spare cinnabar panels? spare cinnabar panels maam? // interact from @com/fortscall // latest chapter's spoilers always tagged #hnk spoilers for a few days after the release on mangadex
It finally arrived! This a limited edition official clear folder of the 4th volume cover art. Since I own this now, it is very high quality. It feels like its made of plastic silicone(??), the button clasp is metal, and the cover is actually transparent, so you can see the lustrous laying on your documents.
There are several official clear files/folders of houseki no kuni (the manga, not the anime) floating around, yet there is barely any information I can find on them.
Note: photo is badly edited to show the colors more because my entire house has bad lighting, the colors on the folder match the actual colors on the artwork.
this is an hnk anime clear file, I have the high quality render of the art somewhere in my official art tag, and I am sure this was sold during the animes original run back in 2017 as there's others like this! I could look back at the original merch site for the anime but I'm on mobile atm.
The anime clear files are a lot more common to find (even though theyre still kinda rare) since this was the initial explosion that attracted international fans. It's a lot more rarer to find any merch associated with the manga before 2017, whether it be due to language barrier or people not wanting to sell (which I relate to lmao).
The clear files that ARE harder to find are the manga ones with cover art (whether it be the volumes or the cover art for the Afternoon Manga issue it released in), and the only anime related clear file that I haven't been able to find all that clearly is the Rutile focused one.
International fans will buy stuff from eBay but those are from other international fans who price it way higher than normal. If you want to find houseki no kuni merch, for a decent price, whether it be from the anime run or anything related to the manga that isn't the additional bonus booklets, I recommend looking it up on mercari. This is where I actually got my clear folder.
This is cool as hell, do you know how many manga releases got the clear folder treatment? I was under the impression it was a preorder bonus of some sort, but since the latter tomes had more marketable stuff (iirc a baggu for vol 6, mini artbooks for a few othervolumes ...), I don't know if they kept making more of them...?
There's also a ton of hnk merch that seems official enough but i haven't done enough research to know where it's from. Like these ⬇️(charms, bookmarks, badges, pouch, bag, mug)
Or this cute shiro mug ⬆️
I think a lot of them come from raffles, but i can't say for sure. They're really neat tho :)
(Big news for Houseki no Kuni merch heads and the entire fucking history of the houseki no kuni manga merch ig)
There is only two instances of a clear folder manga release (note that what I have is called a Flat Case, my mistake). These were both sold/released at the same time and they both seem to have been released during the start of the run as they both feature original Phos.
Many JP sites had them for sale. So theyre ""common"". If you look up "クリアファイル 宝石の国" (Clear File Houseki no Kuni), you will see both of them appear in your search results, including resales up for listing (which you'll have to most likely use buyee for). There are multiple amazon relistings, one will even sell you the Phos keychain Red-dia featured above. Yahoo jp also has resale listings.
Note that the Phos with the Moon one is normal, while the one with the Lunarians has iridescent flakes
(Source - Deadlink)
The art of Original Phos with the moon behind them also appears as an illustration card, as such other manga illustrations including Shattered Moonphos, and the one art of Phos, Dia, Bort, Morga, and Jade. These I presume came as additional items for the Afternoon Manga Issues (since I cannot speak japanese). These you can find by looking up "原石〟フェア特典イラストカード". Once again, you can find resale listings of them.
(Source: The Afternoon Manga site itself)
BAGGU was a collab with the business (cant read the jpeg so fuck me I guess) which looks like it came from the Manga Vol 6 original release run. It may have been a reserve to buy situation. You got a regular sized bag and also a little baby one. Relistings avaliable if you look up "宝石の国 baggu".
(Both promotional arts for the BAGGU series are somewhere in my Official Art tag).
There was also an early manga merch run from kodansha that happened around the release of Volume 5! They had bags (not from the baggu event btw) were sold along side candles that imitated the crystal versions of the gems (made by NURI), shirts, phonecases (for the Iphone 5/6s), and a jewelry set of Phos. These items were sold on the natalie site.
There were multiple bags for the kodansha series. Including standalone bags of Phos, Dia, and Bort (Shinsha was also featured in this series but no standalone so Ig we hate Shinsha...)
