#hnk chapter 95

[padpa-appreciation-corner]

Reborn as a Lunarian, only keeping unique silhouette when colour is lost.

#Chapter 95 #Houseki no Kuni #Padparadscha #Padparadscha hnk #hnk Padparadscha

[houseki-no-suffering]

I think that chapter 95 and the long wait for 96 was something Ichikawa did on purpose for the readers to experience the 10,000 years of waiting. 10,000 years is an extremely long time, but because gems don’t feel the concept of time passing as much as we do because our lives are so short compared to theirs, even almost 2 years of waiting was enough for people to move on from Houseki no Kuni, and for people who keep Houseki no Kuni in their head daily, every monthly anticipation but to be given no concrete update about the end of the hiatus gave them a feeling of tiredness and hopelessness. We feel the same pain of just waiting for something to change from this long hiatus, and feel a sense of curiosity but maybe even fear about the end of 10,000 years. If it took 220 years for the gems to forget about Phos, then I wonder how 10,000 years will be for everyone in Houseki no Kuni.

it definitely had that kind of effects on us, at least those who kept coming back to hnk one way or another. but even those who forgot, maybe they're just like the gems during that first time skip. now i wonder if anyone will remember about phos at all or if they've become some sort of legend. if everyone was still on earth i think it'd be the most plausible explanation, but currently they're all on the moon as lunarians so who knows

idk, im more prone to think that ichikawa knew she would have to go on hiatus and chose a relevant chapter to do so, so she didn't leave the story hanging for too long

#hnk #houseki no kuni #land of the lustrous #honestly so much stuff has happened these past two years it feels like 10k years have gone by #but maybe thats just me

[idont-know-whats-going-on]

I have to be honest... I’m not ready for chapter 96 of hnk. Probably because when I read chapter 95 I was in the worst possible mental condition and gave me trauma.

hooray.

#houseki no kuni #hnk #land of the lustrous

[semi-imaginary-place]

hnk 93-95

yup all the foreshadowing, the empty lotus pod, phos' remaining eye being achemea's pearl implant, he never got all the treasures. after the fight with cinnabar phos is a mess and this mental instability is shown physically. he seems to have assimilated shinsha's mercury and you can see the metals filling in what had been jagged holes to form a smooth human face. thoughout the chapter more metal covers phos' face like a skin.

and phos is drowning so much in his own misery and has lost so many parts of himself that he cant remember what or why he is doing anything there's just the pain of existing and he lashes out. and cinnabar (as the smart one) was right because of phos cinnabar found a purpose outside of night patrol, cinnabar was included and valued after phos started invading. and cinnabar remembered phos' promise to get him a new job, but phos has like so many other things forgotten this too.

as shown with their dealings with the lunarians and ice floes the only thing that can damage adaman is adaman (fracturing their hand and shooting small chunks of themself). if phos has truly become human than there is no longer a need for a praying machine. Adaman leaving their eye for phos is incredibly important i just haven't quite figured it out yet. for one finally its not just aechemea influence, now one eye is adaman and one eye is pearl. and the first thing phos does after merging the new eye is try and put all the gems back together after spending the last 5? 10? chapters screaming about how he's going to pulverize everyone. and after fusing the adamant eye phos sees through the pearl eye the destruction of humanity long ago by meteorites.

everyone is happy to become lunarians but all they did was erase their differences instead of working them out. since smashing cinnabar phos' alloy has begun covering them almost like a skin and here by the end little of their gem surface is visible anymore

and then ichikawa went on hiatus to enjoy her ps5 and let us the readers too experience 10,000 years

hmm so adamant's creator wasn't trying to save humanity's souls or anything, she was trying to pave the way for a new species and to stop humanity's survival.

#hnk #houseki no kuni

[king-paimon]

HnK Chapter 95 Thoughts: The cruelest chapter of all times

AKA: The chapter everyone hated

AKA: No happy ending in sight

AKA: Haruko Ichikawa is a monster

AKA: I called it again (and I wish I was wrong)

AKA: Talk about kicking someone while they’re down

Ms. Haruko Ichikawa. You’ve truly done it. You truly are a cruel, sadistic, trolling monster. You leave us with this chapter? This chapter that truly shows us that despite every hardship they faced, Phos gets nothing. This chapter shows that Phos was destined to be in constant misery, and to rub that in with literally everyone else is free and happy? And to add more salt to the wound, you’re leaving us on an hiatus for who knows how long??

This is without a doubt the cruelest chapter to leave us on and this is probably one of the cruelest things a mangaka can ever do for a series as intense as this. I wish the previous chapter was the last one for the end of this year because at least with that one, it would have given us some sense of something.

