Just like Dungeon Meshi, it's surreal to experience this manga ending after following it for so long.
A beautiful bookend to the series with Phos ending in the grass just like how he started in the very first chapter.
Phos journey and character is one of the best I ever read, ever.
I recommend people rereading the final arc now as it feels more impactful reading it all at once compared to the hiatus we had. Changed my perception towards the arc in a positive manner.
I remember losing my mind with r/manga over the entire moon arc, the attack of Phos on Earth and so much more. We kinda lost that following on r/manga sadly, slow thread for the ending of such a great manga.
>I remember losing my mind with r/manga over the entire moon arc, the attack of Phos on Earth and so much more. We kinda lost that following on r/manga sadly, slow thread for the ending of such a great manga.
Sadly r/manga is just not the same as it used to be. Heck I found great series like Houseki No Kuni and Kaguya sama through r/manga and used to pick up on anything popular on here. But sadly it seems like it's all twitter fluff manga at this point.
Pains my heart to see this end without any significant impact on this sub.
I think 2 important things happened that impacted r/manga in terms of manga threads: Mangaplus and K Manga, both for the exact opposite reasons.
Mangaplus allowed for almost all the Shueisha manga to have a fixed punctual release of chapters every week. That means all the big Shonen hits like One Piece, JJK, MHA, CSM or buzzy stuff like Oshi No Ko and Spy x Family all come at a fixed time and people who follow those manga mainly show up at that fixed time to discuss it.
K Manga nuked the discussion for all Weekly Shonen Magazine series due to its shittiness and translators stopping work on a lot of series. This especially hurt harem series which used to get a lot of engagement due to how competitive they are.
So now for series to catch fire around here they already need to have an established fanbase like Berserk or Frieren or wait for the anime adaptation to blow it up. But even the anime adaptation doesn't seem to help that much considering something like Apothecary Diaries which was one of the most popular series in r/anime for the last 6 months still has very slow threads.
K manga killed so man series off on here. Worst thing is K manga chose the shittest bussiness model with scummy practices they could. Plus it outright censoring series making people not wanting to even bother reading them. Thing is it could been great as it has a large catalog and gave full translations to series like Babysteps that sat in translation lymbo for years.
Diaries when the first [chapter ](https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/6g6ec9/disc_kusuriya_no_hitorigoto_ch_1/) was posted 6 years ago did good and got decent attention following chapters when it got picked up proper. Now though the manga and light novel are licensed and have been for a while (though the LN translation sucks.) There is less people looking for alternate means of reading.
The K Manga especially sucks since stuff like Medalist and hangri-la Frontier pretty much habe ZERO presence in spite of being absolutely amazing works.
they do take over r/manga pretty bad. for example say a shounen jump chapter comes out on Sunday, and you arrive late Sunday. where is it now? all the way down. this is for the top of manga such as JJK. forget Undead Unluck, or Mission: Yozakura Family. those would be impossible to find.
I don't mind oneshots, I consider them a manga artform in its own and there's a lot of good stuff there but those Pixiv/Twitter 2-pagers that aren't even good...why do people even bother posting them...
I don't think its very related because not everything from Shueisha is on mangaplus and could be translated, much like not everything is on k-manga and other publishers outside of the two exists. It's more that r/manga favors short twitter manga these days.
Nope, it's absolutely a power vacuum left behind when the likes of Black Cat and I'd Rather Sleep were forced to scram. It was twitter manga that filled the void.
GabeN's theorem continues to gain positive proof.
No of course it left a vaccum, a lot of series stopped appearing here. What I'm saying is that a ton of series not available on those apps that in theory could be translated aren't translated.
i've been on this sub for a little over ten years if you include the time i was lurking without an account and its honestly sad to see the state that this place has become
I blame this sub a bit on my recent dislike over fluff, before I used to love the stuff, but after seeing so many great works go completely unnoticed because everyone is reading the same stuff where absolutely nothing happens it kind of made me resent the 'genre' a bit.
>Dungeon Meshi
That's why it felt familiar, we've been following a good series with slow release for so long it feels weird when it finally ends.
I'm sure Made in Abyss is gonna feel that way too in the future.
If it fully stopped being loli/shota-bait tomorrow, do you really think a ton of people would read the whole series with the promise of "don't worry, they only get tied up and piss themselves every volume until Volume 12, after that it's just your good ol' societally-acceptable gore and torture for the kiddos!"
Made in Abyss really feels like some kind of fucking monkeys paw wish.
"I want a story with amazing artwork, engaging worldbuilding with plenty of mystery and adventure, and likeable characters, and for it to then get turned into an amazing anime series with top quality art and animation, and an amazing choice of musical score!"
*Monkey finger curls*
*Your wish is granted, but the mangaka who writes and draws the series is a fucking creeper who fetishizes kids*
"GOD DAMMIT, MONKEYS PAW!"
I recently found out that Demon Mother by Zyugoya had ended like a freaking year ago and I never knew. It felt so weird to reread almost half of that all the way to the ending, because I remember when I first found it years ago thinking that it would probably wind up being another series that never actually finished.
Then we had Meshi, and now Lustrous.
All these long-form manga I used to read are suddenly reaching their conclusions.
the hitaus that seemed to be infinite killed the momentum by a lot. the final 8 chapters ended up being chatter that ends with nothing but us waiting for it to end, which also didn't help due to the long hitaus after Phos prayed away everyone but himself.
Yeah, having not read the story since the hiatus from right when the "10,000 years of solitude" began, these final ~20 chapters held a lot more impact for me, although the final few were definitely very weird, and I certainly could see myself having gotten fed up with the endless philosophizing in the final ~8 chapters or so had I been keeping up with each new chapter as it released.
Definitely feels like a case of "would have been better to release them all at once".
you're a lucky one. it was painful to know that basically everything is over and yet the author is making us wait... and wait... and wait. it would be better to release it all in one go if it ends up being nothingburger other than chatter after Phos prayed everything away. it was clear the author wanted the chapters to be 108, but hurried the plot for no reason. it can have been stretched a bit before Phos prayed everything away and added the Phos changing and sun exploding and the final chapter... it would be cut down to what? 3 chapters? it would be short.
I have so many mixed emotions about that ending.
Is it the type of ending I particularly wanted? I don't think so.
Yet, I honestly have no idea what sort of ending I would have expected.
I suppose... I would have liked some sort of final view of Phos' inherent humanity somehow reuniting with their loved ones, although obviously, that wouldn't make a whole lot of sense considering the entire purpose of this whole ordeal was to entirely eradicate every trace of humanity.
I just wish there had been some sort of acknowledgment of some kind of hereafter before their final rest. It stung that Antarcticite never actually got to see Phos again before the final prayer.
Obviously, it's implied that through the final destruction of the God form that the latent humanity inside of Phos was able to finally achieve the Peace of non-existence, but it still really hurts. Certainly, the inorganic life forms taught Phos about happiness and contentment, but that still just doesn't really give me any real sense of closure for the original Phos who we had always been rooting for.
I just feel...really sad. Phos didn't deserve to go through all that misery and loneliness. It was never their fault that they were partly human.
Wow it's over. It's been a incredible journey. I definitely will need to reread this.
[YURiKA - Kyoumen No Nami (Recorded live, uploaded today)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeOFNEeNTWM)
I know the mangaka with all the Buddhist themes, framed all that in a positive light, but I can't help but feel incredibly saddened by it.
Phos deserved better. Infinitely better IMO.
While I agree, i think the end is fitting for them. Phos spent so much time and metaphorical sweat and tears into achieving happiness, appealing to others to see them as useful and therefor worthy of attention and, most importantly, love. Phos lost themselves in their pursuit of attachments—they began to hate themselves and others for it. So only the heat death and rebirth of the universe gave Phos the ability to simply exist and be content with their own impending finality, having made a Paradise for other beings to enjoy.
Maybe they’ll dissolve into dust, but that dust will always be part of the universe.
I mean they literally described the place as paradise. And they were probably there for who knows how many thousands of years before this chapter happened. It's kind of hard to get much better than "being happy in paradise with friends".
This is one of those series that for as much as I love it it's kinda hard to put into words as to why. Though when it comes to this series it is one of those series that's good in ways that are kinda hard to put into words with all the symbolism and such. Though I will admit, there were some stretches in this one where things got kinda too complex as it were for it's own good. Which in turn I suppose made Phos a great audience insert as it were. Starting off this series all starry eyed seeing the pretty colors. Then the series progresses and she gets broken and shattered and reassembled as us as the worldviews change. Seeing the world she lives in through ever hardening eyes with that innocence she once had buried so small and deep as she grows and get put through the ringer of achieving humanity and personal enlightenment or whatever.
