The Summer 2025 Anime Preview Guide - Ruri Rocks

High school student Ruri is a girl who loves minerals and jewelry. One day, she meets mineralogy graduate student Nagi who pulls her into the world of mineralogy.

Ruri Rocks is based on the Introduction to Mineralogy manga series by Keiichirō Shibuya. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Sundays.

Given Ruri's original monetary motivations toward mineralogy, it was only a matter of time before she got the notion that there's gold in them thar hills. This makes a good subject for the second episode of Ruri Rocks, since digging, panning, and searching for gold is a corner of geology that a lot of regular people have at least a passing familiarity with. Ruri's still a kid inexperienced in this field, so she's in a prime place to learn that finding gold to get rich off of isn't quite as easy as one might think. She'll learn a lot more than that, too, as the show's edutainment sensibilities continue apace.

Ruri continues to be a mostly good-natured brat of a character I enjoy following. She's a bundle of energy that just escapes being annoying, helped by how much fun it is to watch the animation cut loose and have her constantly, uncontainably moving. This is a girl who, possibility of finding gold aside, can't wait to start busting rocks apart with her hammer. That's infectious enthusiasm. Late in the episode, she impulsively dives into an underwater pothole just on the off-chance of beholding the sparkle of gold with her own eyes. And she's extremely receptive and understanding of the knowledge about the world of mineralogy that Nagi is imparting to her, even through her regular, selfish-sounding protests. She's a character who can learn, who brings the audience along with her in learning, and that makes her a fun viewpoint character to follow.

The cool rock facts getting dropped continue to be pretty cool, which helps. A lot of viewers probably already know about iron pyrite, aka "Fool's Gold." But here it's pretty interesting to get a crash course in the exact nature of that mineral and precisely why it's considered so worthless. Nagi brings things back up by delineating the different "kinds" of value mineral discoveries and highlighting the various formations in which pyrite can occur. It looks cool! Similarly, Ruri pulling out a surprise chunk of genuine gold after her pothole plunge feels contrived, but learning about this specific kind of placer gold formation, and seeing that impressive value beyond the monetary, is nice. Not all that glitters is gold, but it glitters all the same, and the sparkling joy found can be its own reward.

Similarly, Ruri Rocks continues to sparkle from a production standpoint. I could keep cracking wise about the camera's insistence on zooming in on Nagi's figure, sure, but what I noticed here was when the field of view zoomed out. The setting is regularly pulling back to provide viewers the full scale of the landscapes in comparison to the characters they're dwarfing. The weather is a focus in this episode, so there are contrasting shots of clear skies and cloud cover moving in before a rainstorm—the art loves showing off different shades and shadows throughout the day. And that's not getting into the closer shots of pieces like the sparkling gold, or the positively lovingly animated shot of Ruri pulling herself out of the water of the pothole late in the episode. This really is a show I love just watching as much as I enjoy learning about mineralogy from, and I don't know that I could ask for more from a fun little hobby anime.

Part of me likes to think that the genesis of Ruri Rocks was some creator hearing about the current popularity of girls' rock band shows and getting just a little bit of the wrong idea. Still, an anime-girl Introduction to Mineralogy isn't the most out-there idea, as far as hobbyist shows go, so my curiosity was genuinely piqued. Even then, getting to actually look at Ruri Rocks confirmed that I was wildly unprepared for this show's game. Right away, Studio Bind is crushing it, animating the titular character as she bounces around being excited about crystals, her and supporting characters simply refusing to stop moving. This is all before she makes it up to the mountains, and the actual mineral hunting starts.

Seriously, if you were a fan of the lavish great-outdoors travelogue of anime like Laid-Back Camp, then know that Ruri Rocks is giving it a run for its money—with its own style and all. The tree-crowded, shady areas of Ruri's local mountains create layers of attentive, atmospheric coloring for these rock walks to happen in. The running water of the rivers sparkles more than the focal gems at times. And of course, there are breathtaking renderings of the crystals themselves, both small stones and huge formations that I only slightly doubt are this easy to find in real life.

Sure, there are more traditionally expected kinds of artistic appeal in this show as well, seen in Nagi, the grad student Ruri befriends, who is extremely well-equipped…for finding crystals and minerals, obviously. Seriously, the show's camera has no problem lingering on Nagi's tightly panted backside. She also drives a Mini Cooper and carries a warhammer; I'm inclined to think she's cool and hot enough as-is. And when the rest of the show looks this good, I'll take it all, alongside Nagi delivering Cool Rock Facts™ to bring Ruri along on this journey.

