Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj where in the middle or reviewing Dr. Stone. Last time, Senku and the others were attacked by the inhabitants of the island. A majority of them got turned and now they’ve infiltrated village to find the device and recover the nitric acid. While the group succeeds in recovering the acid the islanders have caught on to trespassers. What awaits us next? Let’s find out in part 2 of Dr. Stone S3.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening for the second half is “Haruka” by Ryujin Kiyoshi. It’s a beautiful that touches the heart and makes you look back on everything the group has been through and just how far they’ve come. What started off as just two friends just doing their best to survive has now turned into one major group of people striving to rebuilt the world and civilization. It’s inspiring and brings a tear to the eye.
For the ending we have “Suki ni Shinayo” by Anly. It’s okay. I didn’t really find myself getting into the song that much but it does sound nice and fitting for the anime. Honestly, the animation for the ending steals the show for me because it’s actually sand drawings. They actually went to a beach, drew all of this in the sand. It’s creative, beautiful, and really shows the passion everyone has for the anime.
Episodes 1-5
The season starts with Senku acquiring the nitric acid which means they can revive everyone. Unfortunately, their bodies are being dumped in the ocean and they just took Ryusui into the village. In order to find the intruder among them, Ibara has each girl take a swipe at Ryusui with an axe cutting him into pieces (you won’t dare hurt your friend). Kohaku receives the word from Senku to smash it to pieces and that’s exactly what she does (Fist of the Stone Age Lioness). They send Ryusui’s pieces back to Senku’s team (nothing disturbing about that) where they rebuild him from scratch (gentlemen, we can rebuild him. Bigger, stronger, better. Narcissistic to the max. We’re calling him: The 6 million yen stone). After piecing him back together they manage to revive him (*Dr. Weird impression* gentlemen. Behold! Ryusui! Scene here: https://youtu.be/wlMaudt8qHU?si=n1bw-P3Px75MSg6o). With Ryusui back they now focus on retrieving everyone else’s body from the sea which means they’re going to need oxygen tanks. Using parts from the tank and after 10 hours of hard labor they manage to get the air for the tanks and dive down into the ocean. They only have ten minutes of oxygen so it’s do-or-die time for them. Thanks to Soyuz, Ryusui is able to find everyone’s bodies and they try to retrieve Kaseki first (you can’t create art without your hands) but he’s stuck and they’re running out of oxygen. With no other option, Ryusei calls for the nitric acid (I hope they didn’t destroy his body) and uses it to revive Taiju (scene here: https://youtu.be/PP5aG8KNa3U?si=itguDYNBCRUYxBaQ). With the combined power of the three, they manage to retrieve Kaseki’s body (all three parts).
In episode 2 they manage to revive Kaseki who gets to work on the drone (scene here: https://youtu.be/RM-_TbFkekk?si=UEs1m6v35K_ZptCe). Meanwhile, Taiju recovers the stoned body parts of everyone else in the ocean (including a rando who may or may not be Zoe from the Monster Prom games). Meanwhile, Ginro gets chosen to meet the Master where we find out the master is nothing more than a stone statue that looks like Soyuz. This means that Ibara is the one who’s been pulling the strings all this time (it’s always the evil priest, retainer, advisor, etc. pulling the strings). Kohaku also springs into action and fights against Moz the strongest fighter on the island who wants to make Kohaku his woman (you and like half the internet). Ibara attacks Ginro and manages to pierce him through the liver but he manages to tell Kohaku about the statue and even says it looks just like Soyuz. In order to save Ginro life, Kohaku allows herself and Ginro to be turned to stone and she sees the device they use to turn people into stone is in fact science (scene here: https://youtu.be/5mAld4XcNnc?si=FMchkPrTomRu-g9A).
