#hnk 95

[strogelen21]

This is a list of manga that I am currently reading and caught up with. Don't mind this too much and feel free to ignore it if it pops up on any of the tags. It's really more of a reminder to myself on which chapter I last read.

Jujutsu Kaisen (呪術廻戦) - Chapter 259

One Piece (ワンピースパ) - Chapter 1114

My Hero Academia (ヒーローアカデミア) - Chapter 422

Chainsaw Man (チェンソーマン) - Chapter 164

Vinland Saga (ヴィンランド・サガ) - Chapter 210

Spy × Family (スパイファミリー) - Chapter 98

Dandadan (ダンダダン) - Chapter 151

Sakamoto Days (サカモトデイズ) - Chapter 165

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (葬送のフリーレン) Chapter 130

And as for manga I've yet to get caught up on:

Land of the Lustrous (宝石の国) - Chapter 95

Hunter × Hunter (ハンター×ハンター) - Actually, I don't remember, I might as well restart that

To my small amount of followers and to those who stumble across this post, sorry for not being able to upload any new art lately. Right now, I'm binging Young Justice and plan to read Vagabond soon.

If anyone has some recommendations for any manga to read someday, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm not the best when it comes to in-depth discussions and details, but I can always try.

[padpa-appreciation-corner]

Reborn as a Lunarian, only keeping unique silhouette when colour is lost.

[king-paimon]

I've read up on your blog through a lot of Houseki no Kuni's manga. I liked your analysis though I gotta say come the last chapters, specifically since chapter 95, I didn't always agree with them.

I didn't need the end to be happy sunshine and rainbows, or the opposite, for Phos to go all revenge monster on the gems either. But at the end there, I felt like we all just accepted everything Ichikawa threw at us with no criticism, all that torture flattening the narrative's nuance, and if I didn't like it, I was seeing it through the wrong angle.

I know you don't act like that, which I appreciate. Throught all your reviews, you expressed understanding on why so many people disliked the story. Thank you for that, thank you for not being judgemental. And I'm glad you enjoyed the ride.

I just couldn't help but feel like so many story threads were left lose, and so many complete 180°s were thrown that didn't match the story or it's characters. Some people described it as a self-sabotaged narrative, and I see it. It wasn't enough to give me catharsis - especially with the character set up as the villain getting everything he wanted.

I guess I just had higher standards, which the story didn't meet. That is not a bad thing, after all.

I think my biggest gripe is with how Cairngorm's character was handled, and I'd like to include this here. The ambiguity of their predatory relationship was in poor taste, and remained unaddressed. I can see why so many of my friends left the series when that plot point happened. They deserved better.

Hi @intoxtinction! Thank you for sending me this message and sorry that it took me so long to finally respond. Real life has been kicking my butt and free time to do anything on here is a rarity. But I still wanted to write a response to you because I really loved your response! And yes, I saw the comment you left on my last HnK meta post. You're good; don't worry about it!

Thank you again for your kind words. I'm glad that you like my posts, even if they sometimes become long, nonsensical rambles and especially if you don't agree with some of my points! I love that. Whenever I wrote my posts, I always try to keep an open mind and take into account that all fans are different and would have different views when it comes to works works like HnK. As far as I can see, HnK is one of those works that is supposed to draw up conversations because it's not a simple, straight forward story with clear distinction between black/white moral characters. Everyone who reads it is going to view the events in the story differently based on their own beliefs and even if everyone's views conflict with one another, I think it's fascinating and even wonderful. So even if I may not agree with some fans when it comes to certain aspects of HnK, I never hold it against them. I don't want to demonize anyone for how they interpret the story, at least not too harshly anyways. I know when I'm biased, but I don't let that stop me from at least trying to understand where other fans are coming from. HnK was such a fascinatingly complex and unconventional story, and the fact that it can spur many views and feelings from people is one of the reasons whyI liked the series.

