Dr. STONE S3 – 3 [First Contact]

Welcome all, to a tremendously late episode of Dr. STONE! Apologies for that, the usual excuses hold, I’m just incredibly busy. Without further ado though, lets dive in!

Starting off, the sound design in this weeks episode was nothing short of fantastic. In particular the bit with the radio static and the Morse Code at the end, with the music fading out and the ominous sound taking over, absolutely sold the scene. As good as it is though, this really shouldn’t be surprising. While Dr. STONE has never been the best looking show, it’s always sounded pretty good. From Tatsuya Katou and Hiroaki Tsutumi’s OST to Jin Aketagawa’s sound design, Dr. STONE has always had a very strong audial identity. I’m really glad to see that continue to hold true as the series moves into this more mystery focused direction. It’ll certainly benefit from it if the series can keep it up.

Moving on to the episode itself, it was generally rather strong. I always enjoy seeing the technology Senku builds used for multiple purposes. Initially it’s sold to us as “We need X to do Y so we can do Z”, like just another step along the road. Like they don’t have any purpose beyond that. But the technology always comes back with multiple purposes. Some of those are purely personal, such as a love for music or the arts. Others meanwhile show us just how interconnected technology is. Take the camera for instance, and how it was originally created to hunt for oil but is now being put to use for better foraging and hunting. Was that the intended use/why they needed it? No. But tools don’t just have a single purpose.

Speaking of food, it was also nice to see that get brought up as well. Before it was about necessity, about having something they could cook and eat on the voyage. But now it’s about motivation. About self-actualization, getting the most out of life. It’s not enough just to survive on scraps, humans want to thrive. To experience greater things, taste better foods, etc. It really connects everything together if you ask me. How discoveries flow into each other, why people are motivated and are driven to greater and greater heights. Yes this is what were talking about last week with the “Greed is Justice” thing. But I think it’s better shown than it is told, if you get what I mean.

Finally though we need to talk about that finale again, and the first appearing of Why Man. This introduces Dr. STONE’s real endgame: Who, or what, kicked off the petrification. This was largely forgotten until now, as they were busy dealing with Tsukasa and his immediate threat. But now Dr. STONE is free to reintroduce it and give us a greater mystery and conflict, one that pits humanity as a whole against this larger mysterious force, rather then against each other. And I have to say, I’m really excited for it. Why Man was absolutely phenomenal in the manga, easily one of the best finales to a series Shounen Jump has had in years. Hopefully Dr. STONE will be able to see it animated through to the end so I can relive it.

So yeah, all in all a good episode if you ask me. Had a lot of Dr STONE’s strongest aspects woven into it. Technology, how it’s all interconnected, the human experience and what it means to truly live, as well as reintroducing the greater and most interesting mystery the show has left. Having read the manga, I’m confident Dr. STONE can nail the narrative moving forward. It’s really just a question of it this adaptation can do that narrative justice. So far, 2 seasons and a few episodes in, it has. But if anime has taught me anything it’s that shows and productions can fail at any time. Hopefully that doesn’t happen here.