Category: Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction

Welcome all, to a double feature and the grand finale for this season of Dr. STONE. Neither episode really had a whole lot going on, this being an extended epilogue of sorts, so I decided to just merge them together. Don’t worry though, you’ll still get a final review! At some point. Over Christmas. God it’s busy. Anyways, on with the show!

First up we have episode 10, “Treasure Island”. This is mostly more time spent on the island, introducing the locals to the wonders of technology, etc etc. It’s a speed all the stuff season one create. From ramen and glasses to radio towers and lightbulbs, it’s one long extended “Humanity Fuck Yeah” moment. And that’s fine! That’s sort of what I watch Dr. STONE for. But in this case, none of it was particularly new. Because of that it felt very… subdued? Filtered? Diluted! That’s the word! It felt like a diluted experience of something we had already gotten and loved. Personally, as much I enjoy this stuff, the best moments were actually just Senku reminiscing on what this island means to him. After all, this is where his father died.

Continue reading “Dr. STONE New World P2 – 10/11 [Treasure Island/Beyond the New World]” →

Welcome all, to another week of Dr. STONE! This one begins our epilogue, our journey into the next arc. Not a whole lot happens, mostly just check-ins and resets, but we do get one major plot reveal: Why-Man returns. What does this mean? Well lets jump in and find out!

Starting off, like I said this was a rather slow week. Lots of preparation for the next arc, walking us through reviving everyone and surviving on the island, you know, dotting i’s and crossing t’s. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t decent though. It was like we were speed running the first few episodes of Dr. STONE all over again. Identifying problems, unpetrifying people as they were needed, slowly expanding and rebuilding. It was a nice reminder of what everyone does and just how far we’ve come. Plus it gave us a chance to spend time with some of our new characters, the islanders now turned allies with Ibara out of the picture. The big one of course being Kirisame, who quickly sided with them after hearing what happened.

Continue reading “Dr. STONE New World P2 – 9 [First Dream]” →

Welcome all, to another week of Dr. STONE! And this one actually released before the next episode at that! I’m starting to catch up on stuff, a wonder what can happen once you don’t have any more papers to write for grad school. Enough about my struggles with numbers though, lets dive into Senku’s!

Picking up where the last episode left off, we have a battle of the bosses, Ibara vs Senku! This goes about as expected. Senku isn’t a physical combatant, and Ibara is clever enough that plans A, B and C fall through. Senku ends up having to think on his feet, coming up with a plan on the fly, and I really like this. Dr. STONE did a good job making this feel like a battle of intelligence despite the physical differences in the characters. From Ibara figuring out how science works through observation too having plans/practiced against the Medusa expecting to one day fight it. Both of them laying traps. using their knowledge of the land and everything that’s happened that day since the first confrontation that morning, it all worked really well. And the climax was even better.

Continue reading “Dr. STONE New World P2 – 8 [Last Man Standing]” →

Welcome all, to another late week of Dr. STONE! I’ll admit, I’ve not had much motivation, or energy, to write about it lately. Every time I think to I find something better to do. Still, the show must go on, so here we are! Lets dive into it.

First up we have episode 6, “Joker”. This one continues the conflict as our Kingdom of Science friends charge the boat. And if I’m being honest? Not a whole lot happened. So instead of boring you with a play by play, lets just hit the big ones, starting with Hyoga’s return. I had actually forgotten about this. Both that Hyoga was on the ship and that he returned in this arc at all. Despite that, I do quite like it. His return feels well done and makes sense. He really is the only person they have left who could go toe-to-toe with Moz, plus even as a villain his motivations don’t allow him to turn on them. He’s a man who does things properly, the right way. And Hyoga? He can’t deny, for all their differences, that Senku and the Kingdom of Science do things properly.

Continue reading “Dr. STONE New World P2 – 6/7 [Joker/Flicker of Doom]” →

Welcome all, to an incredibly late post! I had was traveling last weekend decided to just merge a few weeks of Dr. STONE together. It’s one of the harder shows to write for, especially with episodes like 2 weeks ago that are basically just one big scene, so its easier to just merge them. Anyways, without further ado lets dive into these episodes of Dr. STONE!

First up we have episode 3, “Deal Game, Test of Wit”, which centers largely around Moz. As it turns out, he knew, or suspected, Kohaku and co were intruders the entire time! So when Amaryllis fled after Ginro and Kohaku were petrified, he followed her all the way to their cave hideout. And of course, none of them really have the ability to actually beat Moz. So the question becomes: How the hell do they get out of this situation? Enter Gen. As far as episodes go, this was decent. While watching Gen talk someone down was fun, it’s not really what Dr. STONE is best at, you know? We got minimal science, lots of internal monologues and face zooms, it just wasn’t exciting. Everyone knew Moz wasn’t going to kill them, this isn’t the petrification beam, they can’t come back from that. So there wasn’t to much tension there.

Continue reading “Dr. STONE New World P2 – 3/4/5 [Deal Game, Test of Wit/Battle in Three Dimensions/Total War]” →

Welcome all, to another episode of Dr. STONE! This one is a bit late, had a lot on my plate this weekend, but it’s ok now. This week sees the science kingdoms continued progress and the mystery of the islands shadowed ruler revealed. We have a lot to talk about, so lets dive into it!

Starting off, lets talk visuals. Dr. STONE has particularly cared about this. Oh the designs are nice, the linework, backgrounds and general style of the show is appealing, no one can deny that. However it’s never been what you would call “animated”. The characters have never moved much and the action we got was, generally, just bad. Dr. STONE has largely avoided this pitfall by just not having action. A smart move. Eventually however, someone is going to fight. Which is why it was such a surprise this week when it actually looked… decent? I still wouldn’t call it good, not in the same season as Jujutsu Kaisen, Frieren or Undead Unluck. But Kohaku’s spat with Moz was actually watchable. That’s nice! I don’t think anyone expected that, it feels like Dr. STONE is starting to figure that out. Hopefully it can maintain that going forward.

Continue reading “Dr. STONE New World P2 – 2 [The Medusa’s True Face]” →

Welcome all, to the 2nd new show of Fall Season, Dr. STONE! This is the continuation of the same season I covered earlier in the year, finishing up the Treasure Island arc. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while, and we have a lot to talk about, so lets jump right in!

Starting off, can I just make it clear how happy I am that Dr. STONE is back? I had missed its special brand of Problem -> Solution -> Problem -> Solution. Something about how Dr. STONE specifically does it is just so good, like one big Humanity Fuck Yeah story. If I had to guess, I’d wager a lot of why it works is down to how the series solves its problems. The science behind it, while not perfect we can all admit this is anime-ified, works conceptually. Stuff like making air pockets under water to properly pour liquids, or crafting oxygen tanks out of existing pieces of metal and pumping them up themselves. Realistically, we know they couldn’t do this. But the way Dr. STONE portrays it, the effort they put in, the way it’s explained… It just sort of works. And like any good hard-magic system, that’s rewarding.

Continue reading “Dr. STONE New World P2 – 1 [The Kingdom of Science’s Counter Attack!]” →