Welcome all to another week of Dr. STONE! Apologies for the delay on this one, I had to get the seasonal preview out as well. Anyways without further ado, lets dive into the episode!
Overall I thought this was a great episode. A good mix of both Dr. STONE’s unique brand of comedy and its more serious narrative. The best example of this of course being Ginro. At the best of times he’s this stupid wreck of a human, a complete coward who look for any opportunity to get out of work and escape responsibility. It makes for some amusing jokes at times. But seeing him struggle with that as he’s confronted by Kinro’s statue, his desperate attempt to escape carrying him on his back before resolving not to run not because it’s the right thing but because he cares specifically for his friend. Mmm, it’s just good shit. Dr. STONE really sold his “Coward that does what’s necessary” energy. Think of him like Zenitsu from Kimetsu no Yaiba, but much more narratively compelling and much less annoying.
Getting into the episode proper, let’s start with the fun stuff. I thought most of the stuff surrounding the car was good. Yeah, I could do without the fart jokes, I’ve never been a fan of that kind of humor. But it was fast enough, and made enough sense in the moment, that it didn’t bother me to much. Convincing the locals that their car, a machine they have never heard of with no idea how it works, is actually an animal via leaves, noises and weird smells? That’s pretty clever! And the science was fun to. Ibara not buying into it also helps further cement him as this perceptive and intelligent villain capable of matching Senku. He didn’t just assume it was an animal and let it leave, rather he has everyone hunting for it and other invaders throughout the villages. Pretty cool to see!
The other, much more successful, fun part of the episode was the makeup compilation. Yeah, the science was cool, it always is. Seeing how shampoo/conditioner/makeup is created, always a fun time. But I also liked how Dr. STONE wasn’t afraid to take shots all its characters, and I do mean all of them. Senku and Soyuz looking absolutely terrible, Ginro hating it but looking good, Kohaku creating the most horrifying makeup ever, and Gen being far far to comfortable with it all. It was some classic fun, and I liked how it embraced Kohaku’s felinity without robbing her of tomboy attitude. In total I just found it to be a solid, fun, well executed sequence.
Finally this week also properly introduced us to Moz, the last of the 3 primary villains. Where Ibara is perceptive and clever, where Kirisame is agile and bears the petrification ray, Moz is our classic “raw power”. This guy is huge, arrogant, and generally a sleaze. But what I thought was nice is how this episode of Dr. STONE not only reinforced that, it showed that isn’t all he was. Yeah he’s a sleazy womanizer, but he’s also perceptive when it comes to combat, noticing something even Ibara didn’t. Maybe it’s because he’s more focused around women then Ibara, or maybe he was just itching for someone to fight. I don’t know. However while he is definitely the simplest of the 3 villains, I think he completes their triangle well and presents our heroes with a tough unified nut to crack.
So yeah, all in all I thought this a rather solid episode of Dr. STONE. Not very heavy, not particularly thick or deep, but solid. What I would expect the average Dr. STONE episode to be. Bits of levity, bits of heart, bits of darkness, all held together with a dash of science. My only concern continues to be where the hell this season is going to end. With only 3 episodes left, I just don’t see how it can finish up the entire island arc without rushing. And if it plays it safe and ends on a cliffhanger, what will that be? Hopefully Dr. STONE knows what it’s doing and will be smart about it. Just check the Wolf’s Rain review to understand how important endings are to me. But if it doesn’t, if it screws it up… Well I’ll be very sad, to say the least.
