The Dr. Stone Season 3 anime will have all the shiny monkeys scrambling to watch their lightning box. Anime fans will finally learn the source of the petrification and the mysterious enemy is given a name.
But when will Dr. STONE Season 3 come out?
The official title for the third season has not been announced yet. Considering that the second season was called Dr. STONE: Stone Wars, it’s likely that the third season’s title will be named after Source of the Petrification, Age of Exploration, or Treasure Island.
In the past, Crunchyroll was streaming the Dr. STONE English subs everywhere except Asia as the episodes aired in Japan. The FUNimation Dr. STONE Season 3 English dub has a 10 billion percent chance, as well, since they dubbed the first two seasons.
The total number of episodes for Dr. STONE Season 3 has not yet been announced. However, based on the pacing of the Dr. STONE manga’s story, it’s likely that the third season will be two cours composed of 22 to 24 episodes.
A “cour” is a three-month TV broadcasting unit based on the physical seasons and animes usually have between 10 to 13 episodes per cour.
It’s currently unknown if Dr. STONE Season 3 will be a split-cour anime, which is when a single anime season takes a multi-month broadcasting break between two parts.
The first two seasons of the anime series were produced by Japanese animation studio TMS Entertainment, which is best known for anime such as Detective Conan, Lupin III, ReLIFE, Megalo Box, the Fruits Basket reboot project, and Rent-A-Girlfriend.
The studio has a strong history of producing anime sequels since Megalo Box Season 2, the Fruits Basket Season 3 anime, and the Rent-A-Girlfriend Season 2 anime are all confirmed to be in production.
The studio also apparently has a strong history of drinking.
“The production team is very fond of alcohol,” series producer Shusuke Katagiri said. “So we would get sloshed. While we were thinking about what we would do 3,700 years in the future, we would be getting totally plastered. Basically, the show is built on alcohol.”
The returning Dr. STONE Season 3 staff and studio have not yet been announced. Hopefully, TMS Entertainment won’t consume too many drinks and need to be put on ice in order to recover.
Director Shinya Lino (Made In Abyss) helmed the first two seasons. Scriptwriter Yuichiro Kido (Blue Exorcist) handled the series composition.
Yuko Iwasa (Saint Seiya: The Lost Canva) was the character designer. Tatsuya Kato (WorldEnd), Hiroaki Tsutsumi (Children of the Whales), and Yuki Kanesaka (Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond) were the music composers.
The original Japanese voice actor cast is very likely to return. In addition, there should be a new voice actor to play a new Dr. STONE character named Ryusui Nanami.
The Dr. STONE Season 3 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music hasn’t been announced yet.
The Dr. STONE Season 2 OP was “Paradise” by Fujifabric, while the ED was “Voice?” by HATENA.
The first season’s part 1 was “Good Morning World!” by Burnout Syndromes. The ending “LIFE” by Rude-α. The second cour (Part 2) had “Three Primary Colors” by Pelican Fanclub for the OP, and “Like A Dream” by Saeki YouthK for the ED.
The first season of Dr. STONE was two cours composed of 24 episodes. Dr. STONE Episode 18 began the Stone Wars story arc. The ending of the second cour, Dr. STONE Episode 24, aired on December 13, 2019.
The second season, Dr. STONE Episode 25, premiered on January 14, 2021. The total number of episodes hasn’t been confirmed, but the finale will be streaming in March 2021.
This article provides everything that is known about Dr. STONE Season 3 (Dr. STONE: Source of the Petrification?) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
Dr. STONE Season 3 release date prediction: Is 2022 possible?
As of the last update, TMS Entertainment or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Dr. STONE Season 3 release date. Nor has the production of another Dr. STONE sequel been announced.
Once the news is officially confirmed this article will be updated with the relevant information.
In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the Dr. STONE Season 3 premiere date will occur in the future.
From a financial perspective, Blu-Ray/DVD disc sales are no longer the biggest factor in determining an anime’s financial success (or lack thereof; the first season only sold 628 copies in its first week). Instead, the anime industry focuses on generating good streaming revenue by being popular on Crunchyroll and FUNimation (which are merging in 2021).
TMS Entertainment is fairly well known for doing multiple seasons for anime series they produce. For their 2021 production schedule, the only project announced so far besides Dr. STONE: Stone Wars is Burning Kabaddi and Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro (both come out April 2021).
Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles, Beyblade Strive Series, and a Shenmue anime adaptation are also in the works, but the premiere time frames haven’t been announced. (Hopefully, their subsidiary Telecom Animation Film will squeeze in the Tower of God Season 2 anime into their production schedule.)
