Taiju Ooki

Taiju lost both parents when he was young. He grew up alongside Senku and Yuzuriha, becoming one of their closest friends before high school. His childhood history is only briefly documented, but he regularly assisted Senku’s experiments despite understanding little of the theory behind them.

One experiment involved sending lightweight objects upward with a homemade rocket. Yuzuriha made knitted dolls representing the three friends, which Senku and Taiju used as payload. They failed to reach orbit, but the project established the division of labor that later defines the Kingdom of Science: Senku designs, Yuzuriha crafts, and Taiju supplies persistent physical effort.

Taiju also helped Senku construct equipment for Byakuya Ishigami while the aspiring astronaut prepared for a swimming examination. These childhood projects made Taiju familiar with Senku’s improbable plans and taught him that apparently absurd instructions usually had a rational purpose.

By high school, Taiju had spent five years concealing his feelings for Yuzuriha. He finally arranged to confess beneath a camphor tree on school grounds. Before he could complete the confession, a green light swept across Earth and transformed every human into stone.

Taiju remained mentally awake throughout petrification by repeatedly focusing on the promise that he would tell Yuzuriha how he felt. More than 3,700 years later, nitric acid weakened his stone shell enough for him to revive. Senku, who had awakened several months earlier, found him on October 5, 5738.

Taiju is loud, enthusiastic, straightforward, and almost entirely without guile. He approaches exhausting labor with the same energy other people reserve for celebration and tends to announce his intentions at full volume. Even simple accomplishments can produce tears, shouting, or exuberant praise.

His honesty is unusually strict. Before petrification, Senku offers him what he claims is a love potion that would guarantee success with Yuzuriha. Taiju rejects it immediately because he wants to confess fairly, prompting Senku to reveal that the supposed potion was gasoline and that he had expected precisely that answer.

Taiju is a committed pacifist. He refuses to strike other people even when attacked and instead uses his strength to block, restrain, carry, build, or endure. This restraint is a conscious moral choice rather than fear; he will place his body between an attacker and his friends without hesitation.

His trusting nature occasionally makes him slow to recognize deception or hostility. Taiju initially assumes Tsukasa Shishio is kind because he respects an animal killed for food. Once Senku identifies Tsukasa as a threat, however, Taiju follows his friend’s strategy without demanding explanations he cannot evaluate.

Taiju has little aptitude for abstract science, but he is not incapable of insight. He notices practical details, understands coded instructions when they relate to immediate objectives, and occasionally identifies useful materials through ordinary experience. His suggestion that alcohol could contribute to revival fluid becomes crucial during the conflict with Tsukasa.

He is considerate in romance despite his dramatic feelings. After reviving Yuzuriha, Taiju postpones his confession because the near-empty world might make her feel obligated to accept him. He would rather wait for a free answer than obtain the relationship under extraordinary pressure.

Taiju is a tall, heavily muscular young man with broad shoulders, thick eyebrows, brown eyes, and short spiky brown hair. His physical build reflects exceptional natural strength and the enormous volume of manual labor he performs after revival.

When Taiju first emerges from petrification, cracks remain across his face. One vertical marking extends from his hairline past his left eye, while another appears beneath his right eye. These scars visually identify him as a revived modern human.

His earliest Stone World clothing is improvised from hides and rough fabric. He later wears a sleeveless brown tunic divided into long panels, secured with rope around the waist and paired with primitive boots. The open arms allow unrestricted movement during farming, mining, construction, and transport work.

The second worldwide petrification heals the original cracks when Taiju is revived again. He subsequently paints similar markings onto his face, deliberately preserving the appearance associated with his earlier Stone World identity.

While impersonating the Kingdom of Science’s supposed leader during the conflict in North America, Taiju wears a lab coat and adopts the title “Dr. Taiju.” His size and confident volume support the deception even though his limited scientific vocabulary makes the performance difficult to sustain under questioning.

Taiju possesses extraordinary physical strength, stamina, durability, and lung capacity without supernatural enhancement. His capabilities are exaggerated beyond typical human limits but remain framed as natural gifts developed through determination and labor.

His greatest asset is endurance. Taiju can perform repetitive heavy work for hours or days with minimal rest, making him ideal for jobs that would otherwise require large labor forces. He transports logs, turns machinery, tills fields, mines ore, and contributes to large construction projects.

Taiju once covers approximately eighty kilometers in five hours, maintaining an average pace of roughly sixteen kilometers per hour. He also swims to the seafloor without an oxygen tank to recover petrified allies and heavy stone fragments, astonishing even Ryusui Nanami.

