Is Shishio From Dr. Stone Evil?
Tsukasa Shishio is the main antagonist of Dr. Stone but is he truly evil? Tsukasa Shishio has a flawed ideology and a warped viewpoint. However, he truly believes that he’s doing what’s best for society in the stone world and is NOT really evil.
Tsukasa Shishio’s vision of society in the stone world strongly differs from Senki Ishigami’s vision.
Tsukasa Shishio’s Voice Actor
Tsukasa Shishio is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura.
Nakamura has also voiced Gray Fullbuster in Fairy Tail (2009), Gai Tsutsugami in Guilty Crown (2011), Mumen Rider in One Punch Man (2015).
Tsukasa Shishio’s Background
Before the stone world, Tsukasa Shishio was a high schooler who rose to fame for his incredible skill as a martial artist. He was referred to as “The Strongest Primate High Schooler”.
Tsukasa’s biggest asset is his strength. He has superhuman strength and speed. He is so strong that he can punch a lion to death, wrestle three wild boars at once, catch a bird mid-flight, destroy boulders with one punch and catch an arrow travelling towards him at a speed of 200 km/h.
As Senku and Taiju try to survive in the stone world, they are cornered by lions that escaped from a zoo. Facing a life or death situation, they revive the most powerful person they can find, Tsukasa Shishio. Tsukasa is able to knock the lion out in one punch and scare the other lions away.
As Senku continues to try to rebuild the world, he finds that him and Tsukasa have totally opposite goals. Tsukasa does not want the world to go back to the way it was and but instead wants to get rid of the corrupt adults in the past and revive the young.
One of the reasons why Tsukasa hates adults and the past world is because of his past. When he was a young boy, his sister was sick. He tried to make a necklace made out of sea shells for her because his sister loved the ‘Little Mermaid’. However, a middle age man who owned the fishing rights to the spot was upset at Tsukasa for taking his sea shells and accused him of stealing. The man beat Tsukasa badly and he was unable to help his little sister get the sea shells.
Tsukasa Shishio’s Personality
Tsukasa is very charismatic and soft spoken. He has a strong influence on his subordinates and is able to get others on his side.
Not only does Tsukasa possess great physical strength but he is also incredibly intelligent. He is able to keep up with Senku when it comes to smarts and even predict many of his moves.
Tsukasa Shishio’s Ideal Society
Tsukasa Shishio is a man with a desire to recreate a world without modern technology. His beliefs clash strongly with Senku who wants to recreate with science and technology.
Tsukaya believes that the privileged exploit the improverished young. He wants to only revive the strongest youth that has a”pure-heart”.
His goal for the stone world is to give everyone equal opportunity; no one will pay taxes, no one will own anything.
Tsukasa wants to build his own somewhat anarcho-primitivist society, which is a society that goes against the progress of human civilization. Tsukasa’s anarcho-primitivist ideals basically says the shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural subsistence and advance technology gives rise to social stratification, coercion, alienation, and overpopulation. Tsukasa tries to kill every petrified adult in order to prevent this.
Tsukasa’s ideal world is to eliminate the weak and evil to create a perfect world. He’s very idealistic and will use brute force to take down those who oppose his perfect world.
Tsukaya knows the power of science and the negative effect it can have on the world. He realized the power of science would bring all types of weapons that would make killing easy and cause adults to take back power and abuse the young. This is the true ‘evil’ for Tsukasa. He also believes technology would corrupt the adults just like they did in the past and bring conflict and pain again. This is why he feels like he needs to get rid of Senku who advocates for the progress of science.
Tsukasa commits evil acts including murdering the stone adults, who he believes are tainted. He even attempts to kill Senku for getting in his way of creating his ideal world.
Is Tsukasa Shishio Right?
Tsukasa believes he can remodel society to something pure. He may commit evil acts, but in the end, he believes that this is what’s best for society and will stain his hands as much as necessary. He believes the end justifies the means.
Tsukasa doesn’t actually hate all technology but thinks it should be regulated down to reasonable limits so things like nuclear wars won’t have the potential to happen. However, there is a fundamental flaw to Tsukasa’s thinking. The people in his new world will eventually want technological advancements because curiosity and innovation is innate. Even if Tsukasa successfully created a culture that shunned higher technology, there would those willing to risk their lives to experiment.
People are going to want to figure how to create medicine, how to transport themselves and resources easier, how to transmit communication over long distances.
