Please do not spoil or hint at any events past the anime, I want to go in as blind as possible. I know I've kept you guys waiting for this, so I wanted to put a lot more work into it than usual. (also sorry about the late night upload, copyright got me hung up for a few hours)
I like how the black backgrounds in the panels give a sense of emptiness in the world. Like there's nothing really left except the gems. The anime seems a lot more lively I suppose. Wonderful video anyway, I agree with most of your points!
volume 8's shot composition using blacks and whites differences is somethingnto behold and that everyone in the manga industry should read, you guys are in for a treat when you get there(hopefully in 7 months you did)
Just got through the video. Im not sure where else you could read the manga first of all. It seems like the initial translation is the only one available currently, as Ive seen it on a few different sites trying to find another one. Due to the translation issues throughout it, I read the volumes with a grain of salt, worried about the accuracy of the translations. It kind of marred my experience I think because I was never sure if I was interpreting things properly. Some action shots in later volumes are a little finicky to follow due to the static nature of manga anyway. I cannot wait to see them animated. All in all, I felt like I preferred the anime, but I rarely read manga anyway so I'm more used to having animation, music, and voice acting with my content as it is, which LotL has in spades! Regardless, both forms are worth it and I do believe that watching the anime first and then going to the manga is the way to go. You'll have a greater understanding of how characters sound, act, and differ from each other, and can read the manga with a closer connection to each of the gems.
It's so interesting to me hearing all the people who don't enjoy the manga as much because they find it confusing, I'm usually the worst with comprehending what's going on in panels but I found Ichikawa's artwork really easy to latch onto and understand, maybe because I'm a fan of simple art styles? I do think the anime helped my visual attachment to certain gems though for sure. As for the translation, that is the last thing I want to happen for me, I won't hesitate to stop reviewing the series if the translations are that bad. I have someone who's translating the current chapters that said they could help though so here's hoping things work out!
Well it may be some of the later chapters that grow somewhat more confusing, if you havent read much farther. Its not so much that I didnt enjoy it, I just had the occasional difficulty following the flow of action or flow from one scene to another
I would definitely agree. I also had trouble following the flow of action as you put it in later chapters. I blamed that on not having any experience in reading manga though. On the other hand, in the anime I knew from the beginning of the scene that Cinnabar would be the one who knows how to solve the "Phos is a snail" problem. And that's because for one Rutile had told Phos before that Cinnabar is extremely bright and gifted or something similar and secondly her whole behaviour seemed to indicate that she didn't believe that Phos could be a snail. I am sure that even if Dia hadn't asked that last question Cinnabar would have droped the clue anyway to put Dia on the right track. The whole Phos Cinnabar relationship is one of best things about anime if you ask me. I like the idea how Phos ignites that little spark of hope in Cinnabar in the first episode.
Haruko Ichikawa's somewhat minimalist yet stylized art style kinda reminds me of Koji Kumeta's Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. It's not a traditional look to say the least, and I find it very appealing.
i realized it only now. they definitely have a lot of similarities, how could i not see that before? they're both minimalistic but extremely full of life and malleability.
A few points I think having seen the anime beforehand, significantly helps improve comprehension of the manga. The voice acting and music of course. But when you first read the manga it can be very difficult to differentiate the gems, you really need to focus on remembering them. It doesn't help some of the hair gets a bit visually simplified if the characters aren't in the foreground. Knowing the hair shapes, and having them so closely associated with the personality really helps to understand how to read some scenes. My biggest issue with the manga though. Was understanding the physical space of the island and how some actions were taking place. The best example is episode 2 where it's shown how the Lunarians float over the gems and head straight for the school, and the gems immediate follow them. Adding just a panel or two would have made it much clearer what was happening in the manga. I agree that there were some scenes with lost nuance that I feel could have easily been fixed with better editing/timing/directing. The Dia Cinnabar scene is a perfect example. A quick cut to Cinnabar's face to make it clear she understands what is going on, the few seconds of silence that would require, would make the scene flow much better. Also want to note that Dias run in episode 3 , along with the Dia hiding scene are two of the most iconic shots in the show. Both completely anime original. I think this is a great adaptation because it understands it's medium, and what they can and can't do with it. And it adds to the appreciation of the manga and how special it is. Both in what the anime couldn't achieve, and what the anime added to the world and characters through voice, subtle movement, and color. They are two great flavors of one great story that taste even better together.
I agree that having the understanding and connection to the characters from the anime probably elevated my enjoyment of the manga more, although I do think that the gems' distinguishing hair and eyes made it easy to follow who was who pretty much my entire time reading. I'm glad you see what I was talking about with the editing and flow of certain scenes in the anime, where the meaning behind dialogue is lost. It definitely is a great adaptation and I applaud Orange for all of the work they put into recreating what they could and taking liberties with what they couldn't, and the anime and manga should def both be experienced by a fan of the series.
"and the music" abut that... the music wasn't bad, but there was one thing that REALLY bothered me. the first scene. in the manga, there's a lot of emphasis on the grass and the wind, how the heck are you gonna hear that with music in th background? i feel like that scene would've worked much better without music, at least until phos got out of the grass. but i'm just nitpicking here...
They don't have a sex, well even if they do, it was never mentioned and in wiki the gems were individually referred as 'they'. In the anime, though the cast mostly appears completely feminine, but they use (most of the time) more masculine pronouns and call each other brother. The only noticeably masculine character, the teacher, uses a more feminine pronoun. (though in japanese all pronouns are technically neautral, boku is more masculine and watashi is more feminine on the same level of formality.
In a more casual setting, watashi would be considered feminine, but in a formal setting, it has neither female nor male connotations. edit: even in casual settings, some men might use watashi
I agree you 100% on the order. During the time the show was still airing, most complains I saw were from the manga readers (which is always the case anyway...), while the ones who went into manga during episodes actually liked it quite well. Of course there were people who can't handle the style, but it is definitely another style of beauty.
I'm in love with simple character designs and art styles, I think they are often the most expressive out there, so Ichikawa's art was right at home with me.
It's interesting that you use female pronouns. Not criticizing it, it just sticks out since the anime and manga use gender neutral and male pronouns respectively. I feel like gender neutral pronouns work the best, but seeing them as female is cool, too. I love the fluidity of gender in regards to the character designs.
Gender neutral pronouns would definitely work best, it's just that my vids are unscripted so using they/them in scenes with multiple characters got confusing (we need a more concrete gender neutral pronoun in the English language), so I just refer to each gem as how I see them, most of them have that femininity but others like Antarc or Zircon are more masculine/boyish in their personalities
The manga uses neutral pronouns. Unofficial/fan translations use male pronouns, but the official ones use their names, or "that gem" or "they". There's one error where Sensei is referred to as 'he' in the official manga, but it only happens once.
LoveDeluxe thanks, I was so confused, I started the Manga recently and I'm not really far but at first they all look pretty feminine, Phos got referred to as littlest Sister and when they go to sleep they wear feminine clothing/kimonos. Then suddenly everyone is referred to as he ,they appear more masculine, when Phos works with Antarc. It's confusing as hell for someone that is used to manily female protagonists. I mean I'm all for this but sometimes I would like to have an "Explanations " of why they switch the pronouns or if the whole manga is supposed to be a gender "neutral" / gender fluid one. I don't want to sound somewhat of disrespectful, don't get me wrong and I hope no one feels somewhat attacked, I'm sorry if it comes over disrespectful or ignorant.
The whole manga is indeed supposed to be gender neutral. The author and translators have been very clear on that in all official adaptations. Here's an article: www.animefeminist.com/feature-land-lustrous-singular-politics-subtitles/ Because of how gendering works in Japanese, characters were referred to as being masculine or feminine, but not male or female the way gender pronouns work in the English language. Hence the translations to they/them. People tend to struggle with they/them pronouns because of gender stereotypes. Gender expression (how someone dresses, looks or acts) is tied by society to gender roles (the stereotypes and expectations placed upon people) and assumed to match gender identity (the internal sense of one's self and one's body, which is neurologically determined in prenatal development). People are taught these are all the same thing, but they're all separate things. Expression is influenced by society, roles are determined entirely society, and identity is completely separate from society. As a result people who fit some stereotypes but not others are difficult to understand for most people. For example, femme lesbians are attracted to women (going against the female gender role) but have a female gender identity and feminine gender expression. So people tend to assume they are "not lesbian" because they are "too feminine", and/or that they're feminine because they want to attract men. Another example, people tend to assume that stereotypically masculine women, or women with a masculine expression (e.g. short hair, sporty, etc) are lesbian. Even if they're straight. And in this case, readers struggle with gendering the cast of Land of the Lustrous correctly for the same reasons they struggle to get their head around non-binary people in real life (who are real and that is a medical, neurological fact if you want citations to prove it). People default to using female pronouns for Dia, Yellow Dia, Rutile and genki-Phos because the characters LOOK and/or ACT in a way that is stereotypically feminine. Their expression and stereotyped role is assumed to match their identity, so people use female pronouns. Whereas people tend to default to male pronouns for Kongo-sensei, Antarc, post-winter Phos, and others, because they are stereotypically masculine, or are androgynous. The androgynous characters are given male pronouns because male is presumed to be the default in our language and society. So then the fan translations used male pronouns for everyone after the clarifications on the cast all being genderless. Because male is the assumed default. THAT is why the fan translations started to use male pronouns for everyone. Which is really silly and doesn't make sense as a decision, especially since we use the singular 'they' to talk about real people every day of our lives without even thinking about it. All this confusion and misuse of language boils down to one very simple thing. And interestingly it's the same thing that drives thoughts like "who penetrates whom in a same-sex couple", or "that woman isn't masculine enough to be lesbian", or "that man isn't feminine enough to be gay", or "is that androgynous person a man or a woman", or "trans people aren't real because primary-school-level-misinformation-about-gender-and-biology". That thing is that our culture and society is obsessed with gendering people. Obsessed with gender roles and stereotypes. To the point that people become irrationally infuriated when someone doesn't conform to those things, or when someone does not have a binary gender. It's a really interesting subject.
the nuance of Sensei's name was vague even in the original language. Many Japanese grown-ups know that Kongou-seki means diamond. Some of them might google and find that the name comes from Hinduism/Buddhism. I suppose not many people think of Kongo-jo, the name of a Buddhist denomination, but some people might remember Kongo-jo. It doesn't necessarily sounds like gem to many people. I think "Kongo-sensei" was okay. BTW, it was a bit surprise that you said this manga's flow is good. I like this manga too. Haruko Ichikawa has an impressive skill, but many manga readers say her manga is hard to read. Anyway, it was a nice comparison and review. Thank you so much.
The comparison I made at 30:20 basically says it all for me, I find Ichikawa's paneling has a lot of purpose in the way that it communicates dialogue and character nuances. I'm surprised people have a hard time reading it, the biggest worry for me was being able to distinguish characters with no color in their hair and I was surprised with how distinguishable every gem's eyes and hair are. I didn't know about the Sensei meaning though, due to the Buddhist symbolism I've heard about throughout the series I wouldn't be surprised if it was a double meaning there. Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed
I thought about mentioning the Jade scene being better in the anime but didn't include it just because there wasn't much for me to say except the obvious "it's funnier". At the same time though, I don't think that Ichikawa really intended that to be a standout funny moment and was moreso just a small little addition for the fun of it. When I think of how much wittier the normal dialogue is between characters due to the manga's pacing, I feel like it's a give and take like you said.
or as it is translated into: vajra. took me me all the way to volume 8 to realize that i should have followed the french's example and translated his name... then again, it still worked, i guess.
