Don't go to pieces! Land of the Lustrous simulwatch (completed)
- Thread starter Dai
- Start date
WMD
Guild Member
Another facet is the mining companies artificially maintain the high value by carefully controlling the release of precious metals into the market. Mines have been temporarily shut down in the past to prevent too much being dug up and supply out weighing demand.
Lordhippos
Pokémon Master
WMD
Guild Member
Platinum mines (which are also sources for palladium, iridium, rhodium, ruthenium) definitely do it. We use precious metal at work and the business always has to keep and eye on the market value for the metals.
Birdie Num Num
Adventurer
Episode 8 - Phos blooms out of the golden flower and gains a new ability, while Antarcticite is tragically taken, a first for the show.. I'm been waiting for this episode, on my first viewing, it was and still is so impactful.
João Gomes
Thousand Master
Sooooo, killer ice in this episode amirite guise? Wink wink wink g-guise ?
Episode 8 of Phos not catching a break. Just when even I was fed up with Phos constantly messing up, she goes above and beyond and still it isn't enough. I can't see this having a good ending. Her ascent into the sky and that desperate last attempt throwing the sword were awesome. I have such a soft spot for weaklings gaining courage and facing danger bravely. Maybe because I'm a weakling myself.
I kinda wouldn't mind if the series permanently changed to a more dramatic tone, that's where we're going anyway, no need to whisper sweet nothings into our collective ears.
I'm guessing the lunarians really aren't interested in becoming human again, considering this is the third time we've seen the only apparent reason they take the gems is to make weaponry out of them. Explosive ruby balls. Why.
I like the master even more but can't help be annoyed that he doesn't handle the lunarians by himself. I know there's more to him, even more so now that we saw his dream play out in reality, but so many suffer and disappear. I'll need an explanation on that eventually.
So, HEEEEEENSHIN!!!
ディスク~~~~~~
チャンジ~~~~~~
Jesus, I totally took 5 minutes to write "disc change" on my phone, what a fookin loser lol
Episode 8 of Phos not catching a break. Just when even I was fed up with Phos constantly messing up, she goes above and beyond and still it isn't enough. I can't see this having a good ending. Her ascent into the sky and that desperate last attempt throwing the sword were awesome. I have such a soft spot for weaklings gaining courage and facing danger bravely. Maybe because I'm a weakling myself.
I kinda wouldn't mind if the series permanently changed to a more dramatic tone, that's where we're going anyway, no need to whisper sweet nothings into our collective ears.
I'm guessing the lunarians really aren't interested in becoming human again, considering this is the third time we've seen the only apparent reason they take the gems is to make weaponry out of them. Explosive ruby balls. Why.
I like the master even more but can't help be annoyed that he doesn't handle the lunarians by himself. I know there's more to him, even more so now that we saw his dream play out in reality, but so many suffer and disappear. I'll need an explanation on that eventually.
So, HEEEEEENSHIN!!!
ディスク~~~~~~
チャンジ~~~~~~
Jesus, I totally took 5 minutes to write "disc change" on my phone, what a fookin loser lol
Yeah, but it's a total pain in the a*se typing anything on a phone!
I got a right good chuckle out of it, if that's any consolation.
)
Birdie Num Num
Adventurer
Yeah I'm gonna stick with 2 per episode. I'm glad you're liking it.
Dude, you're gonna hate me for this, but I was having a think about your katakana above, and I think that "change" would actually be チェンジ.
WMD
Guild Member
Dont say that man. Theres a reason mob mentality rules and standing up to someone obviously in the wrong is so hard.
Geriatric hedgehog
Pokémon Master
Also loving the episode specific artwork. It's interesting how in contrast to classic horror, where clouds and darkness enveloping the skies is used to ominous effect, this show can so effectively make a clearing sky with sunshine fill one with dread! As others have said, I give the show top marks for eliciting such an emotional response, in such a short period, to a seemingly immortal character's "death". The selflessness in that sacrifice, telling Phos to keep schtum with their last breath?, and equally Phos' refusal to just sit by frozen like the last time, all to no avail- so very tragic..
Heheh, joker.
Yeah I think it's planned for LotL season 3 - Sensei's Harem pyjama party on the moon.
