Land of the Lustrous (Season 1)

Land of the Lustrous (2017) is a fantasy sci-fi anime you can watch online on iFILM. In a far future, the Earth has shattered, and twenty-eight living gemstones walk what's left of it — genderless, immortal, each one as hard or as brittle as the mineral they're made of.

The threat comes from the Moon. Lunarians sweep down to capture the Gems, crack them apart, and wear the pieces as ornaments. The youngest of them all is Phosphophyllite, or Phos. Three hundred years old and useless in a fight — too soft, too easy to break. So Master Kongo hands them a desk job: compile an encyclopedia of their world. That dull task is how Phos meets Cinnabar, a Gem exiled to lonely night patrols because their own poison corrodes everything nearby.

Animated entirely in CG by Studio Orange from Haruko Ichikawa's manga, the show is one of those rare cases where computer graphics actually fit the subject — light splitting through faceted bodies, hair that flows like crystal, metal that hangs heavy. Under the gloss sits a quiet story about growing up, losing yourself, and what curiosity costs. Best for viewers who like their science fiction slow, gorgeous and a little unsettling. Stream Land of the Lustrous online on iFILM.