Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE

Episode 17

Despite its supposedly science-based premise, Dr. Stone has always demanded significant suspension of disbelief from its audience—case in point: this episode's reliance on Kohaku's more-than-superhuman athleticism. Look, we know she's freakishly strong and agile, but leaping across a several-hundred-feet-wide chasm in a single bound is usually a feat reserved only for those most yellow sun-drenched of Kryptonians. Kohaku's absurd jumping ability utterly destroys any pretence that this current plotline would be at all limited by actual consideration of pesky things like the laws of physics. Unless Senku secretly replaced Kohaku's legs with nuclear-powered piston engines off-screen, it seems believable plot progression has long since exited the building, launched into orbit, and is currently catching up to the Voyager 1 probe on its way out of the solar system.

This lack of believability isn't necessarily a criticism – I do adore this incredibly daft show, I just wish sometimes it was a little more, well, down-to-Earth. Last time we left off with Senku announcing he'd build a cable car to ascend a mountain, but that seems to have been revised into a rope-and-pulley bridge across a deep, wide ravine. To fashion this, he cannibalizes the wheels from a motorcycle, and somehow magics up a few hundred feet of high-tensile-strength steel and carbon rope. I'm not sure in which orifice he was hiding that lot.

There's a brief moment of panic when the merry band realizes that, due to weight limitations, certain of the less-savoury members of their group may need to travel across the chasm together, where they may be able to plot with one another. Thankfully, despite their previous (often murdery) differences, everyone's too invested in Senku's mission to discover the source of the petrification beam, so even Xeno's on his best behavior. A pulse-pounding moment, where it looks like sweet little Suika is about to become a splattered gourd stain on the ground far below, is resolved once more by Kohaku's improbable reflexes.

Mountainous travails successfully conquered, Senku and pals reach the Amazon rainforest, under the cover of which they hope to evade Stanley's ever-pursuing aerial gaze. Unfortunately, the Amazon conceals multiple new threats, not least horrid parasites and biting insects. That's nothing a little army ant alcohol extract won't cure! Senku brews up a disturbing concoction for everyone to rub on their skin as an insect repellent, causing poor Luna to foam at the mouth at the thought of covering her pristine, porcelain skin in stinky insect juice. Not that it'll help protect them from water-borne parasites, and Senku's newly-produced rubber Wellington Boots will only help so much. Tune in next time for Taiju's harrowing battle with intestinal protozoa and helminth infections!

Seriously, though, it's likely plot armor will protect our intrepid friends from the worst wriggling, squirmy, and unwelcome bodily guests. They've got bigger things to worry about, in the form of an enormous golden pyramid seemingly comprised entirely of Medusa devices. Has Senku discovered one of those fabled Mysterious Cities of Gold, or something altogether more sinister…?

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Dr. Stone: Science Future is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Thursdays.