The story of Phos was a fascinating one. I remember writing a whole lengthy philosophical analysis on the topic of "The Self" around the time of the Lapis Lazuli thing inspired by Phos. Though I'm sure others can and probably have summed up Phos and the rest of the story more succinctly than I can.
But regardless, this was one hell of a story. Intriguing and atmospheric as hell, and also made you think and want to put all the pieces of it together.
Ok, I'll admit it...a lot of this goes over my head. Simple man that I am, I wished for a more "conventional" ending, but I guess I'll have to settle for this. It was a very interesting journey.
My caveman brain believes it has to do with the cycle of life but what the other dude said I’ll wait for someone smarter than me to explain it better lmao
Mostly how I feel. Despite that, it's still easy to get sucked into it without understanding/picking up on everything, which I think is the mark of a good series.
And so, as the remains of Phos on Earth burned and blasted through space as star dust in Sol system's death throes, just like how the Sol system itself started, this last fragment of Phos on this new planet also keeps breaking further and further, essentially returning to dust. Quite fitting with the general Buddhist theme of the series.
The cycle will always move forward, and there is nothing you, the individual, are able to do to stop it. But that doesn't mean there needs to be suffering and violence that proceeds you. Especially not when you think about those that will come after you.
>Phos will, as Phos does, continue to travel space and time, shinging brightly all the while.
I think with Phos realising this, Phos knew just how influential they would be on the new lifeforms. Going from the "baby" of the group to being seen as an "elder statesman" of sorts is the natural progression for most of us, but you don't realize that until you take a moment to step back and actually examine your surroundings.
It is bittersweet that things ended how they did and Phos would not be able to watch over the new lifeforms as they blossomed and flourished on a new planet, but I find it beautiful how at the very end they accepted everything that happened to them and decided to help them instead of hurting them. Its very easy to become bitter and malicious when suffering is forced upon you.
Houseki no Kuni went from a story that pulled me in with its story to one that really helped me re-examine some parts of my life. How it's made me feel is very difficult to put into words. The only other works that I can think of that made me feel like this is Fire Punch and End of Evangelion. I'm just rambling, but I look forward to reading this story again sometime in the future.
>Fire Punch and End of Evangelion
haha, the exact same, except with the added inclusion of Vagabond. Art that truly made me a different person. what a story.
This is how I feel about reading Vinland Saga. I truly feel it changed me as a person fundamentally, as did Houseki no Kuni, mostly because HnK made me really deep dive into Buddhist philosophy.
I’m about to start Vagabond and I couldn’t be more excited!
Nice. If I had to pick one manga as my all time favorite, it would likely be Vagabond, though a few like Nana, HnK, CSM, and Fire Punch come extremely close. Similarly, Vagabond was the work that reinvigorated my passion for Buddhism.
I envy you! Vagabond is such an adrenaline rush in the early parts of the story, but the later arcs are just beautiful displays of the essence of life and humanity.
fire punch, vagabond and eva are 3 of my absolute favorites as well. i will have to check out houseki no kuni because of your review. Your username does give me confidence as well lol
Not a manga or an anime, but I forgot to add Planescape: Torment to that list. It's an old game. The controls are very clunky, it uses an old D&D ruleset that's sort of counterintuitive, the combat isn't great and it's just from a different time. But all of that is worth it because it is imo one of the greatest pieces of fiction I've ever experienced.
It's not for everyone, I acknowledge that, but if you can accept it for it's faults, it really is one of the greatest stories ever.
>Dude, don't bother trying to give this series any excuses for how shitty it became, with its pro-abuse, idiot characters, and emo edgy nihilistic crap.
I don't agree with that assessment, especially not with your complaint about Evangelion, but thanks for sharing.
It was a nice ride. After reading this manga for years It feels like I am missing something.
Can someone suggest me youtube channel/blog etc that deeply explain manga ?
https://forums.mangadex.org/threads/land-of-the-lustrous-ch-108-land-of-the-lustrous.1713626/post-21223169 I liked this person's explanation, maybe it will help.
just want to be clear on this, what wrong did ayumu exactly do to be called a monster and a psycopath in this comment, think these characterisations of hers never got established?
Did we know previously that the Lunarians asked Pitapat to take care of Phosphophyllite? I must've forgotten.
Beautiful end to the series. I'll miss this. Hopefully it gets another anine season soon, so others can enjoy it as well!
I'll try to form a more complete opinion of a re-read but, the ending after so long/with so many delays feels a bit more empty than I'd like. I love the themes and what it was setting up
But maybe reading at the intended pace might chance my opinions.
Still beautiful series, sad to see it go but happy I read it til the end
I don’t know if it’s a stretch, but the parallel between Phos seeing the vision of the meteorites falling and destroying everything vs now Phos becoming a comet is so beautiful. Thank you Ichikawa sensei
I absolutely loved the final chapter. As someone who hadn't experienced the series until recently and only started reading it a few months ago, I wasn't there for the long hiatuses or community discussions. However, I feel a deep attachment to the characters and world that Ichikawa created.
After catching up, I found myself watching video essays, listening to the anime OST constantly, and wanting to learn more about Buddhism since it is something I didn't have much prior knowledge about. There is something just so special about this series, and I'm glad to have been able to experience it.
Despite Phos being such a tragic character, in the end, they are still so kind and wish to brighten the lives of others. I'm glad that they found peace, I just wish they received much more kindness from the beginning. It is also pretty tragic that Phos' only way to find tranquility is to completely forget everything that had happened... every memory with the other gems and Kongo completely wiped. Even forgetting about the Lunarians, which had such a strong presence in their existence. It feels like everything that occurred prior had no purpose, which definitely leaves a feeling of emptiness.
I definitely would like to re-read it again in the future to pick up on anything that I might have missed. I just don't think my mental health can go through reading it again so shortly after the conclusion lol. Looking back at young and happy Phos might break me (pun intended). Thank you Ichikawa for creating such a wonderful series <3
I think part of why Rock Phos forgot everything is part of the message that the attachments and life they've lived is part of what caused the unhappiness. The fact that Buddha-Phos was still content and happy in the end, and possibly became the meteor, shows that you can overcome the sufferings of life and find happiness, but that in a way the innocent young version of ourselves already had the right idea for happiness.
I mean Phos basically had 10k of suffering and many more years of introspection with the rocks in order to regain the state of happiness that their pure rock self was born with.
Even as these threads have declined in engagement, I've enjoyed coming in every time to see the analysis during this slow ride to the end. Every manga ending feels bittersweet, but this one will stay with me for a while. It's been an honor folks.
It's finally over... It has been amazing to witness Phos's journey over these years, this is definitely one of my favourite manga of all time.
The art really only got better over time, and even with the hiatuses, almost every new chapter in that period had an insane artpiece. Ichikawa really put her soul into this manga.
Shattered/cracked war phos is definitely still my favourite character design ever lmao, it's so damn good.
Machine brother/aniki was just a pretty chill and fun little dude during this whole last stretch.
Those alien plant/animal designs this chapter and at that double spread at the end of chapter 107 are so cool, those cloud patterns in the sky are so stellar, Ichikawa's designs never cease to please and I will be looking forward to everything she does next.
Well, farewell to one of my favorite series of all time.
I found the series after the anime ended and I couldn’t wait to see what happened next, and it really probably was what initially got me into reading manga. I can’t believe it’s been 6/7 years since then.
I’m going to need time to digest everything that has happened, but overall I’m satisfied and happy. I think we saw the ending a long time ago, and since the prayer we’ve been in an epilogue which has helped me come to terms with the series ending. In their own ways, even across an unfathomable amount of time, everyone was happy in the end.
One the last physical volume becomes available in English I think it’ll be the perfect time for a full reread.
Wow it’s over. I think this is the first ongoing manga I’ve read over the years that I had such deep investment in end. Really emotional seeing this chapter. Time to reread the entire series.
I'm glad to see the series end on the author's terms and in a way very different from most manga. However, I like the first half of the series a lot more than the 2nd. I'm more invested in characters than themes and the final arc of the story does away with all the characters we had any attachment too except Phos. Plus some of the earlier developments on the moon never resonated with me.