At the start of episode 3 Senku’s team manages to revive Yuzuriha, Chrome, and Ukyo (scene here: Scene here: https://youtu.be/H–NxMmveXM?si=IxquSXLPXLeyHM2M) just as Amaryllis shows up to inform them about the events of last episode (that was a wild 5 minutes). While Senku is mad about this he manages to stay calm and focus on the task at hand, getting intel on the enemies. Thanks to the spy team they manage to piece together that they only have one petrification device and that most of the villagers don’t know that the master is a stone statue. Just then, Moz arrives after following Amaryllis. While this is shocking everyone pieces together that he knew about Kohaku and the others being intruders and did nothing to stop them meaning he doesn’t mind Ibara dying. The inner palace is basically in a three-way stand-off. Moz could easily take out Ibara but can’t make a move as long as Kirisame has the petrification device. Kirisame can’t go against Ibara for some reason (most likely blackmail) and Ibara can’t go against Moz who is stronger than him (an alliance hanging by a thread). They manage to convince him to team up with them by making him believe he holds all the cards (he’s got the whole world in his hands but there’s nothing in the world for him to hold onto). After the droid is completed, they finally launch their plan into action by having Moz do a night raid attack on the inner palace and force Kirisame out.
Not a whole lot happens in episode 4. We see the group continue to perfect the drone and revive others for their master plan. Senku creates the one thing he never wanted to make, a gun (eh, someone would have figured it out sooner or later). Thanks to Moz the inner palace is on high alert and believe it’s a group of shadowy figures attacking them. Once they have everything ready they attack in the dead of night.
In episode 5 they set their plan into motion and just when Kirisame throws the device and Ryusui activates the drone he can sense something is wrong. Sure enough, he was right (nothing ever goes as planned). Turns out Ibara got Kohaku’s earpiece and knows all about the plan. He now has the device while Kirisame has a fake. Senku quickly realizes that they’ve been set up and orders a full retreat while Moz chases after them. Ibara manages to gather everyone on the ship who the traitors are and if they’re not there he’ll just use the device to petrify the whole island and every who’s left on it (damn, he’s thought this through). While the inner palace is abandoned, the group decides to recover the body of the master and show it to everyone. They split into two teams to retrieve the body and cause a distraction (keep your eyes over here when you should be focusing over there). Meanwhile, Magma in his most Gaston moment stole the gun and tried to take out Ibara himself. After commandeering a boat, they chase after Magma (punch his ass out) and board the ship at the same time. Meanwhile, the other team makes it to the inner palace only to see the master’s statue completely destroyed. Not even the revival fluid can bring him back to life. Despite this, Soyuz has a perfect memory of what his father looks like and they plan to reconstruct the statue to the best of their abilities (scene here: https://youtu.be/4NaRaMuCkvc?si=O-IveKfRab7GbIBo).
Episodes 6-11
The ship battle begins in episode 6. They manage to get the gun from Magma (because he can’t hit shit) but still have to contend against Moz and Ibara. With no other option, Senku revives Hyogo to fight Moz. They cut it a little close but Hyogo decides to team with Senku instead of Moz because his thinking is too simple (said the man who wants to revive the elite of society. Whatever that means). Ibara finally figures that they can revive people and retreats back to the island to stop the others from reviving the master. Speaking of the master, we actually do see a nice flashback from Kirisame’s perspective and see just how nice and wise he was. Remembering how nice the master was does help Kirisame see just how wrong this all is and she finally stands up to Ibara. The group on the island finally piece the master back together and show it to the islanders but it’s too late. Ibara activates the petrification device and petrifies Kirisame. Just when he’s about to turn the island into stone, Yo comes in with the cleanest shot and hits Ibara in the hand (he reacts well for a guy who’s just been shot through the hand) and catches the petrification device (never in a million years did I think we would be saved by Yo).
In episode 7 as Yo claims the device for the Kingdom of Science, Hyogo manages to defeat Moz. After that battle ends things start to get epic. Ibara reclaims the device and turns Yo into a statue (three times. New record). Ibara then has one of the guards swallow the device and tricks them into going to the center of the island to unleash the petrification beam and turn everyone into stone. Ibara’s plan works and everyone on the island gets turned to stone accept for one person, Senku (it’s the scientist vs the liar).