Therefore, in the best-case scenario, the Dr. STONE Season 3 release date will be in 2022 or beyond.
Dr. STONE manga ending in 2022 at the earliest
The story for the anime series is based on the Dr. STONE manga by writer Riichiro Inagaki (Eyeshield 21) and illustrator Boichi (Sun-Ken Rock).
It’s interesting how the two creators work together. Boichi-San does not speak Japanese natively since he’s Korean and yet he decided to become a “foreign mangaka who can’t speak Japanese but a mangaka able to draw a manga that Japanese readers want to read.”
Started in Weekly Shonen Jump in March 2017, the series is already up to Volume 19 as of January 4, 2021.
Historically, a new volume is released on the fourth day of every January/February, April, July, September, and November/December. Therefore, Dr. STONE Volume 20 should come out on April 4, 2021, Volume 21 on July 4, 2021, Volume 22 on September 4, 2021, Volume 23 on November 4, 2021, and so on.
The official English Dr. STONE manga is being published in North America by Viz Media. As of February 2, 2021, the official English translation was already up to Volume 15, while Volume 16 is scheduled for April 6, 2021, and Volume 17 for July 6, 2021.
English-only manga readers can jump straight over to the Viz Media website. They provide the first three chapters and the three newest chapters to read for free for all of their translated series.
Warning: The following three paragraphs contain spoilers.
Back in November 2019, the manga creators discussed their plans for the Dr. STONE manga’s ending. Inagaki told Anime News Network that he wasn’t sure exactly how long he’d like Dr. STONE to run.
“So as far as the end, I’m not sure and that’s not necessarily about the story. We have a general idea of how the story will end itself but as we’ve gone along this journey, sometimes it’s three steps forward, two steps back,” Inagaki said. “I would be writing one storyline and I think it’ll just be one storyline but it ends up taking ten, and then something I think is going to take five will only take one. It’s a moving target and it’s hard to tell.”
Boichi said he’d “love to have Dr. STONE just run as long as possible”. He even jokingly claimed he wants the Weekly Shonen Jump editors to pressure Inagaki to keep it going.
Getting serious, Inagaki said he doesn’t want to get “greedy” and he promises to “never stretch it out just for the sake of business”.
“I’m making a statement about making it longer than it needs to be due to business reasons because of my previous work, Eyeshield 21. Online, a lot of people were saying that maybe the editors had made it longer than necessary but in actuality, that is exactly how I wanted to tell the story,” Inagaki explained. “There was also Murata-sensei’s wish in there, too. That’s why I wanted to double down on the guarantee that I would never overstay a story, so to speak.”
At the time, Inagaki hoped for ending Dr. STONE in three years, which would be in Fall 2022. Assuming the manga doesn’t go on hiatus, the manga’s final chapter could be in Volume 28.
Otherwise, the creators have discussed their story arc plans in the past. During Anime NYC 20219, a fan asked if Senku would ever visit New York City. Inagaki reportedly replied, “[Senku is] caught up in this island business now, but still aiming for South America, if he had a good reason.”
To put Inagaki’s comment in perspective, at the time the manga was still in the Treasure Island arc, which will be the focus of Dr. STONE Season 3. In 2020 and 2021, the manga did indeed have Senku’s crew in the Kingdom of Science traveling to both North and South America, but those chapters will likely be adapted by Dr. STONE Season 4.
Without getting into major spoilers, Senku is setting his sights much, much higher. He has a good reason he’s traveling the globe and it’ll take a lot of time, and many more chapters, to reach his ultimate goal.
Presumably, the climax of the story will happen once Senku is up there. In Japanese narratives, there is a four-act structure known as Kishōtenketsu.
- Ki : Introduction
- Shō : Development
- Ten : Twist (complication)
- Ketsu : Conclusion (reconciliation)
During the Twist phase, the story turns toward an unexpected development, and it contains the yama, or climax, of the story.
Thus far, it appears the Dr. STONE climax is still a ways off since even the full nature, identity, and motivation of the main villain hasn’t been revealed yet. This antagonist will debut in Dr. STONE Season 3 when the villain is first named (see the spoilers section below for more details).
At the same time, the development phase does seem to be coming to fruition since Senku has reached many of his science goals. Let’s just hope the Dr. STONE manga’s ending exceeds our expectations and shoots for the moon!
Dr. STONE manga compared to the anime
Like most adaptations of a manga series, the Dr. STONE anime does make some changes. TMS Entertainment condensed the storyline by trimming the dialogue but has otherwise remained faithful to the source material.
