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penebui · 2 years ago

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Party At the End Retrospective

Now, I had a lot of thoughts appearing when I was translating, and now I can coherently discuss them. Let’s talk about it and give it a rundown. The essay does not chronologically follow the events in Party At the End (mostly).

Glossary:

Translating

Introduction

Time Frame

Who the Fuck is Ladra (and Blue Zoisite)

Cinnabar

Sensei & Antarcticite

The Temple & Museum

They’re Putting a Gem on Display? (and The Gems That Don’t Appear)

Ghost & Cairn (and Lapis)

Padparadscha

Sphene, Topaz, and Peridot

What? There’s Fog on The Moon?

The Foodmakers (and 84)

The Fantastical Anatomy of Obsidian (and The Planet They Mention)

Gem Reveal: The Beryls, Red Diamond & Fluorite

The Young Ones

Diamond, Bortz, and the Admirabilis

The Rose Garden (and Rutile)

Bonus Round: The Party

Essay is below. Long, long post ahead, be warned (It’s a really long post guys).

Let’s talk about my glorious journey translating this. To get to actual content of Party at the End go down to Introduction.

Translating

I don’t speak or read japanese at all. As you can tell, I DID get help for getting the raw text, but translating was mostly done by myself. This was done through the usage of deepl (main), google translate (secondary/checker), and every japanese dictionary/kanji site on planet earth. Now, deepl is not 100% accurate but its good. I ran them through both translators to get wording and learn the key ideas, and then typed up the translation to be as accurate as possible. And then there’s the way Haruko Ichikawa writes. Not necessarily writes, but spells. She uses kanjis, and the furigana are well... unique. If you look up the kanjis and see what characters they’re made out of, they don’t match the furiganas she has provided at all. They’re sometimes one character, or do in fact spell out the sound but switch the script she’s using (which frankly made my job harder). The furigana does not match what the kanji uses is what I’m saying.

Her way with words even confused my friend, who is a native japanese speaker. Some kanji she uses are “rare” or “uncommon”. I like to attribute this to her eloquence. AND ITS THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE.

My first struggles of kanji were with Jade’s interview.

My dear bestie, Lotus, suggested that it could’ve been the kanji for nymph, which is 精. Not exactly right.

The first thing to find out this mysterious kanji is look up the furigana right? WRONG.

The kanji I was having a problem with was 棲, this kanji means “water dwelling”. It is pronounced, “sei”. The kanji is made with セイ. The furigana Ichikawa provided was せい. These both spell “sei”. Do you see where I am getting at.

You see, I got the raw text from the scans through OCRs. The first three OCRs I used were not fully accurate and precise. This was a problem for me as the first few interviews had kanjis with furiganas. However as time went on, I DID find a 100% accurate OCR by the name of online.easyscreenocr.com that helped me a bunch. It knew all the kanji she was using so my insanity from Jade’s interview ended pretty quickly.

But then the “one word” direct translations confused me and I had to analyze from every angle what the sentences could possibly mean. For instance, in Bortz’ interview, they use a word which just meant “names”. Plural for name. In a sentence that had no name dropping and had nothing to do with names. With the luck of my brain continuing to crack down on it, I discovered that it actually was supposed to be “namely”. Which is used for “that is to say” or specificity.

And there is the “shellfish” part in the second part of Bortz’ interview. Oooohh, they could’ve said snails, nudibranchs, or straight up admirabilis!! They LOOK like snails. It would be reasonable to call them snails. But they used the word for shellfish. This was not a translation mistake. The word used was 貝. This means shellfish. Why the fuck did they cal them shellfish? I don’t KNOW!! They have shells, they are snails. “Shellfish” is what you would call shit like clams and oysters and crabs and prawns and *looks at papers*.... Shellfish.

There is also vagueness. This is intentional. Think about it. Ladra is familiar with the gems, he knows them and they know him. So of course they’ll be vague when speaking to each other, because they already know about these things. They aren’t going to spell it out for us, we have to deduct it. Which is why I’m writing this.

Another thing to add, Chrysoberyl calls Bluezo “Bluezi”, everyone else calls them Bluezo.

Every time I translated, my language skills with english slowly corroded as I forgot basic grammar and sentence structuring. But what do I know? I don’t speak and understand japanese.

Introduction

The first page of text in “Party at the End”, is alike to the encyclopedia in Volume 11, appropriately named “Life and Culture of Y-3579203181277“.

What these two have in common, is that they’re from entities that are not the lunarians, gems, or admirabilis, or any life form we are aware of. Whether this is a creative narrative done by Haruko Ichikawa to give us a way to immerse ourselves into their world as the audience, or if this is relevant to the plot in some way has yet to be discovered.

The encyclopedia did in fact, prove to be tied to canon in other ways than lore-wise because of Sensei’s older brother, who distorted and encrypted the information of ice floes and the only words that were not distorted spelt out “Hello” (at least, from what I’ve heard). Sensei’s older brother’s one eye was seen in the background of this text too.

Although the encyclopedia was entirely from an unknown and different viewpoint, “Party at the End” is by proxy.

The premise of “Party at the End” is that it is a photo book, found and picked up by these (or another) unknown entities. They state that they have translated it with the goal of accuracy rather than understanding (this might have been the source of my perils if Ichikawa decided to actually take this extra mile).

They also state that the photos could have been corroded and are without color due to time, or perhaps, were just like that from the start. It is likely that these beings found this photo book on the moon as is.

After this, there is a little poem. This poem, is most likely done by Blue Zoisite, who is a poet. I will explain this later.

Time Frame

The time frame of when the photos and interview, and the party happened are... confusing. This is actually not a party at the actual end. I believe this is set in the exact year Phos started to gain Sensei’s memories and become a pseudo-human. It’s most likely a few months after the initial thing, as New & Old Morganite are helping construct a city for the gems that have yet to be turned into lunarians to reside. And it is NOT the same party as the one shown in Chapter 96.

The gems have a party for the end, every day at night, for 10,000 years. The party in Chapter 96 is most likely the first one, as Antarc is seen with Cairngorm, and groups of other gems are out doing tourist-y things. At the party, Cinnabar and Jade are also wearing different outfits than the ones depicted in Party at the End.