With that being said, however, I also think it's important to be open to properly critique our favorite works. HnK is not immune from these critiques, because for as much as I enjoyed following the story over the past couple of years, there are many aspects in the overall story that were far from satisfying. So many loose ends, incomplete character arches, and questionable story decisions... After being away from the story for some time now, it's become more apparent that there were many aspects to the HnK that has me question Haruko Ichikawa's story telling abilities. Don't get me wrong, she's shown to be a very fascinating storyteller and I overall liked what she created. But when it comes to the incomplete story threads for all of the other characters besides Phos, I can't tell if some of Ms. Ichikawa's decisions were intentionally left up for interpretation or if their stories were just not important to complete since at the end of the day, HnK is about Phos's story. One of these decisions I question the most about is Cairngorm's story arch, so I couldn't agree more with you, @intoxtinction. Cairngorm was done dirty in so many ways and they deserved a more satisfying ending to their story.

I was planning on writing two last posts that would be focusing on these topics. But because life has been kicking my butt too much lately, I don't know when they will be out, if at all at this point. But if I'm able to complete them, I hope you'll get the chance to read them and share your own thought. And again, it's totally fine if you don't agree with my points; I'd still love to read them!

[tama1313]

(HNK spoilers!) Trying to explain why nobody likes Aechmea...

Disclaimer: Everytime I criticize something, I already expect someone to comes after me, telling "You shouldn't consume medias you clearly don't like!!" I DO love HNK! I love the characters, the plot, the meaning behind! If I didn't like it, I wouldn't be here, wasting my precious time at writing this.

After this premise, let's start!

(I apologize in advantages for this wall of words, but I need to say something...)

So, it's pretty obvious that at least the 95% of the active fandom doesn't like Aechmea and hoped for a punshment for his actions (that never happened)

Yet at least a big part of that group likes/enjoy the meaning and the plot of HNK, so it's also pretty obvious that the main problem is not in the storywriting, but into Aechmea and the Lunarians'.

One of the main themes of this manga is the criticism about the myth of being immortal, and tbh that's one of the things I like the most about hnk: the fact that we have plenty of representations throught the characters how being immortal is often only tiredsome and doesn't give any actual advantage, is something really interesting and often overlooked in any other medias (as far as I know).

I know a similar topic can be hard to discuss, expecially due to the many different cultures around the world, but there's nothing wrong to test/uses overlooked topics for your story! It can make it original and feeling "fresh" unlike many other more famous medias. Same goes with having morally grey characters (90% of character in hnk)!

However, to make everything works together fine, an hard work is needed otherwise most of the pubblic won't enjoy the final product (or at least, they'll feel dissatisfied).

And this is exactly what happened to the Lunarians character concept:

In just a few words, what we know about them is that they are the remains of human souls, that overtime got tired of this and all they want is simply stopping to exist (here's the whole thing about the praying machine, becoming nothing, etc...).

As said before, hnk criticize very much this topic, hence it's easy to understand Aechmeas's reasons... but only rationally

Rationally, any of us has understood what the author wanted to tell us about the lunarians, yet none of us like them as characters...

This is due the fact that the character of Aechmea lacks of simpathy: during the course of the story, besides a few pages where he tells the lunarians' past, there aren't any other events to make us, the pubblic, feeling simpathetic toward him and rooting for his action.

The lunarian are meant to be "misunderstood villains"?? You as the author must work on this so us the pubblic can feel it emotionally

This may seems meaningless but it's actually very important in the storytelling, even if said character doesn't represent the morals!

The main reason why people consumes medias nowadays is to find something to relate to (which can be characters, situatuions, backstories, etc...) otherwise medias such as cinemas, comics, mangas, etc... wouldn't be so popular

The only exceptions to this are the unmorally villains (the ones that commits so many disgusting actions that no one on earth could like them. Examples: Ozai from ATLA, The Emperor from Star Wars, Niragi from Alice in Borderland, etc...), but to this case, again, there should have happened more events that make us like Aechmea and Co.