Man. I’m both horrified and amazed by you, Ms. Ichikawa. I’m not even being sarcastic, I’m truly in awe.

Ugh.

As you can see, I have several things I have to say about this and... Just wow. This chapter. In these posts, I try my best to try and write my thoughts with the most rational mindset but... I don’t know how well I’ll be able to do that with this chapter. What a way to end this horrible year. 

But with this chapter’s ending and the implication for what is yet to come... this marks as the story’s descend to it’s bitter end, and I now wish I didn’t make that prediction last month.

I know I said in another post that I was going to write this in a few days, but I changed my mind. I’m getting this out now while my thoughts are still fresh in my mind. Please don’t mind the writing errors, I’m very tired, I’m writing this at 3 in the morning and I need to sleep. I promise I will come back to this and tidy it up later.

Anyways, here we go:

Haruko Ichikawa: Manipulator of emotions

Ms. Ichikawa really toyed with us with this chapter. So many things happened in such a short amount of time and I’m trying to process it. Also, doesn’t feel like too much happened in this chapter? Especially in comparison to the previous chapters, where everything was stretched out, to then have this chapter have so many things happen all at once. This chapter, in many ways, feels very rushed... and this style of story telling has me very worried about what’ll happen from here on out. I’ll talk more about what I mean by this later, but for now, let’s focus on the story of this chapter:

So... Antarctictite is back now. Adamant is back, too. So are most of destroyed gems, both the ones we knew and the ones we never got meet. And they are all now Lunarians... Hm.

I don’t like this or anything in this chapter for many reasons. In fact, I’ll go as far to say that I don’t like where the whole story is headed for these same reasons: 

The first reason: The emotional turmoil from the previous chapters

For the past 10 or so chapters, I’d been anticipating the destruction of the gems and Adamant. I was one of the people who didn’t like the idea of it happening, though I knew they kind of deserve it. And I remember how sad I was seeing Adamant turn to nothing but dust and seeing how everything was affecting Phos after the bloodlust ceased.

But it all led up to...this. In the very next chapter, after watching those heart wrenching scenes of the gems being broken down and Adamant’s last moments with Phos...we see him and the other gems being brought back like it was nothing.  And on top of that, they are totally happy Lunarians now. Yeah. Okay.

So it feels like the emotional tole that I felt for these characters I didn’t want to see get destroyed...meant nothing. Not going to lie: I kind of wish you all stayed destroyed.

And you know what? It’s kind of funny. In my Chapter 94 post, I said I was sad that we didn’t get to see Adamant and Aechmea interact and I didn’t think there would be a way now that Adamant is dust. Well. I was wrong. It happened. I got the interaction that wanted. Wasn’t worth it. 

So to sum up this first reason: The emotional turmoil that I personally experienced watching the characters I like get destroyed... meant nothing in the end.

Now I don’t know how to feel about these characters. It sucks. I even had a post that I was starting write about on a certain controversial character that I couldn’t bring myself to hate, despite everything, but I’m now debating whether or not I should still write it. I think I will, but there will be a lot of edits.

The second reason: Negation of personal growth

One of the things that has been brought up many times by fans is about how the gems dealt with problems. Instead of trying to address the problem and talk to try to fix it, they chose to ignore it and sweep it under the rug, no matter how upsetting it is to the characters involved. All of the gems, both Earth and Moon, constantly choose to not confront the issue and stay blissfully ignorant.

And now that they’re accepting to be Lunarians, it feels like they’re just running away again. Instead of confronting the Lunarians or having the gems properly talking with each other about how things got to the point where they had to once fight each other, they are like: Oh, we can be Lunarians so we don’t have to fight with them anymore? Awesome. Let’s do it.

Everyone is once again going with the flow, just sweeping the glaring issues that they all carried for so long, and are just accepting the new reality that they are in with no problems whatsoever. No addressing of anything means no character growth for all of them. No one grew from this experience. No one learned that ignoring the problems doesn’t solve them. They aren’t solving their previous issues, they are masking it under the belief that becoming Lunarian automatically solves all of their problems. 

No talking between Diamond or Bort. No talking with Yellow about their traumas or any of the other gems in the same boat. And no talking about how everything that happened lead to Phos doing what they did. It’s even more disappointing how Antarcticite was the only one who showed any concern about Phos or even thought to bring them up in the first place.

Edit: Also to add, the other problem here is how the are conscious choosing to remove your identity. They are not only choosing to loose their identity as gems, but they are fine loosing their memories as well. Not to mention how Cairngorm is once again being given a new identity to go by, from Aechmea, and is totally fine with it. That scene was small but once again, the fact that they are fine pretty much erasing what made them who they are is...unnerving. 

