly showing Buddhism themes in the story:
Visually: There are so many examples to include here, from how the Lunarians appear as Buddhist bodhisattvas or enlightened beings (which is ironic) when they arrive to earth to the lotus flower. The lotus flower, in particular, is a recognizable icon from Buddhism and it’s a striking visual motif that appears numerous times in different forms throughout the manga, especially with Phos. I’m positive that even someone who doesn’t know much about Buddhism would recognize that this flower is significant to the religion.
Through storytelling:
The remnants of humanity being separated into three kingdoms that reflect the three realms of Buddhism:
The lustrous/gems = The bone = The Form Realm
The Admirabilis = The flesh = The Desire Realm
The Lunarians = The spirit = The Formless Realm
The illusion and loss of “Self”: Phos embodies the teaching that concept and attachment of self is an illusion that leads to suffering, which is called “Anatta.”
In relations to that concept, Phos also embodies “Samsara,” the cycle of suffering and “rebirth,” and “Anicca,” the concept of impermanence or constant change. Phos continuously changes physically and mentally throughout their story, and while they gained from these changes, they also lost of themselves in the process. While the concept of losing yourself may be scary, it’s an embraced belief in Buddhism and it’s the main theme of this story.
Examples of her being subvert (at least to me upon first read):
The gem society’s strict routine way of living (or not living) is very similar to how Buddhist monks live while living in a monastery.
Concept of Nirvana and how the Lunarian’s ideation of Nirvana, their society on the moon and their strive to acquiring the gems, being flawed, superficial, and false.
The fact that the series ended at chapter 108, which is a sacred number in Buddhism. From what I understand, 108 is the number of earthly temptations one must overcome in order to reach true enlightenment, which Phos was finally able to accomplish. I only know this thanks to readers who had previous knowledge about this.
I won’t delve too much into this factor because my understanding is limited, and I don’t feel that it is my place to do so. For while I’ve read a bit about Buddhism for my own reasons, Buddhism isn’t my religion or part of my culture, and I think it’s more appropriate for someone who is/ was part of this culture to talk more about it and its themes. Still, I hope I emphasized enough how Haruko Ichikawa embedding the different ideologies from her sect of Buddhism played an important role in making Houseki no Kuni stand out amongst other coming-of-age stories. But this isn’t the only thing that she did to make this story feel so atypical.
Simple and Yet Layered Morally Gray Characters (At least some of them…)
It's interesting how Ichikawa showed the different aspects of human nature through the different beings in this story. From the Lunarians, to the Admirabilis, and to the Lustrous themselves. The soul, flesh, and bones. All of them are so simple in appearance and nature, but when you go deeper, one can see how multifaceted some of them truly are. In fact, I even claim that almost none of characters within the story solely belong in the white/good or black/bad position on the morality grayscale. Most of them are all morally gray, but though their shade varies from one another; some characters may lean on the lighter shades while others may lay within the darker shades, and it very much depends on the reader’s views to determine where the characters fall on the grayscale. It’s one thing to have a handful of characters like this but having most of the cast belonging on different positions in the morality grayscale somehow makes them feel more well-rounded than one dimensional. I suppose you can say that these characters retained more aspects from their human ancestors than just their appearance.
However, that can’t be said for everyone in this manga. I’ll talk about this a bit more in a later section, but I’d just like to point out that there are plenty of characters within the manga who sadly can’t be put on the scale because they simply didn’t have enough time to show their depth. These characters, at least to me, do end up feeling one dimensional and they don’t provide enough information to help readers figure out their morality. I know it’s not important for each single character in this series to have some level of depth, especially since the cast is very large. However, it was a bit frustrating during times when the manga seemed to be trying to make me care about certain characters who doesn’t leave much of an impression to begin with. Like I said, I’ll try to go into more detail about this in a later section, but I hope you still understand what I’m trying to say.
You know what? I want to try something out on a few characters. These are just simple analyses of random characters from the series, and I would love to hear other people’s thoughts on these. Heck, if you have any characters you want to psychoanalyze, please feel free to add to the post!
