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Why doesn’t anyone talk about Dr. Stone anymore?

Text without spoilers!! Text with adapted translation from Portuguese Brazil to English! Text with personal opinion!

Text revised in 15/03/2025

I decided to rewatch the anime when I realized I really wanted to know how it all ended! From the very beginning, I was intrigued by the mystery that ties the whole story together: why did everyone in the world turn to stone?

Since then, I’ve ended up watching the entire first season, and now here I am, following the release of the fourth season. It’s amazing to see that the story continued far beyond the first season, but then I remembered one key factor working in its favor—it’s a shounen anime, after all!

I loved Cassanova Posse so much, thks ALI !!!

IT PROMISED NOTHING AT FIRST, BUT IT’S DELIVERING HOT MEN AND FUN.

Well then. I don’t think I was the only one who considered dropping the series after that scene where Ruri took the antibiotic. It was downright bizarre—even hardcore shounen fans seemed to find it odd (really???). I vaguely remember people on social media trying to "cancel" the series for a few reasons: the way the bodies were drawn and those hypersexualized scenes at questionable moments.

I suspect that scene caused some backlash. Word must have reached Boichi, the writer, and the anime’s production studio. A drastic change is noticeable in the first season—those strange camera angles on female characters, which were everywhere in the early episodes, were almost completely toned down.

That’s not to say the anime doesn’t have sexy and sexualized female characters. It still follows the classic shounen formula: big breasts, thin waists, curvy figures, and beautiful women. However, they cut so many of the unnecessary hypersexualized scenes of female characters that they were left with… hypersexualized male characters instead. And that trend clearly continued throughout the seasons—cue the diving scenes with sunlit, bare male butts (and much more).

It made me wonder if this is just Boichi’s artistic style—sexualizing both male and female bodies. I have no idea what kind of hentai or adult works he’s drawn before, but this tendency is noticeable in Dr. Stone, even though the series itself is far from adult content.

This excess of male nudity must have felt strange to some viewers—especially those who were watching for the female characters. If that was the main appeal for them… well, tough luck. The anime seems to have shifted away from its original target male audience and ended up captivating the female audience instead.

Each new character is a man with a handsome face (with a few exceptions), a perfect body, and a striking personality. Meanwhile, very few new female characters have joined Senku’s nerd club.

"There's no heterosexual explanation for this"

The straight couples were confirmed by the authors but received little attention. Meanwhile, the number of scenes featuring men doing and saying brotherly things… well, let’s just say it only got more intense with each new season. I started this anime thinking the target audience was men, but by the end, I felt like I was the target audience.

Gen's entire existence feels almost too sugary for a shounen series—especially with that velvety voice every time he calls out "Senku-chan"… And then Stanley and Xeno show up, delivering gay-coded content faster than the last BL series I read.

Ryuusui has openly stated—twice—that he’s bisexual (at least according to Crunchyroll’s translation). Honestly, I’m surprised that wasn’t censored on Japanese TV.

Too many events to mention here...........

THE APEX OF ABSURDITY IN THE WORK

One of the goals of this post is to encourage everyone to watch Dr. Stone and give the anime a second chance. Let’s gooo!!!

The authors fully embrace the height of absurdity in the events:

Do you know DanDanDan? That’s right, a popular shounen with a supernatural theme where totally absurd events unfold, and the author uses the bizarre to drive the story and draw his manga.

Dr. Stone isn’t all that different in this regard. The theme changes—science, physics, mathematics, chemistry, and the like are the weapons used to write these events. They’re so absurd that they end up being ridiculously funny.

Watching Dr. Stone is almost the same experience: silly, light, and funny at times. It’s something you watch without needing to think too hard to understand what’s being proposed (and you usually get a few quick science lessons from Senku).

The protagonist isn’t boring by default; he’s a nerd:

Our onion-loving nerd is far from being the most boring protagonist I’ve seen in shounen manga (I’ve seen worse). While we have our darling Okarin, the ufology nerd, here we get Senku—living and breathing science in every single episode.

Unusual character design:

Boichi did a fantastic job with the character designs. He delivers the basics really well, whether it’s the villains or the protagonists.

I’ll admit, Boichi’s style isn’t my personal favorite, but I can’t deny that he does his job as a mangaka very well.

Stop being hypocrites about the bodies in Dr. Stone while still consuming other popular animes that do the same (or worse):

Let’s be real. Stop complaining about the character designs in Dr. Stone when there are other popular animes out there that do the exact same thing, if not worse. I don’t see people trying to “cancel” those.

I didn’t think the ending was bad at all (no spoilers):

I decided to look up the series’ ending just to prepare myself for any possible disappointment. After quickly browsing the internet, I’ll be honest: it’s not bad at all (I’ve seen much worse endings out there).

In this case, I’d recommend everyone do the same—research the ending at your own risk. Personally, it didn’t discourage me from watching the anime until the end. I’m already hooked on the characters, and now there’s no turning back (they’re also some of the hottest characters).

SO WHY DID DR. STONE'S AUDIENCE DISAPPEAR??

With each episode I watched, I kept asking myself the same question.

Maybe it was because of the initial choices made in the first season (the first arc), and many people ended up dropping the show right then and there.

It’s possible that the hypersexualized scenes involving girls in the early episodes turned people off.

Maybe the male audience found it strange to see so many naked male bodies and not a single naked female character.

I also suspect that the show’s shift to focus more on the female audience, which is likely the majority of those who buy and consume the show today, may have led to some silent treatment.

Another thing I didn’t get was whether the absurdity of certain events was intentional from the start. It was only in the second season that I realized it was. Many people must have dropped the show because of that.

Many viewers are also bothered by the inclusion of the possibility of gay, bisexual, lesbian, and asexual characters. There are a lot of predatory anime/manga out there where characters do homosexual things, but the authors will never make it official. Dr. Stone seems to fall into that category as well.

So why do I see such a small community around Dr. Stone on social media? Why doesn’t it get talked about more? Could it be because of the issues I mentioned above? Or is there something else I’m not aware of?

Many anime currently being released meet these requirements, and Dr. Stone does too, so it’s a mystery why it’s rarely discussed on social media.

In the end, Dr. Stone is this chaotic mix of science, absurdity, and character design that somehow makes perfect sense in its own quirky way. It’s not your typical shounen, and maybe that’s why it didn’t have the same impact as other series. It’s eccentric, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a show where you learn chemistry while watching handsome guys argue about whether humanity should go back to its old ways or forge a new path after the petrification? Sure, the hypersexualized scenes and occasional weirdness might turn some people off, but if we’re honest, Dr. Stone delivers something a lot more refreshing than the usual predictable clichés. So why isn’t it taking over social media? Maybe it’s just another case of the reasons I mentioned before—or maybe, just maybe, the otaku crowd isn’t ready for shounen with a more scientific focus. Either way, I’m here for it, appreciating when shows step outside the "usual" in the shounen category.

I appreciate any and all support for this blog I created. Likes, reblogs, or recommending it to others are a huge help. See you in the next post!

Tags

anime anime and manga dandadan english anime art Dr stone gen asagiri ishigami senku stanley snyder sengen stanxeno japanese xeno portuguese shounen manga shounen jump djullyreview

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