English Dub Review: Dr. Stone: Stone Wars: “Prison Break”

Overview: Chrome (Matt Shipman) puts himself to the test as he hatches a plan to escape Tsukasa’s (Ian Sinclair) empire. 

Our Take: Stone Wars has been establishing the who’s who of Tsukasa’s right hand men. “Prison Break” takes it a step further as along with Chrome’s escape plan, it introduces us to the fiery orange haired ex-cop with a brutal brand of justice, Yo. 

Yo doesn’t do much to stand out from the rest of the pack, however. This mostly due to how multi-layered the other characters are. Even if they’re not necessarily thoroughly developed or sympathetic, they are more than meets the eye and anything but one-note. Yo seems to be more ‘what you see is what you get’ and therefore lacks any of the intrigue that the others have. One positive, though, is the hilarious banter he has with Chrome. If he were to become an ally by the end, I’d gladly take more of their comedic chemistry somewhere down the line. 

As for Chrome, he truly is the shining star of this episode and makes it one of the best thus far. Rather than imitate Senku, it was a wise decision, not to mention an uniquely interesting one, to see how Chrome sciences his way out of situations. Absolute ingenious outside of the box thinking from Chrome to use a battery and sweat to make sodium hypochlorite, or as most would know it, bleach, to escape his cell. Definitely better than what I could come up with cause I sure as hell wouldn’t know what to do with any of that not to mention with those herbs for making fake blood. Speaking of, Chrome’s clever use of those plants is a nice callback to the first season allowing it to be not only logical but truly satisfying as well by using the science he learned on his own. Besides science, it’s cool to see him use other tricks he’s picked up along the way like with Gen and the psychological tactics in creating fear of a ‘“bear” or subverting Yo and the other guards expectations with false incompetence.  Then with the pièce de résistance of him pretending to get anomia and dying with help from that fake blood and some good old fashioned theatrics. And, of course, in true Chrome fashion, a hilarious nut shot is nothing short of the perfect way to close out his clever scheme.  

While truly a standout prison break plan, I can’t say the same for the animation as the pattern of middling visuals this season continues. Just real flat animation. There’s really no other way to put it and that simplicity falls in line with what the season has offered thus far. No attempt at any real motion at any time throughout this episode, with a lot of stills of people running or walking to create a dissatisfying illusion of movement. While it’s by no means a deal breaker, considering it’s a tighter eleven episode run, one would have hoped for better fluidity. 

Episode six delivers a great Chrome-driven episode, giving him his time to shine. Spotlighting his own brilliant scientific prowess and quick wits, “Prison Break” showcases just how unique Chrome is but also how he greatly differs from Senku. Second-rate animation and a poorly executed character introduction can’t stop this episode from getting ten billion points!