The premiere of Dr. Stone: New World (Season 3) aired on Thursday giving fans a glorious return with everything we love about the series. It was just one of those returns where you text your best friends and say “I’m glad this series is finally back” with the biggest smile on your face. And that was me from beginning to end with the season premiere. In the words of the late Mac Miller, I was “cheesin’ from cheek to cheek” watching the season 3 premiere of Dr. Stone.
Everything I Loved About the Premiere
Where do I begin? The premiere picked up exactly where the Dr. Stone: Ryusui Special left off and brought back everything we loved about Dr. Stone. All of our favorite characters had their own bits of screen time and no time was wasted getting the Age of Adventure arc underway. From iconic facial expressions to motivational moments, and even bits of emotional ones, Dr. Stone returned in an exhilarating way.
The Dr. Stone Season 3 premiere checked off all of the boxes that make the series great in the first place. The best part of it all is that it never felt rushed. Everything flowed perfectly and we didn’t get a reintroduction of characters in a boring, generic way either. Ryusui was quick on the uptake, both good and emotional, and he brought a new presence to the series we haven’t received before in the series. He gives fans the sense that the world of Dr. Stone can finally move on to its next stage in exploration. He’s a perfect character to bring into the series and fits right in with the crowd.
What I love most about Ryusui’s character is that his greed plays as his humourous side. He isn’t the type to be greedy in order to put others in danger and is actually sympathetic to the elders of the village and the lives they must’ve endured while he was still petrified. The moment when Kohaku tells him about the village’s history and when he finds out that the reason they couldn’t repopulate the area is due to starvation solidified the fact that Ryusui is here to help no matter what. Disregarding his antics and humor just moments before those conversations, he became serious and listened when things got serious despite being the one who loves hearing himself talk. I have no doubt Ryusui is going to become a fan favorite among anime-only fans as he did among manga fans as the season progresses. He just makes the series even more interesting than it already was.
A staple of Dr. Stone is the bizarre facial expressions and this season premiere was gloriously chock-full of them. Whether it’s Senku, Chrome, Ryusui, Kohaku, or Gen, almost every single character at some point in this episode gave us a hilarious facial expression bringing back that Dr. Stone humor we all love. As usual, they never felt out of place and flowed well with the events of the episode and were just downright hilarious as always. They were never forced and gave me the overwhelming feeling that one of my favorite series is really back. A heavy mass of happiness overcame me when watching this season premiere of Dr. Stone because it’s one of my all-time favorite series and I’m blessed to be able to watch it alongside my fiancée (also a big Dr. Stone fan) and write articles like this one for fans like you too for the next 10 weeks.
But the things I loved about the series don’t stop at nostalgia and facial expressions. Probably my favorite moment from the entire episode was when Taiju told everyone about his resolve to revive humanity. Knowing he won’t see his parents ever again but would hate for anyone else to feel that way gives Taiju a lot more character depth than just yelling and muscles. It also made me remember that Taiju was the one there from the very beginning with Senku The stone world’s number-one farmer almost bringing me to the verge of tears was something I definitely didn’t expect with the season premiere. But I guess that just goes that it’s one way how an anime can reach its audience in a way that manga simply cannot.
What may be the one part of the entire season premiere that might’ve thrown fans off is the opening for this season. While Dr. Stone usually goes for an adventurous, almost rock-n-roll type of opening theme song, we actually received the J-pop opening “Wasuregataki” by Huwie Ishizaki. And after replaying this opening a few times after re-watching the episode a few times, I’ve found myself rocking my head at my desk to the music and taking in the beautiful visuals as well. But not just the opening, the ending as well as visually stunning in both art style and color design. Seeing as how it showcases the male protagonists of the season, I wonder if we’ll receive a new version of the ending with the main female protagonists as well.
(I should warn anime-only fans that the opening does have spoilers in it, but they’re the kind of spoilers that you don’t know are spoilers until those events actually happen).
What I Didn’t Love About the Premiere
Bold of you to assume there would be anything in this part of the article. So here’s the beautiful official ending for the season.
Dr. Stone Season 3 Premiere Recap
The Dr. Stone Season 3 premiere was everything fans hoped it would be, me included. Seeing Senku and the gang back after so long, despite the Ryusui special last summer, feels like all is right again with anime. No matter how any of the other series turn out this season, I know Dr. Stone Season 3 is going to continue delivering fantastic episodes each week. And as the season explores the Age of Exploration and Treasure Island arcs, it’s only going to get better from here on out!
Episode rating: 10/10
If you enjoyed this week’s episode of Dr. Stone, then make sure to vote for it in our weekly poll! Episode 2 of Dr. Stone: New World titled “Greed Equals Justice” will air on April 13 on Crunchyroll.
Screenshots via Crunchyroll
©Richiro Inagaki, Boichi/Shueisha, Dr. STONE Production Committee
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