Myers-Briggs Types in Dr. Stone: Senku Ishigami (ENTJ)

Senku from Dr. Stone is typically theorized to be the INTP Myers-Briggs personality type (colloquially known as MBTI), which is obviously in stark contrast to the ENTJ argument that we’re about to present in this article. Of course, we can certainly see why people prescribe to the INTP theory for Dr. Stone. However, in our opinion, the cognitive function evidence suggests NTJ for Senku, or more specifically, ENTJ. (We initially theorized INTJ, but have since shifted to ENTJ.) We hope this makes sense. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

The Myers-Briggs Personality Type of Senku

Dominant Te:

“And now that Suika’s levelled up on her labor potential statistics, that means we can actually put together a full chemistry set.”

“Efficiency is always his number one priority.” – About Senku

“Nothing’s achieved in a snap, dummy. It’ll take patience and hard work.”

“Let me take this negotiation, Senku. You always start by just urting-blay out the facts.” – Gen Asagiri

“I’m just being realistic here, and facts are facts. The manpower we’ll need for this project is insane.”

Senku is extremely goal oriented, which is almost immediately apparent. From the moment he gets turned to stone, he takes stock of the situation, evaluates what the best plan is for the current predicament, and executes it without fail. He spends his time as stone counting to track the days, while simultaneously running parallel thought processes to plan for his eventual escape. He tries to dictate when his revival will be based on what his highest chance of survival would be. Once free, Senku wastes no time, and goes immediately into action. He uses his knowledge of science to start creating a base of operations and survival, and begins to branch out from there into loftier goals.

Throughout the show, Senku always has an overarching plan in mind with short term goals that all build toward the eventual realization of his ultimate goal. He takes his plans and breaks them down into smaller more manageable sub-plans that all work in conjunction with each other. Each step is carefully laid out and ordered in a way that short and long term objectives work together. Essentially, he values efficiency in everything he does, which compels him to optimize his plans and actions for maximum output or minimal waste. Later on in the series, he’s described as someone who has efficiency as his number one priority.

Senku values facts over feelings. He views his relationships in a rational way. He has no reservations about sharing his plans and opinions in an extremely bluntly. Several times, he gleefully implies (or even outright states) that his future plans are going to make everyone his labor slaves. He doesn’t seem to think about or care how his statements are going to be taken. Ultimately, while he is caring and protective, he naturally sees people for their practical value, or potential contributions to his goals.

Senku is often in a rush to achieve his goals, which is demonstrated from an early age. Even as a child, Senku displays a driven, goal-oriented mentality. During flashbacks, he expresses a desire to go to space, and acts offended when his teacher applauds his goal as being something he could achieve someday, in the future. He snaps back immediately with, “I’m going to space as soon as possible.”

Auxiliary Ni:

“In other words, I’ve been waiting for you, Taiju. I was ten billion percent sure you were still alive.”

“I don’t believe it’s a mere coincidence.”

“Yeah, there is a chance. It’s just that we have no reason to consider that possibility.”

“It’s a calculated risk. I wanted him gone before we revived her, even if it meant revealing the location of the cave.”

“The least logical part of me, what some might call my gut, is talking.”

As mentioned briefly in the Te section, Senku fixates on singular goals, and doesn’t deviate at all. He doesn’t broadly explore possibilities, or let exploration get him off track. Everything he does lines up with a single, long term goal. All his projects in the stone world are cohesive and necessary in that way. There’s never a random project hanging out there that ends up being “just for fun”, accidentally useful, or abandoned because it proves unnecessary. Everything single thing he does is purpose driven.

Senku makes assumptions, which he seems absolutely certain of. He doesn’t appear to open his mind up to alternate possibilities. Instead, he fixates on what he believes to be certainties, and banks on them. This is demonstrated in not only his language (the “ten billion percent sure” phrases), but also in situations like when Taiju first wakes up. Senku doesn’t seem pleasantly surprised that his theory about Taiju ended up being right, nor does he give any indication that he considered the possibility that Taiju wouldn’t revive. Rather, he tells Taiji that he had been waiting for him, and explains exactly why he knew that Taiji would wake up. Later on in the series, we also see him dismissing certain possibilities, because there’s essentially no strategic purpose in considering them.

Senku is willing to take risks, if he perceives that it’ll lead to his desired outcome. (When choosing between safety and their future, Senku usually chooses their future.) In the process of taking these risks, Senku usually acknowledges them as such, but explains why it’s worth it. He’s willing to trust his gut and his intuition, which then lead to his assumptions, which form his strategies.

Tertiary Se:

“No problem, you guys! This just proves our gunpowder cooking was successful!”

“All I can do is improvise. One step at a time. That’s how civilization advances.”

“Study everything. Try everything.”

“Once coated, we’ll adjust them by hand. Trial and error will be quicker than explaining aeronautic theory.”

While we initially considered INTJ for Senku, overtime, we realized that his Se seems too strong. Senku is not one to spend a lot of time in study before trying something in reality. In fact, he’s very hands-on and eager to get going. For instance, Senku as a child made sure to not only study everything, but try everything so that he could gain the practical experience. He endlessly experimented, and constantly failed.

Generally speaking, Senku would rather indulge in “trial and error” then spend too long in the theory of his project. He cares very little about ensuring that his experiments/projects are perfect on the first try. (Of course, this can make him prone to mistakes, like with his first batch of gunpowder.) Overall, Senku would rather do whatever is quicker, and pivot or improvise if necessary. This demonstrates not only Te over Ni, but Se higher than inferior.

Senku is surprisingly adaptable. He’s good at taking advantage of unexpected situations, using them to benefit his goals. For instance, in season one, there’s a sudden lightening storm immediately after it occurs to him to make a generator. Of course, he’s nowhere near prepared. However, Senku barely hesitates before initiating a plan to create the magnet that they needed.

Inferior Fi:

“You know, I’m not the type of guy who does the whole emotional teary-eyed gratitude kinda thing, so don’t expect that.”

“The only thing he ever told me is that I was his friend’s kid. I never pressed him to say more… Those kinds of details just don’t matter.” – About his Dad

“How would I know? And why should I care about what some old fart was feeling? Yuck.”

Senku’s greatest weaknesses appears to be feeling, and approaching everything in a depersonalized way. Of course, the most obvious sign of this can be seen in how he completely avoids expressing emotions, or connecting with others in a deeper way. He avoids heartfelt goodbyes, or any scenarios that may provoke tears. Similarly, Senku doesn’t care where he comes from or who his real parents are, which is a general devaluing of personal identity. He sees it all as irrelevant. He also cares little about speculating what other people’s opinions are or what they might be feeling, which is demonstrated when he mentions the debate as to why dynamite was invented. During this conversation, when asked why he thought dynamite was invented, Senku essentially states that there’s no way he could know, and that he doesn’t care in the least.

Lastly, while he clearly has a strong moral base, Senku doesn’t frame things in terms of values. For instance, he immediately dismisses Tsukasa’s plan as immoral, but doesn’t outright say that. He simply says that it doesn’t move him “one millimeter”, and that rebuilding the world with science was something that excited him. It’s clear throughout the show that he disagrees with Tsukasa’s actions, but his first impulse is never to condemn him on a moral level.