The most notable skipped scene is in manga Chapter 1 when former U.S. President Donald Trump is shown during a montage of various people turning to stone. Unfortunately, TMS Entertainment wimped out and did not include the scene, which is too bad since they would have needed to cast an actual Trump with voiced lines.
In regards to pacing, the anime’s first season averaged exactly 2.5 chapters per episode. The Stone Wars anime adaptation picked up the story again in Volume 7: Chapter 61.
Assuming that the anime’s second season maintains the same pacing, there are only enough chapters for about 9 or 10 episodes. Thus, it’s predicted that Stone Wars will adapt the side story from the Dr. STONE reboot: Byakuya manga.
It’d fit right in since Episode 24’s ending focused on Byakuya and thus the second season’s beginning could finish his story. The side story was also nine chapters long, which is perfect for providing three episodes, bringing the second season’s total to 12/13 episodes.
All in all, it’s predicted that the second season’s finale, Dr. STONE Season 2 Episode 12/13, will create a stopping point by only adapting the first half of Chapter 84 in Volume 10.
It’s the perfect stopping point since Chapters 83 and 84 show the aftermath of the Stone Wars, which ends in Chapter 82, and teases the future of Dr. STONE Season 3.
The third season will correspond to the manga’s third saga, which is 56 chapters combined. Based on the anime’s previous pacing, that’s perfect for 23 episodes in two cours.
Dr. STONE Season 3 anime TV spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The last time we watched the anime, the Tsukasa Empire had merged with the Kingdom of Science. Tsukasa himself is literally put on ice in order to save his life.
Senku is now seeking the source of the mysterious petrification ray that struck the Earth 3,700 years ago. In order to pull that off, he needs to travel to the other side of the Earth!
Since Senku is not a naval architect engineer he turns to the people of Ishigami Village for inspiration for boat ideas since they’re a people who have lived on the water for generations. It turns into a contest, with Magma hoping to topple (not kill) Senku by coming up with the best boat idea.
While Magma’s “idea” of using woven straw for sails is useful, Senku ends up winning with a hybrid design for an 18th-century style sailing ship that also has a motor. But based on Gen’s mentalist mind games, the people feel like they made the choice and are even more united into one kingdom.
Besides a worthy vessel, Senku needs a captain so he asks Reporter to find someone with a “sailing ability of ten billion”. She ends up finding the petrified body of Ryusui Nanami, an “extravagant brat” from a rich family who built a real sailing ship with “pocket money” when he was in Junior High.
Once revived, Ryusui is quick on the uptake and recognizes the technical limitations of the materials at hand. In order to power their boat’s motor they can’t use coal so they’ll be digging up oil, the “king of resources”.
Ryusui demands the rights to any oil discovered in return for his services. How will everyone else buy the oil from him? By inventing paper currency called the Drago, of course!
And thus an instant millionaire is born mere seconds after being revived. However, it’s a fiat currency based on mere trust that it’ll become valuable in the future. Senku, being crafty, recognizes this reality and all it takes is a mere rumor to rock the currency boat.
Finding the oil isn’t an easy task since Mt. Fuji had erupted during the 3,700 years and changed the landscape. So, Senku decides to take to the skies by building a fleet of hot air balloons created from spun cloth made with a loom.
The creation of a loom allows for the Senku Department Story to start selling high-end fashion at insane prices. Gen also tricks Ryusui into paying for the right to pilot the first hot air balloons. And thus with trickery Senku and Gen end up acquiring literal piles of Dragos.
Senku, Ryusui, and Chrome traverse the high seas of the air, barely surviving a storm front. They begin creating a new world map in order to find the Sagara oil field to the west in Japan.
They jumpstart an agriculture industry since they recognize they require long-lasting food like bread for the long voyage ahead. Senku and Ryusui instantly both desire to revive a pro chef and at Ryusui’s insistence, they revive Francois, a female butler with the knowledge to create bread that lasts 10 months.
With all of these inventions gathered they finally set out for the oil fields when they are shocked to discover a strong rhythmic radio wave using their communication frequency. The pulse turns out to be morse code that’s repeating the same thing over and over: “Why Why Why Why”
The shocking radio call could mean that another group of human survivors is out in the world. But Senku believes this so-called Whyman could be the enemy responsible for the Petrification.
Right after Senku taunted Whyman, the radio signal abruptly stopped. In order to track this “invisible enemy” of humanity Senku creates a radar and sonar. And Chrome figures out how to transform it into a metal detector so they can mine iron.
After all their hard work is completed, the motorized sailboat the Perseus is finally completed. They’ll be setting sail for Treasure Island where they encounter a new enemy that wields a petrification device as a weapon!
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Dr. STONE Season 3 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!
