Headscratchers / Land of the Lustrous

As a Headscratchers subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

• How exactly does the Lustrous know about the concept of "romance"? (Dia in particular). Considering the purpose of the concept, it comes off as strange that an immortal being such as a gemstone would know what that even is.
  • Sensei would have the frame of reference to tell them.
• Related to the above, while it is clever that Haruko Ichikawa made it so the gems would have personalities and interests related to what their gems were used for in modern times ( For example, Diamond having an interest in romance because his gem was often used for things relating to it and Red Beryl being interested in Fashion because his gem was used for fashion ) it doesn't make any sense considering that thousands of years have passed since the gems would have been used for those things and thus the gems shouldn't have any idea what they are. Its not hard to doubt that Sensei would educate them on these things either. Red Beryl having a concept of fashion is especially strange, as what would the gems need clothing for other than to further the death and rebirth symbolism? It makes one wonder if the gems just instinctively know what these things are.
  • Sensei was created around the time of humans, so he should at least have an idea of fashion. It's not unlikely he would have told them. Even if he didn't, he himself is wearing clothes, so eventually someone would ask and he'd have to explain.
    • Further confirmed by Chapter 64, as Sensei is seen weaving cloth for Red Diamond.
• Speaking of Dia, how in the world can a Lustrous even blush? They don't have blood, veins or even a heart to make that happen, so "how"?
  • They also sweat. Probably something to do with their inclusions. Some kind of chemical reaction or secretion in response to stress?
  • Also how does Diamond know to be embarrassed when someone pokes their head between his legs? Why would he be embarrassed?
  • Perhaps this is just like how Phos starts crying alloy without knowing the reason behind it. Remnant traits of the "ancient species" the Lustrous are based on.
  • But Phos can ONLY cry because of the alloy. The other gems, bar Cinnabar, can't do it. The gems shouldn't be able to sweat. Or blush. Can probably just be boiled down to fantasy Anime Logic since it'll likely never be explained.
  • Having the alloy just gives Phos the means to manifest the feeling of sadness into tears. Only thing stopping the Lustrous from crying is the lack of tear-ducts to do it. Also, the sweating and blushing might be effects of temperature changes within the inclusions in the gems. Such as when the gems get colder than the air around them, condensation starts forming and they "sweat", and when blushing, they get warmer in one specific area to the point where it the sunlight beaming into their hair can pierce through the powder finish covering their faces. Temperature changes might be the reason to why they can blush and sweat here.
  • Might be. But I believe I read that the gems cannot perceive temperatures ( except maybe Antarc since his gems depends on the temperature dropping for him to solidify ). Its highly unlikely that the gems inclusions would cause them to coincidentally blush and sweat when its convenient for them to convey an emotion, particularly in situations where the gems are shown blushing in places where the sun can't shine on them ( Antarc blushing in the winter in a very dimly lit room, Cinnabar blushing deeply at night ), therefore that explanation wouldn't work in all scenarios. Like I said, probably Anime logic. Most likely to make the gems seem more human. But we'll likely never know.
• In one of the older episodes, Euclase hides behind part of his outfit when one of the other gems walked in on him unclothed. How and why would a gem have a concept of modesty, especially since he would have nothing to hide as he lacks physical sex characteristics and all the bodies of the gems look exactly the same?
  • To make the issue of modesty even weirder, when Obsidian gets picked up upside-down by Shiro during the whole Shiro-spectacle, the gem instantly pushes the flared shorts back up and calls him a "pervert". When, how and why does Obsidian, an androgynous gemstone void of any sexual characteristics and living in a world that's basically populated by 29 people who shares these traits(their guardian included) and void of any sexual conduct whatsoever, learned what a pervert is? Its highly doubtful that Adamant-sensei would teach them these things, as he wouldn't have a reason to given the world they live in.
    • Well in its defense, that episode was mostly played for comedic effect.
• The Lunarians are capturing gems to goad Adamant into taking up his job again. What are they capturing Admirabilis for?
  • Their shells. The Lunarians are feeding the Admirabilis up to gigantic size just so they can have gigantic seashells to look at as examples of artistic beauty on the moon. Ventricosus even says as much during her and Phos' talk in the ocean.
  • Later chapter revealed that they were used for research in synthesizing human to help ask Adamant to pray. The admirabilis asked to be taken to the moon after resources in the ocean ran out and they were about to go extinct.
• So does the Lunarians live on just one moon or is there lunarians on all moons? There are seven moons after all.
• At least in anime, one of Phos' motives to cut his hair was to use it to restore tidbits of his body. That reminds me, why the same method is not used with Padparadscha? He has TONS of hair, and cutting some of it would fill his holes by ease!
  • Perhaps Rutile already tried that, but it didn't work, or it was still a temporary solution, and Padparadsha could only be awake for a short time before falling unconscious again.
• Something has made this Troper scratch his head a lot, after Watching and Re-watching the anime and reading the source material, why did no one think to further Augment Phos after they woke up after having Lapis' head grafted onto them? they were essentially 3 for 3 in augments/repairs at this point and with all different Minerals/Alloys, Agate, Gold alloy & Lapis. You also have someone that genuinely wants to join the battle, why would Rutile have not used this chance to lace Phos' body with either discarded pieces of Padsparadscha (that have only kept that gem awake for a few hours a day every 50-100 years or so) and make Phos a bit less prone to breakage or use the chance to remove the gold alloy and make some arms /body filler out of Pads' Hair? like, come on! you have a Gem with 9 Hardness literally laying around doing nothing, and a ready, willing and able (but weak) Gem who wants to be stronger AND is compatible with other Gem type Inclusions. whats better? a 9 Hardness Warrior that's basically in a Coma with exception to a few hours a day every 50-100 years or a potentially varied Hardness Warrior that is Awake and WANTS to fight/Help any way they can? Not to mention that removing the gold alloy would lighten Phos and give them their speed back (which rivals Yellow Diamond). the Manga/Anime did mention that "being less than 50% Phosphophylite doesn't make them Phos anymore" but they still call them "Phos" any way... Honestly, this Troper is genuinely surprised that "Dissection-crazy" Rutile didn't even think of it, especially since there's only 26-28 Gems walking around, it stands to reason you'd want as many warriors with as High of a Hardness level as possible, so why not? and barring the Cannibalization of Padsparadscha, Rutile could have sent foraging parties to the shore of beginnings to collect smaller amounts of harder materials (which is how I assume they keep their shapes instead of constantly being chipped/broken away).
  • Rutile is also shown to care about Phos' well-being post grafting and barred Red Beryl from cutting her hairs after her ponytail was shot off fearing any modifications would affect her inclusions.
  • Simple. Excessive removal of body parts that Phos hasn't lost on their own, especially while they were unconscious, risks them losing even more memories and elements of their personality (through inclusions) than they already have— in later chapters they even start forgetting things they once obsessed over like their promise to Cinnabar. This is why the "less than 50% Phos" conversation even happens. If done enough, they would've might've even forgotten wanting to fight. (On another note, they already have Diamond and Bort, so is just one more fighter really all that necessary?)
• Maybe this was answered in a throwaway line and I just didn't read it, but why won't Adamant pray for the Lunarians? If he did that from the start, they would have stopped invading earth a long time ago.
  • He seems to be unable to due to some defect... Or is hiding something yet again.
    • Explained in Chapter 80, and expanded in later chapters. It would obliterate all descendants of mankind— he also prayed away a majority of them already.

---