I won't spoil anything, but I really hope we get season 2 simply because my favourite character is yet to show up in the anime, and I can't wait to seem them if Orange gives us a s2. This was a great video and seeing the differences and similarities was really interesting, you could tell you put a lot of time and effort in to the video! I think if I had to say the pros to both platforms of storytelling that they did differently: Anime: Amazing voice acting A new and groundbreaking use of 3cgi animation Stunning background art (mostly from a talented former studio ghibli animator) An OST that was beautiful Manga: Ichikawa's beautiful use of negative space only works BECAUSE of the lack of colour Ichikawa's storyboarding and composition for me somehow sticks out in the manga ? As a massive fan of both the manga and anime, i think for the reasons above, i actually I prefer the anime? Orange did such a superb job! But the addition of the OST and voice acting made me favour the anime just a tiiiiiny bit more.
9 times out of 10 I'll always prefer the anime as well, just because nothing beats having the voice acting and OST, and of course it helps that the show revolutionized CG in the anime industry. Thank you very much for your kind words, I'm glad you could see the work I put in, I definitely wanted to do this amazing series justice.
There's one thing I think the manga did better that's important that you neglected to mention. The "This is a kind child." moment during the flashback of Phos when she was younger. In the manga, the scene had a lot more feeling to it, especially considering an ENTIRE PAGE was dedicated to that line. Only a few full page spreads are used all the way up to current, if that's anything to say how important it was.
Good call here, I didn't mention it because I feel like the anime more or less tried to convey a similar weight to that line (albeit I agree not as well), but it is a very impactful line and I love how well it reflects Phos' character
I realized I don't know what any of these words mean so I checked google: adjective: adamant 1. refusing to be persuaded or to change one's mind. And 金剛(Kongō) in google translate gives: vajra 金剛 noun: vajra; plural noun: vajras (in Buddhism and Hinduism) a thunderbolt or mystical weapon, especially one wielded by the god Indra. diamond ダイヤモンド, 金剛石, 内野, 金剛 adamantine 金剛 adjective: adamantine unbreakable.
PhenomSage Well, I'm currently working as translator for a Japanese company that makes games for cellphones, and for the life of me, I don't know how they could have thought "better" would suit "楽しい" rather than "fun". I mean, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say they don't have the complete script, and they translate the episodes as they come, so it's not like they have much time to make adjustments or rethink the words used in some cases. I get the entire script from the route I'm translating and one month to work on them, which is enough time to review it entirely and rethink some lines that would better flow or be more accurate to the original if done differently. But in the case of 楽しい, there's no ambiguity involved. 楽しい means "fun", and that's the end of it. It's not like "その方がマシだ", which could mean "it's best that way", or 'it's less bad that way", "I would prefer it were like that" or any other variant with the same meaning, because it doesn't have a direct translation. That's a term that could be completely changed up depending on the context, even, to make the translated script feel more organic (as long a sit keeps the same meaning, that's important to notify). But 楽しい is cut and dry - it means "fun" - even in the context of the lines said by Phos, "better" doesn't fit the scene better than "fun".
There is a translation by syomushroom that made the confusing conversation between alex and yellow seem clear and it goes like this Alex : oh, are they alright? They look kinda weird Yellow : too much overprotection, huh Alex : i guess so Yellow : Really? Alex : wait, who exactly did you mean? I hope this helps you understand the conversation
hmmm... i translated like that with an exception on yello'w's line being "seems like she's been overprotective..."(though it also translates to in english as "seems like i've been overprotective", it's contextual) would that work too here? i originally thought yellow was onfusingly talking about zircon and phos, not zircon and herself, due to the next panel being of yellow looking at something, and the one after being of phos.
Yes.. this is one of the few dialogues that gave me quite a hard time figuring what the characters actually wanted to covey. I have read it in the original and I would say it went more like this: Alex: Is it alright/good/ok (what Zircon is doing), (it's) weird! Yellow: Too much overprotection, probably (maybe)? Alex: Yeah, that's it, isn't it? Yellow: Is that (really) so? Alex: Which one, again? (Choose one! (Yes/no overprotection from Yellow.) ) (Since they are all genderless and I am not really good with 'they' personal pronouns I will just use their names for the clearness's sake) I mean, firstly, Yellow themselves(?) suggested they(Yellow) treated Zircon too overprotectively and right after, Yellow was hesitantly doubting Yellow's own statement so Alex just annoyedly asked Yellow to make up their(Yellow) mind, for the goodness's sake! :D
THE HIGHLY AWAITED REVIEW Great thoughts as always! You went perfectly into what made the manga stand out to me from page one ❤️ So some spoiler-free explainers: that dialogue between yellow and Alex seems to be a sort of joking exchange, where yellow says ‘it’s my fault,’ Alex agrees, and then yellow is offended, so Alex asks ‘which is it’ - whether yellow is taking responsibility or not. The dialogue between them in Alex’s room is mostly a joke too, yellow just hangs around Alex a lot because they’re both super old, so they’re kinda tight Also, the manga translation of dia’s comment about bortz is almost definitely the more accurate one, as it makes more sense later on I’m so excited to see what you think about the new developments!
I definitely figured the Dia Bort exchange in the manga was the correct one, even with my knowledge of their characters from the anime it just fits them so much more, it's a shame that wasn't translated as well into the anime. Thank you so much, I'm very happy we share that same passion for Ichikawa's work!
Love this comparison ! I already read the manga so I know what is to come ... and I can't wait ^^ ! And fun fact, It a even better experience if you lisen to the soundtrack before reading - You almost know instantly what music it would play and feel the moment ( in my opinion ) more ! I've come to this channel for Houseki no Kuni ... now I'm gonna stay for PhenomSage ! ( I don't know why you don't have more subscribers already, you really deserve them for all your work ! )
I never noticed Ghost in the first episode! Lives up to his name :) I guess the only downside to the manga is that it can be difficult to tell gems apart. I honestly mixed up Phos and Peridot sometimes due to their hairstyles, if only the hair could be colored I think would make a huge difference.
Oh man this is a really in-depth video! (Fantastically editing I’m in awe.) Glad you also liked that panel where Phos drew the smiley face on the strategy board, it’s adorable! It is a bit of a shame some of the smaller nuances are missing, but it’s difficult for a group of people to understand the original vision of a single author. (I’ll always remember Jade too!) I always liked that part in the anime where Yellow was just sleeping in the back, I was always confused but found it funny. Nice to know exactly why she was there. XD (Ichikawa’s art is so inspiring. I want to do stuff that is that impactful as well!) I think it’s a nice balance of what’s good with the anime and what’s good with the manga. They compliment each other quite well and both have strengths and weaknesses! Absolutely great video, Phenom! I can’t wait until you get to read the rest! I’d better get on reading the rest so I can watch the videos immediately!
Thank you as always for your kind words! I'm extremely humbled, I agree about the smaller nuances but it is kind of strange cuz I thought Ichikawa was working with them as an adviser. But definitely it's a matter of what compliments the other and in this case I think you'd be missing out not to experience both!
Yes! The anime creators clearly had difficulties with the pacing. It was most noticeable in the first 2 episodes for me. It felt as if they were unsure of the significance of many scenes and proceeded in a manner, probably taking the manga panel by panel as you said, that did not perform the duties of the expressive writing the anime deserved from it's source material conversion. It may have been possibly due to insufficient correspondence with the mangaka. It'd be great if we get to see behind the scenes and identify what went wrong. I should say that it was not a serious issue by any measure, however for me, as someone who prioritizes writing as much as presentation, it was a letdown. Hopefully there will be improvements next season. Great video man, you got yourself another sub! :)
I'm glad someone else sees the way the dialogue is paced the same way as I do! It's just really interesting, like you said I'd be very intrigued to see for what purpose they executed some scenes the way they did. Thank you very much for the kind words, hope to see you on future vids!
I hope you enjoy the hell out of the rest of the manga. Have fun. And thank you so much for this review. You really have a talent for analysing and bringing forth the work as a whole. Keep doing you.
Just wanted to say thank you, this video inspired me to go and purchase the translated manga off of amazon. Almost purely because I got to see what the manga art had in store for me. You put a lot of work into this video and it hasn't gone unappreciated
This is a joy to read, thank you so much! It's really nice to hear that all the work I put into this paid off. I hope you enjoy the manga as much as I am!
