Houseki no Kuni - a negative review
January 4th, 2023
Spoilers ahead -- not only for Houseki no Kuni but Fire Punch, Nier:Automata, and Shingeki no Kyojin.
tl;dr
I give Houseki no Kuni a 5/10. Only read Houseki no Kuni if:
- You're LGBTQ+ and like representation
- You like to philosophize the "greater meaning" about random plot points (a.k.a. making sense of poor writing)
- You find it easy to get attached to immortal, passionless dickheads with little screentime and dialogue
the review
I recently watched and read up to Chapter 99 of Houseki no Kuni, a story about mineral people and... well I didn't really get a sense of an overarching plot honestly.
I think it's a commentary on the human condition of ceaselessly wanting more and more and the change and ruin it brings. The main character Phos continually wants things but consequently suffers when they achieve it. Kind of like a psuedo-Buddhist view of existential angst.
I didn't feel attached to any of the characters though. Too big of a cast and little screentime. Plus, since the cast is literally immortal they don't really DO anything. It's not much of a story when the characters don't push for a story themselves.
There are a couple characters where there are interesting motivations, like the Rutile who wants to revive their sleeping friend or Yellow Diamond who wants to sleep forever. I only think if those plotlines were only expanded on would I feel anything for them, but it's just hastily skipped over in favor of some prayer robot machine plot that rivals the stupidity of Fire Punch.
Like if the idea was exploring existentialism, then wouldn't it make sense remove the Lunarians from the story entirely? Why introduce them as a plot device? Plus, I couldn't even remember half of the characters in the manga since they barely get any screentime (like, who the fuck was Ghost?) I thought the plot was going to go full Nier:Automata, but it turns out it's just a generic battle plot.
I'm not even sure what the hell the plot is. Phos is controlled into becoming a human so they can pray for all the departed? Then Phos suffers for ten thousand years... for whatever reason? I guess in a way that sort of suffering is purely human, but it's not really human either. Since... Phos is immortal. I'm not really sure what the point is. In fact, it just makes Phos seem as this sort of Eldritch creature that doesn't seem remotely human at all.
And if the point of the story was to change this naive child into some sort of crazy monster, I think Attack on Titan did a better job. In fact, I'd even praise the end of AoT because it humiliates Eren in the face of his humanity as he begs to live. That's more of a relatable humanity than whatever the author wrote Phos into. Though, I guess at the end Phos will learn to accept him or herself with the rock friend and that's really the moral of the story. In fact, none of the story would've happened if Phos had just accepted themselves and not changed. (Some people on the other hand say the message of the story is to embrace change. Guess we'll have to wait and see.)
Basically, I think the story is just all over the place. There's way too many subplots, random tidbits, unresolved details that leave me feeling unsatisfied. Also, some of the dumbest explanations I've ever read (they fight in pairs of two... because atom formation protecting sensei!!! Um, what the fuck? Also, why the fuck do they keep charging at the solar spots without waiting for help? Then they die and get taken? Are they retarded???) The story is very poorly told and the pacing during the middle portion was slow. I feel as if the author had (no offense) some mental struggles and were venting it into Houseki no Kuni. On a concrete level, the plot makes zero sense. On an abstract, philosophical level, the story still makes zero sense as well.
At least for Fire Punch I enjoyed it. Even though it was dumb and nonsensical, it didn't take itself too seriously and it was good to read as "hot media." Houseki no Kuni on the other hand is pretentious and presents itself in a "cold media" format, where you have to think long and hard about what's actually happening. Except, there's no real message to Houseki no Kuni. It's just suffering sim about a character I don't care about (Beserk is a lot better of a suffering sim. I care about Guts as a character, and Guts feels 100000000x more human than "Phos the human" does.)
The whole neutral gender concept and making sensei this huge man that takes care of these mineral children who devotionally love him made me feel queasy. It gave off pedo vibes. Of course, that's not what was actually happening in the story (robot prayer-kun just wants human friends but gives off compounds that makes everything around him love him. Umm, what the fuck? Anyway.) but the way the author just presents it just makes my stomach cringe. Plus, the overt sexualization of gender neutral mineral children characters in the anime made my stomach churn as well. I'm not sure what the point of it was. (That kissing scene with Cairngorm, I wanted to puke.)
But, I figure the LGBTQ+ community congregate towards it despite all its storytelling and character development shortcomings. It's "inclusive media." Otherwise, I don't really see why people recommend Houseki no Kuni so much. It's like somebody wanted to write suffering porn with religious imagery slapped on it and LGBTQ+ themes shoehorned in there. (Unfortunately, I don't really feel Phos' suffering like I feel Gut's suffering or even 2B's suffering. I just... don't care much for Phos when she really brought the suffering upon him/herself.)
I could talk more about the parts I dislike (Antarc being introduced just to be killed for plot within two episodes. I didn't even care Antarc died but apparently our MC did.) but I'm going to end it "short" here. Don't spend time reading this when you could be reading any of the other things I mentioned.