i just finished watching Ruri no Houseki last night and i still don't know what to say. On one level this makes sense; it very much speaks for itself a lot of the time–in a very literal sense, with Nagi and Imari often slipping into diatribes-bordering-on-lectures stemming from their near-obsessive passion for their field of study. It borders on edutainment a lot of the time, but in such a naturalistic way that the term only really came to mind upon reflection. The characters are otaku, but for the natural world rather than the fictional; they talk about rocks and minerals like similar characters talk about magical girls. Cards on the table–and this will be relevant later on–while i do love natural history, too, my main interest lies in biology more than any of the fields focused on in this show. That is to say, i'm amazed at how much this show was able to make me care about them. That would be important in any show, but especially one so thoroughly about the wonderment in something as overlooked as "ordinary rocks" and the joy of discovery that comes from taking the time to look for what makes them special–which of course, without love, cannot be seen.
Episode one moved me to tears (as did most of the ones to follow) but it was episode 2's focus on pyrite that really sealed it for me. To start with, "fool's gold" was already one of my favorite minerals for reasons i'll get into later. i really like Ruri's wonderment over the die-shaped pyrite crystals she first finds. They really do look like something impossible for nature to create, and they're so shiny in their raw state in a way even few precious stones can claim to be. When i first laid eyes on the same die formation, it hit me how unfair it is for a mineral so beautiful in its own right to be named, or at least called, as though its value is only apparent if the beholder is lacking some level of understanding. The real impact of this episode came when Ruri found a different formation among the die: a pyritohedron. Normally, crystals found in one place are all uniform in shape, so this is a noteworthy discovery. As Nagi explains it, finding something believed to be absent from a site necessarily challenges humanity's understanding of the world. It may be a small impact on our collective knowledge; it may not be worth much in terms of numbers. It's easy to, as Ruri does, dismiss this as a grandiose explanation of relatively mundane fieldwork, trying too hard to make the everyday shine. But–and this is a bit of my own personal commentary– if it were really such an insignificant discovery, the strange shape wouldn't have caught her eye to begin with. Nagi correctly points out the importance of this discovery to science, but i believe it goes deeper than that. When something shines–when it catches your eye, that is itself significance. Study and knowledge are important because they give you more things to look for, more to see, and more significances to know. But the engine of science cannot run without a proudly beating heart. This is where the dedication Studio Bind has for scenery and lighting shines brightest.
This beautiful place... They've helped humanity understand it a little better. In the end, Ruri gathers as many samples as she can, citing qualitative reasons for each. She can see their value beyond numbers. The word "precious" becomes redefined. She gives the pyritohedron to Nagi, who showed her its value, and Nagi in turn cites Ruri as a co-author of her report on the formation. Oh, and as for pyrite itself, it's represented beautifully and carefully here. As with any mineral in this show, the way they capture light bouncing off it is–more than just realistic, it captures the familiar feel of its immaculately geometric surfaces.
More than a show about mineralogy or even just earth science in general, it's about fascination. Obviously the main plot thrust of the show is Ruri's burgeoning interest in rocks and minerals, but the show's view on those things that glimmer in our mind is much more multifaceted. Fascination is a word which here means something like a feedback loop between love, curiosity, and understanding. The show spells this out–with characters this earnest, it'd be hard for it not to.
i could listen to Nagi's patient lectures and Imari's excited yapping forever. They're great, most shows would kill for even one character this endlessly watchable. Nagi's mature, restrained emotions might come off one-dimensional in the hands of a lesser crew, but this is a Studio Bind production. Subtle movements hiding characterization beyond words is kinda what they do (if Onii-chan wa Oshimai is any indication) and they're used to great effect here. Nagi's smiles and sighs say something about her that words cannot. i might have a slight crush on her; she's exactly my type as far as fictional crushes go–mature, confident, hypercompetent, but still gentle. It's unfair that a show could have a character this attractive who still doesn't scratch the top 20 reasons why i like it. And Imari is just a treasure–i am fighting to not say "gem"–with her interest in archival and passion for lab work. If any character in Ruri no Houseki could be called a "database animal," it's her. (She's also super cute and has adorable chemistry with Nagi.) So don't take it lightly when i say Shouko and Ruri are even more interesting.
