002 - Senku Ishigami

Japanese Name:

Stone Goddess Sky

Romaji Name:

Ishigami Senku

Alias:

Gentleman Sorcerer (Kohaku) String beans (Gozan) Lab (Kohaku, Gen)

Race:

Human

Birthday:

January 4th 2004

Age:

15 (Chapter 1) 16 (Chapter 32) 17 (Chapter 56) 18 (Chapter 99) 19 (Chapter 181) 20 (Chapter 204) 23+ (Chapter 215) 3700+ (Chronologically)

Gender:

Male

Height:

171.4 cm (5’7”)

Weight

61 kg (134 lbs.)

Hair Color:

White with Dark Green Tips

Eyes Color:

Red

Blood Type:

AB

Status:

Alive

Petrification Date(s)

Year 2019 (Petrified by Why-man) April 1st Year 5738 (Awakens) Year 5739 (Revived by Taiju & Yuzuriha) Year 5741 (Petrified by Ibara) Year 5741 (Revived by using nitric acid on himself) Year 5742 (Petrified by Why-man) Year 5749 (Revived by Suika) Year 5753+ (Petrified by himself) Year 5753+ (Revived by Xeno, indirectly)

Nationality:

Japanese

Family:

Byakuya Ishigami (Adoptive Father) Ruri (Ex-Wife)

Occupation:

Scientist Chief of Ishigami Village Founder of the Kingdom of Science

Affiliation:

Kingdom of Science

Birthplace

Tokyo

Favorite Food

Ramen

Favorite Type:

People who do what needs to be done

Treasure

The Kingdom of Science's flag

Motif Color:

Sky Green

Appearance:

Senku is a scrawny and physically weak young man of average height with pale skin. He has white hair that fades to green towards the ends, spiking up naturally into soft tips. Two locks of hair drape over his face. He has sharp red eyes, slim eyebrows, a small nose, and a mouth that tends to curl into an evil grin. He has two symmetrical petrification scars on his face, jagged lines beginning from his inner eyebrows and heading towards his hairline. On occasion, smaller scars leading down from his inner eye are visible as well. Before petrification, Senku wore a typical school uniform with a lab coat over it. After waking up in the Stone World, he made himself an animal skin tunic with short, flared sleeves, a jagged hemline that stops around his knees, a collar that sticks up, and a seam that meanders down his front. There is a belt tied around his waist which usually has at least one leather pouch that he swaps out when necessary. His shoes are sack-like, made of the same leather as his tunic, tied around the ankle. He also has fabric wrapped around his forearms that he uses to protect his hands when doing experiments. On his tunic near his right collarbone, he has Albert Einstein 's mass–energy equivalence formula (E = mc2) written in his own blood. During Minami's photoshoot with Senku for the hot air balloon launch event, Senku tried out modern outfits fashioned by Yuzuriha. Following his revival in South America, he was given a dark cloak by Suika to wear over his outfit, a symbol of friendship. He retains his scars, with Senku speculating it was because of weathering. Later, he wears the village rope around his waist, hidden underneath his belt pouches. After being revived in the rocket, Senku's petrification scars have healed.

Personality 1:

Senku is a straightforward, confident, and logical individual, who is also aware of the limits of his abilities. His decisions are often backed up by his vast knowledge of science and applying the scientific method. Senku never belittles those who are less knowledgeable than him, however he does have a habit of diving into complicated explanations in an attempt to teach others. However, his enthusiasm for science encourages and inspires everyone around him to do better. Because of his charisma and caring nature, people tend to gather around him, allies and enemies alike. Senku is also able to admit his mistakes, for example if he misses important information, such as when Kohaku pointed out that the north star did not align with north as he claimed, since Senku had overlooked the Earth's precession. Senku has a very logical mind, believing that there is nothing science cannot explain, even if it takes a long time to properly understand any one concept through science. Senku regularly bends the rules, withholds information, and manipulates others to get what he wants. He often acts as if he builds inventions and uses people for his own interest, while actually creating for the betterment of others. Beneath Senku's outward arrogance and manipulative actions lies a genuinely selfless and kind heart. During their decisive battle, Tsukasa notes that despite Senku's apparent cold rationale, his greatest weakness is his inability to abandon his friends, having witnessed his kindness firsthand with Yuzuriha taken hostage.

