Summer 2019 First Impressions – Dr. Stone

Taiju is about to confess to the girl he loves when a mysterious force hits the Earth and turns every human into stone. Taiju and his friend Senku wake up thousands of years later and begin to rebuild society. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 24

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Senku is a scientific genius, and Taiju is a lovable meathead. But neither boy’s particular strengths allow them to escape the mysterious green light that envelopes the Earth and turns all of its people to stone. By sheer force of will, Taiju holds onto his consciousness and vows to finish his confession to his crush, Yuzuriha, should they ever break out of their stony prison.

When Taiju finally does manage to break free, he finds the landscape almost completely transformed. Senku has been awake for 6 months already, and tells him the news – it’s now 3,700 later than when they were transformed, and the world has essentially been thrust back into the stone age. But Senku has a goal, and with his brains and Taiju’s brawn, he believes it’s a realistic one. He plans to use scientific knowledge and technique to recover humanity’s lost technology, and restore civilization to its former glory.

Impressions: Years ago, I watched a Discovery Channel documentary about the things that would happen if all of humanity were suddenly wiped off the face of the Earth. It was humbling to see how so much of our architecture might not even survive a century without proper upkeep, and eventually all of our greatest constructs and monuments would crumble beneath the weight and power of encroaching plant life. This can be terrifying to think about, but maybe also a little bit comforting in its inevitability and finality. The early scenes of Dr. Stone recreate this all in a montage, as Taiju calls out to Yuzuriha within his mind. Not only is it an effective way to show the passage of time, with bridges breaking and buildings toppling over, but it also speaks to the great resilience of human beings.

I’ve also read elsewhere that the chances of human beings being able to start again from human society’s literal square one position and progress all the way back to our current level of technology could be in the realm of impossibility. Fossil fuels are controversial (and I personally believe we ought to move away from them sooner rather than later), but one thing they’ve been really good at is providing a lot of energy and allowing us to manufacture a ton of things quickly on a very large scale. There may be no way to know for sure how much is left beneath the Earth to dig up, but one thing we do know is that oil, coal, and natural gas only exist due to millions of years of fossil decay, tectonic shifting, and other unfathomably slow processes that don’t occur within the small-scale human perception of time. If a disaster were to happen right now, there may not be enough resources left to restore the type of lifestyle we have.

The reason I mention all this is because this episode made me think about a lot of things that weren’t necessarily directly related to the plot or characters. Ever-present in the background of my thoughts are musings on where we are as a people and why some of us seem to be so stubborn when it comes to the idea that the conveniences and lifestyles we know could be fleeting. Simply put, the Earth itself doesn’t really care if we’re here or not, and more people (and industries) need to understand that reality before we do ourselves in. I think it speaks to the strength of the series’ premise that its very brief glimpses into a temporarily post-human world can relate so closely to real-life.

On the other hand, I think this episode also speaks to the strengths we as human beings have when we choose to put our minds to something. The probability of actually restoring society aside, Senku’s intelligence, passion, and effort argue well for the alternate hypothesis that, no matter what might happen, maybe we could claw our way back to some equivalent level of technology, or even beyond. While I’m not really convinced that he’s actually a student (his mad scientist credentials are already off the charts), Senku’s depth and breadth of knowledge, as well as his use of the scientific method to create and test his hypotheses, is an entertaining testament to the fact that some people take any hardship as a challenge. Senku’s partnership with Taiju, someone whose physicality provides him with a different sort of advantage, does a great job of pointing out that human survival relies on many different types of talent.

Setting aside my own existential musings, I had a lot of fun with this episode’s peeks into different kinds of biological science. Alcohol fermentation, chemical collection (from bat guano, no less), clay hardening, mushroom identification… I can now clearly see the appeal. I tend to like “edu-tainment” type stories, and I feel like this series would fit well alongside anime like Moyashimon or Cells at Work! with its very digestible and story-centric scientific fun facts. Fantasy anime is great, but I find that having even just a baby-toe dipped into reality makes it much simpler to relate to something, even if most of it is speculative.

The only real questions I have at this point revolve around the inconsistency of the stone mechanism. The early part of the episode features a few birds that have been turned to stone, which the characters find around their city. After the 3,700 years have passed, there are a few more of these birds around, but other animals and such don’t seem to have been affected. I’m guessing that this isn’t a “plot hole” as much as it is just something unexplained at this point. But within an episode that’s compelling and fun in so many other ways, this mystery sticks out like a sore thumb.

I also hope Yuzuriha gets de-petrified sooner rather than later. There’s something that feels a little off about Taiju holding a torch for a girl who’s a literal stone statue. I assume she’s like every other character and has had some kind of inner monologue at various points over the millennia, but we’ve never been privy to her internal thoughts, so right now she’s just something to pine over. This relationship dynamic feels a little bit weird to me.

I must say, this has to be one of the more unique shounen series I’ve had the pleasure to sample in my tenure as an anime fan. I think anime gets accused of being very formulaic (and honestly a lot of it is). However, one thing about operating within the confines of a formula is that, within those boundaries, there’s almost limitless potential for small kinds of creativity. There are a lot of shounen series about boys on adventures, encountering dangers, interacting with other characters, and discovering wondrous things. Choosing to set such a series in a wild new world in which any remnants of our society are gone is a fun, interesting angle to take within a familiar framework.

Pros: The episode introduces some fun scientific concepts. It’s a unique take on the shounen adventure formula.

Cons: There are some tough logical leaps and unexplained inconsistencies. Yuzuriha currently occupies sort of a creepy story role.

Content Warnings: Mild body horror (petrified people being broken into pieces). Destructive imagery (planes crashing, massive automobile pile-ups, buildings collapsing).

Grade: B+