English Dub Review: Dr. STONE “Voices Over Infinite Distance”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Since the villagers have successfully helped Senku create a telephone, they test it — and it works! Ruri tells Senku the 14th Tale, which happens to be about a bee named Speaker which stings its needle into gravestones and is able to make the voices of the dead speak. Gen helps Senku realize that this story was a coded message for Senku, and they go to his father’s grave. Senku gets Kohaku to crack open the stone, and inside is a glass disc — a CD. The villagers help Senku create a speaker. Using wheel-turning, they pop the CD in and press the needle against it. Senku’s father comes through with a message for the village about who he and the astronauts were, as well as a heartfelt statement to Senku. He also has Lillian and the rest of the astronauts perform one of Lillian’s songs. The village tearfully listens and cheers.

Senku reflects on his journey to get to where he is today. As he and the others prepare for war with the Empire of Might, we see Taiju and Yuzuriha plan to meet them.

Our Take

Dr. STONE season two is confirmed! It’s always a relieving thing when a show pops in the news at the end of the season finale — at least now we know it won’t end up in hiatus hell. Obviously, it’s pretty deserving of a second season — from beginning to end, this show has been pretty consistent in quality, and the finale was no different. Sure, it was a little cheap that the villagers are going to have to just…make another phone after all the time it took to make the current one, but Senku supposedly wouldn’t have thrown that on them if they didn’t have the time.

This finale really was the culmination of Senku’s entire journey. The CD was such a beautiful touch to add to the end. Granted, was the song itself a little cheesy? Of course — but the impact of watching the villagers experience “modern” music for the first time was genuinely heartfelt. There may even be more secrets that Byakuya hid within the village that could be revealed next season. It’s almost like a fun scavenger hunt that the characters happen upon.

Finally, we get to see Taiju and Yuzuriha. Their “departure” from the show was a little unpredictable, as it seemed like they would be huge players in the plot. However, having (almost) every villager gets individual development made it very easy to let Taiju and Yuzuriha fall to the wayside. Their importance became a distant memory in favor of characters like Kohaku and Chrome. This only means their comeback in season two is going to be a strong one — especially with Tsukasa’s private army skulking about. It’ll be interesting to see what they’ve been up to in the entire year they’ve been separated from Senku.

One thing’s for sure, though — if it’s as emotional as this finale was, then it’ll be something to get excited about.