open/close all folders
A-H
- Accidental Innuendo: In Chapter 63, when Chrome is unwrapping the cell phone to check on it, Gen yells "STOP! You can't whip that out, Chrome!" It's clear what he means, but the wording is still suggestive.
- Adorkable:
- Taiju is extremely loud and hot-blooded, but that doesn't stop him from being extremely enthusiastic and upbeat about everything around him, acting overly friendly to everyone, especially Yuzuriha.
- Yuzuriha herself is adorkable whenever her crush on Taiju is brought up. Her passion for rebuilding destroyed stone statues and having her own Fashion Line only adds to her charm.
- Ruri becomes a cheerful and imperative girl when she recovers from her illness but sweet and awkward around her crush. Just look at her reaction
when Chrome proposes to her. - Kirisame is normally serious and stoic, but she gets easily flustered whenever the subject of romance comes up, starting to stutter and turns beet-red.
- Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Gen gets this a lot:
- In his introduction he bluntly proclaims that he is a selfish person who does not mind joining Senku or Tsukasa's side in order to obtain benefits and be the last one standing. However, it is later revealed that from the beginning he was interested in Senku when he discovered his intelligence. Did Gen really always plan to join the Kingdom Of Science or did he believe that the Empire of Might had a chance?
- Why exactly did Gen join the Kingdom Of Science? Was it just for his own benefit and he knew that this was the winning side? In reality, he was never interested in the Empire of Might and did he miss things from the old world like cola? Did he dislike Tsukasa's ambitions to destroy the petrified adults (as seen in the Stone Wars Arc)? Or is it a combination of everything?
- Did Gen's Character Development as doing a Heel–Face Turn make him a better person, or was he always like that? While teaming up with the Kingdom Of Science clearly had a positive effect on him, he never actually stops his Manipulative Bastard behavior. This does not stop him from giving Senku a telescope on his birthday or putting himself in danger in order to help his allies. It's entirely likely that he's simply a multifaceted character or that he has always had a Hidden Heart of Gold.
- Was Gen always a Consummate Liar or was he a Used to Be a Sweet Kid who chose or was forced to change? It doesn't help that all we know about his past is that he was a famous TV Star. He doesn't show any signs of missing that life because he knows he won't get it back or he was never really happy and wanted a quiet life? He is a skilled actor, is he really a calm and confident person or is he hiding some Self-Deprecation but made peace with his lot in life?
- Some have wondered if Gen is Ambiguously Gay, either secretly or obliviously. During his introduction, he goes on to say that all he really wants is to find a cozy place to stay and cute girls to keep him company, but after choosing Senku’s side Gen never brought back idea of getting harem and he don’t even flirt with girls. He never says anything about having had a relationship with a girl in the past and it is incredibly extravagant fitting a certain gay stereotype. He is also very attached to Senku when the two become friends and his best moments as a person are about him. Does Gen only feel friendship/admiration towards Senku or something else?
- What is the real reason why Tsukasa is an Adult Hater? Is he a moralistic hypocrite who truly believes that they were all corrupt even though all the members of his empire are adults or is this just a Freudian Excuse and he actually wants to eliminate most of the petrified adults to get even for his harsh childhood?
- Gen gets this a lot:
- Aluminum Christmas Trees: Aside from the various outlandish deeds Senku accomplished using not only completely real, but also (relatively) simple science, there is the Owari-Kan-Ryu spearfighting style used by Hyouga, which may seem made-up but is actually also a completely real martial art.
- Angst? What Angst?:
- None of the depetrified characters show any real shock or fear over what happened to them and civilization after gathering their bearings. Justified for Senku, who doesn't really seem to care about starting over and gets to properly mourn Byakuya later, but one has to wonder why most characters seem more concerned over losing access to modern inventions and not, say, their families or loved ones. It is remedied somewhat by the fact that they know their loved ones can also be revived, but still, they don't seem to treat this as a particularly urgent goal.
- It's incredibly impressive how Senku and Taiju manage to emerge from their petrification feeling just fine, even after being stuck in sensory deprivation and isolation for millennia, when in reality, just a few days in such conditions should be enough to drive anyone insane (in fact, tests have shown that hallucinations start to occur within 15 minutes in similar conditions).
