Mysterious light
Life in the modern world has its own rhythm. High school students experience their first love, corporate employees rush to work, and older neighbors are a little too interested in the lives of others. We meet Taiju – a good-hearted brawler and Senku, a brilliant scientist-genius. Soon something very strange starts to happen. As a result of an intense flash of light, people begin to turn into stone statues. The world is plunging into chaos. After nearly 3,700 years, Taiju awakens from sleep. Fortunately, he is not alone and, together with Senku, they have to find themselves in a new reality.
Everything is here!
Dr. Stone contains all the ingredients needed to create a blockbuster with the potential for hundreds of chapters of history. The script by Richiro Inagaki is an extremely interesting mix of stories about life in the world after the apocalypse, in which basically everything has to be invented from scratch and a comedy full of unusual and interesting heroes. There are also some thrilling twists. Due to the fact that one of the characters is a scientist, there are a lot of issues related to chemistry and physics presented in a very interesting way. I can imagine someone who would like to expand their scientific knowledge after reading the manga. However, you don’t have to be a scientific mind to enjoy reading.
When looking at other shounen manga , where the usually good-natured main character isn’t very volatile, Dr. Stone is on the opposite end of the scale. Senku is an extremely intelligent and very cynical character, often making tough remarks. Taiju, on the other hand, takes the place of this nice strongman who is not overly bright. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the former to construct new inventions and push the plot forward. With subsequent discoveries, we learn about the lives of the first awakened people in Japan. The solution to the mystery of the mysterious flash of light has been postponed for the future, and now the characters focus on survival in the new world.
Attracting attention
Boichi, responsible for the drawings, mixes the well-known manner of manga characters with realistic elements of the environment. Comparing the female and male characters, you get the impression that the former came from a completely different comic book. Manga manages to attract the reader’s attention, and the cartoonist is able to skillfully use various nuances of his style. The slightly caricatured faces of the heroes give dynamics in comedy moments and break the monotony. Both volumes are read very quickly, but it is worth stopping at the double pages that can enchant with a huge number of details.
The quality of the edition and translation is at a high level. I did not notice any mistakes, and the translated onomatopoeias harmonize well with the individual frames. As in the case of most manga published in our country, the cover is surrounded by a slippery dust jacket with wings. There are no color pages or additions in the volumes. I also noticed that with the successive parts the stone logo becomes more and more legible, which is an interesting flavor that fits the concept.
Summary
The first two volumes of Dr. Stone are just an introduction to a more elaborate story. I am convinced that in the next volumes we will get to know many more secrets and new heroes. Reading made me a lot of joy and satisfaction thanks to many interesting references to the world of science, extraordinary heroes trying to rebuild civilization practically from scratch, as well as comedy elements. If you like the first volume, I strongly encourage you to continue this series, which breaks the typical shounen scheme .