The phone cases (We still hate Shinsha IG).
The jewelry set, from its description, is described to actually have been made from phosphophyllite and 18K gold with a warning of its obvious breakage. The earrings is actually a singular earring. Let it be known that that these motherfuckers were EXPENSIVE.
The Phosphophyllite Pendant Necklace was sold for 50k Yen/~$311USD and the Phosphophyllite earring was sold for 30k yen/~$187USD.
It seems like there were multiple pieces of the necklace since theres numbers from 1-12 for the pendants.
These listings are still up despite obviously being unavaliable/discontinued on natalie. Link to Official Webpage.
Speaking of jewelry... There was a jewelry merch run of all the characters, featuring a pearl and the actual gem type itself (and us hnk fans know this is a literal feat in itself). This was a collab event with the jewelry brand TASAKI. These released around the time of the anime back in 2017 to help promote it!
Although the TASAKI page for hnk is now defunct, it is still avaliable on the wayback machine. The page for the collab was very interactive, where you could read the concept, story, characters, and store (heres the deadlink address if you want to go check it out: https://www.tasaki.co.jp/land_of_the_lustrous/). The gems that appeared after the card art have no art to represent them btw.
Oh yeah did I say every character? Cause I mean every character. Heres an article that features this merch run from around the time it was released, including the initial tweet from TASAKI themselves. And a jp article recounts this entire merch run.
Simultaneously running alongside this event, was the Minna no Kuji Lottery event (which is what your shiro mug image is). This lotto event also came with a tote bag.
(Link to an article showcasing all the items).
Unrelated tote bag from ANIMATION ADDICT STORE
There was also a twitter raffle for a few of the actual real gems.
Not pictured here but you can find the images: Antarc (who was in a little capsule since they were liquid), Benitoite, Red Beryl, and Yellow Diamond (who was extra small, like super tiny because Yellow Diamond is rare as shit).
And last but not least before this post gets too long, is the item I own! I actually did find information on this item. This item you can find searching up "宝石の国 フラットケース" (Houseki no Kuni Flat Case). Good news for everyone searching up that little phrase, theres plenty on sale.
It was originally sold with the original release of Volume 8, however you had to set up a reservation just for it as it is limited. It was provided by ANIMATE SHIBUYA. Here is a tweet where they announced it.
All in all there are certain reasons you wont be seeing resells of certain houseki no kuni merch, according to the article that recounts the TASAKI jewelry run some people HAVE resold their phos jewelries for even more absurd prices.
Although the Minna no Kuji lottery event was limited, you could still find relistings of some of their items like the keychains and the shiro plushies (whom I saw were around ~$50USD on mercari).
Thanks a lot for writing this!! If you don't mind, I'll add on with a few others I know about (including some which seem very obvious, but it might be useful to people who joined late :])
So, card games! Ichikawa drew two different sets of cards:
⬆️ I haven't managed to find a lot of info about this one, I only know it predates the second set of cards. According to natalie, it was supposed to be promotional material for vol 3, notably for libraries. I'm not sure how it was distributed, though (I've seen a few people claim they got individual cards when buying a volume).
⬆️ That one though, was actually produced and distributed as a bonus for vol 4. These two cards in particular were not included in the base set. Alloy Phos could be obtained with an issue of Afternoon Magazine (July 2015), and Padparadscha was a prize for a Twitter giveaway of vol 4.
Last but not least, Ichikawa drew two Phos cards as part of collaborations. The left one isf from Lord of Vermillon. The right one... I'm honestly not sure, I've tried looking into it but I can't find any satisfying results :( But you should be able to find them easily enough on mercari/yahoo/rakuma etc - here's an example of listing you can look for.
Moving on with fashion; HnK surprisingly had a few collabs with supergroupies! These included:
Jewerly,
Shoes,
Mineral-themed bags,
Lunarian-themed jewerly,
And gem-themed accessories (Shoes, handbag, purse, phonecase, overalls).
They're not the most affordable and tend to be pretty subtle about their affiliation with HnK, but it's still pretty cool seeing how much merch there was.
