Dr. Stone: New World Episode 5 Review

Quick Summary of Dr. Stone: New World Episode 5

In Dr. Stone: New World episode 5, “Science Vessel Perseus,” even Senku’s genius couldn’t protect against the lack of high-precision tooling. As Kaseki tried to assemble the massive ship, this or that piece would come up short. Others might be too long, or misaligned. Kaseki was at his wit’s end, even after Senku reassured him that it wasn’t his fault. If Kaseki can’t assemble the great ship, who can? Who has the necessary engineering knowledge of ships? And why can’t Minami seem to capture Kohaku on film?

Collaborating with Irina from I Drink and Watch Anime!

Irina from I Drink and Watch Anime are collaborating to review Dr. Stone: New World! How was your week, Irina? Settling back into a work schedule after visiting the Rockies?

I am! In fact I am so settled back that I am ready for another vacation!!! I think some of my fellow working stiffs out there know what I mean. I am really looking forward to ZOM100 when it comes out. 

I am also enjoying our collabs this season. I think shows are going back to a more fun easy going (and maybe a bit more shallow) route, and it’s giving me great “summer is coming vibes.” Don’t need to think too hard, just have fun!

That’s a great way to look at it!

Review of Dr. Stone: New World Episode 5

Opening Thoughts for Dr. Stone: New World Episode 5

This week’s episode came in three sections: whoopsie, ghost lighting, and the optional draft. The whoopsie I could understand and optional draft made perfect sense to me; they fit the story and felt like the needed to happen to launch the story into the next real adventure. But I’m not so sure about the ghost lightning part.

Irina, before we dive in, do you have any opening thoughts about the episode?

I might be wrong but the episode gave me the impression that Ryuusui is replacing Gen as Senku’s foil. A character arguably as intelligent as he is albeit in a different way that he can bounce stuff off of. And I’m not sure how I feel about that. I certainly like Ryuusui and he was such a cute kid but Gen is my favourite and I would love for him to get a bit more screen time.

Ryusui is getting a lot of screen time, which is mostly a good thing. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

For those that may not know, I have a soft spot for jerks as anime characters. Dr. Stone is full of rather nice and likeable characters. Senku has his questionable moments but Gen is really the only one you can turn to for some real jerky behaviour!

Construction Woes in Dr. Stone: New World Episode 5

Senku and his team have had pretty smooth sailing when it comes to making stuff. Even the Eyes of Science, where he re-introduced cathode ray tubes to the world, went off without a hitch. But this week, reality caught up with them.

Constructing a ship, even a wooden ship, requires engineering on a scale they hadn’t attempted yet. So when Kaseki tried to fit some hull struts together, he found they wouldn’t align. Poor guy blamed himself! I thought it was stand-up of Senku to point out that (00:53) “The whole King of Science is built on trial and error.” 

But they really didn’t have time for trial and error. Why-Man loomed large over everyone’s thoughts. So, they had to come up with another approach. This is where Ryusui got a chance to shine! Turns out as a kid, he wanted everything. And guess what? He wasn’t shy about putting in the grunt work to make it happen. 

Turns out he had built a scale model of a ship before. And the dude knew his ships! He was able to build a 1:48 scale of their new ship with such precision, they could disassemble the model, upscale the parts (with some nifty cool new inventions), and assemble the full-sized ship.

What’d you think of this sequence, Irina?

Senku made a pantograph which is a pretty basic drawing and drafting tool you can use to make drawings to scale, both bigger and smaller. It’s pretty cool actually and you can find one for pennies. The thing is that pantographs aren’t that big usually. They can make things a few times larger or smaller but for something to do a 1:48 scale you would need a huge device and that would become very heavy and bulky. 

Who needs horses or oxen when you can just ask Taiju for help? Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

Taiju’s Tireless Might to the Rescue

Thankfully it was Taiju to the rescue. I do really admire the effort that was put in to insert real world science into Dr. Stone. I actually think that’s really cool and I won’t lie, I have regularly turned off an episode of Dr. Stone with a huge itch to make something. Anything! Just a vague and aimless desire to create something with my own hands. And I think that’s amazing. If the show can do that for other people, I have to applaud it.

But let’s face it, Taiju’s strength is kind of just magic and more than a few times, the plot has relied on it. That’s not a bad thing. But it did make this scaling project a lot easier than it should be really. 

Although it’s easy to forgive them since they at least mentioned how arduous the building process was going to be. 

At this point, the science-geeky part of my brain was really pleased with the episode. I was ready for the shake-down cruise goodness. But then they ran out of summer, and we got several scenes of winter sports. Which was fine and all. There were some funny moments, like Kohaku moving so fast on skies that Minami could only capture a blur. And when spring came and we got a mini beach episode (very mini), Minami captured some ghostly streaks as Kohaku swam blindingly fast.

So it’s not like I disliked this part. It was fun. But I was ready for shipboard life! Well, that would come soon enough!

Fun with Pre-Boarding in Dr. Stone: New World Episode 6

We all knew the show would make a big deal of selecting who would serve onboard the ship, didn’t we? We got just that. They launched the ship, and Ryusui wasted no time in declaring that he would draft the right people for the voyage. He impressed me – he said if someone didn’t want to come onboard, that was cool. In fact, he knew a single disgruntled sailor could kill them all. I thought that was an enlightened approach.

