Dr. Stone Season 2 - Episode 1 [EP Review]

Updated: Jan 24, 2021

Published by: Karlo Cervantes | Published on: January 16, 2021

TIME TO GET STONED!

Senku On God's Absence In The World Of Science | ©Kome Studio, Boichi/SHUEISHA, DrStone Project

Dr. Stone, one of the most highly anticipated anime of 2021 has finally premiered last January 14, 2021 with the episode entitled: “Stone Wars Beginning”. The season opener covers chapters 60-62 of the manga. Buckle up nerds, the ultimate battle of Brain vs. Brawn is here!

Pre-Game Stoning

Gen Does A Recap Of The First Season

If you haven’t been paying attention with the experiments, then it’s 10,000,000,000% certain that you won’t understand a thing in this review. Not to fret though, Asagiri Gen did a great job with the recap of the entire first season at the beginning of the episode.

While that is convenient and all, you’ll be missing out on a lot of minor details and some definite tear-jerking moments (*cough* Episode 24 *cough*). That being said, you’ll be able to understand the premise of the anime and where it currently stands.

Long story short, it’s now time to find out if Senku’s Kingdom of Science can defeat Tsukasa’s anti modern technology empire. Fair warning, the review contains definite spoilers on the episode to fully understand the context.

A Class Act

While the audience was not treated with a new opening theme, TMS Entertainment gave the season premiere an anime-only segment. Much to the audience’s delight, it was an enjoyable part that contributed to the prelude of the Stone Wars arc while touching on some emotional chords left by last season’s finale.

Byakuya Enjoying Space Food

Senku introduced space food, in the form of instant ramen, to his comrades as rations to survive the war against Tsukasa’s army. While this is not found in the manga, it was well-thought and it complemented the winter setting prior to the impending war. It was also a touching moment to remind the audience of Senku’s relationship with his father who was an astronaut that ate the same thing. Class act TMS Entertainment!

Apart from this portion, there was not a lot of deviation from its manga counterpart.

Lillian Weinberg Back From The Dead

As the villagers have grown fond of Lillian Weinberg’s voice, it has become the village’s background music and almost brings everyone to tears with its beautiful tone. However, this was the defining moment for Gen to come up with the devious plan to gain an advantage against Tsukasa - *Spoiler Alert* Use Lillian’s voice to trick Tsukasa’s army into thinking there’s a part of the world that has survived and recovered from the petrification and is on its way to rescue them.

It's a brilliant plan that capitalizes on the enemies' lack of knowledge while carefully utilizing what is currently available with their own resources. After all, nothing seems to be impossible with our favorite Science Whiz. Asagari Gen also lives up to his moniker of being the mentalist with such an underhanded, carefully-crafted plan.

Senku's Reaction to Gen's Impersonation | ©Kome Studio, Boichi/SHUEISHA, DrStone Project

The creativity displayed here is also commendable. Switching characters to allow the audience to fully appreciate the impersonation through changing the voice is a very clever way to portray the scene.

The episode ends with the villagers setting the plan into motion transitioning to the ending theme of Hatena’s “Koe?” (Voice?”).

Overall, the anime completely covered the three chapters and was complemented by a well-thought segment at the beginning. The episode stayed true to what makes Dr. Stone so enjoyable, apart from the obvious humor, - the practical approach and application of all these scientific methods and technological advancements. The manner of presentation makes it so easy to absorb without being overwhelmed with all the terminologies.

Senku teaches the audience that a lot of problems can be solved if you approach it one step at a time, dissecting it to the smallest detail and formulating the best approach to move forward. This, boys and girls, is why it’s important to think before you act. And oh, pay attention to Science.

Possible scenarios to look out for in the succeeding episodes would involve how Senku and the group deal with Homura, how Chrome’s Engineer group rendezvous with Taiju’s Spy group, and some form of advancement from Tsukasa’s Empire.

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)

Well-thought anime-only segment was used as complementary scenes to set the premise of the Stone Wars.
Asagiri Gen lives up to his name as the mentalist with the devious plan of tricking Tsukasa's Empire using Lillian Weinberg's voice.
Senku teaches the audience how to approach things not only scientifically, but logically as well.
Possible expectations from the next episode include how Senku deals with Homura, how Chrome meets up with Taiju and Yuzuriha, and some form of advancement from Tsukasa’s Empire.