With the anime adaptation, there was also a big influx of new merch. ANIMATION ADDICT STORE had the bag you shared, but a few others items such as these 'antistatic wristbands' (their words, not mine) of Phos, Bortz, Dia and Cinnabar...
Or these various products ('bandana', night gown (?), tote bag, pouch, phone case).
We also got some cute chibi charms/pins of the cast, which were made by Exrare, a company that seems to have disappeared sometimes not too long after the anime aired.
These chibis were reused a lot though. Zextworks reused them for smartphone cases and little acrylic standees. (There's also little shikishi boards with the anime renders! Though, the character on it was random. All the pics are in the link.)
There were a few other goodies using these renders, like these acrylic charms by Atelier Magi:
(There's another series with Bortz, Rutile, Morga and Goshe)
Or these standees, which are supposed to be earring holders :
We also got a bunch of other standees by Zextworks, which. lol. lmao. This is where I'll stop listing most products that use anime renders, because a lot of them are pretty lazy in that regard.
In the style of the Exrare charms, there was another set of pretty cute charms (which I was convinced were the same as the others but I guess not? oh well)
And even if they appear in the link you shared, I'll take the opportunity to repost it : Minnanokuji had a few charms on the more original side, and a decently sized Ventricosus plushie which is very important to me 👉👈
Also pretty cool, but there's a few HnK manga shikishi. I know of 3 types (from 2014 ⬅️, 2013 ➡️, 2017⬇️). You could get the first two by buying tomes in libraries during special events, and the last by buying DVDs.
Some sellers also included bonuses with the Anime, like a mirror, a ceramic jewel box, and a pretty cute print.
And of course, this list wouldn't be complete without the famous Goodsmile figures:
And I can't mention these without giving a quick shoutout to the Phos figma, which was announced in 2018 and then never mentioned ever again. RIP lil guy
I ran out of merch to think about, but I'm probably missing some! If you want to be pedantic, the artbooks should probably be included (the ones that came with the manga's special editions, the orange artbook, pseudomorph of love, and probably the anime concept arts, too). But I guess mentioning them should be enough to get people to know of their existence, so 👍
Oh I forgot about the last non-booklet piece of merch Haruko Ichikawa did for the manga (or at least related to it), and thats the stuff she did for an art exhibit for an art museum!
This came out around early August of 2021, so it got plenty of eyes, Haruko Ichikawa's "Hello Tokyo!" illustration! This was for the art museum OIL by 美術手帖 / OIL by Bijutsu Techo and museum bookstore NADiff contemporary, and the exhibit was called "Manga vs Tokyo". It was a collaborative effort which included multiple, around 20 mangakas and sold merch of their works and art collabs with the museum.
The "Hello Tokyo!" illustration was made for, yet again, a clear file, sold on both sites. When this clear file was put up to order on it immediately was sold out. On the same day, orders were already shipping and arriving to their customers.
"Hello, Tokyo!" is not the singular title of Haruko Ichikawa's contribution, it is the name of a book sold during that event with contributions from all mangakas (for purchase btw), and if you visited the exhibit you could view exclusive drawings by 7 mangakas (this included Haruko Ichikawa). Its confirmed that Haruko Ichikawa was one of the 7 as a small tidbit of her character made specifically for this event popped up, seemingly part of a manga she drew for them. It has not popped online fully, and probably never will.
The links i provided both in my initial tweet and in the tumblr post now redirect to the current gallery exhibits. One displays a 404. However, I am a tech master (lie) and I ripped the image from one of the sites when they were selling the clear file. Sites that let you preview images of products online will often write their code to make you unable to copy images, so I had to manually go into the html and rip this image. The first one is the one I edited to only display the actual drawing, and the second one is the actual image I ripped from the site, showing what the back side looked like!
So if you were wondering why people were drawing certain gems in the same little yukatas, its because of this exhibit!
It finally arrived! This a limited edition official clear folder of the 4th volume cover art. Since I own this now, it is very high quality. It feels like its made of plastic silicone(??), the button clasp is metal, and the cover is actually transparent, so you can see the lustrous laying on your documents.
There are several official clear files/folders of houseki no kuni (the manga, not the anime) floating around, yet there is barely any information I can find on them.