Ruri's the amusing kind of bratty to start in the story. It forms an effective rapport with Nagi as she's brought along to genuinely enjoy mineralogy and learning to appreciate the journey these rocks have gone on. It works on the audience as well, with the reverent rock opera detailed by the narrated animation even working on someone like me, who hadn't thought before about just how cool rocks could be. Ruri Rocks has that feel of a somewhat elevated Cute-Girls-Doing-Cute-Things series, and if it can keep up these vibes, I can see this rock becoming the surprise sound of the summer.

Ruri Rocks is the kind of “anime girls doing a niche hobby” show that commits to the edutainment aspect of its premise, and I respect that. When I was a kid, I probably would have found the concept of a show where characters spend most of the time just walking around and looking at rocks to be unconscionably boring. I'm in my thirties now, and any guy who has reached my age will tell you that there's some kind of switch that gets flipped in our brains that makes Boring Adult Stuff fascinating the minute you leave your twenties in the rearview mirror. I listen to podcasts about old historical battles between European armies all the time, now. Just the other day, my good buddy from high school and I spent several hours talking about all of his ambitious remodeling plans for the house he just bought. So, Ruri Rocks, go ahead and spend several minutes of your second episode explaining how to tell the difference between minerals like gold and pyrite by tracking the colors of their powders using streak plates. This is the shit I live for now.

It's the anime part of the Ruri Rocks project that I find to be the shakiest, if I'm being honest. Don't get me wrong, nothing about the show's production or acting is bad. If you want anime girls going rockhounding, that is exactly what you're going to get. I just still think it's funny that the show about minerals is just horny enough to be off-putting to the hypothetical viewer that looked up this show specifically because of their interest in rocks, and not because of the anime girls. My brain has been permanently rotted through after covering this industry for a decade, so it doesn't really bother me, per se, but come on. All of those conspicuous shots of Ruru and Nagi's butts, feet, thighs, and even armpits aren't to enhance the show's commitment to rigorous mineral studies. I challenge anyone out there on Earth to give me a non-horny explanation for why Ruri is a tiny high-schooler who spends a good portion of the episode either soaking wet or hanging out in loose-fitting pajamas. At the same time, Nagi's T-shirt has magically found a way to create boob-socks that perfectly outline the curvature of her H-cup gazongas. I'll give you five bucks if you come up with something even halfway convincing.

That said, if you're reading this, I reckon you already have an idea of how much the leerier aspects of this subgenre are likely to bother you. As I said before, I don't think Ruri Rocks' horniness makes it a bad show; I just find it distracting. Imagine all of the kids with nerdy geologist parents who won't ever get the chance to share this show during family movie night. They could still try and give it a shot, but I don't know, man. My wife already gave me the side-eye when she came into the office as I was watching this one. I can't imagine the questions Mom and Pop might end up asking about your “hobbies” if you forced them to watch this.

It was only a matter of time before we got the anime about cute girls getting into collecting minerals. I'm a little shocked that it took this long, though I'm even more surprised that we (to my knowledge) haven't seen one about birding, or coins, or model trains. Still, the industry's obsession with monetizing and marketing to literally every conceivable branch of nerd culture will never cease, so I know that the arrival of Ruri Rocks means that we're just that much closer to the show where a bunch of kawaii little Egons go all-in on their collections of molds and fungi. May the wonders never cease.

I'm taking the piss a little bit, of course. Ruri Rocks is totally fine. It's got perky anime gals. It's got a niche hobby that features all sorts of intricacies and sub-cultural quirks that the anime can hyperfixate on. It's got plenty of detailed backgrounds that feature the nature of Japan (specifically the nature that contains a bunch of rocks and dirt). It has a soundtrack that does that “plink plink plink, doo dee doo” thing that most of the shows in this wheelhouse utilize (though thankfully with minimal emphasis on that accursed recorder). The character animation, in particular, is a standout, with a lot of detail being given to Ruri and Nagi's expressive emoting and their movements through nature.

Speaking of the character designs and animation, you can tell that this show featured the work of at least a few exceptionally talented perverts. Please note that I am not saying this in any kind of derogatory manner; it's merely an observation borne from years of observing the tell-tale signs that pop up in nearly any work of animation. This is an incredibly laborious and stressful art form, and I firmly believe that most animators and artists need to be at least a teensy bit preoccupied with their kinks to stay sane in their line of work. All of this is to say that you might notice our two girls', er, “distinct” proportions, and the somewhat frequent close-up shots on their thighs and knees. You might think to yourself, “Huh. I feel like this show wants me to be horny for these rock-collecting cartoon girls…” Your instincts do not deceive you.

That said, Ruri Rocks isn't overloaded with skeezy fanservice or anything. It's a much more passively horny anime than a lot of other examples you could point out from any given season. I just figured I'd point that fact out, since your mileage will vary on how much the blatant (but relatively restrained) male gaze of the show will affect your ability to enjoy the otherwise wholesome rockhounding of it all. As for me, I don't really care about gems and minerals, so Ruri Rocks doesn't do much for me. Call me back when we get to the anime where the girls all get together and collect Godzilla figurines and Warhammer 40k model kits.

