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scans_dailyHi folks!
I stopped doing posts of every new series from Shonen Jump because quite honestly many of the starters have been meh at best. But there have been a few nice surprises, and this is one of them.
Dr. Stone by Riichiro Inagaki & Boichi!
In the near future (Trump is still president of the U.S.), global humanity (and some birds) is petrified, turning into statues. A few millennia later, a couple of these people manage to free themselves from this stone state, and vow to restore humanity and civilization.
The art is nice, but what really makes the series stand out is Senku, the protagonist. He's a Science Hero who uses his encyclopedic knowledge of science facts and inventive mind to overcome obstacles.
Early on, he's a co-star of a more traditional shounen hero, the strong and faithful but not very bright Taiju. The series really took off after Senku was forced to part ways with his friend to avoid the deadly fanatic Tsukasa, a martial artist who wants the world to stay primitive.
Senku makes contact with the inhabitants of a primitive village, who are living at a Stone Age subsistence level. It appears that the village's shamaness, Ruri, has knowledge that Senku will need, but as an outsider, he can't enter, and she's suffering from a condition that makes her weak and unable to leave the village. Ever since, Senku has been trying to claw his way up the tech tree so he can make sulfa antibiotics to (he hopes) cure her illness.
We now join our hero in Chapter 25, published back in September, 7 pages of 22....
The fellow with the parti-colored hair is Gen, a stage magician and skilled liar who is a spy for Tsukasa, but currently sees more benefit from working with Senku.
Kohaku, a skilled warrior girl who was the first villager to befriend Senku, apologizes to village guard Kinro for destroying his fancy gold spearhead during the magnet creation process. Kinro's brother Ginro teases his brother about the loss, and earns some head lumps.
The little girl with the helmet is Suika, who wears a hollowed-out melon because the eyeholes help with her nearsightedness. I should mention that the artist took the time to give all 40 villagers unique appearances.
Chrome, a village boy who was an enthusiastic rock collector and has become Senku's science apprentice, looks forward to making electricity. Gen asks where they're going to get the power. "Manpower," of course.
The next step is creating copper discs and wire.
Now they need two people who can move in unison to crank the discs.
Gen paints a beautiful word picture that implies that electricity will allow Ginro and Kinro to have more gold and silver spears. The brothers are soon persuaded to be the motive power for the generator.
Senku produces a bamboo fiber that he's baked, and connects it to the copper wires, high up. Gen is confused at first, then realizes what he's about to see.
There's a beautiful double page spread of Senku and Chrome in artificial light. (page restrictions, sorry) then a page of people reacting. Afterwards, Gen wonders if Tsukasa has seen this, but is more impressed than worried. Senku reminisces that when he first began studying science, the first biography he read was that of Thomas Alva Edison.
There's a comparison shot of Edison and his employees marveling at their first successful light bulb, as Senku and Chrome prepare for the next step up the technology ladder.
This being a shounen manga, of course there's a fighting tournament a bit later, but it doesn't turn out like any other fighting tournament arc you may have seen before.
The author's done the research, and almost all the science is valid. (Except the physical training stuff, which seems dubious in the extreme.)
Good stuff!
I stopped doing posts of every new series from Shonen Jump because quite honestly many of the starters have been meh at best. But there have been a few nice surprises, and this is one of them.
Dr. Stone by Riichiro Inagaki & Boichi!
In the near future (Trump is still president of the U.S.), global humanity (and some birds) is petrified, turning into statues. A few millennia later, a couple of these people manage to free themselves from this stone state, and vow to restore humanity and civilization.
The art is nice, but what really makes the series stand out is Senku, the protagonist. He's a Science Hero who uses his encyclopedic knowledge of science facts and inventive mind to overcome obstacles.
Early on, he's a co-star of a more traditional shounen hero, the strong and faithful but not very bright Taiju. The series really took off after Senku was forced to part ways with his friend to avoid the deadly fanatic Tsukasa, a martial artist who wants the world to stay primitive.
Senku makes contact with the inhabitants of a primitive village, who are living at a Stone Age subsistence level. It appears that the village's shamaness, Ruri, has knowledge that Senku will need, but as an outsider, he can't enter, and she's suffering from a condition that makes her weak and unable to leave the village. Ever since, Senku has been trying to claw his way up the tech tree so he can make sulfa antibiotics to (he hopes) cure her illness.
We now join our hero in Chapter 25, published back in September, 7 pages of 22....
The fellow with the parti-colored hair is Gen, a stage magician and skilled liar who is a spy for Tsukasa, but currently sees more benefit from working with Senku.
Kohaku, a skilled warrior girl who was the first villager to befriend Senku, apologizes to village guard Kinro for destroying his fancy gold spearhead during the magnet creation process. Kinro's brother Ginro teases his brother about the loss, and earns some head lumps.
The little girl with the helmet is Suika, who wears a hollowed-out melon because the eyeholes help with her nearsightedness. I should mention that the artist took the time to give all 40 villagers unique appearances.
Chrome, a village boy who was an enthusiastic rock collector and has become Senku's science apprentice, looks forward to making electricity. Gen asks where they're going to get the power. "Manpower," of course.
The next step is creating copper discs and wire.
Now they need two people who can move in unison to crank the discs.
Gen paints a beautiful word picture that implies that electricity will allow Ginro and Kinro to have more gold and silver spears. The brothers are soon persuaded to be the motive power for the generator.
Senku produces a bamboo fiber that he's baked, and connects it to the copper wires, high up. Gen is confused at first, then realizes what he's about to see.
There's a beautiful double page spread of Senku and Chrome in artificial light. (page restrictions, sorry) then a page of people reacting. Afterwards, Gen wonders if Tsukasa has seen this, but is more impressed than worried. Senku reminisces that when he first began studying science, the first biography he read was that of Thomas Alva Edison.
There's a comparison shot of Edison and his employees marveling at their first successful light bulb, as Senku and Chrome prepare for the next step up the technology ladder.
This being a shounen manga, of course there's a fighting tournament a bit later, but it doesn't turn out like any other fighting tournament arc you may have seen before.
The author's done the research, and almost all the science is valid. (Except the physical training stuff, which seems dubious in the extreme.)
Good stuff!
no subject
Date: 2017-12-31 10:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-01 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-01 05:39 pm (UTC)So you have Taiju, your more traditional Shonen hero, be the focus for the early parts and give the readers enough time to let Senku grow in them. Once that is done, Taiju is taken to the side so the story can begin proper.
The strongest evidence for this is that Chapter 12 is titled "end of prologue" and reffers to the flashback as "chapter 1".
no subject
Date: 2018-01-01 05:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-31 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-01 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-01 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-01 05:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-01 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-02 12:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-02 06:08 pm (UTC)