Dr. Stone Chapter 84 Review by BelserionChapter Title: People = PowerSenkuu calls a meeting with everyone, from the villagers to Tsukasa’s people. The villagers comment on the number of people saying they’ve never seen that many people before. That’s understandable since civilization was basically narrowed down to their village, until Senkuu showed up. Senkuu proceeds to explain what happened the first time with the Pertrication Ray. Ukyo comments that if someone was using it to attack then one more use of it would wipe out humanity completely. Senkuu states that’s the reason they need to acquire it for themselves, to save Tsukasa, then with it at their disposal they would exceed even the old civilization. He then announces that their goal is the source the light originated from, which is on the other side of the globe.
The villagers are shocked by Senkuu’s proclamation with Magma pointing out that if they go to the other side of the globe they would fall off and Senkuu as a scientist should know this. Yo can’t contain himself at what he perceives to be the ignorance of the uncivilized and starts laughing at Magma. Magma takes exception to this and the two begin fighting. Gen is not surprised that things degenerated so quickly considering they were once enemies now forced into being allies. He decides that it’s a job for him, “The Mentalist”.
Kohaku thinks about what Senkuu said about traveling to the other side of the globe and realizes they can’t do it by foot. Senkuu confirms this by saying they will travel by ocean. Yuzuriha takes this moment to place a pirate’s hat she made on Senkuu’s head to add to the mood. Senkuu announces to everyone the reason he called the meeting. They were going to build a boat. At this announcement the villagers get excited because unlike everything else Senkuu has asked them to make, they actually know how to build a boat considering their village is built around water. Magma tells Senkuu that it’s their expertise as boat riders that will be useful in this situation rather than the scientists. While Chrome and the others are freaked out by Magma’s euphoria, Senkuu admits he’s actually right.
Gen announces a sort of competition where anyone who wants to can come up with ideas for the boat and in the end they would vote for the best one. Magma uses the village artist Namari to help draw up his plans. I have to say the way he did this, kicking Namari and ordering him around, was quite scummy. We get a flashback of him saying that he would follow Senkuu until Tsukasa was dealt with. So now that Tsukasa was out of the picture Magma realizes his followers were directionless and looking for a leader. He tells his sidekick Mantle that the one who controls the ship will essentially be the leader. I guess he means with overseeing the building process the one who is in charge of that would be considered the leader since everyone was going to be helping and taking orders. Like a construction foreman to put it simply. Yo overhears this and quickly runs to his group nearby and asks for their help in one of his schemes.
Mantle asks Magma why he doesn’t just kill Senkuu now that Tsukasa is gone instead of going through all that if he just wants to be leader. Magma suddenly thinks back to when he helped Senkuu during the time they were working together against Tsukasa. Turning the question back on Mantle he asks if Mantle wants to kill Senkuu. Mantle has no reply to this. This is actually a big deal because these guys before were heartless and didn’t care if they inflicted pain if it got them what they wanted. So for both of them to suddenly hesitate over doing something they wouldn’t have thought twice about a few months earlier shows some character development. Magma tries to play it cool and insists the only reason he’ll let Senkuu live is because he makes some interesting things, and reiterates that he has not given up on the position of Village Chief.
The next day Gen announces that the boat building plans came down to Yo, Senkuu and Magma. Yo confidently states that everything after his is unnecessary because during the night he already completed the building of his boat. He thinks this makes him the undisputed winner and while Magma prepares to show his plans, Yo picks up where he left off the day before by calling anything Magma makes a flop and uncivilized people laughable. He’s quickly shut down when everyone is awed by the boat Magma had drawn up. It’s actually quite beautiful. There’s even a house on it with baskets at the sides to catch fish while it sails. Seeing how beautiful it is, everyone turns to a speechless Yo in anticipation since he already stated his was the best of the lot. Yo tries to backtrack saying they misunderstood him and that he has forgotten to bring his boat, but Suika points to a very poorly constructed raft with Yo’s name on it and asks if that’s not it.
Senkuu ignores Yo’s antics and questions Magma’s boat construction, specifically the sails. It seems he was curious about woven sails and Magma’s design showed him it was possible to use them. He’s grateful for Magma’s experience and says they can now construct his ship. Senkuu proceeds to unveil his own design. It is huge and fantastic. It looks like one of those old time war ships. If I squint I even see what looks like a little canon on it. So Senkuu will definitely be in Pirate mode soon. Magma and Yo are disheartened over Senkuu’s obviously superior design, while everyone else is excited. It’s a resounding victory for Senkuu. Chrome wonders how long it would take to build, stating that he would be dead before it was complete. Kaseki starts to crunch numbers in his head, theorizing they would need about one hundred people to build it quickly. Gen casually points out that they do indeed have that many people and so the building begins.
Ukyo questions Gen as to why they had the competition in the first place since it was obvious Senkuu would win. Gen states that they can’t unite people by forcing them, it’s better if people believe that they made the choice themselves. Ukyo compliments him by stating he’s glad Gen chose to side with Senkuu rather than Tsukasa or Hyouga. I agree with Ukyo, and I think this is why instead of Taiju or even Chrome, Gen is the one that can be considered Senkuu’s right hand. He knows how to deal with people. Senkuu is a scientist and while he wants to save everyone, people are basically background noise to him most of the time. Having someone like Gen explain and smooth certain paths for him will be an added bonus as the story continues. Gen reiterates my point here by stating that Senkuu relies on people and understands that people = power no matter how different they are. And it really is a change from Hyouga and even Tsukasa who relied on their own power to achieve their goals.
Tsuaka’s number one fangirl is sobbing over him which annoys Nikki who scolds her. Senkuu suddenly appears stating Tsukasa told him she was the best at selecting whom to revive from pertification and says he has a job for her. Now I don’t know if she was distraught over Tsukasa not being there anymore or the fact that she no longer felt wanted, but the minute Senkuu offers her a job we see a whole new side of her. Suddenly she looks smug and very eager to offer her expertise, simply asking Senkuu what he needs with no hesitation. Senkuu holds out the hat Yuzuriha made for him and tells her he needs a captain. Senkuu plans to increase their allies.
I’d rate this chapter 7/10This was basically a set up chapter. We established the plans for the ship and what direction our heroes plan to take. I’m excited to see the captain that’s chosen and perhaps even some crew mates. It’s hard to pinpoint who is going to travel with Senkuu. Kohaku and Gen are obvious choices imo. I’d say Chrome as well but I’m not sure if the village can lose both scientists for who knows how long. I’d prefer if Taiju and Yuzuriha went along with Senkuu, mostly because they’ve been out of the story for a while and I’d like to see them re-establish their connection with Senkuu. Next chapter we will probably meet the new members and if the author wants to move things along the ship will most likely be completed. I’m excited for the upcoming adventure.
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