Dr. Stone Chapter 80 Review by BelserionChapter Title: Humanity’s Strongest Tag TeamLast chapter Hyouga showed his true colors by attacking Tsukasa’s newly revived sister Mirai, forcing Tsukasa to defend her and as a result he was stabbed through the chest and sent over a cliff. Senkuu however, managed to grab the injured Tsukasa before he could fall. This is where we continue.
As Senkuu struggled to keep hold of the falling Tsukasa, Mirai, Chrome and Kohaku could only watch on in shock as Hyouga sends Senkuu over the cliff as well. Surprisingly, Hyouga also follows the two over the cliff, which turns out to be what he planned from the start. Urging Senkuu to give up on Tsukasa because the wound he inflicted was lethal, Hyouga admitted to Senkuu that he had scouted the area ahead of time to know the current would wash them to their current location, something Senkuu reveals he already figured out when Hyouga tried to lure Mirai towards the river.
Hyouga tells Senkuu the reason for forcing him over the cliff was so that he could speak to him alone. Senkuu teases Hyouga about acting like a high schooler about to reveal his crush and states that he’s a married man and has no interest in speaking with Hyouga. Hyouga says it’s fine and that Senkuu should just listen. He states that he’s going to make a proposal and the only option Senkuu has is to accept it either by will or by force.
Hyouga explains the basis of his alliance with Tsukasa saying they both believed fundamentally that the Petrification Phenomenon that befell earth thousands of years ago was an artificial selection in order to thin out humanity. Senkuu responds that such reasoning doesn’t excite him and in the world of science such logic with zero basis is nothing more than a joke. As Senkuu is saying this he’s surreptitiously trying to stop Tsukasa from bleeding out by applying pressure to his wound.
Hyouga says Senkuu should play nice and tells Senkuu that he should know the earth had no way of supporting 7 billion people and if that’s the case, he asks who should live. Hyouga admits to Senkuu that what Tsukasa really desired was a “Shangri-La” where people did not take from one another, but he couldn’t care less about that. I think what Hyouga says here highlights that Tsukasa’s heart was in the right place. He may have gone about everything a bit radically but the end result he was hoping for would have been beneficial to those he deemed worthy.
Hyouga continues to berate Tsukasa’s plan saying if they did revive only the young, that would include the “brainless” and “skill-less” idiots that they would have to end up feeding, which ultimately would be taking from those around them anyway. Hyouga goes on to tell Senkuu that what they needed was selection. Only the superior should be allowed to live in the new world. All the average and ordinary should be eliminated and humanity being turned to stone was them being given that opportunity. I had to pause right here because this was absolute nonsense to me. Hyouga seems to conveniently forget that he was chosen by the same man he’s insulting and that if it wasn’t for Tsukasa he’d still be a statue. So how does he even consider himself superior?
Anyway, Senkuu tells Hyouga what he’s saying doesn’t excite him and if the earth can’t support the 7 billion people then they would just have to find a way to support themselves. That is the way of science. Although this infuriates Hyouga, he holds on to his temper and compliments Senkuu’s marvelous science power, telling him he has no doubt one day he will be able to create Nitric Acid which is basically the revival formula. Hyouga then puts his proposal to Senkuu that they rule the world together and “weed out and select humanity”. This would make them the ultimate tag team. Now comes the best part. Hyouga slices Senkuu’s finger and tells him his answer is yes and until he says it Hyouga would chop off his fingers one by one then move on to his legs. This is proof that Senkuu is only wanted for his brain and nothing more.
As Senkuu stands there afraid, Tsukasa nudges his foot to signal he’s about to do something. Senkuu uses this moment to cause a diversion. He starts throwing rocks from his bag at Hyouga screaming at him to stay away. Hyouga remarks that he overestimated Senkuu and that his current behavior was disgraceful. Just then Hyouga notices that the rocks aren’t ordinary; they’re in fact petrified birds. Suddenly the stone falls away from the birds and they start attacking Hyouga. It turns out Senkuu had some of the formula left over in his bag that he poured on the birds right before throwing them. As Hyouga defends himself from the sudden onslaught, Tsukasa launches a surprise attack at the shocked Hyouga. I must admit I was shocked as well because Tsukasa went at him like he didn’t even feel his injury.
Tsukasa reminds Senkuu of the promise he made him at the beginning, that danger would never touch Senkuu, but because of his ideals he broke that promise despite Senkuu keeping his own promise that science doesn’t lie. Tsukasa tells him he will now honor his promise of a ceasefire and once again swears to Senkuu that danger would not touch him again because Tsukasa will be the one to fight. Hyouga scoffs at this and says a wounded lion and a man with no fighting ability are humanity’s weakest tag team and all he has to do is get rid of them both. The chapter ends with Tsukasa asking Senkuu to team up. Science and Power uniting against a common enemy, something Senkuu finds exciting.
Overall ThoughtsI’d rate this chapter 8/10. I find Hyouga’s ideals, while they make sense in way, to be selfish. He’s already set himself up as the god of the new world, so in the end this selection would be based on his reasoning, his ideology, the same as with Tsukasa. He didn’t say what the basis of the selection would be. Someone good at hunting might be bad at building and vice versa. Everyone has some sort of skill, some more obvious than others, so who decides what skill is useful? Hyouga that’s who. So basically his plan is for Senkuu to join him only because he would be the one to make the formula. Hyouga would then go about reviving whoever he wants without answering to anyone. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and Hyouga is already well on his way to complete corruption.
That being said I do agree with Hyouga’s analysis that Senkuu and Tsukasa as they currently are should be no match for him. It all depends on what Senkuu has in that bag of his. Also Kohaku and the others might be on their way so that has the potential for a surprise attack.
I’m also not sure of Tsukasa surviving this. Sure he looks like he has some life left in him but that doesn’t change the fact that the wound is lethal. Unless they somehow perform emergency surgery if the spear managed to miss the heart by some serious luck.
I think the upcoming fight should be good. The dilemma of Senkuu’s no kill policy might come up. Not sure if Tsukasa will take that into account or he will make the decision to end Hyouga on his own and face the consequences later if he survives, but I really don’t think Hyouga can be allowed to roam free. Building a sturdy prison has merit but they’d have to do it fast. Also there’s the Homura wildcard. Has she switched sides after passing along a message with Yo, or will she be the one to save Hyouga? Either way I’m expecting a lot of action in the next couple of chapters.
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