Dr. Stone has returned for a third season of Stone Age adventures in the Spring 2023 anime season, and while the first two episodes had little tension or conflict, Episode 3 ended with a bang. Currently, the scientist hero Senku Ishigami is gathering the right materials to make a ship and travel across the ocean's globes, only for a bizarre Morse code message to reach his ears.
Season 3 lacked a major villain at first, but now there's a mysterious, high-tech party out there repeatedly asking "Why?" on the airwaves -- something Senku and his friends never expected. The Kingdom of Science has a brand-new enemy, one far more formidable than Tsukasa Shishio or Hyoga, and this is exactly what Dr. Stone needed, just in time.
The "Why" Entity Is Senku's New Shonen-Style Rival in the Stone Age
Even if Dr. Stone has strong edutainment value and some partial isekai elements, this anime is ultimately a shonen action series, even if no one goes Super Saiyan or learns ninjutsu. Dr. Stone embodies key shonen traits such as a relatable, strong-willed male lead, the power of friendship and hope, fierce rivals to challenge the hero to grow and more. Dr. Stone expresses these traits in off-beat but thematically appropriate ways, such as Senku stubbornly defending his idealistic goal to revive humanity despite Tsukasa Shishio's objections, but now Tsukasa is an ally and Hyoga has been dealt with. Senku's story may feel sluggish and even boring without a new antagonist or villain to face, so the "Why?" entity assumes that role early in Season 3.
Season 3's first two episodes show what happens when Senku has no enemies or rivals. He and his Kingdom of Science friends are free to build and use new tech at their leisure, almost like slice-of-life shenanigans in the new Stone Age, but that couldn't last for long. Dr. Stone needs more than Senku's goals to keep the plot going -- there must be a villain to challenge Senku on a technological and ideological level, and if Tsukasa no longer does that, it's time for another party to handle it. The "Why?" party is perfect for that since shonen anime is all about youths overcoming a series of challenges and problems to keep growing.
Young shonen heroes have everything to prove and a lot of growing to do, so there must be multiple villains, one after the other to provide variety in the fights and challenge the hero in different ways. Now Dr. Stone's "Why?" entity is doing the same, and in true shonen style, it represents shonen power-scaling since it's a threat on a whole different level than Tsukasa. Senku must defend his kingdom and his ideology from a sinister new threat, creating a compelling mystery and war that even Senku doesn't yet have the means to win. This is the tension that Season 3 urgently needs, and as a bonus, it even has horror elements to shock the viewers and remind everyone that Dr. Stone is entering a new age of shonen-style conflict and adversity.
The True Power of "Why?" in Dr. Stone
Every villain in every story needs the means to challenge the hero, such as a violent physical threat, an intellectual or professional threat with superior skills and smarts or a personal threat such as a romantic rival in a love triangle. Tsukasa was a physical threat, using sheer force to fight Senku and the Kingdom of Science. He and his thuggish followers were a low-tech but physically strong enemy, so Senku used physical warfare such as swords and even a steam-powered tank to fight back. It was a tough but straightforward fight, and one that Senku won almost too easily, so now the "Why?" entity challenges Senku on entirely new terms to shake things up.
Unlike Tsukasa, who was simply a strong young man whom Senku could fight face-to-face, the mysterious "Why?" entity is an all-new party that Senku knows nothing about, not even their location, numbers, goals or personality. This is an enemy that Senku cannot see, and based on Episode 3's visuals, the "Why?" entity could be anywhere on Earth, or even in outer space, such as on the Moon or on a space station no one knows about. Most of all, sending Senku the Morse code message on the airwaves proves that the "Why?" party has advanced technology that's at least on par with Senku's, if not superior.
For all their strength, Tsukasa and Hyoga could never have sent a message on the airwaves, but this "Why?" entity can, giving Senku what he's always needed -- a high-tech villain who can face him on his own terms, with the advantage of being a total mystery. This intellectual challenge will excite Senku like never before, daring him to face his true equal while still carrying out his original goals and cracking the compelling mystery of this "Why?" entity -- and learn why they're asking "Why?" in the first place. The answers may change the world of Dr. Stone forever and set the tone for the epic conclusion when it finally arrives.