Dr. Stone: Stone Wars

Episode 3

“In which the power of music once again reigns supreme.”

Back when Dr. Stone started, I think pretty much anyone would have assumed that Taiju was the main character of the show. Not only was he the viewpoint character, but the first major goal of the series was reviving his love interest, Yuzuriha, from her stone prison.

However, at this point, it's been 20 episodes since we've spent any meaningful time with Taiju and Yuzuriha. The story has become firmly centered around Senku and we've spent far more time with the people of Ishigami Village than we ever did with the pair that remained back at Tsukasa's camp. However, I won't pretend that seeing them again wasn't both nostalgic and strangely moving.

It's easy to see that Taiju and Yuzuriha are outcasts within Tsukasa's tribe. They are never seen talking with anyone else (until Senku asks them to) and it's likely that the only reason they are left to their own devices is because of Tsukasa's promise to take care of them from so many episodes ago.

This says something important about Tsukasa: if nothing else, he is honorable. He would rather waste the time and energy to have an extra individual keep tabs on them (one that he and the rest must feed and clothe) than go back on his word. Luckily, this freedom is exactly what Taiju and Yuzuriha need in order to put Senku's plan into action.

Senku's plan is psychological warfare. By claiming that America has already been restored, he's basically saying that Tsukasa's plan for a new world separate from the old has already failed. Thus, destroying Ishigami Village is meaningless. Even if not everyone believes Senku's lie, it will certainly cause division and possible rebellion within Tsukasa's tribe. Of course, every good lie needs a bit of truth. Therefore, Senku plans to use Gen's voice acting skills and Lillian Weinberg's recording as proof that America is still out there. All that Taiju and Yuzuriha need to do is have someone on the inside spread the word amongst Tsukasa's tribe. (Un)fortunately, they choose both the best and worst person as their first target.

As their guard, winning over Nikki would be a big win for our heroes, allowing them to move freely for the first time in nearly a year. However, it just so happens that she is both fiercely loyal to Tsukasa and the biggest Lillian Weinberg fan currently alive.

At first, Gen and Senku follow the plan, hoping that any imperfections in Gen's impersonation will be excused due to the sound quality of the phone. However, Nikki is skeptical from the start and it only takes her a few questions to know for sure she is speaking to a fake. But here's the thing: While Senku may be pragmatic—willing to do what is needed to accomplish his impossible goal of taking the world from the stone age to the modern age within a single generation—his default nature is to tell the truth. After all, that's what a scientist is: a person who studies the truth of our very existence. So when he is caught in the lie, he simply lays the truth out for her by playing the recording Lillian left behind for future generations.

This destroys Nikki emotionally. As a muscular girl practicing martial arts in the old world, she was bullied for not being feminine enough. However, in Lillian's music, Nikki found solace. Lillian's songs spoke to her and made life worth living. She knows what she is hearing is the real thing. So when Senku tells her that what he holds is the final Lillian Weinberg recording in existence, she immediately switches sides. Tsukasa would never permit the song to survive—much less the technology required to play it—and she is willing to give her life to ensure that it will. And while her betrayal of Tsukasa is sudden and complete, it might be one of the most realistic and heartfelt moments of the show.

So often we make light of the power of music, acting like it's corny or embarrassing to be moved by it. But music is humanity's oldest art form. It is found in every known society, past and present; it's literally part of what it means to be human. Music can affect our emotional states and change how we view our world. To Nikki, Lillian's song holds a deeply personal importance for her, since it helped her come to terms with who she is as a person. And knowing that out of every piece of human art from pre-history to 5000 years in the future, the one relic to survive is a single song—the one that literally made your life worth living? Yeah, protecting that might very well be a cause worth dying for.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• All that dead, dry grass at the end of winter... that fire's gonna be bad Chrome.

• I also wonder if an arrow could actually pierce Chrome's backpack from that distance considering it still looks pretty full.

• There's some interesting timeline shenanigans going on here. It's a several-day trip on foot from Hakone to Tokyo. Chrome, Magama, and Gen's battle against the archer takes place the dawn before Taiju and Yuzuriha show up and find the phone. Then it's another day before Senku and Nikki talk on the phone. For Gen to make it in time, he must be really tired and hungry—especially since he dropped all his supplies.

• It's nice to see that Yuzuriha is smart enough to pick the person who could potentially help them the most, yet still be completely blindsided by the fact that Nikki is a hardcore Lillian fan. It makes her seem intelligent yet fallible.

Dr. Stone: Stone Wars is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of experience living and working in Japan. For more of his writings, check out his Twitter and blog.