Who the Fuck is Ladra (and Blue Zoisite)

Ladra, is a lunarian. Ladra, is the one who is taking these photos and also doing the interviews himself. His face is never shown. He is familiar with all of the gems, and Sensei. Some gems are shocked at how he knows some things about them.

He has a message before actually starting the interviews. This is the first name drop. His message is about the past. This is related to how the photo book is for memories, for the past, for someone to hopefully pick up and look at. And as time goes on, the gems start to name drop him.

Ladra is also in cahoots with Blue Zoisite. Blue Zoisite, is the only other gem to be in an active relationship with a lunarian (this excludes Antarc, who is in a relationship with Sensei and he was not originally a lunarian and they’re technically in a relationship I’m sorry to say). This is most likely because they’re both artists in some way.

Ladra is a photographer. This is obvious. He is stated as a very talented one.

Bluezo is a poet. This was hinted at back in Love Freedom Hell, the mini art book from Volume 10. On the faux volume 10 cover that depicted the trio Chrysoberyl, Topaz, and Blue Zoisite.

This small fake summary tells how Topaz is the mediator in the little threesome and tried to get Chryso & Bluezo to get along through an exchange diary, which revealed Bluezo’s inner talent for writing and poetry in general.

Bluezo, from what we hear from in Chrysoberyl’s and Topaz’s interviews, is a very high maintenance partner. They were rebellious before, and although the rules that they faced in society that caused them to act out were removed, it’s most likely just part of their temperament.

Bluezo is also seen “eating” (or kissing??) a rose given to them by Ladra, who bought it from Shinsha.

Cinnabar

A segway into Cinnabar, they are a florist. They’re still somewhat shy. Oh yeah, and they’re also an entomologist. This is revealed when they try to avoid Ladra’s question about the party initially before he claps back at them.

Of course, Cinnabar would be an entomologist and a florist because of the Botanical Gardens. It’s also shown in one of their photos. Where they’re holding a caterpillar. This, has great implications. And can mean two things.

One, they have somehow made technological advancements to the point that even entities such as insects can be turned into the same spiritual essence as lunarians, or, that they are moving the entirety of life on earth onto the moon. The latter is most likely what is happening. Besides, even after they’re all prayed away, nature continues. The Core Three of the human descendants got prayed away, along with what only lived after the horrors of the world: Admirabilis, Lunarians, Gems, the inanimated objects that had souls, and the dog Cairn has (which a translation calls Snowball I think).

Although, it does look like nature had evolved sometime during Phos’s hibernation, as these insects have three sets of wings, and look akin to that of lepidopteras, even though their wing material is unusual for a lepidoptera. However, some butterflies do have this type of wing, like the Greta Oto, or the Blushing Phantom.

Sensei and Antarcticite

Antarc, has adapted well. Apparently sometime on the Moon they (the lunarians) added a new ocean, most likely for recreational purposes since that’s how Antarc uses it. An interesting thing is Antarc is just walking around, naked. We do not question this or look further into it, it’s just an interesting detail.

Sensei and Antarc are most definetely in some sort of relationship. Antarc was teased about liking Sensei by Phos, Antarc and Sensei are a foil to Cairn and Aechmea, and everything else. Ladra’s and Sensei’s conversation about Antarc also seems to point to this, as Ladra (who is in a relationship) tells Sensei to go meet with Antarc with some persistence.

There is still, something deeply wrong with Sensei.

In Chapter 98, this is the earliest form of Sensei speaking, in the timeline. He seems to talk normally here. Aside from being formal with his mother.

(Bonus Shiro in the panel btw)

Throughout the manga, we can see him speak in a... peculiar way. We might assume this is because he wants the gems to remain oblivious, so his speech remains vague, but it’s not just that.

This is peculiar speech pattern is more noticable in Chapter 95, when he explains what happened to Phos to Antarc (in the worst way possible).

He does not mean to indict Phos like that, or paint Phos as a villian who really hated Sensei’s guts (Phos did, but it was a love/hate relationship with him). This, is literally just how Sensei speaks.

We can see this in both of Sensei’s interviews.

So, Sensei just talks like that. Ladra also wanted to ask further about this with Zircon (mentioning his memories, which probably refer to his memories of before the gems and lunarians), but he ran out of time.

The Temple & Museum

The Temple is an identical replica of the school/temple on earth. This is where Sensei is mentioned to continuously pray (out of habit). The gems who work here are Euc and Jade.

Jade mentions that they had moved the plants from the earth temple into the new moon temple. And that a jellyfish was born. Evidence that the caterpillars seen are most likely living creatures and not ‘lunarian’.

In association with this, there is a Museum. There is also an archives place where original specimen reside. The three who work here are Ghost Quartz, Neptunite, and Zircon. They work in translating the gem’s written records into lunarian language.

Zircon is called Curator Zircon. They look like a victorian boy and I love that for them.

Ghost mentions that Neptunite is helping them with translating. Neptunite is nonverbal for the most part. They don’t usually talk much. The only thing they say here in the interview is “Aa.”

They’re Putting A Gem on Display? (and The Gems That Don’t Appear)

As you read Zircon’s interview, you might’ve paused and went-

“What? They’re putting a gem on display?”

The “or...” implies something more sinister. I’ll chalk this up to it being a gem body from someone who could not be properly revived.

Euc mentioned that not everyone could be ‘revived’. This is due to a threshold requirement of memories. Whether it be living long enough to have memories or not is debatable. I think this is the case though. You might think Euc was referring to solely Lapis Lazuli by this conversation, as they couldn’t be revived because their head (the core part of their memories) is on Phos. This, is only half true. You see, throughout Party at the End, there are four others who are never seen nor mentioned.

These four are Heliodor, Sphalerite, Apophyllite, Pink Fluorite.

To jog your memory, Heliodor is the first known gem to be taken to the moon, right before the manga starts. Oh, but what’s this? They aren’t actually “dead”, they are a lunarian now. As seen in Chapter 95, it’s most likely them. However its weird that they are never seen in Party at The End. Especially with the sudden surprise we get later on.

They MIGHT’VE appeared in Party At The End actually. This could be them right here, since it looks like it can’t be either Morganites, as their bangs are different in Party At The End.

