Z=1: Humanity=Effort

I think one of the coolest things about Dr. STONE as a series isn't just it's themes and fun characters but the presence of such a distinct adacemic voice. The story revolves around a scientist who loves his work dearly, and is constantly explaining himself with experiments, examples, and excitement. It revolves around the scientists and warriors and craftsmen and artisans that make up the long stretch of humanity.

I love that there is the story-typical amount of near death and unlikely escapes and actual, real world information about various subjects and materials. It's a fascinating approach to the narrative and makes it very fun, if long-winded at times, to read. I think it's equally fun to listen to the characters talking about their science experiements.

To me, this entire story is about showing us the spirit of humanity.

I think something particularly horryfying about the petrification is that Humanity lived; it survived the petrification by becoming sleeping, unending beings. But the arts and sciences and cultures all died. Everything that humanity has ever made has been destroyed by time and elements, with only memories to retain them. There is so much information that is lost and I'm not surprised that this realization causes so much grief. I'm not surprised that Senku wanted to revive everyone, not just because he wanted to save them, but because he wanted to preserve them. The legacy built from generations past will only ever live in memory and recreations, as the world is reestablished. They all know it. The world as they knew it has entirely changed, and humanity has been left behind.

But that doesn't mean they will let it go.

We see the grief over this in Senku's attempt to pass on everything he knows, in Chrome's and in Nikki's tears. We see it, perhaps best of all, in the Soyuz space crew's legacy. Byakuya loves his son so much, missed him to his dying breath, and did all he could to pass the torch on. In each of those crew members dying, we see the pain of mortality and the burden that comes with it. And I think, in seeing Soyuz grieve his own father, we see the implications that so many people will never return because there may not be a full body.

The story doesn't explore the more morbid implications of the statues destroyed by natural disaster and decay. There will be people who cannot be pieced together fully and revived, even more who are buried under layers of dirt and water and plant matter. There are so many lives that are lost but no one even knows who they are. I think the weight of that is what makes the stubborn effort to revive humanity so much better. There's no cynicism, no nihilism. Just hope and a continuous effort to see the changes through.

Z=2: People=Power

There are many shonen stories that rely on the power of friendship, but none do it the way Dr. Stone does. It's not just the friendships that get humanity through trying times, but the persistent effort to connect with the people around you and the people of the past. The desire to never give up on oneself or to let go of the legacy that was built before us.

I love how all of these relationships build into a large web, connecting each person to each other over vastly different personalities, a range of skillsets, and in people from very different cultures or social circumstances. We have it repeated throughout the entire story, that each of these people have a place in the world and that the world is there for them to enjoy living in.

We can clearly see the tight-knit community that's been built in the aftermath of the petrification. I just love watching them work together to acieve their goals. I love listening to them bicker. It's funny, it's casual, and it's almost comforting.Like being in a room with all your friends and just enjoying the adventure of having a converstation and sharing hobbies. Even when they genuinely argue with one another, this is pretty true. In the characters that have tried to kill or maim each other, they end up either outright allies or at the very least approaching each other in a more neutral, diplomatic way. That whole complex web really shows how that is a part of society that never changes.

People hurt others, whether intentioanlly or not, and sometimes it's not only about making sure people manage the consequences or trying to be forgiven, but about respecting the lines drawn. Even though the stone world as we see it doesn't have established laws, there is regulation by manner of it's citizens. By the end of the series, we have a number of professionals and civilians from all over the globe, each contributing to the resources and revival efforts. It speaks very strongly of a desire to have amiciable relations. I think it's actually a very important aspect of the whole thing.

And even just looking at the personal relationships, I think my favorites are actually those between Senku and Kohaku, Francois and Ryuusui (which I have a little post on, here), Senku and Gen, and Senku and his father. I mean, in general, I love Senku, but I think these relationships really take the story.

Each character has such a distinct voice and personality, and Senku is able to work with each of them in various ways. I like how each has a bit of it's own dynamic and all work to revolve around Senku's science and more adventurous, unorthodox method of leading.

Speaking of.

I still absolutely love the moment that Ruri announces she knows who Senku is. Something about him becoming a story passed down through generations because of his father's deep, unending love and pride is just. So hearwrenching and sweet. I love that every story in the hundred tales is meant to teach the Soyuz crew's descendants about surviving the world and about leaving something there for Senku, should he wake up one day. I love that the last story is a tale just for Senku. A message of his father's life as the remnant of humanity, and Byakuya's goodbye to his son.