So pretty much to sum up this: Once again, everything meant nothing in the end. 

Speaking of Phos...

The third reason: Phos’s miserable fate

Phos, once again, got the short end of the stick. After everything that they’ve done, from trying to save everyone but themselves, to doing what was once seen as cruel for the sake of everyone to finally do something for themselves to go back to wanting to save the others after the bloodlust was gone... to get this ending for themselves.

But wow, what a cruel twist: Phos’s old goal was fulfilled. Thanks to them, the gems don’t have to live in fear of being destroyed or taken or anything. Thanks to Phos, everyone is free. Everyone now is going to be happy for the rest of their existance...at the cost of Phos’s expense.  

Phos lost everything. 

Their body. 

Their sanity. 

Their identity. 

Everything.

What do they get in return?

10,000 years of nothing but their own miserable existence and dark, depressing thoughts.

In the end, everything that Phos experienced not only sent them crashing down to rock bottom: it sent him to the chore of the earth, back out the other side, then back into the earth, in an endless cycle of just constant misery. 

That’s a theme in buddhism, if that’s what I’m recalling right from @rinboz​‘s posts: a cycle of continuous misery. That is clearly embodied here through Phos and Phos will continue to suffer the pain of existing while everyone else got what they wanted in the end, especially Aechmea. 

Speaking of which, I also genuinely want to know if there’s still fans out there who view Aechmea as a good guy for ‘liberating’ Phos, because as far as I see, thanks to him, Phos is now stuck in an even more miserable form of existence. At least before everything, everyone was miserable together with Phos. Sort of. Still better than what we got with this chapter, in my opinion. (Please do share your thoughts, if you do. I promise, this is not an attack. I’m just interested to hear your thoughts, if you’re willing to share)

But now, there’s no there for Phos. And unlike those other instances where Phos was in a situation and someone somewhat saves them like Adamant and Padparadscha once did before, there’s no one there. So unless there’s some Admirabilis hiding around there or if the Gem/lunarians decide to come to them, which I doubt will happen, there’s no one for Phos. No one is coming to help/save them.

Phos will have to suffer all alone. For 10,000 years. Phos is the last existing gem being now...even though technically, they aren’t really a gem anymore. 

Once again, to sum up why I don’t like this chapter nor how the story has progressed: Phos’s suffering meant nothing to them in the end. That’s the other theme I’m trying to hammer in in this post: Everything meant nothing in the end.

I’ve already seen a few fans react to the chapter and I saw one state that if the Lunarians, including the gems, were to come to Phos to pray for them, the poster hopes Phos tells them to “F* off” And you know what, I hope so too. But this revelation has me fearing for what’s going to happen the series, or more specifically, how and when it’ll officially end.

No true happy ending in sight and not exactly for the reasons you think

As always, it’s hard to predict how Ms. Ichikawa is going to end this series. Us fans made many predictions and a good number of them came true, but it’s the ending that eludes us. Some hope for a happy ending for Phos, while many, including myself, predict that it’ll be anything but happy. And now, with this chapter...I think it’s set in stone now.

Last month, in response to someone asking me how I think the series might end, I made a few small predictions. Some for a good ending, a bittersweet ending, and a bad ending.... 

...and it looks like that first sad ending is where the series is heading after all:

Everyone is gone/moved on and Phos stays behind as a lonely, immortal being.

Even though this small prediction was correct, how it’s all playing out was not exactly how I’d envisioned. It’s worse. And what’s making me even more worried is that based off of where the story is headed, my gut feelings are saying that the series ending is near. And it won’t be to anyone’s satisfaction.

Whenever I get invested in a series, other than worrying about how the creators will handle their characters and story, one of my biggest worries is about how the creators handle their ending. I’m truly afraid about what Ms. Ichikawa is planning for this series because I can’t help but fear it’s not going to end well. It’s not the worry that the series will have a sad/bittersweet ending, even though that concern is still there though I’ve accepted the likelihood, but rather I’m worried that the next chapter or so will be the abrupt end to this series. This concern is because of how rushed this chapter felt and I can’t help but worry that Ms. Ichikawa is now rushing to the end of the story. And to be honest, the addition fact that Ms. Ichikawa is going on hiatus is not helping these uneasy feelings. 

I hate being the pessimistic one but what if this happens? What if Ms. Ichikawa decides to end the series here or in the next chapter? What if the next chapter is literally another time skip, with all of the characters that I once cared about just NOT progressing, and Phos continuously being stuck in this immortal and we’re expected to accept this as the ending. Because other than Phos, everyone’s story, from what it looks like, is at their end now. I really hope that doesn’t happen. I’ve seen great series end so terribly too often and I’ve loved this story for so long that I hope that doesn’t happen with this series too. I love this series a lot and it’s characters, even the ones who I don’t think I like as much as I did after this chapter. I hope the series will end nicely... but I don’t think it will.