a new HnK video!!! im happy. take your time with the HnK content! unfortunately i dont follow any of the other anime you're covering and can't support you there, but the fact that someone out there will continue making HnK reviews is great, thank you very much. i had a lot of kneejerk reactions while watching this lol, like, "no! the anime is great!" all the issues you pointed out were valid though and i completely agree. honestly i'm in awe at how the anime is so good that even with all these problems, it can still be considered a masterpiece. i can't wait for the next video! a lot of scream-worthy things happen in future chapters, so it'll be nice to see some reactions. but uh, given that it's a manga, a reaction video like for ep 8 and 10 wouldn't work, but i would still be happy with a segment like at the start of the ep 8 review which was basically just almost uncontrollable screaming (it was really entertaining and thinking about it still makes me want to laugh) more technical analysis like in here would also be great! that seems like a lot to cover though tbh but i hope you have fun reading the other chaps
I feel you, I was scared I would offend some people because I spend a lot of time saying what I find the manga does better than the anime but it should definitely be clear that they're both incredible experiences and should both be experienced! I do react to manga chapters but it's a lot more chill than episode reactions since I can take it at my own pace, I hope you enjoy them regardless though and don't worry about not being able to support me with other series, I'm glad you're here for Houseki! I'll do my best to not let you down with the content
indeed it is so, though the question is whether it was more important to Ichikawa for the fictional materialed one to look like a buddhist monk _or_ not to show what the material is
Semi-accurate Play-by-play: Extra: Apparently for the first 14 chapters it was translated from Rus to Eng, and that version apparently is a "did I mention that I'm a girl" kind of affair. After that, is translated more or less straight from japanese. (4:00) They might've left it untranslated because they wanted to keep it secret for western readers. Adamant(ine) is meant to embody the strongest material ever, used usually to refer to diamonds(hardness/beauty) or gold(beauty/never rusting) in antiquity. So in a way, it does exist, but not as any set thing. This is also why it's so significant that Jade's arm broke, since jade is an extremely tough mineral, able to withstand more force than even a diamond. (5:00) I understand both versions of the way they conveyed the origin story, one for giving us the history early, and another for trying to make the episode not too exposition-y. I honestly like both. But the lack of that really cool panel cannot be forgiven. (6:00) Sensei did say it, but it wasn't as clear. He just says one acts as a fighter and the other as a watcher. The only team I can think of off the top of my head that follows this that we know of is #bestbigbro Yellow and Zircon. I know team Diamond and Beryl(Morga/Goshe) don't follow this, but you can guess who would be who if they did. (8:00) I prefer 'fun". (9:00) I think there was a scene that had three moons, but I could be mistaken. Speaking of which, in-story, there are seven moons total, Luna(THE moon), and the six 'shooting stars', but we never see all of them in one shot. No, we do not know which are which. How do the gems know this? Or is it like how some star constellations are only seen sometimes? (10:00) Not sure why they changed it to this, but I did like the manga version better because it has more emotional weight and how artsy it looks. (12:00) Who knows? But one thing they did change(twice) is Alexandrite's self nickname. In the original Japanese and fan translation, they call HIM Alex-san, but HE wants to be called Alex-chan. Whether its because he wants a cuter name or to not be basically called Alexan(Alex-AN-drite/Areku-SAN-drito) we don't know. In the manga, THE GEM wants to be called Alexi, which makes sense and translate's well. But in the anime, THEY'RE simply called Lexi, which kinda doesn't work. Also in the French version(of the anime subs at least), HE'S called Alex-oui. I also capitalized pronouns to show the discrepancy between them all and just how over the place everything is. (13:00) Maybe because I read the manga first, but I never really understood why people took it literally. I loved how it was presented though. As a mention, Phos' gold manipulation is the probably most magical power of any of the gems, alongside Red!Alex, Yellow's speed, and another whom you've met but have not seen the true potential of. Phos' inclusions are accepting of almost everything for two possible reasons: Haruko herself refers to Phos as the king of rare minerals, so this unofficial status might be why he can assimilate just about everything, even the Sinners(if that's why he can talk to them). OR it's because the inclusions within the gem weren't fond of their host so they just accept anything else in an effort to see their true potential. EXtra: When #bestbigbro Yellow drops Phos on a rock in the manga, his entire head splits in half. (14:00) The reason they might not have added more gems might be due to budget or due to the size of because everyone would look too far away because everything is to scale. Or possibly---actually, I think they actually sort of did it, but just made the gems walking past closer to the camera, check me if I'm wrong. (15:00) I have to admit I agree. (16:00) I actually never noticed that until you pointed it out. The anime's version is still more worthy to be an art piece though. (17:00) IT actually was shown, it just wasn't as obvious. ThE lunarian was the first thing that fell before Phos. (18:00) Ichikawa's style is good, but she's not as consistent as I would like her to be. When its good, its good, but I feel like she doesn't have a...set style for the gems besides thin and flat-chested. People have even made arguments that they have bigger hips in the anime, but the real answer is 'yes, sometimes it's drawn smaller". (19:00) I feel the line might've just been cut out because, unless the anime was an advertisement all along(dun dun dun). Also, Dia #bestgem forever always. (20:00) Haruko-san always does her best to convey the emotions that her characters are feeling. (21:00) Not gonna lie, I was a bit sad when I didn't see Zircon being weird in front of #bestbigbro Yellow. If you look closely, even the jellyfish(bumps) seem worried for him. Fun fact: Zircon that falls into this one's color scheme(red/orange) are sometimes called jacinth, so there was a chance he could've been called something very different. (22:00) I think the reason it wasn't added is because, as far as I remember, we never see a hollow sunspot ever again. It's purpose we don't really know, but I always thought it was for scouting. (25:00) I think the reason they didn't hear anything, something the anime makes clearer, is that the sounds are BARELY words, so it might've just blended into the sword swing according to them. Reading ahead though, things get clearer once Phos sees the world in a different light a bit later on. (26:00) Nooo, wai you stop?
about that Alex, it's probably because she is actually the only one who uses "atashi" as a pronoun, which is more feminine than others (they mostly uses "boku" or "watashi"), so that's probably she wants -chan more than -san since she prolly has a more feminine preference.
Good call on Jade's arm breaking on Sensei! That's a really cool touch that honestly just occurred to me as you said it. I would disagree with your comments on Ichikawa's style, it's definitely malleable on a gem by gem basis as she's not willing to go off model but I think as a style she is consistent in that regard, and I love the way that she's not afraid to go off model with some characters. That shot of Dia looking angry as she's fighting Shiro is something that wasn't communicated nearly as well in the anime due to having to stay on model That's disappointing we don't see a hollow sunspot again as I thought they might have an interesting role in future manga events but oh well. You didn't comment on it but what do you think about my point at 29:32? I appreciate your insight on stuff so I'd be interested to hear what you think about my critique of the anime adaptation there. Thank you for your comment and thoughts!
PhenomSage I totally get what you mean by how the dialog flows better in the fan translation. I think what kinda happened was that the official translation kinda just wanted to do its own thing. Like, an example: Beach of Beginnings (Fan) Shore of Nascency (Manga) Chord Shore (Anime) Now all of these translations actually work and make sense, but as you can see, the anime went the farthest from what everyone agrees on (except that the official manga’s version is stupidly flowery). The translation has also gone through several people, but it manages to make basic sense every time. At times things aren’t super clear, but what helps is that Houseki no kuni is not an overly complex story.
Look for the interview for the spearhead of the Houseki no Kuni anime adaptation. He put his own twists to the original work. He loved talking and figuring out how to adapt the manga with the creator but he tends to have difficulty imagining what it is like to be aimless, near apathetic and immortal. He has mainly worked on anime that focuses on the spring of youth, where the young is full of determination and goals set. We get that feeling at the first episode. He is aware of how different it is from the manga but he felt like he had a better grasp of the manga writer's vision towards the end of the anime.
Also, you may remember my big confusion on Ep 10 with Dia to Bort - The meaning in the manga translation was spectacular whereas it was convoluted in the anime; and i wondered which one was more true to form. I tend to agree with you that the manga translators did a much better job overall and since this was such a close adaptation, I honestly think that they do themselves a disservice not to at least leverage the manga translation. Maybe for fear of copyright since they're also selling the anime so they can't actually use the manga translations, but that's as good of an excuse as I can come up with.
I'm not sure they'd sacrifice the quality of their subtitles for the sake of not copying fan translators but yeah I don't know why else either, the manga translations just flowed so naturally and all of the conversations made so much sense, it was like opening my eyes for the first time to some convos from the anime
I'm just happy you finally begun reading, it's going to be a wild ride :P It will probably take a while to catch up to the latest chapter but it's whatever honestly, just another reason to reread the whole thing, so either way it's going to be fun. It's a little bit funny to know answers to most of your questions and theories but that's what makes it interesting. Looking forward to discussions on discord :)
I'm okay with it taking a while, it's a journey! Also I bet you're just laughing at all my theories Zinzoo ;_; I just want to speculate, it's fun Discussions are going to be great though
Ofc not! I'm actually surprised because your theories are very similar to what I was speculating back when I was reading. As for if you were right, well I guess we will see shortly :^)
When you go past that censored part of chp 32, the real fun begins. Remember Winter? that's nothing moving forward (personally), and...be ready with your Selsun Blue
Very excited to jump into the post anime material. Pls no hints or foreshadowing of future events though! I feel like when I was watching the Winter arc so many people warned me about it that I wasn't surprised when shit actually went down.
Well, thanks. I just finished watching 12 episodes in one night and one morning and now i wanted to sail towards the manga, while just bluntly searching "houseki no kuni manga chapter 36" in google (after searching a bit of info about a possible season 2 i found out where the anime ended in the manga) i found your video in the search. Now i will start from chapter 32 to be sure of what i know and i need to know and carry on and keep on reading, but now with more information. I don't think i can start the whole thing again.. but i just might, at another time.
Daaamn !!! Great video as always! And yeah, even though I love the anime, I though after reading the manga that it did not actually do much to raise the material, except for the Excellent fight sequences and of course the music and voice acting that are an obvious plus. But, as you say, I think Ichikawa takes the most advantage of the manga medium with the composition, the panels, the contrast of black and white ... At first I thought it was a minimalistic kind of style, and although that is kind of true, It can be complex at times because of the way he structures everything. His style has grown on me so much that I think he is the best mangaka I have personaly read, along with Inio Asano. I have said in the past that MiA was my anime of the year, and after reading both of this mangas, I can agree even more because one of the things I loved about MiA was how it completely elevates its source material. There were so many things I thought were better in the anime , and so many things I wasn't actually very fond of in the manga. But this is the opposite... Again, I loved the Houseki no Kuni's adaptation, but that's just because it was a very good adaptation of a freaking masterpiece. Now that I'm caught up with the manga, I consider this to be a potential cult classic in the future, and I really hope they continue with the adaptaition, because it would also become a freaking classic (and also the first CGI anime classic of all time) And Houseki no Kuni totally deserves that title :')
Houseki absolutely deserves to be the first true CGI anime classic! And I do think it'll reach that point, as for Ichikawa's style and your agreement with my points, I'm glad we see eye to eye because Ichikawa's style is honestly breathtaking. Not just her art but the way she writes characters, it's just so entertaining from beginning to end Thank you thank you for the kind words, glad you enjoyed the video!
One last comment. I promise. The scene in the manga that you mentioned you don't really know what it means with Alex talking to Yellow... I'll try to describe my impression line by line... "Is he okay? You know? Looks strange..." My take is that Alex isn't only referring to Zircon acting strange; Both Yellow and Zircon are. But in speaking to Yellow, Alex won't ask if Yellow is ok since that might be insensitive. "This is the result of me being overprotective." Yellow is only preoccupied with how strange Zircon is being (so motherly) "It is, isn't it?" Alex is wondering if Yellow is ok with the whole situation, but still not really asking her directly. "Is that so?" Yellow, being kind of tunnel-visioning, doesn't know why Alex formed a ambiguous question rather than just a simple affirmation like "ah, I see." But not wanting to seem too confrontational, she basically politely asks Alex to confirm what she's saying "So, which one?" Alex finally asks which one of you is the result of Yellow being oveprotective of Zircon? Yellow? Or Zircon? That scene, to me, shows me the strength of Ichikawa's writing. Not only does it play up on the confusion and the comedy, it also shows the kind of respectful relationship the gems have with each other, the symbiotic nature of the gem-pairs, and the nature of the gems themselves. Its pretty great.
I agree with your assessment on the dialogue in the anime, the delivery of some of the lines felt a bit rushed and not entirely cohesive, which made it kind of difficult to understand what they were trying to convey a lot of the time. Regardless, I can say without shadow of a doubt this is my second favorite anime of 2017.
I'm really glad you see where I'm coming with that as well, just feels like a very odd mistake to make in some scenes, like you said while I was reading there was a lot of dialogue that just made more sense in the manga. Still my favorite anime of 2017 as well!
I started the anime because of your recommendation list and finished it right now. Now I came here to see the differences from the manga and anime. I'm probably still going to read the manga from the beginning still. I would also like to point out the great pacing and smooth transition that has been done here. The main goal for Phos was to help Cannabar find a more fun job but the story moves on from that goal by offering Cannabar a job with Phos to help her find out what is really going on with Sensei and the Lunarian. Smoothly leading to the next main event for Phos. Just had to point that out cause I thought that was really cool.
Aw man, I have been really slacking, you read up to where the anime ended before me! I got volumes 1-4 in English in the mail yesterday, I better hurry and catch up to you! Sadly though volume 5 wont come out until next month.
I this manga and show so much. What I love the most about it is a the gemstone science. I remember watching/reading the Dia fight scene where her arms and leg get broken off. I remember saying "Diamonds are extremely sharp when they have a sharp edge to them." And that's when she used her leg to cut her foe down. I loved how actuate the gemstones are and the way they work!
