This is it ladies and gentleman, the culmination of Dr. STONE’s story, the big kahuna: The final battle. Ignore that we still have 3 episodes left, thats not important, because its time to RUUUUUUMBLE! Lets dive into it.
Right off the bat I have to say that this was a very rough episode. Both production and narrative wise Dr.STONE ran into a lot of problems. For production, the only part that felt “well made” was the opening sequence about the cave. Showing us how it got formed over time, how Senku ended up there and all that jazz was a great way to remind us of our roots. Of how far the series has come from the first episode. All without being a shot for shot recap that everyone would hate. After that though its like Dr. STONE forgot what the landscape was. Multiple times we were shown the open field in from of the cave. Only for the entire action sequence to forget this layout, add more men, more ground and some hills before reverting back to a flat plain. There was 0 locational consistency here.
Meanwhile on the narrative end Dr. STONE focused way to much on what its worst at: Battles. This entire episode was basically one extended fight sequence and it wasn’t good. Dr. STONE doesn’t have the animation chops to bring the flash nor is the science kingdom sufficiently powered up for fun/weird abilities to make it interesting. Outside of the sonic cone, which was admittedly fun, the whole thing lacked engagement. Take Taiju for example, he just run around with a shield blocking blows and being used for gags. But because of the nature of this kind of scene and the length of the gags the tension of the “20 second” timeframe completely disappeared. Things took a turn for the better when Hyoga and Tsukasa showed up. But only because their presence completely removes any chance for Senku and co to win a physical confrontation. They need science.
That’s not all that came with Tsukasa’s appearance though. He also brought some much needed emotional investment. Don’t get me wrong, “No bloodshed” is a fine hook. But we already know they are going to succeed against the nameless mob so it wasn’t that engaging. Tsukasa though? He and Senku have history and their reunion was the best part of the episode. I love how both of them still recognize and respect the other. So much so that were it not for their difference in ideals, they could still easily be friends. We can see it in their reactions that they are still fond of each other. They just both know there can’t be compromise and so steadfastly move forward.
Finally, yes I know this is a short post but its a straight forward episode, lets talk about Hyoga. Because one of the few interesting things Dr. STONE did visually this week was to differentiate him from Tsukasa. There’s the obvious in how his design hides his face or his spear is shown with blood, a stark contrast the often deific Tsukasa. But I also appreciate the small such as how Hyoga’s landing is loud and violent, thrusting into the ground. Meanwhile Tsukasa’s is almost gentle, he feet barely impacting it. One could say its meant to depict their difference in builds and experience. However I think its meant to draw a sharp line between the two in their ideals and how we are a viewer are supposed to feel about them. One is respectable, if evil. The other is just a monster.
And that’s basically it for this week. A short post with not much to say for a straight forward and ultimately weak episode of Dr. STONE. Maybe if it had the production to make this battle interesting it could have been better. But this was exactly what I feared when we started this season. I doubt the battle will last for 3 more episodes so we just have to hope. Hope that it finished up next week with some fun science and get back to what Dr. STONE does best. Celebrating humanity.
