Note: due to the fact that the whole cast of Houseki is agender and I DO care about the issue, I will address them either by their name or by gender neutral pronoun. But do forgive me if sometimes the old habit gets the better of me. You readers, on the other hand, can address them in whatever way you like. We all live in a free country after all, even more so with the net. Just be mindful not carry yourself overboard like the folks over animefeminist (where they no longer associate with the ANN source because the said source used feminine pronounce for these characters). Geez, I get their intent, but it was way aggressive.
We still stick to the introduction phase of Houseki, this time we follow Phos meeting the entire new cast of the team. Basically, we have the same plotline as the first episode: Phos have trouble coming up with ideas for the encyclopedia, the based team (this time consist of speaker Jade – the cutest screaming voice ever – and Euclase) advises Phos to meet some other member who is on patrol aka “Character of the week” and while they meet up, Phos learns about their trouble and they will have to fight with the Lunarians as well. Bear in mind that this plotline is Houseki at its most normal, because boy, Houseki is getting weirder and weirder even at its beginning phase. The melting Phos, for example, is something so striking that I won’t forget anytime soon. I believe most of you might notice that Houseki is a work that has strong Buddhism context. I mean, just look at the Lunarians, compare to this; or the fact that Kongou-sensei is the monk. The story so far doesn’t touch much of Buddhism philosophy yet, but since those are crystalline lifeforms, they might take the idea of “reincarnation/rebirth” to a whole new level. I myself expect a strong Buddhism reference that will pop up soon as the story progresses.
This episode gives us a closer look at Dia, whose despite being one of the toughest gems of the team and the most adorable thing on Earth, feeling deeply insecure about their role. In fact, the main theme of Houseki so far is the struggle of our characters towards finding who they are and what their role is in this world. From Cinnabar who curse their very own existence, Phos who literally looking a for a suitable role and Dia who feel totally useless despite being a diamond. Dia’s new technique, a baseball-style that first looks impressive, but too risky and even careless since Dia’s body can’t handle the constant pressure, and she knows it. Bort and Dia make up a complicated team since it’s clear that Bort go out their way to protect Dia because they love Dia, but it ends up making Dia frustrated that they can’t do anything and resend Bort for that. So far, Houseki has been quite successful in fleshing out the personal issues from the cast around Phos. Phos, on the other hand, don’t develop that much but it’s understandable since the story is still in its early stage.
I really love the art designs of the Lunarians. Appearing like a dark storm, they are frightening in how bright they are. The art designs of that sluggish thing, however, are so eerily out of this world, but that’s precisely what it is. It slurps Phos up and we can see him melting right before our eyes. We know pretty sure that Phos will survive, but how much left of them will remain? People have mentioned this show as a body-horror show, and while I can see some of that elements, the graphic details don’t upset me that much. It fits very well to this story. Houseki is weird, that’s awesome. Houseki is raw, that’s even better. I have absolutely no idea what will happen next or even how the hell will Phos get out of this sluggish monster alive, but you bet I’m intriguing. The wait for the next episode will be long for me.
Well, they look like Women, act like Women, dress like women, sound like Women, all have female voice actors and I would be willing to bet they would self identify as women if their society would have a concept of gender. So I guess I will be a chauvinistic pig and just use female pronouns.
But then again, does it even really matter?
… except they don’t have boobs or any reproductive system so saying she when she isn’t a she doesn’t feel right to me.
Haha, it shouldn’t matter. I’m not mad if people addressing them with gender-specific pronoun.
And Hermes doesn’t have a penis or a male body yet there doesn’t seem to be any problem with calling him a “He”. If we are to be really anal about this then the cast of Houseki would need to be refereed to as “it” as they are inanimate objects given sentience. Though I find that too impersonal. I go with She because they have far too many feminine traits to be considered boys.
‘It’ is actually a preferred pronoun by those who are ruminating on their gender but are yet undecided, so far as I’ve been told by those who are more PC than I am.
How odd. I always thought that refering to someone as “it” was insulting. Because it suggests you are an object.
