After nearly seven years of releasing new seasons since 2019, Crunchyroll‘s most unique sci-fi anime is ending, and ahead of the finale, it reveals its main villain, which is surprisingly AI. When talking about sci-fi anime, the first thing that comes to mind is often a futuristic world where digital technology is at its peak. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is the type of anime that is easy to visualize when discussing the genre. However, sci-fi anime doesn’t always have to be highly futuristic and only needs to employ scientific and statistical elements effectively to fit the genre, and this is exactly what Dr. Stone has been doing.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Instead of featuring a futuristic world with unprecedented technologies, Dr. Stone goes back to the roots of science by placing a scientist in an ancient world. Over four seasons, Senku has used his scientific knowledge to rebuild a modern civilization, making the anime feel very real even though it can be over the top at times. As the anime approaches its end after four seasons, the reveal of the main villain was inevitable. The source of the petrification device has always been the main objective for Senku and the Kingdom of Science, and the penultimate episode of the series has finally unveiled it. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, it turns out to be a form of artificial intelligence.
Ahead of the Finale, Crunchyroll’s Most Critically Acclaimed Sci-Fi Anime Reveals Its Villain
Dr. Stone Season 4 Episode 36, titled “Why Man,” features Senku, Stanley, and Kohaku landing on the Moon to find the Why-Man, the source of petrification, and to their surprise, it is revealed that the petrification devices themselves are responsible. It is revealed that these devices possess intelligence and have been doing all of this to preserve themselves, wanting humans to take care of them by demonstrating their ability to grant eternal life through petrification. Senku refers to them as mechanical parasites, but the fact that these are hardware devices clearly configured by an intelligent entity means that the intelligence they possess is essentially artificial.
The fact that the petrification devices wanted nothing but good for humanity and carried out the petrification in the hope of granting eternal life is exactly the kind of misguided mistake one would expect from artificial intelligence, unable to understand the human desire for freedom and the ability to truly live. While many fans expected the culprit to be humans, a civilization, or aliens seeking to stop humanity for their own reasons, the fact that it instead revolves around something seemingly possible, artificial intelligence going rogue and mistaking eternal life for an eternal trap, makes it a perfect fit for the role of the villain.
What makes Dr. Stone‘s main villain reveal even more exciting is that, with the current era witnessing the rapid rise of AI, the twist feels both fitting and surprisingly realistic. Crunchyroll’s Dr. Stone anime is set to come to an end with the next episode, and the fact that it is ending on such a strong note by revealing its main villain as a form of AI, especially in these times, makes the finale hit home and ensures that it will go down as one of the best endings for a unique sci-fi anime.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
More Anime
-
Courtesy of Sony / Marvel / Shueisha -
Courtesy of Pierrot -
Image Courtesy of Studio LAN / Crunchyroll -
Staple Entertainment -
Courtesy of Shueisha -
Courtesy of Toei Animation