Back to predictions on how the story will progress: I made a post a few days ago about how I hope the forgotten plot elements will come into play and the fact that Aechmea isn’t omnipresent. More than ever, part of me hopes those elements will come back and have a positive impact for Phos’s story, especially the omnipresent part. But again, I don’t think I’ll hope too much for it because looking at Ms. Ichikawa’s past works... I don’t think they will, at least not in the way I’m hoping for.

Maybe I’m too used to Western (American/European) stories, where the protagonist somehow beats the odds and wins in the end. This isn’t always the case for Eastern stories, especially stories from Japan. They usually end bittersweet and I don’t think Houseki no Kuni will be the exception. I know I’ve said this saying many times before and with each passing chapter, these words become more and more true:

Phos’s suffering is never going to end. 

And unless someone does something to change the course of the story, which I don’t think will ever happen now, Phos is never going to have a happy ending. 

If I could wish for anything, it’d be that this story ends on a satisfying note. I know, I know. It’s foolish to still hope for that it’ll happen, given everything I’ve seen from Ms. Ichikawa before...But still. I don’t want to lose all of the hope that I have left for this series. Even though that hope is nearly diminished, it’s still there.

So please, Ms. Ichikawa. Please give us a satisfying ending for Phos. Please let them go.  If anyone deserves a dignifying conclusion to their story, it’s them.  Let them rest. End their suffering. Please give them the ending they deserve after everything they went through.

You’ll likely won’t though.  

Because this is Phos.

And to be Phos is to constantly suffer.

Well, regardless, I truly hope you’re hiatus goes well, Ms. Ichikawa. Even though you are a cruel troll, your work is still amazing and I applaud you for your story telling and your love to mess with us. I hope you enjoy your time away and when you return, I hope that you’ll continue to give us amazing content and eventually give Phos the ending they deserve. Please. That’s all I want.

I hope you all a nice holiday season, too, or at least try to.

Happy Holidays. 

Can’t wait for 2020 to end.

#houseki no kuni #land of the lustrous #HNK #LOTL #hnk spoilers #lotl spoilers #hnk chapter 95 #hnk thoughts #hnk meta #haruko ichikawa #you sadistic monster #you are a sadist #Why? #why are you doing this to us?? #hnk phos #hnk phosphophyllite #hnk aechmea #poor Phos #they deserved better #they deserve the world #human phos #hnk moon gems #hnk earth gems #hnk ending #hnk adamant #Hnk analysis

[tamana]

Reading hnk chapter 95

#hnk spoilers #ANTARC AND LAPIS WONT LET PHOS SUFFER LIKE THAT ... RIGHT #WHY DID SENSEI THROW PHOS UNDER THE BUS LIKE THAT #houseki no kuni #land of the lustrous #hnk chapter 95

[catorikishin]

So, chapter 95, huh

#houseki no kuni spoiler #houseki no kuni shitpost #houseki no kuni 95 #hnk spoiler #hnk shitpost #hnk 95 #aaaaaaa #reaction meme #hnk reaction #hnk chapter 95 #housekino kuni chapter 95 #land of the lustrous #land of the lustrous spoiler #lotl spoiler #hnk meme #lotl meme #why did i read this shit during the hollidays #wtf ichikawa #whyyyyy

[koi-nightsky]

Wait holy shit

Is human Phos suffering for 10 000 years literally a buddhist metaphor?

Are all three races inherently wasting their time by existing in a meaningless loop with no real end point or goal?

DID ENMA LITERALLY FORCE PHOS INTO BEING A HUMAN SO THEY COULD LEAD EVERYONE INTO SALVATION EASILY WITHOUT THE GEMS INTERFERING IN THEIR NON-LUNARIAN BODIES??

IS PHOS GONNA PRAY EVERYONE AWAY IN THE END AND THEN REACH NIRVANA THEMSELF, ENDING THE STORY ON THE WORLD DYING OUT FOREVER???

ichikawa i beg of you stop messing with my mind

#hnk spoilers #hnk chapter 95 #houseki no kuni

[quee-r-code]

i hope that when those 10000 years pass and lunarians ask phos to pray they'll be like "no <3"

#mels talks #like phos has nothing what are they gonna do to make them pray #good luck living on moon for all eternity ya pieces of shit <3 #hnk #hnk spoilers #hnk chapter 95

[generic-insane-fangirl]

SPOILERS FOR UP TO CHAPTER 95 IN HOUSEKI NO KUNI / LAND OF THE LUSTROUS

I am so fucking livid. I can't believe that after fucking everything that Phos went through to get the fallen gems back that Aechema just had a fucking solution to bring back all the dead gems as lunarians. No missing fucking shards required. No torn off snail shells. All gems, even those under a hardness of 4. Just like that. After all of Phos' suffering and agonizing over the fact that she was pretty much the only person in the moon group to really care, the only one really trying to force Sensei to pray so that Aechema would just help her out.... just.. I have no words.