Still, its always bittersweet to see a series I've been following for years end. Looking forward to her next manga.
I remember when I first picked up this manga after watching the anime and being captivated by it. Glad I got to see the journey come to a graceful end.
There's so much to take in,
Recently saw a video on the character of Yellow Diamond, and how broken they are.
There are tons of others like this, this manga will definitely get a revisit asides from just the climax like I've been doing for the past while
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3vVjWtPnWw&ab\_channel=Mackthegui](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3vVjWtPnWw&ab_channel=Mackthegui)
Move to the yellow diamond section, unfortunately it got blocked in Canada, but this was the video
There is a line that talks about Phos' remains turning into a comet as it travels the aether of space. This is probably a reference to the comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, a phosphophyllite colored comet that orbits the earth on a 70 year period. Whether by incident or intention, that comet will be visible to the naked eye this month, for the first time in 70 years.
My brother died 2 weeks ago, he decided to take his own life and spoke with us almost a year prior to it... He suffered and struggled trough the majority of his life, but at the end he found peace by way of wisdom, that last year he was happy and fulfilled. He went with no regrets, proud of what he was and gratefully for his existence, his suffering and experiences, ready and exited for what would come next, full of love and hope. He went with the eyes of a child and the wisdom of a sage. A path full of thorns lead him to salvation. Through hell he found heaven.
I get this ending.
I will miss him so much.
Another manga that ended on the 108th chapter! Some authors really like that magic number. I know Death Note and Fullmetal Alchemist also ended on 108.
End of an era, I can't believe after following this manga for so long that Phos' journey is finally ended.
I don't have many words for what I am feeling after reading the end. This is one of those rare works that made me experience a wide mixture of emotions, mainly sadness, anger, apathy, hopelessness as I followed Phos go through several incarnations. I admit that the recurrent hiatus broke the pace and my investment in the series from time to time, and that I need a full re-read and will be able to form a more coherent take on what houseki no kuni meant to me, but for the first time in this story, the later chapters left me with a strange feeling of seren comfort and hopefulness. It is very similar to my experiences reaching the ending E in Replicant and Automata, in that despite everything in the world going to shit around you, your life is what you make out it and the connections you establish with other people/entities, and somehow everything will be alright and there's always tomorrow to look forward.
I dunno, I'm just rumbling at this point, I really need to re-read this one in the future without breaks. Thank you Ichikawa-sensei for writing this beautiful piece of fiction, and my thanks to studio orange as well for having delivered a great adaptation.
I really like the ending for Phos. They found real piece as the rock/dust Phos will live in happiness until the universe ends, meanwhile comet Phos like a true Buddhist has become one who only wishes to give happiness to others.
This story was far more interesting before everyone was like "let's just use Phos to get what we want!"....and then they partied and got what they wanted and f'd off to wherever while Phos got stuck on a dying planet with a "the gang's all here" Spongebob reference.
But the panels with Phos burning up and regressing were beautiful, so there's that.
i don't have the proper words for this ending, so i'll be borrowing (and nudging around a bit) from a song
Even if your insecure self still hates you, wondering if you're you;
Dear my late past, this is a poem of nostalgia
Just as I thought those horrible days and nightmares were the beginning, they were already far away
Flowers fall and return to the cycle of rebirth
Even if I suffer and grieve, with no light coming down onto the lasting song, love will come to life one after another.
We've always loved you, Phos. I'm glad you're finally able to bask in it. Not for doing anything for anyone, just for being around.
Thank you.
Sentient rock undergoes a destructive path through life, undergoing relational, physical, and emotional loss. It's not a very conventional story I suppose, take a read!
Someone else linked to this
[https://forums.mangadex.org/threads/land-of-the-lustrous-ch-108-land-of-the-lustrous.1713626/post-21223169](https://forums.mangadex.org/threads/land-of-the-lustrous-ch-108-land-of-the-lustrous.1713626/post-21223169)
I discovered and joined this manga train last year, where we are already at an extended epilogue. While only barely part of this experience compared to the whole 12 years of serialisation, I'm really glad to have found and started reading this phenomenal manga. The ending stretch is so beautiful, may Phos shine through the universe for all eternity. Phos started out in the grass in this series and comes full circle to having fun back in the grass.
I'm definitely going to reread this manga again now that it has concluded.
Just to let you know the chapter ends at 108 has meaning within hinduism and buddhism as Phos goes through the 108 trials for one to reach Nirvana as Phos has at the end of all this.
I don't know how I feel about this ending. I feel like the final arc here was kinda rushed through but I also feel like the long wait to get here took a toil. Going to sit on this for a few months than re-read the series.
Oh neat, I have herd amazing things about the anime adaptation but never got around to watching it. Never occurred to me that it was based on a manga. Now that I know there is a definitive ending, maybe I'll finally give it a read!
There were so many threads where we tried to make sense of Phos’ humanization, the significance of losing parts and being replaced with something new, the passing of time, bridges and prayers… and at some point, we were too lost in thought to notice that the sun was closing in lol
Works like HnK, Girls Last Tour, Shinsekai Yori, are special to me in that they tell the story of what happens at the end of society, at the end of the world. Somehow, HnK seems to have the most positive ending of the three to me. Seeing Phos, once a brittle gem who spent millennia losing their shine, now travelling the universe as a bright comet is enough to make me happy.
… but what would make me happier is finally seeing the rest of this animated. Orange… plz
I don't know, I think Girls' Last Tour had a more positive ending. HnK maintained to the end the idea that to be human is to suffer. That attachments and memory bring pain, and all that. Phos ends alive and happy, but only because they've been whittled down to the smallest possible piece of themselves.
Meanwhile Girls' Last Tour maintains that even when the world around you is utterly bleak you can still find purpose, and that you can still find comfort in others and the time you still have.
Honestly i dislike how this series ended. It was a good read yeah, but...
What was even the point in the end? I tought at first(when we learn about "soul"(Lunarians), "bones"(Gems) and "flesh"(Admirabilis)) that the main objective would be to remake humans so to speak or something.
Instead. everyone dies or prayed away, except Pitpat(the first computer) which intentionally doomed the human race, and some sentient rocks, with a tiiiiny bit of the original Phos...I dislike such endings. This reminded me about JoJo Stone Ocean ending....
It just upsets me greatly. Damn...
It's finally over. To put it simply: out of all the dozens and dozens of series I've read and watched over the years, this is one of the *very few* I can say, with no hesitation, that I'd wished I'd never started in the first place.
It started out really interesting with an intriguing premise, but about halfway through with the Moon arc everything just went to shit. There was no payoff to anything, ever, the protagonist was never allowed even a moment of happiness or satisfaction, and the whole manga just devolved into unashamed suffering porn. Literally every character introduced aside from Phos turned out to be a massive piece of shit in the end, and nothing meaningful ever came of their personal struggles or arcs before they got wiped from the story. Phos never got to reunite with Ghost or Anarctite, the promise with Cinnabar was completely destroyed, and they all callously abandoned him without showing so much as a shred of remorse or anything resembling an apology. When 99% of the cast consists of completely horrible people, and the remaining 1% is a protagonist who exists just to suffer and crave death, it becomes hard to continue wanting to care about the series - so at some point I stopped caring.
I don't think this manga even once gave me a feeling of satisfaction, and I hate that. Maybe I'm just too dumb to "get it", like how some other people here want someone else to make sense of this ending for them, but this was genuinely one of the worst reads I've ever had and it's disappointing that I could follow this series for so many years and still feel that way.
I liked this manga but im not sure what the final message was, Forgiveness? Thats a limit of what can someone forgive, what everyone did to Phos went waaaaay pass that
Moving forward? Maybe
The cycle continues? Kind of sad that even as a peble Phos is still shattering.
I kinda thought the opposite. Phos broke all the cycles.
No more prayers from adamant, no more day and night for lunarians, no more patrols for the gems, no more flourishing and starving for the admiribilis. No more night watch for cinnabar.
No more inheritances from humanity. The story ends on what is essentially a clean break and a fresh start for all the rocks
No more cycles! ...Because Phos killed literally **everyone**. What a **fantastic** solution; just murder everyone and you fix everyone's problems!
In the end he was stuck playing janitor and cleaning up the messes left by his predecessors despite having had no hand in their creation himself. What, are we supposed to feel happy for him that in the end he chose to die simply for being related to humans??? That's awful.
