©Kome Studio, Boichi-Shueisha, Dr. STONE Project
Two episodes of Dr. This Stone is like a rollercoaster. With the infinitely respawning liquid machine in hand, our heroes are finally ready to strike. Both the infiltration team and the recovery team get real moments to shine — showing how important each is to the overall operation to recover their friends. For the first time since the ambush on the island, things began to look brighter. Of course, that’s exactly when everything goes wrong.
Logically, it was only a matter of time before the infiltration team was discovered—a fact they all knew going in. After all, it’s time for Ginro to “meet” his master, his cross-dressing will be discovered (even if the pineapple gas delays things a bit). Furthermore, it’s always been a question of how long Kohaku can play her undercover role — especially since Moz has clearly been following her from the start. So when everything falls apart, Kohaku must fight a battle she has no chance of winning while Ginro discovers a secret that leaves him mortally wounded.
This gives us an extremely emotional ride with ups and downs. Never before has Ginro been so noble—showing that, at his core, he thinks of others more than himself. Meanwhile, Kohaku shows that her experiences throughout the series have changed her. She learned a lot from both Senku and Gen — she knew enough about science to understand what a petrifying beam could do to a dying person and how to perfectly exploit human fears to make her enemies use it. So, in the end, their sacrifice accomplished the goal of gaining vital information—and gives us hope that, when all is said and done, they can be saved.
In a broad sense, these episodes also bring us two great discoveries. The first is a pretty obvious one when you think about it. Instead of Ibara being the Great Master’s henchman, he is the true leader of the island (having turned the great master to stone and partially shattered him in the past). In this position, he has all the power but no responsibility—after all, he is just a middleman carrying out orders in the eyes of everyone. Of course, the whole Great Master’s secret means he has to kill the girls he “sleeps with on his master’s orders” because they will end up wondering why they never got to meet the Great Master by flesh and blood—hence the need to constantly hunt down women in the surrounding villages to satisfy his desires.
The second revelation is the confirmation that the petrification beam is not magic but science. This means that it follows the natural laws of our reality and is something that can be understood and resisted. Furthermore, being based on science means it imposes limits — and knowing those limits could be the key to victory for our heroes.
Overall, these two episodes were great. They’re action-packed, have great character moments, and give us new information that not only affects how we view this arc, but also the entire story of Dr. Stone.
Review episode 12:
Review episode 13:
Random thoughts:
Kohaku’s ideal man sounds familiar.
→ I honestly never expected the Ginro scene to have such an impact on me but here we are.
Since Soyuz could be the Great Master’s long-lost heir—this provides a lot of context as to why his mother would have fled the island if Ibara’s coup had occurred. out at the same time.
© Man, those ending credits done with sand on illuminated glass blew my mind.
Dr. Stone: New World is now streaming on Crunchyroll.