Dr. Stone Chapter 188: What I Once Sought to Destroy

seiryu

Dr. Stone Chapter 188 What I Once Sought to Destroy Read Online! VIZ: here

seiryu

HOLY CRAP...this is definitely the shortest Dr. Stone chapter in terms of time that passes in the plot/world, but this definitely is a huge transition point in the plot considering it is maybe a minute or two at most. Most surprising of all is how easily Tsukasa took out the female MMA champ. I guess it was wishful thinking for the main group to not provide backup so the sniper and Stan moving in while the bulk of the group maintained control of the hostages is the correct tactic (the strongest support moved into place). But this does change things that the special ops members are just upgraded "man power". Only the elite of the elite (Stan for their group) will be the main force for the remainder of the series just like how there is a huge gap between Tsukasa, Hyouga, and to a certain extent Kohaku relative to the rest of the combat team. I guess Kohaku hasn't had much time to shine and she had to take a back seat to Tsukasa and Hyouga once they were back as allies, so it makes sense for her to be the one to destroy the com device. I'm curious as to why we aren't shown where she was shot (we see a little blood on her in the one panel she is shown in the ending pages). Both the sniper and Stan didn't hesitate to shoot Tsukasa and Hyouga in their hearts. Tsukasa can be trusted on his analysis/superhuman hearing/vision. If he says Hyouga is already dead, he can't see any breathing or see any movement (the expansion of the chest/abdomen and especially with the panting necessary if on the verge of death). So Kohaku is having the same panting, so she had a vital spot shot by Stan too. So this brings up a new conundrum. Will the manga team be willing to take the "Game of Thrones" approach and be willing to kill off major characters? I guess in theory, as long as the hole is filled with blood, it could revive the dead in that new and healthy tissue is created from the stone upon revival. But that is the only hope. It cannot be an empty hole for sure, and that's what happens with bullets (especially high caliber stuff like what is being used). I loved the detail Bochi put on Kohaku's face when Hyouga takes Stan's shot/shots in her place. She realizes that she was going to die then and I guess guilt takes over her. More importantly, it shows the mutual trust they have for each other. Hyouga thought Kohaku was the best candidate to get the com device destroyed and willingly (any hesitation would have not blocked it) and Kohaku has the Senku-like blind trust in his friends. I was going to question how Stan doesn't react to Kohaku since he is just as fast, until the manga team added the panel of Stan's gun still smoking. There should be a huge magazine, but in theory, Stan wasted his entire magazine overkilling Hyouga. This ties in with Kohaku potentially not being shot in her heart because Stan might be a Lilian fan/some mercy to women. There has to be something since he has the magazines to reload on him. He sees the intent and chooses for it to be executed. Maybe he's so cocky that he doesn't think he needs communication to kill Senku. So if anything, it's a combination of everything. BUT the biggest deal is Tsukasa fully trusting and to the point of blind trust, in technology and Senku. Since his entire character was built on hating it, and it proves rightly so since the special forces are indiscriminately shooting out the guys' hearts, it was a beautiful emphasis to have the flashback of trying to get Chrome to give in, his text, and the silhouette of his heart getting shot out. I was expecting him to be fully trusting of Senku, but to have blind faith in Why-man's technology shows how much Tsukasa has changed. I really hope we get the normal pacing of Dr. Stone so these characters are dead for only a few chapters.

weebywitch

NOOOOOO.. look I don’t mind Hyoga dying. I could care less about him. I knew that from a realistic standpoint that they could overcome the firearms in close combat because if you’re closer than 7 feet, you can overcome a firearm if you have a knife or with hand to hand combat. Everyone knows that. But I’m sick of Tsukasa getting shot. They have carbon fiber, why have they not made bullet proof vests?! This is serious BS. I get the poignant point being made at the end and even appreciated making Kohaku the hero of the chapter, so to speak but I’m still pissed off and disappointed at the way it ended unless they petrify folx and save him again. :

seiryu

> NOOOOOO.. look I don’t mind Hyoga dying. I could care less about him. I knew that from a realistic standpoint that they could overcome the firearms in close combat because if you’re closer than 7 feet, you can overcome a firearm if you have a knife or with hand to hand combat. Everyone knows that. But I’m sick of Tsukasa getting shot. They have carbon fiber, why have they not made bullet proof vests?! This is serious BS. I get the poignant point being made at the end and even appreciated making Kohaku the hero of the chapter, so to speak but I’m still pissed off and disappointed at the way it ended unless they petrify folx and save him again. : The positive aspect is that the stereotypical shounen series doesn't kill off popular characters permanently. The major aspect is that Tsukasa talks about the possibility of a miraculous revival. If it was only one or two of the three dying, maybe I think there is a possibility of them staying dead. With all three dying soon, Senku isn't going to suddenly change how the science team "fights". So using state of the art weaponry will never be his style. Kinda sad that Tsukasa has to be out of commission a second time.