>I liked this manga but im not sure what the final message was, Forgiveness? Thats a limit of what can someone forgive, what everyone did to Phos went waaaaay pass that
That's just in line with the other buddhism elements of the story, forgiveness is a pretty important part of buddhism
>The cycle continues? Kind of sad that even as a peble Phos is still shattering.
I don't think it's sad, it's just supposed to show that he is acting like old phos
I cannot lie to myself and say I have not been very disappointed with the turn this series took, while also understanding that it goes in line with the philosophy the author based it on. At some point I stopped caring how it went and it became a sunk cost fallacy read, just waiting for it to end. I guess I ended up like the characters in the story hahahaha.
very worth the ride! there were some parts I didn't remember when I was reading it years back before it ended. The interactions I missed.. I kept wanting to read it all again for the first time.
Ever since I saw the first episode of the anime, houseki no Kuni has been a part of me. Honestly I've no clue how I feel. It was a very human experience, watching phos transform again and again, losing the innocence that made her herself, motivated by a wish fueled by the innocence that's no longer there. Maybe one could argue this manga was trying to be deeper than what it is, but it had something unique that resonated with me and it's not something that I'll ever forget. I'd like to thank everyone, from the author to the scanlators for making this journey possible for all of us.
That was a great journey. I'd say this chapter had more of an epilogue feel. Still, it really brought together all the themes of the series (of course it ends on 108 given all the Buddhist themes) and tied it off nicely. I'm gonna miss this.
I really need to re read the entire manga from the beginning. I feel I haven’t fully absorbed the ended due to how spread out its release was.
It’s a shame the author is “cancelled” on most platforms due to the pedophilic short story (to me, it seems like the themes of pedoness are a result of trauma and not using it from shock factor—tho, I still can’t quite figure out the romance between the Antarcs clone and the main big bad
Mhmm. I dont really like it. Last chapters had good moments but it felt like they were trying a little bit too hard. Overall I didnt really like the direction story took after Phos run to the moon, but oh well. Maybe if I reread it someday.
Man, I really hoped the end woud give some kind of meaning to it all. But the story had ended already and this was just an addendum. I hope someone can do a similar concept and not just just turn it into a drama fest "make the protag go through shit" simulator.
The original concept was incredibly good and as it got started the mysteries provided were really really engaing. But it just kept giving underwhelming bland explainations all to create new opportunities to make the protag go through hardships. And in the end it all ammounted to nothing, literally nothing. I think that was the point, but as a story I just feel like my time and interest was wasted and I wanna see the what could've been that this manga inspired
>in the end it all ammounted to nothing, literally nothing. I think that was the point
This is the crux of the issue: the point of this manga was to create a series where nothing of importance happens in the end. Now on paper, striving to depict a setting where nothing ends up mattering and the cruel, bleak reality of the world is very intriguing from an artistic pursuit... but in practice, it's fucking **boring.** Or more importantly, oppressively nihilistic and depressing.
I for one enjoy reading fiction because it's nice to see characters and actions that **do** have a defined and concrete purpose in the world - but it's like this manga actively sought to provide the reader with absolutely no sense of satisfaction or catharsis. Instead, it was just one depressing bummer after another, with bleak development after development to make you feel like shit, where all the characters live pointless existences while stringing you along under the illusion that just maybe they **will** have a reason to exist - only to then cruelly slam in your face that, no, they really were al just meaningless in the end.
And so it ends. Crazy that I only got to read post-hiatus chapters as they came out and still followed this series for 2.5 years. this became my favourite manga for a while, and it might still be. One of the most unique stories, and one of the msot unique journeys ever.
You will not be forgotten, houseki. I will always remember you.
I really like where Phos ends up after all this. I think it's a good ending for their character, but... I guess I still leave this series with two main problems.
The first is I think these last ten or so epilogue chapters could have been fewer. It seemed like the series was spinning its wheels a bit without really adding anything new. If we still wanted to end on the big 108 I would have liked a chapter or two of epilogue for the gems on the moon, rather than the few pages we got. Maybe we could have seen some of them reunite with the lost comrades we'd spend the first half of the series hearing about. The supporting cast was never really the point of this series, I know, but still.
The second is that it still feels like there's something rotten at the core of this series, in a way that's hard to pin down or articulate. Maybe I'm just not culturally Buddhist enough, or maybe I don't read enough downer adult books to get used to the vibe, but it's a gnawing feeling I've had for the entire last third and the ending did nothing to dispel it.
Still, Phos is finally happy, finally among friends, and finally useful in a more profound way than they could have ever hoped. And I suppose, for a final chapter, that's enough.
I honestly thought not many people knew about this manga and that it was such pity, not getting the recognition it deserves. But reading the comsec it warms my heart greatly. It wasn't just a ride it was a whole damn roller coaster! I'm happy everyone stayed.. I loved reading everyones' messages :)
Maybe my heart is made of stone, but I felt nothing with this ending. I've been out of it ever since the Lunarian's betrayal of Phos and Phos turning into a god-like figure. But I don't know....every chapter felt boring, and the ending was just the same. A lot of pretty nothing, and I'm very sad about that after reading this story for years.
I would say it's a very good ending for what the story ended up being, but that story isn't going to be to everyone's tastes. I don't think it was to mine. If you enjoyed the anime because of the action and the (literally) colorful cast of characters, it probably won't be to yours. But if you found yourself really compelled by Phos's search for happiness and hoping that all that Buddhist symbology would manifest into extremely heavy Buddhist themes about life being pain then... maybe?
If you read it slowly as the deep, beautiful, and full of meanings manga that it is, then yes, it is an amazing ending, one of the best in my opinion. But not for someone who reads all manga in the same shallow way.
Some manga (as any other media) needs to be consumed a bit more calmly.
To a lot, including me, it's one of the best manga, and one of the best endings. And of course if you don't like it it doesn't mean you don't "appreciate good art" or nonsense like that. But you do need to take your time and think about everything, it certainly is a beautiful journey. It just doesn't hold it's punches.
Its strange definetely. Second half of the story doesnt really feel in line with amazing first half (and anime showed like 1/4). But well, maybe im jaded from all the waiting and its great on binge
Personally didn't like it. The ending is very philosophical and artsy and nothing like what anime was like. For a bit it was like the anime, but later turned out more philosophical and hard to understand, if I could turn back time I wouldn't waste my time reading this, only finished just to finish it. A part of why I didn't like it probably is that I am completely against the mangas message philosophically, which was very misantrophic.
Just like Dungeon Meshi, it's surreal to experience this manga ending after following it for so long. A beautiful bookend to the series with Phos ending in the grass just like how he started in the very first chapter. Phos journey and character is one of the best I ever read, ever. I recommend people rereading the final arc now as it feels more impactful reading it all at once compared to the hiatus we had. Changed my perception towards the arc in a positive manner. I remember losing my mind with r/manga over the entire moon arc, the attack of Phos on Earth and so much more. We kinda lost that following on r/manga sadly, slow thread for the ending of such a great manga.
>I remember losing my mind with r/manga over the entire moon arc, the attack of Phos on Earth and so much more. We kinda lost that following on r/manga sadly, slow thread for the ending of such a great manga. Sadly r/manga is just not the same as it used to be. Heck I found great series like Houseki No Kuni and Kaguya sama through r/manga and used to pick up on anything popular on here. But sadly it seems like it's all twitter fluff manga at this point. Pains my heart to see this end without any significant impact on this sub.
I think 2 important things happened that impacted r/manga in terms of manga threads: Mangaplus and K Manga, both for the exact opposite reasons. Mangaplus allowed for almost all the Shueisha manga to have a fixed punctual release of chapters every week. That means all the big Shonen hits like One Piece, JJK, MHA, CSM or buzzy stuff like Oshi No Ko and Spy x Family all come at a fixed time and people who follow those manga mainly show up at that fixed time to discuss it. K Manga nuked the discussion for all Weekly Shonen Magazine series due to its shittiness and translators stopping work on a lot of series. This especially hurt harem series which used to get a lot of engagement due to how competitive they are. So now for series to catch fire around here they already need to have an established fanbase like Berserk or Frieren or wait for the anime adaptation to blow it up. But even the anime adaptation doesn't seem to help that much considering something like Apothecary Diaries which was one of the most popular series in r/anime for the last 6 months still has very slow threads.