The stuff you said about the dialogue, especially like in the Dia and Cinnabar scene, is definitely dependent on the individual reading/watching. In the anime, it was _very_ clear to me that Cinna knew something about Phos's situation before Dia said anything about it. That really comes down to what kind of dialogue and language you're used to hearing and it's not a fact that one medium portrays it better than another because of that. That comes down to personal preference based on what the individual person is used to hearing/reading, which is how we get different translations and dialogue mannerisms in the first place. It's fine to prefer one way over another, but just cuz someone likes one better doesn't mean it is actually better as a cold, hard fact
Finally! Catching up! Hey very nice video, i liked this one a lot! Good editing also U now can appreciate Haruko sensei's stunning and beautifully expressive art! :DDD Looking forward to your next vids Phenom Pdd: i've reading this work on MangaReader (the app)
In the last shot (simplified to the actual message) Alex "is he okay? He looks strange" Yellow "That's because I was too overprotective" Alex "yeah, you were" Yellow "you think so?" Alex "so, dochi?" Dochi in japanses = which one, referring to pick between knowing why he's acting strange, or not In english one would typically respond with "do you know are not?" Because yellow first said it was beacause of her actions, but when alex reaffirmed it, yellow questioned it It's not a faithful translation, but it's somewhat decent imo
really nice video, but i would say that the color of their hair bring up a big role in my personal enjoyment, sure the artist did a great job at making sure every character have different hair style to make it their unique features thus they are easily recognizable when they are all black silhouette . but i wonder just wonder what would the art be like if the only color we see is the hair is a very free style water color feel , just pasted on top. (not even the carefully colored in) that things could be interesting. at least for one poster or group shot or something. haha. but yeah nice video.
34:49 ad this is why i make it a must for my own translation to be made by using as much cross-reference as possible, starting obviously with the english fantranslations as that's how we work in m italian group, then checking the french official translations and then(especially in the cases where neither make sense) check out the original japanase. ...but then on chapters like 47 it turns out that every version is different, the japanase, french, english belkrax and english apocalypse are all different to one another on some balloons. it's pure madness, i have no doubts saying houseki no kuni may be one of the hardest titles to translate internationally. heck, the other day i've been, and i'm not kidding, a hour and a half trying to translate three ballons of chapter 56. 90 minutes. for 3 balloons. all because belkrax didn't know how to translate technical stuff about... spilerous gem things, which i can understan, but god was that hard to deal with, i ended up having to check accademical and professional studies on gemmology andscience in general just to figure out what the heck the french were talking about(i don't have the japanase version of volume 8)
For that bit at 34:50 , I'd fix it by changing "Is that so?" to "You really think so?" That way it's more clear that "So, which one?" means something along the lines of "So, is it because you were overprotective or not?"
What is the consensus on the correct way to refer to the gems? The reports/interviews/etc I can find all seem to agree that the gems are genderless beings, and thus are referred to with "they" pronouns. This is the interpretation I prefer, but equally, many people also refer to them with feminine or masculine pronouns. I understand that Japanese doesn't really do gendered pronouns in the same way as English does, but it's been difficult to find a be all end all answer on this. To me it seems clear, given the author's descriptions of them and their heavily androgynous appearances, but I think the anime giving them voices added some confusion.
I've always found that argument a little confusing. "They" has been both a plural genderless and singular genderless pronoun in English for a very long time. Yes, it reads as plural in regular speech, even when referring to a single person - "they have my book" - but English is just... like that. For a great example, you know what else is a plural pronoun? *You.* You have, you are, etc. I understand that it's clunky. No disagreement there. It's just that English does have a genderless pronoun, and has for many years.
I'm not arguing anything, I'm just saying why I personally don't use it. I'm cool with whatever people want to use, they're just rocks at the end of the day so it's not like they have a preferred pronoun.
Binary people always have a hard time accepting that some people can be agender and use they pronouns... Won't be easier just because the people are fictionnal :/ They like to gender everything. The anime made them all more feminine and gave them women VA (except for master...) and most fan translations gender them base on the translator's bias. The correct way still is THEY no matter how people find it """confusing""". People, fictional or not, deserve to have their identity respected. The fact that people can "gender them based on how they see them" just shows they still can't see them for what they are : agender people. Pronouns are not about how feminine or masculine someone looks; you don't start calling masculine women "he" ffs... *sigh* And like, it won't get less confusing if you don't pratice...
Actually, in the anime they refer to themselves as neutral or male. They call each other "kare" (he), Bort calls Dia "onii-san" (older brother), and Dia calls him "otouto" (younger brother). The only character referred to as female is Oo, and she is also the only one who has boobs. It kinda bothers me when people still insist on using "she" to the gems, because, yes, in the end of the day they wouldn't care, but they are simply not addressed like that at any point, and it's not like it makes sense just because they're feminine.
On the translation issue around 8:30 in the video, in episode 1 Phos said "夜の見回りよりずっと楽しくて、君しかできない仕事" which literally means "a way more enjoyable job than night patrol that only you can do". So neither fine nor better suits perfectly here, but they are concise and good enough to convey the idea, i think. In the final episode, Phos said "I found a job that only you can do." for which Cinnabar simply questioned "(So not) enjoyable?"
The scene where the lunarian falling was shown in the anime, but only for a brief moment. If you slow the scene in the anime, you'll realise that something fell before Phos. Phos even said "Forget them. Follow the rest." He acknowleged the lunarian that fell but went to chase the other lunarians to save Antarc.
If you enjoy shot composition and long, drawn out sequences without much dialogue as much as you say you do, you should definitely check out Yokohama Shopping Log (Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou). There's a lot of outstanding artwork with environments that speak volumes more than what words could possibly achieve: myanimelist.net/manga/4/Yokohama_Kaidashi_Kikou The OVA is also nice.
You seem to have forgotten how the admirabilis were given so much more prescience. I thought they were hyped up quite a bit in the previews, and given so much more personality. It only makes me more sad when I remember they've been forgotten by Phos.
There are 2 shorts collections of Ichikawa's early works; Insects and Songs, 25-ji no Vacances. Those are also great and stylish kinky little bastard mangas containing love and loss(literal) :)
That makes a lot of sense because we find out later that *(spoilers)* Adamant is made of (or the outside layer at least, but I’m pretty sure all of him judging by Ch. 94) is made of Lonsdaleite, which is a hexagonal Diamond and is also known as the strongest diamond
Question. I haven't yet watched through the whole video, but from what I can tell, the anime is pretty similar to the manga. Even though I might just read through the whole thing, would it make sense if I just started reading where the anime left off? Edit: I just heard you say, "She doesn't want to live on this planet anymore," and instantly thought of the Professor Farnsworth meme thing "I don't want to live on this planet anymore"
There aren't crucial enough changes that you would have to re-read the manga for vital information or anything if that's what you're worried about. If you wanna pick up where the anime left off, I would say start from chapter 31 since there are some minor changes from the finale that lend to the transition into the next manga arc, and just read from there. Also haha that line is pretty suitable for a few HnK characters.
No problem, and I would definitely say it's worth it, Ichikawa's art style and black/white contrast give a lot of scenes a whole different feel from the anime.
To be honest I didn't feel like the dialogues were off.. Although the original art style seems indeed filled with more personnality, I think the fact they are "made of rock" fits well their (kinda not that much) lack of personnality in CG. Also it is largely compensated by the amazing voice actors' work imo.
Please do not spoil or hint at any events past the anime, I want to go in as blind as possible.
I know I've kept you guys waiting for this, so I wanted to put a lot more work into it than usual. (also sorry about the late night upload, copyright got me hung up for a few hours)
PhenomSage My man you are in for a wild ride. This is one of my absolute favourite series and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Izel I'm really pumped, after experiencing Ichikawa's work firsthand, it's made me love her style and art so much
Ok
PhenomSage do you plan to review hosaki no kuni like made in abyss
Phos does in infinity war
in conclusion:
we failed to protect the smile of innocent Phos
RIP Genki Phos
Mission failed better luck next time
Currently, we failed to protect Phos in general
@@PhenomSage, oh it gets worse...
@@nkyfong it gets so much worse.
Gh, oh phos. God phos
I like how the black backgrounds in the panels give a sense of emptiness in the world. Like there's nothing really left except the gems. The anime seems a lot more lively I suppose. Wonderful video anyway, I agree with most of your points!
Absolutely, it's a sense of solitude that I've never seen captured in a manga before. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!
volume 8's shot composition using blacks and whites differences is somethingnto behold and that everyone in the manga industry should read, you guys are in for a treat when you get there(hopefully in 7 months you did)
I read the manga in like one sitting. It was crazy seeing how accurate the anime recreated some of the manga panels. Cant wait for season 2 :D
If I wasn't so preoccupied with stuff I could have binged it in one sitting too, it's so enjoyable.
Just got through the video. Im not sure where else you could read the manga first of all. It seems like the initial translation is the only one available currently, as Ive seen it on a few different sites trying to find another one. Due to the translation issues throughout it, I read the volumes with a grain of salt, worried about the accuracy of the translations. It kind of marred my experience I think because I was never sure if I was interpreting things properly. Some action shots in later volumes are a little finicky to follow due to the static nature of manga anyway. I cannot wait to see them animated.
All in all, I felt like I preferred the anime, but I rarely read manga anyway so I'm more used to having animation, music, and voice acting with my content as it is, which LotL has in spades! Regardless, both forms are worth it and I do believe that watching the anime first and then going to the manga is the way to go. You'll have a greater understanding of how characters sound, act, and differ from each other, and can read the manga with a closer connection to each of the gems.
It's so interesting to me hearing all the people who don't enjoy the manga as much because they find it confusing, I'm usually the worst with comprehending what's going on in panels but I found Ichikawa's artwork really easy to latch onto and understand, maybe because I'm a fan of simple art styles? I do think the anime helped my visual attachment to certain gems though for sure.
As for the translation, that is the last thing I want to happen for me, I won't hesitate to stop reviewing the series if the translations are that bad. I have someone who's translating the current chapters that said they could help though so here's hoping things work out!
Well it may be some of the later chapters that grow somewhat more confusing, if you havent read much farther. Its not so much that I didnt enjoy it, I just had the occasional difficulty following the flow of action or flow from one scene to another
I would definitely agree. I also had trouble following the flow of action as you put it in later chapters. I blamed that on not having any experience in reading manga though. On the other hand, in the anime I knew from the beginning of the scene that Cinnabar would be the one who knows how to solve the "Phos is a snail" problem. And that's because for one Rutile had told Phos before that Cinnabar is extremely bright and gifted or something similar and secondly her whole behaviour seemed to indicate that she didn't believe that Phos could be a snail. I am sure that even if Dia hadn't asked that last question Cinnabar would have droped the clue anyway to put Dia on the right track.
The whole Phos Cinnabar relationship is one of best things about anime if you ask me. I like the idea how Phos ignites that little spark of hope in Cinnabar in the first episode.
Haruko Ichikawa's somewhat minimalist yet stylized art style kinda reminds me of Koji Kumeta's Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. It's not a traditional look to say the least, and I find it very appealing.
I haven't seen SZS but I can completely agree on the topic of Ichikawa's minimalist stylization, I love series that look like this so much.
i realized it only now.
they definitely have a lot of similarities, how could i not see that before? they're both minimalistic but extremely full of life and malleability.
A few points
I think having seen the anime beforehand, significantly helps improve comprehension of the manga. The voice acting and music of course. But when you first read the manga it can be very difficult to differentiate the gems, you really need to focus on remembering them. It doesn't help some of the hair gets a bit visually simplified if the characters aren't in the foreground. Knowing the hair shapes, and having them so closely associated with the personality really helps to understand how to read some scenes.