Admirabilis ruler Ventricosus:
She tricked Phos and put them in a position that allowed the Lunarians to capture them, resulting in Phos permanently losing their legs.
But she did so in order to save their brother. And despite that being the reason Phos was in this position, she and her brother saved them.
Does the Admirabilis’ later actions make up for them helping the Lunarians in attempting to kidnap Phos? Where would they fall on the morality gray scale?
Cicada:
Now, they were the first person to greet Phos when they arrived on the moon. They were also our first glimpse of what the Lunarians. Because of how nice they are with Phos, and how willing they were to help them with their plans, it can be easy to label them as “good.”
But at the same time, they actively participated in capturing and destroying Gems before and after Phos joined their side. Though they did it because it was part of Lunarians’ ploy to try to get Kongo/Adamant to pray, would you label Cicada as a morally “good” character or “bad”?
Barbata:
I remember this character being a fan favorite. Like Cicada, Barbata was pretty nice to Phos and was probably the most straightforward with them when it came to the Lunarian’s mission with the gems. Through the few times we’ve seen him in the manga, he seems to be one of the few Lunarians, besides Cicada, who seems sympathetic to Phos’s plight and was really receptive to the gems integrating into their society, such as Amethyst 84 becoming his student. Plus, his experiments had been for the sake of helping the remnants of humanity.
But do these absolve Barbata of their involvement with the Lunarian’s past actions towards the Lustrous or Admirabilis? Compared to Cicada, Barbata seems the most neutral when it comes to morality due to his limited direct involvement with Phos’ story.
Lapis Lazuli and Ghost:
In different ways, these two gems had left huge impacts on Phos and the progression of their story, though they their presence wasn’t there for very long. Where on the scale would they go?
With Lapis, they were known for being very smart and curious before their demise. They were one of the few gems who encouraged Phos to think hypercritically about their current circumstances, especially when it came to Adamant and the Lunarians. However, Lapis was also known for being very manipulative to those who knew them for personal gain and who’s to say that Lapis’ encouragement was solely for Phos’ benefit or if it’s connected to Lapis’ lingering curiosity. With how Phos’ story progresses thanks to Lapis’ influence, where do they belong on the morality scale?
Similar case with Ghost, though more so indirectly by influencing Cairn’s role in Phos’ development. It was hinted that the relationship between Cairn and Ghost was far more complicated than what was presented. From what I saw, their relationship wasn’t healthy since the true nature of said relationship seems to be built on both codependence and resentment from one another, with Ghost blaming Cairn for Lapis’ demise and their own moments of weakness. I’d say that because of Ghost’s influence on Cairn, it contributed to Cairn developing the unhealthy mindset of their role in the gem society and in Phos’ life, such as agreeing to Antarctictite’s stand in for Phos and being willing to sacrifice their own head when Phos lost theirs. Whether intended or not, I think Ghost’s influence was what drove Cairn to feeling helpless and desiring their own autonomy, which they ended up getting through Aechmea. The more I think about it, their relationship teetered between being symbiotic and parasitic. However, despite the negative aspects of their relationship, Ghost seemed to genuinely about Cairn and the other gems, despite Ghost putting distance between themselves and the others. And despite most of the animosity being shown towards Cairn, I don’t think Ghost was intentionally malicious and seemed to want Cairn to have their place amongst the others. But with what I’ve presented in mind, where would Ghost belong on the moral scale?
Again, because the manga didn’t focus on these characters too much, it’s hard for me to determine where they’d go on the morality scale. Maybe if the manga showed them interacting with the other characters more, I could have developed more definitive answers. But based on what I read and how I interpret these two gems, I’d say that they belong to the darker shade of gray.
Okay, I originally just wanted to do the small analyzing on small characters that played a part in the main story, but I felt like I needed to briefly talk about two characters who not only are morally ambiguous but play big factors in the whole series.