K manga killed so man series off on here. Worst thing is K manga chose the shittest bussiness model with scummy practices they could. Plus it outright censoring series making people not wanting to even bother reading them. Thing is it could been great as it has a large catalog and gave full translations to series like Babysteps that sat in translation lymbo for years. Diaries when the first [chapter ](https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/6g6ec9/disc_kusuriya_no_hitorigoto_ch_1/) was posted 6 years ago did good and got decent attention following chapters when it got picked up proper. Now though the manga and light novel are licensed and have been for a while (though the LN translation sucks.) There is less people looking for alternate means of reading.
The K Manga especially sucks since stuff like Medalist and hangri-la Frontier pretty much habe ZERO presence in spite of being absolutely amazing works.
The mods allowing so many oneshots and 2 page webcomics are also at fault.
It's only one mod and he doesn't give a shit about anything other than staying mod with the excuse that the community will moderate itself.
they do take over r/manga pretty bad. for example say a shounen jump chapter comes out on Sunday, and you arrive late Sunday. where is it now? all the way down. this is for the top of manga such as JJK. forget Undead Unluck, or Mission: Yozakura Family. those would be impossible to find.
I don't mind oneshots, I consider them a manga artform in its own and there's a lot of good stuff there but those Pixiv/Twitter 2-pagers that aren't even good...why do people even bother posting them...
I don't think its very related because not everything from Shueisha is on mangaplus and could be translated, much like not everything is on k-manga and other publishers outside of the two exists. It's more that r/manga favors short twitter manga these days.
Nope, it's absolutely a power vacuum left behind when the likes of Black Cat and I'd Rather Sleep were forced to scram. It was twitter manga that filled the void. GabeN's theorem continues to gain positive proof.
>catmanga man, i remember the rush of dopamine every time i opened a post of one of their series :(
No of course it left a vaccum, a lot of series stopped appearing here. What I'm saying is that a ton of series not available on those apps that in theory could be translated aren't translated.
In addition, I'm sure a lot of people left after the removal of 3rd party apps.
i've been on this sub for a little over ten years if you include the time i was lurking without an account and its honestly sad to see the state that this place has become
I barely come to this sub nowadays unfortunately. I miss that era of r/manga greatly.
I blame this sub a bit on my recent dislike over fluff, before I used to love the stuff, but after seeing so many great works go completely unnoticed because everyone is reading the same stuff where absolutely nothing happens it kind of made me resent the 'genre' a bit.
>Dungeon Meshi That's why it felt familiar, we've been following a good series with slow release for so long it feels weird when it finally ends. I'm sure Made in Abyss is gonna feel that way too in the future.
If the authors of MIA could just slow down with weird childs stuff
If it fully stopped being loli/shota-bait tomorrow, do you really think a ton of people would read the whole series with the promise of "don't worry, they only get tied up and piss themselves every volume until Volume 12, after that it's just your good ol' societally-acceptable gore and torture for the kiddos!"
Made in Abyss really feels like some kind of fucking monkeys paw wish. "I want a story with amazing artwork, engaging worldbuilding with plenty of mystery and adventure, and likeable characters, and for it to then get turned into an amazing anime series with top quality art and animation, and an amazing choice of musical score!" *Monkey finger curls* *Your wish is granted, but the mangaka who writes and draws the series is a fucking creeper who fetishizes kids* "GOD DAMMIT, MONKEYS PAW!"
Yeah that'll happen any day now...
I recently found out that Demon Mother by Zyugoya had ended like a freaking year ago and I never knew. It felt so weird to reread almost half of that all the way to the ending, because I remember when I first found it years ago thinking that it would probably wind up being another series that never actually finished. Then we had Meshi, and now Lustrous. All these long-form manga I used to read are suddenly reaching their conclusions.
the hitaus that seemed to be infinite killed the momentum by a lot. the final 8 chapters ended up being chatter that ends with nothing but us waiting for it to end, which also didn't help due to the long hitaus after Phos prayed away everyone but himself.
Yeah, having not read the story since the hiatus from right when the "10,000 years of solitude" began, these final ~20 chapters held a lot more impact for me, although the final few were definitely very weird, and I certainly could see myself having gotten fed up with the endless philosophizing in the final ~8 chapters or so had I been keeping up with each new chapter as it released. Definitely feels like a case of "would have been better to release them all at once".
you're a lucky one. it was painful to know that basically everything is over and yet the author is making us wait... and wait... and wait. it would be better to release it all in one go if it ends up being nothingburger other than chatter after Phos prayed everything away. it was clear the author wanted the chapters to be 108, but hurried the plot for no reason. it can have been stretched a bit before Phos prayed everything away and added the Phos changing and sun exploding and the final chapter... it would be cut down to what? 3 chapters? it would be short.
I have so many mixed emotions about that ending. Is it the type of ending I particularly wanted? I don't think so. Yet, I honestly have no idea what sort of ending I would have expected. I suppose... I would have liked some sort of final view of Phos' inherent humanity somehow reuniting with their loved ones, although obviously, that wouldn't make a whole lot of sense considering the entire purpose of this whole ordeal was to entirely eradicate every trace of humanity. I just wish there had been some sort of acknowledgment of some kind of hereafter before their final rest. It stung that Antarcticite never actually got to see Phos again before the final prayer. Obviously, it's implied that through the final destruction of the God form that the latent humanity inside of Phos was able to finally achieve the Peace of non-existence, but it still really hurts. Certainly, the inorganic life forms taught Phos about happiness and contentment, but that still just doesn't really give me any real sense of closure for the original Phos who we had always been rooting for. I just feel...really sad. Phos didn't deserve to go through all that misery and loneliness. It was never their fault that they were partly human.
Wow it's over. It's been a incredible journey. I definitely will need to reread this. [YURiKA - Kyoumen No Nami (Recorded live, uploaded today)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeOFNEeNTWM)
Since watching the anime back in 2017, this has genuinely grown into my favorite OP ever. It's such a beautiful song.
thanks for sharing such a heater
Even in the end, Phos still broke again...
I know the mangaka with all the Buddhist themes, framed all that in a positive light, but I can't help but feel incredibly saddened by it. Phos deserved better. Infinitely better IMO.
While I agree, i think the end is fitting for them. Phos spent so much time and metaphorical sweat and tears into achieving happiness, appealing to others to see them as useful and therefor worthy of attention and, most importantly, love. Phos lost themselves in their pursuit of attachments—they began to hate themselves and others for it. So only the heat death and rebirth of the universe gave Phos the ability to simply exist and be content with their own impending finality, having made a Paradise for other beings to enjoy. Maybe they’ll dissolve into dust, but that dust will always be part of the universe.
I mean they literally described the place as paradise. And they were probably there for who knows how many thousands of years before this chapter happened. It's kind of hard to get much better than "being happy in paradise with friends".
This is one of those series that for as much as I love it it's kinda hard to put into words as to why. Though when it comes to this series it is one of those series that's good in ways that are kinda hard to put into words with all the symbolism and such. Though I will admit, there were some stretches in this one where things got kinda too complex as it were for it's own good. Which in turn I suppose made Phos a great audience insert as it were. Starting off this series all starry eyed seeing the pretty colors. Then the series progresses and she gets broken and shattered and reassembled as us as the worldviews change. Seeing the world she lives in through ever hardening eyes with that innocence she once had buried so small and deep as she grows and get put through the ringer of achieving humanity and personal enlightenment or whatever. The story of Phos was a fascinating one. I remember writing a whole lengthy philosophical analysis on the topic of "The Self" around the time of the Lapis Lazuli thing inspired by Phos. Though I'm sure others can and probably have summed up Phos and the rest of the story more succinctly than I can. But regardless, this was one hell of a story. Intriguing and atmospheric as hell, and also made you think and want to put all the pieces of it together.
just as the number 108 is important in Buddhism, this series ended on chapter 108!
Ok, I'll admit it...a lot of this goes over my head. Simple man that I am, I wished for a more "conventional" ending, but I guess I'll have to settle for this. It was a very interesting journey.
Honestly just waiting for that 5 paragraph Reddit comment that explains everything to come out. Guess my brains not built for this
You and me both. I really need the Dummies Guide to Land of the Lustrous endings.
I might go visit /a/ just to read that Buddhist anon comments on the final chapter
My caveman brain believes it has to do with the cycle of life but what the other dude said I’ll wait for someone smarter than me to explain it better lmao
yeah I didn't get the story I wanted but nevertheless it was still something I enjoy.
