How Dr. Stone Won Me Over

Leading up to the start of the summer 2019 anime season, I did what I usually do: I looked into what series people were buzzing about and, where possible, dove into the source material a bit to see what would grab my attention. One of these was Dr. Stone–and I was far from impressed. But, as you may have guessed from my Must-Watch Anime for Summer 2019 article, my opinion certainly changed.

This is somewhat rare for me. While I, like most people, lose interest for many shows as they go on, few are the anime where the opposite is true. And when this happens it is almost always due to A) a moment that redefines how I view the series, B) a single scene that makes everything that comes before and after worthwhile, or C) a reset of the status quo that sends the anime in a new direction–as is seen in Dr. Stone.

Image source: アニメ「Ｄｒ．ＳＴＯＮＥ」公式　10月より第２クール放送スタート！！

The reason I didn’t initially like Dr. Stone is due mostly to its viewpoint character and protagonist, Taiju. As far as main characters go, Taiju is a rather boring one. His character can be summed up in four words “all heart, no brain.” He’s that typical try-hard character seen in many Shounen Jump works (e.g., Luffy, Goku, etc.) and is rather predictable in most situations: he’ll basically run headlong at the problem and expect everything to just work itself out if he just doesn’t give up.

While Senku, for most rights and purposes his antithesis, is around from the first episode, the emotional stakes clearly lie with Taiju–and his quest to revive/protect Yuzuriha. At the start, Senku is little more than a way to keep the story moving with his cool scientific knowledge.

Image source: アニメ「Ｄｒ．ＳＴＯＮＥ」公式　10月より第２クール放送スタート！！

It’s in the fifth episode, however, that the story makes a hard left turn. With an extended flashback, we see Senku’s life in detail–both his distant past and his time since awakening in the stone world. From this point on, the main character is unquestionably Senku, not Taiju. In fact, by the time the credits roll an episode later, both Taiju and Yuzuriha are effectively written out of the story for the foreseeable future.

From this point on, we get Senku unfettered–a mad scientist with no constraints. This is what turned the series around for me.

Image source: アニメ「Ｄｒ．ＳＴＯＮＥ」公式　10月より第２クール放送スタート！！

Senku, unlike Taiju, is an incredibly unique and entertaining character. He has the insanity to try for the “impossible” and the smarts to actually pull it off.

From the back-half of episode seven on, he is once again on his own. Other than what’s physically on his person, he no longer has any of the technology he’s spent the last year developing nor does he have the physical and emotional support that he gained from Taiju. Everything has to once again be built from scratch. But this time, there is a literal deadline hanging above his head: it’s only a matter of time until Tsukasa discovers he is alive and comes for him and anyone he’s interacted with.

Image source: アニメ「Ｄｒ．ＳＴＯＮＥ」公式　10月より第２クール放送スタート！！

Unlike the first part of the story, it’s not only technology we see him build–he is also forced to build personal connections with the isolationist stone-age village he discovers. We watch as he plays an ever-more complex game of mental chess, turning enemies into allies one after another.

However, this is not done through trickery–not really. Rather it is done through passion. His passion for science is so obvious and infectious that people respond to it in kind–even if they don’t fully understand what’s going on. This is Senku’s true power: inspiring those around him–both on purpose and by chance.

And this, along with Senku’s other complexities are only truly laid bare once Taiju is out of the story.

Dr. Stone can be seen on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Animelab (AU/NZ).