Note: photo is badly edited to show the colors more because my entire house has bad lighting, the colors on the folder match the actual colors on the artwork.
this is an hnk anime clear file, I have the high quality render of the art somewhere in my official art tag, and I am sure this was sold during the animes original run back in 2017 as there's others like this! I could look back at the original merch site for the anime but I'm on mobile atm.
The anime clear files are a lot more common to find (even though theyre still kinda rare) since this was the initial explosion that attracted international fans. It's a lot more rarer to find any merch associated with the manga before 2017, whether it be due to language barrier or people not wanting to sell (which I relate to lmao).
The clear files that ARE harder to find are the manga ones with cover art (whether it be the volumes or the cover art for the Afternoon Manga issue it released in), and the only anime related clear file that I haven't been able to find all that clearly is the Rutile focused one.
International fans will buy stuff from eBay but those are from other international fans who price it way higher than normal. If you want to find houseki no kuni merch, for a decent price, whether it be from the anime run or anything related to the manga that isn't the additional bonus booklets, I recommend looking it up on mercari. This is where I actually got my clear folder.
This is cool as hell, do you know how many manga releases got the clear folder treatment? I was under the impression it was a preorder bonus of some sort, but since the latter tomes had more marketable stuff (iirc a baggu for vol 6, mini artbooks for a few othervolumes ...), I don't know if they kept making more of them...?
There's also a ton of hnk merch that seems official enough but i haven't done enough research to know where it's from. Like these ⬇️(charms, bookmarks, badges, pouch, bag, mug)
Or this cute shiro mug ⬆️
I think a lot of them come from raffles, but i can't say for sure. They're really neat tho :)
(Big news for Houseki no Kuni merch heads and the entire fucking history of the houseki no kuni manga merch ig)
There is only two instances of a clear folder manga release (note that what I have is called a Flat Case, my mistake). These were both sold/released at the same time and they both seem to have been released during the start of the run as they both feature original Phos.
Many JP sites had them for sale. So theyre ""common"". If you look up "クリアファイル 宝石の国" (Clear File Houseki no Kuni), you will see both of them appear in your search results, including resales up for listing (which you'll have to most likely use buyee for). There are multiple amazon relistings, one will even sell you the Phos keychain Red-dia featured above. Yahoo jp also has resale listings.
Note that the Phos with the Moon one is normal, while the one with the Lunarians has iridescent flakes
(Source - Deadlink)
The art of Original Phos with the moon behind them also appears as an illustration card, as such other manga illustrations including Shattered Moonphos, and the one art of Phos, Dia, Bort, Morga, and Jade. These I presume came as additional items for the Afternoon Manga Issues (since I cannot speak japanese). These you can find by looking up "原石〟フェア特典イラストカード". Once again, you can find resale listings of them.
(Source: The Afternoon Manga site itself)
BAGGU was a collab with the business (cant read the jpeg so fuck me I guess) which looks like it came from the Manga Vol 6 original release run. It may have been a reserve to buy situation. You got a regular sized bag and also a little baby one. Relistings avaliable if you look up "宝石の国 baggu".
(Both promotional arts for the BAGGU series are somewhere in my Official Art tag).
There was also an early manga merch run from kodansha that happened around the release of Volume 5! They had bags (not from the baggu event btw) were sold along side candles that imitated the crystal versions of the gems (made by NURI), shirts, phonecases (for the Iphone 5/6s), and a jewelry set of Phos. These items were sold on the natalie site.
There were multiple bags for the kodansha series. Including standalone bags of Phos, Dia, and Bort (Shinsha was also featured in this series but no standalone so Ig we hate Shinsha...)
The phone cases (We still hate Shinsha IG).
The jewelry set, from its description, is described to actually have been made from phosphophyllite and 18K gold with a warning of its obvious breakage. The earrings is actually a singular earring. Let it be known that that these motherfuckers were EXPENSIVE.
The Phosphophyllite Pendant Necklace was sold for 50k Yen/~$311USD and the Phosphophyllite earring was sold for 30k yen/~$187USD.
It seems like there were multiple pieces of the necklace since theres numbers from 1-12 for the pendants.
These listings are still up despite obviously being unavaliable/discontinued on natalie. Link to Official Webpage.
