On Fridays I watch Dr. Stone and Fire Force so this Friday was just chalk full of Fire and Fury! I’m not sure if it’s a weird combo. I feel like not that many people are watching both of these even if they do have a lot of elements in common.
I went off on a little tangent there. I promise the review will be a bit more focused and I’ll even stick to Dr. Stone. Well I’ll try. O.K. let’s see how I do!
What I thought Would Happen
I figured it would go one of two ways, either Hyoga was going to hightail it back to the Kingdom of Might and we would finally see what exactly Tsukasa has been up to for all this time OR Senku and the gang would somehow manage to capture him and once again, we would be left with only one side of the story.
I’m not sure which I was hoping for. I was super curious about the kingdom of might but at the same time, the tight singular focus on Senku and his point of view has been great for keeping the narrative on track and me on my toes.
What Did Happen
OK, now that I really think about it, I’m not sure how Senku was supposed to take Hyoga hostage but he’s a smart guy, he could have figured something out. Unfortunately, he’s not a very observant guy and it turns out that while he was busy being all proud of himself, the enemy set the village on fire. Seriously, how did they not notice until it was half burned down? Did they not hear the people at least.
Hyoga has a pretty pinked hair sidekick that seems like she’s gonna be some trouble and even gave my girl Kohaku a run for her money. In the end, Hyoga’s group ended up retreated just enough to give the villagers a chance to get out in the open as everyone settles around the science camp. It seems the actual plan was simply to smoke the villagers out so they could get a hostage. As the started trying to burn the science camp down as well, Suika took matters into her own hands leading them away, and accidentally towards the sulfuric acid lake.
Mother nature took care of the rest. Or rather, Senku, Kohaku and a few gas masks ensured that Suika made it home safe leaving the others stranded on a high three waiting for the poisonous gases to subside.
This may have bought the kingdom of science some time but Tsukasa is still coming and they wont be this lucky twice. As such, it’s time for the ultimate weapon. Smartphones! All of Tsukasa,s recruits are teenagers right? Give them a few phones and they’ll soon loose interest in anything else. Brilliant!
What About the Characters
I’ll be honest, I didn’t pick up on pink haired girl’s name. She seemed super cool but aside from the fact that she’s an efficient warrior and Hyoga does not think she’s a complete idiot, we don’t learn much about her. We do however get a bit of a better idea of who Hyoga is and well…he’s not a very nice guy. As far as straight up villainy goes, he seems to be worse than Tsukasa which ain’t a great sign.
It’s bad news for Senku but it may be o.k. for the story. I’m not the hugest fan of unnuanced evil in an antagonist under normal circumstances. However, seeing as Dr. Stome has a rather large cast which already has a few antagonists (and how much to you want to bet that sitting in a tree guy with the yellow outfit is going to become important too, they made it so obvious! Where are these guys getting their nice clothes anyways? Gen is a downright fashion star…) what was I saying? Oh yeah, there’s a few bad guys so it’s cool if one is just plain bad. It’s a nice foil for the rest. Seems Hyoga is our eternally calm and smiling super evil one.
Oh I mentioned yellow cap guy. We actually see him in a flashback showing us how Tsukasa woke up Hyoga and a little bit of the Kingdom of Might. Tsukasa is industrious, I’ll give him that. The place was full of people, he must be waking them up round the clock. And it looked pretty cool too, with that honeycombed mountain side.
What’s more, this was much closer to the Tsukasa I was hoping for. Brutal and uncompromising but completely convinced that he is acting for the greater good and therefore oddly righteous. A man who does in fact care for the people around him and wants a better world for them. As such, it’s only natural that those said people would also care and respect him in return. As Gen himself implied, it’s easy to see why anyone would follow Tsukasa. I still think half his crew looked well past 18 but that’s another story.
What’s more, still no sign of Taiju and Yuzu. I know this is not going to happen. There’s a sort of straight forwardness to the narrative. But wouldn’t it be interesting if these two got roped into Tsukasa’s way of thinking. Not forced or brainwashed but simply after spending so much time with him, they also came to see him as admirable? I hope that showing us more of Tsukasa won’t destroy this delicate balance of menacing, antagonistic and compelling. But seeing as they already kind of did earlier in the season, I’m not expecting too much on that front.