João Gomes
Thousand Master
It is!Yeah, but it's a total pain in the a*se typing anything on a phone!
I got a right good chuckle out of it, if that's any consolation.
It was!Dude, you're gonna hate me for this, but I was having a think about your katakana above, and I think that "change" would actually be チェンジ.
Thanks dude, I guess there are multiple ways of looking at it!
Episode 9
What happened to our Phos?
I'd like to take the chance to pay my compliments to Phos's Japanese VA, Tomoyo Kurosawa...
myanimelist.net
... for the major part she plays in bringing across the character's transformation.
When we rejoin Phos at the beginning of spring, well... what a joyless character she's become. Kurosawa really brings out a feeling of dutiful coldness, an absolute world away from the hapless ditz we knew until only recently. The guilt Phos now carries around weighs her down as much if not more so than the new golden arms that in the end cost so much to acquire.
As the rest of the gems wake from their hibernation, Phos regains a bit of her old character as she reconnects with them, and Kurosawa allows her performance to thaw just a little, balancing Phos being able to rediscover some of her old self with the inescapable fact that she'll never again be the careless and free-spirited soul she once was.
What happened to our Phos?
I'd like to take the chance to pay my compliments to Phos's Japanese VA, Tomoyo Kurosawa...
Tomoyo Kurosawa
Looking for information on Tomoyo Kurosawa? On MyAnimeList you can learn more about their role in the anime and manga industry.
When we rejoin Phos at the beginning of spring, well... what a joyless character she's become. Kurosawa really brings out a feeling of dutiful coldness, an absolute world away from the hapless ditz we knew until only recently. The guilt Phos now carries around weighs her down as much if not more so than the new golden arms that in the end cost so much to acquire.
As the rest of the gems wake from their hibernation, Phos regains a bit of her old character as she reconnects with them, and Kurosawa allows her performance to thaw just a little, balancing Phos being able to rediscover some of her old self with the inescapable fact that she'll never again be the careless and free-spirited soul she once was.
Dai
Pokémon Master
I had a panicky moment starting up disc 2, because my Panasonic blu-ray player wouldn't load the main menu. The background image and music came up, but none of the selectable text appeared, and I could hear the drive mechanism going nuts trying to find the missing data. I thought I'd have to consign it to the thread for discs that became coasters, but fortunately it ran fine on my PS4. This made me wonder if I've ever watched this show on my Panasonic player before, since I normally leave that set to zone A. So now I'm not sure if the disc is dying, the player's lens is decalibrating, or if there are compatibility problems with the way the disc was coded. That Panasonic player does the same with early seasons of Game of Thrones, showing the background but not the menu options, and I'm pretty sure it was a compatibility problem in that case.
Anyone else had problems like this? I might contact MVM and ask if it's a known issue.
Episode 9
Phos finally has the strength she thought she wanted, but as she says to Bort, "No good thing has come of it." Grief-stricken, mutilated, and drained of her previous vitality and chirpy nature, we have to ask if any of this has been good for Phos. We're definitely not in standard shonen battle manga territory here, where getting stronger is usually a good thing, and often a self-justifying aim. I wouldn't even call this a standard coming-of-age story, with Phos growing out of her child-like ways. This is closer to an arc like Rand's in The Wheel of Time, where power comes at an astronomically unbalanced cost.
The gems are fascinated with Phos's new powers, but none of them seem to value what they've lost. Phos was a rare voice of diversity that they always batted down, with even the seemingly kindly Diamond telling her she should change herself. Only Sensei tried to cultivate her uniqueness with the encyclopaedia assignment, but he couldn't overcome the pressure Phos put on herself to conform and become a fighter. Now she's a homogenised part of their anti-lunarian defence force, and no good thing has come of it. The question now is whether any good will come in the future.
Anyone else had problems like this? I might contact MVM and ask if it's a known issue.
Episode 9
Phos finally has the strength she thought she wanted, but as she says to Bort, "No good thing has come of it." Grief-stricken, mutilated, and drained of her previous vitality and chirpy nature, we have to ask if any of this has been good for Phos. We're definitely not in standard shonen battle manga territory here, where getting stronger is usually a good thing, and often a self-justifying aim. I wouldn't even call this a standard coming-of-age story, with Phos growing out of her child-like ways. This is closer to an arc like Rand's in The Wheel of Time, where power comes at an astronomically unbalanced cost.
