English Dub Season Review: Dr. Stone: Stone Wars

Overview: Senku (Aaron Dismuke), Kohaku (Felecia Angelle), Suika (Sarah Wiedenheft), Magma (J. Michael Tatum), Gen and the gang take the fight to Tsukasa (Ian Sinclair) and his Empire of Might as the fated duel between the stone world’s best and brightest finally goes down. 

Our Take: The promised conflict of the series initial debut, stone war if you will, is finally delivered upon in Dr. Stone: Stone Wars. The main conflict of Tsukasa’s Empire of Might and Senku’s Kingdom of Science at long last takes center stage. With a mere eleven episodes in total, the season has the monumental task of delivering a well-developed resolution to the conflict in such a short span of time. Unfortunately, this is a hurdle it does not always clear with the most grace as some new characters take a backseat. Point and case is the execution of new character introductions such as You, an abusive cop. That’s really his whole schtick. There is never an attempt made by the series for further elaboration for why he is the way he is. Granted, it would be one thing if he was at least personable, but he never even manages to be that, with him often feeling like an irritatingly loud throwaway character. Or there’s Hyoga, Tsukasa’s spearing loving right hand man introduced last season. He fails to become anything more than just a Tsukasa clone and lacks his own identity in the end. 

But then there are those who are just the opposite. The eagle eared archer, Ukyo, is more than just a gimmicky power and a slick haircut. He actually has a legitimate backstory. And when I say legitimate, I mean we get to tackle why he strives to preserve people’s lives to the best of his ability with quick, subtle yet thoughtful and meaningful flashbacks. Then there’s the ripped heroine Nikki. Her fangirl love for Lillian Weinberg may seem convenient for the sake of the plot and to move it forward as it factors so heavily into Senku’s scheme. However, in all actuality, it shows a more vulnerable side to a character with a rocky hard exterior making it all the more compelling. And fortunately this also extends to the big bad, the Strongest Primate Highschooler, who by and large does not fit the generic bearings of that description. Like Ukyo, Tsukasa is given great respect in rather than the show tediously over explaining everything the way some do, he is instead given a heartfelt backstory that is brief yet powerful and makes the most of its short time. For every one-note and/or underdeveloped character, there’s another well-developed, engaging one just around the corner. 

The development of the battle builds greatly throughout with neither side feeling like they’ve completely one upped each other and always having a trick up their sleeve. It keeps it from getting stale as there are always gears turning on both fronts such as those from Senku’s tank and then Tsukasa’s foresight into that. There is also all the tried and true humor and heart you would expect from Dr. Stone, with all those wacky character expressions and the classic cluelessness of everyone not understanding Senku and all his science lingo along with earnest interactions and moments with veteran characters reaffirming their built trust and love for one another. 

What I hope does not become a classic staple of the show is the weaker animation throughout with noticeably stagnant scenes of action. Whether it be something as simple as Magma running (seemingly stuck in place) or Hyoga and Tsukasa taking on the Kingdom of Science with these elite specialists looking as if they are uninspiring and mindlessly waving around spears like children building a fort. Considering the leaner season, it’s a gut punch that especially stings.  

Unfortunately, what was not as prominent were the inventive and in depth science lessons as they were thrown to the wind this time around. Because of the shorter offering, they are abbreviated or lack any imagination they would have otherwise. As we get the ending of the long anticipated battle, there was a plot thread left dangling that never gets tied up in how Tsukasa’s forces feel about being tricked by Senku, Gen and Chrome about the how Lillian Weinberg is still alive and that U.S. forces are coming for aid. This feels especially odd considering how it was built up by Dr. Stone himself and the others to only have it end without any conclusive ending. Also the actual resolution is a bit forced with the show romanticizing past events with Senku, Taiju and Tsukasa trying to artificially create some emotional impact that in order to work should have either been present in the original season, or at the very least executed better with some actual animated scenes.  

With that being said, it does leave off in a great place for the future of the series to run with. With Tsukasa waiting in the wings to be reintroduced, not to mention his newfound allegiance with Senku and his friends, there is a lot of potential for a grand return and an amazing tale with their team-up. Also with Senku and his science brigade sailing across the globe to trace the stone’s origin, there seems to be a lot of a lot of potential on their ship’s horizon for new lore and details on how state of the world become encased in stone and with scientific ingenuity at the forefront of the series, it will no doubt be unique and inventive. 

Dr. Stone’s second season in that of Stone Wars has its shortcomings that one would expect out of a tighter offering in underdeveloped new characters, contrived and/or unresolved resolutions, underwhelming science lessons but also stale animation. Although perhaps not worthy of ten billion points, it is still deserving of a decent grade and a watch for it’s excellent returning character work and relationships, some new faces to the mix that were cultivated well, along with the funny humor that the anime has patented at this point and much anticipation for the already announced third season.