Adamant/Kongo:
Unlike the previously talked about characters, who were only around for a handful of chapters, Adamant had been a prominent character since the beginning of the story. For most of the story, his ambitions and reasons for being have been ambiguous. I remember when the anime first came out, many reactors were debating whether Adamant was a good or a bad person due to how he interacted with the other gems, especially Phos. His stoic, stern, and sometimes harsh nature can give the impression that he didn’t have much love or affection for the gems, save for Antarctictite. This was an understandable belief seeing how he acted in the early chapters.
But time and time again, he’d shown that he not only cares about the gems, but he’d also go through great lengths for them. If he did not care about the gems, he would not break pieces of himself to use as a weapon to destroy the Lunarians whenever they attempt to take them. Though the gems were limited in what they could do, Adamant gave them the freedom to choose what they could do within that scope, including Phos and Cinnabar. If he didn’t care for Phos, he wouldn’t have sought to help them figure out their place within their society repeatedly, nor would he have gone through great lengths to put Phos back together after they were shattered. Yes, it took over 200 years, but Adamant still did that for Phos when he could have just left him in pieces (you can see that as him doing a bare minimum, but the thought counts and it was more than what the moon gems did for them in my opinion.)
And though he knew that it was because of him that the gems were suffering at the hands of the Lunarians, he continually did what he could for them, including encouraging them to go with Phos to the moon so they wouldn’t suffer because of him. And many times, throughout the manga, Adamant tried to pray; even though he knew he was incapable of completing the prayer properly, he still tried for the gems, especially Phos. Yes, he had yelled at them to the point that they’d shatter, it still doesn’t detract from that fact that he cared… In many ways, Adamant reminds me of a stern, over-protective father who learned to softens and opens up over time.
But even so, with his questionable actions towards the end of the story in mind, is Adamant a morally good person or bad person? Like the other characters, he’s a gray character. Though for me, I’d say he’s a lighter toned gray character, for while he’d done things that definitely don’t paint him in the best light, I believe his intentions were overall good. I know I’m biased since I remember defending Adamant a lot in previous posts, and though I had mixed feelings about his story arc’s conclusion, I think Adamant was probably one of the most morally complex characters who belonged to the lighter side of the morality scale.
Aechmea (Prince Yama/Enma)
Now here’s a character who certainly belongs to the darker side of the scale! Aechmea is the source of the suffering for many characters, both directly and indirectly. He was one of the driving forces for Phos’ changes, manipulating them from the start for his own goals and continued to have Phos beat to the rhythm of his drum even after he and the rest of the remnants of humanity were erased. Yes, he truly belongs on the darker side.
However… as easy as it would be to just claim that Aechmea is an outright evil, morally black character, he is not. He’s the antagonist, for sure, who’s done many terrible/gross/ morally questionable things to varies characters of this story, especially our main character. But despite all of that, I don’t think he can be considered a morally black character.
One of the reasons he doesn’t belong in that category is because of his motive for his actions. As it was explained in the later chapters in the story, Aechmea’s motivation is to end the eternal suffering for his people, for while they were able to create a Nirvana on the moon, it’s not real. It’s a façade to temporarily placate their suffering, and Aechmea is seeking a way to end it for them as well as the other remnants of humanity. Though I can’t say for all characters like this, morally black characters are typically motivated by pure self-gain with no empathy for others. While that can be applied to Aechmea to an extent and his methods to accomplish this involves the suffering of someone else, he’s doing it for the sake of everyone else. This makes me think of the phrase “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” and the more I think about it, the more I think this encapsulates Aechmea’s mentality fairly well.
Additionally, while he orchestrated Phos’ development, I hate to admit it, but it was not out of pure maliciousness towards them. In fact, in a twisted way, it led to both of them getting what they wanted; for Aechmea, it was freeing his people and the rest of humanity from suffering, and for Phos, defining a purpose within themselves and freeing those they care about and eventually, themselves. Funny enough, I read somewhere that again, in some twisted way, Aechmea and Phos share some similarities with one another in that they are both characters trapped in cycles of continued suffering who do terrible things for good reasons. I kind of see it, though Aechmea clearly has more power in their situation than Phos did, so the comparison is still imbalanced to me. Anyways, back to my original point; despite all he’s done, Aechmea’s actions came from a place of care for his people and his desire to end the cycle of suffering by any means. Those are not characteristics akin to a morally black character.