The gems are fascinated with Phos's new powers, but none of them seem to value what they've lost. Phos was a rare voice of diversity that they always batted down, with even the seemingly kindly Diamond telling her she should change herself. Only Sensei tried to cultivate her uniqueness with the encyclopaedia assignment, but he couldn't overcome the pressure Phos put on herself to conform and become a fighter. Now she's a homogenised part of their anti-lunarian defence force, and no good thing has come of it. The question now is whether any good will come in the future.
WMD
Guild Member
Episode 9
Phos gets the ultimate anime power up: a haircut! And my what an expensive hair cut it was.
The way this series studies trauma is fascinating. Trauma is typically an event in your past so affecting that your whole life becomes oriented backwards. And unless you can reconcile with that past you cant move forward with your life. Here we have a series of deeply traumatic events but the cost is that part of Phos' past also dies each time as memories are lost. Phos beginning to lose memories of Cinnabar is especially tough as a viewer as it was their interaction that kickstarted the whole story. Part of the origin is lost and there may not be a way back. The trauma may be so great that there is no way to truly heal, become whole and move on.
It's so sad that it took all this for the others to become interested and chummy with Phos. These parts of the episode are more light hearted but they work to show how the dynamic has now changed. Before Phos was the childish one always looking up at the others. Now its reversed and others come across as the childish ones and Phos is often depicted looking down on them from above. Rather than becoming equals as they wanted they're further away from the group than ever.
It seems like the normally cold and standoffish Bort will be the only one that can actually emphasize with Phos. Will Bort be able to move past their old feeling about Phos and bridge growing divide to them?
Phos gets the ultimate anime power up: a haircut! And my what an expensive hair cut it was.
The way this series studies trauma is fascinating. Trauma is typically an event in your past so affecting that your whole life becomes oriented backwards. And unless you can reconcile with that past you cant move forward with your life. Here we have a series of deeply traumatic events but the cost is that part of Phos' past also dies each time as memories are lost. Phos beginning to lose memories of Cinnabar is especially tough as a viewer as it was their interaction that kickstarted the whole story. Part of the origin is lost and there may not be a way back. The trauma may be so great that there is no way to truly heal, become whole and move on.
It's so sad that it took all this for the others to become interested and chummy with Phos. These parts of the episode are more light hearted but they work to show how the dynamic has now changed. Before Phos was the childish one always looking up at the others. Now its reversed and others come across as the childish ones and Phos is often depicted looking down on them from above. Rather than becoming equals as they wanted they're further away from the group than ever.
It seems like the normally cold and standoffish Bort will be the only one that can actually emphasize with Phos. Will Bort be able to move past their old feeling about Phos and bridge growing divide to them?
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Birdie Num Num
Adventurer
Episode 9 - Phos has learned from her mistakes, staying calm in dangerous situations, though she didn't account on being overwhelmed by the other gems.
IdiomaticLynx
Student Council President
Just watched episode 8 & 9, but also haven't posted anything about episode 7. So here goes, I'll try to keep it short.
Episode 7
We learn that the gems hibernate, which makes sense since they do seem to need daylight. On top of that the Lunarians only attack on sunny days, so the handful of appearances throughout the winter can be handled by the master and Antarcticite (a gem that is in liquid outside of the winter).
While I fail to see why they needed to prepare their sleeping room like that, nor why they had to switch into specific clothes, it did create a nice aesthetic. Phos hides herself under a blanket. This is clearly due to herself still feeling bad about what happened on patrol with Amethyst. Once the blanket was pulled away, a bit of lint stays behind on her head. This reminded me of the first episode where she had some dandelion(?) seed stuck on her head. Effectively showing that she hadn't really changed (bar the obvious leg upgrade).
Phos decides to stay awake and the master allows her to pair up with Antarcticite during the winter. They do a lot of patrolling, some chores around the school and deal with "ice floes". Horrendous screeching "sinners" that threaten to wake up the other gems from theirbeauty sleep hibernation. Interestingly enough Phos can actually "understand" what they are saying. Antarcticite and master seem convinced that there's no real sentience behind it and should just be ignored. However, the ice floes seem talk to Phos trying to let her deliberately loose her arms, indicating that a solution will be found, just like it did with her legs. On top of that they even mention Cinnabar. How did they know?
