The Kingdom of Science begins...
- First-grader Senku's Christmas present is a full-blown science lab. The look on his face when he sees it is beautiful.
- Before that is a shot of Byakuya (his father) at an auto dealership, implying that he sold his car in order to pay for his son's lab. Now that's parenting done right.
- The fact that Kohaku's "training" every day was all for the sake of her sister. As Senku notes, she hauled two 50 liter jars full of mineral water several miles through the jungle every day, all to keep herself busy enough she couldn't be made to learn the 100 stories and to try and keep her sister well.
- What's more, Senku's two cents on this makes it even better. Because Ruri had pneumonia, the best things for her were to keep hydrated, warm, and clean with good water. When everyone else had just about given up on Ruri, it was Kohaku's own stubbornness and determination with her water which kept her sister alive all these years until the time she could finally be cured.
- One of Senku's rocket experiments blows up in the atmosphere. They're about to write as a failure, but they get a single transmission — a picture of Yuzuriha's hand-crafted "passengers", floating in space.
- While the scene itself is extremely tense in context, the fact that Senku and Tsukasa seem to genuinely think they could have been friends if they met earlier in their lives is somewhat touching. In particular, the alternate reality of Senku's rocket experiment shows a Tsukasa doll alongside the Senku, Taiju, and Yuzuriha dolls.
- Senku meeting Chrome is a delight on both sides because each finds a kindred spirit. Senku is reassured that science will survive even if he himself doesn't and he finally has a friend who understands what he's talking about. Chrome cries when Senku relates the wonders of modern science because this knowledge means so much to him personally. Showing off his collection of minerals and plants is comparable to two boys bonding over a shared hobby.
- Everything about the way Senku treats Suika. She's always done her best to help people but is usually hindered by her mask. But Senku doesn't push it and tells her she is useful and gives her tasks that complement her unique talents.
- While Chrome and Kohaku point out that Senku doesn't really care about Suika's situation because he's just thinking she'd be useful, Suika and Senku are actually quick to gain a sort of sibling-like bond given he has her help make the Foxtail Millet Ramen and gives her tasks to help out.
- What's the first thing Senku does to test his glass? Make Suika a pair of glasses. He even goes out of his way to make sure the first thing she sees is a field of sunflowers.
- The anime makes this scene even more heartwarming by showing Senku and Chrome leading Suika to the sunflower field with nearsighted Suika holding on to the back of Senku's clothes.
- We get a rare inside-the-helmet look of Suika's face as she looks through the glasses into the beautiful world outside it, which she can see clearly for the first time in her life. Her vision soon starts to blur up again, but this time it's not because of nearsightedness.
- When Suika explains her 'fuzzy sickness,' Senku calmly explains what it is, and tells her that she's not sick and there's nothing wrong with her. For anyone with a disability that they've been told makes them 'sick' or 'wrong,' these words are incredibly touching to hear.
- Doubly so given how much Suika worries about being 'useful' and Kinro's refusal to admit his own 'fuzzy sickness,' it seems likely that the village isn't very accepting or understanding of them. In telling Suika that there's nothing wrong with her, Senku is tackling all of the self-doubt and shame Suika's felt through her entire life.
- After making Ruri's medicine, Gen goes to leave the village because he can't set foot there. Just as he's about to go, what does he spot but a makeshift bottle of cola, which he happily gulps down. Senku kept his promise after all. Gen lets out a whoop of joy that echoes over the village.
- Honestly the fact that Senku even MADE the cola is enough to show that under the practical and logical science whiz is a kind hearted young man. He didn't do it just to get Gen as an ally, he did it because it was a kind enough gesture.
- Once Ruri recovers from the antibiotic's side effects, she steps out of the village for the first time in ages and then starts running. Kohaku, Turquoise, and even Kokuyou are moved to tears from the sight.
- Prior to this, Senku is telling Chrome that he's impressed that Ruri made it to eighteen given her condition. But gives his theory on how she survived this long: Kohaku bringing over the hot springs water, the last ditch effort extended the time clock long enough for her to be treated.
- The 100th story of the hundred stories passed down through the village priestesses. It's about a man who wanted to reach the moon but couldn't pass one of the physical exams required. His son inherited that dream, and through his encouragement, the man was able to pass that final exam and went on a long-term residence in the International Space Station. That man was Ishigami Byakuya - Senku's father.
- A small one comes from the splash page of Chapter 45: It's a first-person view from Byakuya, looking at the rest of the cast, every single one of them paying respect to the man who gave them a future. All the villagers (even Magma and Mantle) are bowing their heads or showing their appreciation in another way (Kohaku waving, Ginro raising a triumphant fist, Kaseki with his hands together as if praying). Taiju and Yuzuriha are there as well despite being absent from the story for dozens of chapters, and of course, Senku is front and center, reaching out to shake his father's hand.