Speaking of jewelry... There was a jewelry merch run of all the characters, featuring a pearl and the actual gem type itself (and us hnk fans know this is a literal feat in itself). This was a collab event with the jewelry brand TASAKI. These released around the time of the anime back in 2017 to help promote it!
Although the TASAKI page for hnk is now defunct, it is still avaliable on the wayback machine. The page for the collab was very interactive, where you could read the concept, story, characters, and store (heres the deadlink address if you want to go check it out: https://www.tasaki.co.jp/land_of_the_lustrous/). The gems that appeared after the card art have no art to represent them btw.
Oh yeah did I say every character? Cause I mean every character. Heres an article that features this merch run from around the time it was released, including the initial tweet from TASAKI themselves. And a jp article recounts this entire merch run.
Simultaneously running alongside this event, was the Minna no Kuji Lottery event (which is what your shiro mug image is). This lotto event also came with a tote bag.
(Link to an article showcasing all the items).
Unrelated tote bag from ANIMATION ADDICT STORE
There was also a twitter raffle for a few of the actual real gems.
Not pictured here but you can find the images: Antarc (who was in a little capsule since they were liquid), Benitoite, Red Beryl, and Yellow Diamond (who was extra small, like super tiny because Yellow Diamond is rare as shit).
And last but not least before this post gets too long, is the item I own! I actually did find information on this item. This item you can find searching up "宝石の国 フラットケース" (Houseki no Kuni Flat Case). Good news for everyone searching up that little phrase, theres plenty on sale.
It was originally sold with the original release of Volume 8, however you had to set up a reservation just for it as it is limited. It was provided by ANIMATE SHIBUYA. Here is a tweet where they announced it.
All in all there are certain reasons you wont be seeing resells of certain houseki no kuni merch, according to the article that recounts the TASAKI jewelry run some people HAVE resold their phos jewelries for even more absurd prices.
Although the Minna no Kuji lottery event was limited, you could still find relistings of some of their items like the keychains and the shiro plushies (whom I saw were around ~$50USD on mercari).
Thanks a lot for writing this!! If you don't mind, I'll add on with a few others I know about (including some which seem very obvious, but it might be useful to people who joined late :])
So, card games! Ichikawa drew two different sets of cards:
⬆️ I haven't managed to find a lot of info about this one, I only know it predates the second set of cards. According to natalie, it was supposed to be promotional material for vol 3, notably for libraries. I'm not sure how it was distributed, though (I've seen a few people claim they got individual cards when buying a volume).
⬆️ That one though, was actually produced and distributed as a bonus for vol 4. These two cards in particular were not included in the base set. Alloy Phos could be obtained with an issue of Afternoon Magazine (July 2015), and Padparadscha was a prize for a Twitter giveaway of vol 4.
Last but not least, Ichikawa drew two Phos cards as part of collaborations. The left one isf from Lord of Vermillon. The right one... I'm honestly not sure, I've tried looking into it but I can't find any satisfying results :( But you should be able to find them easily enough on mercari/yahoo/rakuma etc - here's an example of listing you can look for.
Moving on with fashion; HnK surprisingly had a few collabs with supergroupies! These included:
Jewerly,
Shoes,
Mineral-themed bags,
Lunarian-themed jewerly,
And gem-themed accessories (Shoes, handbag, purse, phonecase, overalls).
They're not the most affordable and tend to be pretty subtle about their affiliation with HnK, but it's still pretty cool seeing how much merch there was.
With the anime adaptation, there was also a big influx of new merch. ANIMATION ADDICT STORE had the bag you shared, but a few others items such as these 'antistatic wristbands' (their words, not mine) of Phos, Bortz, Dia and Cinnabar...
Or these various products ('bandana', night gown (?), tote bag, pouch, phone case).
We also got some cute chibi charms/pins of the cast, which were made by Exrare, a company that seems to have disappeared sometimes not too long after the anime aired.
These chibis were reused a lot though. Zextworks reused them for smartphone cases and little acrylic standees. (There's also little shikishi boards with the anime renders! Though, the character on it was random. All the pics are in the link.)