Either they've been observing Phos and managed to piece things together. But that seems unlikely to me. So could it be that Phos is really the one interpreting these sounds as such? Or are the memories that were stored in her legs somehow the source of this information? Whatever the case, while tempting, Phos manages to avoid being persuaded, but due to a bit of clumsiness still ends up with her arms "eaten" by the ice floes.
Episode 8
Antarcticite attempts to retrieve Phos' lost arms, but fails to find them. When reporting back to the master, he is clearly shocked by what happened. Antarcticite feels responsible for what happened to Phos. (Comparable to how Amethyst also felt sorry towards Phos, since they took Phos along and "should've protected her"). The master indicates that there is no material fit for Phos left. Does this imply there is spare material for some of the gems lying around?
Next he tells them to go look at the Chord Sea, which is apparently the birth place of all the gems. There they see a lot of gold and platinum as well as small shards of some gems in the rocks. The first thing that came to my mind is: "why aren't the Lunarians harvesting gems from this place?" Could it be that they don't really want the gems, but instead the "Inclusion" or even the memories?
Antarcticite attempts to use a gold and platinum alloy as replacement arms for Phos. Phos' body seems to accept it, but it gets out of control. At that moment the Lunarians attack. While Antarcticite is fighting them, Phos gets incaged into her own golden arms. It seems as if they have a will of their own. But my take on it, is that they do exactly what Phos would do. She hasn't changed yet. As painful as it is, she's still pretty useless in a real fight. While she wants Antarcticite to be saved/helped, she doesn't view herself as the person capable of doing that. Hence she's trying to push that responsibility to her new arms.
After a surprise second Lunarian attack, we see Antarcticite being shattered into pieces and stolen. Phos does gain the resolve and courage to chase the Lunarians, but it's all in vain. She isn't as quick as she used to be (due to the added weight of her arms), and Master is also doesn't make it in time.
Episode 9
A bit of a time skip and we see what happened to our beloved Phos. Not sure why, but the episode started a bit clumsy. For some reason a lot had to be spelled out, which I thought was obvious enough:
They really went all out to make the contrast between Phos and the others stand out tremendously. Everyone was in their summer outfit, except for Phos. They all behaved like literal children, whereas Phos appeared way more mature. Though to some extend I wonder how much of it is real and how much of it is Phos attempting to be more mature. Losing memories of Cinnabar was unavoidable, though it's painful to see nevertheless.
Powdering her legs is something I already wondered why they didn't in the first place. But this way it at least serves the purpose of indicating that they are nothing special any more since she lost her speed advantage.
Perhaps if we would apply this to Phos herself, but I think there's still something missing for me to piece it together. Though, going by the poem, the agony is there.
Episode 7
We learn that the gems hibernate, which makes sense since they do seem to need daylight. On top of that the Lunarians only attack on sunny days, so the handful of appearances throughout the winter can be handled by the master and Antarcticite (a gem that is in liquid outside of the winter).
While I fail to see why they needed to prepare their sleeping room like that, nor why they had to switch into specific clothes, it did create a nice aesthetic. Phos hides herself under a blanket. This is clearly due to herself still feeling bad about what happened on patrol with Amethyst. Once the blanket was pulled away, a bit of lint stays behind on her head. This reminded me of the first episode where she had some dandelion(?) seed stuck on her head. Effectively showing that she hadn't really changed (bar the obvious leg upgrade).
Phos decides to stay awake and the master allows her to pair up with Antarcticite during the winter. They do a lot of patrolling, some chores around the school and deal with "ice floes". Horrendous screeching "sinners" that threaten to wake up the other gems from their
Either they've been observing Phos and managed to piece things together. But that seems unlikely to me. So could it be that Phos is really the one interpreting these sounds as such? Or are the memories that were stored in her legs somehow the source of this information? Whatever the case, while tempting, Phos manages to avoid being persuaded, but due to a bit of clumsiness still ends up with her arms "eaten" by the ice floes.