- Senku manages to develop electric lighting just in time to light a tree up for Christmas. He makes an offhand comment about it being purely coincidental, but Gen calls him on it.
- The fact that Senku's pep talks to other characters come off as completely genuine is sweet to see.
- During their time in the cave, Magma had every chance to go traitor. But instead, he's saved Senku twice in a row; because he wants to see more of the cool science stuff Senku wants to make. Senku saw right through his Jerkass Façade when he called him out on it when he started smashing the ore to get the pieces out. Chrome apologies for not believing in Magma earlier, but the big guy just tells him not to worry about it.
- Senku also tells Magma that he and Magma don't have to fight over who gets to be the leader of the village because that's not how things worked in his day; it took both the brainy and the brawny to make society work, so he sees Magma's worth as someone who's reliable. This may be how Magma went from Antagonistic Rival to Reformed, but Not Tamed.
- In Chapter 55, after Senku, Chrome and Magma head off on an expedition, Gen gets a rather wicked Traitor Shot, then he gathers everyone seemingly with some sinister intent. In the next chapter, Magma blindfolds Senku and brings him out of the cave. It looks like a mutiny, but instead, it turns out Gen figured out Senku's birthday and threw him a party. He organized the village into building him an observatory. Senku plays it cool in front of the others, but his expressions show just how moved he actually is by the gesture.
- Also, the villagers already had that day as a holiday. More Byakuya, best dad ever.
- Kaseki admits that he's a bit jealous of Senku and Chrome's friendship. Growing up, he was teased for caring more about making things than hunting or fighting, and he poured his heart into crafting for the village to prove that he could be useful. He just wishes that he could have a friend who shared his passion. Chrome replies that he already does, and that he and Senku think of him that way without any consideration for the nearly fifty years age difference. The pure sincerity with which he says it causes the old man to tear up.
- After realizing the villagers are struggling with the cold weather during the Cell Phone arc, Senku immediately sets about building a stove. He claims that he did it just to collect the coal cinders from it, but he could have just as easily used the furnace they had built months before.
- While he was alive, Byakuya and the other astronauts turned the bottom of a glass bottle into a record that could survive for thousands of years. By doing so, Senku got a chance to hear his dad's voice again, and the villagers got to hear a song sung by Lillian
. Blown away by the beauty of her voice and hearing that there was so much more art that could be created in the world of science, the villagers are even more inspired to help Senku achieve his goals.Just taking one small step from zero,
I'm not afraid,
'Cause the world that we want,
Is right here for us.
Just taking one small step to "hero",
I'll take the chance,
And when I do, I'll be thinking of the same thing I always do,
It's always you. - When Magma was about to smash one of the statues that Tsukasa planned to resurrect into his army, Gen stopped him after having a vision of the young man living his normal days with his potentail family. He admits to Magma and Chrome that he isn't, "strong enough," to make a choice between killing someone or not. He wouldn't mind if it wasn actually bad person, but since they didn't do anything wrong? Gen's conscience couldn't let him allow Magma to make the "pragmatic" choice.
- Taiju and Yuzuriha finding the cell phone and calling Senku. This is the first time they've spoken to each other in a year. Taiju and Yuzuriha are openly crying Tears of Joy, and even Senku says he's missed hearing their voices.Senku: I missed this all so much, I could cry. Including your ridiculously loud voice.
- How did they get Nikki to join them? At first Senku and Gen try to trick her by using a Lilian Weinberg impersonation, but they don't fool her since she is a big fangirl of Lilian. It's only when they play Lilian's last record on Earth that she is moved to tears and starts to have an honest conversation with Senku. He admits that Lilian is already gone, but he will do everything in his power to keep her last song. She even agrees to help coach Gen into talking more like Lilian to convince other members of the tribe.
- Nikki recalls that Lilian's songs helped her during her teens. As a big girl who often was picked on by bullies and got into fights, her only happy moments were whenever she could listen to a Lilian song, to the point she often says that Lilian Weinberg saved her life.
- Ukyo at first seems to have a hidden agenda by deliberately trying to catch Chrome without killing him, lying to Tsukasa about how he got him, and even helping him escape prison. It turns out that he already figured out that Senku and Yuzuriha were trying to revive everyone under Tsukasa's nose, even the statues Tsukasa broke. Ukyo agrees to help Senku's side as long as nobody dies, to the point he even cries a little, remembering that he used to work for the military to help save people and now he has the chance to do it again.
