All episodes of Dr. Stone Season 3 are now streaming on Crunchyroll.
The first half of Dr. Stone’s third season was entertaining, but not without its flaws. Awkward pacing hampered the transition between arcs, and sacrificed both the heart at the core of Dr. Stone and the more streamlined progression of technology from previous seasons. The second half of the season fixes these issues thanks to stronger, more focused storytelling and a proper villain driving the tension. Essentially, these 11 episodes turn Dr. Stone into a Michael Mann thriller, complete with a cat-and-mouse game between two highly intelligent opposing forces, and we are all better for it.
It all plays out as one big heist story, and each character in the ever-expanding ensemble gets their chance to shine, especially in the first few episodes that re-assemble the team after they were turned to statues and thrown to the bottom of the sea. The singular, superpower-like skills possessed by every character in the Kingdom of Science – long a bit of a drawback for Dr. Stone – are reframed for a bit of Mann-esque competence porn in this arc. It’s a delight to see Senku’s rudimentary diving equipment enable Ryusui’s navigation knowledge, which leads to a recovery effort aided by Taiju’s incredible strength and stamina, all before Soyuz puts his photographic memory to piece his comrades’ petrified forms back together.
With that victory in hand, there’s still the little issue of the Kingdom of Science facing the military might of an island led by a ruthless dictator who also happens to command the type of weapon that led all of humanity to spend 37 centuries encased in stone. Dr. Stone is at its best when the story is driven by the threat of a villain, and Petrification Kingdom minister Ibara may just be the best one yet. He’s no Tsukasa or Hyoga: He has no superhuman strength. He isn't even that smart, actually. What Ibara does have is a lot of confidence in himself, cowardice, paranoia, and manipulative tendencies. Of course, these prove to be his downfall.
The cat-and-mouse game that ensues, with Ibara and Senku engaging in a battle of wits to gain control of the petrification device, is full of tension. The device itself is also a fantastic addition, with clear and simple rules that make the action unpredictable and more complex because at any moment, utter doom could strike. It’s also a prime example of how high-stakes storytelling doesn’t require killing every character you can – though the sacrifices that follow demonstrate Dr. Stone’s knack for delivering emotional devastation.