Another important theme that follows strictly the main plot is the "unability to leave the past behind to try something new" therefore the Lunarians are also meant to be somehow the final solution to get free the gems from their phisical/"flawed bodies", but there wasn't anything that I could actually like about this:

the gems that should have represented the theme of "breaking free" better (Dia, Cairn, etc...) instead of getting better as characters, their development only got worse at the point to ending up being hated by most of the pubblic (Dia only joined the massacre of the other gems not even to help Phos, but only to have some emotional revenge over Bort. Cairn got only selfish, bragging and uncaring toward everyone, after they got "freed" from "Ghost's control". You can't tell me these are good things)

The only "escaped gem" that shows some likability throught their action is Benitoite (who should be only a boring secondary character) by trying to save the gem that they despise (an that in my opinion has a far stronger/deeper meaning that anything else having to do with the other gems, beside Padpa and Yellow development, ofc!) and this is very ironic, knowing that they had little screentime than the others.

The whole things about all the gems that didn't joined as lunarian at first now wants to become like them, sounds very iffy to me too (much like they were "forced/manipulated" by the others. You know, the "since everybody do this, I'm doing it too" trope, which is really contrasting with the theme that this story wants to show)

Lunarians are meant to be human, but ironically the "actual villains" (Kongo and Euclase) show to be much more humans than them (the unability/pain to not let go the past is a very human feeling and even if they are in the wrong, we are still able to like them at least a bit), which is something that lack in Aechmea's character:

On top of this, he is also full of contraddictions: he grinds all the gems he caught, but later he is seen even being actracted by them, at the point of keeping Ghost's arm and flirting with Phos and Cairn. He is shown to welcome the Admirabilis when they are in desperate need, but later he does agree with Phos to kidnap and uses them to collect all the gems shard (I'm not too sure about this point, because I don't remember very much that part, so feel free to correct me). And I'm pretty sure there are other topics/ about this.

In general, he should have been the "desperate anti-hero", the only certain thing about him is his manipulatoy behaviour and his obsession with the final goal (interrupted sometimes only by he and Cairn's cringey flirting), and this is not enough to deserve to be eradicated from the reality with anyone else.

The ending is acceptable, but Aechmea's fate is not. No matter how strong I try to accept it rationally: it doesn't feels right!

The Phos's character development is a different kind of this: the meaning of "you tried to satisfy everyone, you ended up being alone" and "you are perfect as you are, no need to fit with everyone" is not only true, but allows the pubblic to simphatyze with our protagonist very much. Phos is simpathetic! And it's very easy to see ourself in them: from us, people phisically/mentally disable that have this internal pain of not feeling accepted by the others, to simply people that are "different" and wants to be recognized as valid ("different" meaning anything that doesn't hurt anyone. Don't get me wrong).

Therefore I still love HNK ending despise everything and Phos has officially become one of my favourite protagonists ever!

Perhaps, the only right thing that could have been done with Aechmean, would have been that, while all the others become nothing, he being locked forever in a human body made out of flesh, bone and blood, able to decompose but unable to die (much like Rock's fate from Warriors Cats)

(Maybe this is a bit too sadistic, but for sure I would have liked it more)

Ok, I'm done! Once again, sorry for this wall of words and if you disagree with me or have other thoughts, let me know through reblog or comment

[semi-imaginary-place]

hnk 93-95

yup all the foreshadowing, the empty lotus pod, phos' remaining eye being achemea's pearl implant, he never got all the treasures. after the fight with cinnabar phos is a mess and this mental instability is shown physically. he seems to have assimilated shinsha's mercury and you can see the metals filling in what had been jagged holes to form a smooth human face. thoughout the chapter more metal covers phos' face like a skin.

and phos is drowning so much in his own misery and has lost so many parts of himself that he cant remember what or why he is doing anything there's just the pain of existing and he lashes out. and cinnabar (as the smart one) was right because of phos cinnabar found a purpose outside of night patrol, cinnabar was included and valued after phos started invading. and cinnabar remembered phos' promise to get him a new job, but phos has like so many other things forgotten this too.

