Birdie Num Num
Straw Hat Pirate
Sorry to ruin your ritual, I'll join in too..
Don't go to pieces! Land of the Lustrous simulwatch (completed)
- Thread starter Dai
- Start date
João Gomes
Thousand Master
I ANSWER THY CALL. STATE YOUR WISH. Invertedpentagram.png
Now then, already have the blu ray in place and I'm ready to go! I was actually thinking of starting as soon as midnight, but I'll refrain from doing it in case I get too eager to watch the next one...
Now then, already have the blu ray in place and I'm ready to go! I was actually thinking of starting as soon as midnight, but I'll refrain from doing it in case I get too eager to watch the next one...
RadFemHedonist
Mad Scientist
All this talk of necroNOMicon and livestock blood is making me a bit peckish 
Lordhippos
Death Scythe
I am the bone of my sword...
Wait this isn't a Fate simulwatch?
I have been stupid busy with work last couple of days, so for me I guess it's more likely I'll watch it sometime in the day tomorrow
Wait this isn't a Fate simulwatch?
I have been stupid busy with work last couple of days, so for me I guess it's more likely I'll watch it sometime in the day tomorrow
Dai
Death Scythe
Frantically flicks through Summoning for Dummies (Eldritch Abomination Edition)
Err, I think I need to cross the streams.
I did consider leaving that intro in case we ever do a Fate simulwatch, but who knows if that will happen?
Geriatric hedgehog
Death Scythe
Dai
Death Scythe
Here, suck the corner of this towel; it contains antidepressants. You'll need them when you watch this video.
Dai
Death Scythe
All are welcome. There's no deadline for joining; people are welcome to drop in partway through or just comment at the end.Hopefully it's not too late to join! Been wanting to watch this one for a while
Vincentdante
Time-Traveller
You can watch it anytime we don't have a strict time. Tomorrow is the first ep discussion is all. I've actually just seen it now so I am ready for the discussion.
Dai
Death Scythe
Episode 1
Land of the Lustrous opens with some unique and striking world-building, and poses some interesting questions. Our cast of immortal gem girls are stuck in an endless cycle of battle to defend themselves against an enemy they're both wearily familiar with, and yet don't really seem to understand. The main question we're faced with in this opening episode is: what gives life meaning? The initial answer we're offered is to find purpose through meaningful work. But what makes work meaningful? Phos is offered a job that Sensei Kongo thinks is suited to her abilities, though it hardly seems to fit her personality, and she balks at being lumbered with it. Compiling the encyclopaedia is a task unique among the gem girls, but Phos sees no value in it. Instead she's only interested in the prestige she thinks comes from fighting the lunarians, a task for which she seems equally ill suited. But this battle is apparently never-ending, and the gem girls seem to have no interest in doing more than pushing back each attack as it comes, so is there meaning in that? She's also baffled by Cinnabar, wondering, "Why keep doing a pointless job? Why bother?" Episode 1 ends with Phos promising to find a better job for Cinnabar, but the question remains: what gives life meaning?
The other immediately striking aspect of the show is the art. I can count on one hand the number of CG anime I've seen that I thought were well executed: Expelled from Paradise, Arpeggio of Blue Steel, and this. Part of it is how well the style fits the world of the story; these girls are meant to be solid gemstones, not flesh and blood. But the main reason is how well the faces are animated. The downfall of most CG anime is the facial expressions, or lack thereof. Badly animated CG faces might as well be sock puppets, but that's never a problem in this show, where faces are so expressive that it's often hard to tell if this is pure CG or a mix with hand-drawn elements. That said, I do wonder if I'd be as accepting of this look in a show with a less abstract setting.
If you're stuck for what to write about this episode, here are some possible thoughts for the day:
What gives life meaning? (just a small question)
Is there such a thing as CG anime "done right", and if so, is this it?
Land of the Lustrous opens with some unique and striking world-building, and poses some interesting questions. Our cast of immortal gem girls are stuck in an endless cycle of battle to defend themselves against an enemy they're both wearily familiar with, and yet don't really seem to understand. The main question we're faced with in this opening episode is: what gives life meaning? The initial answer we're offered is to find purpose through meaningful work. But what makes work meaningful? Phos is offered a job that Sensei Kongo thinks is suited to her abilities, though it hardly seems to fit her personality, and she balks at being lumbered with it. Compiling the encyclopaedia is a task unique among the gem girls, but Phos sees no value in it. Instead she's only interested in the prestige she thinks comes from fighting the lunarians, a task for which she seems equally ill suited. But this battle is apparently never-ending, and the gem girls seem to have no interest in doing more than pushing back each attack as it comes, so is there meaning in that? She's also baffled by Cinnabar, wondering, "Why keep doing a pointless job? Why bother?" Episode 1 ends with Phos promising to find a better job for Cinnabar, but the question remains: what gives life meaning?
The other immediately striking aspect of the show is the art. I can count on one hand the number of CG anime I've seen that I thought were well executed: Expelled from Paradise, Arpeggio of Blue Steel, and this. Part of it is how well the style fits the world of the story; these girls are meant to be solid gemstones, not flesh and blood. But the main reason is how well the faces are animated. The downfall of most CG anime is the facial expressions, or lack thereof. Badly animated CG faces might as well be sock puppets, but that's never a problem in this show, where faces are so expressive that it's often hard to tell if this is pure CG or a mix with hand-drawn elements. That said, I do wonder if I'd be as accepting of this look in a show with a less abstract setting.
If you're stuck for what to write about this episode, here are some possible thoughts for the day:
What gives life meaning? (just a small question)
Is there such a thing as CG anime "done right", and if so, is this it?