But no even after all that the hits just keep coming for Phos.

Being left alone for 10,000 years???? While all of those backstabbing selfish mother fuckers get to live it up on the moon??????????

EVEN THAT SELFISH BITCH CAIRNGORN GETS A FUCKING HAPPY ENDING????? EVEN AFTER ABUSING PHOS AS MUCH AS SHE DID, SHE JUST GETS AWAY WITH

NO

FUCKING

CONSEQUENCES????????

Fuck this manga, I am so angry. There is never going to be any happy ending for Phos. I've given up.

My only hope now is that at the very least Phos will refuse to pray for those fuckers and leave them to an eternity of suffering. Who knows, maybe she will pull a trick like Sensei's brother and crash meteors into the moon. Its what Aechema and his shitty lunarians deserve if they really do leave Phos to suffer alone for 10,000 god damn years.

But who knows with this fucking manga.

.

.

.

I'm just so fucking tired.

#oh so you manipulated my friend to lose all hope and shattered their sanity for your own profit #cheers to that! im still getting laid and happy so alls well thatbends well right???? #houseki no kuni #hnk #houseki no kuni spoilers #hnk spoilers #hnk chapter 95 #land of the lustrous #land of the lustrous spoilers #manga #yes i am very salty and bitter #but you know what????? #it is just so fucking unfair that only Phos has to suffer like this #Aechema spent an entire chapter explaing his big plan to Cairn and she was just chill with it #like #I cried so many times for Phos #its just not fair that they are the only one who doesnt get help #fuck everyone but Phos

[just-here-for-the-art-shit]

My god I will cry my ass off if Antarcticite tries to go back to earth to find Phos - but because he's a lunarian now, he can't talk. So will Phos even think he's real or just a ghost?

That would also be creepy as shit if some of the other gemnarians kept coming back to earth, but they just look like ghosts and haunt him with their silence.

Also CINNABAR. I know that Phos "won" their fight, but their memories are combined now, I wonder how this is going to play out.

#houseki no kuni #hnk chapter 95 #hnk spoilers #hnk phos #hnk antarcticite #hnk cinnabar #my dumbass ted talks

[pozpopiliz]

Hot take: I really hate how every character's likeability these days is determined by how useful they are to Phos, to the point where characters that aren't even that bad get thrown under the bus because 'they didn't do more'. Especially for the revived gems who probably weren't even alive for the entirety of the series.

Kindaaa? Bit of a difficult one, I think it's slipping your mind that people are ragging on characters because they, as the reader, feel betrayed by others responses to phos' suffering. Namely, Antarc and Sensei.

People are irritated by antarc coming back and prancing around for sensei and seemingly being indifferent to phos' suffering (I love this because we as the reader have the idolised version of antarc in our heads that phos had, but we often forget that antarc knew phos for like a single season, and while antarc became phos' best friend, phos became a partner for antarc, for a single season, not even a complete one, considering antarc was taken half way through) while I'm holding off judgement on antarc until we know more (this is merely a transitional chapter, and we don't have anyone's in depth reactions to the situation -) I can understand people being hurt by antarcs indifference to phos, because that's what we'd expect phos to feel, and as the readers following phos' story, we're more in tuned to feel bad for phos by perceived betrayal than being happy antarc is back--

But people are also irritated by senseis response to phos' suffering (like myself) because he pulled the ultimate dick move in the history of the entire series by condemning phos to his responsibilities and 10,000 years of agony. A simple "i am grateful to phos" does not take away from him burdening phos, without phos' consent. Up until this point, phos had completely agreed to each burden he shouldered, and now that he broke, and reassembled himself, only to suffer 10,000 years? This is the first time in the history of the series in which phos didn't choose to help someone. He literally is not given the option to be selfish and pursue his own happiness because of the selfishness of others-- its horrible. Ichikawa loves to bully this poor child 😢

All in all, its not because of the characters not being "useful" to phos. It's about how empathetic the characters are to others, namely phos, who suffered on their behalf and continues to do so, LITERALLY on behalf of sensei who forced his job onto phos. And in my opinion? The empathy of a character is a totally valid thing to judge them on.

