Netflix has been going in full “overdrive mode” with its acquisition of original manga material and/or quality Japanese studio created anime. Dr. Stone is part of the latter group – but we are glad that Netflix has managed to nab the international streaming rights for this brilliant anime series. Dr. Stone is animated by TMS Entertainment, with Shinya Iino working as the director, Yuichiro Kido as the scriptwriter and Yuko Iwasa as the character designer. The web series is based on the manga series of the same name which was written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by the South Korean artist Boichi.
The premise of this animated series is quite interesting. 15-year-old genius, Senku Ishigami, wakes up in the year 5738 AD, to find himself in a world where all traces of human civilization have been eroded with time – and he had been petrified for over 3700 years. He finds himself surrounded by other petrified humans and it seems that a mysterious flash petrified nearly all human life at the same time. Senku creates a base-camp and begins to study the petrified humans – to determine the cause of the event as well as to find/create a cure.
While the premise of the show is interesting already, the series is very similar to the Netflix original web series, Sex Education, in one very important aspect – it is highly educational. While the anime is not as educational or practical as Sex Education, it is still a brilliant show that teaches you how to survive and take care of yourself, if you are ever stuck in a pickle.
Two seasons of Dr. Stone are currently streaming on Netflix.