as shown with their dealings with the lunarians and ice floes the only thing that can damage adaman is adaman (fracturing their hand and shooting small chunks of themself). if phos has truly become human than there is no longer a need for a praying machine. Adaman leaving their eye for phos is incredibly important i just haven't quite figured it out yet. for one finally its not just aechemea influence, now one eye is adaman and one eye is pearl. and the first thing phos does after merging the new eye is try and put all the gems back together after spending the last 5? 10? chapters screaming about how he's going to pulverize everyone. and after fusing the adamant eye phos sees through the pearl eye the destruction of humanity long ago by meteorites.

everyone is happy to become lunarians but all they did was erase their differences instead of working them out. since smashing cinnabar phos' alloy has begun covering them almost like a skin and here by the end little of their gem surface is visible anymore

and then ichikawa went on hiatus to enjoy her ps5 and let us the readers too experience 10,000 years

hmm so adamant's creator wasn't trying to save humanity's souls or anything, she was trying to pave the way for a new species and to stop humanity's survival.

[hackernewsrobot]

Samsung Profits Plunge 95%

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/26/tech/south-korea-samsung-q1-profits-plunge-intl-hnk/index.html Comments

[fayday]

WE FUCKING WON

SHITTING AND CRYING

[jitteryfool]

Phos and the others' gratitude towards them

I'm noticing this new trend of everyone in HnK just... thanking Phos for helping them by suffering in their stead, basically.

It's interesting to see, I think. Since Phos always had this problem of feeling useless and worthless which is compounded by the way the old gem society has been constructed. But now, Phos has been 'useful' to a variety of characters in the manga, just not in the way they expected or wanted.

Because every time they help one of the characters with their pain, Phos' mental stability gets more and more broken down, more pain gets added each time someone sincerely thanks them for their help, those people often ignoring what Phos feels in favor of focusing on what they got out of it. Not only that, after expressing their gratitude, they just abandon Phos.

I already noticed it in the chapter with the fight with Cinnabar and then the confrontation with Adamant but chapter 95 makes this stand out even more strongly.

The earliest case I can think of would be Cairngorm:

Cairngorm leaves Phos' side after thanking them. They attain 'happiness' and 'freedom' (which is extremely debatable looking at their relationship with Aechmea but this is a whole other can of worms I won't open here) on the cost of Phos losing someone they thought they could trust and rely on. Not that Cairn really cares though, because Phos has already fulfilled their use to them.

And then Cinnabar.

Again, someone thanks Phos for helping them be happy... and again, the price for their wish was Phos being hurt. Helping Cinnabar is what started the story and since then, everything just went downhill for Phos.

This is subjective of course but I personally find these panels incredibly selfish on Cinnabar's part. Like.. 'Oh thanks to you going to the moon and waging war against the Earth gems and then being shattered by everyone and buried for centuries I could enjoy myself. I'm really grateful you suffered this much, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make friends with the others!" (*coughs* this is my bias towards Phos speaking, sorry.)

We saw that after the Moon gems left, Cinnabar was able to interact with the others and have a job, which is what they always wanted. And just like Cairngorm before, Cinnabar turns against Phos after their wish was fulfilled (fighting against them in the first raid, suggesting to bury them..).

The exact same thing happens with Adamant.

Again, these characters get to be happy because of Phos' action and subsequent hurt but they don't care about that part. That's why them thanking Phos feels so incredibly selfish to me, they're just brushing over Phos' pain.

Again, they say they're grateful towards Phos but they don't really seem to care for them though.

Because, after all, they just want to use Phos for their own gain, for their own happiness.

They're all so wrapped up in their own pain, their own suffering. Cairngorm suffered under Ghost's control, Cinnabar suffered through the isolation and loneliness, Adamant has suffered for so many thousands of years.... that they're all so quick to be "grateful" to Phos for suffering in their place, nevermind that none of that was ever really Phos' choice, that they were groomed, manipulated and pushed towards this.

Phos succeeded in obtaining what they always wanted in the worst possible way: to be useful.

[summer-sapphic]

Just saw a post of someone jokingly suggesting that Phos just destroy the moon once their 10,000 years of whatever is over, but like. Yes.

