English Dub Review: Dr. Stone “First Dream”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

With the battle won, Senku begins reviving his allies, as well as Kirisame and Oarashi since they were betrayed by Ibara. But things are not all well, as the team checks back in with Ruri and hears an strange message attempting to make the Medusa petrify the entire planet. Even stranger, it’s in Senku’s voice. They determine that this is the mysterious Why-man and begin trying to pinpoint the where, how, and why. They also revive the other statue they found in the ocean, Matsukaze, who is from only a couple hundred years ago, but oddly thinks Ginro looks like his old master. He also reveals that his life on the island was peaceful until countless Medusas rained down and petrified everyone. After some tracking, Senku confirms that Why-man is on the moon, meaning their next goal is heading into space.

OUR TAKE

And it looks like we’re using these last three episodes to set the stage for the next part of the story! Not just a new arc, the New America City Arc, but also a new SAGA: The Truth of the Petrification Saga. Checking back into the “Why-man” mystery from the beginning of the arc, when the signal could only say “WHY” over and over in morse code, this mysterious entity has somehow evolved to be able to imitate Senku’s voice and trying to somehow trigger one of the Medusa devices to petrify the whole planet. Even with this new development, we don’t have very much to go on in terms of what Why-man is after, how it’s doing it, or even what it looks like. We see a visualization of some sort of Shadow Senku, but I don’t really expect the true form of the Why-man to literally be an evil clone of Senku. There are ninety-three chapters left to adapt and I’m sure we’ll get some more morsels with the remaining two episodes this season, but the game is afoot as the target turns towards the stars. With the next arc being called New America City, you can probably guess how they’ll get there.

Aside from that, this episode is mainly a cool down from all the high paced insanity from the last few episodes. The end of last time made it seem like we might get something more thoughtful with Senku being all alone and without revival fluid as he reflected on his solitude along with his victory. Maybe if this was a show with more episodes per season and had recap episodes, that could act as a neat framing device, but I’m more than fine with them carrying on with the story. Everyone gets to come back after the fight, they even gain a couple allies (maybe three if Moz decides to stick around), and meet yet another time displaced statue in Matsukaze, who seems like he was just for delivering the exposition about the Medusas coming from space until they also gave him an odd connection to Ginro. Yet another thing we’ll probably get into a bit more in the next couple weeks. Also, along with Kohaku getting revived, we get an updated and colorized Ending, which is appropriate as this is a new segment of the story. With that all said, that’s twenty down and two to go.