- After the battle for the source of nitric acid concludes in a stalemate, Senku proposes a cease-fire to Tsukasa. His leverage? He figured that Tsukasa wasn't the sort of person who cared about material things, which ran counter to his pre-petrification persona as a teenage celebrity who made tons of money winning prize fights. Therefore, all that money had to be for someone else's sake, and sure enough he had a little sister who had been declared brain-dead and kept on life support for years. However, thanks to what Senku knows about the restoration process, he surmises that she could be healed by releasing her from her statue, which he offers to do in exchange for peace.
- Suika and Mirai hit it off as Team Being-Useful, starting up a food stall to help fund Team Science.
- Ryusui's womanizer antics are not only played for laughs, he demonstrates that he cares about everyone, especially women, and wants all of them having a good life quality.
- When he is revived for the first time, he refers to all the women in the group as beautiful, including Nikki. Sure, Magma makes a snide comment on how the word might be too big for her and Nikki predictably hits him for the Stealth Insult, but it's maybe the first time someone calls her "pretty" in her life, considering that she used to get into fights because of her appearance. Ryusui casually corrects him and, while people might have their preferred types, Ryusui considers every woman on earth beautiful.
- When Ryusui learns that the villagers have been surviving only on fish, he vows to bring agriculture to the people because he doesn't want to see pretty women cry about food, which also includes the elderly and the young.
- A small moment when Yuzuriha is making clothing from cloth for the first time in the stone world. She first starts getting excited at the prospect of having a weaver, with Senku and Kaseki even apologizing to her for not building an electric one, but she is still excited about it. She is understandably tired after days of producing fabric for the air balloon, but the moment Gen and Senku propose she launch her own clothing line, her lifelong dream, she immediately recovers all her energy and starts producing it without rest. Kinro and Ginro are shocked by her going into a berserker mode over her craft, but Taiju cheerfully tells them she always gets like that when she’s passionate about a project. It’s a subtle moment that shows how Taiju loves and accepts Yuzuriha for all of her.
- Gen gives Chrome a major Pet the Dog moment when he uses Sleight of Hand to have Chrome win the lottery so he can go up in the first Hot-Air Balloon built by the Kingdom of Science. Once in the air, Chrome cries with joy and declares that he wants to see the entire world.
- In Chapter 91, as the Kingdom of Science begins clearing the Kanto Plains for wheat fields to feed their growing population, a former member of Tsukasa's Empire of Might sheds tears of joy upon discovering the still-intact petrified statue of his father.
- Much later, Taiju reveals what motivates his seemingly limitless stamina in plowing his wheat field - he was orphaned from a young age and keenly felt the loss of his parents, and while there is nothing he can ever do to bring them back, witnessing the reformed thug's reunion with his petrified father strengthened his determination to plant enough crops to feed everyone, so that no-one else would also have to experience the same heartache of losing their parents ever again.
- In exchange for the bottle of revival fluid she secretly kept for herself, Minami demands that Senku build her a camera to take pictures with. When he actually builds one for her, she's brought to tears because she had a passion for photography ever since her father gave her a camera for Christmas when she was a child. She then expresses how her biggest regret was "losing her camera forever" after the Petrification Incident, and promises to use her new camera to make a record of humanity rebuilding civilization from scratch.
- Francois' first action after being revived is to walk a straight line in Ryusui's direction, which apparently took two days without breaks. Francois' loyalty for Ryusui extends to the point they're the only person in the world who can understand and admire the nature of Ryusui's greed, a trait many see in him as annoying and frivolous.
- Said nature is also heartwarming. It's not about vanity or coveting material possessions for himself. Ryusui wants the best for everyone, as if his greed was driven by altruism, if that makes any sense. It would explain why Francois keeps saying "desire is noble/greed is justice".
He wants everyone to be in the spotlight, and to own the glory that he spreads to them. - In Chapter 115, Senku's group recovers the "treasure chest" that Byakuya had left for them, including a significant amount of platinum grains that he collected over the rest of his lifetime. When Senku reiterates that he wasn't blood-related to Byakuya, Suika says "So what? Wasn't he still your father?". Senku agrees with her by revealing that he knows the circumstances that brought them together (he was apparently Byakuya's best friend's son), but never pressed for further details because it didn't matter to him; they were family. Gen and Soyuz smile in agreement.
- After the titular Battle of Wits between Gen and Mozu in chapter 123, Gen turns into a Nervous Wreck immediately after Mozu leaves, something perfectly understandable as Mozu could have easily killed him and the entirety of his party if Gen failed and negotiations had gone south. Senku, Suika, Chrome, and the rest of the party offer Gen a collective Smack on the Back for saving their lives. Beats a Group Hug any day.
- Chapter 130: After Gen tries to get Nikki to seduce Hyoga, instead of getting angry or simply refusing, Nikki starts to blush like a teenager and says that she can't do it because she thinks that those are words for a special someone, to which Gen panics and remembers that Nikki still has the heart of a maiden. Hyoga immediately points his spear at Gen and warns him to shut up, and then comforts Nikki acknowledging that while the subject made her uncomfortable, he still commends her for trying to put up with it for the sake of the group. He clearly understands that Nikki can't play seductress because she hasn't had a boyfriend to begin with.