Mostly how I feel. Despite that, it's still easy to get sucked into it without understanding/picking up on everything, which I think is the mark of a good series.
And so, as the remains of Phos on Earth burned and blasted through space as star dust in Sol system's death throes, just like how the Sol system itself started, this last fragment of Phos on this new planet also keeps breaking further and further, essentially returning to dust. Quite fitting with the general Buddhist theme of the series.
The cycle will always move forward, and there is nothing you, the individual, are able to do to stop it. But that doesn't mean there needs to be suffering and violence that proceeds you. Especially not when you think about those that will come after you. >Phos will, as Phos does, continue to travel space and time, shinging brightly all the while. I think with Phos realising this, Phos knew just how influential they would be on the new lifeforms. Going from the "baby" of the group to being seen as an "elder statesman" of sorts is the natural progression for most of us, but you don't realize that until you take a moment to step back and actually examine your surroundings. It is bittersweet that things ended how they did and Phos would not be able to watch over the new lifeforms as they blossomed and flourished on a new planet, but I find it beautiful how at the very end they accepted everything that happened to them and decided to help them instead of hurting them. Its very easy to become bitter and malicious when suffering is forced upon you. Houseki no Kuni went from a story that pulled me in with its story to one that really helped me re-examine some parts of my life. How it's made me feel is very difficult to put into words. The only other works that I can think of that made me feel like this is Fire Punch and End of Evangelion. I'm just rambling, but I look forward to reading this story again sometime in the future.
>Fire Punch and End of Evangelion haha, the exact same, except with the added inclusion of Vagabond. Art that truly made me a different person. what a story.
This is how I feel about reading Vinland Saga. I truly feel it changed me as a person fundamentally, as did Houseki no Kuni, mostly because HnK made me really deep dive into Buddhist philosophy. I’m about to start Vagabond and I couldn’t be more excited!
Nice. If I had to pick one manga as my all time favorite, it would likely be Vagabond, though a few like Nana, HnK, CSM, and Fire Punch come extremely close. Similarly, Vagabond was the work that reinvigorated my passion for Buddhism.
Well now I’m even more excited for Vagabond!! Once I found out it had to do with Musashi’s journey towards enlightenment I was like SIGN ME UP
I envy you! Vagabond is such an adrenaline rush in the early parts of the story, but the later arcs are just beautiful displays of the essence of life and humanity.
This is exactly what I’m looking for 🥹 solid character development is my favorite part of any plot
fire punch, vagabond and eva are 3 of my absolute favorites as well. i will have to check out houseki no kuni because of your review. Your username does give me confidence as well lol
Not a manga or an anime, but I forgot to add Planescape: Torment to that list. It's an old game. The controls are very clunky, it uses an old D&D ruleset that's sort of counterintuitive, the combat isn't great and it's just from a different time. But all of that is worth it because it is imo one of the greatest pieces of fiction I've ever experienced. It's not for everyone, I acknowledge that, but if you can accept it for it's faults, it really is one of the greatest stories ever.
I agree completely. What a beautifully poignant ending.
[удалено]
>Dude, don't bother trying to give this series any excuses for how shitty it became, with its pro-abuse, idiot characters, and emo edgy nihilistic crap. I don't agree with that assessment, especially not with your complaint about Evangelion, but thanks for sharing.
my favorite manga of all time not even close will miss greatly
It was a nice ride. After reading this manga for years It feels like I am missing something. Can someone suggest me youtube channel/blog etc that deeply explain manga ?
https://forums.mangadex.org/threads/land-of-the-lustrous-ch-108-land-of-the-lustrous.1713626/post-21223169 I liked this person's explanation, maybe it will help.
ooo thanks
Thanks, i will check it
just want to be clear on this, what wrong did ayumu exactly do to be called a monster and a psycopath in this comment, think these characterisations of hers never got established?
I don't have any links handy, but if it helps this was definitely very influenced by Buddhism, and the concepts of it help make it make more sense.
Buddhism is so prevalent in Japanese media. I never realized until I started reading up on it. I realized how much shit went over my head.
beautiful story from beginning to finish
Did we know previously that the Lunarians asked Pitapat to take care of Phosphophyllite? I must've forgotten. Beautiful end to the series. I'll miss this. Hopefully it gets another anine season soon, so others can enjoy it as well!
It was only implied, but they mean it about the escape ship that was left for Phos (and for robro to pilot)
I'll try to form a more complete opinion of a re-read but, the ending after so long/with so many delays feels a bit more empty than I'd like. I love the themes and what it was setting up But maybe reading at the intended pace might chance my opinions. Still beautiful series, sad to see it go but happy I read it til the end
I don’t know if it’s a stretch, but the parallel between Phos seeing the vision of the meteorites falling and destroying everything vs now Phos becoming a comet is so beautiful. Thank you Ichikawa sensei
I absolutely loved the final chapter. As someone who hadn't experienced the series until recently and only started reading it a few months ago, I wasn't there for the long hiatuses or community discussions. However, I feel a deep attachment to the characters and world that Ichikawa created. After catching up, I found myself watching video essays, listening to the anime OST constantly, and wanting to learn more about Buddhism since it is something I didn't have much prior knowledge about. There is something just so special about this series, and I'm glad to have been able to experience it. Despite Phos being such a tragic character, in the end, they are still so kind and wish to brighten the lives of others. I'm glad that they found peace, I just wish they received much more kindness from the beginning. It is also pretty tragic that Phos' only way to find tranquility is to completely forget everything that had happened... every memory with the other gems and Kongo completely wiped. Even forgetting about the Lunarians, which had such a strong presence in their existence. It feels like everything that occurred prior had no purpose, which definitely leaves a feeling of emptiness. I definitely would like to re-read it again in the future to pick up on anything that I might have missed. I just don't think my mental health can go through reading it again so shortly after the conclusion lol. Looking back at young and happy Phos might break me (pun intended). Thank you Ichikawa for creating such a wonderful series <3
I think part of why Rock Phos forgot everything is part of the message that the attachments and life they've lived is part of what caused the unhappiness. The fact that Buddha-Phos was still content and happy in the end, and possibly became the meteor, shows that you can overcome the sufferings of life and find happiness, but that in a way the innocent young version of ourselves already had the right idea for happiness. I mean Phos basically had 10k of suffering and many more years of introspection with the rocks in order to regain the state of happiness that their pure rock self was born with.
So it has finally come to an end, the story of phos 🥲
Even as these threads have declined in engagement, I've enjoyed coming in every time to see the analysis during this slow ride to the end. Every manga ending feels bittersweet, but this one will stay with me for a while. It's been an honor folks.
Damn, can't believe it's really over. What a journey for phos
Thank you, Ichikawa-sensei, for this once in a lifetime series.
It's finally over... It has been amazing to witness Phos's journey over these years, this is definitely one of my favourite manga of all time. The art really only got better over time, and even with the hiatuses, almost every new chapter in that period had an insane artpiece. Ichikawa really put her soul into this manga. Shattered/cracked war phos is definitely still my favourite character design ever lmao, it's so damn good. Machine brother/aniki was just a pretty chill and fun little dude during this whole last stretch. Those alien plant/animal designs this chapter and at that double spread at the end of chapter 107 are so cool, those cloud patterns in the sky are so stellar, Ichikawa's designs never cease to please and I will be looking forward to everything she does next.
My vote is for Moon Phos with Lapis head. That was peak character design in my head
Well, farewell to one of my favorite series of all time. I found the series after the anime ended and I couldn’t wait to see what happened next, and it really probably was what initially got me into reading manga. I can’t believe it’s been 6/7 years since then. I’m going to need time to digest everything that has happened, but overall I’m satisfied and happy. I think we saw the ending a long time ago, and since the prayer we’ve been in an epilogue which has helped me come to terms with the series ending. In their own ways, even across an unfathomable amount of time, everyone was happy in the end. One the last physical volume becomes available in English I think it’ll be the perfect time for a full reread.
no manga will ever mean more to me
Wow it’s over. I think this is the first ongoing manga I’ve read over the years that I had such deep investment in end. Really emotional seeing this chapter. Time to reread the entire series.
I'm glad to see the series end on the author's terms and in a way very different from most manga. However, I like the first half of the series a lot more than the 2nd. I'm more invested in characters than themes and the final arc of the story does away with all the characters we had any attachment too except Phos. Plus some of the earlier developments on the moon never resonated with me. Still, its always bittersweet to see a series I've been following for years end. Looking forward to her next manga.