#Houseki no kuni #Houseki spoilers #hnk chapter 95

[chichiraion]

Spoilers Ch95

Yo, Ichikawa wtf, and after you do that you go on hiatus, thank you.

I really, really hope Phos has a happy end and not only that, fuck everyone else but Phos, I'm not even having hope on Antarc rn.

I would really like for Phos to like, not pray and idk, go to the ocean and desintegrate there and make suffer all those idiots.

But I really found curious things like the lunarians giving names to the new lunarians,like a passage rite.

(And it seems some gems are missing uh?)

Also I really hope to see more admirabilis, I don't think they will appear again but seeing how everything is going it would be idk, Interesting.

Well time to theorize, cry and write fanfics I guess lol

#hnk spoilers #hnk #hnk chapter 95 #houseki no kuni spoilers #houseki no kuni #land of the lustrous spoiler #land of the lustrous spoilers #land of the lustrous

[mojomcm-fandom]

A Meme a Day Keeps the Pain Away

Spoilers for Ch 95 of Houseki no Kuni below the cut!

December comes and the announcement is simply “1 down, 9,999 to go.”

#HNK #hnk spoilers #hnk manga spoilers #hnk chapter 95 #meme #i made this #i just want another chapter please #ichikawa youre starving us

[king-paimon]

HnK Post Chapter 95 Thoughts: 3 Months later...

Hi guys…. I’m so sorry for being away for so long and delaying this post. I can’t believe March is already almost over. This year is going by way too quickly, but honestly, is that really a surprise? I was working on this post back in January and was planning on posting it then, but life has been more busy than usual for me. I still feel really bad for promising to post this and not being able to keep it. But here it is now! I don’t know how many people will see it since the Houseki no Kuni tags have been pretty quiet, but you know what? I’m kind of glad I didn’t post this post right away because I wanted to properly talk about my feeling about the chapter, the series, and Ms. Haruko Ichikawa herself, and doing that when I was still emotionally charged wouldn’t have done this post justice. And though I don’t think my thoughts overall has changed too much, I’d still like to share my thoughts, if you are interested in hearing them. 

This will be another really, really long post, so be prepared! I’m definitely going to be doing a lot of edits on this one so please bare with me if anything doesn’t make sense. Please let me know if anything I said is too confusing.

Anywhoo~ here it goes:

My view of the story at this point

I had to go over my last post to see if any of my original opinions had changed and, well, for the most part, not too much. Most of the gripes I have with the story is still about the same, particularly the remaining gems becoming lunarian and the many implications that comes with it, though I would say some of my anger has subsided. I’m still bothered by it, though. I understand why the story would go in this direction and why the characters, especially Euclase, would choose to make this drastic decision to change themselves, since that was they ultimately wanted: to no longer live in fear of being destroyed and live peacefully, even if it means changing what they all were. It’s still bothers me a lot, mainly because I can relate this to similar real life events of people erasing their cultural and even racial identity as a means of survival in a different and so-called “better” society. I remember in one of my very first posts in the fandom, I stated how uncomfortable it made me that the first moon gems were totally fine assimilating into Moon society and were wanting to completely change themselves to fit in this society, even if it meant removing what made them who they were. For characters who didn’t like their original identity like Cairngorm (or Welegato but I’m not calling them that), or felt stunted in their original society like Dia, and found solace in Moon society, I can see how this transition as a liberating thing…but only to an extent. The thought of literally going to the extremes of changing yourself inside and out, erasing all traces of what made you “you”, while also destroying all old meaningful relationships in the process, to live in a place you were conditioned to be believe is the better option for you…It hits a little too close to home.

I’m talking about cultural assimilation and cultural destruction, where racial and cultural minorities sometimes go through drastic measures in order to assimilate into the “better” society, even if it means completely erasing their original identities physically and mentally. I’m not saying all forms of assimilation is inherently bad and I’m not saying that you must stick with your cultural upbringing for it’s a part of your identity; that is a toxic view and it’s especially bad if you experienced terrible things because of that upbringing.  I’m trying to talk about the extreme cases of assimilation when these individuals are essentially convinced to go through extreme measures to fit in to the “better” society because their old identity was “bad”, and by completely changing themselves, from their appearance to even their name, then they can finally be happy in the so-called “better” society. I’ve heard of people going through such lengths and it’s heartbreaking. It’s very cultish and that’s how I viewed the transition of the gems becoming Lunarians, with everyone accepting the change with seemingly no issue and especially after Aechmea literally gave Cairngorm that new name. It would have been one thing if Cairn picked that name themselves, but it was all Aechmea.  The lustrous don’t exist anymore and everyone is ok with it. The gem society that we knew, at this point of time, is gone now. It was far from perfect but the fact that it’s gone is sad and disturbing to me.