His durability is similarly remarkable. Taiju remains conscious after direct attacks from Tsukasa and Moz, both among the strongest fighters of their respective societies. He prefers absorbing blows to returning them, turning toughness into a defensive tool.

Mental stamina complements his physical endurance. Taiju retains consciousness for more than 3,700 years while petrified, concentrating on his unfinished confession. He remains awake through a later global petrification as well, placing him among the rare people capable of preserving coherent thought across millennia.

Taiju is an effective farmer and large-scale labor organizer. Once the Kingdom of Science begins producing food beyond immediate hunting and gathering, he leads the Farming Division and helps convert wheat cultivation into a stable food supply.

His practical English is limited but improves during the North American expedition. He can follow portions of conversations and communicate basic ideas, though complex exchanges still require fluent speakers such as Senku, Ukyo Saionji, or Gen Asagiri.

Taiju does not possess formally named combat techniques. His pacifism prevents him from developing an offensive fighting style, and his contributions rely upon physical applications rather than signature attacks.

• Endurance Labor — Taiju performs sustained manual work at a level that substitutes for teams of ordinary workers, supplying the energy required for agriculture, construction, mining, and manufacturing.

• Human Shield — he places his body between an attacker and another person, absorbing damage without retaliating. This application of his strength is consistent with his refusal to strike people.

• Deep-Water Recovery — Taiju holds his breath, dives to the seafloor, and retrieves petrified people or equipment without conventional diving gear.

• Dr. Taiju Performance — a deception devised for the North American campaign in which Taiju poses as the Kingdom of Science’s chief scientist, drawing enemy attention away from Senku.

These are descriptive roles rather than canonical technique names. Taiju’s lack of named attacks distinguishes him from the series’ dedicated fighters and reinforces that strength in the Kingdom of Science can be productive rather than destructive.

Senku Ishigami is Taiju’s childhood friend and intellectual counterpart. Taiju cannot follow most of Senku Ishigami’s scientific explanations, but he trusts the reasoning behind them and carries out instructions without resentment. Senku Ishigami, in turn, considers Taiju’s stamina, honesty, and dependability irreplaceable.

Their opposing talents produce an effective partnership. Senku Ishigami develops processes while Taiju supplies the sustained labor needed to scale them. Taiju’s emotional openness also balances Senku Ishigami’s guarded affection, expressing the relief and loyalty that Senku tends to communicate through practical actions.

Yuzuriha Ogawa is Taiju’s childhood friend and romantic partner. Taiju’s desire to confess to Yuzuriha Ogawa keeps him conscious during the first petrification, and she is the first person he wants to revive. He insists on covering her stone body with clothing before applying revival fluid, prioritizing her dignity even when almost no one else is present.

Taiju postpones his confession to Yuzuriha Ogawa because he does not want the conditions of the Stone World to influence her answer. They nevertheless function as a committed pair throughout the story, infiltrating Tsukasa’s forces together and supporting the Kingdom of Science through labor and craft. After civilization is restored, Taiju and Yuzuriha marry.

Tsukasa Shishio is initially an admired ally. Taiju appreciates Tsukasa Shishio’s strength and apparent respect for life, but Tsukasa’s destruction of adult statues makes them enemies. Taiju refuses to attack Tsukasa Shishio even after witnessing him apparently kill Senku.

Taiju and Yuzuriha Ogawa remain inside the Tsukasa Empire as spies. Their presence allows Senku Ishigami to receive information and coordinate the bloodless conclusion of the Stone Wars. Following Tsukasa’s revival and reconciliation, Taiju accepts him without demanding revenge.

Kohaku shares Taiju’s directness and considerable physical ability. Though Kohaku is a trained fighter and Taiju is not, both become central members of the Kingdom of Science’s Power Team. Kohaku respects his willingness to work and his refusal to abandon allies.

Chrome fills the scientific apprentice role that Taiju cannot. Taiju admires Chrome’s inventions and helps convert his ideas into physical infrastructure. Both respond to scientific breakthroughs with visible enthusiasm, though Chrome understands their principles more readily.

Gen Asagiri initially knows Taiju as one of Senku’s friends held under observation by the Tsukasa Empire. After the Stone Wars, Gen Asagiri recognizes that Taiju and Senku share a rare degree of mental resilience despite their opposite personalities.