There were a few other goodies using these renders, like these acrylic charms by Atelier Magi:
(There's another series with Bortz, Rutile, Morga and Goshe)
Or these standees, which are supposed to be earring holders :
We also got a bunch of other standees by Zextworks, which. lol. lmao. This is where I'll stop listing most products that use anime renders, because a lot of them are pretty lazy in that regard.
In the style of the Exrare charms, there was another set of pretty cute charms (which I was convinced were the same as the others but I guess not? oh well)
And even if they appear in the link you shared, I'll take the opportunity to repost it : Minnanokuji had a few charms on the more original side, and a decently sized Ventricosus plushie which is very important to me 👉👈
Also pretty cool, but there's a few HnK manga shikishi. I know of 3 types (from 2014 ⬅️, 2013 ➡️, 2017⬇️). You could get the first two by buying tomes in libraries during special events, and the last by buying DVDs.
Some sellers also included bonuses with the Anime, like a mirror, a ceramic jewel box, and a pretty cute print.
And of course, this list wouldn't be complete without the famous Goodsmile figures:
And I can't mention these without giving a quick shoutout to the Phos figma, which was announced in 2018 and then never mentioned ever again. RIP lil guy
I ran out of merch to think about, but I'm probably missing some! If you want to be pedantic, the artbooks should probably be included (the ones that came with the manga's special editions, the orange artbook, pseudomorph of love, and probably the anime concept arts, too). But I guess mentioning them should be enough to get people to know of their existence, so 👍
It finally arrived! This a limited edition official clear folder of the 4th volume cover art. Since I own this now, it is very high quality. It feels like its made of plastic silicone(??), the button clasp is metal, and the cover is actually transparent, so you can see the lustrous laying on your documents.
There are several official clear files/folders of houseki no kuni (the manga, not the anime) floating around, yet there is barely any information I can find on them.
Note: photo is badly edited to show the colors more because my entire house has bad lighting, the colors on the folder match the actual colors on the artwork.
this is an hnk anime clear file, I have the high quality render of the art somewhere in my official art tag, and I am sure this was sold during the animes original run back in 2017 as there's others like this! I could look back at the original merch site for the anime but I'm on mobile atm.
The anime clear files are a lot more common to find (even though theyre still kinda rare) since this was the initial explosion that attracted international fans. It's a lot more rarer to find any merch associated with the manga before 2017, whether it be due to language barrier or people not wanting to sell (which I relate to lmao).
The clear files that ARE harder to find are the manga ones with cover art (whether it be the volumes or the cover art for the Afternoon Manga issue it released in), and the only anime related clear file that I haven't been able to find all that clearly is the Rutile focused one.
International fans will buy stuff from eBay but those are from other international fans who price it way higher than normal. If you want to find houseki no kuni merch, for a decent price, whether it be from the anime run or anything related to the manga that isn't the additional bonus booklets, I recommend looking it up on mercari. This is where I actually got my clear folder.
This is cool as hell, do you know how many manga releases got the clear folder treatment? I was under the impression it was a preorder bonus of some sort, but since the latter tomes had more marketable stuff (iirc a baggu for vol 6, mini artbooks for a few othervolumes ...), I don't know if they kept making more of them...?
There's also a ton of hnk merch that seems official enough but i haven't done enough research to know where it's from. Like these ⬇️(charms, bookmarks, badges, pouch, bag, mug)
Or this cute shiro mug ⬆️
I think a lot of them come from raffles, but i can't say for sure. They're really neat tho :)
Twitter user @/inspirashamul dug up an old Ichikawa interview from 2015. I don't think there's anything earthshattering, but it's still pretty cool (and I think it's the only time she's directly acknowledged the 7 treasures ? unless i'm mistaken)
Transcription under the cut :
"Throughout history gems have decorated every aspect of our lives - and afterlives as well. Buddhist sutras describe the Land of Bliss as a realm of dazzling splendour covered in precious gems and metals.
