Today’s episode of Dr. Stone features a definitely not hamfisted foreshadowing moment and then the eventual foreshadowed issue. What a show we’ve got for you tonight ladies and gentlemen! Look, in todays episode the antagonist of the series is set up. We got to see this person for a brief instance in the first episode and the show does a bad job at hiding it. But you know what? I don’t give a crapola abut all of that because this guy, Tsukasa, is ripped and cool as hell. He PUNCHES LIONS, OKAY? I’m sorry to go into caps lock when I should be sitting here being an adult, reviewing themes:
The antagonist punches lions. He saves the day for Dr. Leekhair and Ultra-defense boy by punching the crap out of everything. He has a freakin lion outfit! Of course he is the villain, he’s ripped and I am attracted to him! I am only attracted to evil 2d boys! Okay, so Tsukasa is actually a very overpowered character referred to as the “Strongest Primate High Schooler”. Apparently somehow this guy can kill lions, catch birds by catching them in trees- his sheer physical strength is ridiculous. And while some funny gags come from Taiju being unable to decide if he hates him or likes him, Senku consistently lampshades the danger of this guy from the beginning.
Ultimately the episode sets up Tsukasa as the ‘bad guy’ because he opposes a technological world where they return to the status quo, stating that adults who believe they own things will return to the world and steal the future from the children. As a millenial, I empathize with this child who would probably kill my stone body and hope he’ll reconsider killing other millenials because word: at least this version of the world has no student loan debt amirite?
Episode 2 sets the continued stage for Senku’s view of the world: scientific approaches to everything will provide the stage to the world. For him the world’s current predicament is a problem he aims to solve through his immense genius and the people around him contributing in meaningful ways. He doesn’t agree with Tsukasa’s view of the world or adults, and generally seems to want people to be restored as rapidly as possible. Thinking on it, every person who has been sitting in stone for thousands of years has valuable knowledge they might be able to use to improve the world, but some might also have been insane. That being said, Tsukasa is much more intelligent than Taiju, so his antagonism isn’t as simple to defeat as someone who lacks the same level of thought.
I’m excited to see Tsukasa added into the story. His over the top overpowered BS is so campy it really fits in with what I find endearing about this story. This episode endeared Senku more with me and now I’m definitely on board to see the story unfold. We didn’t see the fallout between Senku and Tsukasa yet but I am tempted to believe that Senku will use technology to win, since we saw him making a crossbow. Kick his ass with science, Senku! Well, not too hard. He’s hot and I want him to stick around.
I am a simple woman.
Oki