Personality 2:

Unlike Taiju, Senku seems apathetic to the prospect of romance. He seemed annoyed when Kohaku worded her praise for him strangely, claiming she had "fallen for him". He strongly discouraged Nikki from developing any feelings towards him. He was also completely unaffected by Amaryllis' attempts to charm him, much to her chagrin. He believes a brain filled with love is most illogical, but he does support the romantic endeavors of his friends, such as Taiju's relationship with Yuzuriha. What Senku lacks in physical ability, he more than makes up for with his determination and persistence. He counted the time he was petrified to the last second for nearly 4 millennia and willingly faced death by Tsukasa's hand without being fazed, refusing to back down and sacrifice either Yuzuriha or the continued advancement of science for his own personal safety. Senku also defeats Ibara with his quick thinking and help from Ryusui Nanami. Senku is simply someone who refuses to give up on a task no matter how arduous.

Abilities and Skills 1:

Genius Intelligence: Senku Ishigami is a genius with an encyclopedic knowledge of all things scientific. He is well versed in chemistry, physics, engineering, geology, biology and mathematics. Senku is able to easily create various useful tools and gadgets, medicine, and most notably, the de-petrification elixir, despite the limited materials of the Stone World. Tsukasa calls him "the sharpest, most intelligent man in the world". In addition to his scientific knowledge, Senku also possesses great resourcefulness and an analytical mind, seemingly never having a shortage of options at his disposal. For whatever he lacks, he has an ally who can offer their strength. He also possesses great mental fortitude, able to think quickly on his feet and keep his cool in the most dire of situations. Out of the current active characters, his mental assets are rivaled only by his former mentor, Dr. Xeno. Mental Resilience: While Senku lacks in physical ability, he more than makes up for with his determination and persistence. For example, he retained consciousness in his time of Petrification and counted the time he was petrified to the last second for nearly 4 millennia. Gen Asagiri found Senku to be an impressive person after he discovered Senku carved the date of his revival. He wondered how someone not only knew the day and year they were released, he stated he already respected Senku. When petrified again three years later, he was prepared and started counting to stay conscious. Craftsmanship: As a child, he designed and built a functioning miniature rocket ship, alongside many other advanced and experimental machines. However, Senku doesn't compare to a master craftsman like Kaseki, in terms of building skills, as Kaseki has far more experience than him.

Abilities and Skills 2:

Tactical Intelligence: In addition to his scientific intelligence, he appears to have some skill as a strategist. He managed to coordinate the villagers and even some of Tsukasa's army whom he converts to his side in an effective bloodless war against Tsukasa's Empire of Might. Similarly, he manages to have Kohaku, Ginro, and Amaryllis infiltrate the chief of Treasure Island's harem as spies, and manages to communicate with Kohaku and develop a strategy to cleverly gather the scattered petrified pieces of his friends, along with the precious stones from the Soyuz capsule. Exceptional Memory: Senku remembers every compound and method of his inventions. He has rarely been wrong in the making of tools for the Kingdom of Science, and has an enormous amount of knowledge in the aforementioned science fields. Charisma: Though arrogant and eccentric, Senku seems to have a good understanding of people and how they think. He uses his many creations to charm those who were suspicious of him (like ramen, glasses, and medicine) to slowly warm up to him. Senku is also a capable leader, who is good with his words, able to motivate and lead the villagers into an effective army against Tsukasa's Empire of Might. He has personally gained the loyalty and respect of his allies (and enemies) through his hard work and determination. Linguistic Proficiency: Senku seems to be fluent in both Japanese and English. Initially, he had trouble with English as a child, but over time, he became more proficient. He understood Ukyo and Gen's while they were speaking English through the buried phone in order to conceal their conversation from the others present. He was able to speak to understand the discussion between Taiju and Dr. Xeno with no problems. He understood and communicated with Dr. Brody with no problem. Morse Code: Senku knows Morse code very well, using it to communicate with the cell phone team on the phone in order to ensnare Homura.

