Dr. STONE is ending, but the much-awaited revelation of the mystery behind the petrification of the planet leaves a lot to be desired.

Warning: Contains spoilers for Dr. STONE chapters #228, #229, and #230.

The Weekly Shonen Jump manga Dr. STONE is quickly heading towards its conclusion. The latest chapters have finally unveiled the big mystery behind the whole plot of the series, but unfortunately, this revelation does not make much sense.

Dr. STONE is a peculiar take on the isekai genre in which the protagonists are not thrown into a fantasy world, but three thousand years in the future, after all of mankind has been petrified by a mysterious energy beam. The first humans to awaken find themselves in a world that reverted to the stone age, forcing them to rebuild civilization from scratch, counting on their wits, survival skills, and the genius intellect and inventions of protagonist Senku Ishigami. Drawing inspiration from the "build your own civilization" games, Dr. STONE uses science as the cornerstone of its plot, providing a much-needed breath of novelty to the shonen genre, even if the manga has its good share of old-fashioned fights. However, the much-awaited reveal of who petrified humanity and why left much to be desired.

Related: A Dr. STONE Spin-Off Manga Reveals An Unexpected Ally In Space

It was discovered early in the series that the source of the petrification beam is an advanced technological device that Senku group dubs "Medusa". Senku and his friends first learn of the existence of someone behind the Medusa, who they call "Why-man", when they pick up a Morse code signal coming from the Moon, putting them in front of their biggest challenge yet: building a space rocket with the limited technology they have. After gathering resources around the world and building entire cities with the sole purpose of producing the materials needed for space travel, a team composed of Senku, Kohaku, and Stanley arrives on the Moon, where they find out the truth: Why-man is the Medusas themselves. These are machine life-forms, "mechanical parasites" coming from another world. Because the petrification effect actually offers eternal life, as it not only preserves from aging but can also be used to heal fatal wounds (as Senku and the others discovered early on), the Medusas believe that they are motivating intelligent life to better itself, and to march toward progress. This is a hypothesis posed by Senku and his colleague Dr. Xeno, that the Medusas actually confirm it on the spot. But at a closer analysis, it doesn't actually make sense.

The Medusas' purpose is to have someone perform maintenance on them, such as replacing the diamond batteries that power them. Oxygen is lethal for their bodies, making them rust. To perpetuate their existence after arriving on a planet, they single out the most intelligent species and petrify them, which is their way of showing the "gift" of eternal life. After that, they expect the grateful species to take care of the Medusas, but there is a huge hole in this plan. By petrifying a planet, the Medusas destroy civilization and scientific progress, which is necessary to repair and maintain them. Senku even points this out in his conversation with "Why-man" in chapter #220, to which they simply answer that humans are not as intelligent as they believed, as they thought they would undo petrification in a shorter time (because the process is undone by high brain activity). This seems like a lousy explanation for a huge plot hole, but at least the authors acknowledged its existence before the end of the manga.

With Dr. STONE likely ending in a few more chapters, it's hard to not feel let down by the finale. Senku and his group's struggles in the new stone age were always exciting, and this science-based adventure was one of the most original manga published in Weekly Shonen Jump. The big revelation about Dr. STONE's villain that fans awaited for the whole series, however, seems rushed and is taking away merit from what was otherwise a refreshing and well-developed manga.

Next: Naruto's Legacy Is Being Destroyed by Boruto's Thoughtless Resurrection

Francesco is Senior Writer for Screen Rant's Comics section. In his spare time he is also a lecturer in History and Cultural Studies. You can get mad at him on Twitter @FrancCacc