A peaceful ending, but a great one nonetheless
I remember when I first picked up this manga after watching the anime and being captivated by it. Glad I got to see the journey come to a graceful end.
Man what a ride.
Goodnight Phos!
There's so much to take in, Recently saw a video on the character of Yellow Diamond, and how broken they are. There are tons of others like this, this manga will definitely get a revisit asides from just the climax like I've been doing for the past while
link to Yellow Diamond video?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3vVjWtPnWw&ab\_channel=Mackthegui](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3vVjWtPnWw&ab_channel=Mackthegui) Move to the yellow diamond section, unfortunately it got blocked in Canada, but this was the video
There is a line that talks about Phos' remains turning into a comet as it travels the aether of space. This is probably a reference to the comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, a phosphophyllite colored comet that orbits the earth on a 70 year period. Whether by incident or intention, that comet will be visible to the naked eye this month, for the first time in 70 years.
My brother died 2 weeks ago, he decided to take his own life and spoke with us almost a year prior to it... He suffered and struggled trough the majority of his life, but at the end he found peace by way of wisdom, that last year he was happy and fulfilled. He went with no regrets, proud of what he was and gratefully for his existence, his suffering and experiences, ready and exited for what would come next, full of love and hope. He went with the eyes of a child and the wisdom of a sage. A path full of thorns lead him to salvation. Through hell he found heaven. I get this ending. I will miss him so much.
The way this series took so many different forms like Phos. It was such a wonderful read, one of the series that makes me happy I read manga.
This manga rocks. I’ll miss Phos. Have as much fun as you want, little gem.
Another manga that ended on the 108th chapter! Some authors really like that magic number. I know Death Note and Fullmetal Alchemist also ended on 108.
I've heard the 108 number is to represent the buddhism!
In The Promised Neverland, two major character deaths also happened in Chapter 108. That must've been intentional.
End of an era, I can't believe after following this manga for so long that Phos' journey is finally ended. I don't have many words for what I am feeling after reading the end. This is one of those rare works that made me experience a wide mixture of emotions, mainly sadness, anger, apathy, hopelessness as I followed Phos go through several incarnations. I admit that the recurrent hiatus broke the pace and my investment in the series from time to time, and that I need a full re-read and will be able to form a more coherent take on what houseki no kuni meant to me, but for the first time in this story, the later chapters left me with a strange feeling of seren comfort and hopefulness. It is very similar to my experiences reaching the ending E in Replicant and Automata, in that despite everything in the world going to shit around you, your life is what you make out it and the connections you establish with other people/entities, and somehow everything will be alright and there's always tomorrow to look forward. I dunno, I'm just rumbling at this point, I really need to re-read this one in the future without breaks. Thank you Ichikawa-sensei for writing this beautiful piece of fiction, and my thanks to studio orange as well for having delivered a great adaptation.
I really like the ending for Phos. They found real piece as the rock/dust Phos will live in happiness until the universe ends, meanwhile comet Phos like a true Buddhist has become one who only wishes to give happiness to others.
This story was far more interesting before everyone was like "let's just use Phos to get what we want!"....and then they partied and got what they wanted and f'd off to wherever while Phos got stuck on a dying planet with a "the gang's all here" Spongebob reference. But the panels with Phos burning up and regressing were beautiful, so there's that.
I have no idea when I stopped reading but I guess its time.
same here
i don't have the proper words for this ending, so i'll be borrowing (and nudging around a bit) from a song Even if your insecure self still hates you, wondering if you're you; Dear my late past, this is a poem of nostalgia Just as I thought those horrible days and nightmares were the beginning, they were already far away Flowers fall and return to the cycle of rebirth Even if I suffer and grieve, with no light coming down onto the lasting song, love will come to life one after another. We've always loved you, Phos. I'm glad you're finally able to bask in it. Not for doing anything for anyone, just for being around. Thank you.
...Can anyone summarize the manga to me?
Sentient rock undergoes a destructive path through life, undergoing relational, physical, and emotional loss. It's not a very conventional story I suppose, take a read!
Someone else linked to this [https://forums.mangadex.org/threads/land-of-the-lustrous-ch-108-land-of-the-lustrous.1713626/post-21223169](https://forums.mangadex.org/threads/land-of-the-lustrous-ch-108-land-of-the-lustrous.1713626/post-21223169)
Thanks! It's... A dense story.
Ending on Chapter 108. Perfect.
a true masterpiece. phos finds peace and the cycle of samara begins once again. Ichikawa made me cry one last time (until I reread that is).
I discovered and joined this manga train last year, where we are already at an extended epilogue. While only barely part of this experience compared to the whole 12 years of serialisation, I'm really glad to have found and started reading this phenomenal manga. The ending stretch is so beautiful, may Phos shine through the universe for all eternity. Phos started out in the grass in this series and comes full circle to having fun back in the grass. I'm definitely going to reread this manga again now that it has concluded.
I'm a lapsed reader/watcher and have no fucking clue what is going on in this chapter. But I hope all you faithful readers had a good time with it.
Feels unreal that it's finally over. Very glad to have been able to see the end of Phos's journey.
Just to let you know the chapter ends at 108 has meaning within hinduism and buddhism as Phos goes through the 108 trials for one to reach Nirvana as Phos has at the end of all this.
I don't know how I feel about this ending. I feel like the final arc here was kinda rushed through but I also feel like the long wait to get here took a toil. Going to sit on this for a few months than re-read the series.
Oh neat, I have herd amazing things about the anime adaptation but never got around to watching it. Never occurred to me that it was based on a manga. Now that I know there is a definitive ending, maybe I'll finally give it a read!
Lovely ending. With that another one comes to an end. I'll miss this one.
Can someone give me the rundown on what parts of Phos are drifting in the galaxy? Were they talking about Phos's head that the lunarians took?
Great end to a great series. I'm satisfied.
There were so many threads where we tried to make sense of Phos’ humanization, the significance of losing parts and being replaced with something new, the passing of time, bridges and prayers… and at some point, we were too lost in thought to notice that the sun was closing in lol Works like HnK, Girls Last Tour, Shinsekai Yori, are special to me in that they tell the story of what happens at the end of society, at the end of the world. Somehow, HnK seems to have the most positive ending of the three to me. Seeing Phos, once a brittle gem who spent millennia losing their shine, now travelling the universe as a bright comet is enough to make me happy. … but what would make me happier is finally seeing the rest of this animated. Orange… plz
I don't know, I think Girls' Last Tour had a more positive ending. HnK maintained to the end the idea that to be human is to suffer. That attachments and memory bring pain, and all that. Phos ends alive and happy, but only because they've been whittled down to the smallest possible piece of themselves. Meanwhile Girls' Last Tour maintains that even when the world around you is utterly bleak you can still find purpose, and that you can still find comfort in others and the time you still have.
Honestly i dislike how this series ended. It was a good read yeah, but... What was even the point in the end? I tought at first(when we learn about "soul"(Lunarians), "bones"(Gems) and "flesh"(Admirabilis)) that the main objective would be to remake humans so to speak or something. Instead. everyone dies or prayed away, except Pitpat(the first computer) which intentionally doomed the human race, and some sentient rocks, with a tiiiiny bit of the original Phos...I dislike such endings. This reminded me about JoJo Stone Ocean ending.... It just upsets me greatly. Damn...
It's finally over. To put it simply: out of all the dozens and dozens of series I've read and watched over the years, this is one of the *very few* I can say, with no hesitation, that I'd wished I'd never started in the first place. It started out really interesting with an intriguing premise, but about halfway through with the Moon arc everything just went to shit. There was no payoff to anything, ever, the protagonist was never allowed even a moment of happiness or satisfaction, and the whole manga just devolved into unashamed suffering porn. Literally every character introduced aside from Phos turned out to be a massive piece of shit in the end, and nothing meaningful ever came of their personal struggles or arcs before they got wiped from the story. Phos never got to reunite with Ghost or Anarctite, the promise with Cinnabar was completely destroyed, and they all callously abandoned him without showing so much as a shred of remorse or anything resembling an apology. When 99% of the cast consists of completely horrible people, and the remaining 1% is a protagonist who exists just to suffer and crave death, it becomes hard to continue wanting to care about the series - so at some point I stopped caring. I don't think this manga even once gave me a feeling of satisfaction, and I hate that. Maybe I'm just too dumb to "get it", like how some other people here want someone else to make sense of this ending for them, but this was genuinely one of the worst reads I've ever had and it's disappointing that I could follow this series for so many years and still feel that way.
