Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE

Episode 33

Just like he threatened to last week, Senku has made good on his promise to “re-invent the internet,” and already characters are talking about reviving social media. How quickly can this idyllic Stone World society, where everyone works together for a common goal, degenerate into a pure digital hell of ideological silos and user-generated adult content? Perhaps mercifully, much like with when he reinvented “cellphones,” what Senku means by “internet” bears only the slightest resemblance to what we've come to recognize as such an epochal technological advancement today.

By using the fibrous elastomer harvested from the Eucommia rubber tree, Senku is able to produce transcontinental underwater cables that are both hydrophobic and electrically insulated, preventing the central metallic core from deterioration by exposure to water, and allowing the long-distance propagation of electrical signals. Now as far as we know, the SAL 9000 based in Japan is the only even remotely useful computer in the world, and even it has computation power analogous to the 1983 Nintendo Famicom games console, essentially a toy even in its time. Without computational devices either end to decode internet protocol information packets, what's the point of making these connections?

It seems that this is the easiest way to broadcast two-way television signals. In lieu of a modern satellite network to bounce radio signals around the globe, direct copper fiber access is the next best thing. With multiple cathode ray screens at each terminal, Senku and his worldwide teams of engineers and specialist fabricators can collaborate in real time, even modifying images with phosphor pens. It's an elegantly low-tech solution, although once more the show skips over the stupendous quantity of work and time required to essentially hand-lay cables across multiple seas and oceans. At this point, the viewer has little choice but to shrug, and assume that Senku basically has access to unlimited resources now, and an army of followers the world over who are able and willing to jump to whatever whimsical command he announces.

The rest of the episode is concerned with choosing the three-person crew that will travel, petrified, to the moon. From previous episodes, we assume this trio will comprise Senku, Tsukasa, and Ryusui, but perhaps other choices will be more prudent? Tsukasa's surprise attack against Kohaku culminates in what almost looks like it could be a marriage proposal. But no, he's merely judging whether the physically more compact (and thereby lighter), yet still formidable, and incredibly agile, Kohaku would be a better choice for bodyguard duties.

Senku, on the other hand, while the brains behind mankind's revival, lacks physical skills. His strength and stamina are woeful. I can't help wondering if perhaps Chrome would be better. After all, he's lived most of his live having to fend for himself in a wild, primitive world. He's almost certainly physically fit in addition to harboring a genius-level intellect. So that leaves Ryusui as pilot. His skills are undoubtedly impressive, as he demonstrates on Sai's moon lander video game. He's also a crack shot with a pistol, unlike either Kohaku or Senku. (Got to be able to blast away those pesky medusa devices, especially if the hilariously overpowered net-gun-grenade-launcher isn't easily to hand.) Yet for all his excitement and enthusiasm about the upcoming voyage, he realizes there's someone else who may yet be better suited. In a secret cave behind a waterfall, blocked off by warning banners, sleeps the dangerous Stanley, in petrified form. Is it wise to release Dr Xeno's most stalwart follower at this critical juncture?

It's a fairly standard episode of Dr. Stone this week, concerned mostly with maneuvering all of the various endgame pieces into place. As always, it's bright, breezy, and fun, with plenty of sight gags to leaven the otherwise serious plot. Not every episode can be emotionally devastating, and even average Dr. Stone is always competently entertaining.

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