I am pleased to report that the second episode of Ruri Rocks is far less obtrusively horny than the first one was. Nagi still has ginormous badonkeroos and an improbably fitted shirt, but the camera doesn't linger and gawk in the same way it did in the first episode. Nagi wades into a river in a white button-down, and doesn't once get conveniently splashed so it turns see-through and the audience gets to ogle her bra! That's right, we have downgraded from “distracting fanservice” to “easy to ignore boob nonsense”! Cue the confetti!

What does it say about me that I'm now coming up with missed opportunities for fan service? Just that I've watched too many anime, I hope.

Now that I'm not spending the time grousing about unnecessary sexualization, I was much freer to actually enjoy what Ruri Rocks has to offer: beautiful animation, gentle character dynamics, interesting geological information, and lots and lots of scenery porn. Nagi's gentle mentoring of Ruri involves not just teaching her where and how to hunt for minerals in the mountains, but plenty of life lessons. Ruri sulks when she finds pyrite instead of gold, but Nagi is there to remind her that even if something is common and lacks monetary value, that doesn't mean it isn't interesting and you can't appreciate it for what it is. As someone who used to have a mineral collection that included a sizable chunk of pyrite, Nagi's lesson resonated with me. Minerals are cool, even the ones that are worth pennies rather than dollars.

It's too bad Crunchyroll doesn't credit their translators, because I'd lavish praise on whoever handled the localization here. The dialogue is heavy with scientific jargon, with geological terms flying fast and thick, particularly on the eyecatches. While it's still accessible for laymen, I wouldn't expect even advanced Japanese learners to have the word for “pyrite” or “dodecahedron” buried in the back of their mind, waiting to be dug up at the right time. Most translations require research and vocabulary lookup, but this one demands more than the average series, which takes time and effort. Nor did they skimp on making the English script natural and accessible as a trade-off, because that also takes time and effort. So, whoever you are, if you're reading this, I appreciate you. Thank you for your hard work.

I know the reduction in fan service will be a negative to some audience members, but if that's enough to make you drop Ruri Rocks, I'm not sure why you're spending time on this instead of one of the many boob-oriented anime from this and every previous season. Meanwhile, it leaves me and others free to enjoy it without frustration.

Staff of Studio Bind, I'm placing you under arrest. Don't try to run or protest, you WILL be bonked and sent to horny jail.

The thing is, I do want to like Ruri Rocks. I have a deep and abiding love of crystals, not in the “healing energy” way but in the “they're shiny and pretty and geology is interesting” kind of way. Ruri's sojourn into the mountains to collect gemstones is the stuff dreams are made of for me. Hobby anime for things that don't already interest me puts me to sleep, but I'll salivate over a gorgeously rendered quartz seam with the best of them. Wandering through the woods with an antique warhammer is a new fantasy I've taken on.

Plus, I adore Ruri. There's no sad backstory about how her father handed her a crystal with his dying breath or her great-aunt fell off a cliff while hunting for amethysts in the woods. She's just a normal teenager who likes sparkly rocks and is pursuing that interest. “Normal teenager” extends to behaviors like whining at her mom for an advance on her allowance or throwing a small fit when a mineral-hunting area is unexpectedly closed, forcing her to change plans on the fly. Miyari Nemoto is perfect in the role, adolescent and immature, but her enthusiasm makes her likable.

Remember Onimai? Of course you do. Studio Bind is giving Ruri Rocks a similar treatment. The animation is stunning. It's brightly colored, lavishly fluid, and full of lifelike motion. Drawing gemstones in a way that captures their beauty is challenging, but they've mastered it in a way few animation teams could ever dream of. However, they've also ramped up the fan service in what was a relatively innocent manga to uncomfortable levels.

To be fair, it doesn't have the same pervasive patina of pedophilia that Onimai did. There are a few suspicious angles on Ruri's legs, but the camera is mostly interested in drooling over Nagi, a grad student and thus an adult woman. I looked into the manga and found out the animation team inflated Nagi's breasts by multiple cup sizes and vacuum-sealed her into her button-down shirt. I'm worried she'll lose her balance and fall off a cliff, but at least she has two flotation devices attached to her chest. Her tits and ass are so big, they seem to have gravitational pull, judging from how persistently the camera is pointed at them.

Ruri Rocks is at once adorably winsome and a grim reminder that sometimes, a man simply cannot allow a female character to exist without serving as jack-off fodder. Shingo Ishii, let go of your dick while directing, and nobody else needs to get hurt.