Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE

Episode 19

Dr. Stone continues its diamond fixation with this episode that recontextualizes some of Senku's odd instructions from last week. It turns out that of course Senku knows the Chemical Vapor Deposition Process can't produce diamonds larger than the tiniest grains of sand – his purpose was to use them to cut into, and shape, slightly softer raw diamonds. That means someone needs to to go dig some rough-hewn au naturale diamonds out of the ground the traditional way. Two teams, in opposite hemispheres then proceed to fabricate new hexagonal batteries for their respective Medusa devices, with watchmaker Joel toiling in Corn City, and endearingly excited, muscle-bound Kaseki in the Amazon. Senku's plan all along has been to reach a certain region of the Amazon Basin that's a natural treasure trove of rare earth metals and minerals, essential for the eventual construction of a viable space rocket. Always has an eye on the horizon, that boy. Thanks to Dr. Xeno's um… “naughty” abuse of electromagnetic signals, Stanley now knows Senku's destination. (Xeno secretly fashions a primitive radio transmitter from an extended metal coil, and using his magnetized metal gloves, fingers it rhythmically while imagining his beloved purple lipstick-wearing beau. The doujins, as they say, write themselves.) Racing up the South American coast at improbable speed, Stanley threatens to arrive earlier than Senku initially intended.

Once more, due to the narrative focus on the Medusa devices that are somehow powered by diamonds (which, we must remember, are little but pretty carbon-based three-dimensional lattice structures with no innate ability to store electrical energy), this episode is lacking in real science talk, which is a shame as that's one of the reasons I started watching Dr. Stone in the first place. Now the conversations are all about the best tactics for deploying this utterly fictional weapon against Stanley. Yes, Chrome's idea to use “suicide tactics,” sparing only Suika as essential backup, is clever, but I feel the story drifts further from its core principles the more we focus on its wilder fictional mechanics.

Kohaku's mini-speech about human progress and use of natural resources is inspiring in its simplicity (certainly striking a chord with under-used former central character Taiju whom you'd be forgiven for forgetting exists), while Chelsea continues to bounce around the place like she stashes illicitly-harvested amphetamines inside her pumpkin-hat. Hyoga and Tsukasa are still injured, so aren't going to be much use in the upcoming fight that seems likely to consume most of the rest of this cour.

It's unlikely that Senku's team's Medusa-centric plan will survive the imminent encounter with their crafty enemy, who seems to have intuited the existence of Senku's stealth ship from Xeno's brief message. He'll no doubt guess they're armed with multiple Medusas and will somehow think of a way to counter them. I'll be glad for this ongoing chase arc to wrap up soon in the hope we get a bit more of the science and exploration aspects of the show I enjoy more.

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