Quick Summary
In Dr. Stone episode 24, “Voices Over Infinite Distance,” Senkuu powered up the new cell phone, and the village cheered when it came on line. Ruri marveled that they could send their voices over the air waves. Suika could barely speak. Everyone was in high spirits until Kohaku asked what was, in retrospect, the obvious question: How would they receive the calls this new device would make? Senkuu pretends he had forgotten about that, but Gen saw through the deception: he’d known all along and didn’t want the villagers to get discouraged at the amount of work! Before they build the second, they wanted to conduct a test of the first. It went well until Ruri said something that shocked Senkuu — and that would shock the villagers, too.
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Best Moment in the Show
Lillian’s song completely blew Chrome away. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Okay, seriously. How do I pick a single moment out of this episode? I thought picking a single moment from Fruits Basket was hard, but this episode took a whole season’s worth of great moments and compressed them into a single episode.
Jeesh.
I have no choice but to go meta. So, for my favorite moment in episode 24 of Dr. Stone, I pick a moment into which any one of us could insert ourselves. It was shortly after Senkuu realized that Ruri’s mention of a speaker, and its basis in the 100 Tales story about a bee’s stinger and a gravestone referred to a record player. He realized his father Byakuya had left something in his own headstone. That something turned out to be the bottom of a glass jar, etched with analog grooves. It was a glass record.
Putting aside how appropriate it was that Kohaku chiseled it delicately out of the rock, and putting aside the astonishing amount of faith Byakuya had in his son (yet myself not being able to resist at least mentioning them!), what made hearing Byakuya’s voice again after those thousands of years wasn’t the feat itself. Make no mistake. It was amazing! But really elevated it were the reactions, starting with Senkuu’s.
He and Gen heard Lillian’s voice and were moved, certainly, but their emotions were mingled with nostalgia. After all, they’d both heard her in her prime. It was Chrome’s reaction that really got to me. He was inarticulate. He usually has an opinion about everything. But after hearing Lillian’s song, he could only mutter, “Oh, man. Two millions years of humanity…” (08:19).
It’s easy to see how Lillian’s song could almost rob Chrome of his words! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Want to know why I hold science in such high esteem? What other process could have passed her song almost four thousand years into the future, along with Byakuya’s voice? The longest duration institutions on Earth, those aligned with various world-wide religious organizations? Even they rely on the technology of their times to store and preserve their messages. Parchment or glass, paper or solid state disks — they’re all technology, produced by science.
I know it’s fashionable in some circles to ridicule and dismiss science. You want I find hilarious about that position? Science is simply a way for us to learn and apply that learning, consistently, over time. It’s one thing to say that “Science has deceived us! Only faith matters!” It’s quite another to realize that’s the same as saying, “Learning and achievement deceived us! Only faith matters.”
Worded clearly, it certainly sounds a lot different, doesn’t it?
That’s what I loved about this series. No lectures. No arguing. Just Ruri alive after treatment. Just the villagers warm in their huts because of coal. Just hydro electric because of a wheel and generator. That’s the best way to get a point across. With facts.
What did you think of Byakuya’s message to his son? What was your Best in Show moment? Let me know in the comments!
Other Posts about This Series
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Dr. Stone – Episode 24 discussion – FINAL
- I Drink and Watch Anime: Dr. Stone Episode 24 – Conversations With Dead People
This Site (Crow's World of Anime!)
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 01 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 02 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 03 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 04 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 05 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 06 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 07 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 08 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 09 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 10 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 11 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 12 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 13 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 14 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 15 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 16 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 17 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 18 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 19 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 20 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 21 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 22 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 23 – Best In Show
- Review: Dr. Stone Episode 24 – Best In Show
