English Dub Review: Dr. Stone “Battle in Three Dimensions”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Moz begins terrorizing the enemy troops, giving Senku and the Science Team time to plan, while also understanding that Moz will betray them the moment it’s convenient. To stop them, Senku constructs a type of gun and gives it to a revived Yo, a former police officer (yeah that’s not gonna go wrong at all…), and revives Magma, Kinro, and Nikki to make rope to grab the Medusa tool. Senku also creates a drone and gives it to Ryusui to control, and the plan begins to come together.

OUR TAKE

This is pretty much just a bridge episode going from the planning stage to the execution of the plan itself. We’ve seen them recruit a temporary ally and know what their target is to steal, and now they have a way of scaring the enemy in order to make their play. So, the only real big moment of this episode itself is the reinvention of the firearm, which is given an understandable pause by Senku when it’s first brought up. I don’t need to get into all the problems that guns have caused in our world for it to be clear that bringing that sort of device into a redeveloping world is a concerning development. I’m pretty sure they’re not going to get into the worst parts of that in this show, especially when gun violence isn’t anywhere near as big a problem in Japan, or most other countries, as it is in the United States (gee I wonder why), so it naturally isn’t going to come up in a story made in Japan. Still, I’m glad they took the time to show their understanding of why this would be a potential concern.

As for what this plan is all leading to, well, it’s pretty much all about deception and putting on a big show. Moz’s fake attack shows off the “power” of their group, then they set up drones and stand ins to sell the idea of there being a group of these fake warriors, then lure out the Medusa and nab it at the right moment while ALSO having a full understanding that their temporary ally will immediately turn on them the moment they do get their hands on the device. It may actually be three dimensional chess they’re playing against both of these factions, even if one faction is just one really strong and smart dude. They’ve faced one of those before with Tsukasa back at the start of the series, but that was one a very different battlefield, as well as not having to deal with the thing that petrified them all in the first place. While I don’t have much doubt the science team will find a way out of this and a way to save Kohaku and Ginro, it’s still anyone’s guess as to how exactly this battle will go down, as the fact that we know full well what their plan is SUPPOSED to be is no indication things will go that way.