The main premise of Dr. STONE revolves around rebuilding human civilization from scratch using the absolute power of science. During the series, we saw Senku and his team invent everything from medicine to cell phones using primitive resources, but a recent complaint on Japanese forums focused on a specific biological detail. One user harshly criticized the manga for never mentioning the menstruation of female characters, arguing that the protagonist should have prioritized creating sanitary napkins before other technological advancements.

The limit of fiction and realism

The main argument of this criticism pointed out that if the characters had the time and materials to make basic underwear, the absence of intimate hygiene products seemed completely unrealistic for a survival story. However, the Japanese community quickly dismissed this observation with sarcasm. Most readers agreed that this level of biological hyperrealism simply doesn’t belong in a shonen manga, whose main goal is to provide an exciting adventure focused on large-scale projects, not the detailed management of everyday human life.

A dead end for the author

In addition to pointing out that many complex processes, like building rockets, happen off-screen to maintain narrative pacing, internet users highlighted a major irony in the situation. Many argued that if the author had dared to draw a detailed scientific diagram on how to make feminine towels in the stone world, he would inevitably have been labeled disturbing and faced severe accusations of unnecessarily sexualizing the female protagonists. In short, fans believe that addressing this topic would have been a pointless creative risk that would only bring trouble to the publisher.

In the end, fictional stories always have to sacrifice certain elements of reality to maintain plot flow and audience interest. Knowing that female characters also form a vital part of the survival team, do you think Dr. STONE made a mistake by completely ignoring these biological details, or do you agree that the work did well by focusing only on the major technological advancements to save humanity?