Dr. Stone: Asagiri Gen, When Magic Meets Science
The talented mentalist ends up changing sides and becomes an ally of Senku’s Kingdom of Science, seemingly over a bottle of cola.
Magician and cola enthusiast, Asagiri Gen is one of the most interesting characters of Dr. Stone. The show follows a young scientist Senku Ishigami in a post-apocalyptic stone world.
All of humanity is petrified inexplicably. After a sudden revival, Senku is trying to kick start human civilization from scratch using the power of science and his allies.
The antagonist of the show is Tsukasa, one of the people Senku revived early on. Gen starts out as a double agent revived by Tsukasa, sent to Senku’s village to spy on him.
However, the talented mentalist ends up changing sides and becomes an ally of Senku’s Kingdom of Science, seemingly over a bottle of cola. Let’s dive deep into what makes Asagiri Gen a compelling and entertaining character.
History of Asagiri Gen
Asagiri Gen was a famous mentalist and magician prior to the events of Dr. Stone. Senku is shown to be a fan of his books on magic psychology. Gen was sent by Tsukasa to spy on the village and see if Senku was still alive. He eventually defected to the Kingdom of Science becoming one of the most loyal people to Senku.
Gen and Tsukasa had previously met on a Psychological magic show before the petrification.
Gen’s Appearance
Gen is a slender young man built similar to Senku. He is 19 years old at the beginning of the show. His hair is split into two halves, a longer and white right half extending up to his chin and a shorter black half. His petrification mark runs down his left eye in an angled way.
He has baggy eyes and he wears a pink overcoat over a yukata. Gen lacks proper footwear as a consequence of living in a stone world devoid of modern science.
Tulisha Srivastava
Personality
Asagiri Gen is a complex, multifaceted individual. He, like Senku, is supremely confident in himself and his abilities. He takes great pride in his knowledge of the human psyche and is calm and composed in dire situations. Gen can lie very easily and has no problem manipulating or deceiving people to his advantage.
He is shown to be a little perverted as he was considering staying loyal to the Tsukasa empire on the possibility of living a comfortable harem-like life.
However, in the end, he chooses to align himself with the Kingdom of Science and often shows a genuinely kind and loyal side to him.
This was shown when he surprised Senku by giving him a telescope as a birthday present with the help of the villagers.
In one of the recent episodes, Gen contemplates destroying petrified human statues but decides against it due to his empathetic nature and his value for human life.
Gen has a penchant for showmanship, as shown by his display of magic tricks on his arrival at the Senku village. For all his confidence though, he is very paranoid. He hid packets of blood under his clothing on one occasion in case he’d be fatally attacked.
His cautious nature is ultimately a good thing as consequently, it makes him an excellent strategist leading him to become one of the 5 generals of the kingdom of science later on. He is good at making people work for Senku through his persuasive words and often white lies or manipulation.
Gen is extremely lazy and avoids physical labor due to his self-absorption. Even so, he has surprising amounts of endurance and willpower as shown through the series.
Relationships with other characters
Tsukasa originally did not wish to revive Gen. He saw him as a self-serving, greedy man. However, Tsukasa was desperate for a brilliant mind like Senku’s to help him. Gen understood and feared the power and charisma of Tsukasa and had no problems betraying him for the Kingdom of Science.
He initially claims that it was a self-serving action and he would side with whoever is winning. Although, this claim is betrayed by his genuine actions throughout the show.
Even though Gen was sent to spy on Senku and the kingdom of science, he undoubtedly respected Senku’s genius and his attempt at revival of humanity. Both Senku and Gen are equal in terms of intellect, though Gen’s expertise is human psyche and manipulation.
Gen has an average knowledge of modern-day science. This makes him the audience’s surrogate when it comes to giving genuinely shocked reactions to Senku’s seemingly outlandish ideas.
Over time Asagiri Gen and Senku become very close friends and allies. Gen reveals he saw Senku write his release day and name on a stone after he was revived and has been fascinated by him even before the two met.
Gen has cordial relations with the people of the village, even Magma who once attempted to murder him.
Anjali Mehta
Trivia
Gen’s last name, “Asagiri” translates to morning mist/fog. His first name is the Japanese word for “illusion”, which is a reference to him being a magician.
He often speaks in Pig-Latin in the English dub of the show. He uses it to describe Senku’s crazy plans as “lazy-cray” on multiple occasions. In the Japanese version, he tends to flip halves of random words. For example “yabe” becomes “be-ya” and “hidoyi” becomes “doyi-hi”.
Gen loves cola and has a low tolerance for alcohol. His quirks add a lot to his already charming and intriguing personality, making Asagiri Gen one of the most popular Dr. Stone characters.