My biggest issue with the manga though. Was understanding the physical space of the island and how some actions were taking place. The best example is episode 2 where it's shown how the Lunarians float over the gems and head straight for the school, and the gems immediate follow them. Adding just a panel or two would have made it much clearer what was happening in the manga.
I agree that there were some scenes with lost nuance that I feel could have easily been fixed with better editing/timing/directing. The Dia Cinnabar scene is a perfect example. A quick cut to Cinnabar's face to make it clear she understands what is going on, the few seconds of silence that would require, would make the scene flow much better.
Also want to note that Dias run in episode 3 , along with the Dia hiding scene are two of the most iconic shots in the show. Both completely anime original.
I think this is a great adaptation because it understands it's medium, and what they can and can't do with it. And it adds to the appreciation of the manga and how special it is. Both in what the anime couldn't achieve, and what the anime added to the world and characters through voice, subtle movement, and color.
They are two great flavors of one great story that taste even better together.
I agree that having the understanding and connection to the characters from the anime probably elevated my enjoyment of the manga more, although I do think that the gems' distinguishing hair and eyes made it easy to follow who was who pretty much my entire time reading.
I'm glad you see what I was talking about with the editing and flow of certain scenes in the anime, where the meaning behind dialogue is lost.
It definitely is a great adaptation and I applaud Orange for all of the work they put into recreating what they could and taking liberties with what they couldn't, and the anime and manga should def both be experienced by a fan of the series.
this comment is flawless. You just hit the nail.
"and the music" abut that...
the music wasn't bad, but there was one thing that REALLY bothered me.
the first scene.
in the manga, there's a lot of emphasis on the grass and the wind, how the heck are you gonna hear that with music in th background? i feel like that scene would've worked much better without music, at least until phos got out of the grass.
but i'm just nitpicking here...
Meh, I read Manga first and It was easy to understand
They don't have a sex, well even if they do, it was never mentioned and in wiki the gems were individually referred as 'they'. In the anime, though the cast mostly appears completely feminine, but they use (most of the time) more masculine pronouns and call each other brother. The only noticeably masculine character, the teacher, uses a more feminine pronoun. (though in japanese all pronouns are technically neautral, boku is more masculine and watashi is more feminine on the same level of formality.
In a more casual setting, watashi would be considered feminine, but in a formal setting, it has neither female nor male connotations.
edit: even in casual settings, some men might use watashi
They used "otooto" (lil bro) and "onii-san" (big bro) and "kare" (he)
Even so, it can mean neutral
Houseki No Kuni has quickly became my favorite series. I'm glad to see such an in-depth analysis of the anime and manga.
Nice vid
I'm right there with you, it became among my favorite series of all time as it was airing as well. I'm really happy you enjoyed the vid!
I agree you 100% on the order. During the time the show was still airing, most complains I saw were from the manga readers (which is always the case anyway...), while the ones who went into manga during episodes actually liked it quite well. Of course there were people who can't handle the style, but it is definitely another style of beauty.
I'm in love with simple character designs and art styles, I think they are often the most expressive out there, so Ichikawa's art was right at home with me.
It's interesting that you use female pronouns. Not criticizing it, it just sticks out since the anime and manga use gender neutral and male pronouns respectively. I feel like gender neutral pronouns work the best, but seeing them as female is cool, too. I love the fluidity of gender in regards to the character designs.
Gender neutral pronouns would definitely work best, it's just that my vids are unscripted so using they/them in scenes with multiple characters got confusing (we need a more concrete gender neutral pronoun in the English language), so I just refer to each gem as how I see them, most of them have that femininity but others like Antarc or Zircon are more masculine/boyish in their personalities
PhenomSage Makes sense
The manga uses neutral pronouns. Unofficial/fan translations use male pronouns, but the official ones use their names, or "that gem" or "they". There's one error where Sensei is referred to as 'he' in the official manga, but it only happens once.
LoveDeluxe thanks, I was so confused, I started the Manga recently and I'm not really far but at first they all look pretty feminine, Phos got referred to as littlest Sister and when they go to sleep they wear feminine clothing/kimonos. Then suddenly everyone is referred to as he ,they appear more masculine, when Phos works with Antarc. It's confusing as hell for someone that is used to manily female protagonists.
I mean I'm all for this but sometimes I would like to have an "Explanations " of why they switch the pronouns or if the whole manga is supposed to be a gender "neutral" / gender fluid one.
I don't want to sound somewhat of disrespectful, don't get me wrong and I hope no one feels somewhat attacked, I'm sorry if it comes over disrespectful or ignorant.
The whole manga is indeed supposed to be gender neutral. The author and translators have been very clear on that in all official adaptations. Here's an article: www.animefeminist.com/feature-land-lustrous-singular-politics-subtitles/ Because of how gendering works in Japanese, characters were referred to as being masculine or feminine, but not male or female the way gender pronouns work in the English language. Hence the translations to they/them.
People tend to struggle with they/them pronouns because of gender stereotypes. Gender expression (how someone dresses, looks or acts) is tied by society to gender roles (the stereotypes and expectations placed upon people) and assumed to match gender identity (the internal sense of one's self and one's body, which is neurologically determined in prenatal development). People are taught these are all the same thing, but they're all separate things. Expression is influenced by society, roles are determined entirely society, and identity is completely separate from society.
As a result people who fit some stereotypes but not others are difficult to understand for most people.
For example, femme lesbians are attracted to women (going against the female gender role) but have a female gender identity and feminine gender expression. So people tend to assume they are "not lesbian" because they are "too feminine", and/or that they're feminine because they want to attract men.
Another example, people tend to assume that stereotypically masculine women, or women with a masculine expression (e.g. short hair, sporty, etc) are lesbian. Even if they're straight.
And in this case, readers struggle with gendering the cast of Land of the Lustrous correctly for the same reasons they struggle to get their head around non-binary people in real life (who are real and that is a medical, neurological fact if you want citations to prove it).
People default to using female pronouns for Dia, Yellow Dia, Rutile and genki-Phos because the characters LOOK and/or ACT in a way that is stereotypically feminine. Their expression and stereotyped role is assumed to match their identity, so people use female pronouns. Whereas people tend to default to male pronouns for Kongo-sensei, Antarc, post-winter Phos, and others, because they are stereotypically masculine, or are androgynous. The androgynous characters are given male pronouns because male is presumed to be the default in our language and society.
So then the fan translations used male pronouns for everyone after the clarifications on the cast all being genderless. Because male is the assumed default. THAT is why the fan translations started to use male pronouns for everyone. Which is really silly and doesn't make sense as a decision, especially since we use the singular 'they' to talk about real people every day of our lives without even thinking about it.
All this confusion and misuse of language boils down to one very simple thing. And interestingly it's the same thing that drives thoughts like "who penetrates whom in a same-sex couple", or "that woman isn't masculine enough to be lesbian", or "that man isn't feminine enough to be gay", or "is that androgynous person a man or a woman", or "trans people aren't real because primary-school-level-misinformation-about-gender-and-biology".
That thing is that our culture and society is obsessed with gendering people. Obsessed with gender roles and stereotypes. To the point that people become irrationally infuriated when someone doesn't conform to those things, or when someone does not have a binary gender.
It's a really interesting subject.
the nuance of Sensei's name was vague even in the original language. Many Japanese grown-ups know that Kongou-seki means diamond. Some of them might google and find that the name comes from Hinduism/Buddhism.
I suppose not many people think of Kongo-jo, the name of a Buddhist denomination, but some people might remember Kongo-jo.
It doesn't necessarily sounds like gem to many people. I think "Kongo-sensei" was okay.
BTW, it was a bit surprise that you said this manga's flow is good. I like this manga too. Haruko Ichikawa has an impressive skill, but many manga readers say her manga is hard to read.
Anyway, it was a nice comparison and review. Thank you so much.
The comparison I made at 30:20 basically says it all for me, I find Ichikawa's paneling has a lot of purpose in the way that it communicates dialogue and character nuances. I'm surprised people have a hard time reading it, the biggest worry for me was being able to distinguish characters with no color in their hair and I was surprised with how distinguishable every gem's eyes and hair are.
I didn't know about the Sensei meaning though, due to the Buddhist symbolism I've heard about throughout the series I wouldn't be surprised if it was a double meaning there.
Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed
I thought about mentioning the Jade scene being better in the anime but didn't include it just because there wasn't much for me to say except the obvious "it's funnier". At the same time though, I don't think that Ichikawa really intended that to be a standout funny moment and was moreso just a small little addition for the fun of it. When I think of how much wittier the normal dialogue is between characters due to the manga's pacing, I feel like it's a give and take like you said.
or as it is translated into: vajra.
took me me all the way to volume 8 to realize that i should have followed the french's example and translated his name... then again, it still worked, i guess.
I won't spoil anything, but I really hope we get season 2 simply because my favourite character is yet to show up in the anime, and I can't wait to seem them if Orange gives us a s2.
This was a great video and seeing the differences and similarities was really interesting, you could tell you put a lot of time and effort in to the video! I think if I had to say the pros to both platforms of storytelling that they did differently:
Anime:
Amazing voice acting
A new and groundbreaking use of 3cgi animation
Stunning background art (mostly from a talented former studio ghibli animator)
An OST that was beautiful
Manga:
Ichikawa's beautiful use of negative space only works BECAUSE of the lack of colour
Ichikawa's storyboarding and composition for me somehow sticks out in the manga ?
As a massive fan of both the manga and anime, i think for the reasons above, i actually I prefer the anime? Orange did such a superb job! But the addition of the OST and voice acting made me favour the anime just a tiiiiiny bit more.
9 times out of 10 I'll always prefer the anime as well, just because nothing beats having the voice acting and OST, and of course it helps that the show revolutionized CG in the anime industry.
Thank you very much for your kind words, I'm glad you could see the work I put in, I definitely wanted to do this amazing series justice.
There's one thing I think the manga did better that's important that you neglected to mention.
The "This is a kind child." moment during the flashback of Phos when she was younger. In the manga, the scene had a lot more feeling to it, especially considering an ENTIRE PAGE was dedicated to that line. Only a few full page spreads are used all the way up to current, if that's anything to say how important it was.
Good call here, I didn't mention it because I feel like the anime more or less tried to convey a similar weight to that line (albeit I agree not as well), but it is a very impactful line and I love how well it reflects Phos' character
Adamant ≠ Adamantite
Yeah, I noticed I flubbed on that while editing. I'm not too worried about the semantics though, they all derive from the same thing
Isn't Kongou unrelated to Adamantite though?
Adamant, Adamantite, Adamantium, etc. all have similar meanings of just a very strong metal
I realized I don't know what any of these words mean so I checked google:
adjective: adamant
1.
refusing to be persuaded or to change one's mind.
And 金剛(Kongō) in google translate gives:
vajra
金剛
noun: vajra; plural noun: vajras
(in Buddhism and Hinduism) a thunderbolt or mystical weapon, especially one wielded by the god Indra.
diamond
ダイヤモンド, 金剛石, 内野, 金剛
adamantine
金剛
adjective: adamantine
unbreakable.