From the photo party that contained Ruby, Fluorite, Red Diamond, Benito, and another gem.

So, what about Apophyllite, Sphalerite, and Pink Fluorite? Well.

Pink Fluorite is seen used as a weapon (synthetic pink fluorite) against Antarc before they’re taken to the moon. They, along with Sphalerite were mentioned by Dia when the conversation of “gems with a hardness of 4 and below not being brought back” came up back in Chapter 67. Although it says Fluorite, we can guarantee its Pink Fluorite and not the Second Gem Fluorite, as there are countless of generations between the last generation of gems and Fluorite the Second. Sensei would also reveal the existence of Fluorite, after Dia left for the moon.

And also, we know what Sphalerite looked like. Sphalerites can come in orange. In Love Freedom Hell, on a page filled with miscellaneous gems, is an unknown orange gem. This is most likely Sphalerite.

So, Apophyllite? Well. They’re only mentioned once. When Phos is first taken to the moon. Apophyllite was similar in color to Phos. That is all we know.

All these gems, are under the hardness of 5. Only 5 and up can be revived.

Coincidence maybe, because the ice on the moon gathered the memories of all gems as a collective conscious. The actual gem contents that were in the morgues in the temple were also collected and brought to the moon. Meaning for them to not appear or be mentioned, and therefor most likely “dead”, they would have to have vital parts or most of the parts to bring them back because of their memories. Which is why Lapis can’t be revived.

This means gems who potentially were lost at sea could not be revived as a lunarian. Erosion could’ve played a part in slowly destroying gem bodies. Obsidian is obsidian. For all we know the opposite of them could’ve happened and one fell into lava. We just don’t know. Oh wait I just remembered about the time Aechmea mentioned that he tore apart some gems and mixed them with synthetics. That’s also probably another one.

Oh, but then I forgot. There’s Red Diamond.

Red Diamond was the first one, and the quickest, to be physically restored. Back when they first tried to bring back the gems in a physical manner based on shards. Happened in Chapter 72.

Red Diamond, most likely wouldn’t mind their body being showcased. Its the first, and strongest one. Red Dia is old, they act like they are an ancient piece of work still acting as if they’re living their golden years and is frankly, very open minded.

Lapis Lazuli is also a contender, as their entire body is on the moon. Their hardness is around 5 - 5.5. They could’ve been physically brought back during the first attempt. But the only thing missing would obviously be their head, and that... Is not a fun thing to look at in a museum.

There is a chance Lapis could have been planned as being used as the display. Lapis can’t come back, it could serve as a piece of legacy for Ghost. Everyone else is neutral on Lapis.

But Red Diamond is a full body, less negative connotations come with them and they were the first one who was born, and fell victim to this centuries long war.

Red Diamond’s old body could have been the one on display. Mostly. But I am not ruling out Lapis Lazuli either. It’s more practical to showcase Red Dia thinking about it.

Ghost & Cairn (and Lapis)

Everybody’s been wanting to know about how Ghost and Cairn resolved the things between them. We only get to see after the fact, but not how or during. Ghost does elaborate on this however.

They’re forgiven by Cairn, mostly for the time when they were together. Although they ARE seen as twins, they can be seen as a system too. Ghost DID control them, but that’s mostly when they were together, sharing the same body. Ghost was the one mainly in control. Ghost, did NOT control them once they were taken to the moon. This, is the fault of their microorganic inclusions. And also Cairn burdening themselves with the wish of their original host, restricting themselves. Because they feel obligated to. That is another issue for another day. Let’s talk about the inclusions.

Like Lapis, Ghost’s inclusions worked to cement what their original owners wanted to do. Lapis wanted to send a message to Phos, their inclusions did. But because Lapis is a completely different set of problems on their own, they were able to “transfer” their consciousness into Phos’s own dreamscape because the entirety of their memories went straight to their head for inclusions.

Ghost’s inclusions, work like that to a fault. Ghost wanted Cairn to protect Phos. Ghost did not mean “protect Phos at the cost of your own anatomy and sacrifice yourself for them”. Inclusions however, do not understand nor act beyond what is stated. There is no fine print. Inclusions hear “Protect Phos” and they make Cairn do it. Ghost had good intentions, their inclusions just didn’t enact that message and sentiment as such.

Ghost looks at Cairn with envy, as they’ve moved on. Cairn did “move on” in the more “I’m going to pretend that didn’t happen/exist because it’s not my problem” kind of way. Ghost yearns for Lapis Lazuli. They miss them. It could be unhealthy, it most certainly was back when they were just a gem and blamed themselves (and Cairn unintentionally) for their taking.

What’s interesting though, is that they’re not actively trying to revive Lapis anymore. Euc said they WERE trying to find a way to bring back gems that couldn’t be revived. So what gives?

Lapis, although with good intentions, was probably a threat to those around them. Euc stated that sometimes their intelligence was a bad thing and was used against others. Ghost was dependent on them and based their self worth on their usefulness to Lapis Lazuli. That thing with Cairn. The only positives we’ve seen with Lapis was when they spoke to Phos. Even then that could be written off as mischievous.

There’s also the head thing with Phos going on too.

Let’s also not forget the interesting detail of Lapis always being front-faced, staring at the “camera”/audience when shown.

Padparadscha

Speaking of weird little details when it comes to facing the “camera”, there is also Padparadscha and the way they’re shown in (almost) every photo they’re in (The Padparadscha bikini photos are exempt).

Padparadscha is the first gem to be interviewed, they have the same “job” as Rutile. Listening to people’s problems. They still seem to have some form of illness, as they’re in some form of a hospital as a patient. But they chalk it up to them being “lazy”, which is indeed part of their personality. Their holes did not translate into their lunarian body, as Ladra wanted to photograph them but there were none to photograph.

Padparadscha, throughout the most of the entirety of the booklet, does not directly show their face. It’s obscured. This is the opposite of Lapis Lazuli.

In these photo, Ladra is always looking up at them, and the sun is shining down on Padparadscha. Padparadscha keeps a distance from everyone, they’re on a ledge, etc.

Lets not forget the symbolism they have when it comes to buddhism. Associated with the lotus, both in name and meaning. This is PROBABLY showcased through how they’re viewed here on out.

