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Monday, November 26, 2018

Manga Review: Dr. Stone, Volume 1, by Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi


Rating (Out of 5): ~3
Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)
Release Date: September 2018
Volumes: 8+
Spoilers?: Some.
Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Imagine waking to a world where every last human has been mysteriously turned to stone...

One fateful day, all of humanity turned to stone. Many millennia later, Taiju frees himself from the petrification and finds himself surrounded by statues. The situation looks grim—until he runs into his science-loving friend Senku! Together they plan to restart civilization with the power of science!

When every human on Earth is turned to stone by a mysterious phenomenon, high-schooler Taiju is also petrified the moment he’s about to confess to his high-school crush. Flash forward several thousands of years later, Taiju awakens and joins up with his friend Senku, who has ambitious dreams. His plan: to restart civilization from square one with the power of science!

Review:


Just as Taiju finally decides to confess his love to Yuzuriha, the world turns to stone.
After several thousand years, Taiju wakes up, and discovers that his scientist best friend, Senku, is already alive, where everyone else is still stone, and the world has changed.
I had some problems with this volume.
Firstly, the science. The idea that Taiju and Senku were able to keep their consciousness during that entire time, by keeping their mind working, is a bit too unbelievable to me. There are some other iffy changes, but I'll just keep it that the science is a bit of a stretch. Also, given how scientific Senku is, it bothers me how he exaggerates numbers so much.
They discover how to un-petrify people, and so we meet a new character. Taiju is the brawn, Senku is the brains, and then there's Tsukasa, the fighter. Tsukasa is unbelievably good at fighting, just as Taiju is unbelievably strong, and Senku is unbelievably smart and knows too much. It's all rather far-fetched, even for a manga. But we meet Tsukasa, and then discover that he's the enemy, and thinks the world should start a new, because people are evil. This change of events is not surprising, but it is a little too quick to happen, and I think the plot progression after is a little odd.
Despite all of this, one of my main concerns is the character roles. They all have very specific places. Senku is smart, and they skip explaining the science by playing off how dumb Taiju is, which gets annoying fast. But then they bring Yuzuriha back, and I really hope that they give her a role, a purpose for why she's helpful. Mainly because, if she ends up being there simply because she's female and we need a love interest, I'm going to have a problem with that. But they haven't really seemed to explore her as a character, aside from some background help, which isn't a great sign.


 A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

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