Welcome all, to the final episode of Season 3 of Dr. STONE! This week sees Kohaku break a rock, Senku connect with his dad and the team find the platinum. A fair amount going on this week, so lets dive into it!
So as far as finales go, Dr. STONE is a weird one. The actual content is good, there’s no denying that, and we will talk about that as we go. But as an experience… This feels more like the half-way point of a season then an actual finale. Yes, the platinum was retrieved and we know what our next steps are. But no one on the ship has been saved yet. Kohaku/Ginro/Amaryllis are still stuck in the Inner Palace. Ibara/Moz/Kirisame are still out there, and still dangerous. Nothing has really been resolved. It’s more like we’ve finally reached a point where both sides are on equal footing and a real conflict can start to take place. Like things are going to start heading towards a climax. And that’s a bit of a shame, because this is very much a “Wait for next season” sort of ending.
As for what the episode did right, let’s start with the flashback. We’ve had a lot of talk about flashbacks this season with Kimetsu no Yaiba, lots of examples on how to do them wrong and completely annihilate the tone of a scene. But here we see an example of how to do one right. Of how to augment a scene, rather then hamstring one. I’m of course talking about Byakuya and the beautiful connection between him and Senku. How one will count the seconds for 3,000 years while the other will pan for gold and platinum for decades on end. This silent dedication to the future of humanity, and to their bond as family, despite not being related. All of it tying back into their joint goal of restoring humanity, starting with Senku’s immediate friends. It’s just… so much better it’s ridiculous.
Beyond that we also got further setup for Ibara as a villain. His ability to connect the dots, understanding that the glass on the ship and the glass in the capsule are the same substance. How both must be related to those odd intruders, meaning some survived, knew this capsule was here and managed to open it up under his nose. It’s just a bunch of small, silent moments that reinforce his intelligence through action rather then simply telling us that he’s smart. It makes him much more threatening in my mind, and that the idea of him discovering Kohaku/Ginro/Amaryllis is more a question of “When” rather than “If”. Hopefully he gets time to really shine next season, because while he’s setup well there is still plenty of room for him to fall flat.
Speaking of Kohaku/Ginro/Amaryllis, they were this weeks token comedy. Kohaku got to pull some funny faces thinking she broke the treasures inside the Soyuz, as well as the little bubbles while thinking about breaking the cement. Amaryllis got to continue leading the guards on and playing with their hearts. And Ginro… Ginro got to do a spear dance. But not because he has trained extensively in the spear and knows it like his own body. No, it’s because he practiced impressive but useless moves for the sole purpose of either running away or scaring someone less-skilled off. It’s not the best comedy Dr. STONE has ever had, but it’s not terribly intrusive either. Not if you don’t mind Amaryllis’s bullshit that is.
So yeah, all in all this was a solid episode for Dr. STONE. But “Solid” isn’t good enough when talking about a season finale. I was really hoping for something a tad more impactful. About the closest we got to that was the Byakuya flashback. And yeah, that was great! Easily the highlight of the episode. It’s just… not enough when you think about how this is the last bit of Dr. STONE content we will see for about a year. Still, I did enjoy my experience with the season, so it’s not like it ruined anything. Just a slight disappointment right at the end. Dr. STONE has certainly done worse.
I think a mid-season finale would be more appropriate Don’t you think?
Fair, I didn’t realize there was a Part 2 coming out in October. I thought it was scheduled for next year. Still feels a bit bad, but knowing its not THAT long makes it better
The episode itself wasn’t bad, but looking at the season as a whole, it has been rather lackluster imo – like most of the content since the first season. It’s hard to pin down what went wrong after that, but if I had to say, the first season had a heavy focus on how science makes our lives better, showing how its inventions – like antibiotics and light bulbs, or simply good food – have drastically transformed our lives in a way that we often take for granted. But in the later seasons, Dr. Stone has become more of a typical shounen anime, with strong antagonists to overcome and all that, and as a result the focus has gone more to using science in the service of plot goals: travel, beating said antagonists – stuff like that. And that’s alright – it’s fun to see Senku try to overcome challenges with science, even if his plans often don’t go all that well – but it rarely results in inspiring moments in the way the first season did: it mostly just feels like a shounen anime with a bit of science sprinkled in, and that’s a lot less interesting for me. I’d have preferred if the series focused more on how his inventions transform the lives of the people around Senku, though I suppose the focus on action makes sense in context (there’s only so much nation building you can do with a village of some hundred people, and with another apocalyptic event constantly hanging over your head). Still, the end result is that much of the content since the first season has largely left me cold, and that’s a shame, because I really like Dr. Stone’s premise.
For me I think this is a clear step up from Season 2, as it starts us down the road towards the Petrification Beam and the ultimate mystery the series was founded on. It feels like we are working towards a larger goal now and I think the way it uses science to reach that goal, while also showing how it enriches peoples lives, is really good. I thought this was the best season yet tbh.
That’s fair, it does remain a fun twist on the shounen formula, and I agree it’s great that Dr. Stone has finally gotten properly started on the main plot. Still, this whole island arc is just very … shounen overall, and I don’t enjoy that aspect of the series enough to really like this season. Usually the battles are just “shounen battles, with the additional help of some cool science gadgets”, but other than that they aren’t particularly strategic or clever, which feels like a missed chance for a series so focused on the importance of intellectual labor. And the characters don’t have much in the way of development (or anything else interesting), so there isn’t much to be invested in on that front. It’s all a matter of opinion, though, and I can see why you do like what this cour had to offer.
What is the problem with shonen? I mean wtf did you expect from a shonen title?
It’s not a problem per se: battle shounen can be a lot of fun, and some get very creative with their battle systems. I just don’t think that (i) the shounen aspects in Dr. Stone are all that exciting or imaginative, and (ii) they match very well with what I consider the main strengths of Dr. Stone. As for what I hoped for from the series … like I said, I really enjoyed the first season, which focused more on how science has transformed our lives: the focus of later seasons on “shounen battles with fancy science gadgets” is far less appealing to me. But like I said, it’s a matter of taste, and if other people did enjoy this season, that’s great. I’m just giving my perspective.