Dr.STONE: Science Future – Japanese Fans React to the Rocket Launch: 'Senku Cried for the First Time'

Dr.STONE Season 4, 3rd (final) Cour — airing from Thursday April 2, 2026 at 22:00 on TOKYO MX and others. 'From the Stone World, through space, to the moon—.' Senku will fight for all humanity's future, closing in on Whyman and the mystery of petrification.

>>1 Thanks for the thread! Didn't even notice it was up until today... No spoiler rule applies for now, so I'll reference earlier arcs — but this cour's big moments are definitely who boards the rocket and the soul food scene.

Having Byakuya in both the OP and ED made me really happy.

>>3 Right — both feature nearly the full cast. I wonder if they'll do that mid-season swap like they've done before.

Checked the spring lineup and found Dr.STONE, so I rushed through Season 4 again last week. Cried all over again at Suika's 'Lone Scientist' episode. This anime is just something else.

My favorite Suika arc in the manga. The anime nailed everything — the voice acting, the way they used the ED. I sobbed my eyes out and was completely spent afterward. Tomus really does treat Dr.STONE with care.

I was getting bored, feeling like it was just plodding along — then Chrome cried, and before I knew it I was holding back tears too.

Cried again at the Suika episode. That's just not fair.

I wonder if the anime will cover Kaseki's answer to Chrome's offhand remark about keeping Kaseki petrified to extend his life — the one mentioned after they revived in South America. That scene might be the most emotionally loaded moment in the entire series, the author's core message to young readers. The anime does cut the important stuff though, like this great Magma moment: https://i.imgur.com/dMoa0ZT.jpeg

>>9 I feel like they already covered that in the previous cour.

>>10 It's on the final volume 27, page 161 — not animated yet. I opened the digital edition to double-check and started crying all over again. With a real voice performance behind it, it's going to be devastating. They're planning something for October so I'm fine if they hold off.

Maybe petrification doesn't just heal physical ailments — it could also have wiped out people with genuine evil intent.

>>12 It's *petrification*, not *fossilization*. Fossilization means the original body is gone lol.

If you've read the manga, just hearing chibi-Sai and chibi-Ryusui's lines will make you cry. From here on Ryusui keeps destroying you emotionally. Senku's final push, Chelsea's bluntness, Francois's steadiness, Xeno's back — and the ones who save those left behind in the end are... wait, Riku and Ryusui are retiring?!

Suika's arc last season was incredible — but with maybe 10 episodes left, can they really pull off the rocket launch and the moon assault and still make it feel hype?

Chrome's voice actor was a newcomer when the Dr.STONE anime started. The fact that he isn't anymore really hits different.

Staged launch and orbital rendezvous was actually an early Apollo program concept. A genius recalculated and showed a single launch could do it — but then the first stage ended up absolutely enormous.

>>17 With Saturn 1B you'd need about 5 launches, but Saturn 5 could do it in 2 — apparently von Braun thought the same thing initially too.

Watching this season, I finally understand why manga readers kept saying the Suika arc was the peak.

>>19 Same.

The rocket launched and Senku cried while making these wild sounds. That was so good.

The only other time Senku screamed like that for real was beating Ibara in Treasure Island, right? When he first broke free from petrification, the yelling was just in his imagination — in reality he was totally calm.

Mangetsu-!! (Byakuya's grandson)