My view of the key characters of the chapter

Now that I stated how I feel about the gems essentially being erased, the next question is how do I feel about these characters themselves?

Conflicted. Very, very conflicted, and even a bit disappointed and upset, especially with certain characters more than others. But surprisingly, even after seeing how the turn of events turned out for all of them while Phos is stuck on Earth alone… I don’t hate them. Yeah. After everything that has happened, I currently don’t hate the gems… For now, anyways. It all depends on what happens next.

But the one character that I feel the most conflicted with is Adamant, especially after his interaction with Aechmea. Part of me is confused by Adamant’s and Aechmea’s seemingly friendly interaction because of Adamant’s past actions and words, for they don’t seem to belong to someone who would be on friendly terms with someone who they were actively resisting against before. I’m talking about all of the times that Adamant would fight off the Lunarians but also that moment in Chapter 85:

(Chapter 85, Pages 10-11)

After seeing things like this, I just find it odd how Adamant’s interactions with Aechmea are so friendly now. And with the horrifying implication that everything that had happened was planned between them, which also doesn’t make sense, I’m not sure what to think. Maybe Adamant’s changed attitude relates to him being free of his burdens and physical body? This could explain the change in attitude, but it still feels… off. Maybe I’m looking too much into this. I don’t want to hold hope that when he and the other gems were transformed that Aechmea somehow manipulated their memories to make them more compliant, even though it was made clear that memories were going to be lost in the process. Maybe this will be explained more in the next chapter, but I won’t hold my breath for that either. To me, this just made me feel weird about Adamant because remember, I was both sad and relieved when he disintegrated in the previous chapter because I really liked his character. Now though, I’m not so sure. I still don’t hate him or any of the other gems, but I’m definitely on the fence with him more so than the others. I certainly don’t hate Euclase like many other fans; I didn’t agree with their past actions (or rather lack of actions), but like with Phos and other characters, they did what they felt was right given what they knew. Still not excusing it, but I understand why. As for Antarcticite... I’m not sure, honestly. Though I’m glad at least they brought up Phos, I can’t help but feel that their main priority is still Adamant. Out of recently changed characters, Antarcticite is the main character I have the most positive opinion on, but again, that can easily change within the next chapter. 

So yeah, I still have mixed feeling about all that has happened that led to this point in the story, and I do have a more negative view of some of them. But regardless of that, I can’t bring myself to downright hate any of the characters. Disappointed with their decisions is one thing, but to hate them with every fiber of my being? No. I don’t think I can. At least for now. The same goes to the Lunarians, too. Hell, even though I’ve said before that I hated Aechmea for how he manipulated Phos and the other gems for personal gain, once again, I don’t think I downright hate him either (though I still want something bad to happen to him.) Aechmea is such an intriguing antagonist that I love to despise.

My view of Haruko Ichikawa at this point

Since the release of chapter 95, I’ve seen a lot of fans post their criticisms of Haruko Ichikawa herself regarding how she’s writing the story and her treatment of the characters. Someone even commented on my chapter post about how they don’t view her story as ‘amazing’ anymore because of her cruel treatment of Phos and the depressing turns in the story. Even popular commentors like @rinboz posted their criticism about what Ms. Ichikawa is doing with her story. As for me, I can agree with some of the comments made to an extent. Some of the choices Ms. Ichikawa made in the story has had me question her a few times; like the mentioned interaction between Aechmea and Adamant as well as the extremely predatorial relationship between Achmea and Cairngorm. I still think that chapter 95 was extremely rushed, especially going through the previous events that were stretched out into nearly 10 chapters. There are many other smaller issues that I personally have when it comes to how Ms. Ichikawa writes her story and characters, but I think the biggest criticism I’ve seen that I agree with is the concern about the current direction of the story. And at this point, the story can only go in so many directions and most of them are leading to anything but a genuinely happy ending for Phos. And it’s pretty depressing that Ms. Ichikawa has some of us pleading for Phos to die so they don’t suffer anymore. I can’t think of any other story that has me wanting the main character to die, not because I hate, but because I don’t want them to be mistreated anymore. This story is nothing but hopelessness.

But you know what’s crazy? I kind of like that.