I even expected a few humorous moments. Like when Ryusui called for Senku to come onboard, but he was already there. Or the Power Team sprinting up the gangplank. But we got a few extra interesting moments.

Ryusui didn’t need to ask Senku twice! Actually, he didn’t even need to ask him once. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

For example, Gen made it clear he did not want to go. He seemed relieved when it looked like Ryusui had finished and hadn’t called his name. But he was one of the last to be called, and he came onboard with much complaining. In the end, he said that Why-Man might attack the village anyway. He said (18:10), “In that case, I might be safer on the team with Science King Senku-chan.”

I liked Kohaku’s observation: “That evil act is how that bat bastard saves face,” she said (18:27).

What’d you think of the general boarding shenanigans, Irina?

Boarding Shenanigans

I’m always impressed by shows that do clip episodes of new clips. It feels so counterintuitive. And the flshforward was just that. A series of clips of them all having fun during the building process. They even talked about it out loud. The framing device for this sequence was that the journalist lady was taking pictures to record their time together and she purposefully decided to capture the best or most amusing moments. It’s cute and better defined than most floashforwards are. I did enjoy the conceit as a bit of narrative and storytelling flair! And it was a nice “calm before the storm” moment. We saw everyone relaxed and enjoying themselves one last time before we set out on the big adventure!

I was so happy that Gen gets to tag along. Like I said, I want to see more of him. And Ukyou as well. I mean the selection basically selected anyone that had had any consistent screen time in the last few seasons so it was a pretty safe split. It also means we’re unlikely to see the village much for the rest of the season. It’s a bit of a throw back to s1 when Senku and Taiju got separated.

Kohaku’s got Gin all figured out. Well, at least to some extent. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

Concern for Those Who Remain

One thing I will say, just as Kohaku mentioned, they do seem to be leaving the village a bit undermaned. They got all the fighters (apparently) which is dumb. It’s not just a question of getting attacked, they still need to hunt for their food. They live in a place where they can’t do agriculture year round. Also, they seem to have taken all the “scientists” and most people with knowledge of medicine, mechanics and craftsmanship. I’m sure there are still a few healers left but I dunno, I think they should have at least one of the thought leaders stay behind.

I hope that decision doesn’t come back to bite them!

There were a couple other points worth mentioning. Ryusui asked Ginro to come onboard, but he was actually terrified and declined. As the ship pulled away, when he judged it was far enough, he made a big show of having second thoughts and diving into the water to swim after the ship. His goal had been to make an obvious attempt and fail so he could look good in front of the women-folk. What he didn’t count on was Taiju’s powerful swimming skills. Taiju hauled him onto the ship, much to his chagrin.

Senku Has It Covered

The other interesting thing was Kohaku wondering if it was smart to take the whole Power Team onboard the ship. That would leave Hyoga and Homura with the villagers. Kohaku worried that if they escaped, they would take over all of Japan!

Senku was way ahead of her, though. He had brought them onboard the ship – as weapons of last resort if it came to a fight. I like that little detail. Though in cages that small, I figure their muscles would atrophy!

Hyoga and Homura’s status came as quite a surprise to some of the crew.

Any pit for Ginro, Irina? Or thoughts about Hyoga and Homura?

Hyouga and Himura will certainly come into play at some point in the season and I like that. I think it gives some possibilities for the plot. And Himura especially is an interesting and potentially redeemable character.

As for Ginro. He’s always been the comic relief and a bit of a clumsy one. I actually really liked his antics but I suspect they weren’t to everyone’s taste. The way he sees himself as a wise old king was particularly funny!

Closing Thoughts on Dr. Stone: New World Episode 5

The ship’s under way. I was excited to hear Senku say that the first stop is the island where his father and astronaut friends had landed. I’m looking forward to seeing what Senku thinks he can find!

Irina, any closing thoughts?

What can I say, I’m really having a lot of fun with this season. Dr. Stone has been a generally fine show so it’s no surprise but I could have easily binged another four episodes and wanted more.

Dr. Stone: New World Episode 5: Other Posts

Other Anime Sites

• Reddit: Dr. Stone: New World – Episode 5 discussion

This Collaboration (I Drink and Watch Anime and Crow’s World of Anime!)

• Dr. Stone: New World Episode 1: New World Map
• Dr. Stone: New World Episode 2: Greed Equals Justice
• Dr. Stone: New World Episode 3: First Contact
• Dr. Stone: New World Episode 4: Eyes of Science
• Dr. Stone: New World Episode 5: Science Vessel Perseus
• Dr. Stone: New World Episode 6: TREASURE BOX
• Dr. Stone: New World Episode 7: Ray of Despair, Ray of Hope
• Dr. Stone: New World Episode 8: The Trump Card Aboard the Science Vessel
• Dr. Stone: New World Episode 9: Beautiful Science
• Dr. Stone: New World Episode 10: SCIENCE WARS
• Dr. Stone: New World Episode 11: With This Fist, a Miracle