@@dylanskelton2411 adamant is an archaic word for diamond
GHOST QUARTZ OMG OMG OMG OMG 💜💜💜💜💜💜
So reaady for GHOST AAAAHHHHH
Spoiler Joke:
Guess Manga readers are a - HEAD of the story hehe hehe
im sorry
follow-up:
or rather, we just left the anime watchers in the DUST
Moon
@@iota-09 that reality of your is a lil' bit *SHATTERED*
Ptsd flashback
The manga has so many chapters that anime watchers might find it INSANE, almost like MASS GENOCIDE OF YOUR OWN SPECIES.
Nice video as always, and the "conversation" at the end with sensei, like it.
Just know that it's completely true, love u guys
I speak Japanese, and I remember Phos and Cin saying "fun" instead of "Better". That was a mistranslation.
I’m not sure if it was a mistranslation so much as a different translation, I guess that’s what’s tricky about adapting an entirely different language
PhenomSage
Well, I'm currently working as translator for a Japanese company that makes games for cellphones, and for the life of me, I don't know how they could have thought "better" would suit "楽しい" rather than "fun".
I mean, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say they don't have the complete script, and they translate the episodes as they come, so it's not like they have much time to make adjustments or rethink the words used in some cases. I get the entire script from the route I'm translating and one month to work on them, which is enough time to review it entirely and rethink some lines that would better flow or be more accurate to the original if done differently.
But in the case of 楽しい, there's no ambiguity involved. 楽しい means "fun", and that's the end of it. It's not like "その方がマシだ", which could mean "it's best that way", or 'it's less bad that way", "I would prefer it were like that" or any other variant with the same meaning, because it doesn't have a direct translation. That's a term that could be completely changed up depending on the context, even, to make the translated script feel more organic (as long a sit keeps the same meaning, that's important to notify). But 楽しい is cut and dry - it means "fun" - even in the context of the lines said by Phos, "better" doesn't fit the scene better than "fun".
There is a translation by syomushroom that made the confusing conversation between alex and yellow seem clear and it goes like this
Alex : oh, are they alright? They look kinda weird
Yellow : too much overprotection, huh
Alex : i guess so
Yellow : Really?
Alex : wait, who exactly did you mean?
I hope this helps you understand the conversation
I think so, so Alex was confused on if Yellow was talking about Bort or Yellow herself?
Thank you for the added clarification!
Alex was confused on if yellow was talking about zircon or herself. No prob btw
hmmm... i translated like that with an exception on yello'w's line being
"seems like she's been overprotective..."(though it also translates to in english as "seems like i've been overprotective", it's contextual)
would that work too here? i originally thought yellow was onfusingly talking about zircon and phos, not zircon and herself, due to the next panel being of yellow looking at something, and the one after being of phos.
Yes.. this is one of the few dialogues that gave me quite a hard time figuring what the characters actually wanted to covey. I have read it in the original and I would say it went more like this:
Alex: Is it alright/good/ok (what Zircon is doing), (it's) weird!
Yellow: Too much overprotection, probably (maybe)?
Alex: Yeah, that's it, isn't it?
Yellow: Is that (really) so?
Alex: Which one, again? (Choose one! (Yes/no overprotection from Yellow.) )
(Since they are all genderless and I am not really good with 'they' personal pronouns I will just use their names for the clearness's sake)
I mean, firstly, Yellow themselves(?) suggested they(Yellow) treated Zircon too overprotectively and right after, Yellow was hesitantly doubting Yellow's own statement so Alex just annoyedly asked Yellow to make up their(Yellow) mind, for the goodness's sake! :D
THE HIGHLY AWAITED REVIEW
Great thoughts as always! You went perfectly into what made the manga stand out to me from page one ❤️
So some spoiler-free explainers: that dialogue between yellow and Alex seems to be a sort of joking exchange, where yellow says ‘it’s my fault,’ Alex agrees, and then yellow is offended, so Alex asks ‘which is it’ - whether yellow is taking responsibility or not. The dialogue between them in Alex’s room is mostly a joke too, yellow just hangs around Alex a lot because they’re both super old, so they’re kinda tight
Also, the manga translation of dia’s comment about bortz is almost definitely the more accurate one, as it makes more sense later on
I’m so excited to see what you think about the new developments!
I definitely figured the Dia Bort exchange in the manga was the correct one, even with my knowledge of their characters from the anime it just fits them so much more, it's a shame that wasn't translated as well into the anime.
Thank you so much, I'm very happy we share that same passion for Ichikawa's work!
Amazing video! Love the in-depth analysis
Love this comparison ! I already read the manga so I know what is to come ... and I can't wait ^^ ! And fun fact, It a even better experience if you lisen to the soundtrack before reading - You almost know instantly what music it would play and feel the moment ( in my opinion ) more !
I've come to this channel for Houseki no Kuni ... now I'm gonna stay for PhenomSage ! ( I don't know why you don't have more subscribers already, you really deserve them for all your work ! )
I never noticed Ghost in the first episode! Lives up to his name :) I guess the only downside to the manga is that it can be difficult to tell gems apart. I honestly mixed up Phos and Peridot sometimes due to their hairstyles, if only the hair could be colored I think would make a huge difference.
Oh man this is a really in-depth video! (Fantastically editing I’m in awe.)
Glad you also liked that panel where Phos drew the smiley face on the strategy board, it’s adorable!
It is a bit of a shame some of the smaller nuances are missing, but it’s difficult for a group of people to understand the original vision of a single author.
(I’ll always remember Jade too!)
I always liked that part in the anime where Yellow was just sleeping in the back, I was always confused but found it funny. Nice to know exactly why she was there. XD
(Ichikawa’s art is so inspiring. I want to do stuff that is that impactful as well!)
I think it’s a nice balance of what’s good with the anime and what’s good with the manga. They compliment each other quite well and both have strengths and weaknesses!
Absolutely great video, Phenom! I can’t wait until you get to read the rest! I’d better get on reading the rest so I can watch the videos immediately!
Thank you as always for your kind words! I'm extremely humbled, I agree about the smaller nuances but it is kind of strange cuz I thought Ichikawa was working with them as an adviser.
But definitely it's a matter of what compliments the other and in this case I think you'd be missing out not to experience both!
Its finally here!!
I cant wait for the chapter reviews!!!
Yes! The anime creators clearly had difficulties with the pacing. It was most noticeable in the first 2 episodes for me. It felt as if they were unsure of the significance of many scenes and proceeded in a manner, probably taking the manga panel by panel as you said, that did not perform the duties of the expressive writing the anime deserved from it's source material conversion. It may have been possibly due to insufficient correspondence with the mangaka. It'd be great if we get to see behind the scenes and identify what went wrong. I should say that it was not a serious issue by any measure, however for me, as someone who prioritizes writing as much as presentation, it was a letdown. Hopefully there will be improvements next season.
Great video man, you got yourself another sub! :)
I'm glad someone else sees the way the dialogue is paced the same way as I do! It's just really interesting, like you said I'd be very intrigued to see for what purpose they executed some scenes the way they did.
Thank you very much for the kind words, hope to see you on future vids!
YEEEESS!! I've been waiting for this! Welcome to manga side!!
I hope you enjoy the hell out of the rest of the manga. Have fun. And thank you so much for this review. You really have a talent for analysing and bringing forth the work as a whole. Keep doing you.
I really appreciate it so much, thank you for your kind words! I'm so excited to get into the new chapters!
That was very enjoyable, thank you. And excellent editing there. The vid flowed so well while packed with info :)
I'm very glad you enjoyed! Thanks man
Just wanted to say thank you, this video inspired me to go and purchase the translated manga off of amazon. Almost purely because I got to see what the manga art had in store for me. You put a lot of work into this video and it hasn't gone unappreciated
This is a joy to read, thank you so much! It's really nice to hear that all the work I put into this paid off. I hope you enjoy the manga as much as I am!
a new HnK video!!! im happy.
take your time with the HnK content! unfortunately i dont follow any of the other anime you're covering and can't support you there, but the fact that someone out there will continue making HnK reviews is great, thank you very much.
i had a lot of kneejerk reactions while watching this lol, like, "no! the anime is great!"
all the issues you pointed out were valid though and i completely agree. honestly i'm in awe at how the anime is so good that even with all these problems, it can still be considered a masterpiece.
i can't wait for the next video! a lot of scream-worthy things happen in future chapters, so it'll be nice to see some reactions. but uh, given that it's a manga, a reaction video like for ep 8 and 10 wouldn't work, but i would still be happy with a segment like at the start of the ep 8 review which was basically just almost uncontrollable screaming (it was really entertaining and thinking about it still makes me want to laugh)
more technical analysis like in here would also be great!
that seems like a lot to cover though tbh but i hope you have fun reading the other chaps
I feel you, I was scared I would offend some people because I spend a lot of time saying what I find the manga does better than the anime but it should definitely be clear that they're both incredible experiences and should both be experienced!
I do react to manga chapters but it's a lot more chill than episode reactions since I can take it at my own pace, I hope you enjoy them regardless though and don't worry about not being able to support me with other series, I'm glad you're here for Houseki! I'll do my best to not let you down with the content
Wow I'm so glad I saw that video ! Great analysis, it's really making me understand this manga & Ichikawa better
It breaks my heart how she changed, that smile is gone
I love how colorful the manga got translated into in the anime. Absolutely beautiful.
I completely read the manga and i can't help but to laugh will all those speculations and theories you have xD
Completely as in... Did you know it hasn't ended yet right?
Really enjoyed this excellent, in-depth review!! Thank you for the effort and time you put in!
Your enjoyment makes it all worth it! Thank you so much for the kind words
anyone notice how the gems have hair that matches their gem color but the only fictional material has no hair?
indeed it is so, though the question is whether it was more important to Ichikawa for the fictional materialed one to look like a buddhist monk _or_ not to show what the material is
early squad.
i waited for more houseki content. I'm feel so blessed today. thanks phenom
Sorry to keep you waiting, I know a lot of people were waiting for the Houseki manga vids
Semi-accurate Play-by-play:
Extra: Apparently for the first 14 chapters it was translated from Rus to Eng, and that version apparently is a "did I mention that I'm a girl" kind of affair. After that, is translated more or less straight from japanese.
(4:00)
They might've left it untranslated because they wanted to keep it secret for western readers. Adamant(ine) is meant to embody the strongest material ever, used usually to refer to diamonds(hardness/beauty) or gold(beauty/never rusting) in antiquity. So in a way, it does exist, but not as any set thing.
This is also why it's so significant that Jade's arm broke, since jade is an extremely tough mineral, able to withstand more force than even a diamond.
(5:00)
I understand both versions of the way they conveyed the origin story, one for giving us the history early, and another for trying to make the episode not too exposition-y. I honestly like both. But the lack of that really cool panel cannot be forgiven.
(6:00)
Sensei did say it, but it wasn't as clear. He just says one acts as a fighter and the other as a watcher. The only team I can think of off the top of my head that follows this that we know of is #bestbigbro Yellow and Zircon.
I know team Diamond and Beryl(Morga/Goshe) don't follow this, but you can guess who would be who if they did.
(8:00)
I prefer 'fun".
(9:00)
I think there was a scene that had three moons, but I could be mistaken.
Speaking of which, in-story, there are seven moons total, Luna(THE moon), and the six 'shooting stars', but we never see all of them in one shot. No, we do not know which are which.
How do the gems know this? Or is it like how some star constellations are only seen sometimes?
(10:00)
Not sure why they changed it to this, but I did like the manga version better because it has more emotional weight and how artsy it looks.
