With Chrome’s captivity within enemy territory, Senku and the rest of the Ishigami Villagers plan a rescue mission. However, they’re not the only ones that are preparing for the war. How will Tsukasa keep Chrome within his cell and how does Senku plan to save him? Here’s our full review of Episode 5 of Dr. Stone: Stone Wars entitled “Steam Gorilla”. The same episode also covered Chapters 69-70 of the manga.
Be warned, spoilers ahead!
Quick Recap
Here’s what you’ve missed in the last episode:
As Ukyo corners Chrome and Magma, Chrome sees through his plan and decides to surrender voluntarily in order to gain some information from Tsukasa’s Empire. Magma manages to escape thanks to Chrome waiving his underwear.
Senku and the villagers attempt to incorporate the industrial revolution in the form of a Steam Engine to save Chrome
Tsukasa tries to persuade Chrome into joining his empire and guarantees his and the villagers’ safety in exchange for Senku’s head
In an unusual turn of events, Ukyo decided to lie about how he found out about Chrome and told a complete lie. His intentions remain unknown.
You can check out the full review of the previous episode here.
Old Farts: Shallow yet Admirable
In order to rescue Chrome, who is currently imprisoned, Senku needed to create a steam engine to power up their makeshift automobile. However, this also serves two other purposes: transporting all of the equipment they need and, as the anime suggested, for the village elders to not have a hard time walking the long-distance travel.
This was definitely a heart-melting moment for the viewers as the village elders saw right through Senku’s motive on why he needed to create a means of transportation. However, from an objective standpoint, it was more so because of the race against time. The Steam Gorilla was built in order for them to efficiently carry all of the equipment without wasting time and effort going back and forth on multiple trips, as what the elder had in mind. If a comrade is being held hostage by the enemy, it’s only logical not to waste precious time as it could jeopardize the person’s safety.
However, despite the shallow interpretation, we have to applaud the elders as they were willing to put their lives on the line just so Senku and the rest of the villagers don’t have to carry dead weight into battle. His understanding of the situation and complete faith in Senku is quite admirable.
Since there was no indication from Senku whether the elders’ assumption was true or not, that was definitely a highlight scene that tugged strongly on everyone’s heartstrings.
The Threat of Thinking
In the previous reviews, we mentioned how Senku always outsmarts his opponents to the point that it started to feel boring. The show portrayed the enemies to be mentally inferior compared to Senku’s brilliant mind but this episode was able to change that notion as it was highlighted how Tsukasa started to think a couple of steps ahead to pull a fast one on his intellectual adversary.
Having an opponent who has the physical advantage is already threatening in itself but if the same opponent also had sharp intuition, then that’s a completely different dynamic that forms a much more formidable foe.
This stirs things up as it attempts to put Senku at a disadvantage by going in head-to-head with someone who does not only have the physical advantage, but is also capable of battling on a mental aspect. Things are finally heating up!
This was a refreshing episode as it allowed the viewers to see a different side of Tsukasa. He may have been able to build the most insane fortress (probably by his bare hands), but it’s even more amazing that he plans ahead even to the point that he was able to pinpoint Senku’s next creation.
As battle draws near, there is still that unanswered question why Ukyo lied to Tsukasa and his comrades. Is he plotting something? We also have yet to hear from Taiju, Yuzuriha and Nikki. How will they affect the outcome of the war? Things are about to go down in the next episode!
Will Senku fall into Tsukasa’s trap? Will Chrome be able to escape? Let’s all find out in the next episode of Dr. Stone: Stone Wars.
“Prison Break” comes out on February 18, 2021 at 10:30PM (PHST).
Dr. Stone: Stone Wars is also available for viewing on one of AniRadio+'s official video-on-demand streaming partner, iQIYI Philippines.
TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read)
The Steam Gorilla was created out of logical and emotional decisions: to efficiently carry all of the equipment as well as the elders who can’t handle long distance travel on foot.
A shallow interpretation of the Steam Gorilla turned out to be one of the highlights of the episode as it allowed the viewers to witness a moving exchange between Senku and the village elders
A different side of Tsukasa was shown as the episode touches on his sharp intuition to be a couple of steps ahead of Senku
Things left unanswered: Ukyo’s real motive when he lied to Tsukasa, what are Taiju, Yuzuriha and Nikki up to?
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