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Dr. Stone is a fascinating anime and manga that tells the story of Senku Ishigami, a brilliant young scientist who wakes up after being frozen for thousands of years. He uses his knowledge and skills to rebuild society from scratch in a world where everyone has turned to stone.

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Senku is shown as a clever inventor and strategist who can solve difficult problems with his intelligence, but sometimes he faces challenges where his plans don't work, and he is outsmarted by his opponents despite his outstanding wits. From tense battles of wits to unexpected occurrences, these moments showcase the complexity of the world Senku is trying to rebuild and the challenges he faces in his quest for progress in the Dr. Stone series.

Some entries contain manga spoilers. The first upcoming three entries focus on moments that have been already covered by the anime.

5 Telling An Accurate Truth Was Senku’s Undoing

Main characters

Senku is a very smart guy, yet his smarts often backfire on him. One such occasion occurred when he and Gen attempted to utilize the phone their allies smuggled into Tsukasa's empire in order to enlist more supporters. To do this, Senku intended to assume the identity of Lillian and use her recordings to convince Tsukasa's empire that the United States had been revived and was once again functioning normally.

However, the first person Senku spoke with was Nikki, a die-hard supporter of Lillian. Senku was asked to estimate the number of songs Lillian had released, and he did so successfully. When asked about her bust, chest, and waist sizes, Senku, using a picture his father had left behind, calculated them using his father's relative size to determine them. His estimation was accurate, but Lillian frequently claimed smaller sizes as a celebrity, demonstrating that Senku lacked the professionalism expected of an excellent vocalist. He was using his intelligence against himself.

After being found, Senku conceded that Lillian had passed away for good and that all he could do was save her final recording. Fortunately, Nikki consented to assist the Kingdom of Science if Senku kept records. Senku was fooled, but by sheer luck, he was able to achieve his goal.

4 Senku’s Caring Nature Was Used To Predict His Actions

Senku made a tank

During the Stone Wars arc of the Dr. Stone series, the Tsukasa empire captured Chrome. Senku, being the kind of person who would want to see him freed, built a tank specifically for that purpose. Chrome's prison was designed to fool Senku into making a vehicle since his behavior could be predicted with such accuracy. Senku's scheme to break Chrome out of prison by using a vehicle to smash through the open cell doors was a brilliant one. Tsukasa, however, was aware of this fact, and so he strategically placed traps and sinkholes to prevent the vehicle from ever approaching.

Fortunately, Tsukasa's goons set off the traps by mistake. Chrome saw what happened and decided to get out of prison himself to protect Senku and the others. Chrome was ultimately successful in his mission, saving not only Senku and the Kingdom of Science but also their armored vehicle.

3 Awakening Tsukasa Created More Problems Than Solutions

stone form Tsukasa

Tsukasa Shishio, the strongest primate high schooler, is a man of immense strength. After Senku and Kaiju were de-petrified, Senku de-petrified Tsukasa to have him help out with lifting and hunting. Unfortunately, Senku gravely underestimated Tsukasa’s ambition and capabilities. While he tried to hide the contents of the revival fluid from Tsukasa, Senku pretended not to care about what the high schooler would do to Yuzuriha. However, Tsukasa only needed to cut his hair for Senku to spill the contact solution of the revival fluid.

Furthermore, when Senku tried to bluff his way into convincing Tsukasa that he would not be a threat to him, the latter made him swear on his science, knowing that the protagonist would never swear falsely on science. And he was right, as Senku could not. This led to Tsukasa "killing" Senku; however, fortunately, he survived the ordeal.

2 Treasure Island’s Ibara Was Smarter Than Senku Anticipated

Ibara

Ibara is the major protagonist of the Treasure Island arc. As a cunning and ambitious man, Ibara once outsmarted Senku. The incident occurred when Senku and his allies were trying to take control of Medusa, a petrification device. As Senku and his allies were devising a plan to take control of Medusa, Ibara had Kirisame take a fake replica of the weapon to expose the enemy. The plan worked and completely caught Senku off guard. However, Senku managed to save himself and his allies after realizing he had deeply underestimated Ibara.

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Senku then shouted for his crew to retreat back to the island. However, Ibara was thinking ahead and already had a plan in motion to petrify the entire island alongside Senku and his allies. Luckily, Senku managed to turn certain doom into an opportunity, but there is no doubt Ibara had thought far more ahead than even Senku envisioned.

1 Senku Was Unable To Anticipate The Actions Of The Why Man

The Why Man and Senku

The Why-man serves as the final and main antagonist of the Dr. Stone series. Initially unknown to Senku, the Why-man is a swarm of alien petrification devices, capable of assuming any form. The Why-man was responsible for the petrification of the whole earth, as they believed humanity should treasure eternal life, even if inactive. Since the initial appearance of the Why-man, Senku has always been clueless about its objective. The Why-man always seemed to be ahead of Senku in its actions and thinking.

To ultimately find out the Why-man’s objective, Senku had to travel to the moon so that humanity would not become a slave in the Why-man’s cage, trapped there by the temptation of immortality.

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