That’s my reasoning too. It’s the same with Steven Universe, which has the same premise with genderless gem people and they are refered there as women too. I think the point is that they’re female coded, just like here. The author most likely had girls in mind when he created them. The male pronouns of the Japanese manga are rather there to reveal their genderlessness without mentioning directly. He would be okay as well but she seems more correct in this case.
It does matter a bit because of a certain character later on. Other than that using he makes more sense plot-wise. Since they have no concept of gender or sex and Adamant obviously is identifying himself as a male, and they do take culture from him as a basis.
I do care about this issue but I think I will also go with “she” since it makes talking less difficult, at least regarding the use of the plural form. I rather used “he” for certain gems while reading the manga, but they gave them female voices here and upped their cuteness so I guess I just set with she unless they’re giving some of the future gems (some of them more male looking) a neutral/more trap’ish voice.
Kinda happy to hear many people liked the first episodes because they’re what was still the least interesting part of the manga for me, despite loving it from the very beginning. I am really interested to see how they’ll depict the other gems, water beings and other upcoming things. I really hope the budget isn’t too high here so that a second season will be made because the really weird-as-hell stuff only happens after the winter arc which will most likely not be covered by the anime (or this season) anymore.
My heart sinks when I realize that they won’t finish the story at this pace, because second season for this weird anime seems very unlikely. Still resist myself from reading more out of the manga because I don’t want to ruin the experience, but I read the first four chapters to see if the anime translate the source well. So far, the anime does a quite good job imo.
I’m loving this so far. I’d love this to get S2. Sometimes miracles happen, like Mirror’s Edge – little oddball of a game that has beaten the odds.
A brief warning. It is the sub that will likely be the main thing that pulls down the quality here. It’s quite unprofessional and badly done. Some of the translations are wrong or misleading and some bits are missing, some of which are plot important going forward, and it has only been 2 episodes so far. They have also messed up explanations, which likely come from the translator not having any technical knowledge about gems and decided to just BS it through.
It’s rather disheartening to hear that. Do you refer to the explanation part about the origin of the gems? I would love to hear more about what the subs did wrong because like you, I don’t want those mistranslation prevents me from enjoy the ahow to the fullest.
I sort of rant about it here in details.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCKd0Q0UX_E&lc=z22fhrmjbkn1gxl5u04t1aokgabfiaa1uc5e4ouu3ircrk0h00410.1508204713904149
I wonder how much this series costs to make. I imagine the upfront costs of building the series assets costs a lot. But once that’s done, I imagine the largely static nature of the cast and setting means that it actually becomes progressively cheaper as the show rolls on. Now I say that having read the manga and knowing what happens. But still it seems like this CGI approach works really well for a show about gems like Houseki while also becoming more cost efficient.
I’m not the right person when it comes to speculating the insights of the anime industry. But if I have to take a wild guess, I’d say that the cost for the full 3DCG show (the indie one anyways like Houseki) would cost the same as the hand-drawn anime products. Like you said the upfront cost might cost a lot, but the studio actually gets away with inbetweener which is always a big issue with hand-drawn animation.
On the other note, now that I saw how the CGI provided a stunning sequence in episode 3, I don’t really mind that Houseki no Kuni have multiple seasons (provided that the show is greenlit to have more seasons). I know this comparison can piss many Monogatari naysayers but for now I can see the resemblance between Houseki and Bakemonogatari. Despite I consider myself as a big fan of Monogatari I wasn’t really sold on the Bake- and Nise- (solid 7/10 but nothing more). Bake- was divisive and was too much experimental for its own good and until Monogatari second season, it started to find the right balance between its wild, impressionist visual with the theme of the story. For now I have a hunch that the current season of Houseki will be like Bake- and the visual will get better and more fitting as the series goes on.
I have no idea what’s coming, but perhaps surprisingly, I love the interaction between the characters the most. They are all so much fun to observe. For beings devoid of human touch, they sure overflow with life.
I use female pronouns for the ones that show more stereotypical “female” traits, and then he for the rest. I give genders to my plants, machinery and even the odd fiery, individual sock!
the thing is to love the characters for who they are! Bodies are nice, good to have one, but it’s the minds and personalities that really capture you!
^_^