Also, they were shown like this in Chapter 96 too.

Sphene, Topaz, and Peridot

These three, are made for each other. They all work together making figurines and other sculptures. It is mentioned that they use “inorganic material made from [them]”, so they’re probably using synthetic gem materials for their craftwork. They could also still be using wood, and perhaps even steel.

These three, just love creation. Peridot used to make paper. Sphene and Topaz used to be carpenters.

And yes, you are probably wondering why Peridot does not mention Blue Zoisite. Although their kidnapping DID affect Peridot, that was because it was their partner. Blue Zoisite was rebellious. They could have been close, albeit Topaz was definitely closer to Bluezo than them. Which is why Topaz asks Ladra about them, and not Peridot.

Peridot loves Sphene, Sphene loves Topaz, and Topaz loves Peridot. I like to think of this as a polyamorous relationship. They’re very cute together.

What? There’s Fog on The Moon?

The Morganites are working together! Both Old & New Morganite scour the open parts of the moon to work and build on expanding civilization to accompany the new entourage of gems. Old Morga is ecstatic to be working with a younger Morganite.

These two were hard to translate. Mostly because of the technobabble. I also just noticed one repeated line in Old Morga’s interview, so please forgive me for that.

The place that the Morganites are mapping is covered in fog.

This fog... Supposedly works on the vulnerable minds of people. Specifically lunarians who MIGHT remember their human lives, or the ones who remember when all five moons were occupied.

Lunarians remembering human life is, a double edged sword. On one hand, they explain how they’re the souls of the people who couldn’t move on. Cairn talks with one lunarian who remembers his days being a sailor. I, for the love of me, can’t find this, but I fucking remember this. Aechmea was able to accurately recall what Professor Ayumu looked like, and the shogi or go (I don’t know which one) pieces, and used shiro against him. He’s also mentioned as an old friend of Sensei.

And then there’s the fact that the lunarians speak of humans as their ancestors, rather than being them. They talk about “marriage” as a foreign concept, to the gems and to themselves.

When trying to reconstruct a human, they tried to make human cells. They also tried to make a psuedo-human (Phos).

They also cannot synthesize the material Sensei is made out of, hexagonal diamond, also called lonsdaleite. Despite it being mostly synthetic and them specializing in synthesizing gems, they are apparently too out of their depth with it.

The fog, can be best described, as what Cairn experiences on the moon before transing their gender. It preys on a “sleeping” mind. A vulnerable mind.

Another thing mentioned is the “Star of Salvation”. I have no clue what this meant when translating! It is in fact, what it says in the text though.

Throughout the text they mention stars. A lot. Whether it be “lava coming from stars” (a thing Obsidian says which: I dont really think so? Let’s not get into specifics), the Star of Salvation could refer to three things.

One, the Sun. No need to explain that one. Two, Phos. They’re the only savior for them all now. Three, Sensei. This is 99.9% Sensei because Morganite refers to the “Star of Salvation” as “him” and mentions “His son (Phos)”.

The Foodmakers

The candymakers(?) we know of are Alexandrite, Benitoite, and Thirty. They all work in the same candy(?) shop/resturaunt.

Alexandrite, is still in contact with Chrysoberyl. This is known since Chrysoberyl invites Ladra, Alexandrite, and Benitoite to... Alexandrite’s resturaunt.

Benitoite is seen as VERY DESIRABLE on the moon, despite being a cringefail husband. They originally went to the moon because they felt they weren’t too special. A lot of lunarians have the hots for them however.

Then there are Chrysoberyl and Old Goshenite. Old Goshe is a barista. They make coffee. Chrysoberyl is technically a flavourist. They’re trying to recreate flavours of the sun, which, I did not know about.

Gems absorb the sun, kind of like photosynthesis but without everything else, as they’re gems. It does however, seem like the taste of the sun changes. Whether it be do to the strongness of light, weather, location wise, etc.

Now, Benitoite is just a server/assistant for Alexandrite. Thirty, is kind of like an apprentice. They can handle the store entirely on their own sometimes, but still needs a bit of guidance when it comes to making food. They DO want to master their craft.

Thirty and Eighty both still talk to each other, they’re just at a healthy distance. Back then they both constantly worried about each other getting hurt or harmed in some way, which was the main reason why both of them wanted to go to the moon when Phos tried to convince them.

The Fantastical and Wonderful Anatomy of Obsidian (and The Planet They Mention)

While talking with Obsidian, it seems like they work in the same field as 84. Since they’re also in the same photo.

Obsidian, talks a lot about stars. But before we talk about that let’s talk about another thing: Obsidian’s anatomy.

Now, a long time ago, back when the first boom of Houseki no Kuni happened, (and thus fans from this era are called veterans: I’m one of them), a veteran fan made an essay and theory about how gems moved. This essay explained that the inside of the gems was probably liquid, or a melted form of the gem in question so that their joints and limbs could move. And when they break, the exposed part of the melted gem inside would instantly harden.

This theory, is half true. Mostly because it only applies to Obsidian.

The general consensus was that there was an abundance of obsidian, which led to all of the weapons being made out of obsidian. This is horrifyingly untrue.

All weapons, all things obsidian that the gems used, were directly pulled from Obsidian themself.

The inside of their body is liquid glass, they compared it to the likes of the mercury inside of Shinsha.

Of course, a lot of people would be wondering, “Why was this added in here? This is a sudden revelation about Obsidian” but surprise!!

This has been mentioned before.

Chapter 85, when they introduce the Cinnie Box. They say its lined with obsidian. And Obsidian, does this.

Obsidian, could melt themselves. This is another unexplored territory, like the one time Watermelon used electricity because they’re an electric conductor and then never used again because they don’t normally get “angry”.

Obsidian seems like they have an infinite source of liquid glass inside of them, much like how the mercury never stops coming out of Shinsha. Obsidian also can control the temperature of their own body at certain points so that they can melt and mold it into whatever they make.

This is why its easy for them to make weapons.

A horrifying, interesting fact that Obsidian uses their own body to create an abundance of weapons. Do you know how many swords have been lost to time? Do you know how big the blade of Ghost and Cairn’s scythe was? And when those get destroyed, Obsidian doesn’t even bat an eye to it!!! THAT WAS A PART OF YOU!!

