Land of the Lustrous, Vol. 6

宝石の国 [Hōseki no Kuni] #6

by Haruko Ichikawa, Alethea Nibley (Translator), Athena Nibley (Translator)

GIVE UP THE GHOST

Phosphophyllite has been immobilized in battle, with no one but Ghost Quartz around for backup. Both must last through the Lunarians' relentless attack until help arrives, but it's a tall task for this newly-minted pair. Will Phos's partner be just another casualty in the ongoing war?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Comics, Fiction, Seinen, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published September 23, 2016

About the author

Haruko Ichikawa (市川春子 in Japanese), born in 1980, is the author and artist of Land of the Lustrous (宝石の国, lit. "Country of Jewels"). She started her career in 2006 with the one-shot Mushi to Uta (虫と歌, lit. Insects and Songs). Between 2007 and 2011, she published seven one-shots in the manga magazine Afternoon, which were later compiled into two individual books named Ichikawa Haruko Sakuhinshuu (市川春子作品集, lit. Haruko Ichikawa Works Collection). She started writing Land of the Lustrous on October 25th, 2012, which currently has 10 volumes.

In 2010 she won the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for works on Mushi to Uta. She has also contributed characters designs to the games Pokemon Sun & Moon and Pokemon Sword & Shield.

Reviews

[L. Luck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phos hurts themselves, surprise surprise. Everyone secretly loves and cares about Phos and will help Phos at any cost, even though they are a disaster child, and it makes me want to cry.

4.5/5 ☆ (no long reviews on manga series except the first and last volumes)

[Aleksandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of gem body horror.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

SO HOW'S IT GONNA WORK? WHO'S IT GONNA BEEEEE

[sofs]

mi phos :(((((

lapis es preciosa pero quieren moldear a phos como les da la gana sin pensar en que ya no es ni siquiera phos lo que están reconstruyendo :'(((((((

[Rylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

so many twists, i never know what to expect with the story. this is fr one of the greatest manga to ever exist and should be read by everyone. the art in here has been some of the best this series has shown

[Sam Moon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Juro que entre este manga y Réquiem por el Rey de la Rosa, me van a dejar calvo de la impresión. Pasa de TODO constantemente y te deja en tensión.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entire volume of Phos running in, screwing up, and everyone else getting captured or shattered into bits. It really is the 'watch Phos ruin everything' variety hour. Honestly I'm calling this a horror watching each characters' skin get ripped off and gruesome body horror like that as everyone is broken while Phos desperately tries to pretend everything is okay.

[Carlex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Siguiente tomo. En este la historia me ha resultado más incomprensible, no solo en pequeños momentos como en los anteriores. Para ser justo debería releerlo pero en fin, empiezo con ganas el siguiente.

[Amir Kasra Arman · Rating 4 out of 5]

چرا این شکلی شد؟ :/ از دست نویسنده یه چیزایی در رفت اصلا داستان قاراش میش میشه اینجا :/

[alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

ghost????? why????? use ur brain?????

[Vivian ✧˖°. · Rating 4 out of 5]

petition for hnk to stop with the angst and for phos to stop hurting itself

[Sephy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welcome back Lapis, I cannot wait to love you

[Radwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

- another duo that will be traumatized because of phos' bad luck
- phos losing memories and control of their limbs, and it seems that this manga is intent on never letting anything end well for them
- sensei's true identity will be a shocking reveal for sure. i can already tell
- this volume ends with me screaming at phos because she skeeps repeating the same mistakes!!!!

[Sol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nichiren was struck by the words in the vow made by the ten rāksasis that if anyone troubles those who expound the Lotus Sūtra, “his head will be split into seven pieces just like a branch of the arjaka tree.” -Two Buddhas, page 247

I'd really love a guide to all the Buddhist symbolism in this series.



Phos has his worst mental breakdown yet, then just kind of gets over it. I don't know what Ichikawa was going for. It's a cool scene, but then just gets swept under the rug in the next. If it weren't for that I would say this volume is perfect. Phos' position among the gems continues to rise, as he is given command during a crisis and comes out well from it. As Phos finds acceptance among the gems, he forgets his promise to Cinnabar. The only reference to it is when Cairngorm tells Phos that when he says something is fun, it sounds like a lie, earning a dire reaction from Phos, probably remembering his last conversation with Cinnabar. As far as the investigation, Phos learns from Cairngorm that in the time Ghost was managing the convalescent centre, no gem was ever reassembled from fragments collected from the lunarians.