Another reason that I hate to bring up is his relationship with Cairngorm. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve said it many times that I didn’t like how that relationship developed when I first read and for the most part, it’s still feels icky. And after rereading it again, it’s still wretch inducing.
HOWEVER… despite how this relationship came to be, Aechmea does somewhat seem to care about Cairngorm, and he gave them something that they wanted deep down: the sense of autonomy, even if it feels superficial. Funny enough, this kind of counteracts one of the themes of Buddhism, the illusion of self, which fits with the whole notion that the moon serves as a fake Nirvana for its inhabitants. Anyways, the point is that Aechmea encouraged Cairngorm to think for themselves for once instead of continuingly putting others (Phos) first. Remember how Cairngorm was willing to break themselves up and assume Antarctictite’s role for Phos? Thanks to Aechmea, Cairn was able to say no. That is the only brownie point I’m giving Aechmea when it comes to this! I’m sure Ichikawa wanted to present their relationship as a good thing and I really wish she’d developed it differently, but that’s a storytelling criticism I’ll likely go into in a later section. For now, I hope I was able to present enough evidence to show that despite it all, Aechmea belongs on the darker side of the morality scale but is still not a morally black character.
You know what? Thinking about the morality of the characters from Houseki no Kuni made me think of the characters from Dorohedoro. If you haven’t read Dorohedoro, let’s just say that most of the characters, especially the protagonists, are morally. I can’t think of anyone from that series that would fall under the “lawfully good” category; heck, I’d even say all the characters are a bit evil to a degree, though that doesn’t necessarily make them “bad” people. It just makes these characters, who also seem very simple at first glance, more complicated and fascinating. Though to be fair, there were some arguable evil characters in that story. Still, I highly recommend the series but please be warned that it contains some intense and disturbing imagery and subject matter that isn’t for everybody.
And of all the characters that has been able to encapsulate what it means to me morally gray, multifaceted, and yet simple and understandable, let me talk about our dear main character; Phosphophyllite.
Because of how long this has gotten, I’ll be making another post for continuation. Stay tuned for part 2... whenever that will be!
Cool cool. Someone on Youtube included my drawing of Topaz in their video. I honestly wouldn't mind it, but they not only removed my visible watermark, but my comment stating I'm the artist keeps disappearing. That's cool./s
In light of the recent news of the developing Steven Universe Spin-off show, Lars of the Stars, I've been re-watching Steven Universe clips and songs.
My goodness. I'd forgotten how much I loved this show.
While the show wasn't perfect and fandom drama definitely hurt it's reputation multiple times through the years it ran, this show was really something special and I'm so glad it exists.
I love all of the characters, the story, the animation, and the music, flaws and all. I also love that as I've gotten older, I've gained a better understanding and appreciation for many of the characters, especially the ones I once disliked. And while I could always wonder how the story would have played out if the creators were allowed to tell their story at their proper pace, especially in the last seasons, I'm still happy with what we got.
This show means so much to many people and I genuinely hope this spin-off does it justice. I feel so blessed that I was able to watch the original show from the very beginning with it's pilot, and witnessing it evolve into this beautiful, crazy, heartfelt, one of a kind story to the very end.
It's something I've wanted to do for a while. I partially thank my mom for this since she was a writer (miss you, Mom), but for the past two and a half years, that desire has grown exponentially.
This will be my new personal goal, amongst everything else I want to do lol. I don't know when I'll accomplish this but I know it's something I want to do while I'm still alive and kicking.
I have so many dumb stories and scenarios, both fanfiction and original fiction, that play in my head that like comics that I'm personally attached to. I want to figure out how to put them into words and build the courage to share them with others.
Yeah... that sounds like a lot of fun.
