Educational post-apocalyptic manga series Dr.Stone gets an anime adaptation courtesy of studios TMS and 8PAN. Following main character Senku Ishigami who awakens thousands of years into a post-apocalyptic future Earth after being mysteriously petrified during his time in modern society, the series acts as both a comedic and learning experience approach into a world without the many scientific advancements we’ve become comfortable with.

Dr. Stone is a 2019 shounen anime series, it is produced by TMS Entertainment and 8Pan. It is licensed by Funimation and Crunchyroll and is available on streaming platforms in English with subtitles and a dub. Season one is currently available in its entirety and season two is currently in production with an upcoming release.

Editor’s Note: Near complete to complete spoilers for Dr. Stone season one may be present within this review.

Dr. Stone has been around nearly half a decade in the manga scene, but it’s popularity has recently had a major surge thanks in part to its new anime adaptation. Following the storyline of its source, the anime gives a funny and entertaining mirror image of its panels from veteran animation studio TMS Entertainment. The anime adaptation has gained a bit of a cult following for its humor, character development, and direction.

THE GOOD: Dr. Stone is a bit different from your average shounen series. For one thing it’s focused heavily on education (while ironically presenting a disclaimer at the end of each episode for its science). With each episode containing some kind of science experiment for Senku and co. to overcome as they reach their main goal of returning the Stone World back to modern society. Season one begins with Senku, followed by Taiju and Yuzuriha awaking from petrification after seeing a bright green light thousands of years prior. They awake to a world where nearly all of the human population has been turned into stone. Searching for a cure Senku and Taiju learn that nital from bat waste is able to break the petrification. However, before waking Yuzuriha first as initially planned, they’re forced to revive famed MMA fighter Tsukasa Shishio who saves the former from a lion attack. After conflicting ideals on how society should be returned Senku and Tsukasa become enemies with Tsukasa feeling forced to kill Senku. Initially believed to be killed by Tsukasa, Senku is able to successfully fake his death and he departs from Taiju and Yuzuriha in order to keep them safe from Tsukasa who takes them into his Empire of Might out of respect. Senku goes on to discover a surviving race of human beings who avoided petrification. 

In season two most of the story is switched solely to Senku’s point of view. After having discovered the surviving human race that has since reverted back to being somewhat primal in certain ways. Such as unnatural human strength and agility compared to before. His first encounter with the new human species is Kohaku a young woman whose much more physically fit than she initially appears. Senku saves Kohaku from being crushed under the weight of a fallen tree by quickly cutting the tree with an axe and creating a pulley system to lift the pieces up so she can escape. It should be noted that Kohaku got the tree on her after attempting to kill Tsukasa for his earlier attempted murder of Senku whom she deemed an innocent, defenseless person. Senku’s fast thinking instantly gains Kohaku’s attention (and affection) which provides him a good first step into entry of her village. While attempting to gain entry into Kohaku’s village of whom her father is Chief of (in addition to her older sister being Priestess), Senku slowly wins the favor of certain members of the village such as bridge guards and brothers Kinro & Ginro, as well as self-proclaimed “sorcerer” Chrome, and blacksmith Kaseki among others. Eventually Senku gains the trust of several villagers after witnessing his science experiments. After curing Kohaku’s sister Ruri of her pneumonia their father name’s him village chief out of gratitude.  

With Senku named village chief everyone follows his direction and guidance in science to bring society back to what it once was. Everyone, including the once antagonistic Magma accepts Senku as their new leader. They even build him a telescope for his birthday thanks to help from Gen; a former member of the Empire of Might who later defects to the Kingdom of Science. It is revealed that Senku’s adoptive father Byakuya; a former astronaut had survived petrification while in space along with his crew. He and the remaining survivors began the early stages for Senku to rebuild human society including the creation of the village Senku now leads which takes his last name ‘Ishigami’. Story and emotionally driven moments like these are what make Dr. Stone stand out from your average shounen series. It also helps that it’s actually pretty damn funny when it wants to be. It tries and usually succeeds to avoid typical anime tropes such as the earlier mentioned Magma. In any other series he would have likely been the regular old villainous hulking bad guy, he has a lot of layers to him than just being a mindless, bloodthirsty brute. In fact when Chrome believed he was going to kill Senku and himself after the three went out on an important mission together he was emotionally hurt by the accusation. He did admit that he considered killing the two and taking over the village but quickly changed his mind after realizing Senku’s worth to it and the people of Ishigami. This is only one example of the many multidimensional characters in Dr. Stone’s world. 

THE BAD: The heavy direction in education and lack of traditional shounen action sequences won’t be to everyone’s liking. 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Dr. Stone feels like a true once in a life time series with tons of boxes checked. It’s kind of miraculous when you remember that this is supposed to be a Shounen, but it has so many different directions it can take as well as viewer guessing writing that it should be considered an inspiration for the future of the genre. Otaku Dome gives Dr. Stone Season One a 100 out of 100.