Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE ‒ Episode 29

The one thing that I love the most about Dr. Stone, the aspect that keeps me returning to watch every new episode with fresh anticipation, is its relentless optimism. In our modern world of polarized politics, warmongering leaders and unstable economies, it's important to have a source of escapism. Dr. Stone provides us with a glimpse into a world where conditions continually improve because of the indomitable human spirit, because people from incredibly different origins work together to achieve common goals. Despite catastrophic starting circumstances, there will be a brighter future, built through equal parts grit and idealism.

Despite awakening to an empty world free of technology and industry, over the years, Senku and his friends have gradually clawed their way back up the slippery, steep slope to modernity. It's been a bumpy (and improbable) ride, but now they're finally on the cusp of a breakthrough that originally took Homo Sapiens hundreds of thousands of years to reach: the ability to escape Earth's orbit and reach other celestial bodies. With the construction of the Stone World's first calculator (using tens of thousands of tiny, intricately crafted magnets), they've already exceeded mankind's cognitive capability. Even a meat-head like Magma can use it to exceed Senku and Sai's mental calculation skills! What will they achieve once they've completed Senku's target of thirty million components?

It won't happen overnight because it will take time to meticulously construct all of those components, and without one of those enormous Bucket Wheel Excavators Ryusui dreams about, the Bauxite (aluminum ore for rocket construction) mining process on Australia's Cape York Peninsula could also be challenging. I also wonder about the viability of Senku's plan to ship massive quantities of corn from North America to Australia to feed the newly awakened Australian miner population…

With the revelation that Senku now possesses a single functioning Medusa device, the raw elements are there to start the space program. But why is a Medusa needed? Senku plans for his moon journey to confront Why-man to be a one-way trip for himself, his pilot Ryusui, and his bodyguard Tsukasa. Without enough fuel or resources to make a return journey, he plans to petrify the three of them on the moon's surface and wait for rescue, perhaps decades or even centuries in the future. Clearly, Senku sees this as an appropriate sacrifice. He's the ultimate pragmatist, a man who weighs up every option and chooses one with the highest chance of success and lowest chance of collateral damage. He's similar to Xeno in that way, except Xeno's willing to sacrifice almost anyone and everything in the pursuit of science, lacking Senku's basic human decency.

This is where Chrome differs from them both. For years now, he's been in Senku's shadow as a junior scientist, without formal education. Yet consider how remarkable he is, how even before he met Senku, he'd already made many scientific discoveries through basic application of logic, observation, and repetition. He's absorbed everything Senku has taught him, and now he's poised to surpass his teacher. How? Because he's driven by optimism. As he reminds Suika, who didn't even have Chrome's scientific background, she managed to produce revival fluid all by herself in the Amazon jungle, saving everyone. How much more can Chrome achieve, then? He refuses to accept Senku's pragmatic self-sacrifice. In Chrome's mind, science is limited only by imagination and effort. His determination to save his friends and achieve a happy ending for everyone is incredibly inspiring, and as he made Suika's eyes twinkle with excitement, I felt twinkling in the corner of my own eyes as once again Dr. Stone stimulated my tear ducts into unexpected production. Dammit, can my emotions not go one episode of Dr. Stone's final season without this relentless assault?

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