Humanity’s dead. A meteor has crashed into Earth and wiped all of civilization off the planet. However, hope is not lost. The world government performed extensive testing prior to the incident and selected 35 individuals to enter cryogenic sleep deep underground to avoid the collision. The worst has passed, wildlife has repopulated the planet, and the survivors have reawoken. Now the survivors have split up into different groups to re-explore the planet, survive, and examine remnants of humanity.

Much like Dr. Stone, 7 Seeds is all about learning to survive in the wilderness without the benefits of technology at your side. However, 7 Seeds is a much more depressing take on this narrative with less shounen posturing about wanting to save humanity. Instead, it’s about normal people attempting to survive in a brand new world while coming to grips with the idea that everyone they knew and loved is dead. It’s a great alternative to Dr. Stone if it’s just too upbeat of an end-of-humanity story for you!

While using magical plants to create barriers and track your location might seem awesome, Kemurikusa causes more problems than it’s worth. It also attracts all sorts of violent mushi in hopes of eating some of that sweet smoke grass. It’s made Rin’s home completely uninhabitable for anyone that can’t use Kemurikusa. On the flipside, it also means that she and her sisters cannot die. Rin now hunts the violent Akamushi with her sisters to purify them. In the process of it all, she learns about what really happened on the Island so long ago.

While the world-building and tense survival game of Dr. Stone might be what keeps us invested moment to moment, the overarching mystery of what turned people (and sparrows) into stone is the plot motivation that keeps us hooked. This hook is the entire driving force of Kemurikusa, with each cryptic revelation raising even more questions than answers. If Dr. Stone has got you craving a good post-apocalyptic mystery, then Kemurikusa should be your next watch!

Chito and Yuri are two little girls who work as scavengers. However, we only say “work” in the sense that it’s all they can do to survive. They’re the last survivors of a battle that destroyed their town, and without any adults left, they have to fend for themselves. This involves hunting through the remains of the town for edible food and drinkable beverages so that they can survive. It’s not an ideal life, but at the very least they have each other to get by, right?

While it’s hard to say if Girl’s Last Tour’s world is entirely uninhabited, the lonely desolation of the setting certainly gives it an apocalyptic feel. Of course, there’s not much reconstruction going on in Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou. Instead, it’s a very quiet, introspective look at two lonely children just trying to survive and find meaning in their complete isolation from society. It’s a much quieter tale than Dr. Stone, but no less inspirational.

Well, it’s official: psychics are real. They only make up 0.1% of the entire global population, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t completely upheave society as we know it. Psychics fought long and hard to create a nation for themselves, but they’ve finally got it. Now there is relative peace in the world, and the surviving psychics are building a glorious utopia for themselves. Saki Watanabe is one such telepath who just unlocked her latent abilities in middle school and now she and her friends have to learn to master their abilities to further the greater social order. Of course, not everything is what it seems. Their peace comes at a cost.

In Dr. Stone, we start off watching society rebuild itself from scratch, one person at a time. In Shinsekai Yori though, that new society has already rebuilt itself. Not only that, but the philosophy of the psychics is not entirely unlike Tsukasa’s own ideals for a utopia, basing their society on a benevolent dictator rather than accounting for human error. It’s a chilling look at the cost of valuing power over humanity, and certainly worth a look for fans of Dr. Stone who want to see where its themes are more heavily explored.

Earth is dead, but, hey, humanity found a way to survive anyway. Most people live out in the solar system in space stations. However, one day there was a terrible accident involving a ship carrying students on a field trip, and now they’re stranded on an unknown, seemingly uninhabited planet! Luna and the gang have to use their wits and live without the comforts of society on real terrafirma - just like their ancestors!

We recommended 7 Seeds earlier, but it is an admittedly dark show. Dr. Stone tackles some heavy subject matter, but it’s still a fun shonen adventure story about the wonders of science and the thrill of living on the edge with just your wits. While Mujin Wakusei Survive is not nearly as intensive on the science, it’s still a great, light-hearted story about students trying to survive out in the wilderness. With over 50 episodes, it’ll be sure to keep you occupied in between weeks waiting for new Dr. Stone episodes!

Yagami Light is the perfect human. He’s handsome, an honors student, and morally upright. Naturally, he’s overjoyed when he discovers a notebook that has the power to kill anyone whose name he writes inside. Light finally has the power to rid the world of the wicked and create a new global order driven by the morally just! Things are looking good for Light until the UN catches on that there’s something more going on when they realize just how many prisoners are suddenly dying of heart attacks. Worse yet, but somehow L—the detective heading the investigation—just can’t let go of his theory that Light is the one behind it all! This begins a game of cat-and-mouse that changes the course of history as we know it.

While most of what we’ve been discussing here today have been post-apocalypse stories, there’s another side to Dr. Stone. The driving force of Dr. Stone’s narrative comes from watching Senku and Tsukasa’s clash over their ideals of rebuilding the world. However, the main difference here is that, even though Light is Death Note’s protagonist, he’s also the villain of the tale. Dr. Stone’s hero, on the other hand, is closer to L while Tsukasa lines up closely with Light. So if you’re watching Dr. Stone this season and really find yourself agreeing with Tsukasa, check out Death Note!