Obsidian is the scariest motherfucker alive.

And now onto the stars.

The star, Obsidian talks about, is not an ordinary star. However unlike the “Star of Salvation” it is an actual type of planet.

Let’s talk about lava planets. Obsidian said that their huge... line thingy can detect star systems. Star systems include planets. This is the opposite of the ball thingy seen when Phos visited the moon for the first time, and I assumed they were used to synthesize gems, and they were.

Chapter 56

In comparison to the star system simulator.

Now, minerals and planets go hand in hand. There is plenty of diamond on many other planets, like peridot (or at least related forms of peridot).

Obsidian mentions that lava comes from a “star” which we know is a lava planet. Obsidian is... not right when it comes to the thing they’re talking about.

Obsidian wanted to know what exactly they came from, not location wise but material wise. Of course everyone knows Obsidian comes from cooled lava.

Which comes from volcanoes. Volcanoes, only exist under the sea in houseki no kuni. The island is the only thing on the surface.

In every shot they show the earth, the earth is just... water.

I can’t for the life of me find out the name of the type of island the gems lived on, but I do know another veteran fan talked about it during the early stages of the fandom.

The island, is most definitely an oceanic island. If there is a volcano underneath, it probably has a weird outlet on the wall that usually produces gems which led to Obsidian being born.

This way of creation for obsidian, is what should have been mentioned. That volcanoes on earth form obsidian. But Obsidian talks a lot about the “star” (planet) in their interview.

A lava planet can happen in a couple of ways.

1) A planet that collided with something, or something impacted it. 2) It’s too fucking close to a star 3) It’s a relatively new planet that is still developing This... Well you know which one I’m going to point out.

This planet, is a newly formed planet. Obsidian even confirms this too.

Now, whether or not this will be relevant, perhaps. This planet is still in its early years, and its not even CLOSE to being fully formed.

We, do not know how much time has passed between Phos praying away the entirety of all species, and Phos meeting their new best friend. We do know that probably millions of years has passed, as when Pebble/Rock yells out Phos is completely covered by nature.

It is long enough for an entire cave system (that is what I am assuming it is) to form huge crystal structures.

And it is long enough, to watch a dying star together. Phos mentions a white dwarf.

This planet, could be fully formed by now.

It could be whatever the fuck the outer entities that keep making these booklets are, however they could be from a completely different planet or star system in general.

The entities that made the encyclopedia, were present during the story. They probably traveled to this particular star system at some point and visited the moon, picking up and translating Party at the End.

Or, they could be another separate entity from the first ones that made the encyclopedia. Who the fuck knows! I don’t! I’m speculating! And we can only have this answered in future chapters, if Ichikawa chooses to address this (especially with another additional booklet which will most likely go in depth about the current ecosystem and changes that happened when Phos was dormant).

Gem Reveal: The Beryls, Red Diamond & Flourite

So, we were expecting to see some new faces. And we were right!!

We got to finally see what Aquamarine looks like, who was mentioned in Red Beryl’s dramatis personae, and Fluorite.

And a completely new gem!! Emerald!!

The gems picked in question when it comes to characters is a LOT.

Some of these gems, are well known in the gemstone industry. The gemstone industry is, obviously, about gemstones. The gemstone industry is also a huge part of the jewelry industry. The gemstone industry IS related to the mineral industry, but they’re not the same thing. Gemstones are about the way the light disperses, the colors, the inclusions, etc.

There are plenty of gems in the houseki no kuni cast that are a part of this industry. These gems are: Blue Zoisite (however it is more known as Tanzanite), Morganite, Goshenite, Diamonds, Sphene (also known as Titanite), Amethyst, Alexandrite, Lapis Lazuli, Topaz, the Corundums, the Beryls, Jade, Zircon, and Peridot.

Even if you’ve never heard of morganite and goshenite before, go to the newest shop with a gemstone section. Now look into the display. You will see plenty of goshenites, morganites, topaz, and tanzanite. I have seen a lot. They are also priced around $100-300. Mostly. I have seen a lot of london topaz. And a lot of tanzanite too, however those can go for a shit ton more, and sometimes are even more expensive than diamonds, because of their rarity and a lot of legal stuff surrounding it.

Then there are the gems well known in the mineral industry. If you like houseki no kuni, chances are: you collect minerals. Everyone probably has a piece of agate, rose quartz, amethyst, nacre/mother of pearl, and magnetite that you hit together and eventually break. If you’re more insane than that, you probably own shit like tungsten, calcite, copper, fool’s gold, and others.

Mineral enthusiasts and collectors, do not necessarily care if it is a crystal or not. That shit came from the ground you want it.

“Gems” from the cast that are well known in this mineral industry are: Rutile, Watermelon Tourmaline, Euclase, Benitoite, Neptunite, Fluorite, Cinnabar, Phantom Quartz (known as Ghost Quartz in hnk), Smokey Quartz (Cairngorm is this), Sphalerite, Apophyllite, Hemimorphite, Phosphophyllite, and Obsidian.

Granted, because of houseki no kuni, phosphophyllite has absolutely raised in price and on behalf of my fellow brethren I’d like to apologize to the mineral collectors who don’t know why phosphophyllite has risen in price by 500%: I am so, so sorry.

You might realize there are some who aren’t mentioned in either of these industries. Two to be exact. This is because they are special cases.

Antarcticite and Bortz.

Antarcticite is in the mineral industry, however it is so obscure and lesser known. And can only come from two places.

Antarctica and California. What’s up with the geology in California that produces rare minerals? Who the fuck knows.

Bortz, is a rare case. Bortz is a diamond, and yes you can get it in the mineral industry, but its mostly used for tools. Bortz, is an industrial grade diamond.

There is actually, a lot of industrial grade diamonds. There is a shit ton of different types of bortz, I researched them for my essay back in highschool and could namedrop them all, but I digress.

Haruko Ichikawa also likes to flex, and mary sue some gems, by making them the rarest type of gem. And also very obscure ones.

Imperial Topaz, Pink Topaz, Green Diamond, Red Diamond, Red Beryl, Padparadscha, you get the point. She wants you to know this island produces top notch, all rare gems. Obscure ones like Cairngorm and Antarcticite.