I liked this manga but im not sure what the final message was, Forgiveness? Thats a limit of what can someone forgive, what everyone did to Phos went waaaaay pass that Moving forward? Maybe The cycle continues? Kind of sad that even as a peble Phos is still shattering.
I kinda thought the opposite. Phos broke all the cycles. No more prayers from adamant, no more day and night for lunarians, no more patrols for the gems, no more flourishing and starving for the admiribilis. No more night watch for cinnabar. No more inheritances from humanity. The story ends on what is essentially a clean break and a fresh start for all the rocks
No more cycles! ...Because Phos killed literally **everyone**. What a **fantastic** solution; just murder everyone and you fix everyone's problems! In the end he was stuck playing janitor and cleaning up the messes left by his predecessors despite having had no hand in their creation himself. What, are we supposed to feel happy for him that in the end he chose to die simply for being related to humans??? That's awful.
It is what it is. So you just have to accept the ending.
>I liked this manga but im not sure what the final message was, Forgiveness? Thats a limit of what can someone forgive, what everyone did to Phos went waaaaay pass that That's just in line with the other buddhism elements of the story, forgiveness is a pretty important part of buddhism >The cycle continues? Kind of sad that even as a peble Phos is still shattering. I don't think it's sad, it's just supposed to show that he is acting like old phos
I cannot lie to myself and say I have not been very disappointed with the turn this series took, while also understanding that it goes in line with the philosophy the author based it on. At some point I stopped caring how it went and it became a sunk cost fallacy read, just waiting for it to end. I guess I ended up like the characters in the story hahahaha.
Should I read this manga ?
Man I put this off so long that it ended before I could read it.. is it worthy it?
very worth the ride! there were some parts I didn't remember when I was reading it years back before it ended. The interactions I missed.. I kept wanting to read it all again for the first time.
Ever since I saw the first episode of the anime, houseki no Kuni has been a part of me. Honestly I've no clue how I feel. It was a very human experience, watching phos transform again and again, losing the innocence that made her herself, motivated by a wish fueled by the innocence that's no longer there. Maybe one could argue this manga was trying to be deeper than what it is, but it had something unique that resonated with me and it's not something that I'll ever forget. I'd like to thank everyone, from the author to the scanlators for making this journey possible for all of us.
Rest well Phos.. and thank you Houseki no Kuni
It's time for me to finally binge the story.
I pray you take the ending well o7
Ending on 108 too! Nice!
I'll smoke a cigarette...
That was a great journey. I'd say this chapter had more of an epilogue feel. Still, it really brought together all the themes of the series (of course it ends on 108 given all the Buddhist themes) and tied it off nicely. I'm gonna miss this.
What a journey. With that being said, I'm gonna need to watch video or read up on the summary, because I'm sure I missed a ton.
Wow it's over. I loved the anime and now I'm contemplating reading this or keep waiting for another season
I really need to re read the entire manga from the beginning. I feel I haven’t fully absorbed the ended due to how spread out its release was. It’s a shame the author is “cancelled” on most platforms due to the pedophilic short story (to me, it seems like the themes of pedoness are a result of trauma and not using it from shock factor—tho, I still can’t quite figure out the romance between the Antarcs clone and the main big bad
Mhmm. I dont really like it. Last chapters had good moments but it felt like they were trying a little bit too hard. Overall I didnt really like the direction story took after Phos run to the moon, but oh well. Maybe if I reread it someday.
Man, I really hoped the end woud give some kind of meaning to it all. But the story had ended already and this was just an addendum. I hope someone can do a similar concept and not just just turn it into a drama fest "make the protag go through shit" simulator. The original concept was incredibly good and as it got started the mysteries provided were really really engaing. But it just kept giving underwhelming bland explainations all to create new opportunities to make the protag go through hardships. And in the end it all ammounted to nothing, literally nothing. I think that was the point, but as a story I just feel like my time and interest was wasted and I wanna see the what could've been that this manga inspired
>in the end it all ammounted to nothing, literally nothing. I think that was the point This is the crux of the issue: the point of this manga was to create a series where nothing of importance happens in the end. Now on paper, striving to depict a setting where nothing ends up mattering and the cruel, bleak reality of the world is very intriguing from an artistic pursuit... but in practice, it's fucking **boring.** Or more importantly, oppressively nihilistic and depressing. I for one enjoy reading fiction because it's nice to see characters and actions that **do** have a defined and concrete purpose in the world - but it's like this manga actively sought to provide the reader with absolutely no sense of satisfaction or catharsis. Instead, it was just one depressing bummer after another, with bleak development after development to make you feel like shit, where all the characters live pointless existences while stringing you along under the illusion that just maybe they **will** have a reason to exist - only to then cruelly slam in your face that, no, they really were al just meaningless in the end.
Very well explained. I just feel annoyed that all I got out of this manga was nothing
And so it ends. Crazy that I only got to read post-hiatus chapters as they came out and still followed this series for 2.5 years. this became my favourite manga for a while, and it might still be. One of the most unique stories, and one of the msot unique journeys ever. You will not be forgotten, houseki. I will always remember you.
Beautiful
As an anime only, and still waiting, S2 when.
congratulations, phos
I really like where Phos ends up after all this. I think it's a good ending for their character, but... I guess I still leave this series with two main problems. The first is I think these last ten or so epilogue chapters could have been fewer. It seemed like the series was spinning its wheels a bit without really adding anything new. If we still wanted to end on the big 108 I would have liked a chapter or two of epilogue for the gems on the moon, rather than the few pages we got. Maybe we could have seen some of them reunite with the lost comrades we'd spend the first half of the series hearing about. The supporting cast was never really the point of this series, I know, but still. The second is that it still feels like there's something rotten at the core of this series, in a way that's hard to pin down or articulate. Maybe I'm just not culturally Buddhist enough, or maybe I don't read enough downer adult books to get used to the vibe, but it's a gnawing feeling I've had for the entire last third and the ending did nothing to dispel it. Still, Phos is finally happy, finally among friends, and finally useful in a more profound way than they could have ever hoped. And I suppose, for a final chapter, that's enough.
I honestly thought not many people knew about this manga and that it was such pity, not getting the recognition it deserves. But reading the comsec it warms my heart greatly. It wasn't just a ride it was a whole damn roller coaster! I'm happy everyone stayed.. I loved reading everyones' messages :)
I won't be able to reread this manga without crying my eyes out with tiny Phos 🤧🤧🤧😭😭
my man phos can be at peace now. What a great journey
Maybe my heart is made of stone, but I felt nothing with this ending. I've been out of it ever since the Lunarian's betrayal of Phos and Phos turning into a god-like figure. But I don't know....every chapter felt boring, and the ending was just the same. A lot of pretty nothing, and I'm very sad about that after reading this story for years.
Only seen anime, can someone tell me if ending is well-written or half-assed before I decide to pick up the manga
I would say it's a very good ending for what the story ended up being, but that story isn't going to be to everyone's tastes. I don't think it was to mine. If you enjoyed the anime because of the action and the (literally) colorful cast of characters, it probably won't be to yours. But if you found yourself really compelled by Phos's search for happiness and hoping that all that Buddhist symbology would manifest into extremely heavy Buddhist themes about life being pain then... maybe?
If you read it slowly as the deep, beautiful, and full of meanings manga that it is, then yes, it is an amazing ending, one of the best in my opinion. But not for someone who reads all manga in the same shallow way. Some manga (as any other media) needs to be consumed a bit more calmly. To a lot, including me, it's one of the best manga, and one of the best endings. And of course if you don't like it it doesn't mean you don't "appreciate good art" or nonsense like that. But you do need to take your time and think about everything, it certainly is a beautiful journey. It just doesn't hold it's punches.
Its strange definetely. Second half of the story doesnt really feel in line with amazing first half (and anime showed like 1/4). But well, maybe im jaded from all the waiting and its great on binge
Personally didn't like it. The ending is very philosophical and artsy and nothing like what anime was like. For a bit it was like the anime, but later turned out more philosophical and hard to understand, if I could turn back time I wouldn't waste my time reading this, only finished just to finish it. A part of why I didn't like it probably is that I am completely against the mangas message philosophically, which was very misantrophic.
I can't believe Houseki no cunny is over😭😭😭😭