Welcome to Anime Rants. Thanks for stopping by. If you love science, adventure, and goofy comedy, then Dr. Stone should be right up your alley. Today, I’m trying to catch up to the first few weeks of the new season of Dr. Stone. We’ll go over the first three episodes with recaps and personal thoughts.
Episode 1: New World Map
In the first installment of the new season, most of the time was spent showing Senku, Ryuusui, Kohaku, and others exploring in the hot air balloon. They made a detailed new map of the areas around Mt. Fuji. In celebration, the people of Ishigami Village cook a “feast” for the adventurers. However, it’s nothing but grilled fish, and there’s not even a lot. This prompts some discussion about food for the village. The reason humanity never grew much over 4000 years was due to food shortages. A single bad year of fishing could wipe out many villagers. Thus, Senku and company decide it’s time for the Agricultural Revolution.
For the rest of the episode, the adventurers found wild wheat and began to grow it in the lands near the village. Taiju became the unofficial “King of Food” since he was the best one at growing wheat. He mixed in ground shells with the dirt, and the calcium neutralized the acid in the soil, making healthier plants. In the last scene in the episode, Senku and company try cooking some bread, but it turns out black and crunchy. It’s barely edible. If they want to grow the village and make food for the upcoming sea trip, they will need to revive a proper chef.
It was an enjoyable first episode. The new intro song is pretty good, and I absolutely love the outro song. I know the artwork in this series has received criticism from a number of people, but I love the way it looks. The scenery is beautiful. The character designs are great. The goofy, over-the-top face expressions at comical moments are a little much at times, but I still enjoy them generally. Additionally, the inclusion of some 3D animations here and there was quite visually interesting. It looked almost like minecraft. I don’t have many other thoughts on this episode, but I’m excited to see more.
Episode 2: Greed Equals Justice
In order to revive a proper chef, the group of scientists and adventurers need more revival fluid. It turns out that the journalist girl, Minami, was keeping some to herself. She gives it up with the deal that Senku will make something special for her later. Ryuusui requests that they use the fluid to revive his butler and personal chef, Francios. Everyone agrees, and soon enough, the job is done.
Francois awakens and immediately seeks out Ryuusui. Once the two are reunited, they begin the process of making real bread. Chrome and Kohaku are curious about Francois’ gender/sex, but Ryuusui says it’s irrelevant as long as they are excellent at their job. The bread that Francois makes is called Stollen, a sweet bread with nuts and dried fruits in it that will keep for up to ten months. Everyone tries the Stollen and it’s delicious.
After that, all that remains is to follow through on the promise to Minami. It turns out that what she wanted most was a camera. Kaseki and the crafts team make a bunch of daguerreotype cameras, the oldest and simplest model in history. The cameras will mostly be used to take photos from the hot air balloon for the purpose of mapping out the topography. But the first photo taken is of Senku sticking out his tongue in a reference to the famous photo of Albert Einstein.
The recap is complete, so now, I get to share my thoughts. I am absolutely ecstatic. This episode filled me with joy. Francois is undoubtedly my new favorite character in the series. It seems that they are nonbinary and perhaps agender. I’m surprised that nobody in my circles mentioned to me that there would be an enby character in Dr. Stone. But now that I’ve seen them, I’m positively delighted. I am nonbinary myself, so the representation is great. Even if the anime one day reveals Francois’ biological sex, it won’t matter, since they are clearly not identifying with male or female.
In addition to being happy about seeing a nonbinary character, I’m also thrilled that they are voiced by Maaya Sakamoto. When I recognized that voice, I almost shouted out in joy. Maybe you think I’m being over-the-top, but that’s just how much I love this voice-actress. Sakamoto has been one of my top three favorite seiyuu in anime for several years now. She has so many good roles, my favorite of which was probably Haruhi from Ouran Highschool Host Club. Sakamoto’s voice is astoundingly beautiful. I’m so happy!
I could go on gushing about Francois and Maaya Sakamoto, but you’ve probably had enough by now. The parts in this episode about Minami were also enjoyable to me. Additionally, I loved seeing Kaseki looking dapper in his black suit and shades. Senku in a suit looked good, and Senku in a dress looked hilarious. I can’t wait for the next episode to see more of Francois and company!
Episode 3: Eyes of Science
Senku and company continue processing aerial photos to try finding the Sagara oil fields. In the meantime, Ryuusui suggests that Francois should open restaurant to serve him and reward everyone who has been working so hard. Kohaku helps Francois catch some boars which they will raise in captivity and use for food. Francois also wants black truffles for the new restaurant, but they prove difficult to find.
While searching for the black mushrooms in the aerial photos, Kohaku finds instead a blurry image of a black puddle. It’s the oil they’ve all been looking for. With the help of Suika and her new pet boar Sagara, the group finally locates the Sagara oil fields. Before long, the scientists and adventurers test out the oil by using it to run a small motor boat. They go out to the ocean and cruise around for a bit.
Senku explains that they will be using a makeshift GPS once they truly set sail, and he orders a test of the land beacon giving out the signal. Once the signal is turned on, things seem to be working. Gen and Ruri contact Senku and company in the boat using the cell phone. But suddenly, the phone signal cuts off and is interrupted by another foreign signal. It repeats a message over and over in Morse Code. The message is a simple three-letter word: WHY. Senku realizes that whoever is sending them this signal must be the mastermind behind the petrification of humanity. To be continued.
The last few minutes of this episode were intense and even a bit creepy. More than that, they were exciting. I’m intrigued that there’s someone out there sending Morse Code. Who is it? Are they really the mastermind, and if so, how did they survive for 4000 years? What was their motive in destroying humanity? I think whoever it is was asking why Senku was reviving humans again. There are so many unanswered questions, and I can’t wait to find out more information. Other than that, and my enjoyment of Francois, I don’t have much else to add. I’m impressed with the first three episodes.
Thanks for reading~
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