I know it'll be stressful too, but I want to believe it'd be worth it. :)
Hello everyone. It's been a long while. I'm very sorry; I truly didn't mean to be away for so long. I'm pleased to say that I've finally found the time to work on my final meta posts for Houseki no Kuni. Yes, it's looking like I'll be making more than one post for this. And I'd say that I'm about 70-75% done with them. The remaining percentage that I think is very crucial to the whole thing, and it's unfortunately taking far longer than I expected. Other than life just being a lot at the moment, these final sections are what's causing me to delay posting at all. I'm the type of person who prefers to finish everything before posting, but I feel very bad delaying for so long, especially since I promised I'd have it all done months ago.
So to those who follow me and/or my HnK posts, I wanted to ask for your feedback on my dilemma. (This is also my first poll, so hopefully I'm doing this correctly)
What should I do regarding my (presumably) final HnK posts?
Continue working on your posts and publish only when it's 100% ready
Post the parts you have finished now and post the unfinished part later
Ditch the unfinished part and post the rest of it! (not a fan of this one tbh)
Personal Suggestions!/I just want to press this button!
Voting ended onApr 22, 2025
I don't know if anyone will even respond to this post, but I figured I'd give it a shot.
Thank you!
(BTW: If you have personal suggestions that's not one of the other options, feel free to add it in the comments below)
Thank you so much for responding to my poll! I'm honestly surprised that I got more than 5 votes, so seeing how many voted made me smile. :)
Seriously, thank you for the feedback. I greatly appreciate it. I have been feeling motivated lately, and just seeing the votes and your feedback is motivating me even more. I don't want to let you down.
I will let you all know when I'm gonna publish my posts. I hope it'll all be worth the wait.
Hello everyone. It's been a long while. I'm very sorry; I truly didn't mean to be away for so long. I'm pleased to say that I've finally found the time to work on my final meta posts for Houseki no Kuni. Yes, it's looking like I'll be making more than one post for this. And I'd say that I'm about 70-75% done with them. The remaining percentage that I'm still working on is very crucial to the whole thing, and it's unfortunately taking far longer than I expected. Other than life just being a lot at the moment, these final sections are what's causing me to delay posting at all. I'm the type of person who prefers to finish everything before posting, but I feel very bad delaying for so long, especially since I promised I'd have it all done months ago.
So to those who follow me and/or my HnK posts, I wanted to ask for your feedback on my dilemma. (This is also my first poll, so hopefully I'm doing this correctly)
(4/18/2025: Fixed some writing errors I missed)
What should I do regarding my (presumably) final HnK posts?
Continue working on your posts and publish only when it's 100% ready
Post the parts you have finished now and post the unfinished part later
Ditch the unfinished part and post the rest of it! (not a fan of this one tbh)
Personal Suggestions!/I just want to press this button!
Voting ended onApr 22, 2025
I don't know if anyone will even respond to this post, but I figured I'd give it a shot.
Thank you!
(BTW: If you have personal suggestions that's not one of the other options, feel free to add it in the comments below)
Hello again. To those who've been waiting for my HnK post, I think you so much for your patience. I'm sorry that it's taken me so long. I promise, I have the majority of it written down. There are now just a few more things I want to write, but haven't had the time to do so thanks to real life being... chaotic, to say the least.
But I promise it is coming; I don't know how receptive it will be now that it's been nearly a year since the series ended and my thoughts have changed since then, but I still plan to post it. I'm aiming to have it posted before the end of this month. I'm really hoping I'll be able to do it despite how things are currently with my life.
Again, to those who are following me because of my posts and/or are waiting for my final thoughts of this series, thank you so much. I truly appreciate you all.
I hope you all are doing alright and trying to stay safe out there.
Ok. I'm stopping for real it now because it's too addictive and I wanna go to bed. But this was fun! This was the most boops I've given and received! I was originally going to just call it at 300, but you motivated me!
And I got the second BOOP badge! :D
What a nice way to end the night :) This experience genuinely lifted my mood.
Thank you everyone you booped me, and sorry to everyone who I spammed with the boop button!
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