English Dub Review: Dr. Stone “Deal Game, Test of Wit”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Senku and the science team finish reassembling everyone else but learn of Kohaku and Ginro’s petrification. As they plot their next step, Moz shows up. Thinking fast and knowing that none of them can take him on in a battle, Gen uses his mental manipulation to get Moz to reveal his true intentions: He wants to kill Ibara himself and take control of the island with the Petrification Machine. The group get him to work for them to achieve that, though he will get the machine at the end…or so he thinks. The first step: build up the fear for the Kingdom of Science by doing disguised attacks in their name.

OUR TAKE

With things seemingly at their lowest at the end of the last episode, it looks like it’s looking up now as Senku and the rest are fully reassembled, figuratively and literally. But even with the new details about the weapon, that Kohaku called Medusa, they don’t have much of a way to rescue her or Ginro without getting stoned themselves. This is why Moz entering the picture is important. It opens up another chance for them to breach the village, though instead of infiltrating it by trying to blend in that didn’t work out, it will be by building a legend around the Kingdom of Science that will no doubt get Ibara worked up, which will then give Moz an opening to fight him or take control or something. This episode is kinda straightforward on what the progression is here. We also have Gen showing off his great manipulation skills to play Moz like a fiddle, at least for now, pulling him back from just wiping them all out to essentially having an accomplice. And it looks like this pause in negotiations is not the end of how Gen will likely use Moz’s ambitions against him. We’ve got several episodes left in the season, but I very much doubt this ends with Moz in total control of the Medusa.

I have to compare this to how Senku entered his first village in the first season of the show. Both times it started with a lot of the village very much against him for any number of reasons, but it then became about making allies and connections that eventually got him to become a trusted member of that community. Obviously Senku and his allies have had to use much more deceitful tactics to get in this new village, mainly because it means to cause them harm and is controlled by a much more malicious leader, though it also shows that Ibara seized his power deceitfully too, so revealing that may ingratiate villagers towards Senku and the Kingdom of Science. Though before we get that, we’ll probably need to meet a few more named characters. Maybe we’ll get more of that next week or in the coming weeks, but we definitely need someone within the village who isn’t a combatant and can reflect the changing public opinion of Senku and the others within the village. And we’ll find out more next time as we enter the THIRD DIMENSION OF BATTLE.