Episode 8 gives us the battle between Senku and Ibara. It’s actually pretty intense (it’s not your traditional two powerful warriors going at it with their fists and shouting out the names of their attacks. It’s a smart boy taking on a very cautious and cunning man. A classic non-battle battle). Senku gets the jump on him by hitting him with the car, but Ibara gets back up and cuts Senku with his finger knives. Senku retreats but Ibara goes after him. They arrive at a cliff where Ibara quickly calculates the distance and throws the device but it gets captured by the drone. While Senku was running away he used the nitric acid to revive Ryusui and he got the drone in place. It soon becomes a tug of war for the device where Ibara sets it off near them but Ryusui sacrifices himself to protect Senku who uses the device to turn Ibara into stone and get the win.
At the start of episode 9 Senku revives Chrome and then proceeds to bring everyone else back including the islanders. That night, everyone celebrates their victory and restores any damage to the ship including their communications. We see the return of Why-Man where it becomes clear that he’s not their ally as he knows about the device and tried to use it to turn them into stone (you son of a bitch). What makes this even more disturbing is that the voice sounds exactly like Senku according to Ukyo. In the second half they do bring back a new person named Matsukaze who they believe might know something about the device. We see that he’s a strong swordsman as he single-handedly defeats Kohaku and Kirisame (okay, new ace for the Kingdom of Science) and even mistakes Ginro as his old master (your master must have looked like a real scumbag. No offense). He tells them that long ago multiple petrification devices rained down on the island turning the villagers into stone. With that information, Senku and the rest of the science team are able to piece together that Why-Man is on the moon (the man on the moon sees you and is not to be trusted) and that’s where they’re going next.
Nothing much happens in episode 10. Before they head out and start making plans to go to the moon, they help the islanders out. They make them allies to the kingdom of science, they give them a radio tower, make food for them, and even give them a firework show. Soyuz decides to remain on the island and bring it together just like his father. Kirisame, Matsukaze, and Amaryllis decide to go with Senku and the others in order to help out. We end with everyone returning home and getting ready to bring back Tsukasa.
In the final episode Tsukasa has been revived and he finds out they’re going to attack the moon (all things considered, he takes it pretty well. Scene here: https://youtu.be/_o5KIpI–bw?si=X-DPuTXRGvKHwi1y). However, before going to the moon they’re going to need a lot of stuff. So they decide to establish cities all around the world with each focusing on a different goal to reach their main objective. We end the season with the world tour beginning.
Final Thoughts
This show just keeps getting better and better. The first half of the season gives us our science fix as we meet new characters and see how they make their ship while also giving us action as the group ventures onto a new island and meets new opponents they have to face. It’s all great stuff and I honestly like the first half more than the second half. In the second half we get the big battle for the island against Ibara who proves to be a troublesome opponent as he uses his craftiness and dirty tricks to stay ahead of Senku and the others. Once again proving that despite having the edge technology-wise their opponents have their own strengths to counter them. I did like how alliances were made only for betrayal to occur. Enemies becoming allies and even allies getting turned to stone and being out of the picture for a majority of the season. Now that the group finally has an idea of who their enemy is and where they need to go I’m excited to see what happens next and the steps they’ll take to reach their goal.
The animation is still good. Nothing much has changed on this end. The fight scenes did improve and there were a lot more this time around. With Tsukasa re-entering picture I look forward to seeing what kinds of fights they’ll do with him. One thing I will give this series credit for is introducing new characters and not moving current characters to the back of the line. Each of the new characters plays an important role and don’t replace the current characters we’ve come to know and love. All the characters get their fair share of screentime as well as a chance to shine.
Final Score
The final score for Dr. Stone S3 is a 7.5/10. A great season that delivered on the science, action, and comedy aspect of the series while also giving us a few emotional scenes as well. While this season is a little more comedy than the previous seasons it doesn’t take away from anything happening and where the story is going. The fourth season has already been announced and is said to be the final season. With everything they have to do I hope this season will be able to fit everything in. Until that season arrives, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.