Dr. Stone Chapter 86 Review by Emperor SprigganThis week's cover has Ryuusui on it, the captain who was revived last chapter. He's holding a coin in his hand, which is quite fitting with the chapter title being money. Perhaps they will actually invent money in this chapter? Let's read on and see.
The chapter kicks off with Senkuu and Ryuusui in conversation, both of them standing over a map. Senkuu mentions that Shizuoka (A place in Japan by the sound of it) specializes in oil. Gen and the others are all shocked at this revelation. Senkuu adds on that there was a guy called Sagara Yuden who has an oil fountain. He had stopped operating it due to issues with profits, so naturally the fountain should be overflowing with oil at that moment.
Chrome, Ukyo and Kohaku have formed a unit with the purpose of going out to excavate the oil. Ukyo is part of the squad due to his excellent hearing ability, Kohaku her excellent vision, and Chrome due to his knack for being able to find raw materials easily. Once the trio leaves, Ryuusui addresses Senkuu and Gen. He acknowledges responsibility for being Captain of the ship, but only in exchange of being given the rights to the oil discovered. The mentalist immediately protests, saying that Ryuusui was being too greedy. He proceeds to ask what they will do if they want oil for the ship, and the captain states that they will have to buy it from him. The first allusion in the chapter to the title, Money.
On the next page, we see Ginrou writing over some pieces of paper while Ryuusui watches over him and supervises him. Finally, money is created. That was probably the cheapest and simplest scientific invention we will ever see in the series.
As expected, Ryuusui assumes monopoly of the money. He is treated like a king by the villagers, and Ginrou is clearly jealous of that. Yo approaches the ship's captain. He initially wants to confront him about his current status, but holds back and decides to ask how he got that well off in such a short amount of time.Ryuusui explains the currency system to the former policeman. At first, Yo shows no interest, but upon noticing the various stalls and stands that are in the village, his interest is piqued. The stalls are selling stuff that was present in the modern day world before petrification such as ramen, cotton candy, and even manga. The manga part is the funniest bit of all this.
The girl who found Ryuusui tells Senkuu that this was the kind of person Ryuusui was, but the scientist couldn't care less. There's an evil expression in his face as he states that he intends on making full use of the currency that Ryuusui made. Yo has made himself quite a fortune. Nicky asks Ryuusui what the point in that money was if there was no oil, but Ryuusui states that it all depended on Senkuu finding the oil. We switch perspectives back to the oil excavation team, and they have discovered a waterfall. Something about this doesn't fit, since the map had no waterfall indicated on it. There was never a waterfall in Shizuoka 3,700 years ago.
Ukyo spots the tallest mountain in the area that was supposed to be their landmark, and the scenery is breathtaking. The archer has a realization, and immediately contacts Senkuu.Senkuu realizes that the mountain that Ukyo saw was indeed Mount Fuji. Once every few centuries, the volcano erupts, and the resulting lava and molten rock completely distorts the landscape completely. That meant that any maps they had were rendered useless. Ukyo states that they needed to create a new map since it would be too dangerous looking for oil without one. Suika wonders whether it would be easier making a map from the skies.
Senkuu gets inspiration from Suika's idea. They need hemp, so the scientist was intending on using the villager's motivation for money to gather large amounts of it. Yo and a few people from Tsukasa's camp have gathered an incredible amount of money at this point. Gen uses his mentalist skills here, telling Yo and his company that he has the perfect way to make sure that their efforts weren't wasted in getting the money.
In the next page, we have Yo and his friends working hard to gather large amounts of hemp. Ryuusui is surprised by how evil and cunning Senkuu can be, since he used the principle of inflation to motivate the villagers to work hard. Chrome wonders whether they are building a larger map with all the hemp, but the senior scientist confirms that they are going to make hot air balloons. The excavation of oil is going to be done from the skies.
Personal thoughts: This was an okay chapter. Not exactly mindblowing stuff, or boring content. Something in the lukewarm middle? Ryuusui's character is pretty entertaining. He reminds me a little of Jack Sparrow, so once the ship is completed, I guess you can say they'll become like the Pirates of the Caribbean? I do like the business concepts they introduced in this chapter, but more than that I am genuinely curious to see how the hot air balloons will fare.
Chapter rating: I give this chapter a solid 7/10.
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