I really need to start my impression by saying that at this point I’m pretty sure they pick new anime protagonists by looking up vegetables, flowers, or outright assorted kitchenware and drawing it very quickly on a napkin. This has nothing to do with the actual content of the show but gosh dang if it isn’t what this main character looks like. Again, not actual weighing on the show, but this hairstyle made me laugh hysterically. Honestly it’s nothing compared to Yu-Gi-Oh, but I guess watching tamer anime and then switching back to shounen with this sort of design really can do a number on you.
So this show won me over in a few ways almost instantly. One of the main characters is actually going to cut the bullshit and confess he is in love with a girl until the plot device of the show happens and stops him in his tracks. Look, if that isn’t the perfect summary of how shounen shows treat love plots I’ll explode right here. “People literally turn to stone before they confess their love to each other” could probably be a hyperbole to explain other anime love plots, but this show commits super hard right away!
Earlier this week I reviewed a show that tried to get me attached to all the characters in the span of one episode. It was difficult for me to feel the attachment and I found myself bored all the way through. All it took was eight minutes for me to want Yuzuhira to be okay and Taiju to become one of my children. Dr. Stone is already shaping up to be an incredible ride with knowledge of how to invoke empathy from its audience, and I’m completely sold. What makes a good show is the competency and dedication to pull your viewers into your characters, and this show has that in spades.
The dialogue between Senku and Taiju makes this show really work. Taiju could easily be played as an idiot we don’t care about, but instead most of the heart of the show focused on him from the beginning. Focusing on the less ‘perfect’ of the two main characters really drew me in and within minutes I cared a lot about the survival of both of them. I’m excited to see where the show goes because I anticipate it won’t be a cut and dry survival story, but instead an interesting story mixing all the elements it only touched on in episode one!
OKI’s First Impression:
Story: I like the story as it’s a unique take on a genre we have seen many times. Many stories that deal with an ‘apocalypse’ or major event that wipes out humanity have gore, zombies, you name it. This is a story that will have a unique scientific focus in some ways, while having a lot of heart in characters like Taiju. It could disappoint me but I have high hopes. 8/10
Characters: A+++, Maybe S Tier? So far I love everyone and I want my waifu to be freed from the stone. 9/10
Art: I’m soooo pleased with the art, I feel like every 5 seconds I get to see some glorious head tilting and eye movement. I am not a hard to please woman: just pretty shots of people narrowing their eyes and no weird in betweens all the time and I’m good. 8/10
Likelihood of Watching: Guaranteed
Likelihood of Blogging: Very High
Oki
Fun facts – Stone’s artist, Boichi (real name Park Moojik), is a native South Korean.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boichi
He was so set on becoming an artist from young, he even did a physics course at university so he could leran to draw scifi.
However, he left for Japan in 2003 due to his dissatisfaction at the Korean government’s clamping down on freedom of expression in print manhwa via the 1997 Juvenile Protection Act.
“(T)he Korean manga market (used to have) four major (seinen) manga magazines…but (under the Act) they were forced to cease publication by law…(the Act’s rules meant) many adult manhwaga can’t express themselves (as freely as Japanese mangaka)… and bookstores no longer welcome or display adult and young adult manga magazine and titles. They even look down on kids manga.”
“The Korean PTA and prosecutors claimed that our manhwa were harmful for children and teens. They treated us like criminals. At times, they even called us to court.”
After much consideration (and some protests), he left to start his career in Japan, seeing no future in Korea. He enjoys the freedoms of speech and expression of Japan’s manga industry which he couldn’t get in his home country.
(Everytime you see something weird in manga like incest, lolishota, etc. remember that’s Japanese freedoms of expression at work, and the creators are very protective of those freedoms.)
https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2014/04/19/feature-qa-with-manga-artist-boichi
PS. The Korean government also tried applying the same censorship laws to digital webtoons, but had to back down due to intense opposition from its readers. The result is webtoons are afforded more freedoms of expression than print counterparts (ex. big presence of porn webtoons).
https://www.reddit.com/r/manhwa/comments/bf7pzb/question_on_korean_manhwa_webtoons_and_censorship/