Dr. STONE – 20

「動力の時代」 (Douryoku no Jidai)
“Era of Energy”

The one thing that probably keeps me coming back week after week is just how good all the characters are.

General Impressions

Between talking about the current situation the Kingdom of Science is facing and Senku as a human being, I want to talk about the latter first. If you haven’t already noticed, Senku isn’t someone who’s simply focused on results. Sure he may be constantly working toward a goal, but there’s never been a moment where he’d be willing to sacrifice those around him to attain what he needs. There was a glimpse of this when the show deliberately pointed out how Senku left some beloved cola for Gen, but I think this week’s example of the cotton candy he left for Homura really helped settle that point. As Ruri said, there’s no doubt that Senku could attribute what he did to some sort of ulterior motive, but it’s clear as day that he simply wanted to share the happiness of enjoying something from the past. If I were to guess, I’d wager that Senku doesn’t want to kill anyone in this new world — even Tsukasa. That said, it remains to be seen whether or not Senku will be able to overcome the current crisis looming over him, but I doubt his first instinct would be to try and kill anyone.

Looping back to the current predicament that Senku has on his hands, who would have thought that he’d be able to create the (current) world’s first radio tower? Thinking about it from a strategic perspective, it makes perfect sense that one of the easiest ways to defeat another army is to outmaneuver them. And what better way is there to outmaneuver something than with stronger, more efficient communication? God, in hindsight it seems like such a simple idea when you consider the situation. When you lack firepower and manpower, it takes something creative to overcome the odds and in this case the power of communication is just the thing that can exponentially power up the Kingdom of Science. All that said, if I’m being honest, I’m probably most excited for the moment when Chrome and the rest finally experiencing hearing someone else’s voice from afar.

What a brilliant episode! With a mix of emotional moments and fun science experiments, what more could you really have asked for? Toss in fun humor and you had an episode that could entertain just about anyone. In any case, I’ll see you guys next week where we’ll hopefully see some kind of long-rage communication device in action. See you then!

Editor’s note: Takaii will be out of town from 11/24-12/2, so coverage of episodes 21 & 22 will be delayed until he returns.

Preview