So, with all this in mind, its no surprise that she threw in Emerald. Emerald, is a popular beryl in the gemstone industry, like Aquamarine. I think it would be a sin for her to have forgotten about Emerald.

Emerald is best friends with Aquamarine and Red Beryl. These three were probably alive at the same time, because they know each other.

And there is Fluorite!! Fluorite is not green! Fluorite is explicitly stated to be purple.

(This is from the newest version of Red Diamond’s interview, the original raw text is still there, but the newly translated sentence has been added, if you dont have the second line then please redownload Red Diamond’s interview in the dropbox link!)

We only saw what Fluorite looked like before being shaped

Fluorite did, in fact, have long hair, so it is in fact, on par with how they look now.

(Emerald, Red Diamond, Aquamarine, Fluorite)

The Young Ones

Watermelon, Hemimorph, and New Goshenite are trendsetters. Well, mostly Watermelon and Hemimorph while New Goshe is ‘hip’. They speak in bro speak.

It’s interesting that New Goshe is never referred to as ‘Young Goshe’ but instead as “Master” (once I might add) but that’s probably just a friendly nickname everyone calls them. Can’t look too much into that.

Watermelon and Hemimorph, always were young souls. Despite Phos being younger than them actually. It’s jarring once you think about it. Everyone treated Phos as an elder because of the things they went through, mostly that they had “matured” because of trauma, and forget that Phos was the youngest of them, and then after New Goshe & Morga were born, the third youngest.

These two are an interesting case, because despite changing so much, they haven’t changed at all. This is the case with most gems. They change so much, still haven’t changed at all. Nothing changes despite changing so much.

These two never “grew up”. They just adapted.

Diamond, Bortz, and The Admirabilis

Diamond and Bortz. They are brothers. Their relationship isn’t perfect, but its on par with one thing: being siblings. Siblings constantly annoy the fuck out of each other. Except Diamond is the older one, while Bortz is younger. Usually its the younger sibling annoying the older sibling.

Diamond, is still getting used to being a lunarian. Literally everything is fine, minus one thing: they don’t have their bright shining colors anymore.

So, they have a machine that’ll reflect the colors that Dia originally had beforehand!

Back then, Dia despised and hated Bortz for being the best at their craft: combat, and sword skills. Dia wanted to compete and be the best one, and was jealous of Bortz and took their criticism as a personal insult.

Now however, Dia has grown. Them destroying (confronting in a way) Bortz and them all being lunarians probably let Dia calm down a bit, they were right that they had to confront the issue dead on at first.

After becoming lunarians, Dia is trying to get Bortz to form an idol pair with them. Dia, wants Bortz to be a part of their job. That, is a form of growth in of itself. They don’t think of it as competition, and them wanting Bortz to work with them is a form of brotherly love. Of course Bortz doesn’t work like that and so they keep rejecting it, but seeing Dia grow in a way where instead of thinking about competition they want their brother to join in on the job they love, even if Dia has an ‘ego’ about being the best in the universe, it’s still great!

Bortz, is a jellyfish researcher. So obviously they don’t want a part of that. Along with being a jellyfish researcher, they were in charge of taking care of the admirabilis.

They reunited the admirabilis, and a new king was born sometime after. And credit to fellow admirabilis lover @/kordeliiius (I’m not @’ing you because i dont want to destroy ur notifs) who mentions that the new King of The Admirabilis at that point, was male because of the use of 彼.

Now, when I say “reuniting the admirabilis” I don’t believe they’re talking about the moon and the earth admirabilis. As Bortz is seen with a moon admirabilis (it has no shell since they evolved without shells from living in the city water on Phos’s decision). You can tell by the many legs and the little antennae ears most nudibranches have.

Who they actually reunited is all of the earth admirabilis. According to the rough translation of Life and Culture of Y-3579203181277 (imgur link of the entire thing) (@/bakemeats also has a cleaner, but partial translation of the booklet but it stops at the Chairs/Desks: 1, 2, 3, 4), there were 8 factions on earth. They were all in the southern hemisphere, which means that if the ‘original’ faction was “near” -and I say that in quotations because it took a few hours of Phos walking to even get to the trap Ventricosus and the Lunarians had set up- then the island is located... Somewhere in the southern hemisphere. Or right on the line.

Anyways, it seems that Bortz (and others most likely) manage to reunite all 8 factions and got them to communicate with each other.

I’m going to go on another tangent real fast. As you might’ve guessed, Gem Writing Systems and the Lunarian’s Writing Systems are completely different. That’s why Ghost and Neptunite were translating.

However, their languages are probably somewhat different too. Or the psychology behind it is unique in them understanding each other’s language.

When Phos started to suspect the lunarians, they heard a lunarian utter a few syllables, which would’ve sounded like “anxiety” in japanese (it’s intended language) as far as I know. Phos and Lapis could understand this. So did Ghost.

And, when the gems went to the moon, they understood the lunarians just fine.

Phos, could understand the ice floes, who’s now known to just be the voice of Sensei’s older brother, and the admirabilis. Two different ‘species’ that the other gems could not.

But the lunarians could understand the (earth) admirabilis.

However, the lunarians can’t seem to understand Sensei’s Older Brother’s voice?? Remember they thought it was both him and the humans but moreso the humans who tried to mimic the lunarian ships to get them [him] out of the water. If they understood him then they would’ve realized that he was hostile.

So the lunarians could not understand him.

Now it goes in a circle, the gems understand the lunarians, the lunarians understand the admirabilis, the gems can’t understand the admirabilis but Phos can, and Phos can also understand the woes of Sensei’s Older Brother.

Looking through the manga, it does not seem like there is a language barrier between the lunarians and the moon admirabilis either.

Phos, could only understand the admirabilis after being absorbed and melted by Ventricosus, so they probably inherited the knowledge of the language. Phos could understand Sensei’s Older Brother by ... some fuckery I’ll tell you that. We don’t actually know how Phos was able to understand him.

Now that the gems are lunarians, they can probably understand the admirabilis just fine. Whatever was acting as a barrier between them is now gone. If they reunited all 8 factions that meant they had to go to earth at some point, and talked to them about The End and everything else.

