You know what, now that the season is over and I can look back on it as a whole, I really enjoyed this season of Dr. Stone. The pacing was great, there were several points where I was genuinely intrigued by what would happen next and it was consistently fun to meet new characters and get plot reveals. It felt like we actually moved forward and that can be a challenge for long-running anime.
In a lot of ways, this was more like a setup episode for the next season than a finale, which means that not all that much happened. I say that when they just revived one of the pivotal characters after seasons. I guess Dr. Stone is just the sort of show where a lot of stuff happens all the time. Anyway, Tsukasa is back! Woohoo! And they made really sure that we remember just how cool this guy is. I wish they had given him some sort of intro music that plays every time he shows up. I think that would have really dialed up the comedy!
And it was everything I was hoping for. It was emotional, he was super gracious and all and still imposing. I do remember thinking that the character’s crack lines were one of the most evocative and distinctive character design elements of the show and it was actually a bit of a shame that they lost them. I was even going to write about how Senku not using the device to get rid of his cracks because it was running out of juice was just an excuse so he could keep his awesome face tattoos but then Gen beat me to it and just manually added them back in with face paint! Good move! You can cosplay an unseen Dr. Stone character simply by drawing a bunch of those lines on your face. It’s a great marketing tool!
I’m all over the place but I just want to tell you about all the little things I noticed. Like they are still doing Ginro dirty. Maybe it’s more fun in manga form but his over-the-top ego is just not coming off well onscreen. At least for me. And I actually like the character to begin with. It does seem like Tsukasa’s return may have humbled him a bit but it’s hard to say since we didn’t see Ginro for the rest of the episode.
The big issue with Tsukasa is that he is an ideologue. And a pretty fervent one at that. It’s what made him so dangerous in the first place. It’s also what makes him a good foil for Senku and up to a certain point, Gen, who are both pragmatic to a fault. I hadn’t thought of the fact that we now have Ryuusi to think about as well and he also has a very unique set of values he likes to live by. On paper, those should clash with Tsukasa and likely will at some point in the future. But fundamentally they are both hmmm, what’s the word I’m looking for. Is it communist? Probably not, at least not as we know it. What’s the word for people who think that collaboration is by far the best way to run a society. We should all work together for the betterment of all rather than for personal gain. Cause that’s what they both seem to believe at the end of the day. Let’s see how that translates when a lot more people are around to annoy them!
What this episode set up was that before the team goes to the moon. Still super ridiculous and I love it. They are going to go to America. For corn… And I get it. Corn is an overpowered resource. It’s not quite as great as water but it’s still mighty impressive. And I guess they could revive a few high school NASA scientists while there.
But the thing is, they are going to the other side of the world by ship. Like watership, not space. I looked it up and with modern technology it takes anywhere from 10 to 30 days to sail from Japan to America. Depending on weather and sea routes. And I couldn’t find how long it would have taken in less modern times, mostly because I gave up quickly but also because very few people did it and they stopped a lot along the way. So my guestimate is that it’s going to take them anywhere from 3 to 6 months. Are we about to watch 2 seasons of traveling? I’m not opposed, I’m just curious.