- Arc Fatigue: The Why-man plot was first introduced in Chapter 95, but it took until the final Chapters for the villain's truth to be revealed, with very few clues until then. This caused many readers to feel that his participation was delayed too long to be impactful. It doesn't help that fans have much disagreement over The Reveal, particularly whether the payoff was worth it.
- Awesome Art: The manga looks absolutely incredible at times, especially for a weekly manga. In particular, the scenery is extremely detailed. Boichi has admitted to have used over a hundred different references for certain scenes.
- Awesome Ego: Senku might act arrogant and bossy quite a lot, but that's just because he truly is smart enough to deserve to act that way. Each of his boasts about how he can make awesome scientific inventions is backed up by him actually making the things (and often plenty of other, equally-awesome things along the way). No wonder the fans love him so much.
- Awesome Music: "Good Morning [New] World!", the opening for the Ryusui special, is a remake of the first opening, "Good Morning World", given an extra dose of adventurous epicness thanks to a full orchestral arrangement.
- Base-Breaking Character:
- Many consider Tsukasa to be one of the best villains in the manga due hisintimidating aura and being a Well-Intentioned Extremist who deep down wants the best for the Stone World, gaining sympathy from his defenders due his tragic backstory. His detractors think that he's too over the top and dramatic or consider his motivations unrealistic, as well as Unintentionally Unsympathetic due to the extent of his actions.
- Kinro and Ginro. Some like Kinro for being comically serious and the responsible to Ginro's foolish, while others find his seriousness boring or dislike him for putting Honor Before Reason. As depending on the moment, he is depicted either as a lovable Cowardly Lion or as a mere perverted goof-ball, Ginro has a mostly mixed reception as he is considered one of the most funniest or annoying characters in history.
- Minami. On the one hand, there are those who enjoy how passionate her is about her work as a reporter, the Fanservice she provides and her Ship Tease with Tsukasa. On the other hand, there are those who consider her a Flat Character whose only purpose is to be a walking fanservice object.
- Broken Base:
- Is Ishigami village still being primitive despite being descended from astronauts a plothole, or is it realistic in that knowledge would be lost over generations?
- Related to the above, how the village hasn't inbred itself into oblivion in the passing centuries. Everyone in the village has to descend from four kids, who are two pairs of siblings. Especially for the focus on science, it feels like a glaring omission.
- People have accused the reveal of Byakuya being Senku's adoptive father of being a hasty retcon or rewrite for the purpose of Shipping later on due to Byakuya having a familiar resemblance to his son, while some say that it doesn't matter in the long run. What's more, after millennia, even if they're somehow blood-related, it doesn't matter, because it's not incest by that point.
- Cargo Ship:
- Many fans have declared the Senku/Science joke.
- It's not uncommon for fans to ship Gen with a bottle of cola.
- Complete Monster: Minister Ibara is the true ruler of the Petrification Kingdom. Having petrified the true leader with the weapon "Medusa", Ibara tried to kill the leader's baby son to remove any "witnesses". Reigning as a tyrant, Ibara has women abducted for the leader's harem, with the rule he is allowed to "sample" them first, gloating how he loves them to put up a struggle first. When Senku and the heroes of the Kingdom of Science alive, Ibara tries to petrify them forever, even sacrificing one of his followers to that end. A lecherous, fiendish tyrant, Ibara cares only to satisfy his own lusts for women or control.
- Cry for the Devil: No matter how one feels about Tsukasa, it's hard not to feel pity for him. His little sister was declared clinically dead forcing him to become a wrestler in order to financially support his sister's medical care, all while he was still a kid. However, no adults bothered to try to help him and instead were cruel to him or simply ignored him, causing his view of humanity to darken. When he finally reunites with his sister, his second-in-command betrays him and attempts to kill Mirai to force Tsukasa to take the hit, resulting in him being seriously injured and put into cryosleep.
- Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Homura, Hyoga's right hand, gained popularity since her debut despite her minor role thanks to her good appearance and being a Dark Action Girl.
- Nicky, who readers found pretty funny and interesting, with a small camp also liking her for averting Muscles Are Meaningless and being more visibly stacked than other warrior types like Kohaku.