What I Liked
The pacing of this episode was great. When you think about it some of the actual events were either a bit contrived or not that logical but the action flowed so nicely that I didn’t care.
I noticed that there was a lot of strong women this week and it was a nice change. Of course Kohaku has been essentially the brawn of the series for a little while which is an amusing subversion. I actually really appreciate how they made a physically strong female character without making any sort of big deal about it. There is not even the slightest implication that the trait is odd in any way. But aside from Kohaku being her usual brand of awesomeness, you had pink hair girl which really did everything on the bad guy’s side and Suika who more or less saved the day. Let’s hear it for the ladies!
I liked that the Kingdom of Might seemed like a pretty nice place. Even if they end up ruining Tsukasa as a character, it’s still difficult to completely go against all these other people. They seem so chill!
I know I joked about it earlier but communication capacities really is one of the greatest tactical advantages you can get and I love that they are opting for an intel based attack.
What I Liked Less
I know I should stop harping about this but HOW did they not notice a village burning down like 20 feet away. They could feel the heat! I’m not saying that the lady could not have snuck in and started the fires and all that, it’s fine, but they had to wait for Hyoga to mention that he was a diversion before suddenly realizing it. That’s like when old cartoon character’s run off a ledge but don’t fall until they look down… It was a bit cheesy it’s all. It also made me laugh so not a complete loss.
So Hyoga had 4 stooges with him. And as they are trapped in a tree and he wants to see if there really is poisonous gas, he pushes them down to see if they survive. Great, he’s super evil, we know that now. But why did he have to push all four guys down at once? Now he’s just stuck in the tree with no more canaries to send down. Rather short sighted if you ask me!
Suika is cute and all, but she definitely would have been caught in the first minute. I’m glad she wasn’t…
Closing Thoughts
I was a touch nervous to see the return of Tsukasa. In my head Dr Stone is basically split in two. The early Taiju, Yuzu and Tsukasa episodes and then everything that happen since they split up. And I really like the second part way better. The idea of them all reuniting again makes me a bit nervous. However, this was another really good episode so I’m not sure what to think.
Mood: Happily unsure
A good chunk of Tsukasa’s Empire is over 18. I imagine Tsukasa considers the Cut Off point to be 30 or something.
I’m going to go by Tsukasa’s math from now on. I’m not an adult until I hit 30!
“But why did he have to push all four guys down at once? Now he’s just stuck in the tree with no more canaries to send down. Rather short sighted if you ask me!”
The’s the first thing I thought of, too! Then I wondered: was he just getting payback for all the harassment? That makes him still short-sighted, but occasionally given to emotional outbursts.
Still, I was honestly surprised that they actually died. The show’s been fairly death-free, if you ignore the statues that Tsukasa routinely destroys.
Death free except for the billions that dies from accidental breakage of course… ;P This said I also thought this was unusually brutal for Dr Stone
“Death free except for the billions that dies from accidental breakage of course… ;P ”
Correction accepted!
I should have said “Still, I was honestly surprised that they actually died where we could see them die.”
Missed it by six words!
I thought that when Hyoga knocked all of his thugs out of the tree at once. It was a fine episode but there were a few things that bugged me. Like how did Hyoga and the gymnast coordinate their attack without Gen knowing. Seeing as they were all sitting around waiting for a storm. Then as soon as Tsukasa found out the Senku was alive, surely that would be it for Taiju and Yuzuriha. They’re not going to be doing any spying.
“They’re not going to be doing any spying.”
I’m not they’ll be doing any living when Tsukasa finds out. They lied to him, after all. I briefly thought about combining Irina’s thought that maybe the turned into a double double cross where they actually told Tsukasa that Senkuu was alive. But that last screen shot above proves Senkuu being alive was news to Tsukasa.
I actually have no clue hoe Taiju and Yuzu were ever allowed free in the first place. Even if Senku was dead…