The following contains spoilers for Dr. Stone: New World episode 3 titled "First Contact", now airing on Crunchyroll.Manga readers might remember what happened in this third episode of Dr. Stone New World as one of the most shocking moments in the entire series. Perhaps because up until this point, nothing beyond the small area surrounding the Ishigami Village and Senku's friends (or enemies) was really acknowledged. It's a defining moment that truly opens up the world-building dimension of Dr. Stone.
Before the climax though, most of the episode deals with the ongoing search for oil. This has been the central topic ever since Ryusui was brought back and the idea to build a ship was put in the works. But now, with the addition of the photograph they will finally break through this major milestone and start working towards the most exciting part of New World which so far has being missing some old-fashioned action-packed scenes as well as Senku's resourcefulness in critical situations.
Francois' Direct and Indirect Impact
Fans that prefer constant thrill are likely to be skipping Dr. Stone during this Spring 2023 Season. Specially thinking about the competition. However, even within Dr. Stone's own terms and measures, New World has been specially slow-paced but in an odd way. The preferred scheme is a slow buildup to a certain objective followed by an undetermined time-skip. This dynamic was also present in First Contact.
Now we are suddenly in the fall, so it's time for harvest, a bit confusing since all they have said is that a few months passed. But without any kind of machinery, something Senku could have made if he wanted to, agriculture proved to be extremely challenging. For that, Ryusui plans to open a restaurant under Francois's name and culinary expertise, for everyone to relax after a long day of work. Francois immediately came up with an idea for a high protein meal to help the workers, boar meat with truffles. Both things could be found in the woods nearby, which they did with the help of Suika.
Only their second episode, but already with a leading role when it comes to decision-making, Francois captured a good amount of boars, and went looking for truffles with the help of a small boar and Suika's dog. Successfully guaranteeing a meal that it's luxurious even in the world before prettification like it's nothing. And by accident, finally discovering the Sagara oil fields thanks to one of the boars she captured, just like in 1872.
The Why-man
The highlight of the episode didn't come until the very end, but it was worth it. During the first motorboat test, using the "crazy-strong" radio tower to try out Senku's GPS idea. At first, they were just communicating back with people via the antenna, and they were about to give the fans a sweet moment between Ruri and Chrome, when they picked up a strange sound saturating the radio frequency. After a few seconds of disbelief they caught onto the meaning, it was Morse code, repeating time and time again "why".
Similar to any "we are not alone" catchphrase present in innumerable Sci-Fi films, the Why-man has a long-lasting effect on the audience. Senku's reaction also does a great job contributing to the hype as he chooses to confront rather than being surprised or shocked by the fact that someone else was out there. The main plot for this season was to introduce the world outside the small size sample of the Ishigami Village surroundings, and to achieve that the Why-man is the first and most important step.
Despite this introduction very early on, fans of the Dr. Stone anime adaption will have to wait for a long time before the unveiling of the truth behind the mysterious Why-man, but rest assured that it will be mentioned in the next few episodes. From now on and until the end of the series, their eyes are set on one thing only, the cause of the petrification and the people responsible for it.
The Most Useful Resource
Let's not completely ignore that the Kingdom of Science now has an oil reserve, probably more than enough for the number of people they have, and Senku's travel plans. Although a bit far from creating plastic, a piece of gasoline-powered machinery is an entirely different thing. Way faster production chains, traveling, engines of all kinds, electricity production, and much more will allow them to make a huge leap in terms of development. And maybe now the agriculture team can ask Senku for a tractor, specially since they already had a car before, although they will just probably ignore it.
At the very least, it also helps to create other things, such as the GPS he tried with the first test of the motorboat. And of course, the love potion from the beginning of the show, which unfortunately for Taiju, it was just gasoline. Still, thinking it was some kind of potion gave him the confident to talk with Yuzuriha, so, cheers to Senku for the idea. The sky is the limit for the Kingdom of Science after this massive discovery.