- Fan Nickname:
- According to /a/ the manga has received several, all of them, puns: Professor Pyrite, Granite Graduate, Dr. Fluorite, Dolomite Doctorate, Ferrous Faculty, Rock Doc or Azurite Academic.
- Dr. Pepper is an obvious one because Senkuu has to develop cola to earn Gen's loyalty. It helps that the chapter in which he succeeds was published on Christmas for that perfect Coca-Cola feel.
- "Jafar" for Minister Ibara, due to how much he resembles the villain from Aladdin.
- Fan Wank:
- Senku and Taiju remaining perfectly sane despite being petrified and conscious for over 3700 years has led some fans to explain this with the theory that since being petrified and revived is shown to heal physical injuries, it can also heal mental issues, so Senku and Taiju did Go Mad from the Isolation, but being revived restored their sanity. This ignores the fact that we do get a few glimpses of petrification from Senku's perspective while he's counting, and he doesn't seem insane at all. It's likely this was just a representation of these characters' exaggerated capabilities - Senku was smart enough to figure out that he could be revived only if he chose to remain conscious, and kept himself busy in the meantime by planning what to when he revives, while Taiju is simply incredibly hard-willed and stubborn.
- How did Ishigami village's population not die from inbreeding-related problems generations ago, since they're all descended from six astronauts? Expect people to come up with lots of contradictory claims about how genetics work to explain this whenever it is brought up. The author's vague answer doesn't help.
- Franchise Original Sin: A common criticism of the manga (which seems to have started around the America arc) is that the pacing is a bit too fast, with characters making days-long or weeks-long travels and major constructions off-panel. Time Skips have always been part of the series - for example, the very first chapter has Senku and Taiju spend an entire year working the revival fluid. These earlier time compressions were accepted because they still clearly showed the passage of time and how much effort went into making the projects. The larger scope of later chapters, which have the characters do things like building a stealth ship and sailing around South America also made the time skips much less believable. By near the end it's to the point of incredibly dramatic Serial Escalation, with Senku and crew founding cities across the globe, spending years building several test rockets, and even recreating the internet all in the span of a few chapters. The explicitly stated years long timeskips become even more confusing when the cast seems to have hardly aged. This is partly due to the fact that after Xeno's redemption, Why Man is the only antagonist, and since he isn't actively hindering the protagonists, most of the scientific developments are brought about in a fairly mundane fashion.
- Friendly Fandoms:
- Due to the multiple comparisons, one started with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
- Despite the different tone, readers of The Promised Neverland and Dr. Stone get along and enjoy reading both series due to them being very creative Sleeper Hits from the same magazine. They also got released a few months apart from one another, making them sister series in a sense.
- Growing the Beard: Up until chapter 10, the story seemed fairly straightforward. Taiju checked the list for every main character cliché, but what was worse, it seemed like Will They or Won't They? with Yuzuriha would be pivotal to the story, and their romance just wasn't that interesting. However, after chapter 10, tension suddenly ramps up when Senku seemingly gets killed, and the focus of the story shifts towards the battle of wits between Senku and Tsukasa. This is also when it becomes clear that it's not Taiju but Senku who is the main character.
- In general, most fans agree the series truly hits its stride with the Ishigami Village Arc, and the replacement of Taiju and Yuzuriha with Chrome and Kohaku in forming the main Power Trio with Senku.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- In Chapter 138, the Why-Man attempts to use the petrification device that the Kingdom of Science acquired to petrify all the humans left on the Earth. But in Chapter 141, Senku reveals that the device was running low on power, so much that its range was 1 meter in 1 second when Senku commanded it to petrify Ibara at 5 meters in 1 second, and its use to petrify Tsukasa was compared to trying to get used out of an empty battery smartphone. If the Why-Man was able to send its command to the device, it would have only petrified a few on the Perseus, who could have easily been unpetrified. However, this mixes with Harsher in Hindsight, as it would have reduced the chances of the device working for Tsukasa.
- Stanley Snyder was mistaken for a woman by readers. Later on he sends a female subordinate named Charlotte disguised as him to distract Ryusui and Senku in an air battle while he heads straight to the Perseus.
