You know what they say: The best defense is a good offense…
I’m not sure who said that. Seems like a very aggressive stance. I mean you have to be on the attack all the time to really make it work and that seems tiring to me. I would be a very ineffective dictator.
You may remember that I actually liked the last episode quite a bit. It seems like the story is really progressing. In fact, the second half of New World is really action-packed. I mean Dr. Stone has always been an action actor but in the past few episodes, everything else has taken a bit of a backseat to the action in question. I completely agree, it’s time for a more dynamic arc. But I really hope we’ll get back to the science once the Medusa weapon is secured.
Ryuusui has the “sensibility of a sailor” and I will have to accept that. It’s good now. I was a bit skeptical when the first scene happened but they had Senku explain it to us and actually, it made a lot of sense. A character with a good goal is notorious for not considering that goal or intentionally throwing it away. That’s what gives you pause. Especially when the target is deflected, it will cause serious consequences for the opponent. Let’s not forget that Senku’s group has very important, even vital, information that any of the islanders are completely unaware of. In fact, the petrification process can be reversed.
This means that for Kirisame, accidentally getting anyone on her side trapped in a petrification ball would mean death for them. And even if we argued that she wouldn’t care about that. We really don’t know much about Kirisame. She can be an extremely cruel person. However, that means losing some trained soldiers for no particular reason. And in wartime, that’s always a bad move. So I understand why Senku thought it was some kind of trap. And I really like the explanation. And I’m willing to accept that years of calculating sea orbits and navigating by the stars have given Ryuusui a kind of instinctive sense of distance. So far everything is going great!
All of this meant that the science team had to suddenly change plans. Another thing that is also forced by Magma is Magma. So the backup plan is to reveal that the owner has been a statue all along and that Ibara is actually manipulating it all. On the surface I understand but like…why does that work? Does anyone know what the owner looks like? He’s just a silhouette, maybe just a random statue. And even if they knew, would they care?
Listen to me. At this point, it’s pretty clear that the people of iland view the Master as a tyrant. Everyone except the army and entourage (i.e. Ibara’s) dislike and fear him. He was only obeyed because the power of the petrification ray kept everyone in check. Otherwise, they won’t come to terms with everything they’re going through. The fact that this terrible tyrant turned to stone will not make them turn their backs on whoever did this to him, they will more likely celebrate it. And Ibara always lying to them might make some people a little uncomfortable but in the end, they will feel forced to obey him for the same reasons as before. The only real good it could do is if it turns Kirisame against Ibara because she’s holding a weapon and I have to think Ibara took precautions against that. The special makes it clear that he is a very good strategist. He would not reveal such a large and obvious weakness.
So I’m not sure where they’re going with all of this. One thing I know is that Senku was upfront in telling us what would happen. It’s time for a fun battle with bugs! So maybe I should stop thinking so much about this!