Maybe Ms. Ichikawa has made me a glutton for tragic stories, or because I’ve been starving for a unique story, but I kind of like that this story hasn’t gone in the predictable, happy route for everything Phos has gone through. If this story were written by someone else, I can picture Phos somehow regaining their appearance and memories, be surrounded by the people who truly cared about them and their enemies dead, and pretty much having the picture-perfect happy ending with no form of problems whatsoever as an award for everything that Phos previously sacrificed. Yeah, this is the ending I’m sure fans want in some shape or form and to a degree, I do too. But to be honest, I’m kind of glad that’s not the story that we’re getting, at least right now.  In a weird way, it’s sort of refreshing to have a main character who doesn’t always win in the end, especially after all of the things the character sacrificed.

And I also how the story and it’s characters can be so simple and complexed at the same time, like in her anthology series. To me, this makes Ms. Ichikawa stand out from the many mangaka I’ve followed throughout the years. And because of that, part of me hopes she knows what she’s doing and has something extreme planned for the story’s future.

Now, I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot for still thinking highly of Ms. Ichikawa’s writing; there are still things that I think could have been handled differently, like the mentioned pacing and story details. But for now, those gripes are not too irritating for me and I’m not quite ready to downright say that her story is bad...YET. I want to reserve my final opinion of Ms. Ichikawa as a writer until the end of the series, whenever that will be, because despite how the story has progressed for last several chapters, I’m still enjoying writing. I just hope that when the series does come to an end that Ms. Ichikawa gives us a satisfying end. When it comes to ending a series, how an author does so can really affect how fans view the series and the author, and I think this will be the case for this story, though I’m sure there will be criticism regardless of what kind of end Ms. Ichikawa creates. For me, while I do care about whether Phos and the other characters get the endings they deserve, I just hope it will be told well. I’ve seen too many times really good series ending terribly because the creator didn’t know how to end a series properly. I sincerely hope that won’t be the case with Ms. Ichikawa.

From this point forward

I remember seeing a lot of readers who are upset with how the story has progressed thus far, with some even saying that they were going to drop the series because of how depressing it is. I think everyone who felt this way has every right to feel that way; it’s completely understandable. Houseki no Kuni is definitely not a story for everyone, and it can take an emotional toll on you.  I know it certainly affected me that way, and I can’t think of many other series that has done that. It’s been a long since I’ve been so invested in a series and despite the many emotional rollercoasters I’ve felt during parts of the story, I don’t think I will ever say that I regret picking this series up. And despite my mixed feeling about the latest chapter, I want to continue to stick with it. Even if the story continues to spiral in a never-ending pit of despair, I still want to stick with it until it ends. And you know, I think even if this series does have a somber, heartbreaking ending, I think I’d still view the story as overall amazing and I’d still be glad I got into it when I did...Unless Ms. Ichikawa gives us an abrupt, unsatisfying ending. Then that opinion goes out the window.

Until the next chapter comes out... 

Other than being busy, I admit that I’m glad to be taking a break from Houseki no Kuni. Despite my many praises, it still takes a lot out of me and I definitely needed that break. And though I personally don’t mind waiting a bit longer, I can’t wait for it to back. I sincerely hope that Ms. Ichikawa doing alright, especially after all of the chaos happening for the past year, and that she enjoys her time away from the series. I hope she’s staying healthy in body and mind, and I’ll wait with bated breath for the next chapter of this story.

Besides this post, I actually had a few post ideas that I want to work on, but because of my schedule, those will have to wait a while. I wanted to make another story prediction post because even though they are sometimes wrong, they are fun to do. I think I’ll wait until the next chapter to come out to make that one. The other post I’ve been somewhat working on is a bit different from my usual post; it’s somewhat of a character analysis/reflection and it’s on a controversial character that while many justifiably hate, I personally can’t. (Can you guess who that is? I’m sure you can!) Because of how many people hate this character, I was not sure if I wanted to write it. But you know what, I’m going to do it anyways. When that post will be done? I have no clue, but this will be an interesting writing exercise for me and I can’t wait share why I don’t hate this character the way many other fans do.

 The end!

Well, that’s the end of this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I will likely go over this again at some point but it’s getting really late and I need to get some sleep. I hope everyone is doing well and keeping themselves busy during this series hiatus. Maybe unwind by reading/watching a new series. There are some interesting ones that came out last year and this year. I personally stated watching Wonder Egg Priority. It’s really good but deals with a lot of heavy subject matters, so be warned. I’vve also watched lighter stuff like Lupin the Third (I love this franchise so much) and some of the new shows on Netflix. I would like to see some more stuff but I don’t know what to look for. If you have any recommendations, please feel free to leave a comment.

Until next time, I hope everyone has a pleasant week 😊

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[ghoulia-roborts]

I don't know how to feel about chapter 95.

Like everyone is a Lunarian now, except for phos.who god knows what the fuck they are now.

How did it even get to this.

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