As we know, the admirabilis did agree. We see them in Chapter 98. However the only visible ones are Variegatus, Ventricosus, and Aculeatus.

Now, an interesting thing: the Admirabilis are sexually dimorphic, we know that. What we also know is that the Kings are physically different than the rest of the admirabilis.

We can tell because the admirabilis shown in Chapter 76, do not have a crown on top of their heads.

This also applies to Aculeatus since he’s not king.

Variegatus, Ventricosus, and Convallarius share this “crown” shape trait.

And here, is the admirabilis in Chapter 98.

If you’ve figured it out, congrats! Those are all the other Kings that ruled the Admirabilis behind the three. That’s a lot.

The Rose Garden (and Rutile)

We know that in Chapter 96, Yellow, Green Dia, Pinkto, Ruby, and Sapphire manage the Rose Garden. The roses are used for multiple things.

Ruby and Sapphire were partners with each other before(?) pairing up with Yellow Dia at some point. Because they’re corundums, they also know Padparadscha and Rutile. They even messed with Rutile when they first started trying to fix Padparadscha, this is expanded on in a little comic in Love Freedom Hell.

Even if they hang out with Yellow, Green, and Pinkto more, they still visit Rutile.

These two can be appropriately called “party animals”, because they seem to have picked up the habit of drinking. And visit Rutile while drunk.

Rutile’s rebellious nature before becoming a doctor (and a therapist) comes out when they interact with these two. It seems that Rutile originally excused their behavior (and colors) because they were “born that way” as gems.

We also see Sapphire and Ruby in the Rose Garden.

During the time Phos was broken up into pieces and hid on earth, Yellow went through therapy for their trauma of partners being taken to the moon. Yellow, could not handle this (or as 84 says, can’t handle 220 years of introspection). At this time Yellow was already heavily depressed seeing the changes on the earth during the Moon Raid.

Because of this huge depression of trauma, they had a form of psychotic breakdown and lived in a delusion where they are actually a lunarian for some time. This meant that while they believed they were a lunarian, they forgot about their partners.

And then, they actually became a lunarian. Except now with their once shattered partners.

I’ve stated this in a post before, but because they are now a lunarian (what their delusion was about), and because of their partners now being with them, there was a cognitive dissonance. They are constantly reminded of their gem life, but now they’re a lunarian. This advanced their mental deterioration and resulted in: dementia.

They can still form new memories, to a fault. They know Ladra. In Chapter 96 they remembered to get roses for Thirty.

But, they also gradually forget, and so they form a circle of forgetting and remembering. We can see it in, once again, Chapter 96.

Time did not ‘cure’ their dementia, since dementia cannot be cured.

We can see them forget the interview with Ladra, and repeat.

Yellow, can still recall their gem life, even though its extremely painful to do so. This is why the delusion of being a lunarian happened in the first place. They seem at least aware to a degree that they have dementia.

The dementia seems to have affected their speech too, as its mostly filled with repetition. Unless this is just pertaining to one sentience and they don’t actually repeat their speech even if they’re currently in a state of clarity.

Although it’s really sad, I do think this character direction is interesting, and that Ichikawa intended it to happen in the first place.

You can’t fix everyone. Bringing back everything and what they wanted won’t fix or bring them back to their old self. Yellow was always the oldest. They were 3,597 years old in Chapter 12, and they only got older and older. Even in Chapter 12 they couldn’t remember why they were fighting.

Chrysoberyl also mentioned how at some point, they were an ‘old man’. But we do not know how old they were when they were taken. They lived in the same time frame as Peridot and Sphene, two gems who were younger than Yellow, but they seem to be around those two’s ages and a little bit older, rather than being older than Yellow.

Because of everyone being revived as lunarians, there were no ‘stakes’ like there used to be in the manga. The lunarians even got what they wished for, to turn into nothingness, in the end. A story has to have some form of collateral, especially one like this, or it’s message would be rendered useless, especially one of the core ideas, which is change. Change has to happen whether it be good or bad, it doesn’t matter. Changing for the better, also has to have some form of collatoral. A loss.

That’s why Cairn gets with Aechmea, who used them to make sure Phos was lonely, before he eventually fell in love with them himself (Disclaimer: Cairn transing their gender is not a bad change, it was forshadowed and Ghost’s inclusions and gem society/rules seemed to prevent them from embracing themselves, like Bortz in a way. I’m talking about their relationship with Aechmea), it’s not a high stake situation, collateral in some form itself.

Yellow, was more an extreme form of this. They got everything they wanted, but developed dementia. However their previous partners help them, act as their caretakers, and overall supports them. They’re just happy they’re with Yellow. I think this is really sweet.

Bonus Round: The Party

The party, starts after Cairn’s interview. Now, the party is really interesting.

Because you can recognize some gems, and then you can’t.

When the gems turned into lunarians, they gained more human features like their noses changing and their hair loosing stiffness and becoming more... hair-like. This means they can change their hairstyles more regularly, and since there is no color we can’t tell who is who sometimes.

We can recognize Euc, Watermelon, New Goshe, Hemimorph, and a few others obviously.

The party isn’t just comprised of gems, no. They also have lunarians attending too. This is mentioned in Cairn’s interview.

You can even see it here. The bunny ears indicate that it’s a native lunarian.

I also didn’t notice until recently, but there are two other lunarians in this photo. On the right. Two male lunarians. Gay lunarians? In MY party?

This is not Aechmea and Sensei. Although Aechmea is also seen wearing a jabot (the ruffle thingy on the collar), he has a different set of accessories on that jabot, and his suit has a lapel (the folds of the suit). Aechmea has a butterfly jabot pin with beads below it, Sensei also has this motif (and what seems to be a tucked in jabot). Yes this has to do with symbolism. Transformation, rebirth, I’m sure they have another meaning in buddhism but I can’t 100% tell you what they mean.

What is interesting is also Sensei’s many brooches. He has many brooches relating to flowers, a weighing scale (or scales of justice), and a brooch that has an eye on it.

The brooch that has an eye, can refer to Sensei’s eyes, or Ayumu’s eye, or Phos’s eye. Sensei’s Older Brother also has a singular eye.

