English Dub Review: Dr. STONE “A Flimsy Alliance”

Overview

After Senku successfully creates electricity, he, Kohaku, and Chrome explained the threat of Tsukasa to Suika in the hut. Outside, Gen is ambushed and attacked by a mysterious figure, who appears to kill him. When he is found by the gang, they realize he isn’t dead, and that the spear only stabbed into tomato juice packets he had pre-tied under his clothing (to fake his death with, should anyone attempt to kill him.)

While Gen is healing in the hut over the course of the week, Suika discovers that Magma — a Gaston-like villager — was the one who attempted to kill Gen, as he mistook him for Senku. His motivation was so that he could be undoubtedly be labelled as the most powerful man in the village, so that the chief would allow him to marry Ruri (who he planned on murdering to become the sole ruler.) Kohaku says that the only way to stop Magma from marrying his sister was if one of the men in their group defeated him in battle. With this, Kohaku begins training Kinro and Ginro, who are their strongest candidates. Chrome — who is in love with Ruri — is completely fine with any solution that will allow Ruri to live a healthy life.

In a delirious state, Gen asks Senku if he would be able to create him a cola with science. When Senku says yes, Gen immediately runs to report Senku’s death to Tsukasa.

Our Take

Right off the bat, the viewer is introduced to the most graphic scene in the show thus-far (Gen’s “murder”) — only to immediately find out it was actually tomato sauce. Excellent trickery from an illusionist character! Everyone in this show is always one step ahead in planning — showcasing how “survival mode” creates innovative thinkers of everyone.

Here, though, we’ve finally encountered a bit of flavor in the dialogue/scene direction that…didn’t really make any sense. In the original Great Bout, where Kohaku defeated Magma in battle so that he wouldn’t be able to win Ruri’s hand in marriage, Magma literally talks to himself about his plans to murder Ruri in front of everyone gathered at the arena. If Kohaku was able to hear his monologue-ing from that distance, then everyone around her also should have been in earshot of this. There were a dozen other ways for Kohaku to overhear this that would have made sense — such as her overhearing him in private before the battle. It was pretty cheap that no one reacted for the sake of furthering the plot.

Dr. STONE’s approach to morality is intriguing and engaging. Characters that aren’t necessarily good aligned have morals and views that the viewer — even if they don’t agree with said morals and views — can still comprehend them. This is where Gen’s character stirs things up a bit: he’s a truly neutral aligned character whose motivations are entirely selfish. Gen is a spoiled, pseudo-famous brat just wants comfort, leisure, and a coke in a primitive world. Dr. STONE’s setting allows for any character’s (former) way of life to be completely envisioned/understood, simply by these context clues provided. As they say: showing, not telling, is the key.