Dr. Stone: New World

Episodes 12-13

These two episodes of Dr. Stone are one heck of a roller coaster. With the infinite revival fluid machine in hand, our heroes are finally ready to go on the offensive. Both the infiltration team and the recovery team get their moments to truly shine—showing how each is vital to the overall operation to recover their friends. For the first time since being ambushed on the island, things are starting to look up. Of course, that's the exact moment when things go wrong.

Logically, it was only a matter of time until the infiltration team was discovered—a fact they all knew going in. After all, when it came time for Ginro to “meet” the master, the fact that he was cross-dressing would be discovered (even if the pineapple gas postponed things a bit). Moreover, it was always a question of how long Kohaku could play her part undercover—especially when Moz was clearly on to her from the start. So, when it all falls apart, Kohaku is left fighting a battle she has no chance of winning while Ginro discovers a secret that gets him mortally wounded.

This gives us an incredibly emotional ride of highs and lows. Never has Ginro been so noble—showing that, at his core, he thinks about others more than himself. Meanwhile, Kohaku shows that her experiences throughout the series have changed her. She has learned much from both Senku and Gen—she knows enough about science to understand what the petrification beam can do for a dying person and how to play on human fears perfectly to get her enemy to use it. So in the end, their sacrifices accomplish their goal of gaining vital information—and give us hope that, when all is said and done, they can be saved.

In the wide sense, these episodes also grant us two major revelations. The first is a rather obvious one when you think about it. Rather than Ibara being a lackey of the Great Master, he is the true leader of the island (having turned the great master to stone and partially shattering him sometime in the past). In this position, he has all the power but none of the responsibility—after all, he's just a middleman carrying out orders in the eyes of the people. Of course, the whole secret of the Great Master means that he has to kill off the girls he “sleeps with by the master's orders” as they will eventually wonder why they never get to see the Great Master in the flesh—hence the need to cull the surrounding villages of women every so often to satiate his lust.

The second revelation is the confirmation that the petrification beam isn't magic but rather science. This means it follows the natural laws of our reality and is something that can be understood and counteracted. Moreover, being science-based means that it has set limitations—and knowing those limitations could be the key to victory for our heroes.

All in all, these two episodes are fantastic. They are action-filled, have great character moments, and give us new information that affects not only how we view this arc, but the entire story of Dr. Stone as well.

Episode 12 Rating:

Episode 13 Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Kohaku's ideal man sure sounds familiar.

• I honestly never expected a Ginro scene would hit me so hard but here we are.

• So Soyuz is likely the long-lost heir of the Great Master—which gives a lot of context as to why his mother would flee the island if Ibara's coup happened around the same time.

• Man, those ending credits done with sand on illuminated glass blow my mind.

Dr. Stone: New World is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.