Amazing, because it was like watching an anime version of Sid Meier's Civilization, with a great MC, a likable cast of characters, an extremely interesting plot, and some awe inspiring moments that truly gives you an appreciation for the complexity of science.
Frustrating, however, because it was too childish to be as great as it could have been.
You can't really knock the fact that it's childish, because you can tell it was designed that way on purpose. Dr. Stone is a very cool educational series, clearly designed to peak children's interest in the sciences. Half of every episode was dedicated to them explaining the way things worked in science, from chemical reactions to light bulb technology. But, because the aim of this anime is strongly directed towards smaller children, that hurts the overall plot, flow of the story, and even decision making by the characters.
Had this anime been a purely Shounen, or preferably, Seinen anime, it possibly could've been an all-time great, rather than just really good. (And it was REALLY good.) But, it missed the mark on many occasions because of it's childishness and brought the anime down. But, at the same time, really hit the mark right on the nose in other places. It's only the fourth anime in my life to actually get me misty-eyed. It takes a special anime to do that, and that is why Dr. Stone is equally frustrating and amazing.
Let me give some examples: SPOILERS AHEAD! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
A short explanation of this anime, is that everyone is frozen in stone for 3,700 years by a mysterious phenomenon, that is still unexplained. Senku, the MC, is also frozen but maintains his sanity by counting for 3,700 years. His petrification wears off, he figures out how it happened, and then duplicates the process to free people he think's he'll need, starting with his closest friends, Taiju and Yuzuriha. However, his next choice is to release Tsukasa, a guy with the dumbest moniker in anime history: "The Strongest High School Primate." (Just so incredibly dumb). It wasn't his initial intention, but he was forced to do it to save himself from some lions.
Tsukasa doesn't want the world to return to the way that it was, where the elites ran everything and polluted the Earth. He determines that Senku will bring it back with science, and then tries to kill him. Senku survives and ends up in a village where he prepares to resurrect a modern scientific society, and stop Tsukasa, who has taken over his formula for removing the stone petrification, is releasing only warriors and killing the rest of the people by shattering their statues. It's now the kingdom of science against the kingdom of insane environmentalists/socialists and Senku must prepare the village for the "stone wars" when Tsukasa comes to kill them after the Winter.
Now, if this was a more mature anime, it would have been far more exciting. But, again, it was an anime created to excite young kids about science, that also just happened to be really, really entertaining. And so, you get decisions that bring it down like this:
Senku decides that the best way to defeat Tsukasa's coming invasion is to build...cell phones.
This strategy is absolutely ludicrous. An enemy is going to come barreling down on your with scores of warriors, and you're going to stop them by having a communications array? Nonsense. In a more mature anime, Senku, recognizing he didn't have the resources or time to create enough gunpowder for guns, would have obviously made the wiser choice to look to make different weapons, that would've given them a landslide advantage and would've been millions of times easier to build: Like rapid fire crossbows. That alone would be enough to kill everyone Tsukasa brings, especially considering the island layout of the village and that they only use spears. Catapults, flamethrowers, poison gas bombs using the glass containers and gas from the methane pits, ballistas, basically ANY projectile weapon other than guns. But, he chooses a communication device, because it's a childish anime, and they want to show kids how cool telecommunication science is. It's clear Dr. Stone doesn't want a scene with the heroes shooting arrows into the scores of people in a one-sided, bloody massacre. Which became clear when they didn't kill a single invader when Senku made them Katanas. But, that kind of decision brings the anime down a few notches, because it's not practical or realistic.
This immature logic based upon trying to show the wonders of science created all sorts of ridiculous decisions throughout the anime. While, even I myself, thought it was cool to learn how various gadgets and chemical reactions worked, I couldn't help but to be annoyed at the idea that while they are on a countdown facing death, they repeatedly kept stopping to build things that would not protect them, and wasn't even associated with the "cell phones" just to be nice to each other. Why are you stopping to decorate a tree for Christmas? To build a telescope for someone's birthday? The people who burned down half your village, and stabbed your family member in the gut, are coming back to finish the job, led by the strongest fighter on the planet, who nearly killed your leader once. Where is the urgency?
Instead of urgency, it was more important to show how things are made and have heart warming moments. And while it warmed my cockles and all, it didn't make sense story-wise. It was elements like that, that makes me wish that this story was hijacked like one of the many SAO or K-On clones, and redone for adults. Because what Dr. Stone is as a world, is truly incredible. It really needs a retelling for people 25 and up. This may be the first time I've ever WANTED someone to create a clone of a popular anime.
But, even though that may be the case, I still loved so much about Dr. Stone. Senku was such a breathe of fresh air as an MC. A borderline sociopath, extremely intelligent, cuttingly sarcastic, and would work just as well as a villain as he does a hero, it was refreshing to see an MC like him. You get sick of seeing so many earnest do-gooders. And you need someone who is a little screwed up in the head to be the hero sometimes.
The main cast of characters were great, too. And they made a really fantastic creative decision early on, by removing Taiju and Yuzuriha early on and replacing them with Chrome, Kohaku and the rest of the villagers. I don't think I could've made it 24 episodes with Taiju as his main sidekick. Chrome was a vast improvement. But, many of the cast were enjoyable and interesting. On a side note: Suika might be the cutest character in anime today.
In addition to that, Dr. Stone had some pretty awe inspiring moments. I actually felt a little wonderment, like I'm sure the creators were shooting for, when Senku and crew worked to make the really world-changing technology. Like when they recreated the light bulb and harnessed electricity. Those were great moments. But, probably no moment hit me harder than the flashback following his dad during the Petrification event. That whole backstory was very well done and when Senku shed a single tear, I almost did, too. Ironically, those episodes were the most mature of the season and were the best, in my opinion.
There was a lot to love about Dr. Stone. From the animation to style, to the hip-hop infused score, to the world building. It truly deserves it's 8 out of 10 score. It's a great anime. I just feel like with some stronger, more mature logic and themes, this could've been one for the ages. A true great. Like "original Planet of the Apes with Charleston Heston" great. It could be a 10, if they focused as much on the logic as they do the science lessons. It is illogical that Senku has an entire village of people at his disposal for nearly a year, knows that bats in caves produce the main ingredient he needs to break the petrification, and doesn't send anyone to find bats in the caves around them to grow his own kingdom of science. He even went into another cave and didn't even think to look for bats. They have to tighten up illogical thinking like that in future seasons to make this good anime even better. Sure, Lillian's song was beautiful on the glass record, but are we really to believe that a village founded by a singer has never heard singing or music before? Like singing wouldn't be passed down? The most ancient of tribes had music and signing all the way back to Ancient Africa. It makes no sense they wouldn't know music or singing. That moment for me, was Dr. Stone in a nutshell: A powerful moment just slightly undermined by weak logic.
I'm a nitpicky guy. These things matter to me. And so, I can't give Dr. Stone a 10. But, I can say, that it is highly likely that you will enjoy this anime. It's still very entertaining, educational and funny. It does deserve its high praise.