The main battle of this volume is the most bizarre yet, with little explosive game pieces laying waste to the gems and bouncing around in the clouds. This fight alone has so many wonderful visuals, the view into the cabin, the artfully arranged bowl of gem fragments, Phos acting as a mobile platform for the others, and squeezing through what I can only call the birth canal of a lunarian vessel. It follows one of the most memorable quiet scenes, with Sphene and Peridot explaining to Phos how they became partners after both going to Adamant to ask if they were heartless for forgetting their old partners. Adamant's advice on grief and mourning is touching, but in retrospect I consider this an extremely disturbing scene, almost as bad as the gems' initial reaction to the loss of Antarcticite.



Cairngorm is the character I understand the least, from what his real personality is, to his relationship and feelings to Ghost. He's initially hostile to Phos, then starts begrudgingly aiding him, and finally offers Lapis' head to repair Phos. We also must consider that it was Phos' idea to give Cairngorm a name, and that Phos put himself at risk to retrieve Cairngorm's detached arm. Pretty extreme stuff. Ghost's last request was for Cairngorm to protect Phos, and Ghost claimed that Phos reminded him of Lapis, who both Ghost and Cairn seem to admire greatly. All of this gets confounded massively later.

[Miguel Esteban · Rating 4 out of 5]

La historia de nuevo se siente apresurada. Hay varios saltos de tono de dramático a cómico muy abruptos y los nuevos personajes son bastante planos (aún), creo que esta parte de la historia no está tan lograda, pero igual me sigue impresionando

[Lidiandoconlavida · Rating 3 out of 5]

«Una vez más. Golpéame de nuevo. Quizás aún estoy soñando».

Quiero gritar.

Primero los lunarians se llevan a Ghost, dejando solo la capa interior de él (como un un "fantasma" de Ghost, ba dum tss), al cual se le da el nombre de Cairngorm. Cae bien, pero mi Ghost...💔

Luego de eso como que dan muchas vueltas, hay escenas que siento que no aportan demasiado a la trama; aparecen otras gemas e historias secundarias pero sinceramente poco me importan.

También aparece un nuevo tipo de mancha solar con un nuevo método de ataque que consiste en lanzar bombas, lo que causa que las gemas no puedan acercarse para atacar/recolectar las piezas que perdieron. Y me da rabia porque podrían atacar desde lejos con arcos o incluso lanzar rocas como proyectiles, pero no, porque eso se vería raro ya que sería como lanzar a sus primos (?). No sé, la conclusión es que no atacan desde lejos porque patata.

Al final los lunarians se llevan la cabeza de Phos porque él estaba intentando proteger a Cairngorm, quien se lanzó a atacar sabiendo que su brazo estaba a nada de romperse. Y LA RABIA QUE ME DIO ESO.

Todo mal. Se llevaron a Ghost y ahora la cabeza de Phos. Me enerva. QUIERO GRITAR.

Pero el tomo también tiene puntos positivos, por supuesto, como la relación de Phos y Cairngorm, además de la historia del tablero que tenían los lunarians y que al parecer pertenecía al sensei... Nunca había visto un personaje rodeado de tanta sospecha dios mío jajajaja.

«—Solo tienes ideas vacías que no llevan a nada.

—¿Que no llevan a nada? Te equivocas. Me llevan a errores. Solo sé lo que veo, olvido todo, soy estúpido, y por eso... Todos serán llevados a la luna».

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked it as well as the previous one. It was nice to see more about the new Ghost Quartz (or, should I say, Cairngorm) and her interactions with Phos, who desperately tries to act more cheerful, compared to the previous depressed self.

Sensei's relation with the Lunarians is starting to slowly reveals itself. After Phos and Cairngorm return from a serious fight with the Lunarians, they present to him the only thing they managed to get from them: a polished board. Sensei acts like they doesn't recognize it, but when they leave, they recall the days they play with it.

Speaking of the Lunarians, they are starting to become much more of a serious threat. At one battle, they sent little gem bugs-like things, which manage to steal fragments from the other gems. And, at the last battle, Phos lost their head and they had it replaced by Lapis Lazuli's head (Lapis Lazuli was Ghost Quartz's previous partner, before being captured by the Lunarians. Only their head was saved).

