Dr. Stone season 4 episode 1: Kingdom of Science heads to America as Senku goes up against Ryusui

Modified Jan 09, 2025 19:04 GMT

Dr. Stone season 4 episode 1: Kingdom of Science set forth to America as Senku goes up against Ryusui — Senku Ishigami as seen in Dr. Stone season 4 episode 1 (Image via TMS Entertainment)

With the release of Dr. Stone season 4 episode 1, the anime finally kicked off the New America City Arc. As fans may remember, Senku Ishigami had deduced the Kingdom of Science's enemy to be stationed on the moon.

Wanting to go there, Senku decides that the Kingdom of Science travels the world to collect resources and build a rocket. As part of this mission, their first destination was North America.

The anime picks up right from there as Dr. Stone season 4 episode 1 essentially saw Senku Ishigami and Ryusui Nanami compete with each other to decide on their voyage path.

Disclaimer: The article contains spoilers for the anime.

Dr. Stone season 4 episode 1: Senku and Kohaku defeat Ryusui and Gen

Senku and Ryusui as seen in Dr. Stone season 4 episode 1 (Image via TMS Entertainment)

Dr. Stone season 4 episode 1, titled Ryusui vs. Senku, opened with Hokutozai Minami leaving a recording for posterity. With that, fans were reintroduced to each other characters whom they hadn't seen for quite a while.

Soon after, the anime switched its focus to Leader of Ship Ryusui and Leader of Science Senku as they argued over what voyage path they should take to reach America. Given the crew's lack of experience, Ryusui suggested that they take the rhumb line, which would see them reach San Francisco in 70 days. Meanwhile, Senku suggested that they take the Great Circle Route to reach their destination in 40 days.

Ryusui and Senku as seen in Dr. Stone season 4 episode 1 (Image via TMS Entertainment)

At the start, it seemed like Senku was suggesting a shorter route to hurry to their destination. However, his reasoning behind it seemed just. The Kingdom of Science needed corn to produce copious amounts of Revival Fluid. Therefore, they needed to reach their destination before winter would set in the region. With the 40-day journey plan, they would barely scrape by. Hence, if they were to reach San Francisco in 70 days, the Kingdom of Science would be forced to wait until next year for corn to start growing again.

Given that both parties sounded just, they agreed to come to a decision based on a game of poker. Gen Asagiri joined Ryusui, hoping to help the ship leader cheat. In response, Kohaku joined Senku, hoping to help him avoid any trick play concocted by Gen.

Asagiri Gen and Kohaku as seen in Dr. Stone season 4 episode 1 (Image via TMS Entertainment)

Asagiri Gen tried to cheat several times and got caught. However, as revealed later, he was getting caught purposely as a means of misdirection. In reality, he was acquiring the required cards for Ryusui's win. Momentarily, he switched all of Ryusui's cards, allowing him to present a "four-of-a-kind" sequence.

However, Senku had also come prepared to cheat as he used urushiol to mark the cards and had Kohaku pick the correct ones to help him with a "royal flush." While normally, one shouldn't be able to tell which cards are marked with urushiol, Senku was highly sensitive to them, causing an allergic reaction.

Senku Ishigami as seen in Dr. Stone season 4 episode 1 (Image via TMS Entertainment)

While Senku and Ryusui had cheated, the game effectively decided that the Kingdom of Science would take the Great Circle Route to reach their destination. However, the crew members weren't satisfied with just one poker game. That's when Ryusui opened his casino and Francois opened her bar aboard Perseus. Both of them were going to keep the crew members entertained during their long tedious journey.

The anime later saw Ukyo Saionji suggest that the poker game was a plan concocted by Gen Asagiri to get everyone to agree with the 40-day journey plan. However, Gen revealed that he was trying to win against Senku and was disheartened by his loss.