Dr. Stone (Episode 19) – To Modernity
With his spear broken, Hyoga reveals that his attack has just been a distraction. Senku turns to see the village ablaze. With nowhere else to go the villagers head to the science hut, but Hyoga is waiting for them!
What did you watch?
After the fighting in the last episode, I wasn’t too sure how episode 19 of Dr. Stone would play out. They appear to have Hyoga on the ropes with his spear broken and Gen finally switching sides. It’s been an exciting couple of episodes, so it’s going to be interesting to see what happens in the war, especially as this is likely to be the final big arc in the season. With only five episodes left, I can’t wait to see how it ends. There will be spoilers beyond this point!
What happened?
Hyoga was defeated by Gen’s sabotage, Senku’s katanas, and the villagers’ coordinated attacks. He openly admitted as much, but then he also revealed that his attack had been a mere distraction. Senku and the villagers turned back to see the huts on fire and the people running around in a panic. Then a girl with a torch raced across the bridge, leaping over their attacks and bouncing to Hyoga’s side. He revealed that she was his secret weapon and then they disappeared into the forest.
Senku told the villagers to flee to the forest and hide at the science hut. Hyoga, however, was waiting for them and had plans to kidnap one of the children. Worried for the science hut and fruits of all their hard work, Suika led Hyoga and his thugs away. She ran up the mountain towards the hot pools. When Senku found out, he raced with Kohaku see get her back, especially with the strong winds whipping over the mountain and the sulphuric acid lake…
What did you think?
I’m not sure how to say this, but I am a little disappointed with this episode. For the most part, I’ve been struggling to come up with negatives, but this episode seemed to have a few. It also lacked the emotional punch of the more recent episodes. I’m not even convinced that the action was good enough to make up for it either and then we have Senku revealing that they are going to make smartphones… well, I think they will end up more like walkie-talkies, but it is quite the leap in technology.
What was your favourite moment?
I do enjoy the depiction of Mother Nature that comes with the sulphuric acid lake. Seeing her floating towards Suika with open arms and then transform into a horrendous undead monster as the poisonous gas covers the ground is always a great image. Suika’s actions were heroic and probably kept Hyoga and his thugs from kidnapping anyone, but it almost cost Suika her life. If not for Kohaku and Senku arriving with gas masks at the last moment, it would have been a far darker episode. Then, Hyoga revealed his true nature in sacrificing his thugs to see if the gas was real. It did seem a little bizarre that he would knock them all down at once though.
What was your least favourite moment?
I hate to do this to my favourite series of the year, but nothing is immune to mistakes. Maybe, I now have unreasonable expectations, but they did enough to pull me out of the story. Firstly, let’s talk about Hyoga’s secret weapon, the pink gymnast who set fire to Ishigami Village. Hyoga and his thugs, Gen included, had been sat around waiting for a storm to attack for fear of Senku using guns. If that’s the case, how did they coordinate the fire attack without Gen knowing?
Then we have Hyoga becoming a pantomime villain by sacrificing his thugs to test the gas. Surely, doing one at a time would have been a better way to do things, otherwise, how would he know when it’s safe to come down. Also, why did Senku set fire to his tree? He was a sitting duck up there, but you just left him there?
And finally, Senku’s attack plan involves there being an insider and he handily reminds us that he already has two, Taiju and Yuzuriha. That’s great and all, but if we’re to give Tsukasa any credit, as soon as he learnt that Senku was alive you’ve got to imagine that he’ll take care of Taiju and Yuzuriha. I would. Either lock them up or get rid of them. I don’t see any scenario where they are able to provide intel on the defences.
Who was your favourite character?
It’s got to be Suika in this episode. With Ginro crying like Zenitsu, Suika managed to keep her head and lead Hyoga and his thugs away from the science hut. Not only that, but she took them to an incredibly dangerous place and almost died as a result. Sure, she had to be saved by Kohaku, but that’s fine. Anything that gives Kohaku another chance to shine wins in my books.
Who was your least favourite character?
I’m still struggling to get my head around Tsukasa’s plans. He wants a world where everything isn’t hoarded by the rich and I’m on board with that, but he has no plan beyond that. What happens when one of these thirty-something-year-old thugs decides they want what some kid has or that they’re going to take the blonde that looked suspiciously like Riri and Kohaku? There needs to be some sort of system or it’ll turn into survival of the fittest and I’m not sure that was what Tsukasa was planning. I think they’ve really dropped the ball on Tsukasa’s character development because there doesn’t appear to be any consistency.
Would you like some more?
I am one-billion percent invested in this series and there’s literally nothing that would stop me watching the rest of the season so an episode like this doesn’t worry me too much. I’m hoping the next one does something to address some of my concerns like Taiju and Yuzuriha getting put in a cage of some sort to throw a spanner in Senku’s plans. If Hyoga believed that having a hostage would win them the war, then they already have two. I can’t believe that Tsukasa hasn’t told him about Taiju and Yuzuriha. I’m curious about how the development of the communications device will go, but I agree it would be a game-changer for sure.
Other reviews in the series
Series Information
| English Title | Dr. Stone |
| Japanese Title | Dr. Stone |
| Genres | Action, Adventure, Apocalyptic, Comedy, Science Fiction, Survival |
| Demographic | Shounen |
Anime
Season One
Season Two
Bonus Posts
| Saturday Spinoff | Kohaku Lost |
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Unless they already suspected Gen (and I don’t see a ton of evidence they did), it _is_ hard to see how Hyoga and Homura came up with their plan. I think that they could come up with something in a flashback, so even if I think it is a bit plot-holish right now, I think it could be explained.
I could see Hyoga using the gas to get rid of the thugs who annoyed him so much. Not much better than a unidimensional villain, but I could possibly buy that explanation.
But Taiju and Yuzuriha? I think you hit the nail on the head: “Either lock them up or get rid of them. I don’t see any scenario where they are able to provide intel on the defences.”
The only way they’d be useful if they found out they’d been exposed and escape to tell Senkuu all about Tsukasa’s arrangements. Then maybe they could shadow his army as it advanced, but that’d be no different than something anyone else in the village could do.
I’m interested to see how they get through this.
My main issue with Hyoga knocking them all out at once was that he then had no way to test if the gas had gone further along. He’s just got to sit there and wait to see if any critters show up and don’t die. Kind of reckless.
It was fun, I just feel that maybe we’ve been spoilt with how well everything up to now has been put together so these holes felt more glaring.
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