If that's an option for them, I think that's the only way we'll get anywhere close to a satisfying ending for Phos. They were used by everyone. The Lunarians, Cairn, Adamant, even Cinnabar. They were made to suffer so that everyone else could be happy.

Not all the gems are to blame but they get 10,000 years of peace and partying up on the moon. When Phos comes around and they're asked to pray, I want them to just say NO and obliterate the moon.

And then, when they're left alone again, I want them to go to the shore and wait for new Gems to be born, and then help give them a life of peace and happiness on the island.

Phos deserves peace and happiness and to be loved and appreciated.

[pemprika]

hnk 95 spoilers

the developments in hnk 95 effortlessly flipped my whole brain upside down.... i’m genuinely shocked and confused overall, and extremely devastated on behalf of phos like jfc... the events were not at all what i had expected, but nevertheless, ichikawa has managed to keep the story unpredictable as ever and still remains to be incredibly interesting to me! i have more questions than possible solutions/answers like everyone else here, but i wanted to voice out what went zooming thru my head as i was reading the entire chapter

phos spending 10,000 years in pure solitude, isolation, and loneliness, on top of not understanding the whole picture of what is happening to them...is insane. i honestly can’t imagine how phos must feeling ;; after realizing that they had been betrayed by aechmea and instigating a violent massacre against their gem family, i can assume phos is undergoing a lot of regret and guilt, and feeling hopeless TT MAN. this is so much worse than death... thank you ichikawa for never failing to top phos’ suffering as each chapter goes on!

it seems like phos is well on their way to becoming the next adamant. during this long period of 10,000 years, as adamant’s divine powers continue to transfer over to phos, there is a very big possibility that new gems will be born. if they will, then phos could follow a similar path as sensei and coexist with or lead new gems within their society. just interesting to think about. i assume phos may mellow out somberly during this long time period, and we will def see some kind of time skip again soon.

i’m also VERY curious about new development with the gems turning into lunarians. like how wild was that? really didn’t see that one coming, and i was already mentally prepared to end the story with the gems never making a reappearance, but of course, ichikawa said wait. let’s make phos suffer in extremity! but i think it makes sense to have the gems go this route... makes me wonder that this will be how they will be prayed away in the end? ^_T i’m mostly anxious to know how much of the gem-lunarians have changed in terms of persaonlities and what their thoughts are on phos being situated back on earth, alone, for that long of a time span. will they keep their mindsets or will they change significantly to mimic the lunarians? i personally see the gems being complacent about these new changes, observed in the way they based their decision on euclase’s answer (finding comfort in following a leader figure). this is their opportunity of peace and since gems were never taught to empathize properly, i’m not sure if they would put a lot of perspective in phos’ situation. plus, the way phos had become warped and judging how they had misinterpreted phos’ past behavior may offset their perception

i am sincerely wondering if we’ll get a glimpse of the gems’ perspectives at all... i think shinsha has the most potential to understand phos’ isolation and loneliness, but i’m not sure if they’ll even manage to voice an opinion if they were able to anyway. also, the way antarc came back shook me to my core... antarc waking up on the moon and being confused as hell as we all are like damn you’re living like this i’m sorry ^_T and the parallelism with cairngorm/aechmea and antarc/adamant was so good too... anyway, my brain’s barely functioning now. we have a hiatus until further notice and i hope we’ll get to know what ichikawa is planning for the ending soon... i need my phos closure now TT

[catorikishin]

So, chapter 95, huh

[hubblebubblehub]

ichikawa really dropped one chap 95 and decided to go on hiatus. thanks for the depression queen

[houseki-no-pleasegodno]

Another meme that doesn't make sense lmao

[nrayoungboy]

that pretty much everyone EXCEPT Phos got a good ending makes me think that the entire manga was some pitch black comedy and we’ve finally reached the punchline

[multifandom-onigiri]

I feel so dead inside

[king-paimon]

HnK Chapter 95 Thoughts: The cruelest chapter of all times

AKA: The chapter everyone hated

AKA: No happy ending in sight

AKA: Haruko Ichikawa is a monster

AKA: I called it again (and I wish I was wrong)

AKA: Talk about kicking someone while they’re down

Ms. Haruko Ichikawa. You’ve truly done it. You truly are a cruel, sadistic, trolling monster. You leave us with this chapter? This chapter that truly shows us that despite every hardship they faced, Phos gets nothing. This chapter shows that Phos was destined to be in constant misery, and to rub that in with literally everyone else is free and happy? And to add more salt to the wound, you’re leaving us on an hiatus for who knows how long??