Episode 8
Antarcticite attempts to retrieve Phos' lost arms, but fails to find them. When reporting back to the master, he is clearly shocked by what happened. Antarcticite feels responsible for what happened to Phos. (Comparable to how Amethyst also felt sorry towards Phos, since they took Phos along and "should've protected her"). The master indicates that there is no material fit for Phos left. Does this imply there is spare material for some of the gems lying around?
Next he tells them to go look at the Chord Sea, which is apparently the birth place of all the gems. There they see a lot of gold and platinum as well as small shards of some gems in the rocks. The first thing that came to my mind is: "why aren't the Lunarians harvesting gems from this place?" Could it be that they don't really want the gems, but instead the "Inclusion" or even the memories?
Antarcticite attempts to use a gold and platinum alloy as replacement arms for Phos. Phos' body seems to accept it, but it gets out of control. At that moment the Lunarians attack. While Antarcticite is fighting them, Phos gets incaged into her own golden arms. It seems as if they have a will of their own. But my take on it, is that they do exactly what Phos would do. She hasn't changed yet. As painful as it is, she's still pretty useless in a real fight. While she wants Antarcticite to be saved/helped, she doesn't view herself as the person capable of doing that. Hence she's trying to push that responsibility to her new arms.
After a surprise second Lunarian attack, we see Antarcticite being shattered into pieces and stolen. Phos does gain the resolve and courage to chase the Lunarians, but it's all in vain. She isn't as quick as she used to be (due to the added weight of her arms), and Master is also doesn't make it in time.
Episode 9
A bit of a time skip and we see what happened to our beloved Phos. Not sure why, but the episode started a bit clumsy. For some reason a lot had to be spelled out, which I thought was obvious enough:
- The distinction between the old and new types
- That Phos mastered her ability to alter the alloy
- That the alloy had spread throughout her body
- That usage of this power has a toll on her
- Why she cut her hair like that
They really went all out to make the contrast between Phos and the others stand out tremendously. Everyone was in their summer outfit, except for Phos. They all behaved like literal children, whereas Phos appeared way more mature. Though to some extend I wonder how much of it is real and how much of it is Phos attempting to be more mature. Losing memories of Cinnabar was unavoidable, though it's painful to see nevertheless.
Powdering her legs is something I already wondered why they didn't in the first place. But this way it at least serves the purpose of indicating that they are nothing special any more since she lost her speed advantage.
Which was exactly what Diamond was asking Phos to find a word for. She loves Bort, but sometimes thinks "if only she wasn't there". This clearly isn't coincidence and I have the feeling this duality pops up as a theme more often. But I can only really think of two possible other instances. One being Cinnabar towards Phos' promise. And the other (possibly) being how master views lunarians. He clearly seems to hate "humans" and refers to the ice floes as "sinners", yet when destroying Lunarians that represent the human Soul (if true) he showed pity. The gems at the same time seem to gain a lot of their existence from the "ancient organisms", yet he treasures those.
Perhaps if we would apply this to Phos herself, but I think there's still something missing for me to piece it together. Though, going by the poem, the agony is there.
João Gomes
Thousand Master
Great reading of the episode and I also had trouble loading the disc. It took forever to load the main menu and when it did, the background music would cut every now and then.
Episode 9 and I dig the melancholic vibe, but I can't see this coming to a satisfying conclusion nor us seeing the moon.
The feeling of sadness was well realized and seemed to permeate the entire episode. Seeing Phos' new self against everyone's seemingly normal selves was jarring, which was the intention.
I hope at least we get some resolution to Cinnabar's thing (what the hell was that red herring all about? "who's that?"). Maybe they'll be the one to salvage some of Phos back. I'm not sure what happened is a permanent change or more of a suppression of her happier side borne out of guilt.
I'm actually going to watch Episode 10 now because I do recall saying Bort needs to chill out and that doesn't seem like it's what's happening.
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fathomlessblue
Student Council President
It's absolutely the disk, not the player. There was even a thread somewhere on this site about the problems people were having with disk 2 loading on various players. Sometimes they wouldn't load, while other times they would take a long time and make a lot of noise as the players tried to access the data. Multiple people mentioned it to MVM here, but their response was basically "Well it works fine for us, but we might give it another glance later on" cue silence as they hoped people would stop talking about it I'm generally quite positive towards MVM, but they're really not great about fixing mistakes, unless they've literally been presented with no choice.