weebywitch

> The positive aspect is that the stereotypical shounen series doesn't kill off popular characters permanently. The major aspect is that Tsukasa talks about the possibility of a miraculous revival. If it was only one or two of the three dying, maybe I think there is a possibility of them staying dead. With all three dying soon, Senku isn't going to suddenly change how the science team "fights". So using state of the art weaponry will never be his style. Kinda sad that Tsukasa has to be out of commission a second time. Well Senku promised that everyone would live/zero casualties back when he recruited Ukyo so I’m sure there’s going to be a workaround of some sort but pulling this “Tsukasa is ‘nearly dead’” thing a second time is just toying with us and even if it’s for a really good showing of his growth, it has less poignancy the second time around. It only served to piss me off/irritate me because it felt like they were trying to toy with my emotions on purpose.

seiryu

> Well Senku promised that everyone would live/zero casualties back when he recruited Ukyo so I’m sure there’s going to be a workaround of some sort but pulling this “Tsukasa is ‘nearly dead’” thing a second time is just toying with us and even if it’s for a really good showing of his growth, it has less poignancy the second time around. It only served to piss me off/irritate me because it felt like they were trying to toy with my emotions on purpose. Yes, all the points brought up I fully agree with. I actually think this is going to play a role down the line. Since Medusa waves don't penetrate the ground, already dead people will stay dead. All three of them will be dead by the time the Special Ops team gets to Fort Medusa. The night strike works to their advantage so it is just perfect timing for everyone. There isn't a really rational way to only have Tsukasa be kept alive. The only potential option was Stan, who was willing to follow Xeno's wish of only killing Senku. We got the confirmation he's willing to kill Kohaku though. So they all had to die because that's how much of an advantage technology is. It just sucks when the tables are turned against the protagonists and especially the likable ones. But this is being put in now so that we know it is possible to revive someone as long as they don't start to rot and there aren't huge missing pieces of the fleshy body. Or maybe even this isn't a limiting factor and Medusa can fill it in with stone and replace it with normal healthy tissue after. Since Why-man probably didn't test it that thoroughly, this is going to be a huge perk since they can literally be a army of zombie fighters.

Marco Polo

Lots of bloodshed this chapter... The big thing for me is the Medusa being able to revive the dead. Hyoga dies on the spot, whereas Tsukasa seems to hold out a little longer. I'm guessing they'll revive Tsukasa at the very least, but ideally both (or all 3 depending on how beat up Kohaku gets) if they can in fact be resurrected. The issue comes if they start to use the Medusa like it's the Dragonballs - the fact that each device is single-use and hard to replicate definitely helps in keeping it from being a complete hack, but if they manage to perfect the diamond cloning process then a lot of the stakes of the fighting aspect of the series are less high. Granted, the main "battle" method from this series is science so it's not a huge deal (and in fact it's a huge scientific advancement to be able to revive the dead), but it's something to keep in mind, especially if it's used outside of just healing fighters.

seiryu

> Lots of bloodshed this chapter... The big thing for me is the Medusa being able to revive the dead. Hyoga dies on the spot, whereas Tsukasa seems to hold out a little longer. I'm guessing they'll revive Tsukasa at the very least, but ideally both (or all 3 depending on how beat up Kohaku gets) if they can in fact be resurrected. The issue comes if they start to use the Medusa like it's the Dragonballs - the fact that each device is single-use and hard to replicate definitely helps in keeping it from being a complete hack, but if they manage to perfect the diamond cloning process then a lot of the stakes of the fighting aspect of the series are less high. Granted, the main "battle" method from this series is science so it's not a huge deal (and in fact it's a huge scientific advancement to be able to revive the dead), but it's something to keep in mind, especially if it's used outside of just healing fighters. Knowing both Kaseki and Senku, they always find a way to make what they want. There has always been a purpose for everything, so I'm having blind faith that there is a different twist other than getting shot and needing to be revived. The potential problem is that it is even better than Dragon Balls where people can be immediately petrified and revived. The key restriction is that Medusa waves do not go underground, so assuming there is some other twist, all of the context is being kept in place. The thing is that this seems like a twist years down the line though.