(12:00)
Who knows? But one thing they did change(twice) is Alexandrite's self nickname.
In the original Japanese and fan translation, they call HIM Alex-san, but HE wants to be called Alex-chan.
Whether its because he wants a cuter name or to not be basically called Alexan(Alex-AN-drite/Areku-SAN-drito) we don't know.
In the manga, THE GEM wants to be called Alexi, which makes sense and translate's well.
But in the anime, THEY'RE simply called Lexi, which kinda doesn't work.
Also in the French version(of the anime subs at least), HE'S called Alex-oui.
I also capitalized pronouns to show the discrepancy between them all and just how over the place everything is.
(13:00)
Maybe because I read the manga first, but I never really understood why people took it literally.
I loved how it was presented though.
As a mention, Phos' gold manipulation is the probably most magical power of any of the gems, alongside Red!Alex, Yellow's speed, and another whom you've met but have not seen the true potential of.
Phos' inclusions are accepting of almost everything for two possible reasons: Haruko herself refers to Phos as the king of rare minerals, so this unofficial status might be why he can assimilate just about everything, even the Sinners(if that's why he can talk to them).
OR it's because the inclusions within the gem weren't fond of their host so they just accept anything else in an effort to see their true potential.
EXtra: When #bestbigbro Yellow drops Phos on a rock in the manga, his entire head splits in half.
(14:00)
The reason they might not have added more gems might be due to budget or due to the size of because everyone would look too far away because everything is to scale. Or possibly---actually, I think they actually sort of did it, but just made the gems walking past closer to the camera, check me if I'm wrong.
(15:00)
I have to admit I agree.
(16:00)
I actually never noticed that until you pointed it out.
The anime's version is still more worthy to be an art piece though.
(17:00)
IT actually was shown, it just wasn't as obvious.
ThE lunarian was the first thing that fell before Phos.
(18:00)
Ichikawa's style is good, but she's not as consistent as I would like her to be. When its good, its good, but I feel like she doesn't have a...set style for the gems besides thin and flat-chested. People have even made arguments that they have bigger hips in the anime, but the real answer is 'yes, sometimes it's drawn smaller".
(19:00)
I feel the line might've just been cut out because, unless the anime was an advertisement all along(dun dun dun).
Also, Dia #bestgem forever always.
(20:00)
Haruko-san always does her best to convey the emotions that her characters are feeling.
(21:00)
Not gonna lie, I was a bit sad when I didn't see Zircon being weird in front of #bestbigbro Yellow. If you look closely, even the jellyfish(bumps) seem worried for him.
Fun fact: Zircon that falls into this one's color scheme(red/orange) are sometimes called jacinth, so there was a chance he could've been called something very different.
(22:00)
I think the reason it wasn't added is because, as far as I remember, we never see a hollow sunspot ever again. It's purpose we don't really know, but I always thought it was for scouting.
(25:00)
I think the reason they didn't hear anything, something the anime makes clearer, is that the sounds are BARELY words, so it might've just blended into the sword swing according to them. Reading ahead though, things get clearer once Phos sees the world in a different light a bit later on.
(26:00)
Nooo, wai you stop?
about that Alex, it's probably because she is actually the only one who uses "atashi" as a pronoun, which is more feminine than others (they mostly uses "boku" or "watashi"), so that's probably she wants -chan more than -san since she prolly has a more feminine preference.
Good call on Jade's arm breaking on Sensei! That's a really cool touch that honestly just occurred to me as you said it.
I would disagree with your comments on Ichikawa's style, it's definitely malleable on a gem by gem basis as she's not willing to go off model but I think as a style she is consistent in that regard, and I love the way that she's not afraid to go off model with some characters. That shot of Dia looking angry as she's fighting Shiro is something that wasn't communicated nearly as well in the anime due to having to stay on model
That's disappointing we don't see a hollow sunspot again as I thought they might have an interesting role in future manga events but oh well.
You didn't comment on it but what do you think about my point at 29:32? I appreciate your insight on stuff so I'd be interested to hear what you think about my critique of the anime adaptation there. Thank you for your comment and thoughts!
PhenomSage
I totally get what you mean by how the dialog flows better in the fan translation. I think what kinda happened was that the official translation kinda just wanted to do its own thing.
Like, an example:
Beach of Beginnings (Fan)
Shore of Nascency (Manga)
Chord Shore (Anime)
Now all of these translations actually work and make sense, but as you can see, the anime went the farthest from what everyone agrees on (except that the official manga’s version is stupidly flowery).
The translation has also gone through several people, but it manages to make basic sense every time.
At times things aren’t super clear, but what helps is that Houseki no kuni is not an overly complex story.
The Gems Side with the immortal Tachibana. The plague of 02 shall not taint them.
This is a pure Houseki zone Reach, why ;_;
We can’t not forfeit ground my friend our war is heating up.
Reach Pray to our lady Tachibana, and she will give us season 2 of HNK soon
Look for the interview for the spearhead of the Houseki no Kuni anime adaptation. He put his own twists to the original work. He loved talking and figuring out how to adapt the manga with the creator but he tends to have difficulty imagining what it is like to be aimless, near apathetic and immortal. He has mainly worked on anime that focuses on the spring of youth, where the young is full of determination and goals set. We get that feeling at the first episode.
He is aware of how different it is from the manga but he felt like he had a better grasp of the manga writer's vision towards the end of the anime.
If I remember correctly, the cinnabar and phos scene is anime original
Also, you may remember my big confusion on Ep 10 with Dia to Bort - The meaning in the manga translation was spectacular whereas it was convoluted in the anime; and i wondered which one was more true to form. I tend to agree with you that the manga translators did a much better job overall and since this was such a close adaptation, I honestly think that they do themselves a disservice not to at least leverage the manga translation. Maybe for fear of copyright since they're also selling the anime so they can't actually use the manga translations, but that's as good of an excuse as I can come up with.
I'm not sure they'd sacrifice the quality of their subtitles for the sake of not copying fan translators but yeah I don't know why else either, the manga translations just flowed so naturally and all of the conversations made so much sense, it was like opening my eyes for the first time to some convos from the anime
first video i've seen from you, and honestly it's crazy good imo. good editing, nice narrative and i agree with almost everything you said. good job!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the comparisons
With adaptations, you don't know what they're going to take out or keep in for a different medium.
Excellent job by the way👍
Thank you very much, and I agree it's so fascinating observing what studios need to do in order to truly adapt a property
I'm just happy you finally begun reading, it's going to be a wild ride :P
It will probably take a while to catch up to the latest chapter but it's whatever honestly, just another reason to reread the whole thing, so either way it's going to be fun.
It's a little bit funny to know answers to most of your questions and theories but that's what makes it interesting.
Looking forward to discussions on discord :)
I'm okay with it taking a while, it's a journey!
Also I bet you're just laughing at all my theories Zinzoo ;_; I just want to speculate, it's fun
Discussions are going to be great though
Ofc not!
I'm actually surprised because your theories are very similar to what I was speculating back when I was reading.
As for if you were right, well I guess we will see shortly :^)
35:51 aww love that edit
I'm glad you noticed it, It's completely true!
When you go past that censored part of chp 32, the real fun begins. Remember Winter? that's nothing moving forward (personally), and...be ready with your Selsun Blue
Very excited to jump into the post anime material. Pls no hints or foreshadowing of future events though! I feel like when I was watching the Winter arc so many people warned me about it that I wasn't surprised when shit actually went down.
Yeah it gets dark as all hell. Like I’d go as far to say that it reaches Evangelion territory.
nice i have been waiting for this super awesome video
I hope you enjoy!
This show is me favorite. It'd be hard to top this in my book. Hoping(and praying) for season 2.
12:14 Euc is comforting Jade in the anime. Not in the same "hand on shoulder way" but at least they did it.
Yeah I saw while editing, I just felt it wasn't as pronounced, or maybe that's just because I can see it longer in manga form
Phenom, I forgive you for posponing the movie night.
Thx for this.
Sincerely, the real admin.
LOL the priorities had to be made!
Well, thanks. I just finished watching 12 episodes in one night and one morning and now i wanted to sail towards the manga, while just bluntly searching "houseki no kuni manga chapter 36" in google (after searching a bit of info about a possible season 2 i found out where the anime ended in the manga) i found your video in the search. Now i will start from chapter 32 to be sure of what i know and i need to know and carry on and keep on reading, but now with more information. I don't think i can start the whole thing again.. but i just might, at another time.
I really like your video, thanks for making it!!
No problem! Thank YOU for watching
Daaamn !!! Great video as always! And yeah, even though I love the anime, I though after reading the manga that it did not actually do much to raise the material, except for the Excellent fight sequences and of course the music and voice acting that are an obvious plus. But, as you say, I think Ichikawa takes the most advantage of the manga medium with the composition, the panels, the contrast of black and white ... At first I thought it was a minimalistic kind of style, and although that is kind of true, It can be complex at times because of the way he structures everything. His style has grown on me so much that I think he is the best mangaka I have personaly read, along with Inio Asano.
I have said in the past that MiA was my anime of the year, and after reading both of this mangas, I can agree even more because one of the things I loved about MiA was how it completely elevates its source material. There were so many things I thought were better in the anime , and so many things I wasn't actually very fond of in the manga. But this is the opposite...
Again, I loved the Houseki no Kuni's adaptation, but that's just because it was a very good adaptation of a freaking masterpiece. Now that I'm caught up with the manga, I consider this to be a potential cult classic in the future, and I really hope they continue with the adaptaition, because it would also become a freaking classic (and also the first CGI anime classic of all time)
And Houseki no Kuni totally deserves that title :')
She, Ichikawa is a woman.
Jeje, thanks, I wasn't actually sure if Ichikawa was a "he" or a "she", but I figured someone would correct me :)
Houseki absolutely deserves to be the first true CGI anime classic! And I do think it'll reach that point, as for Ichikawa's style and your agreement with my points, I'm glad we see eye to eye because Ichikawa's style is honestly breathtaking. Not just her art but the way she writes characters, it's just so entertaining from beginning to end
Thank you thank you for the kind words, glad you enjoyed the video!
One last comment. I promise.
The scene in the manga that you mentioned you don't really know what it means with Alex talking to Yellow... I'll try to describe my impression line by line...
"Is he okay? You know? Looks strange..." My take is that Alex isn't only referring to Zircon acting strange; Both Yellow and Zircon are. But in speaking to Yellow, Alex won't ask if Yellow is ok since that might be insensitive.
"This is the result of me being overprotective." Yellow is only preoccupied with how strange Zircon is being (so motherly)
"It is, isn't it?" Alex is wondering if Yellow is ok with the whole situation, but still not really asking her directly.
"Is that so?" Yellow, being kind of tunnel-visioning, doesn't know why Alex formed a ambiguous question rather than just a simple affirmation like "ah, I see." But not wanting to seem too confrontational, she basically politely asks Alex to confirm what she's saying
"So, which one?" Alex finally asks which one of you is the result of Yellow being oveprotective of Zircon? Yellow? Or Zircon?
That scene, to me, shows me the strength of Ichikawa's writing. Not only does it play up on the confusion and the comedy, it also shows the kind of respectful relationship the gems have with each other, the symbiotic nature of the gem-pairs, and the nature of the gems themselves. Its pretty great.
why not just buy the manga? Pretty sure they're official translations.
