Dr Stone: Peak Science, mostly fiction

Petrification, a well-known ability of the gorgon snake Medusa who can petrify anyone with one glance. Well, it is safe to say she doesn’t exist but there is her substitute.

In the year 2038, Senku ishigami is casually turning plastic into gasoline while his ecstatic friend Taiju ooki attempts to confess to a long-time friend Yuzuriha Ogawa. Sounds boring, right? Moments later a green-ray engulfs the earth turning every human into the living dead, simply said, the ray of green hue petrify’s the entire working world. Not a single person is spared. 3,000 years later, Taiju awakens from his petrification, only to notice the Japan he once knew is no longer but he isn’t alone, he never was. Senku, his closest friend, is alive and was the first to wake up months back. The two shake hands, figuratively, and take action to revive all 7 billion people who have been turned to stone

To be honest, a summary of the plot is not enough to highlight the brilliance of the anime. Not only are the characters amazing, on a certain intellectual or physical extreme but all of them play some role for the greater good. Take Senku for example, he did in the first episode itself turn plastic into gasoline! He’s a teenager too! Remember when I said ‘3,000 years later? The narrator doesn’t tell us this, there is none, Senku does. Ever since the moment of his petrification, he counted every second of every minute for 3,000 years, mentally. This is just a peek into his genius, later on, in Season 2 of the show, he creates a flash-bang to combat an anti-hero faction. What’s even more shocking, his comical version within the show even explains how to make it.

Dr Stone is ridiculous, with physics, chemistry and biology being used everywhere, Dr Stone truly is the science fiction that wasn’t. It has Sci-Fi elements however it never focuses heavily on the fiction part, other than the setting. Dr Stone’s peculiarity hasn’t stopped here, turns out there is a part of humanity still alive but to them, science doesn’t exist, instead, witchcraft does. However I’ll have to stop here, anything else would be an unpleasant spoiler.

Moving on to the manga. Read it. That’s all that needs to be said. The art is beyond stunning. The details, shading and designs are leaps and bounds ahead of many artists. I was simply awestruck when I first read it. This is the only failing point of Dr Stone the anime, the art and details of the manga don’t quite translate into the show. In contrast, what makes the anime much better is the comedic accents and often the sound effects that add to the atmosphere.

Yūsuke Kobayashi is a diamond amongst the gold that is the voice acting industry. He voiced characters from some of the most popular shows like Arthur from fire force and Subaru from Re: zero, which are also incredible anime’s. Listening to him speak from Senku’s side draws your attention, and somehow helps comprehend the complexity of what he utters, considering how much he does, it was a fabulous idea to employ Yūsuke.

Dr Stone is an amazing anime that leaves you wanting more, hence my manga recommendation. It takes a beautiful take on Sci-Fi with an original plot and character traits you’ll find yourself falling in love with. I may be biased since I’ve been focusing on Senku a lot but then again, it is because of the show that I’m biased, it’s just that good. Inagaki Riichiro is the creator of Dr stone and I’m glad he created such a masterpiece with conflicting ideologies and mysteries that stack up to the moon, there is so much is going on that it leaves you wanting more.