- Ho Yay:
- Taiju trying to hug Senku while practically naked, or when they're bathing together in the hot spring, or when Taiju carries Senku in a bridal hold.
- Gen says that even before he met Senku, he "liked him, more than a little", regardless of what he would gain from it. Senku, who earlier in the chapter had been instantly disgusted by mushiness from Chrome and the prospect of closeness with Magma, smiles and only says "gross", and only after Gen tells him he should.
- Gen says that he and Senku will fall "happily into hell together" if their fight against Tsukasa is lost. What's more is he apparently didn't want their "pure and upright gang" to hear it.
- During Chapter 174, Gen offers Xeno a knife and asks if he wants to help too. Xeno questions this and asks why he would give a prisoner a gun, however Gen is convinced that Xeno would never "taint science with lies" and the scene ends with Xeno flipping his face with a smile as the background shines a bit.
- Xeno and Stanley. They’re close friends, but this closeness can sometimes veer into this territory. Especially in Chapter 221 when Stanley is revived. When Xeno is explaining the space travel plan, Stanely interrupts him mid-sentence. By putting his hand on Xeno’s face and caressing it with his thumb. And Xeno is either stunned into silence… Or something else. Add that to Charlotte, who seemed to be being set up as Stanley’s love interest early on, being fazed out so much she practically became a background character. Which happened right around the time the creator started liking and retweeting a lot of Stanley/Xeno fanart on his personal twitter. Yeah, there’s a reason these two are considered near as can be to canon by a large portion of the fanbase.
I-W
- I Am Not Shazam: It's much too easy to initially think Dr. Stone is Senku's name, (surname), or nickname, considering how well that name suits him. It doesn't help that he's commonly depicted in promotional art holding a flask and wearing what looks like a lab coat. Two things are called "Dr. Stone", and neither of them are Senku: soap, which is compared to a stone that prevents diseases, and the petrification itself, which heals all injuries and illnesses upon being reversed.note
- It's Short, So It Sucks!: The journey around the world after an aged up Suika succeeded in unpetrifying everyone moves at such a breakneck pace that very little time is spent at any of the locations that Senku and company traveled to in order to gather people and resources for their goal to reach the moon. The result is leaving many readers feeling that more time could have been spent at the locations they traveled to rather then feeling like you were given a cliff-note version of everything that Senku and company accomplished throughout the journey.
- Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
- It's hard to find a character who hasn't been shipped with Senku. Gen, Kohaku and Tsukasa are the most popular options, but he's also been shipped with Taiju, Yuzuriha, Chrome, Ryusui, Ruri, Amaryllis, Luna, and Dr. Xeno. He has even been shipped with the science and Mecha Senku.
- Gen is slowly rising up the ranks for this. He's often shipped with Senku, but there are a few people who pair him with Ukyo, Ryusui, Tsukasa, Hyoga, Kohaku, Moz, and Dr. Xeno.
- Ryusui has been shipped with a lot of characters, both in story and fanworks. So far with Ukyo, Tsukasa, Senku, Gen, Minami, Francois, Stanley, and Sai.
- LGBT Fanbase: The manga has gathered a good queer fanbase, which can be separated into four groups. The first is those who are fans of the pretty male characters and female characters. The second is those who like characters with androgynous designs that have come to be interpreted as genderfluid or non-binary. The third is those who believe Senku is asexual and/or aromantic. The final group are those who are fans of Ho Yay many moments between various characters.
- Like You Would Really Do It: A lot of people were skeptical about Chapter 10, with it having Senku's death and Tsukasa getting caught in a gunpowder explosion. Regardless, the fact that the mangaka even thought this was an option in the first 10 chapters was shocking. Tsukasa survives, and Senku awakens.
- Love to Hate: Minister Ibara exemplifies this more than any other character, in part because he is the only antagonist who is completely irredeemable. He's an absolute bastard, vulgar, petty, misogynistic and arrogant jerk who has no redeeming qualities, but fans love to hate the jerk because these traits also make him a unique character who manages to make all jump for joy when he finally got what he deserved.
