The Dr. STONE manga ended this week with Chapter 232 in Shonen Jump after a run spanning from 2017 onwards and spanning over 231 issues of JUMP, two seasons of an anime, selling over ten million copies worldwide, and winning the prestigious Shogakugan Manga Award back in 2019.
Below, we will be discussing spoilers for the latest chapter of Dr. STONE (232) — be aware of spoilers before you continue!
Following the marriage of Taiju and Yuzuriha, Senku calls over Taiju to discuss his big discovery with Medusa. He and the organization discovered that, if they build a time machine, they could potentially save the lives of over seven billion people and stop the world from falling into disrepair, saving the future of humanity and creating a new universe.
The manga ends with Senku saying, “Now things start getting exciting!”, which serves as a reference to his first line in the manga and as a throughline to the beginning of the series, hammering in the time travel metaphor while wrapping up the series with a bow.
At the moment, there’s quite a bit of speculation about what this could mean for the future of Dr. STONE — we’ll break it down below!
What makes people think this might suggest a Dr. STONE sequel?
Some things about this ending suggest a continuation of the series — for one thing, the final page of the manga has a message from the publisher, which reads:
“Thanks for the support over the past five years! However, Dr. Stone isn’t over quite yet?! Check the next page for more details!”
This references a special bonus chapter set to release soon. Along with that, the Dr. STONE Season 3 release date is in 2023 according to this issue, which suggests that this might not be the end for the series quite yet. The special bonus chapter, set to premiere before the Ryusui anime special, might tie into the time travel plot and set up a sequel to the series, much like Bleach did with its bonus chapter last year.
Along with that, a time machine’s always a good sign that things aren’t going to end in a neat bow — the diagram given by Senku of his plans for the time machine was seriously detailed, after all. It could be a sign of things to come.
What other news came out about the anime?
The anime has a special coming out — the Ryusui anime special — set to premiere in the Summer of 2022, and a third season set to release next year. While more information regarding the release hasn’t come out just yet, the series is definitely far from over!