First Impression: Houseki no Kuni

Synopsis

Set in a distant future, there exists immortal and genderless lifeforms known as “Gems.” So far there exists only 28 on earth and as such are highly sought out by their enemies known as “Moon Dwellers.” They are mysterious beings who resemble statues and seek to capture Gems to turn them into decorations. For the Gems who go against them they are all assigned different roles.

One Gem by the name of Phosphophyllite seeks to join the ranks of fighters. However being the youngest and one of the most fragile, she is restricted and is instead assigned the role of creating the first natural history encyclopedia. This is her story.

The Good

It’s always a hit or miss when an anime series makes use of computer graphics for its style and animation.WIth this series though, not only were they able to make it work, but their presentation came out as a visual pleasure. Form the way the hair of characters are styled to the action scenes, everything just looks so smooth, clean and clear of the usual awkwardness found in computer generated scenes.

The story is also a point of interest for the series, not only is it a different type of fantasy work, it had a generally good mystery and world building framework as well. Then there are the characters, for the most part they were established rather well and their system as beings known as “Gems” is rather understandable. The mystery aspect mainly lies with not only one of the characters and her having a poison aspect to her but also in the general that the characters as Gems work.

The Bad

While there is a general understanding over the system of the Gems, it would have a nice to get at least a little background rather than having the learn as you go method that the episode did. It might just be the personal opinion of this writer but the way the episode presented that even shattered a Gem won’t die, is a bit on the creepy side. Either way, some background information could have been slipped in at least.

Other than this, there is no much that can be said against the episode seeing as it is the first one. The issues mainly lie with the presentation of the protagonist who holds some rather generic qualities and the whole mystery character with a tragic aspect trope. Other issues that are found such as questions raised on how certain aspects work in the series’ world still have room for development in later episodes.

Conclusion

For a first episode, it left a rather beautiful impact in its animation and art style. The story concept is interesting and one of the main highlights of the episode are the action sequences which look near cinematic. As a first episode, there are no large issues that can be spotted as of yet but there is the one or two tropes that slip in. Still if you’re looking for a good fantasy work with an interesting style and great action sequences, then this is the series for you.

Rating: 8/10