- Macekre: In Chapter 113, the official English version really stretches in order to make the pictographic message from Kohaku make sense, as the translators apparently thought that it wouldn't translate well from Japanese into English. Despite this, a fan scanlation manages to make it work by explaining the idiosyncrasies of the Japanese language as Gen translates it.
- Memetic Badass: The fanbase holds Senku in high regard and thinks he can do anything with the very few resources of the Stone World. When he said he was going to create the strongest weapon in the world, people immediately thought he was going to create a nuke and didn't even doubt he wasn't able to. Actually a cell phone, but still.
- Memetic Mutation:
- In some circles, calling the series a "Bara manga". At first, it was just to make fun of the highly detailed muscles of the characters in lighthearted fun, but then it increased with the "we'll become the Adam and Eve of this Stone world" part which doesn't mean what you think it means.
- After currying favor with the village, one of the girls approaches Senku, asking him what type of girl he likes. His response is "a girl who can blow a lot of oxygen into a furnace." The fans then proceeded to take that response and run with it.
- Gen's alliance with Senku over the promise of a bottle of cola leads to comparisons with "I'll give you a cola" from Kaguya-sama: Love Is War.
- Senku and his group giving a blank stare is widely used as a popular reaction image.
- In Japan, it's a meme to call Gen Senku's wife and one of the heroines of the series.
- Misaimed Fandom: Tsukasa's beliefs are often criticized by viewers, namely anime viewers, as being illogical and being stupid as a motivation. While YMMV if they are believable, those complaints often ignore that his Freudian Excuse doesn't apply to just himself, but his little sister, who does not get much mention at first but forms the core of why he views things the way he does. It's even noted In-Universe how silly his beliefs are by people like Senku, but the reason the story gives his views as much weight as it does is that Tsukasa is a Genius Bruiser with the power to back up his beliefs, meaning as silly as they might seem, he has the power to enforce said views and crush those who don't agree with him. To paraphrase the dub, give a powerful, charismatic, and attractive young person a halfway decent argument, and people will flock to them.
- Moe:
- Suika has won the hearts of many by being an enthusiastic and an endlessly sweet little girl.
- It's obvious why Taiju has a huge crush on Yuzuriha, she is a rather sweet, empathetic and kindhearted young woman with an incredible positivity towards everything around her.
- Moral Event Horizon: Minister Ibara establishes himself as an evil bastard when he fatally wounds Ginro.
- More Popular Replacement: The series began with a Power Trio of Senku, Taiju, and Yuzuriha. The latter two and their romance were criticized for being boring, and they were Put on a Bus at the end of the first part. Senku ended up finding a new supporting cast in the Ishigami villagers and two new best friends in Kohaku and Chrome, who were praised as being much more fun.
- Narm:
- "We'll become the Adam and Eve of this Stone World", yeah, in context is supposed to mean the new conquerors of the world, but sadly, the readers will think is about repopulating the world by themselves. Something which Senku comments on himself, sarcastically asking Taiju if he really thought two dudes could restart humanity.
- Chapter 40's last page is about Senku giving Ruri medicine, which is supposed to be an important scene since the medicine will finally cure Ruri's illness. However, the way the panel is drawn looks like something straight out of a hentai manga (which the author of this manga is also known for), especially since Senku is hand-feeding the medicine to her and Ruri has a rather suggestive look on her face as she takes it. Senku saying "Now this excites me" just makes it funnier.
- Similarly, Minami's reaction to the fact that Senku is going to build her a camera has her going "I- I want it!" like she's in a doujin and Senku is offering her... you get the idea.
- Lillian's songs in Episodes 16 and 17 of the anime are sung in perfectly pronounced and grammatically correct English, but the lyrics themselves are nothing more than one literary cliche after another, resulting in them being cheesy even by musical standards.
- An In-Universe example in chapter 56. After finding the Tungsten in the cave, Chrome states in joy that the real treasure he, Senku, and Magma found was the bond they formed together in their exploration. Senku and Magma replied with annoyance for him to stop, and Chrome quickly admitted he regretted saying that.
- Normally, Minister Ibara is a Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant. However, in Chapter 132, his dive to Yo holding the petrification device with his mouth wide open is rather comical than scary.