Furthermore, in Shariputra, the world know as the Land of Bliss, there are lotus ponds, all made of seven precious substances, namely, gold. silver, emerald, rockcrystal, red pearl, sapphire, and mother of pearl as the seventh. [...] The bottom of each pond is covered with golden sand. [...] These stairways are colourful, elegant, and made of four precious substances, namely, gold, silver, emerald, and rock crystal. "
Japanese manga author Haruko Ichikawa was inspired by this description to transform the gems into characters in her series, Houseki no Kuni (The Kingdom of Gems). In the distant future, Gem Warriors battle with the Moon People who mount raids from above to kidnap the living gems to use as for decorations.
Gem warriors look human but shatter upon impact. Their broken surfaces reflect light with a brilliant lustre. The moment of destruction is shockingly beautiful, yet they never truly die and can regain human form if their shards are put back together.
In the course of the story, we learn that the rival Gem Warriors and Moon People share the same origin-they were both once human. Bone became gemstone and the soul became the Moon People. The setup makes The Kingdom of Gems a story of humanity told through gems.
Current Obsession conducted an e-mail interview with Haruko Ichikawa to find out what's behind the story and what she wants to say with her gem-laden allegory,
Background and Aesthetic
Many Japanese manga artists did not start as manga artists. Haruko Ichikawa is no exception. She was an editorial designer before she broke into manga.
'I enjoyed drawing when I was a little girl and that's why choose a high school that had an art course. Then, my interest moved from art to design, and in university, I majored in visual image design. After graduation, I worked as an editorial designer at a design company. I think the experience taught me how to design panels, how to make panels flow and how to balance black and white-basically, effective layouts that smoothly lead the eye of the reader. I'm also able to design my own books thanks to the techniques that I developed as an editorial designer.'
Usually design studios handle book design, but Ichikawa does it herself. Her brightly coloured covers glitter with lamé to suggest the world of gems waiting inside, while her minimalist two-dimensional style makes each panel stand as a pleasing piece of graphic design. The brilliance of the Gems stands out among the strong contrast of black and white pages. They look most beautiful when they shatter. The human-like appearance of the Gems makes this moment shocking, but also bewitching.
'I'm most attracted to the beauty within the horrific. Imagine the thrill of peeking at the secret hidden under a veil - an unexpected shock, or a macabre scene you can't turn away from. That's what I hope to recreate on the page.'
Her aesthetic is evident in the unique design of the characters. If the Gems are beautiful, then the bizarre Moon People are simply otherworldly. How did Ichikawa create these characters?
Character Design
There are two main groups of characters. While the colour and brilliance of gems are expressed as a Gem fighter's hair, Moon People are covered with ornate Buddhist decorations, such as multiple layers of delicate, heavenly garments and jewellery.
'When I design Gem Warriors, I try to get a specimen of the stone and base the design on its physical properties such as colour, hardness, strength, crystal shape and scarcity. On the other hand, I try to show Moon People as soft eerie beings with a hint of grace in order to make them look bizarre.'
Nearly every real world property is reflected in a Gem warrior's personality. Phosphophyllite (Phos), the main character with the "beautiful colour of shallow water on a western beach', lacks hardness and breaks as easily as actual phosphophyllite. Twin crystal amethyst is literally transformed into captivating twins, while the red-haired Cinnabar is knowledgeable, though cast as a lone wolf because her body is filled with a toxin. Real life cinnabar is known as the philosopher's stone and contains mercury. Alexandrite is usually a green-haired Moon People researcher, but she turns into a violent redhead in front actual Moon People, Her personality is in line with real alexandrite that changes colour depending on the type of light it reflects.
These properties come out as comical conversations between gems. For example, Morganite references the Mohs hardness scale when Phos grabs her. 'Hey! That was close! If you touch us directly, you're the one who's gonna shatter, three-and-a-half! Phos responds 'I am well aware, my dear seven.'
When speaking with Ichikawa it becomes apparent that her rich knowledge of stones and scientific viewpoint comes from her passion as a collector.
'My biggest pleasure is the surprise of discovery. Recently I'm most interested in how good intentions can lead to misfortune. This phenomenon happens quite often in science, which is why I like the field. I have around 300 stones in my collection. I've beest interested in stones since I was a little girl, so I've forgotten how I started to collect them: I' attracted to their simple chemical formula, near infiniteness, uniqueness, as well as the wonderful colour, texture and shape. I think every stone has its own appeal, be it a pebble on the beach or the most beautiful gem.'
