Chapter Review: Dr. Stone (83)

Before I start on this review, I'd like to draw attention to something. The title of the chapter is 'Doctor Stone', but a while back we had another chapter of the series with the same title. It was chapter 41, to be exact. In that chapter, Ruri was saved from pneumonia, a disease which had overwhelmed her for 18 years. And in this chapter, we possibly have Tsukasa 'dying'. Maybe it means these two's fates are intertwined? Let's read on and see.

This week's chapter starts with a color cover, and as it was promised last week in the cliffhanger, hell yes. Dr Stone is getting an anime, which is going to start airing next year in July. It was about damn time this happened. This series(imo) is probably among the most underrated series ongoing in WSJ currently, so hopefully this helps to increase its popularity.

The first page of the chapter is colored. It's actually the last page from last week's chapter which kicks off this chapter, but this time in color. Senkuu pledges to find out the mystery behind the petrification and make it his own weapon. This is followed by a color spread of all the characters in the manga up till this point. It also includes characters like Ukyo and Homura.Mirai is peeping behind a rock. Yuzuriha appears behind her, startling her. The younger girl explains herself by saying that she couldn't help but be worried about her brother. We learn that she was indeed peeping in at her brother, who Senkuu was about to perform a surgery on. Gen is as surprised as Mirai about the surgery since there are no anaesthetics around. The scientist then says for someone as strong as Tsukasa, anaesthetics weren't really necessary. Tsukasa has an uneasy expression on his face, but he doesn't deny what Senkuu just said.

We switch to another scene where we see Kohaku and Mirai sitting next to a cliff. In the distance, we see the sun setting. Maybe a parallel to Tsukasa's life that's about to be ended? Or well, 'ended'. Kohaku reassures the little girl that there was nothing to worry about at all. Senkuu isn't a liar, so he'd never lie about saving Tsukasa. No matter how long it took, Senkuu would find a way to save his friend.

The surgery is over. Tsukasa tells Senkuu that it would only serve to buy a little time. Sepsis would buy a few days as well, and Senkuu tells him that there is only one way to save him in the Stone World. Turning him to stone. Gen asks how he intends on doing that, and Senkuu tells him to stop being impatient. He turns his attention back to Tsukasa, and tells him that the petrification might take years, which wouldn't be helpful at all. Before they found a way to petrify him, Senkuu would kill him with his own hands.

Gen is shocked at this, and asks what he means. The scientist then confirms that he intends on freezing his body, and putting it into a cold sleep. While Tsukasa is frozen, Senkuu will find a way to turn him to stone and save him. His hand is shaking visibly at this point, and he begs Tsukasa to let him kill him, TsukaHis friend offers no objections to the proposal, and says that he had already killed Senkuu once before. If there was anyone's hands he'd want to die by, it would have to be Senkuu's.

We switch perspective again, and this time it's on Kaseki. Kaseki is with his steam engine, glad it wasn't destroyed. Senkuu takes two pistons from it, and Chrome and Suika are dismantling the cellphone they had made earlier. Senkuu himself had asked for large amounts of gold string. Stunned, Ukyo, Nikky and Yo watch the Science group work their magic, unaware of what is going on. The scientist tells them he intends on making a refrigerator. It just adds on to their visible shock and surprise. He explains the process he intends on using to freeze Tsukasa. Ruri's father then suggests that the process can be used to preserve food too, but Senkuu says a petrification ray would be more sufficient for that. All you would need is revival formula and you can pretty much have fresh sashimi whenever you wanted. Th petrification ray is also what he probably intends on using to save Tsukasa.

The refrigerator is completed. Kaseki asks everyone around to leave the two friends in peace, since he was sure no one would want to see Senkuu's face when he killed his friend. The two begin talking, and Senkuu asks Tsukasa if he was asked to take three people to space with him, who would he choose? Tsukasa asks him why he chose such a topic to discuss, and he simply answers back that them having a pointless conversation wasn't so bad. The primate simply answers back that he would choose Taiju, Chrome and Yuzuriha. An interesting assortment of people. Maybe this is who Senkuu intends on bringing along the ride to discover the source of petrification?

Senkuu immediately dives into another topic about Mario, before finalizing with a question to Tsukasa. The question seems to be heavily scientific, but i'm not sure if it's supposed to carry another meaning other than random banter. Tsukasa doesn't answer the question,and the next time we see him he's frozen solid. Mirai cries over his frozen body which is currently in the refrigerator. As her brother had protected her all this time, she was going to protect and watch over him this time. Senkuu and Kohaku are spotted talking, and they are making preparations about venturing out. His father and his crew of astronauts had left a scientific trail all around the earth, and they were going to follow it. The final page of the chapter announces the beginning of the third arc, an arc about sailing around the world.

Personal Opinion: This was an alright chapter, even if not particularly mind blowing or anything. Tsukasa was frozen solid, in an attempt to preserve his body until they find a way to save him for good. Mirai's emotions over the whole thing were done really well, I really like how the author didn't forget her as far as her brother went. I also liked the attention that the friendship between Tsukasa and Senkuu is getting, a lot. At this point it seems that Tsukasa is indeed closer to Senkuu than Taiju was.

Overall chapter rating: 7/10.


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