- When Charlotte is bitten by a venomous spider, it's made clear that it will be lethal unless it is treated promptly. Unfortunately, the drama is undercut by the art giving her a Boobs-and-Butt Pose with a facial expression that makes her seem as if the bite caused her to climax.
- Narm Charm: The Kinro vs. Magma fight during the Grand Bout has Suika lend her melon helmet to Kinro to help with his nearsightedness. The sight of a strong warrior wearing a melon on his head should be so ridiculous that it's impossible to take seriously (there's even some Lampshade Hanging of this). Yet, seeing the despicable Magma finally get the hurt put on him, and the awesome music in the anime, it still manages to be a Moment of Awesome.
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: In the beginning, while they still had some fans, Taiju and Yuzuriha were thought to be pretty lackluster compared to Senku. However, the characterization they got in the last moments of the first arc endeared quite a few people to them, to the point where Taiju remained in the top 10 (with Yuzuriha following in 11th) in the first poll despite not appearing for a year out of universe. Further characterization following their brief appearances before their major return cemented their places as admired characters.
- Ship Mates:
- On the Het side, Kohaku/Senku get along well with Ruri/Chrome and Yuzuriha/Taiju shippers. On the Ho Yay shippers side, the usual combination is Ryusui/Ukyo with Senku/Gen.
- Senku/Gen and Xeno/Stanley are the two most popular ships in the fandom by far, to the point that it's safe to say that shippers come hand-in-hand.
- Ships That Pass in the Night:
- Despite barely interacting despite having many opportunities to, Ryusui and Tsukasa have become a beloved ship due to the idea that Opposites Attract, given their differing personalities and especially differing ideals.
- Another rare pair is the Nikki and Ukyo ship, who have only a few interactions during the Stone Wars arc, the two being the first to make a Heel–Face Turn from Tsukasa's empire.
- Unintentionally Unsympathetic: How some people view Tsukasa's Start of Darkness. Yes, the fisherman who attacked Tsukasa overreacted, and getting violently assaulted as a child like that would be pretty traumatizing. However, even if Tsukasa didn't know that he was trespassing, you can't ignore the fact that his Luddite views and desire to kill all adults formed just because one was a Jerkass to him once when he was a kid. The story does later provide more context to try and explain this better, showing it wasn't just because of a single bad moment in his past that caused it, but because of the nature of how it is done, it doesn't work for everyone as an explanation. There's also the fact that, despite his murderous opinion of adults, most of his kingdom appears to be made up of them. Yo himself was a police officer, a job known for systemic abuse and corruption. As a result, Tsukasa comes off as either painfully deluded or irritatingly hypocritical.
- Viewer Gender Confusion: Stanley Snyder was mistaken for a woman by many readers when he first appeared. You don't get a good look at his body until Chapter 151, and even then it's not perfectly clear until Dr. Xeno refers to him with male pronouns.
- Woolseyism:
- Chrome's Catchphrase, yabai, can mean bad/awful/crazy/awesome, but is translated as "bad" (or "BAAAD"). One would think "insane" would be a better way of conveying a word that can have both positive and negative meanings.
- Gen's Verbal Tic of switching syllables is translated as Pig Latin, which can get somewhat Narmy.
- In Chapter 113, Kohaku uses a pictograph message to tell Senku and the science team that she's found the platinum on Treasure Island; the image consists of plastic, a bloodstain, Hyoga with a long spear, and a stove. In order to decode it, Gen uses a combination of psychology and Japanese wordplay to figure out the intent behind each image. In the original Japanese the message was Puranote Chinote Naganote Attanote — "Purachina ga atta", meaning "The platinum is here". Viz's official English translation handles this by changing the message to Pla-Tai-No-Ma (derived from Plastic, Stain, No Good, Machine), a rough approximation of the word "platinum".
- WTH, Costuming Department?: While Kirisame herself is generally liked, her outfit is the target of mockery in the fandom. She wears a long dress that looks like a curtain and is completely see-through; the only thing stopping her from constantly flashing both the characters and the audience and some well placed angles and some odd looking decorations that cover her groin and rear. She also wears a massive crown(?) on her head with curled horns. As if that wasn't bad enough, the texture and colour of the weaved decorations covering her privates imply they are weaved out of her own hair.
