Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE

Episode 5

While this episode is focused almost exclusively on our heroes' first communication with the technologically superior Dr. Xeno and their attempts to thwart his plans, it also gives us the information we need to start to think about things from Dr. Xeno's viewpoint.

Unlike Senku and the others, Dr. Xeno does not have revival fluid. His team is made up of people who are naturally depetrified and thus he is quite short on manpower compared to the Kingdom of Science. But the size of his forces isn't the only issue when you think about it. He's had no choice as to who he wants to join him. It's all luck of the draw if the person is useful or is a burden.

Now, that said, he's been somewhat lucky. He's got an elite soldier in the form of Stanley, and Maya (the hulking woman we see in this episode) would certainly help with heavy labor. However, Xeno understands how weak his position generally is—especially when facing outside forces with a larger population. To survive, the only hope for his small group is to equip them as best he can—to use technology to overcome numbers.

When you look at things in this light, everything Dr. Xeno has done so far makes total sense. He's focused on military manufacturing to keep his people safe—giving them ranged weapons to attack from afar and metal armor to protect them from more primitive weapons. After all, losing even one of them would be a major blow. Then, he instituted an “attack on sight” policy. This way, he can wipe out any outsiders before they are even aware of his people—before they can become a threat. Moreover, the loss of an entire expedition to unknown dangers would likely deter any other follow-up expeditions.

But now that his initial attack has failed and Dr. Xeno has confirmed that the enemy is both A) more numerous and B) less technologically advanced, he is willing to come to the bargaining table. If Dr. Xeno simply wanted to wipe out our heroes, there was no need for him to reveal that he had radio technology—and by calling our heroes directly, he gave up on the possibility of secretly intercepting important information. However, he was willing to do this to gain a peaceful resolution.

Dr. Xeno can see from their numbers that they have what he needs most: a way to undo petrification. Getting that plus an immediate increase in his population would solve his most major problems in both the short and long term. So Dr. Xeno states his terms: the revival fluid and the expedition force joining his settlement in exchange for ceasing hostilities.

This is an obvious opening bid. It's unlikely that Dr. Xeno expects them to agree to this. He likely thinks they will come back with a counteroffer. And maybe that would have happened—except for the fact that Taiju is forced to be the one on the microphone. Taiju outright rejects the offer, leaving no option but war.

This paints our heroes in a less-than-noble light. Objectively, they are invaders. They have come to get corn—corn which Dr. Xeno and his settlement have cultivated. Rather than appeal to Dr. Xeno—to explain about the “Why Man” and the shared threat they face—they say nothing about why they have trespassed onto Dr. Xeno's territory. They don't even state their immediate want (i.e., the corn) and offer to trade for it—and I don't necessarily mean trading the revival fluid recipe for it (though that is, of course, an option). Even something like bamboo seeds for corn seeds could be enough to make both sides happy.

Yet, even when negotiations break down entirely, Dr. Xeno still has a measured response. He decides to take out the enemy leader to force the Kingdom of Science back to the table rather than kill them all—which he seems to have the power to do.

In the end, Senku's mistake is obvious: sending Gen to the scouting party. While valuable as a spy in martial conflict, he would have been even more so in preventing such a fight from ever happening in the first place as a negotiator. Moreover, as a spy trying to keep Senku safe, Gen unwittingly made Taiju—the most ill-equipped negotiator possible—into the Kingdom of Science's frontman. There was a chance here in this episode for a peaceful resolution. It's just too bad that Ryusui and Senku were too hyped about making an aircraft carrier to notice.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Senku and Ryusui are the kings of idiotic over-engineering. What is easier: converting their entire sailing ship into an aircraft carrier or PUTTING FREAKING PONTOONS ON THE PLANE!?

• It's nice to know that Nikki can take out Magma, Mantle, and Yo all at once if she has the element of surprise.

• You gotta love that Yuzuriha is totally on board with Taiju being turned into an assassination target.

• I wonder just how many people are in Dr. Xeno's settlement in total. It's gotta be a couple dozen in order to build and cultivate all that they have, right?

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