How Smart is Senku? Can He Outwit Light and Shikamaru?

From staying conscious for 3700 years to making the de-petrification elixir, Senku’s feats in Dr. Stone have left fans convinced that he has an extremely high I.Q. score.

As one of the animes that defined 2019, Dr. Stone has made its mark in the post-apocalyptic genre of shows. With a unique concept that revolves more around science than superhuman abilities, it has actually made science fun (never thought this day would come).

Unlike others, Dr. Stone’s protagonist, Senku, does not focus on power but is all about science, education, and slowly building towards a goal, i.e., rebuilding civilization. And to do that, he needs to be smart.

Throughout the series, fans have been wowed by Senku at every stage, be it the time he made the “cure-all” or an actual communication device. However, all of his feats do make us wonder, how smart is this man? Can he compare to geniuses such as Shikamaru and Light? Let’s analyze!

1. How Smart is Senku?

Calling Senku Ishigami a genius is still understating his intellect. He is the savior of humankind in the way that he discovered the formula to depetrify them and advanced the post-petrification age by at least a few hundred years.

He can be considered a walking and talking science encyclopedia as there is nothing about it that he’s not aware of. With in-depth knowledge about chemistry, physics, engineering, geology, biology, and mathematics, he can easily create tools, medicine, and even the de-petrification elixir, all in an age where nothing is available easily.

How Smart is Senku? Can He Outwit Light & Shikamaru?
Senku Ishigami | Source: Fandom

Do you want sulfur? Go mine it. No more easily available chemicals present to you in a test tube.

In addition to having near-unlimited knowledge, Senku also possesses an analytical mind. For every goal, he has a variety of paths to accomplish it.

Furthermore, he also possesses excellent mental fortitude, as the man literally kept his consciousness alive for 3700 years since the day he was petrified.

As Tsukasa calls him, “Senku is the sharpest, most intelligent man in the world.”

2. Who is Smarter?

People will never stop comparing, no matter how different the series’ are from one another. Nevertheless, it makes up for interesting discourse and debates that liven up the anime fandom to no end.

With Dr. Stone enjoying great popularity, fans have taken it upon themselves to decide whether Senku is smarter than the well-known geniuses of the anime world – Light and Shikamaru.

I. Senku Vs. Light Yagami

Senku from Dr. Stone is smarter than Light from Death Note, just based on the success both have achieved after putting their minds to a particular goal. While Light relied on outside sources to accomplish what he has, all Senku had to survive in the stone world was his intelligence.

Senku uses his intelligence to bring civilization and humanity to their peak again, while Light used it to better human society at first and to become the god of his perfect world later on. Senku is already on his way to success, but Light was defeated by the power he wielded.

How Smart is Senku? Can He Outwit Light & Shikamaru?
Senku vs Light | Source: Fandom

Talking about pure intelligence, Senku has the knowledge of science and the history of inventions, which arguably places him above Light, who displays schematic and high strung intelligence to fulfill his goal in the modern world.

When we talk about Senku and Light and take their roles in their particular worlds into consideration, the latter indeed seems to be lacking.

The question of who is smarter seems like placing a scientist on one side and a good schemer on another and asking people to choose.

To conclude, Senku outsmarts Light based on overall intelligence by a landslide. After all, Light tried to achieve his goals with the help of Death Note, which ultimately caused his death, whereas Senku just used his IQ to save the petrified world.

II. Senku Vs. Shikamaru

Senku from Dr. Stone is smarter than Shikamaru from Naruto based on his monstrous feats in the stone age. While Shikamaru excels in battle and tactical skills like shogi, Senku can revive the human civilization from the brink of destruction.

With an assumed unrealistic IQ of more than 200, many people place Shikamaru as the epitome of human intelligence, which is definitely true.

As a shogi prodigy at 12 years of age, and a mastermind capable of fighting wars at the highest level, Shikamaru has few opponents. His teacher, Asuma, even acknowledged Shikamaru as someone who had the potential to become Hokage, if not for his laziness.

How Smart is Senku? Can He Outwit Light & Shikamaru?
Senku vs Shikamaru | Source: Fandom

On the other hand, Senku is someone who stayed awake for thousands of years, counting seconds one by one until he was depetrified. With knowledge of science and humanity’s history of creation, Senku has progressed stone age by centuries.

Furthermore, he is not only exceptional in science but has also dabbled in medicine and other fields. Shikamaru’s feats seem incomparably small when considering Senku, making the latter undoubtedly much smarter.

3. What Is Senku’s I.Q.?

Senku’s IQ is realistically assumed to be above 160 and somewhere around 180s. Taking his feats in Dr. Stone into account, Senku outsmarts most characters and might have the highest IQ in anime.

Typically, IQ is calculated based on one’s mental ability, which comprises factors such as memory, logic, problem-solving ability, etc. Senku has an eidetic memory and great tactical and scientific intelligence.

How Smart is Senku? Can He Outwit Light & Shikamaru?
Senku Ishigami | Source: Fandom

Furthermore, he is well aware of his strengths and knows how to make up for his weaknesses. No matter the situation, he always keeps his calm and manages to find a solution. Even when petrified, he kept his consciousness awake for 3700 years.

Many fans have formed a connection between Nikola Tesla and Senku as they both have very similar eidetic memory capabilities. They are known to do complex mathematics and have very hard-to-estimate IQ’s. All of these factors alone give Senku an IQ over 180.

We should also keep in mind that anyone with a score above 160 is already considered a genius, and with an IQ between 180-200, Senku is easily one of the smartest characters in anime.

4. Is It Possible to Become As Smart As Senku?

It is possible to become as smart as Senku as long as one has the mental capacity, patience, and interest to digest enormous amounts of information and the skill to apply them.

However, considering most of the population, people who can actually achieve the things above are extremely rare. Just based on memory limitations, even the people who study science would only remember broad principles and forget the specifics a few months after they’ve learned them.

Senku Made a Gun & Katana Sword

Furthermore, Senku isn’t smart because he knows a lot. He is smart because he knows his limitations and where and how to apply his knowledge. Both the mental and tactical aspect is necessary, and the manga has acknowledged this a lot early on in the series.

5. About Dr. Stone

Dr. Stone is a Japanese manga series written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Boichi. It serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since 6th March 2017, with the individual chapters collected and published by Shueisha into thirteen tankōbon volumes as of November 2019.

Every human on the planet was turned into Stone after a mysterious flash of light hit Earth. Four thousand years after Senku, a student is confronted with a brand new world, an Earth without Humanity.

Now animals rule the world, and nature has reclaimed the planet. Senku and his friend Taiju begin trying to find a way to restore humanity.

Vansh Gulati

Vansh Gulati

Meet our very own Hinata Shoyo! - There is no anime or manga that he’s not aware of. Also the go-to guy for all things Epic at EML. He’s on a journey to discover life one bottle of sake at a time!
Ps...anime is not a cartoon!

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