It's clear that even though Senku is not the most physically affectionate, he cares for humanity and his friends. He shows it through it actions constantly, such as when he caters his scientific projects to them, and is very often in the presence of other people. Senku is no introvert. He thrives on the connections he is able to build with his understanding of the world and the people in it. So Byakuya using science to tell Senku what happened, to give Senku the support he knew his son would need, is such a huge thing. I think that's why Byakuya couldn't say "I love you" on the record. It would hurt to do so, and might be too overwhelming if there was an audience, but the presence of the record was enough.

Z=3: Medusa=Trial

The introduction to the concept of petrification and the way it sets the story into motion is perhaps one of my favorites. I particularly love this sequence in the anime. The voice acting here is so gut wrenching.

Something about watching the characters all go about their days as normal makes the shift into disaster so unsettling. I think it's such a great example of the stories major themes and has some pretty horrifying imagery. It's toned down as this story is heavily centered around the stubbornness and hope of humanity to recover from disaster, but I love that there are multiple times where we see the negative effects of being petrified.

The loneliness of waking up alone, the confusion and the fear of not being able to fix things, the sheer amount of love and devotion present throughout the entire story. Not just love and devotion from humanity as a whole, to all of its sciences and cultures and arts, but the love of childhood friends, the love of a father and son, of a stubborn sister, and dedicated students.

All of it serves as a reminder of the story's themes:

"It's a certain privilege afforded to the human race. The accumulation of knowledge and skill over generations. For millennia, we've steadily built it up...through diligent effort. Before we die, we polish those skills even more...and let the next generation pick up where we left off."

The best part though, is how Why-Man shows the duality of that.

We learn that the Medusa devices live, artificial but cognizant enough to fear mortality. The approach they use is criticized by the narrative from the start, even before we learn about them as beings. It's not wrong for any being to want to live, to fear their own death and do what they can to preserve their life as long as they are able. The story never criticizes this point, mind you, but instead criticizes the idea that -- in order to preserve our own lives, in order to preserve our world, we can decide the fate of another's life.

Tsukasa wasn't wrong to say that the society of before was unfair and unjust, that it could be better for its people and kinder to our planet, nor was he wrong to try changing it. But the method of deciding who can live or not based on arbitrary and personal guidelines is an extremely dangerous method of social control. We see it in Hyoga's askance for a "culling", where only the strong survive (outright social Darwinism, right there), and in Tsukasa's choices to destroy those he deems corrupted in some way (age, mainly, but he also only revives people on the basis of their usefulness to him. Senku does this as well, but there is a major difference in doing that due to lack of resources and a need for expertise with the ultimate end goal of waking everyone they can, and destroying petrified bodies to prevent their revival entirely).

Neither of them makes any attempt to regulate society in a functional way. In order to allow what they thought was the best of humanity to survive, they chose to disregard other lives as worthless. Just from that alone, we can see a HUGE contrast in philosophy.

Why-Man, in choosing to petrify humanity in order to preserve it's own species, not only destroys all of humanitys progress but completely forgoes any attempt at a negotiation. There is no communication, no exchange, no regret or understanding of the turmoil it caused.

As always, there is something to be said about the implied politics of an Author's work, and this series, in my opinion, has some pretty good ones. I can't say anything about the Japanese culture or current politics that may also be present in the story, as I'm a white American, but the entire story revolves around the concept that humanity wants to live. And that, very often, humanity can make the effort to consolidate resources and experiences and skills to move towards that.

Why-Man tried to save its species by demanding the resources, efforts, and very lives of another without any regard for their safety or wishes, or even a mutual relationship. That is why they are the major antagonist, and why it shows only one was willing to explore a different way.

By choosing to meet humanity in the middle, that Medusa was able to place the wellbeing of those lives over their sense of entitlement and uniformity. I think it's very interesting and I had a lot of fun with this entire reveal, despite it being rushed, Plus, they're completely non-humanoid aliens and I think that couldn't better exemplify the theme here. There's nothing about a specific people that makes them inherently dangerous or selfish or anything like that, instead it's the very strong pull of in-group thinking and the pervasiveness of dehumanizing rhetoric.

This is all to say that I think the petrification is a great symbol of the mortality, vulnerability, and trials of humanity, and our main cast shows the story of us endlessly trying to survive and thrive within that.