And we're underway! 
I watched our first episode yesterday and drafted up some thoughts, so I'll post those as-is for now and come back to @Dai's questions during the course of today.
* * * * *
Episode 1: Phosphophyllite
I'm finding my feet here with this first episode, having never seen the series before, so perhaps some accordingly scattergun thoughts and observations will do for this post.
First off, I'm already drawn to the concept of characters losing bits of their memory if some part of their body becomes chipped away; I'll be keen to see how that can be used in the story.
And in terms of characterisation...
From Google:
Cinnabar (otherwise known as mercury sulphide) is the single most toxic mineral known to man. ... The problem with Cinnabar, is when oxidized it produces methyl and dimethy mercury, two toxic compounds that cause terminal damage to the nervous system.
I can see already that the screenplay is aiming to take the properties of minerals and imagine how that mineral would feel if it were humanised.
(I'm aware that the anime is an adaptation of a manga by Haruko Ichikawa, but I have no knowledge of it, and so don't want to appear to be claiming any knowledge of it. As such I can only comment on the anime itself.)
Even at this early stage, I'm very much enjoying the show's animation work. It's highly impressive in its own right but surely even more so for a TV anime with a TV production schedule. I also liked the use of the Mohs scale of mineral hardness on Phos's profile shown on the mid-episode eyecatch; I'm starting to learn new things already from watching this series.
On a personal note, I'm also already enjoying the presence of voice actor Jōji Nakata as Kongō-sensei; he's one of my favourites. As always, I'm watching in Japanese with subtitles.
Actually, something that I was listening out for in the Japanese dialogue (and I don't know how many of you here are also watching subbed) was the use of pronouns. I understand that the gems are portrayed as genderless, and I'd read that the subtitles will use "they" as a gender-neutral pronoun. This doesn't appear to be the case in the original Japanese, though: Phos uses boku, a male first-person pronoun, to refer to their own self, and kare, meaning "he", was widely used to refer to Cinnabar. Cinnabar is using ore as a first-person pronoun; it's male again but rougher in sound than boku.
(It's worth nothing, however, that boku can be used by female singers in song lyrics without any male gender connotation. I don't actually know the reason for that.)
I watched our first episode yesterday and drafted up some thoughts, so I'll post those as-is for now and come back to @Dai's questions during the course of today.
* * * * *
Episode 1: Phosphophyllite
I'm finding my feet here with this first episode, having never seen the series before, so perhaps some accordingly scattergun thoughts and observations will do for this post.
First off, I'm already drawn to the concept of characters losing bits of their memory if some part of their body becomes chipped away; I'll be keen to see how that can be used in the story.
And in terms of characterisation...
From Google:
Cinnabar (otherwise known as mercury sulphide) is the single most toxic mineral known to man. ... The problem with Cinnabar, is when oxidized it produces methyl and dimethy mercury, two toxic compounds that cause terminal damage to the nervous system.
I can see already that the screenplay is aiming to take the properties of minerals and imagine how that mineral would feel if it were humanised.
(I'm aware that the anime is an adaptation of a manga by Haruko Ichikawa, but I have no knowledge of it, and so don't want to appear to be claiming any knowledge of it. As such I can only comment on the anime itself.)
Even at this early stage, I'm very much enjoying the show's animation work. It's highly impressive in its own right but surely even more so for a TV anime with a TV production schedule. I also liked the use of the Mohs scale of mineral hardness on Phos's profile shown on the mid-episode eyecatch; I'm starting to learn new things already from watching this series.
On a personal note, I'm also already enjoying the presence of voice actor Jōji Nakata as Kongō-sensei; he's one of my favourites. As always, I'm watching in Japanese with subtitles.
Actually, something that I was listening out for in the Japanese dialogue (and I don't know how many of you here are also watching subbed) was the use of pronouns. I understand that the gems are portrayed as genderless, and I'd read that the subtitles will use "they" as a gender-neutral pronoun. This doesn't appear to be the case in the original Japanese, though: Phos uses boku, a male first-person pronoun, to refer to their own self, and kare, meaning "he", was widely used to refer to Cinnabar. Cinnabar is using ore as a first-person pronoun; it's male again but rougher in sound than boku.
(It's worth nothing, however, that boku can be used by female singers in song lyrics without any male gender connotation. I don't actually know the reason for that.)
Dai
Death Scythe
This is the third or fourth time I've watched this show, and for the life of me I can't remember if I normally watch it subbed or dubbed. Recently, I've got into the habit of putting a small label inside blu-ray cases to remind me which I prefer for each series, but I guess I only started that after the last time I watched this. Even watching this episode in English today, I still can't remember if these are the voices I'm more familiar with or not. The English VA for Phos is great though, as expressive as her face. It's just a shame the American accents are so strong; the twanginess feels out of place in this setting.
Does Japanese have androgynous word choices for referring to people?
CommanderZx2
Magical Girl
Ah yes American accents are one the things I find most distracting in dubs, but I guess it's unavoidable when they're sourcing their voice actors locally. One of the worst examples I can recall is them giving Lucoa an American valley girl accent even she's supposed to be inspired by an Aztec dragon like creature.
RadFemHedonist
Mad Scientist
"But because of that... we have grown completely incapable of giving up on anything".
Interesting line, also I love the CGi even the grass looks pretty XP Worth observing that Phos does seem less "committed" to things than the other gems. For now I'm watching dubbed, I agree that Phos' English VA is excellent
Interesting line, also I love the CGi even the grass looks pretty XP Worth observing that Phos does seem less "committed" to things than the other gems. For now I'm watching dubbed, I agree that Phos' English VA is excellent