If you’ve watched this far into Dr. Stone, there’s a good chance it’s because you’ve found the world fascinating. The restarting of civilization, through creative, and often times, exaggerated use of science was quite an enjoyable premise. The goal of this cour of the series was to take strides in trying to find out who was behind the mysterious green light, and we do get some answers. While the first half of the cour was a bit slow in its buildup, the pacing quickened in the latter half to reveal some exhilarating things, and it progressed the story in quite a solid way.
One thing I’ve always found a bit underwhelming, however, were the visuals. It’s not bad by any means, but it doesn’t really “pop out of the screen”, or have you left in awe by flashy animation. The real strong points of the art are the reaction faces, which are quite expressive to leave you with a little laugh at times. The music still remains decent, especially the opening and ending.
Another thing that has gotten progressively glossed over as the story progressed is the creating of materials. With an increased pace of the story, the time spent on the creation of materials and devices became less and less, which I found made it a bit too “easy” for Senku and the gang to proceed in their mission. However, I also do understand that the story can’t use the same status quos forever, so its focus must change to better advance the plot, and it’s done that well. It’s sort of an exchange of sorts, we see less time spent on science, and more time spent on strategizing on how to defeat enemies, which isn’t inherently a bad thing, I just wish the creating of materials felt more “earned”, rather than just rushing through their creation.
The big strong point of Dr. Stone to me are the characters, and the cast has been quite solid throughout the series. Senku is the ultimate driving force and mastermind behind the creating and strategizing, and the supporting cast around him all play their roles in driving the plot forward and to keep the fans engaged, rather it’s through comedy or suspense. There are quite a few characters that just haven’t done much though, such as Ruri, Taiju, or Yuzuriha, so to say the entire cast is interesting would not be fully accurate.
The first cour of the third season of Dr. Stone has been a solid one, and one focused on exploring a new landscape, which provides a different type of intrigue than previous seasons, but still nails the fundamentals of what made this show popular in the first place, that being its silliness and the occasional tense moment. While there is some sacrificing of the science aspects, it's a trade off for more progression, so take that as you will. Cour two should bring us nothing but more excitement for what is to come in this new world, or as Senku would say, “This is exhilarating.”
