Very commendable of the Viz staff to not once use both “final” and “countdown” on the back cover without putting them together.
Creative Staff:
Story: Riichiro Inagaki
Art: Boichi
Science Consultant: Kurare
Translation: Caleb Cook
Touch-Up Art & Lettering: Stephen Dutro
Design: Julian [JR] Robinson
Editor: John Bae
What They Say:
It’s the final showdown between the Kingdom of Science and the Tsukasa Empire! Senku and his allies are ready to steal back the miracle cave, but the entire operation hinges on the first 20 seconds of the battle! Who will lead humanity into the future—science or strength? The fateful countdown starts now!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The culmination of the battle between science and strength is basically as satisfying as you’d want from anything in a jump comic. It hits the notes right, and it has that extra layer of humanity and comedy beyond the action that takes it to that next level above “middling jump comic.”
When Senku stares at his concoction of nitric acid and urea, hoping for a miracle, and bringing back the fact that Senku is notoriously unlucky, is just a funny moment. Pair that with Taiju yelling into their sonic weapon, as if he is immune to it himself because he’s just that big of an oaf, as Senku calls him, is also just good comics! These are meant to be enjoyable, and adding these elements in just makes it all truer.
But then they also have a secret mission Yuzuriha has been working on this whole time, for Senku. Rebuilding every statue that Tsukasa has destroyed because Senku wants nothing more than to revive humanity—all of humanity. Even those destroyed and those terrible, like Tsukasa, at least to this point. This strikes a chord with Ukyo, who’s admitted cowardice made him ally with Tsukasa, not just because he was seemingly the only option available, but also because Tsukasa is the one that revived Ukyo. When another option comes up in Sense, and as Ukyo has the upper hand with being able to just go to Tsukasa with all this information, his only condition is that they kill no one, because well this is still a jump comic and that’s still bad. But also because that’s just how these characters are. They don’t want to see people die, and that’s commendable, and separates them from the cold-blooded killers that Yo and Hyoga seem to be.
And the finale as we see that Tsukasa has been doing all these jobs and gaining all this money for a cause—his sister, who’s declared brain dead, but he couldn’t let go—is exactly the kind of character reveal and gives the antagonist an air of humanity. Tsukasa hasn’t just been doing all these things for no reason; he’s seem the exploitative nature of both medicine and the people who he worked with and who used him. He doesn’t want them to come back, but Senku represents the best in all of them. He can believe in Senku because he’s been so straightforward with Tsukasa up to this point. If there’s even that sliver of hope that his sister can be revived, he’ll take it.
In Summary:
This is probably at or near the peak that Dr. Stone is gonna reach for me. Of course, going longer and establishing itself more will reveal more of its potential, and I think it has a lot, but basically six or so whole volumes leading up to Senku, Taiju, and Yuzuriha’s reuniting will be tough to top. Plus the showdown between Senku and Tsukasa is one for the ages, or at least one for this manga. Setting up a larger foe will be hard.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: January 7, 2020
MSRP: $9.99