- Despite being enemies with the Kingdom of Science, Hyoga ultimately decides to side with them because joining Moz would imply having to kill the group despite having respect for each of their individual talents and because, unlike Hyoga's goal to have a world full of the strongest and most talented people, Moz only wants to have a personal harem. This is sweet considering how respectful he is to Homura and Nikki as his equals.
- Hyoga realizes that he trusts Senku and his friends to come through for him and find a way to properly adjust his simple spear back into his ultimate weapon in chapter 132. Even he is surprised by that fact and starts having a Good Feels Good moment.
- And then he kicks Moz's butt and delivers a "Reason You Suck" Speech to him, praising humanity's tendency to create something, and inherit it to the next generation in order to hone it, polish it and perfect it. Yes, you read correctly, Hyoga the previous Big Bad, the Social Darwinist, is now delivering a Patrick Stewart Speech.
- The final exchange between Moz and Hyoga during chapter 134. Moz comments that with the petrification weapon going off, it's now all over for both of them. Hyoga adds that with them being Too Powerful to Live, it's highly unlikely that any of them will ever be revived again. And then this exchange happens:Moz: If we even do break free... all those centuries of polishing that you mentioned, I'd like to take a crack at that pipe-spear stuff.Hyoga: As you please. As long as you seek to do it well, the gates of the Owari Kan-Ryu style will always be open to you.
- In Chapter 135, after the rest of the Kingdom of Science lined themselves up in the path of the petrification ray, allowing Senku to estimate the velocity of the beam and time his own escape from being petrified himself, he later high-fives each of his petrified companions in gratitude.
- Chapter 137. After defeating Ibara, Senku realizes he's alone on the island and is reminded of when he first de-petrified. But his reminiscing is interrupted when he gets a phone call from Ruri and all the other villagers left behind. He then remembers "No. This time I'm not alone".
- Chapter 138: After she and Ginro are finally revived, one of the first things Kohaku does (after beating off Ginro’s attempt to cop a feel on her) is give Senku a huge hug with a happy smile on her face. For added warm fuzzies, while Senku doesn’t hug her back, he does absolutely nothing resembling his usual prickly reaction to overt gestures of affection, instead allowing Kohaku to hug him without issue. On top of that, from the look in his eye, the only visible part of his face in that panel, he’s smiling too.
- Chapter 140: Even though Soyuz is disheartened that his father can't be revived, the islanders welcome him back and accept him as their next ruler, relieved to see him well.
- Chapter 141: Over a year after he was frozen to preserve his body, Tsukasa is finally revived thanks to the Dr. Stone petrification device, to the tearful joy of his younger sister Mirai.
- Chapter 171: Senku and Dr. Xeno hold a joint conference, where they trade notes on the petrification wave, in order to find the exact location of its origin, with Chrome joining in. Despite Xeno having, not so long ago, ordered Senku killed by Stanley, there seems to be any hard feelings between them. In fact, several panels show that Senku is having the time of his life doing legitimate science with his mentor.
- Chapter 174: Gen offers Dr. Xeno a knife and asks if he wants to help too. Dr. Xeno questions this and asks why he would give a prisoner a weapon, however, Gen is convinced that Xeno would never "taint science with lies" to which Xeno turns his face away with a genuine smile.
- Chapter 197: After reviving Kohaku, an aged-up Suika tells her that she might not be able to get one of her "Kohaku hugs" anymore. Kohaku gives her a big hug anyway.
- Chapter 224: After Senku de-petrifies in the rocket, he notices that Stanley and Kohaku are still frozen. He wonders if something went wrong with the fluid watches, only for Xeno to inform him that he set him to de-petrify early just in case there was some glitch. However, Gen figures out that Xeno really set it early so Senku could get a moment to himself to see the cosmos.
- Chapter 232: Civilization is back on its feet and recovering at a fast pace thanks to Senku and co. This means that Taiju and Yuzuriha finally decide to get married after putting off their relationship for years due to the Why-Man problem.
- Chapter 232.1: This bonus chapter features a good chunk of the main cast getting into a plane crash and having to petrify themselves to survive. Senku is the first to revive out at sea (having the foresight to throw revival fluid in the air) and the first person he finds and revives is Kohaku. Ship Tease abounds as she immediately glomps him and teases him over the fact that it would have been more logical to leave her petrified to keep her alive.
- In the same Chapter, when the cast are being petrified to protect them from the impact, Taijuu, who had grabbed the Medusa and issued the specific petrification requirements, immediately protected the Medusa device from the elements just moments before it fired.
