Happy New Year to everyone! May 2022 be the year of all our victories, just as Boichi wished it.
With the holidays in between, it seems like Chapter 223 was forever ago. But these two chapters together have both made some long-running ambitions become a reality in the stone world. Things are really starting to tie up as we near the end, and our astronauts have reached a point of no return. So, this review will cover some things that have been a long time coming in the story, but also some character moments and of course, various trivia.
I must admit, a few months ago, I used to imagine that the rocket would be completed in chapter 300. Considering the first Perseus was completed in chapter 100, and the second one in 200, I imagined 300 being the chapter where they complete the Perseus. It seemed…thematic somehow? Like a milestone chapter, so a milestone achievement. But they completed it beforehand, in chapter 222.
Meaning that the manga might wrap up before we get to chapter 300? Or maybe, 300 will be the chapter where Why Man is finally defeated, and the threat of the Stone World is finally conquered. Quite curious to see what would be in store for us then if we do make it that far.
For chapter 223, we’ve been blessed with a color page of our three astronauts. Does it give any foreshadowing to their fates? Stanley is shaded out in monochrome style. As much as we love him, you might say he is the most expendable of the three if someone were to die in the moon battle, so this seems like it could be a signal to that. Plus his death would be interesting for the effect on Xeno.
Take a look at these spacesuits. It’s such a proud moment with lots of excitement, but these spacesuits… there’s a word I’ve seen around a lot to describe them.
GOOFY.
Goofy as hell. Like, look at those kneecaps. For some reason I just wanna bang on them with some drumsticks.
This has got to be a reference to some old sci-fi. Maybe Dr. Who, considering there is a moment later on where Senku does get petrified and…..the lights go off.
But it’s within the spirit of the series where the inventions don’t quite mirror their modern-day equivalents, which gives them some charm.
Chapter 223 features some interesting character moments as they send off the astronaut team. Xeno gives a farewell present to Stan, Ruri tells Kohaku to be careful, and our original trio, Senku/Taiju/Yuzuriha, are together for this moment. There’s a lot of reassurance going around that things will turn out okay. One thing I really like about this scene is how Senku takes time to say goodbye to Taiju and Yuzuriha. These three are the beginning of the whole series. When Senku was there making rockets as a kid, both Yuzuriha and Taiju supported him through it. And right here, at the achievement of his long-standing dream, the three are also there again. It just feels very satisfying as a reader to notice how far they have come as a trio.
Gen’s covered face implies that he’s getting emotional. It’s tough even for him to pretend there’s no worry about a tragic outcome. He knows Senku would want Taiju, as well as Luna and everyone else there, to be reassured, but he might not be able to convince himself.
Instead, Taiju ends up saying that, by his own will and dedication, they’ll do whatever it takes to avoid failure and save Senku if they must.
He says he’ll spend years collecting all Senku’s stone pieces, which makes Dr. Stone fans' foreshadowing radar go off, big time. This is one of those things they wouldn’t mention unless it’ll eventually come true in one form or another.
Hmm… collecting hundreds of pieces of something over decades of time, for Senku… oh dear, doesn’t that sound familiar?
By the way, the last time Kohaku left Ruri was when setting out on the Perseus and leaving Japan, and Ruri didnt really say goodbye, or tell her to take care. This time she does. Makes you realize just how daunting a task it is leaving the earth and facing a battle on the moon.
Joel/Kaseki finally meet, and it looks like they will finally have their toast over managing to reactivate the Medusa devices, though at this point the toast may be “off-screen.”.A meeting that has been foreshadowed since chapters 190-191, and also brought up again in chapter 201.
It’s so nice that Kaseki has finally met another technician in the story, and we’re excited to hopefully see them work together more. This chapter, they both work together to come up with a new diamond battery, meaning the Medusa is fully charged up for the trip to space. But one wonders just how useful it will be up there, especially in the surrounding vacuum.
