Dr. Stone New World episode 6 aired on Thursday kicking off the Treasure Island arc. While the episode was nowhere near the best, it was still a great setup episode for what’s to come in this highly anticipated arc. With funny jokes, serious moments, and that never-ending sense of adventure, the exhilarating Treasure Island arc has finally arrived, ladies and gentlemen!
The Flow of the Episode
One thing I rarely ever talk about in my reviews is how an episode flows. I think most of the time I get lost in a million other things in an episode I never stop and think about how scenes flow from one to another. But in this episode, it was so apparent I couldn’t help but talk about it and provide a couple of examples like the one below.
Senku cures the crew who were enduring sea sickness in a matter of seconds. They get cocky about being perfectly fine, specifically Ginru, then one thing leads to the other. Everything just flowed perfectly. The comedic timing didn’t disrupt the pace. The events weren’t random. And the episode ended with Senku giving praise to his adopted father who half of the episode was about in the first place.
The writing for Dr. Stone, especially during this arc, is noticeably different already compared to everything we’ve seen before. In the past, the series might’ve had a tendency to be sporadic or even a little slower. Of course, everything is step by step in rebuilding humanity so things take time. But this episode made it feel like the series has grown tremendously in its own way of storytelling, adventure, and comedy. And it wasn’t just these scenes at the end, the entire episode flowed. Here’s another perfect example below:
The scene ends with Senku’s adoptive father, Byakuya, as an old man then begins a visual passage of time with the Soyuz spaceship and transitions to Senku in Ruri’s hut. And what is Senku’s target when they’re about to reach Treasure Island? The Soyuz spaceship, but that’s not known until a few scenes later in the episode. This entire sequence could’ve been extremely basic in plenty of ways. But it had a beginning, middle, and end that acted as a new beginning. The direction for episode 6 of Dr. Stone: New World was sheer brilliance.
Sure, we can argue that it was uneventful for the most part. At the end of the day, it’s still a setup episode. But I always like to look at these kinds of episodes as a test to see how big a production staff can really flex their muscles. Most of the time, set-up episodes have little excitement until the very end that leaves on a cliffhanger (hence the meaning of a set-up episode). But Dr. Stone managed to give us an episode that even Senku’s genius mind would be impressed by. The art looked fantastic. The colors were eye-popping. And above all else, again, the direction of episode 6 was admirable.
Heartwarming Moment With Layers
Dr. Stone is not one to be short of heartwarming moments. In this season alone we already have Minami receiving a camera from Senku personally to document the rebuilding of modern humanity, Yuzuriha crowning Taiju the king of farming, and now we have a new character in Soyuz heading back to where he once came from with Treasure Island. The episode manages to make fun of the series itself with Senku having no idea who Soyuz was at first then proceeds to point out the randomness of introducing a new character on the ship full of people we all know and love. Yet, it also gave an emotional returning home story in just a few minutes of introducing a new character. The crazy part is? It worked, and in numerous ways too.
The first is that Treasure Island now serves more than the purpose of finding platinum to really light a fire under reviving all of humanity. It’s actually home to a new character outside of Ishigami Village. Not only that, it’s just what Senku says, if Soyuz is from the island then that means it’s currently inhabited by other people. To add an even extra layer on top of this scientific cake, those people are direct descendants of the astronauts that survived the petrification beam. So not only has this episode given us wonderful direction, but it also managed to introduce a new character with humor, an emotional backstory, and added layers on top of it that trace back 3,700 years to Byakuya and the other astronauts. This is the genius writing of the Treasure Island Arc and we’re in for so much more.
Dr. Stone: New World Episode 6 Wrap-Up
This is but a sliver of a taste of the incredible Treasure Island arc. This is where Dr. Stone takes to the stars with its sci-fi, adventure, and even drama, parts of the series. Everything is going to get amplified to 10 billion percent from here on out. So if this episode wasn’t a reflection of that and what’s to come to some viewers, I highly recommend re-watching this treat of an episode!
Episode 6 rating: 10,000,000,000/10
If you enjoyed this week’s episode of Dr. Stone: New World, then make sure to vote for it in our weekly poll! Episode 7 of Dr. Stone: New World titled “Science Vessel Perseus” will air on May 18 on Crunchyroll.
Screenshots via Crunchyroll
©Richiro Inagaki, Boichi/Shueisha, Dr. STONE Production Committee
