One of the most unique anime of the last υears, “Dr Stone” continued with its third season, which signalled a change in its helm, as Shinya Iino gave his stead to Shuhei Matsushita, who did not bring, however, any significant changes in the way the anime unfolds.
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Following the events of the special episode, which introduced Shishui, the shipping mogul, and after their balloon flight, Senku reveals to him his plan to construct an oil-powered ship to reach the source of the petrification ray, South America. Their effort to construct it bring the whole team, once more, re-discovering a number of past technologies, in their effort to find where the the still existing Sagara Oil Field lies, where they could grow enough wheat to grow and hunting meat to preserve to last them for the trip, as much as enough trees for their shipbuilding. Their efforts lead them into daguerreotype, with Senku implementing the contraption in order to take aerial photos, with the discovery also playing a crucial role for Minami, a former journalist. Shishui also suggests that they bring back his assistant, Francois, to help them with the preservation of food, but the woman soon proves a proper genius in all kinds of preparations, becoming an integral part of the team.
Eventually, the crew reach their target, but they stumble upon an all powerful enemy, which may lack their scientific advances, but has the numbers plus a number of people who seem to know how to use petrification.
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The season, or better, its first 11 episodes, is split into two parts , with the discovery of the other civilization functioning as the dichotomy. The first part, with the lack of enemies for Senku and his crew, focuses exclusively on their new discoveries, as the group seems to move constantly forward, with the trademark educational aspect of the series finding its apogee here. Quite interestingly, the progress does not only concern new technologies, but also deals with the culinary, in a rather entertaining aspect added to the story. Another intriguing factor, which also helps in the analysis of the characters, is the division of labor, with Taiju, Magma, and Yo becoming the farming team for example, Yuzuriha heading the Craftsmanship and Development Team team etc. Furthermore, the concept of food distribution and perseverance comes to the fore as the population is about to grow, adding even more to the story.
The presence of Shishui is another central component, as, despite his obedience, it quickly becomes evident that this is not a man who is willing to take a back seat, with the presence of Francois intensifying this aspect, which does not, however, materialize particularly.
The second part brings action once more in the narrative, as a new enemy appears, with the concept of power against technology seemingly being one of the main axes in that regard. That Kohaku seems to have found a worthy rival of her own sex is another interesting element, which adds both to the action and the drama.
Shuhei Matsushita handles the combination of educational elements, the constant progress, the slight intrigue and the action rather nicely, with the amalgam carrying the season from the beginning to the end of the 11 episodes. However, when the narrative moves away from those and into comedy territory, the quality drops significantly, with the humour being particularly pedantic and the ‘silly faces' finding one of their annoying zeniths here. Truth be told, despite the intricacy of the technological advancements and the progress of civilization mirrored here, the series remains one mostly directed to kids (or young adults at least), with the lack of violence, sex, interpersonal relations, character depth moving directly towards this direction, as” the series as “Dr Stone” also starts to look a lot like “One Piece” in these aspects. The same applies to Yuko Iwasa's character design, which, despite including some sultriness from the women here and there, mostly moves towards more children-friendly sketches, and the overall colouring follows suit. The animation by Die4studio and TMS Entertainment, on the other hand, remains top notch, within the aforementioned lines, with both the “normal” movement and the action one being rather well implemented.
“Dr Stone Season 3” finds the series a bit too much of the same thing, although the new enemy and Shishui may offer some intrigue in the future. The series, however, seems to have lost its spark and the element of surprise and originality that made it what it was in the previous seasons.