We also have another returning character in the story, Senku’s “girlfriend”. She’s obviously worried about her guy, but she manages to put on a brave face. Senku “reassures” her about the mortality rate of space accidents, which just makes her lose her cool again. Though her being there is an interesting choice, writing wise. Could mean that once Senku returns from the moon, there’ll finally be nothing standing in the way of him finally being a decent boyfriend for Luna. He did joke about it once with Homura, so don’t give up yet…. Luna.
Once all the goodbyes are done, it’s finally time for the trip. An interesting discussion pops up again, regarding the Medusa. It does turn out that Xeno was informed about the vacuum explosion, but he says they could not reproduce the phenomenon at all. That means that the vacuum had no effect on the Medusa activating at all, but there was interference from another party? Meaning Gen might have been right about there being a traitor after all? It's been under heavy security, so they're at least taking that possibility seriously.
Despite the obvious risks however, they can’t afford to not take the Medusa to space. Because anything could happen up there, so it makes sense having a device that can be a failsafe in the event an accident occurs.
Once the rocket arrives in space, Senku is the first one to depetrify. But not because of his bad luck this time, no. Xeno was the one who fiddled with his watch, letting him be the first human in space. A moment of sentimentality, as Gen noted. Considering Xeno and Byakuya were friends or at least Xeno knew him well, this does make the moment feel a lot more wholesome. Also from the moment that Senku was a kid, he mentioned that his goal was space. So taking a while to appreciate the vast nature of it, to realize the accomplishment of his dream is a real treat for fans who have followed Senku's journey.
Stanley and Kohaku are both revived later, and the three astronauts share a moment eating ramen. Another powerful moment this chapter since it’s a direct callback to (another) Byakuya moment. Right before the earth got petrified, Shamil ate some ramen. And right before his death, he mused about how the ramen was good. Byakuya swore to him that humanity will make a comeback, to the day that they were eating ramen again in space.
Ramen has just been an iconic food throughout the story, and it's close to Senku's heart. Just look at him straight chugging it on the spaceship.
But eating ramen in space has been closely tied to the progress of humanity in the stone world. Of course, Senku never actually knew that Byakuya promised they would be eating ramen in space again. The ramen represents many different stages in that progress, from Senku's early days in the village, to growing wheat, to making plastic, to getting it into space.
The first few pages of this chapter (224) do a nice job to show that humanity has come a long way before and after the petrification. It leads up to Senku waking up, a moment that can be felt so well with the way it's presented. It really invites you to imagine the feeling of floating alone in space while appreciating the view and the sentiment that comes with it.
With the sentimentality, pleasantries, and food out of the way, it’s time for serious business. The second bit of the rocket connects to the first one, and the moon grows a step closer. Since they're still assembling the final rocket, we could assume that the astronaut crew is in Earth's orbit for now and not yet traveling towards the moon.
We can't go without mentioning their new outfits as astronauts. What do you think that thing is that Senku is wearing on his back? It looks like what Xeno wears, which seems to be a kind of mount for a removable backpack. But it also made me think of a gun holster like what tough guys would wear in old detective TV shows. Stan looks like he might be wearing one, too. They're all wearing a big, bulky belt which might be for connecting the spacesuits. And traditional mission patches which makes them look official.
Kohaku is basically wearing an upgraded version of her regular dress. I've been looking forward to seeing Kohaku wear modern clothes for a long time, I just think she would rock them pretty well. Stan also has an altered version of his previous outfit, the "knight" looking one which was only around for a couple of chapters, along with his new smaller scar.
Speaking of scars, Senku's scar is finally gone. They (the writer, or editors) have skirted around Senku losing his scars enough, while everyone else lost theirs long ago. When he was revived in South America, they acknowledged it but didn't really try to explain it. So they're gone for the rest of the story, unless he's petrified for a while again.
While chapter 224 was a bit shorter than 223, both these chapters made up the perfect way to conclude last year and kick off the start of 2022. This is it, finally, the magnum opus of the series, what it has been building to this whole time. There’s going to be a short break after this chapter, up to the 17th. It’s going to be a while (again), before we make that first moon landing, but here’s to hoping the moment delivers all the hype.
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