This is without a doubt the cruelest chapter to leave us on and this is probably one of the cruelest things a mangaka can ever do for a series as intense as this. I wish the previous chapter was the last one for the end of this year because at least with that one, it would have given us some sense of something.

Man. I’m both horrified and amazed by you, Ms. Ichikawa. I’m not even being sarcastic, I’m truly in awe.

Ugh.

As you can see, I have several things I have to say about this and... Just wow. This chapter. In these posts, I try my best to try and write my thoughts with the most rational mindset but... I don’t know how well I’ll be able to do that with this chapter. What a way to end this horrible year. 

But with this chapter’s ending and the implication for what is yet to come... this marks as the story’s descend to it’s bitter end, and I now wish I didn’t make that prediction last month.

I know I said in another post that I was going to write this in a few days, but I changed my mind. I’m getting this out now while my thoughts are still fresh in my mind. Please don’t mind the writing errors, I’m very tired, I’m writing this at 3 in the morning and I need to sleep. I promise I will come back to this and tidy it up later.

Anyways, here we go:

Haruko Ichikawa: Manipulator of emotions

Ms. Ichikawa really toyed with us with this chapter. So many things happened in such a short amount of time and I’m trying to process it. Also, doesn’t feel like too much happened in this chapter? Especially in comparison to the previous chapters, where everything was stretched out, to then have this chapter have so many things happen all at once. This chapter, in many ways, feels very rushed... and this style of story telling has me very worried about what’ll happen from here on out. I’ll talk more about what I mean by this later, but for now, let’s focus on the story of this chapter:

So... Antarctictite is back now. Adamant is back, too. So are most of destroyed gems, both the ones we knew and the ones we never got meet. And they are all now Lunarians... Hm.

I don’t like this or anything in this chapter for many reasons. In fact, I’ll go as far to say that I don’t like where the whole story is headed for these same reasons: 

The first reason: The emotional turmoil from the previous chapters

For the past 10 or so chapters, I’d been anticipating the destruction of the gems and Adamant. I was one of the people who didn’t like the idea of it happening, though I knew they kind of deserve it. And I remember how sad I was seeing Adamant turn to nothing but dust and seeing how everything was affecting Phos after the bloodlust ceased.

But it all led up to...this. In the very next chapter, after watching those heart wrenching scenes of the gems being broken down and Adamant’s last moments with Phos...we see him and the other gems being brought back like it was nothing.  And on top of that, they are totally happy Lunarians now. Yeah. Okay.

So it feels like the emotional tole that I felt for these characters I didn’t want to see get destroyed...meant nothing. Not going to lie: I kind of wish you all stayed destroyed.

And you know what? It’s kind of funny. In my Chapter 94 post, I said I was sad that we didn’t get to see Adamant and Aechmea interact and I didn’t think there would be a way now that Adamant is dust. Well. I was wrong. It happened. I got the interaction that wanted. Wasn’t worth it. 

So to sum up this first reason: The emotional turmoil that I personally experienced watching the characters I like get destroyed... meant nothing in the end.

Now I don’t know how to feel about these characters. It sucks. I even had a post that I was starting write about on a certain controversial character that I couldn’t bring myself to hate, despite everything, but I’m now debating whether or not I should still write it. I think I will, but there will be a lot of edits.

The second reason: Negation of personal growth

One of the things that has been brought up many times by fans is about how the gems dealt with problems. Instead of trying to address the problem and talk to try to fix it, they chose to ignore it and sweep it under the rug, no matter how upsetting it is to the characters involved. All of the gems, both Earth and Moon, constantly choose to not confront the issue and stay blissfully ignorant.

