Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE

Episode 11

As we near the end of the cour, we also get our big action climax. We have airplane battles, submarine invasions, and numerous twists and turns. On that level, it works quite well. Each time our heroes seem like they've lost, they manage to gain the upper hand—only for the tables to be turned again and again.

This is especially true with the events on the ship. Trained soldiers with guns can easily handle a group of kids and young adults from the modern age. After all, they all know to fear guns—and to not try and attack someone holding one. This is what the soldiers are counting on. They may want to be top-dogs in this new stone world, but they don't exactly want to murder children to do it—likely both for moral reasons and labor-related ones.

However, the native humans have no such fears. People like Moz and Matsukaze are trained warriors and know that hesitation is the real enemy—and so they are able to completely surprise the over-confident soldiers. It's just too bad for them that Stanley shares none of the qualms that his soldiers have and is more than willing to shoot anyone brandishing a weapon.

If there is one thing that holds this episode back, it's the episode's main focus—or rather the fact that the aerial dogfighting action is constantly being interrupted by the peanut gallery. While some sort of exposition was needed here or there, we spend about as much time with long-winded explanations as we do with the actual dogfighting. This leaves us switching between something dangerous and tension-filled and something decidedly not. It basically kills the excitement we should be feeling.

The other issue in this episode is the unfair narrative trick we are hit with. We, as the audience, have gotten used to having an objective narrator. Up until this point, the camera has never lied to us. Oh sure, it has hidden things from us to build exciting tension and breathtaking reveals but what we see and hear has always been true. This episode breaks that rule.

When hearing the enemy pilot's thoughts during the dogfight, they are clearly speaking in Stanley's voice—not the female voice of the actual pilot. On one hand, I understand why this was done. In the manga, you can't hear the voices so it makes for a clever reveal when we discover that Stanley is on the submarine not the plane. On the other, this choice lessens the credibility of what is being portrayed on screen. If we can't trust the story in front of us—if we can't trust our eyes and ears—then why would we want to risk emotionally connecting with it? That is the danger in pulling such a trick.

Luckily, I strongly suspect this was a one-off thing. The creators of the anime were left with either preserving the narrative reveal by lying outright to the audience or spoiling it—and chose the perceived lesser of two evils. Though, honestly, I just wish the voices through those helmets had been super-distorted from the start—maybe with a different voice actor than Stanley or the female pilot altogether. That would have made this a moot point.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• I'm so confused about the modifications made to Senku's plane. Why go from biplane to single wing? Why add a second engine if it didn't increase speed or maneuverability? And why didn't it have guns on it? The original plane did.

• Why did the soldiers tie up Luna? I don't think they had any way to know she turned traitor. Or were they trying to preserve her identity as a spy just in case?

• Given that the plane was falling apart from the start, I have problems believing the Cobra maneuver wouldn't have ripped the wings right off.

• That Tsukasa shot at the end of the episode is pure fire.

---

Dr. Stone: Science Future is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Thursdays.