Oh? But I see something familiar.

Hmm, where have I seen this flower before?

Chapter 100

I may be pulling this out of my ass, who knows. These could be pansies. Which symbolizes thoughtfulness, and remembrance.

There’s actually a lot of flower symbolism in Party At the End. Not the first time. There was a change in Chapter 93, which Yaku Translations on Twitter mentioned. Instead of Psuedo-Human Phos seeing Young Phos run to Sensei’s room, they see a dandelion seed, which represents innocence. There was a dandelion seed in the original manga-issued version compared to the volume-version however.

When Phos becomes enlightened, the dandelion is in full bloom.

Said dandelion can also be seen in the cover art.

Throughout The Party at the End, there’s a list of flowers mentioned.

Gypsophila (mentioned by Jade), Pink Mushrooms (Hemimorph, probably referring to Pleurotus djamor AKA The Pink Oyster Mushroom), Lotus Seeds (A lot of gems mention it), Lily (Cairn), Lavender (Padpa), and Roses (The Rose Garden, Padpa). Let’s also not forget the saturn-purple rose Bluezo just straight up eats (kisses????). Some of these are mentioned in forms of food, like Gypsophila tea (Jade) and Lavender cake (Padpa).

Gypsophila stands for Innocence & Purity, mushrooms are Transformation (mushroom symbolism in general, not “pink mushroom”, also pulling this one out of my ass), Lotus themselves mean enlightment in buddhism so the fact that they mention lotus seeds symbolize that the gems/lunarians are not yet there. Lilies can mean a lot of things, like affections for loved ones, purity and innocence (pink ones can also mean feminity, which would apply to Cairn here). Lavender is devotion & peace/serenity/calm.

Roses have different meaning based on their color. Red roses we know are for romantic/true love, yellow can mean two separate things which is friendship and jealousy/betrayal (here we’re going with the friendship part because of Yellow Diamond), red and yellow flowers together means joy and happiness, and in Bluezo’s & Ladra’s case, violet/lavender roses stands for love at first sight.

There’s also this

This is a photo of Shinsha, Antarc, and Cairn. They have plenty of different types of flowers on here.

And here

And the final page.

There’s a lot of symbolism with flowers.

There’s also a lot of cherries! Could just be the fact that they’re at a party, or it could be symbolism too! Who knows!

There’s also one thing we all know... The elephant in the room. The image that shocked us to the core when the previews/leaks first appeared.

THE KISS

Honestly, I don’t know how to approach this one guys.

It certainly has to be Diamond?? Red Diamond is chilling with (Purple) Fluorite and a couple others. And it makes the most sense that it’s Diamond, because Diamond always had a fascination with love and romance, even asking to watch Cairn and Aechmea cuddle and gushing over their relationship.

The other gem, has long hair, frills, and a thing behind their ear. This is angering me because I DON’T KNOW WHO IT’D BE.

It doesn’t make sense with most gems.

Let’s approach this from a different angle. What if it’s Obsidian?

It could be 84, as they have the same length hair as Thirty, who’s hair is pretty long.

But NO!! It’s almost definetely Diamond because they’re obsessed with love as a concept.

And not everyone who was interviewed appears in the party photos.

It could be Pink Fluorite or Apopyllite. If we’re stretching it out. There are long haired gems, but they don’t seem to have a close relationship with Diamond. It makes it so FRUSTRATING.

Anyways.

There is also this photo.

The known gems here are Red Diamond, Benito, Ruby, and Fluorite. The gem on the top right corner isn’t Watermelon, and inspecting both Morganites’ bangs means its not them, so I’m taking a leap of faith and claiming its Heliodor. Because Heliodor was turned into a lunarian.

So, whos the gem next to Benito? You could claim its Alexandrite, but they still have their ahoge, long hair, and the long side hairs. Its a differen’t gem. And their bangs seem to be a type of bangs that not a lot of gems have. And even if the gems had it their hairstyles would’ve been different.

Like I said, we already know what Sphalerite looks like. They have medium-length hair so it’s not them.

So, here’s my speculation: you know how theres mostly gems of the same type but different colors? There’s a short haired, and a long haired version. Pinkto has long hair, Topaz has short hair. New & Old Morga have short and long hair. Loosely also applies to New & Old Goshe, where Old Goshe’s bangs are more exaggerated than New Goshe.

They could be Pink Fluorite.

The have the overal same ‘vibe’ as (Purple) Fluorite. But this time with extremely short hair.

Nice guess, right? Well it’s unconfirmed and we’ll probably never know. And that makes me ANGRY!!!!

The gem, with the lunarian heart ring, is most likely Bluezo. If it were Sensei or Aechmea the face wouldn’t be obscured. Ladra’s face is obscured in all photos.

Bluezo, is also probably the faceless and naked gem body at the end. It would make sense. Even if theres no ring on the left hand (that we see). And it’s after the group photo of most of the gems at the party.

And the pomegranate.

This is more... Confusing. The obvious ones are purity and fertility, especially looking at the placement. It also symbolizes immortality, but thats mostly in other cultures.

I can’t find a clear answer with buddhism on this one. On one hand, so many places say that pomegranates are part of the “three blessed fruits” in buddhism along with the citrus and peach, but I can’t a lot that goes into depth on them.

General consensus is that the peach means longevity, citrus means happiness, and pomegranate is fertility. Interesting choice, as the lunarians (this now includes gems) cannot have children. The population only grows because they’re bringing back souls of who used to be.

But the only other mention I see of a pomegranate in buddhism is Hariti/Kishimojin which would DEFINITELY not apply here I think.

So, I have no clue!!

Although this party is estimated to have happened recently after Phos became a pseudo-human and after the first party, and before the 10,000 years, the last page still looks like its the End. As if they’re all desintigrating. As mentioned before, Lunarian structures sometimes (not all structures) will remelt at the end of the day and build back up. This is probably what’s happening. It’s still a nice ending to the booklet.

#hnk #houseki no kuni #lotl #land of the lustrous #my post #text post #long post #extra long post #penn talks about pens #some of the longness is because of the photos #but also I have to go 100% ON EVERYTHING!!! EVERYTHING #so here you guys go #read this in your own time please #its a lot

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