Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE

Episode 20

“War, what is it good for?” asked Edwin Starr in his 1970 hit song. Clearly he hadn't yet been exposed to Dr. Stone, which proves once and for all that war, in fact, makes anime very entertaining. In what has been easily the best episode of Science Future's second cour, Senku's allies face off desperately against Stanley's highly-trained soldiers, and it seems the plot armor is finally off. With the adage “No plan survives first contact with the enemy” proving extremely accurate in Dr. Stone's case. Senku's plan to have Suika run to safety to act as revival fluid backup, following potential Medusa device activation, falls apart almost immediately. Not due to advanced military tactics or superior enemy intelligence, but due to her simple altruistic human decency.

When prodigiously shiny-derriered enemy combatant Charlotte falls foul to a spider's poisonous venom, Suika can't help but bounce on in to help, a fruity medicinal ball of selfless morality. Though perhaps not the best example of stealth tactics, Suika's use of a primitive form of vasodilator Glyceryl Trinitrate opens Charlotte's constricted coronary arteries, preventing her imminent horrible death. Quite how Senku knew how to prepare this one particular “antidote” is hard to say, because it almost certainly won't help the vast majority of horrific neurotoxins and other nasty poisons wielded by toxic rainforest creepy-crawlies.

With Suika exposed to Stanley's Gears of War goons, Francois' paring knife makes its way to hostage Matsukaze whose only viable choice is to free cowardly Ginro from his bonds. At first Ginro's reaction is as expected – he blubbers and trembles, before remembering that he was one of his village's guards, and therefore is pretty handy at spear-based combat, expertly disarming three soldiers before being overpowered. This doesn't quite make up for him being the most irritating character in the entire show, but it does help. With Francois and Suika's two-person backup party now in Stanley's clutches, at least Francois manages to warn Senku via Morse Code of their enemies' arrival, leading to Kohaku running off half-cocked to rescue her beloved little melon-headed Suika. With elite Kingdom of Science fighters Tsukasa and Hyoga in tow, surely their combined might will be enough to see off their enemies? In a rare nod to plausibility, it turns out no, actually three teenage fighters aren't a match for an organized team of professional soldiers armed with semi-automatic firearms. Although they successfully destroy their target (Stanley's communication device with which he can send instructions to execute Senku's allies in Corn City), it comes at a heavy cost.

We end with Hyoga apparently already dead, Kohaku not far off, and Tsukasa breathing his last, surprising himself by laying all of his hopes at former enemy Senku's feet. Their fates surprisingly brutal and bloody, the usually light-hearted Dr. Stone tonally transforms into something completely different with this episode. While, as Tsukasa suggests, the fallen warriors can probably be revived with petrification and revival fluid, there's no guarantee. Three of our most prominent characters have been shot at point-blank range, calmly and methodically; they're all dead, one way or another.

The stakes are raised now, probably higher than they ever have been in Dr. Stone. While this is a more action-centric episode than usual, it's in service to the characters and their relationships, plus, in Tsukasa's sake, his surprising development. While it features the usual silliness and far-fetched absurdity, those elements are more muted, replaced by a sense of tension and real danger. Episodes like this make me glad I never gave up on this long-running show, and I'm excited to see where it goes next.

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