I agree with your assessment on the dialogue in the anime, the delivery of some of the lines felt a bit rushed and not entirely cohesive, which made it kind of difficult to understand what they were trying to convey a lot of the time. Regardless, I can say without shadow of a doubt this is my second favorite anime of 2017.
I'm really glad you see where I'm coming with that as well, just feels like a very odd mistake to make in some scenes, like you said while I was reading there was a lot of dialogue that just made more sense in the manga. Still my favorite anime of 2017 as well!
I started the anime because of your recommendation list and finished it right now. Now I came here to see the differences from the manga and anime. I'm probably still going to read the manga from the beginning still. I would also like to point out the great pacing and smooth transition that has been done here. The main goal for Phos was to help Cannabar find a more fun job but the story moves on from that goal by offering Cannabar a job with Phos to help her find out what is really going on with Sensei and the Lunarian. Smoothly leading to the next main event for Phos. Just had to point that out cause I thought that was really cool.
we failed saving phos's smile. RIP cheerful phos
This video is so perfect!! Thank you for your work!!!!!!
In french it has been translated to "a new more enjoyable work". I'm happy it fits the original meaning
Yay a phenom vid I can watch XD its been a while since ive not really been keeping up with any anime from this season :P
Yeah I noticed you haven't been around much recently, sorry to keep you waiting with the HnK manga vids!
its no worries :) its just an unfortunate byproduct of me being bad at keeping up with current anime unless they really catch me hard
I feel you, I have trouble keeping up with anything I'm not reviewing
Can't wait till you review further chapters
Thank you for your excitement! I can't wait either
Aw man, I have been really slacking, you read up to where the anime ended before me!
I got volumes 1-4 in English in the mail yesterday, I better hurry and catch up to you!
Sadly though volume 5 wont come out until next month.
It took me a little while to finally reach this point so don't feel bad! I hope you end up enjoying the experience though
I this manga and show so much. What I love the most about it is a the gemstone science.
I remember watching/reading the Dia fight scene where her arms and leg get broken off.
I remember saying "Diamonds are extremely sharp when they have a sharp edge to them." And that's when she used her leg to cut her foe down. I loved how actuate the gemstones are and the way they work!
The stuff you said about the dialogue, especially like in the Dia and Cinnabar scene, is definitely dependent on the individual reading/watching. In the anime, it was _very_ clear to me that Cinna knew something about Phos's situation before Dia said anything about it. That really comes down to what kind of dialogue and language you're used to hearing and it's not a fact that one medium portrays it better than another because of that. That comes down to personal preference based on what the individual person is used to hearing/reading, which is how we get different translations and dialogue mannerisms in the first place. It's fine to prefer one way over another, but just cuz someone likes one better doesn't mean it is actually better as a cold, hard fact
very good video thank you
Nice catch on some of those differences. LET THE THEORYCRAFTING BEGINNNNNnhngnnnn
Finally! Catching up!
Hey very nice video, i liked this one a lot! Good editing also
U now can appreciate Haruko sensei's stunning and beautifully expressive art! :DDD
Looking forward to your next vids Phenom
Pdd: i've reading this work on MangaReader (the app)
Ichikawa's art style and work are gorgeous! I've seriously never seen blacks and whites used to this degree
In the last shot (simplified to the actual message)
Alex "is he okay? He looks strange"
Yellow "That's because I was too overprotective"
Alex "yeah, you were"
Yellow "you think so?"
Alex "so, dochi?"
Dochi in japanses = which one, referring to pick between knowing why he's acting strange, or not
In english one would typically respond with "do you know are not?" Because yellow first said it was beacause of her actions, but when alex reaffirmed it, yellow questioned it
It's not a faithful translation, but it's somewhat decent imo
really nice video, but i would say that the color of their hair bring up a big role in my personal enjoyment, sure the artist did a great job at making sure every character have different hair style to make it their unique features thus they are easily recognizable when they are all black silhouette . but i wonder just wonder what would the art be like if the only color we see is the hair is a very free style water color feel , just pasted on top. (not even the carefully colored in) that things could be interesting. at least for one poster or group shot or something. haha. but yeah nice video.
I can completely understand that, there would definitely be an even further appeal to the manga being able to see their hair color
I just got the manga today and I'm so blown away on how amazing it looks (in my opinion)
It is HERE \o/ Let's GO! :33
17:15 it might just be that this lunarian is reaching for the bowl of antarcticite's fragments that the one that's falling was carrying
Beautiful phenom
Thanks Ash!
really it doesn't matter which one you tackle first they're both fantastic
Agreed, you're in for a spectacular experience no matter what
34:49
ad this is why i make it a must for my own translation to be made by using as much cross-reference as possible, starting obviously with the english fantranslations as that's how we work in m italian group, then checking the french official translations and then(especially in the cases where neither make sense) check out the original japanase.
...but then on chapters like 47 it turns out that every version is different, the japanase, french, english belkrax and english apocalypse are all different to one another on some balloons.
it's pure madness, i have no doubts saying houseki no kuni may be one of the hardest titles to translate internationally.
heck, the other day i've been, and i'm not kidding, a hour and a half trying to translate three ballons of chapter 56.
90 minutes.
for 3 balloons.
all because belkrax didn't know how to translate technical stuff about... spilerous gem things, which i can understan, but god was that hard to deal with, i ended up having to check accademical and professional studies on gemmology andscience in general just to figure out what the heck the french were talking about(i don't have the japanase version of volume 8)
THE OST IS SO BEAUTIFUL OMG
I wish there was more videos discussing the manga like this
For that bit at 34:50 , I'd fix it by changing "Is that so?" to "You really think so?" That way it's more clear that "So, which one?" means something along the lines of "So, is it because you were overprotective or not?"
Great job!
Thank you very much!
What is the consensus on the correct way to refer to the gems? The reports/interviews/etc I can find all seem to agree that the gems are genderless beings, and thus are referred to with "they" pronouns. This is the interpretation I prefer, but equally, many people also refer to them with feminine or masculine pronouns.
I understand that Japanese doesn't really do gendered pronouns in the same way as English does, but it's been difficult to find a be all end all answer on this. To me it seems clear, given the author's descriptions of them and their heavily androgynous appearances, but I think the anime giving them voices added some confusion.
They pronouns are the way to go if you're talking about strictly what is correct, I just wish the English language had a better gender neutral pronoun
I've always found that argument a little confusing. "They" has been both a plural genderless and singular genderless pronoun in English for a very long time. Yes, it reads as plural in regular speech, even when referring to a single person - "they have my book" - but English is just... like that. For a great example, you know what else is a plural pronoun? *You.* You have, you are, etc.
I understand that it's clunky. No disagreement there. It's just that English does have a genderless pronoun, and has for many years.
I'm not arguing anything, I'm just saying why I personally don't use it. I'm cool with whatever people want to use, they're just rocks at the end of the day so it's not like they have a preferred pronoun.
Binary people always have a hard time accepting that some people can be agender and use they pronouns... Won't be easier just because the people are fictionnal :/ They like to gender everything. The anime made them all more feminine and gave them women VA (except for master...) and most fan translations gender them base on the translator's bias.
The correct way still is THEY no matter how people find it """confusing""". People, fictional or not, deserve to have their identity respected. The fact that people can "gender them based on how they see them" just shows they still can't see them for what they are : agender people. Pronouns are not about how feminine or masculine someone looks; you don't start calling masculine women "he" ffs...
*sigh*
And like, it won't get less confusing if you don't pratice...
Actually, in the anime they refer to themselves as neutral or male. They call each other "kare" (he), Bort calls Dia "onii-san" (older brother), and Dia calls him "otouto" (younger brother). The only character referred to as female is Oo, and she is also the only one who has boobs. It kinda bothers me when people still insist on using "she" to the gems, because, yes, in the end of the day they wouldn't care, but they are simply not addressed like that at any point, and it's not like it makes sense just because they're feminine.
Nice work man
Thank you so much!
I love this beautiful masterpiece
"Hosts keno Cooney"
Good job auto subtitles.
RUclips tries its best ;_;
On the translation issue around 8:30 in the video, in episode 1 Phos said "夜の見回りよりずっと楽しくて、君しかできない仕事" which literally means "a way more enjoyable job than night patrol that only you can do". So neither fine nor better suits perfectly here, but they are concise and good enough to convey the idea, i think. In the final episode, Phos said "I found a job that only you can do." for which Cinnabar simply questioned "(So not) enjoyable?"
The scene where the lunarian falling was shown in the anime, but only for a brief moment. If you slow the scene in the anime, you'll realise that something fell before Phos. Phos even said "Forget them. Follow the rest." He acknowleged the lunarian that fell but went to chase the other lunarians to save Antarc.
6:56 Yep. That's Jade all right ^-^
Anime phos: nec
Manga phos: N E C K
I *cracked* up at that image at the end.
Wow, I really need a *break* after reading this comment.
i'm the only one who see them like angels?
If you enjoy shot composition and long, drawn out sequences without much dialogue as much as you say you do, you should definitely check out Yokohama Shopping Log (Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou). There's a lot of outstanding artwork with environments that speak volumes more than what words could possibly achieve:
myanimelist.net/manga/4/Yokohama_Kaidashi_Kikou
The OVA is also nice.
"Fua" is quite obviously a reference to Pat "Michiyamenotehi Funana" Lee, former president of Dreamwave Productions.
You've cracked the code!
Winner winner, chicken dinner
i felt love and passion from the animation.
You seem to have forgotten how the admirabilis were given so much more prescience. I thought they were hyped up quite a bit in the previews, and given so much more personality. It only makes me more sad when I remember they've been forgotten by Phos.
HERE WE GO
L E T S
G O
There are 2 shorts collections of Ichikawa's early works; Insects and Songs, 25-ji no Vacances. Those are also great and stylish kinky little bastard mangas containing love and loss(literal) :)
I'll add them to the list!
Btw, the latin of Diamond is Adamant.. So, that means that Adamantine is the strongest fictional diamond.
That makes a lot of sense because we find out later that
*(spoilers)*
Adamant is made of (or the outside layer at least, but I’m pretty sure all of him judging by Ch. 94) is made of Lonsdaleite, which is a hexagonal Diamond and is also known as the strongest diamond
Question. I haven't yet watched through the whole video, but from what I can tell, the anime is pretty similar to the manga. Even though I might just read through the whole thing, would it make sense if I just started reading where the anime left off? Edit: I just heard you say, "She doesn't want to live on this planet anymore," and instantly thought of the Professor Farnsworth meme thing "I don't want to live on this planet anymore"
There aren't crucial enough changes that you would have to re-read the manga for vital information or anything if that's what you're worried about. If you wanna pick up where the anime left off, I would say start from chapter 31 since there are some minor changes from the finale that lend to the transition into the next manga arc, and just read from there. Also haha that line is pretty suitable for a few HnK characters.
PhenomSage Thanks for responding, I'll keep that in mind! Though I may just read from the first chapter at some point, just to say I did
No problem, and I would definitely say it's worth it, Ichikawa's art style and black/white contrast give a lot of scenes a whole different feel from the anime.
To be honest I didn't feel like the dialogues were off..
Although the original art style seems indeed filled with more personnality, I think the fact they are "made of rock" fits well their (kinda not that much) lack of personnality in CG.
Also it is largely compensated by the amazing voice actors' work imo.
11:11 Damn, I never would've gotten that