Dr. Stone Season 1 Episode 8 Recap – Stone Road

Miracle Drug

Rumors of Senku circulate around the villagers. The Chief’s temper burns as he learns that Kohaku brought him to the village.

Back in Senku’s hut, Chrome and Kohaku are ready to help him search for the means of making antibiotics. Senku imagines he’ll win the village over once he manages to heal Ruri. The others see him scheme and wonder if he’s actually good or evil.

Senku explains that antibiotic is a miracle drug that helps humans improve their lives immensely. They have no means of checking Ruri’s illness, but the chances are worth it.

They have two means of making antibiotics: by culturing them through penicillin or by going the synthetic stone route. The stone route seems to favor them, but it will require a lot of manpower.

Senku creates a step-by-step flowchart they can follow. First, they’ll have to find iron.

That night, Senku explains the concepts of gravity and the earth’s position relative to the stars. But then the others tell him the North Star isn’t accurate. Senku is surprised to learn that the world has tilted slightly in the three thousand years he’s been asleep. When asked how they discovered it, Chrome smugly shows him a magnetic rock that points north when placed in a tub of water. They go to the river the next day to collect iron filings and similar rocks. The Iron Age has finally kicked off.

Iron Age

The two boys aren’t as good at manual labor as Kohaku, so they wonder if they can enlist the others from the village. It’s currently unlikely due to their reputation as sorcerers.

A girl wearing a watermelon mask named Suika approaches them and volunteers to help them. Senku welcomes her to his Kingdom of Science and asks her to search for iron fillings. She feels glad that Senku never even asked about her mask.

Senku notices them talking about obscure references like Momotaro and gorilla, things they learned only from Ruri. Ruri seems to have brought them many stories. Knowing this, Senku gets motivated to help her more. Kohaku tells him that Chrome seems to like Ruri.

They head back to the hut with their collection of fillings, but to make it into solid iron, they’ll have to use a forge and heat it. Senku creates a forge system that helps them manually pump air into their forge. The four work to keep the fire going but soon learn that it takes too much work. They pass out from exhaustion with barely any results.

That morning they try and come up with a scheme to recruit others. Suika offers to investigate what the villagers want the most.

Ramen

The villagers are still wary of Senku, and the rumors are blowing out of proportion. Suika gathers that many of them are looking to have better food. Senku finds it sufficient, knowing food can be directly made with science. He finds Suika playing with wild grass and decides to go for it.

The following day, they go out and harvest the wild foxtail millet. They separate the grains from the grass and grind them with stones to make flour. Then Senku adds water, an egg, and potassium carbonate to tenderize the dough.

Senku cooks it with various meat and gives them his version of ramen. The three are astounded by its taste, while Senku finds it mediocre. Still, it should be enough to entice the villagers.

They prepare a food cart and send it to the village entrance.

Our Thoughts

As a ramen junkie, I was completely immersed in this episode. 4/5.