Weaknesses 1:

Incomplete Knowledge: While Senku has an unbelievable amount of knowledge about science and technology, it should be noted that he does not know everything in as high detail as it may appear, but rather, he seems to sometimes fill in the gaps with his well-informed scientific thinking and experience. This, however, has on several occasions led him to struggle with problems he was not aware of, or things that he never knew how to do in detail. An example of this would be his making of stone tools. While he had the general idea of them and how to make them, he had to figure out the specific techniques out of trial-and-error. He also was unaware that carbon filaments don't work in vacuum tubes, and he mistakenly thought it would be practical to make the Steam Gorilla's engine with only one cylinder, which he ended up correcting. Low Physical Prowess: Senku is below average in terms of physical ability, lacking physical strength. He was unable to hold Homura, a petite woman shorter than 5 feet, after managing to grab hold of her. He also admits that he won't stand a chance against someone as strong as Kohaku in a fight (although it's not really a fair comparison, given her training and her status as a warrior). In a bonus chapter, Kohaku gives a small description on the physical abilities of the main characters. Senku is at the bottom at around three points, Chrome at five, Ginro at 100, Kinro at 500, and Kohaku herself at 1000. Similarly, Senku has poor stamina, and tends to get physically exhausted rather quickly. He is also very vulnerable to hypothermia, only being able to withstand cold water for a short amount of time.

Weaknesses 2:

Average Craftsmanship: Senku's craftsmanship is good enough to make usable objects and tools, but in great part it took him a lot of work to get to that level. Even though Senku is aware of a vast range of crafting methods, many of them he never used before petrification (such as pottery, making stone tools or glassblowing), which leads him to have shortcomings because of his inexperience, and he improves during the series, achieving practical skill levels on all the tasks just mentioned. Still, his aspirations for the Kingdom of Science benefited from having more experienced crafts people to build things more swiftly. Even though Kaseki was brought initially for the specific task of glassblowing, Senku still developed this skill himself, as shown when he made glassware after Suika revived him alone in the Amazonian rainforest. Lack of Cooking Skills: While not a weakness per se, he is not an exceptional cook. He is shown to know how to cook but lacks experience and quality ingredients. While he knows the process of how to make food, most of the time, the more complicated food does not taste good. While he was able to make cotton candy and cola, more complicated foods, such as wine, ramen, and bread prove to be terrible tasting. While in the ramen's case, part of it is due to not having the exact ingredients (he uses foxtail to make flour instead of wheat). When he tries to create bread with all of the proper ingredients on hand for the first time, it comes out so horrible that no modern person is capable of eating it (though the Ishigami Village tribe loves it because they have only ever eaten fish and have never tried bread before).

Weaknesses 3:

Bad Luck: Throughout the series, despite his high intelligence and ability to overcome obstacles, he tends to run into trouble often due to his horrific luck. Gen, at one point, quips to Senku (while they are trying to make gunpowder to stop Tsukasa's army and fail) that Senku always has crappy luck. In the Petrification arc, where he goes to Treasure Island, after all their resources and options have been exhausted as he and the Kingdom of Science are cornered by Ibara, Moz, and their army, Senku is even forced to use his worst trump card—reviving Hyoga (a rather unpredictable and cruel man willing to manipulate and kill anyone who gets in his way) to have a fighting chance against Ibara and Moz despite the strong possibility Hyoga will immediately overpower the Kingdom of Science and/or learn of the petrification device afterwards. Later on, Ibara uses the petrifaction device to petrify everyone but himself. When detailing travel by Vikings, a storm hits but they still reach America, due to Chrome. While commencing their exploration of United States, the crew is attacked by alligators as Gen once again makes a remark about how Senku's luck is nonexistent and every one of his hypotheses about the worst-case scenario usually turn out to be true.

