Dr. Stone - Chapter 77 Review by Emperor Spriggan
Last week, the chapter ended with the face off between Senkuu and Tsukasa getting heated up. There's also a color cover this week, which look quite appealing portraying this battle. The first page of the chapter, which features Tsukasa, Senkuu and Kohaku is also in color, and the title of the chapter is "The Power of Science." A hint about what happens in the chapter? Let's read on and find out.
The chapter kicks off with Senkuu working on something within the nitric acid cave. Gen then asks him if he intends on making an invention while the battle is ongoing outside the cave. Senkuu doesn't answer, and immediately Gen turns to Chrome to ask him to get into the cave for safety. Senkuu tells Gen to leave Chrome be since he probably thought up a plan. Immediately after that, the sciencer storms out of the cave with the intention of looking for any usable materials in the nearby environment.
We switch back to the battle between Hyouga, Tsukasa and the rest of the Science village. Tsukasa leaps into their air while Hyouga launches a wide area attack that takes out a good number of the people there. The people from his empire are all in awe at how powerful Tsukasa is, while Nikky immediately moves to take him out in air. It's difficult dodging or evading anything when in mid air so she wants to capitalize on this. But Tsukasa throws his spear at her, destroying the metal plate she was intending to use in unison with Taiju in order to attack Tsukasa with a sound wave. The impact from the collision pushes Nikky and a few other guys who were behind her back.
Gen is seeing collecting solid waste off the ground, getting disgusted and wondering what animal the refuse is from. Senkuu explains to Gen that the urea in the refuse has to break down into the nitric acid, and white crystals have to surface in the solution. It isn't certain however, so it's all based on chance. Due to Senkuu's rotten luck in these situations, there is no crystallization process. They need to find another solution.
Kinrou tries fighting Tsukasa, and the larger man complements his skills, saying he doesn't wish to kill him. The parried attack reveals Ginrou right behind, the two having combined to trap Tsukasa so that he can't evade. Behind Tsukasa, Magma rises above him and effectively trapping him in a pincer attack. Hyouga seems surprised by the strategy before musing that it won't work on Tsukasa. Kohaku then appears in front of him and says she won't let him interfere, before challenging him to a revenge match. The first time the two fought, the girl nearly died if it wasn't for Gen tampering with Hyouga's spear. This time without any interference from anyone else, who knows if there will be a difference?
As expected, Tsukasa overwhelms the three Ishigami resident fighters pretty easily without even breaking a sweat. I always wondered whether Magma could put up a fight against Tsukasa due to his physical stature. That settles that then. And if Magma can't do anything, then Taiju obviously can't.
The scenes switch back to Senkuu and Gen, who are at a loss on what to do now. Gen states that he's a magician, so there's something he can find stashed away in his collection. The scientist then says sulphuric acid would help, but there was no way he'd carry around something that dangerous with him. Senkuu then theorizes that combining sulphuric acid and nitric acid will probably be their way forward, and just at that interval Chrome shows up at the cave once again. He's carrying a flask that has remnants of sulphuric acid from the bluff tank cannon.
Senkuu immediately moves to work, mixing the two ingredients. For Chemical X, he adds a dash of soap to the solution between the two acids. For a while, he reminisces about how soap was the first thing he ever made in front of Tsukasa. The remnants of soap came from the bag he always carries with him. We quickly switch back to the fight between Hyouga and Kohaku, where the girl seems to be losing. Before she admits that her plan all along was his spear, and that he's useless without it. The masked man is unfazed by this, immediately asking one of the people next to him to supply him with their own spear. Kohaku then makes a brave speech about how the strength of everyone there is coming together through Science.
The preparations are complete. Combining sulphuric acid, nitric acid and soap gives rise to nitroglycerin, which is a commmon substance used in explosives. Chrome wonders whether Senkuu is planning on blowing away all the enemies, to which Senkuu replies he's going to save them. Despite finalizing the creation, they have no way of delivering it to the battlefield. At that point Gen makes a paper jet, to which they dip some of the nitroglycerin in. The paper jet is let to soar freely in the air, and everyone on the battlefield sees it get dangerously closer to the sun before it explodes. Senkuu then equates this to dynamite, and the chapter ends on that explosive cliffhanger.
Overall, the chapter was alright. Not as thrilling as the one from last week since most of this was just downtime for Senkuu to come up with something to help the Kingdom of Science escape the pickle they found themselves in. The fighting went as expected in this chapter with Hyouga and Tsukasa completely overpowering everyone. I am curious to see what the dynamite will achieve though, since im not sure how it exploding sky high will help anyone.
Chapter rating-7.5/10