And now that they’re accepting to be Lunarians, it feels like they’re just running away again. Instead of confronting the Lunarians or having the gems properly talking with each other about how things got to the point where they had to once fight each other, they are like: Oh, we can be Lunarians so we don’t have to fight with them anymore? Awesome. Let’s do it.

Everyone is once again going with the flow, just sweeping the glaring issues that they all carried for so long, and are just accepting the new reality that they are in with no problems whatsoever. No addressing of anything means no character growth for all of them. No one grew from this experience. No one learned that ignoring the problems doesn’t solve them. They aren’t solving their previous issues, they are masking it under the belief that becoming Lunarian automatically solves all of their problems. 

No talking between Diamond or Bort. No talking with Yellow about their traumas or any of the other gems in the same boat. And no talking about how everything that happened lead to Phos doing what they did. It’s even more disappointing how Antarcticite was the only one who showed any concern about Phos or even thought to bring them up in the first place.

Edit: Also to add, the other problem here is how the are conscious choosing to remove your identity. They are not only choosing to loose their identity as gems, but they are fine loosing their memories as well. Not to mention how Cairngorm is once again being given a new identity to go by, from Aechmea, and is totally fine with it. That scene was small but once again, the fact that they are fine pretty much erasing what made them who they are is...unnerving. 

So pretty much to sum up this: Once again, everything meant nothing in the end. 

Speaking of Phos...

The third reason: Phos’s miserable fate

Phos, once again, got the short end of the stick. After everything that they’ve done, from trying to save everyone but themselves, to doing what was once seen as cruel for the sake of everyone to finally do something for themselves to go back to wanting to save the others after the bloodlust was gone... to get this ending for themselves.

But wow, what a cruel twist: Phos’s old goal was fulfilled. Thanks to them, the gems don’t have to live in fear of being destroyed or taken or anything. Thanks to Phos, everyone is free. Everyone now is going to be happy for the rest of their existance...at the cost of Phos’s expense.  

Phos lost everything. 

Their body. 

Their sanity. 

Their identity. 

Everything.

What do they get in return?

10,000 years of nothing but their own miserable existence and dark, depressing thoughts.

In the end, everything that Phos experienced not only sent them crashing down to rock bottom: it sent him to the chore of the earth, back out the other side, then back into the earth, in an endless cycle of just constant misery. 

That’s a theme in buddhism, if that’s what I’m recalling right from @rinboz​‘s posts: a cycle of continuous misery. That is clearly embodied here through Phos and Phos will continue to suffer the pain of existing while everyone else got what they wanted in the end, especially Aechmea. 

Speaking of which, I also genuinely want to know if there’s still fans out there who view Aechmea as a good guy for ‘liberating’ Phos, because as far as I see, thanks to him, Phos is now stuck in an even more miserable form of existence. At least before everything, everyone was miserable together with Phos. Sort of. Still better than what we got with this chapter, in my opinion. (Please do share your thoughts, if you do. I promise, this is not an attack. I’m just interested to hear your thoughts, if you’re willing to share)

But now, there’s no there for Phos. And unlike those other instances where Phos was in a situation and someone somewhat saves them like Adamant and Padparadscha once did before, there’s no one there. So unless there’s some Admirabilis hiding around there or if the Gem/lunarians decide to come to them, which I doubt will happen, there’s no one for Phos. No one is coming to help/save them.

Phos will have to suffer all alone. For 10,000 years. Phos is the last existing gem being now...even though technically, they aren’t really a gem anymore. 

Once again, to sum up why I don’t like this chapter nor how the story has progressed: Phos’s suffering meant nothing to them in the end. That’s the other theme I’m trying to hammer in in this post: Everything meant nothing in the end.

I’ve already seen a few fans react to the chapter and I saw one state that if the Lunarians, including the gems, were to come to Phos to pray for them, the poster hopes Phos tells them to “F* off” And you know what, I hope so too. But this revelation has me fearing for what’s going to happen the series, or more specifically, how and when it’ll officially end.