Again, like in the previous volume, I couldn't understand what was going on, due to the mangaka's art style. If there's even gonna be a second season, I hope they fix this problem.

Moving on to Vol.7!

[Saire Marloz · Rating 4 out of 5]

¿Porqué Phos tiene tan mala suerte? 🥲 Siempre se la quieren llevar a ella. En este tomo minimo la tuvieron que recomponer como 5 veces :( pobrecilla.
También, sobre la captura de Ghost, me entristeció, apenas acababámos de conocer a este nuevo personaje y se va. No me puedo imaginar lo que siente Phos, después de perder a dos compañeras, parece que el autor disfruta haciendo sufrir a la protagonista, un clásico. Cada tomo que leo desaparece poco a poco la esencia de la verdadera Phosphophyllite, en este momento ya casi no queda nada de ella...
La adición de Cairngorm fue repentina e inesperada para mí, como su personalidad dista bastante de como era Ghost y ese final... de seguro en el siguiente tomo se vienen cosas fuertes...

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this story but not gonna lie it is SO HARD to see these delightful characters going up against such violence on a daily basis. I don't think there's a happy ending for these guys and they are being failed by their leadership. Stay strong, gems!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely appreciate the bizarreness and intrigued by the suspense. I gradually fell in love with most of the characters, especially Phos.

[Greekchoir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decided to keep reading this series and I forgot how beautiful (but sad) it is

[Loz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great! Fascinating continuation of the story. Lots of twists and drama - especially the ending. I am truly on tenterhooks to figure out what the hell is going on. Beautiful art.

[Eressea · Rating 4 out of 5]

20250712 2nd read
這六年不要說佛學知識有長進
連以前的感想也感受不到
似乎越活越回去了....
--
20191118 1st read
中斷了好一陣子
想趕在跨年前看到第九集
但看到公子獻頭覺得胃好痛
現在看好像不佳的心情會更差Orz

[Canned Bread · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edit: I'm counting this as a book because every 6 volumes of manga I feel counts as a full featured book, a very beginning of a manga and every end counts as one book towards book reading.
This is just my personal reading measures

Regardless how this end, so far Phos is not likeable but that's just a me problem
They're just too focused on trying to uncover the truth of Kongo and the Lunarians and trying to get their gems back.
Though it does make it hard because the only thing going for this series right now is:
I love the worldbuilding, it's not complicated, but it very much is. It's a style haven't really seen where it's a low fantasy but has depth of a high fantasy.
It's great!
Characters are based on elements and IRL gems which make it interesting to see everyone's personalities bloom
Also I literally have no idea how this story ends so also another pro for it


The other major down side so far is the fight scenes make it REALLY hard to understand what it's happening which make me sad that this series didn't get a full anime
Will finish this, but this is just a brain dump

4/5

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

PHOS NOOOOOO

Honestly, I didn’t know what I expected from the series, but Ichikawa is making full use of gems’ unique characteristics to *tear at my emotions*!? When every character is so wild, but so fragile, you never know what’s going to happen next. Not even plot armor is completely effective…

I believe we are supposed to be reaching the end of the introductions of the cast, so I look forward to seeing the cast grow from here on out~
or BREAK

[Sucre · Rating 3 out of 5]

a continued issue I'm having is not always knowing which character is which + it feels like new characters get thrown in willy-nilly at times and I'm confused as to who they are or where they came from. otherwise the story is still engaging. seeing phos struggle with their paranoia and sense of self after so many changes is intriguing and I'm excited to learn more about the world as more is revealed

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still good, even though it ended in rather unexpected way, and I hope the last scene wont change the fact that Phos is the main character, and she won't suddenly disappear from the story. All in all, a really creative manga.

[Tina Olah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I forgot how violent this series can get! Thankfully, the characters are all crystals, so the violence is never gross. That ending too...wow! It will be interesting to see how the series progresses from here...

[lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

l'histoire prend de plus en plus une tournure sombre alors qu'on découvre de nouveaux persos attachante !! les séléniens sont de plus en plus étranges et j'ai tellement hâte de savoir ce qu'il se passe réellement avec le maître...

[Mits · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one has a lot of battle scenes, which aren’t my favorite. But Phos was more of his early volume happy self, which was nice and helped temper the big changes in his character that have happened/are coming.