Dr. Stone (TV SHOW)

Won the Award for the best of the Shoddiest.

DR. STONE
Season One (currently just finished)
Format: Crunchyroll
Genre: Anime, Science Ficton, Dystopian/Utopian themes

Rating: 10 out of 10. Hands down, this is now my favorite anime of all time.

SPOILERS.
Senku Ishigami is a mad genius, though a technology driven and semi-decent person. His best friend, Taiju Oki is going to confess his undying love to classmate Yuzuriha Ogawa. Beside the camphor tree, a glowing green light appears to suddenly turn every single person on the planet into stone. Animals are still alive and the Earth starts to decay and crumble around the statues of mankind to return it to its previous glory. Taiju (who I totally thought was the main character at this point) breaks out of the stone after only like....3,700 years later. He goes to the place where he was going to confess to Yuzuriha (since he like...eroded away) to see that she is still in stone, however Senku left him a note on the tree. Apparently, Senku woke up 6 months earlier and now these two dudes are the last ones left. Talk about a sausage fest. For reals. Senku seeks to rebuild civilization in the stone world with his knowledge of science aiding him and using Taiju's brawn. Really, an odd couple pairing. Through trial and error, Senku realizes that nital, made from bat shit, is the key ingredient and takes damn near a year to perfect the recipe to break people out of stone.

Tsukasa. Idealist. Psychotic. Not the best villain that I've seen yet. 

Taiju is so excited to break his love out, that the first person he decides to bring to life is Yuzuriha. Too bad they get chased away by lions. They have to unfreeze the strongest "primate high-schooler" Tsukasa Shishio, who fights them off. He kills the lions and makes his clothes out of it to not waste. He is a skilled hunter as well and provides the group with valuable food resources. This frees up Senku and Taiju to advance scientific pursuits. This makes Tsukasa question their methods and makes Senku realize that Tsukasa is crazy. He wants to do the Purge pretty much and get rid of the "corrupt adults" by smashing their statues, thus making them unable to be revived. Fucking bummer dude. Just when I thought this guy was like dope, just kidding. He's a secret murderer. Knowing the Tsukasa is crazy, he tricks him into going after the revival fluid. They revive Yuzuriha finally and they begin to head out to Hakone, so they can obtain weapons of science to use against Tsukasa, which turned out to be gunpowder.

The death of Senku??

The gunpowder is set on fire by Taiju (whose a fucking oaf) and its weird, because at that moment, they spot another fire in the distance. Tsukasa catches up to them and gives over the recipe of the fluid to Tsukasa who then asks if he will give up science or he will kill him. Senku, says "fuck off, I'm gonna be a science dude till I die." Tsukasa gives a fatal neck blow, meaning that Senku should die.... which doesn't happen. Senku had a piece of stone still suck to his neck, which heals everything underneath it. Senku sends Taiju and Yuzuriha off to spy on Tsukasa. 

While Senku goes away, he finds out there is a whole village out there. There's a sorcerer named Chrome who thinks he can beat Senku. Turns out, it's primitive science. Impressive because Senku only knows everything from the discoveries of other people and Chrome started from the bottom now he's here. 

About damn right.

Senku and Chrome are fast friends and he is now the apprentice of Senku. Turns out Chrome tried all this early science to save his childhood love, Ruri (aka also the village priestess) and tells him that he will develop medicine and antibiotics to save her. So Kohaku (Ruri's sister), Chrome and Senku get started. They straight up need manpower, so Senku uses foxtail millet to make ramen (albiet it depresses him because old ramen tastes better), however the villagers think it's absolutely delicious as hell. While they are getting all the ramen ready, Gen Asagiri pops up. He's a "mentalist" which is a fancy term for word magician. He reports falsely back to Tsukasa, for reasons unknown.

Senku makes magnets, Gen wards off Magma (an asshole of a villager) and they build a generator which leads to the building of lightbulbs. Gen is also attacked, luckily he survives, which is how they find out about the Grand Bout, a tournament that decides whom Ruri is going to marry and become the village head. Gen is now loyal to Senku with the promise of being made a cola. 

At this point, Senku needs allies, so he starts making glass to create eyewear for Suika. Well, turns out he needs a craftman who can glassblow and really just make shit. Enter Kaseki, the ripped old man whose dope af and creates really everything good. He's also a very sweet old man, so it's impressive that he plays along. Ginro has a silver spear made for him and they then head out on the journey of a lifetime. 

