English Dub Review: Dr. Stone: Stone Wars: “To Destroy and to Save”

Overview: The war between the Kingdom of Science and the Empire of Might comes to an end as Senku (Aaron Dismuke) and Tsukasa (Ian Sinclair) come to an agreement. 

Our Take: The race to the finish for this battle’s conclusion was more of a sweaty waddle than the cinematic sprint that I expected it would be. An anticlimactic final fight due to weaker offerings on both sides of the strength and science equation. 

The battle with Tsukasa and Hyoga is reduced to nothing more than just some relentlessly tedious and uninspired spear swings. It’s minimalist animation sure as heck does not help any either. It’s so incredibly underwhelming especially with the potential of these two characters and what, in turn, could’ve made for a phenomenal group battle with stronger characters like Kohaku, Ginro and Kinro. 

As for the science team, unfortunately, it seems they couldn’t think up anything better either. At the very least, both Gen and Chrome both contributed well enough with their own respective skills and it wasn’t just Senku doing all the heavy lifting. However, the barebones nature of putting some bat poop in some liquid and getting our answer was brutally mundane to say the least. The impressive inventiveness that Dr. Stone is known for with it’s unique, original thinking and problem solving was nowhere to be found. Like the bout with Hyoga and Tsukasa, the solution lacks any real imagination, which is something you’d hope for in a series that has, at this point, practically trademarked thinking outside the box. 

The only real salvable part of this episode is extra insight we gain on Tsukasa as a character and his reasoning for his brutal brand of justice. This is the only cog in the entire machine of “To Destroy and to Save” that is actually functional. Tsukasa’s “the ends justifies means” outlook on sculpting an ideal world by excavating those who were the dregs of the past society becomes a much easier pill to swallow, based on his rough upbringing and his younger sister’s poor health. It also works as a compelling conduit for why he becomes as strong as he does and invests in a career in MMA. It’s particularly enjoyable with the fact that there’s no needless exposition monologuing explaining exactly what’s going on concurrently with the flashbacks, a frustrating storytelling technique that Shonen, in particular, seems to get into a bad habit of. 

One other little strength is how the entire conflict is not wrapped up in a neat little bow within the span of this shorter arc, with a cease fire enacted instead of a wholly peaceful resolution. The arc already had a faster pace to begin with. If it were to completely solve what has been a huge conflict, not just this season but last as well, within a couple episodes, it would feel way too rushed. On another similar note, Senku’s commitment to what science can do to further help people and society, as whole, what Tsukasa thought of as a weakness, being the key is a nice poetic story beat to end the conflict. 

Dr. Stone: Stone Wars end to highly anticipated war was not the Nobel prize winner it could’ve been. The groundwork that was laid led to what was ultimately unsatisfying with visually flat fights and bland experiments. The only saving grace was the series’ characters, and the show’s continuous commitment to breathe life into them.