Trivia 1:

Senku's name is composed of "sen" (千, thousand) and "kū" (空, sky) to create Senkū (Thousand Sky). Ishigami is composed of "ishi" (石, stone) and "kami" (神, god) to create Ishigami (Stone God). Senku shares a motif with Taiju and Yuzuriha in that his name contains "kū" (空, sky) in his name, which correlates to the theme of "land, sea, and sky". Senku's first name is a counterpart to his father, Byakuya's. Senkū (千空) means a thousand skies while Byakuya (百夜)means a hundred nights. This is exemplified in the title of manga chapter 44 and anime episode season 1, episode 17; 百の夜と千の空 (A Hundred Nights and a Thousand Skies). On the day Senku was born, January 4th, 2004, NASA's Spirit rover landed on planet Mars. His birth parents passed away suddenly in January 2006 when Senku was only 2 years old.[65] Senku has been ranked 1st place in the 1st and 2nd Character Popularity Polls.

Trivia 2:

Senku's name was originally going to be "Gaku Shiraishi" and use the kanji for "study" (学) but was changed because Inagaki found it felt too academic. There have been women who have shown signs of attraction to him (or have been otherwise circumstantially involved with him): Kohaku claims to have fallen for him when they first meet, leaving him disturbed. Though she clarifies that she means it in a platonic manner, she admits later in chapter 22 that to her he seems to be "quite a ladies' man", but not in a way the sparkly sisters may appreciate. An extra page from Volume 7, on account of Kohaku's remarks about him, asks what the thoughts about him by the high school girls were who knew him back in the day. One of them said: "The white lab coat is hot." Ruby states that she is interested in a man who will dote on her, and she is so impressed by the ramen that Senku makes that she asks what his type is. He marries Ruri but divorces her almost immediately. Furthermore, she had no feelings for him. In chapter 51, when Senku asks Gen about Homura, to which Ginro, Shovel, and the Sisters assume he's asking about her romantically. He later rebuffs any attempts to take advantage of Homura after catching her. After Senku promises Nikki that he will protect Lillian Weinberg's last recorded song, Nikki also claims she could fall for him, something he recommends her against. He was immune to Amaryllis' charms. Kohaku kissed him, yet neither of them seemed to enjoy it. He charms Luna to get information out of her and leaves her with a crush on him, then later Luna asks if he'll be her boyfriend. The crew later comment that it isn't unlike him to exploit such contracts just for his advantage.

Trivia 2:

He mentions Doraemon as one of the things from modernity he enjoyed when declining Tsukasa's suggestion of reverting humanity back to a tribal state. He demonstrates a love for video games, making references to Super Mario Bros., Civilization, Dragon Quest, and Monster Hunter (Monster Hunter having a particular shoutout in chapter 63). He has three main catchphrases: he claims, "10 billion percent" when he is certain of something, "Not one millimeter" when he claims how impossible something is, and "This is Exhilarating" (or "Get Excited" in the English dub) when a new development occurs, or he manages to further his scientific developments. A recurring gag involves Senku's previous marriage and divorce being referenced: When Hyoga approaches Senku to form a partnership, Senku tries to brush it off by asking if it was his version of an awkward love confession and then states how he is married (and then corrects that he is now divorced). When Amaryllis asks about Chrome's relationship with Ruri, Francois points out that Ruri was once married to Senku before Senku divorced her, shocking Taiju and Amaryllis. When Luna asks Francois about dating Senku, Kinro brings up how Senku is a divorcé, to her shock. He shares traits with Yoichi Hiruma from Riichiro Inagaki's previous series Eyeshield 21. Grinning when conducting the best situation to meet his ends. High intelligence, photographic memory, and cunning. Proficient with arithmetic, being able to calculate long periods of time down to the last second. Senku's bowel movements prior to petrification were pretty regular. He's allergic to lacquer, so much so that his face swells greatly. In the Portuguese dub, the pronunciation of Senku's name has been changed as "Senku" means "without ass."