(kodoani.com)The popular Dr Stone anime series stars Senku Ishigami on a quest to revive humanity in the future Stone Age, but why is it called Dr Stone?
Dr Stone is a popular “entertainment” manga/anime series starring Senku Ishigami, a genius high school boy with an intense love of science and exploration. One day, a mysterious energy wave swept across the globe and petrified all humans, and 3,700 years passed before Senku freed himself from the stone. Now the guy has to invent the future, one device at a time.
Dr Stone well known for its scientific precision and shonen-style storytelling despite its lack of action, magic, and martial arts, but new fans may be wondering how the series got its name its. Senku may be smart, but he’s not really a doctor, and there’s no other character named Dr Stone. However, that term came up in the series, and for good reason.
The Healing Power of Stones
At first, Senku considered the mysterious phenomenon his worst enemy – understandably so, since that wave of certifications froze human civilization in its tracks and allowed all Man’s creations crumbled to dust as nature reclaimed the Earth. Senku breaks free from sheer willpower and soon creates a “revival liquid” to free the others from the stone, including Tsukasa Shishio. Every day, Senku sees hundreds more people petrifying but there is no way to free them from their stone prison. But soon the stone came to Senku’s aid, and sought to utilize it again.
Senku and Tsukasa couldn’t reconcile their differences, so Tsukasa dealt a fatal blow to the back of Senku’s neck to kill him painlessly. Taiju and Yuzuriha thought that the senku was dead until Senku recovered from a fragment of the certification stone left on his neck. That fragment softened the blow, and when removed, it healed the flesh underneath, saving Senku’s life. So Senku dubbed it “Doctor Stone.”
Later, near the end of Season 2, Tsukasa became Senku’s ally again and suffered fatal wounds to defeat his and Senku’s nemesis, Hyoga. Senku was unable to heal Tsukasa, but sanku froze him by freezing, giving them time. Senku planned to find a certified device and use it on Tsukasa, allowing the stone to heal him after Tsukasa was broken free.
Tsukasa agrees to the plan, and later in the manga’s plot, the plan succeeds. Tsukasa was completely healed from petrification, and Senku and his allies even pieced together broken human figurines and allowed the stone to heal those inside. Even if someone breaks their arm, the stone will fully reattach if everything is stable while the resurrection liquid is poured over them. Having one’s statue broken is no longer a death sentence, which gives Senku’s team a serious advantage against the petrified kingdom.
Senku & Byakuya Ishigami
More figuratively speaking, Senku Ishigami and his adoptive father Byakuya can also be considered “Dr Stone”, even if they are not certified doctors or geologists. Senku and Byakuya both form the basis of the future of human civilization, thousands of years apart, and it helps that they, Ishigami, include the character for “stone”. The village of Ishigami also takes the name of the stone – part of the foundation for the rebirth of humanity.
Not long after the global petrification event, Byakuya and his ISS crewmates returned to Earth in a Soyuz ship. Byakuya spent the rest of his life laying the foundations for Senku’s future success, from creating One Hundred Stories to collecting rare resources for Senku’s future use. Byakuya succeeded, and millennia later, Senku continued the work Byakuya had started, including hearing One Hundred Stories from Ruri, who memorized them all. With this off to a good start, Senku and the villagers really became the foundation for the future of human civilization, including Senku using those resources to create more respawn liquids as he cannot.
In this way, Senku and Byakuya truly become miracle doctors, using their resourceful intelligence and optimism to cure diseases and revive the founding humanity. Both characters are constructive and helpful people who want what’s best for others, and that, combined with their names and roles in the story, makes them the real Dr Stone.