The Sulfur Harpy.

Just in time to die. The spear is to detect sulfur. Which is why this show showed me how beautiful it is. The effects on the sulfur gas show how crazy it is. They made gas masks to get to the sulfur and Ginro gets over his petrifying fear of the sulfur to save Chrome from dying. With the sulfur in hand, it's time to make the antibiotic. They need now the alcohol that is given to the winner of the Grand Bout. 

This is where SHIT GETS weird. Ruri knows Senku. SOMEHOW. The fighting of the Grand Bout goes on and somehow...Senku wins? He ends up divorcing Ruri immediately and runs off with the Grand Bout alcohol. The kingdom of science works all night long and they finally make a sulfa drug to give to Ruri and heal her. Turns out, she had pneumonia (WHICH IS IRONIC CAUSE I HAD IT THE SAME TIME I WAS WATCHING THIS SHIT.) The sulfa drug works and Ruri is good all over. Senku is now the chief of the village, which turns out to be called Ishigami Village...you know...Senku's last name.

Byakuya and Lillian.

Senku's last name is what his father named the village. Ruri knew because the priestess of the village passes down information about the village in its tales. Senku's dad, Byakuya, was an astronaut that took 5 years to pass his exams. When he did, he traveled to the International Space Station. He met up with Shamil, Connie, Dalia, Yakov and the charming Lillian Weinburg. All of of them then watch as the Earth gets its green light flash and everyone turns to stone. Leaving these guys as the last of the Mohicans. Looks like it originated in South America however, some of the astronauts decide to venture back to Earth and they end up in the middle of the ocean. The other astronauts go to save them and they end up on an island. Thus, making their own village. Soon, everyone starts dying from pneumonia and Dalia and Yakov are lost at sea. Byakuya makes the Hundred Tails to pass down essential knowledge to future generations and hopes that Senku will find it. Turns out the tales are Byakuya's gift to Senku. THIS EPISODE STRAIGHT UP MADE ME CRY. Like anytime Byakuya is in this show, YOU WILL FUCKING BAWL YOUR EYES OUT. Straight up, not fair. To also be fair, Byakuya made sure the world "meme" exists in their culture, so not really disappointed.

Why cover your face but not your abs?

Well, it can't be mushy for long. Hyoga, one of Tsukasa's compatriots, brings the hurt to Ishigami village. They are fooled into thinking that Senku has guns though. Doesn't stop them for long, cause they would only be flint-lock. They wait till a storm to attack when they really burst out with katanas. Hyoga is a spear fanatic and fights them, however, wouldn't you know...Gen sabotaged it. The attack was a distraction so Homura (a pink haired lady) could go in and set fire to the village. They trap Hyoga and Homura with the sulfur gas and sneak back.

Senku, at this point, decides it is much more vital to start making cellular phones. They start with making a cotton candy machine to get filaments. Which inspires a hydro-electricity generator, created by Chrome and Kaseki. This frees up villagers to make winter preparations. Then, they start the fast track of light bulbs. They create a Christmas tree light display and headlamps so Chrome can venture deeper into the caves and find useful elements. They decided to take Chrome, Senku and Magma to go find tungsten for their filaments, so it can withstand the vacuum. They find a giant mineral deposit and head back to base, to find out Gen has had the village create an observatory for Senku for his birthday. 

The process to a cell phone. So complex. Much wow.

Everyone in the village has their tasks to finish the cellular phone. Suika and friends twine gold wire, Senku and Chrome make plastic, the guards of the village burn coal for ash and make a microphone and Gen and Ruri create zinc-carbon batteries. All are finished and the first cell is created....too bad you need two of them to work.

Ruri then tells Senku of one of the Hundred Tails, which seems weird in its nature. The clues become obvious to Senku. His dad's gravestone is a time capsule, with a glass record inside of it. He made a record to talk to his son across millenia (see what I mean about Byakuya always making you want to bawl your eyes out??) Using the phonograph, which is easy to make, they hear the voices of the founders as well as a song by Lillian, who is an accomplished singer. The villagers then wish to make their own entertainment. Thus, with the whole village on his side and the kingdom of science ready, Senku declares war.

This was probably one of the longest "reviews" or "spoilers" or plot sum up I've ever created and it literally took me hours to write. WORTH IT. GO WATCH THIS SHOW. I will rewatch it for Christmas. I recommend this show to everyone I can who watches or even breathes in the direction of anime. A must watch with many questions and answers and touching moments.