Team Work and Friendship
While there’s a few cringe worthy moments, noted even by the characters, in this pair of episodes from Dr Stone, there’s also a lot of warm hearted and fun moments as the gang prepare for winter and prepare for the coming conflict. This means some rapid-fire development of technology and the speed is a little mind-blowing (and kind of implausible but we’re watching a show about a world where everyone turned to stone so let’s move on).
The point that is emphasised over and over again in these two episodes is that everyone has a role to play and contributes something to the mix. Whether they are thinking things through, crafting, training, carrying, collecting, etc, they are important. The social harmony message was pretty heavy handed even before Senku’s talk with Magma after they fell into a hole together and honestly I think we could have done without Senku declaring it didn’t matter who the boss was because I’m pretty sure most of us living in the modern world think it matters a great deal in terms of pay-scale. I am enjoying this anime but Dr Stone has definitely got rose-tinted lenses on when it looks back at the current technological society.
Despite the nit-picks though, Dr Stone continues to be consistently enjoyable. The characters inhabiting Ishigami village are just fun to spend time with and watching Chrome and the craftsman getting excited over small projects, watching Suika earnestly try to contribute, and even just seeing the other villagers happy about the idea of being able to preserve meat over the winter is all quite delightful.
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However, even as their lives literally depend on them succeeding in their preparations, Senku still takes the time to put on a light show for Christmas. Morale is important and everyone most definitely appreciated seeing the fruits of their labour lighting up the tree. While Senku has made a lot of very useful stuff, the visible technology is always going to be what gets the attention of the villagers and keeps them moving forward. They are unlikely to be impressed by a battery unless they can see a practical use.
I think it best we don’t pay too much attention to the logistics of their spelunking expedition. Anyone who has ever spent any time in a mine or a cave will probably be raising an eye-brow at the antics of Chrome, Senku and Magma, but as we established earlier, while Dr Stone has consistently explained the science behind things reasonably well, they have been a little far fetched in Senku’s reach at times. If you just take it as part of the overall fantasy of the show it works well enough and who really wants to watch an anime about real spelunkers… okay, I would totally watch that.
With apparently two episodes to go (one is already available but I’ll probably do a double feature and finish the series), I’m getting the impression we’re all going to be wanting a season two. That’s okay though given Dr Stone is an anime that has gone from strength to strength. While it took a good half a cour to really hook me, once it got me interested it has continued to build on that and I’m enjoying this anime more and more.
Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James
Want to follow Senku on his journey to bring back civilisation?
Images from: Dr Stone. Dir. I Shinya. TMS Entertainment. 2019.
I can’t wait for season 2. I generally didn’t think I would be interested in this anime until it started to pick up. I gotta check out the manga in the downtime between s1 and s2.
It definitely took awhile to get me hooked but now I am really enjoying it.
I never knew “Spelunking” was a genuine word until now…. 😮
It is one of the great underappreciated words of the English language. Incidentally I totally recommend it for something to do on a holiday, just ensure if it is a bat cave that you wear shoes you are fine with tossing once you are done.
Thanks for the tip, though as someone who doesn’t like to leave the house, it is unlikely to happen. 😛
Definitely understand that. At least there’s no sunlight in most caves and it is a tour activity that doesn’t tend to attract large crowds in most instances so it’s something I tend to enjoy doing on holidays if there is an option that suits my lack of fitness.
I really hope you can find a way to keep posting from time to time in the next six months. Otherwise, I’m going to really miss your insights!
I wouldn’t even mind a post for every 2 episodes. It’d reduce your workload, and I’d still get the benefits of your perspective!
But please — only do what you can do.
Glad you enjoyed them. I really love writing these posts.