Ruri gets into rocks by accident. Her hobbies are all pretty normal–fashion, makeup–and as her love of science grows, it never displaces those interests. From the start, she contains multitudes. i'm reminded of a principle of characterization i co-developed with a friend of mine when discussing Love Live; characters like Nozomi are fan favorites because their interests, role in the group, and backstory all complement and clash with each other. If they don't fit together in a way that makes sense, the "gap" between them does. It's not 1:1 here, but Ruri is easily the most immature of the core cast while also being notably curious–not just in how she wants to learn more about the natural world, but in her drive to find out about herself and how she'll grow up too. But her curiosity is a quiet trait, and her impatience comes out loud. It's a little hard to watch her unfocused passion in the earlier episodes. Particularly, i remember cringing at her wanting to collect quartz from a spot where mineral collection was posted as not allowed. It's even harder to watch later on, when she's talking about research as if its something for other–specifically "smarter"–people to do. As if she didn't coauthor a scientific report in the second episode–but no, i get it. For all her very real love of her more mainstream hobbies, they have that status because they don't have a particularly challenging reputation. It's what's expected, especially for a high school girl. She can take these interests without it telegraphing as "her thing", so while she's not correct to think so, it's understandable why pursuing something like mineralogical research would clash with her unaddressed identity crisis. But that's not how things like that really work, is it? Beautiful crystals spoke to her as much as anything, resonated with her heartbeat, and that motivated her to try and understand them better. Like platinum sinking faster than silver, there is evident love here; despite her comparative lack of background knowledge (which would at first seem to be a mere necessity for the edutainment aspects of the story, and taken for granted) she learns so much she's able to keep up with a more experienced peer.
Shouko becomes a focus character from out of the background in episode 7. She initially gave me the impression of an antagonist, or at least, someone who wouldn't really get Ruri's newfound fascination. In that first focus episode we see it's the exact opposite. From a young age, she was intensely interested in collecting stones and pointing out the differences, to her parents' amusement and peers' blunt apathy. Shouko showed her favorite rock to her preschool teacher, who made her leave it outside before class; even as they tell her, "be yourself", she overhears her parents talk about how they don't want her to pursue her passion as a career. So in present day there's a locked drawer in Shouko's desk where she keeps that same favorite stone. Each morning she trails her eyes along its chipped and jagged surface; she understands the feeling, very well, but is still so distant. That's already interesting, smart character work. Returning to the interest-backstory-dynamic trifecta, Shouko starts her focus episode with the weight of her past, no real hobby, and not many friends to show for it. i think that's the part that really makes it hit for me. She's written like someone who tries to hide herself away and has largely succeeded. She only joins with the core cast on sheer coincidence. That feeling of aloofness i got from her prior to her focus episode was deliberate, but not to telegraph antagonism, nor even to feint it–though as it comes across that way, it adds dimension to the all-too-common tragedy of snuffed confidence. It makes for a more complex arc of self-rediscovery than a simple heel-face turn, and furthermore sets up her dynamic with Ruri to be more complex than a passing of the torch from Nagi. For as long as she's been out of the geology game, Shouko's able to more than keep up with Ruri.
But i would be committing some kind of authorial malpractice if i excised mention of her conversation with Imari at the end of that episode.
The scene is the sun setting on Shouko's first day rock hunting in years. At the last possible moment as she's saying goodbye, Shouko is finally able to verbalize her long-cloistered dream to another person. Aside from being gorgeously drawn and poignantly written given this episode's frankly gutting opening, this scene moved me on an embarrassingly personal level. Or maybe it's just embarrassingly normal, for things that can make me feel so much. It's not for (all of) the same reasons, but Shouko's backstory does hit a lot of exposed nerves in its specifics. More than that, though, here, it's the feeling of wanting-unto-needing to go for it, all while being paralyzed by full confidence it won't work out in the slightest. That is to say, Imari told Shouko exactly what i needed to hear. Personally i've been really stuck in trying to find a real goal in life lately. Call it a quarter-life crisis if you like, but for all i've grown to find myself loving about life, i don't do much about it but spin it in my head. Burn it in silence. There's a constant choice paralysis hanging over it all, exacerbated by a pervasive (fear? dread?) certainty that whatever i try and pursue will not only not work out, but backfire horribly in such a way that stems the passion that made it possible to try in the first place. It's still there, definitely. But–as much as i love this blog, and my other artistic projects–i really do wanna go back to school, too, probably to study marine biology or something. My parents are very supportive, but its on a similarly absolute level to Shouko's trauma, and i see a lot of my social struggles in her as well. All that is to say, it's like every sentence out of Imari's mouth here was like a perfectly targeted push out the door for an aspiring student of natural history. This show gets it.
As expected from Studio Bind, and more to the point much of the same staff behind some of Onimai's most expressive and well-framed cuts, Ruri no Houseki looks absolutely gorgeous. The way light dapples the environment and catches off stones made me tear up as much as any character beat. Importantly, it's the kind of world someone whiny and jaded as Ruri is at the start would grow into, as a matter of course. She can't be in this place without softening and changing, being moved in the same way rocks and minerals are. But for all the transcendent wonder of the world at large, much of her pivotal development happens at a microscope, in the literally-granular details of these pretty stones that first caught her eye. Even in such a beautiful world, such small parts of it hold just as much wonder as the whole.
Thank you very much for reading ! Please excuse all the rock and gemstone puns in this piece; they were by and large unintentional but when i thought of them, i couldn't help myself. i'll do my best to make my next post another Personal Canon one, but no promises–i just keep watching incredible anime, and i should be so lucky as to get to continue.