This was made clear with introduction of Chrome, one of the natives of the stone world who aimed to advance the world technologically but just didn’t have the knowledge. The people who Tsukasa revived would eventually want some of those elements of the past back. One example was Gen Asagiri who craved cola.
The advancement of science isn’t something that can be halted by the efforts of one man in his single life span. Tsukasa’s ideals would be trumped by the curiousity and needs of future generations.
Another flaw in Tsukasa’s thinking is that the results of his actions will eventually also lead him to be corrupt like the adults he hates.
What Tsukasa truly wants is control and wants to be the god of his own world. Everybody turning into stone gives him the opportunity to live out his illusions of grandeur.
Tsukasa wants to only revive the youth because they are easier to to deceive and manipulate.
Furthermore, he wants to thrive in a world where strength is a deciding factor. His definition of “purity” would still leave the world filled with those dependent on him for survival and keep it from ever rising to a level where his sort of physical strength is irrelevant.
Moreover, Tsukasa is misguided when he believes only young people are “pure”. Teenagers and young people are also capable of evil. The young people he brings back will grow into corrupt adults themselves. Even if he succeeds in establishing his “pure world”, it wouldn’t last long.
Senku Ishigami’s Voice Actor
Senku Ishigami is voiced by Yūsuke Kobayashi.
Kobayashi has also voiced Subaru Natsuki in Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World (2016), Phillip in Sirius the Jaeger (2018), and Arthur Boyle in Fire Force (2019).
Senku Ishigami’s Background
Senku Ishigami awakens in the stone world and aims to restore civilization by reinventing past revolutionary technology and discovering a “cure” for the petrification.
Senku eventually becomes friends of the residents of Ishigami Village and becomes their chief and finds out that he is a legend in the village’s community at the same time thanks to the influence through the one of the villagers’ ancestors, who happens to be his late adopted father Byakuya, one of the original petrification survivors.
Senku Ishigami’s Personality
Senku is a highly intelligent genius who excels in multiple fields of science, with a special love of astronomy and space exploration. Senku is an encyclopedic knowledge of science. He is able to think critically and make quick decisions.
Seku can be arrogant at times but he is actually very noble and kind-hearted as he considers science as a means to elevate all people and having unshakeable faith in his friends.
Senku’s natural charisma gave me the impression of a leader, someone who is capable of expressing his voice without much bias. Some of his actions may seem manipulative in nature but deep down, he is a selfless man who applies his logic to help people.
Senku Ishigami’s Ideal Society
Senku’s desire to recreate society goes beyond curiosity. He genuinely wants to rebuild mankind into a civilization. Senku’s ideal society is the old world full of technology and science.
Senku wants to recreate the world back to what it was and he wants to do this using science.
Senku enjoys many things about the past world, especially science. He had things that were precious to him. This strongly differs from Tsukasa who had a negative experience in the previous world and hates it.
Not only does Senku have a big ambition to rebuild civilization, he also wants to revive science and discover the truth of the past.
Is Senku Ishigami Right?
Senku’s goal of bringing society back through science is more beneficial in the long run.
With Senku’s help, the residents of Ishigami Village come together to build impossible inventions, at times learning to innovate themselves. The sense of discovery and accomplishment really inspired the villages and will make a meaningful impact on their lives both in the short term and long term.
Senku’s vision positively benefits society and advocates for progression which is the best course to take. Senku had a positive impact on the people around him.
For example, Chrome had no first hand knowledge of what technology was like in the past. However, he was still curious and still had a desire to make new things which is why he had so much admiration for Senku. Chrome helped Senku developed the waterwheel in their quest to harness energy through more effective means.
Senku is able to make monumental progress and even inspire people like Magma. Magma is a brute who is not too well liked in the village. Magma had plans to be the new chief of Ishigami Village and marry Ruri by winning the Grand Bout. However, Senka’s arrival changed all that. Magma initally had animosity towards Senku but after seeing Senku’s inventions, he soften his stance. When Senku promises to show him even more technology that would blow his mind, hes more wiling to offers help Senku with his quest.
Also, Senku recreating a record player and showing the villagers a song from the past world was a powerful moment that had the villagers in tears.
Senku goal of bringing society back is a much more realistic goal than Tsukaya’s ideal world and will have more positive benefits.
Conclusion
Tsukasa is not really evil but just has a misguided view. This is different from Senku who was able to bring people together with his love of science and also able to bring forth positive emotions among the people as well as positively benefit society as a whole.
No matter how big the corruption and conflict was in the previous world, the joy and progress of human civilization is far outweighs that. This is why Senku has the edge of Tsukaya.
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