Her choice of gems in the manga backs up the statement.
The Gem Warriors include valuable precious stones, such as diamond, as well as semi precious stones that are usually acknowledged as inforiors to gems. In her story, Gems vary in terms of fighting ability but are essentially treated as equals.
Inspiration
In The Kingdom of Gems, gems walk, talk and feel emotions just like us. How did Ichikawa come up with a unique idea of turning a gem into a human-shaped character?
'I had the idea that maybe minerals lived on a different time axis as ours - we just didn't realize it.'
And how did a passage from a Buddhist sutra, "the land of the Perfect Bliss is made of gems', contribute to the story?
'In the sutra gems are an accessible way to describe the beauty and majesty of the Land of Bliss. They are native to the Land of Bliss, not stolen from elsewhere. When I first read the sutra it occurred to me that Buddhism didn't consider these ornamental gems as eligible for salvation.
It's not that the sutra made me feel disappointed in Buddhism or want to liberate gems myself. The sutra provides a simple message for the masses by comparing objects of unparalleled beauty to gems. It made me realize that there's a limit to our shared imagination. There's a line somewhere.
So where does that put inorganic compounds? They can't speak for themselves. It's pretty convenient to ignore this and assume them to be subservient. It's hard to put my feelings into words, but I felt a very human danger - and attraction - in the vivid examples that assigned gems value and the matter-of-fact manner that passes over these same objects for salvation.
People emphasize with objects that appear human. So I followed this lite of thought - how would we react to a being that was totally unlike a human except in its appearance? Would we want to help them, or feel guilt for persecuting them? What would cause us to feel
compassion? This is my experiment find out. It boils down to having empathy for others, be they organic or otherwise.
I'm also interested in what part of our nature is human, and what is animal - both the good and bad. Just as we struggle with the unknowable animal nature within us, life forms in the future will struggle with the untamed nature leftover from humans. At least, that's my hypothesis for what I write.'
This kind of humanity is strongly depicted in the conversation between Phos and Ventricosus, the ruler of the sea.
Ventricosus understands that the Moon People mean to reclaim their flesh and bones to return to their human form, but since they divided from humans so long ago there is no way back.
Knowing that the character is not human makes the following dialogue all the more impressive.
'The Moon People, despite lacking natural enemies, love war and are never satisfied. I get the feeling that this undirected anxiety is leftover from when they were human.'
Unique Use of Ornamentation
All sorts of decorations will catch your eye as you read through the pages. For instance, the Moon People are defined by their lavish outfits. From their opulent fabrics to elegans curved ornamentation it's hard to imagine they are capable of such aggression.
The highly decorative quality of the Moon People and the way they steal gems to decorate their homeland makes ornamentation an allegory for earthly desires. However, Ichikawa's statement from the previous wection reveals her unique attitude to wards ornamentation. She uses gems, a typical decoration, to show how the reader feels toward the materials we use for decotation. Yet she has a positive view of the subject. For example, the Gem Warriors fashion reveals clothing lined with flower patterns and special costumes worn during hibernation. Ichikawa obviously enjoys drawing these scenes. Her pages overflow with fun.
'I appreciate sophisticated adornment, Bizarre, extravagant adornment is also atractive. I'm rather interested in the reason behind such decoration. People must have reasons to (or not to) decorate For example, some people decorate them selves to feel confident or be popular, while others don't because they have different priorities.
It's interesting to see what people place importance on.
As for the Gem Warrior outfits, materials are scarce in their world so I try to make the most of simplicity. I also wanted to show how the Gems take pleasure from fashion.
People will decorate.
Some for personal reasons, and some out of a desire to get close to something greater than themselves. It is a very human behaviour we should love and be proud of.
I like decorations, I like jewellery. Even more so I like people who decorate themselves and our nature that drives us to. I'm sure many readers understand this sentiment.
However, like all human practices, the act and desire to decorate hides our vulnerabilities.'
Haruko Ichikawa points this out through characters that are living decorations themselves. She does not view this negatively. For in her world, everything is beautiful, even our weaknesses.
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Hi Laila, thanks for reaching out again!
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