No true happy ending in sight and not exactly for the reasons you think

As always, it’s hard to predict how Ms. Ichikawa is going to end this series. Us fans made many predictions and a good number of them came true, but it’s the ending that eludes us. Some hope for a happy ending for Phos, while many, including myself, predict that it’ll be anything but happy. And now, with this chapter...I think it’s set in stone now.

Last month, in response to someone asking me how I think the series might end, I made a few small predictions. Some for a good ending, a bittersweet ending, and a bad ending.... 

...and it looks like that first sad ending is where the series is heading after all:

Everyone is gone/moved on and Phos stays behind as a lonely, immortal being.

Even though this small prediction was correct, how it’s all playing out was not exactly how I’d envisioned. It’s worse. And what’s making me even more worried is that based off of where the story is headed, my gut feelings are saying that the series ending is near. And it won’t be to anyone’s satisfaction.

Whenever I get invested in a series, other than worrying about how the creators will handle their characters and story, one of my biggest worries is about how the creators handle their ending. I’m truly afraid about what Ms. Ichikawa is planning for this series because I can’t help but fear it’s not going to end well. It’s not the worry that the series will have a sad/bittersweet ending, even though that concern is still there though I’ve accepted the likelihood, but rather I’m worried that the next chapter or so will be the abrupt end to this series. This concern is because of how rushed this chapter felt and I can’t help but worry that Ms. Ichikawa is now rushing to the end of the story. And to be honest, the addition fact that Ms. Ichikawa is going on hiatus is not helping these uneasy feelings. 

I hate being the pessimistic one but what if this happens? What if Ms. Ichikawa decides to end the series here or in the next chapter? What if the next chapter is literally another time skip, with all of the characters that I once cared about just NOT progressing, and Phos continuously being stuck in this immortal and we’re expected to accept this as the ending. Because other than Phos, everyone’s story, from what it looks like, is at their end now. I really hope that doesn’t happen. I’ve seen great series end so terribly too often and I’ve loved this story for so long that I hope that doesn’t happen with this series too. I love this series a lot and it’s characters, even the ones who I don’t think I like as much as I did after this chapter. I hope the series will end nicely... but I don’t think it will.

Back to predictions on how the story will progress: I made a post a few days ago about how I hope the forgotten plot elements will come into play and the fact that Aechmea isn’t omnipresent. More than ever, part of me hopes those elements will come back and have a positive impact for Phos’s story, especially the omnipresent part. But again, I don’t think I’ll hope too much for it because looking at Ms. Ichikawa’s past works... I don’t think they will, at least not in the way I’m hoping for.

Maybe I’m too used to Western (American/European) stories, where the protagonist somehow beats the odds and wins in the end. This isn’t always the case for Eastern stories, especially stories from Japan. They usually end bittersweet and I don’t think Houseki no Kuni will be the exception. I know I’ve said this saying many times before and with each passing chapter, these words become more and more true:

Phos’s suffering is never going to end. 

And unless someone does something to change the course of the story, which I don’t think will ever happen now, Phos is never going to have a happy ending. 

If I could wish for anything, it’d be that this story ends on a satisfying note. I know, I know. It’s foolish to still hope for that it’ll happen, given everything I’ve seen from Ms. Ichikawa before...But still. I don’t want to lose all of the hope that I have left for this series. Even though that hope is nearly diminished, it’s still there.

So please, Ms. Ichikawa. Please give us a satisfying ending for Phos. Please let them go.  If anyone deserves a dignifying conclusion to their story, it’s them.  Let them rest. End their suffering. Please give them the ending they deserve after everything they went through.

You’ll likely won’t though.  

Because this is Phos.

And to be Phos is to constantly suffer.

Well, regardless, I truly hope you’re hiatus goes well, Ms. Ichikawa. Even though you are a cruel troll, your work is still amazing and I applaud you for your story telling and your love to mess with us. I hope you enjoy your time away and when you return, I hope that you’ll continue to give us amazing content and eventually give Phos the ending they deserve. Please. That’s all I want.

I hope you all a nice holiday season, too, or at least try to.

Happy Holidays. 

Can’t wait for 2020 to end.