Dr. STONE S2 – 9 [To Destroy and to Save]

It’s done, the war is over, peace has come to Dr. STONE! Or at least that’s what it wants you to think. With 2 episodes left something is yet to come. What it is, we will have to wait and find out. But as far as this week goes lets dive right in shall we?

Now normally I would start this section lamenting Dr. STONE’s action production. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, Dr. STONE is not an action show and it shows. But you already know that by now so lets skip to the good stuff and talk Tsukasa! This was a good week for him as Dr. STONE acknowledged a lot of holes in Senku’s “Save everyone” argument. If you have limited fluid, who do you save? How do you feed them all in a stone world, etc. Tsukasa saw these problems and, with a decent amount of bias, took that terrible choice onto himself. He’s always ridden the line of a redeemable villain. This week cemented that for him. Most important of all though it took what was previously a “Fuck yeah action” finale and shifted it to a “Fuck yeah humanity” one. And you know I love those.

Now that we are past the break and can talk spoilers, lets talk about that backstory a bit. As Dr. STONE points out, Tsukasa’s attitude and care for the those around him never really fit his actions. He clearly remembers his fallen and destroys statues to protect their future. Tsukasa doesn’t even want to kill Senku, he only tries because he believes it necessary to prevent modernization. So the question becomes: Why? Well for a little sister of course! On a purely emotional level, I like this backstory. I like how he is consistent in his actions, both before and after the flashback. Whether it be fighting for money for his sister or fighting the village, Tsukasa has never wanted conflict and that slots in nicely here. It’s a feel good moment. But mechanically you have to suspend your disbelief a bit for it to work.

Of course this isn’t unusual for Dr. STONE. If you’ve made it this far then you are familiar with suspending disbelief. Whether it be a 20 year old Senku with Wikipedia for a brain or people casually punching down solid trees: This is nothing new. But something about the image of a child fighting a grown adult and winning just… stuck out to me. Maybe it’s the size difference, maybe it’s the seemingly shady nature of the business that would let Tsukasa fight at that age at all. It could also be I find it difficult to believe Tsukasa didn’t think to search for and revive his sister before now. If that was his driving motivation then why did it take Senku to go get her? I don’t know. At the end of the day though, as much as I like it, this backstory didn’t fully hit for me.

This brings us to what happens after the backstory: The truce. Tsukasa made it clear himself but for those that missed it, let me lay it out. This isn’t peace. This isn’t the end of the conflict. As Tsukasa said, it is simply a truce. So for us the question becomes, what happens next? We still have two episodes left, Hyoga is still being creepy in the background and Tsukasa’s sister still needs to be revived. Are we going to get some kind of hostage situation that leads to truce peace? Or do we think that Tsukasa will give his life to save her/Senku, thus fully redeeming him as a character and “ending” their conflict? Let me know what you think down below because while I know the answer, I’m very curious what everyone else thinks might happen.

Finally lets take a moment to talk about some iffy science. Or rather, science that I have absolutely no idea if it would work. I am of course talking about the nitroglycerin. Dr. STONE is correct in that its pretty damn explosive. A single drop can get some decent results. But soaking the tip of a paper airplane isn’t going to get you anywhere near a lethal explosion. Especially not one of this size and scale. Now I can see why some might call this nitpicking on my part, and I agree, it is. However when something is that pivotal to resolving the major conflict of the show… I dunno, I kind of want it to work better. Just like Senku, the science is one of the few things Dr. STONE has tried to keep consistent, with only slight exaggerations. This feels like a bit to much though.

All in all though, as much as I nitpick about backstory and explosives, I did enjoy the episode. Tsukasa’s backstory and revelation about his sister, along with Senku’s negotiation, brought it back to what I love: Celebrating humanity. And I’m willing to forgive some shitty action and exaggerated science if the emotional core of the show is there.