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「CLEAR WORLD」
“Clear World”
One of my favorite episodes thus far — but probably not for the reason you expect.
General Impressions
Alluding to what I was talking about in the excerpt, there have been many hints here and there about what I’m going to talk about — hints that have been getting bolder and a bit more obvious until it was really spelled out for us this week. And the thing I’m talking about my dear readers is Senku is his extremely obvious love for humanity as a whole and especially those close to him.
I know I’ve talked about this quite a bit, but I think what I love the most about Dr.STONE (besides all the cool science-adjacent material) is just how much nuance the story has given our main protagonist. Again, instead of just being some brilliant genius since birth, Senku was born a normal kid and through a combination of hard work, patience, and love from those around him became an amazing individual. And because of all the things that shaped his path as he grew into who he is today, he understands the importance of looking out for others and utilizes that amazing intelligence of his to see things that others would miss.
Using this week’s episode with Suika and her glasses, it was clear that nobody realized she was suffering from bad vision. With everyone thinking that she just wore a watermelon over her head to hide some kind of disfigurement, it was Senku who revealed that Suika’s fear over her looks was just a side effect of the main problem — real bad near sightedness. It was also Senku who relieved her of notion she had some kind of disease or defect and instead restored some sense of confidence by using just the right words to alleviate just the right fears. Sure, Senku will hide behind that “evil” persona of his since he’s a closet tsundere but it’s clear as day just how compassionate he is toward others.
God, who would have thought a show called Dr.STONE would have so many layers of nuance hiding within it? Anyways, diving back into the main story, it’s kind of crazy just how much progress Senku has made thus far. With the Kingdom of Science rapidly growing, it looks like it’s just a matter of time until it’ll have everything it needs to create the sulfer-based antibiotics that will hopefully save Ruri’s life. That said, it feels like we’re overdue for some conflict/trouble and next week’s episode (if Senku is being serious) seems like it’s dealing with something rather ominous. God, I want to know what it is!
Oh my god, I forgot to talk about Kaseki! Besides him knowing about being dirty in the bedroom (he clearly said ヘンタイプレイ) , I’m so glad he’s finally made his debut. I have a few other things I want to say, but that’ll have to wait for the story to go a bit further. Anyways, I’ll catch you guys next week!
Spoiler Talk:Show Spoiler ▼
Preview
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A very important question needs to be answered here… Can Suika be considered as a megane?
Absolutely. I will hear no argument!
You know I’ve actually considered this question — do the lenses make the megane or do the frames make it?
Absolutely loved the way the sunflower scene was animated following the manga’s lead by keeping it free of dialog and just focusing on Suika’s reaction.
Suika is so cute!
I loved how her tears of happiness made her vision blurry.
I wasn’t sure if it was the screen or just meeee
This episode reminded me of a video of someone who tried to make glasses in his backyard. He got the idea from a book – “The Knowledge; How to Rebuild our World from Scratch” by Lewis Dartnell.
The Post apocalyptic idea of rebuilding societies is about a century old, and The Knowledge is simply the latest incarnation. Of course, both Lewis Dartnell, and Dr. Stone’s author gloss over how messy and hard it would be to rebuild from absolute scratch.
However, for non-fiction, it is a matter of history that people have ventured into the wilderness with bare necessities to build societies and homesteads – the main feature delineating them from the savages being their knowledge of civilization. The discovery of the New World is a myriad of such history where sparsely populated continents are barren of modern technology, and later settled into a civilization of millions within a century.
As someone who has been in glasses his whole life, that sunflower scene was something special. It reminded me of one of my mother’s favorite embarrassing stories from childhood on the day I went to the eye-doc for the first time, and he showed me what my eyesight should’ve been. All I could do was stare at the tops of buildings across the street because I never knew they had designs and/or molding, or what pigeons looked like from that far away. It sounds stupid, but that first moment was like something amazing snapped into place and the world became more real. Great to see that feeling captured so well.
R i g h t.
I can’t even imagine living your life without knowing that your blurry vision isn’t necessarily a permanent thing.
Gfdi Ginro, SPEAK UP MAN.
Just a few comments on the kingdom of science:
Senku really needs to get another power source besides human muscles. Surprised that he hasn’t built a water wheel or windmill by this time.
This is not a virgin planet. Most of the useful native metals and minerals will have already been collected during the thousands of years that Japan was inhabited. On the other hand why aren’t they salvaging materials from our industrial civilization? There were millions of tons of structural steel in the country, it can’t all have completely corroded, and even if it did the iron oxide would be a better source than iron sand. Anything made of stainless steel should still be around and available to be reforged. Heck, go back and salvage the rest of that bronze Buddha statue (which should have corroded).
As stated molten iron will be about 1500 deg C. It will be white hot. Trying to cast it in bamboo molds will turn the bamboo to ash in a second.
Senku needs more Manpower to build bigger things and also this Old Man is the one they need the most
That’s an excellent point for metals like copper (there was no need for him
to make his own copper), gold, aluminum (think of all of those Japanese drink
cans somewhere, and definitely SS flatware — those should be super-simple
to find. But, after all of that time, steel left to the elements really doesn’t
last that long. And as we’re told, plastics gotta be around somewhere since
they never go away. Likewise with glass – glass bottles will last a long time –
he could’ve re-melted those.
Oh well, can’t nick-pick such an entertaining series, now can I?
I think if they tried to salvage man-made structures lying around, they wouldn’t be able to show where those minerals and chemicals originate in nature. And that’s part of the theme of the show–to bring civilization back from zero. Real zero.
How long was they asleep over 3700 Years? Where even the True North is now different
even today the continents are drifting away or together, so where would they be in 3700 Years?
Wife Kohaku
https://randomc.net/image/Dr%20STONE/Dr%20STONE%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2009.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Dr%20STONE/Dr%20STONE%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Dr%20STONE/Dr%20STONE%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2011.jpg
@Takaii
I loved this episode for exactly the same reasons as yours. Any moment that focuses on Suika is great, but most importantly, this episode highlights why Senku is the most deserving as the protagonist of this series. He’s a typical young man who is engrossed in his interests and hides his emotions behind his cool and often nefarious facade while at the same time considerate and compassionate to other people. I enjoy the dynamics between him and Suika. They are like siblings. It was cute when Suika was tugging onto his clothes when they went to the sunflower field.
I never thought that such a series would involve so many moments that make you marvel at the very concept of “Wonder”. Such an experience is difficult to encapsulate but this series is able to do it repeatedly; I am impressed.
I really liked that bit where Senku was musing about Kiseki with the warm, shiny eyes:
“There are people like you in every age. Dudes with true talent, who’ve spent their whole lives with their heads down, dedicated to their work.”
That he can equally laud the maniacal inventor smashing rocks together in Chrome and the craftsman with an attitude of sit down, shut up and get it done in Kiseki, really broadens Senku as a character.