Episode 16

**A Tale for the Ages** (幾千年物語, *Ikusen-nen Monogatari*) is the sixteenth episode of the *Dr. Stone* anime.

## Summary

After becoming village chief and curing Ruri, Senku finally learns why Ishigami Village has his surname through Ruri.

## Plot Details

After Senku is declared chief of Ishigami Village, he is stunned to find out that the village is named after him. Trying to find out why, Ruri approaches him and reveals the reason why she was interested in him, as she tells him everything.

Back in the past, an 11-year-old Senku wonders why the moon has been following him even after going so far. His father Byakuya jokes that it might have a crush on him, which Senku rudely brushes off. Byakuya then reveals that the distance between the moon and Earth plays a big factor, as it's far away, which he then laments that his dream was also far. It is revealed that he tried to become an astronaut, but failed at the clothed swimming test. This prompts Senku to go to space for himself, promptly declaring to go there the next day at school, to his classmates' laughter and the teacher's skepticism. He then starts building rockets day after day with Taiju's help. Meanwhile, at the college, Byakuya sees that the JAXA is hiring astronauts, which he then smiles.

    Back at school, Senku and Taiju steal a model of the human body and experiment with it at his house. Soon enough, they develop a suit for Byakuya to wear as training for his swimming test. However, as soon as he puts it on, Senku kicks him into the pool, then turns it on, electrocuting him to the point of being motionless, with the intention to have his muscles learn how to do swimming movements but little by little, he begins to swim easily and faster, thus helping him pass the test. Finally achieving his dream, Byakuya prepares to go to the International Space Station, but before boarding the rocket, he grabs the microphone from a reporter, and broadcasts a message to Senku, now 16. He thanks him for his training and perseverance and promises to bring back tons of gifts for him once he gets back, to which Senku brushes off slyly.

    Through the Russian rocket Soyuz, Byakuya makes to the space station, marveled at the sight of space. Once inside, he sees 3 crew members already there. Byakuya introduces himself, as well as introducing Shamil, the Russian cosmonaut, but before the 3 introduce themselves, they are interrupted by a foul-mouthed blonde woman who claims that she spent millions to buy a seat and brags about being a space tourist and believes that the team have no respect for her. As one of the crew members tries to calm her down, Byakuya laughs, trying his best not to, leaving the team confused and Shamil sigh in annoyance. Soon after, the blond woman joins in and begins playfully pushing Byakuya away, saying that she would have got it nailed if he didn't laugh so early, to which Byakuya counters by saying that no person would speak like that. Shamil sighs in annoyance. After apologizing for the prank gone wrong, she introduces herself as Lillian Weinberg, an American celebrity singer, who reveals herself as easygoing. She is then introduced to Darya and her husband, Yakov, both doctors from Europe. Byakuya then notes aside that Yakov is in space for the 2nd time, much to Darya's and the Shamil's irritation. Afterwards, Darya introduces Connie, an American crew member from NASA who is a big fan of Lillian's. After some encouragement from Yakov, she was able to get Weinberg's autograph. In celebration, Byakuya declares that they will play Connie's CD of Lillian's songs on repeat for the duration of their stay, much to the crew's delight and Lillian's dismay.

    Later that night, Lillian sings to the world from space, with people watching from various points on Earth (Shibuya-Tokyo, the United States, Paris, the Middle East, and Yuzuriha from school being examples). After the show, she starts inquiring about every crew member's past. Shamil remains quiet, and Byakuya explains that he has no family and his past is a mystery, while revealing Senku to them, comparing him to Shamil, and accurately predicts that he's involved with research. Down to Earth, Senku is investigating reports of swallows being petrified in Eurasia and North Africa. A few hours later, Lillian is humming to herself staring at Earth, waking up Byakuya. She then reveals her past to him as a poor girl from a downtrodden area of America who possessed a record player with one vinyl record which she played everyday singing to it, eventually learning to sing herself when it broke down. Much to her chagrin, Byakuya fell asleep and threatens to punch him, but he was able to calm her down by asking that she sing to Senku one day, to which she happily obliges.

The next day, Byakuya brings out packets of miso ramen for everyone to enjoy. Though hesitant, Shamil eventually agrees to try some, but whilst eating it, he sees Earth going through some phenomenon. Byakuya looks out in awe as he sees South America being petrified. Realizing what is happening, he calls out to Senku as he himself sees Tokyo being petrified from the science lab. Taiju tries to protect Yuzuriha to no avail, and all 7 billion people in the world are petrified as Senku watches in horror before being petrified himself. All of Earth has been turned to stone.

     Back in ISS, the crew try to find out what happened, but to no avail. Byakuya eventually gets access to the internet, but finds all the social media sites empty. The crew suggests the security cameras, and he accesses them, and sees in horror what happened on Earth. Everyone was turned to stone, and they're the only survivors of humanity left. While Yakov tries to calm the crew down, Byakuya decides to take an enormous gamble: return to Earth despite near-impossible odds and help all life to recover.

Back in Ishigami village, Senku confirms Ruri's suspicion, and confirms that the village was formed by his father.

## Characters

KINGDOM OF SCIENCE:

* Chrome
* Ginro
* Senku Ishigami
* Kaseki
* Kinro
* Kohaku
* Suika

VILLAGERS:

* Ruri

FLASHBACK:

* Yuzuriha Ogawa
* Taiju Oki

ASTRONAUTS:

* Byakuya Ishigami

DEBUT:

* Connie Lee
* Yakov Nikitin
* Darya Nikitina
* Shamil Volkov
* Lillian Weinberg

## Locations

* Earth
* Paris, France
* Tokyo, Japan
* The United States
* The Middle East
* International Space Station
* Ishigami Village

## Anime to Manga Differences

* While Senku is watching the livestream of the Soyuz launch, he is sitting at the back by the window instead of at the front of the class. None of the classmates are in the frame.