During the American campaign, Gen Asagiri selects Taiju to impersonate the chief scientist because his toughness makes him a safer decoy. Gen Asagiri is horrified when Taiju is struck by gunfire in South America and rushes to his side, showing that their relationship has grown beyond tactical convenience.

Ryusui Nanami values Taiju as a source of seemingly inexhaustible labor. Taiju’s ability to dive without equipment and recover people from the seafloor leaves Ryusui Nanami visibly astonished. Ryusui later describes Taiju as the toughest person he knows.

Magma provides another source of heavy labor but approaches strength differently. Magma values dominance and competition, whereas Taiju uses power cooperatively and refuses violence. Working on the same projects turns their contrasting temperaments into complementary assets.

Maya Biggs begins as a member of the American military faction. When large-scale mining exhausts even Taiju, he chooses to revive Maya Biggs because her strength can help. Their subsequent cooperation reflects the post-conflict union of former enemies around reconstruction.

Dr. Xeno initially believes Taiju is the Kingdom of Science’s chief scientist because of Gen’s deception. Taiju’s poor performance of technical vocabulary contrasts with his effectiveness at absorbing danger and distracting Dr. Xeno’s forces. Xeno later recognizes Taiju’s unusual mental and physical resilience.

Stanley Snyder attacks Taiju and the other Kingdom of Science members during the pursuit through South America. Taiju is shot multiple times while attempting to protect the group, but worldwide petrification and later revival repair the otherwise fatal damage.

Taiju is the initial viewpoint character of Dr. STONE. The opening follows his planned confession, petrification, struggle to remain conscious, and awakening in a world where civilization has vanished. His reunion with Senku introduces the central objective of reviving humanity.

Senku assigns Taiju the physical work required to develop revival fluid. Together they gather nitric acid, produce alcohol, and refine nital capable of breaking petrification. Taiju’s observation about alcohol contributes directly to the formula that allows them to revive others deliberately.

After lions attack, Senku and Taiju revive Tsukasa for protection. The decision creates the story’s first major ideological conflict when Tsukasa declares that only the young should return and begins destroying adult statues.

Taiju and Yuzuriha join the Tsukasa Empire under the appearance of abandoning Senku. In reality, they act as infiltrators and repair shattered statues so that the victims can eventually be revived. Their mission removes Taiju from the central village-building chapters but becomes essential to the Kingdom of Science’s long-term plan.

After the Stone Wars, Taiju returns to the main group and leads the Farming Division. His wheat production supports a permanent population, enables breadmaking, and helps transform the Kingdom of Science from a small experimental settlement into an expanding society.

During the voyage to Treasure Island, Taiju assists with shipboard labor and the recovery of petrified allies. He continues through the expeditions to North America and South America, serving as both physical specialist and decoy.

Taiju is among the expedition members shot during Stanley’s final assault. The activation of a global petrification device preserves the wounded group, and Suika later revives Senku, who restores everyone else. Taiju remains conscious throughout the years spent as stone.

He contributes to later construction and resource projects leading toward the Moon mission. Following the final time skip, Taiju helps establish Yuzuriha’s fashion company and marries her during a ceremony attended by their surviving friends.

Taiju begins with one unresolved goal: confessing to Yuzuriha. Petrification turns that ordinary teenage anxiety into the mental anchor that preserves his consciousness across thousands of years. His feelings remain constant, but his understanding of how to express them becomes more mature.

He initially appears positioned as the story’s conventional protagonist—a loud, physically powerful teenager confronting an extraordinary disaster. The narrative quickly shifts scientific leadership to Senku, while Taiju accepts a supporting role without jealousy. He measures usefulness by contribution rather than attention.

His pacifism becomes more significant as conflict escalates. Taiju has enough strength to injure others but repeatedly chooses endurance, restraint, and labor. This makes him an alternative to both Tsukasa’s physical supremacy and the armed power later employed by Stanley’s forces.

The espionage mission tests his ability to contribute without Senku beside him. Taiju and Yuzuriha spend months preserving statues, gathering intelligence, and waiting for the Kingdom of Science to contact them. His patience proves as valuable as his strength.

Taiju’s relationship with Yuzuriha develops through shared action rather than a formal confession. He refuses to exploit the isolation of the Stone World, and she understands his feelings without requiring immediate words. Their eventual marriage occurs only after a diverse society has been restored and both can choose freely.

By the conclusion, Taiju’s labor has shifted from survival to construction of a renewed civilization. He remains physically straightforward and scientifically limited, but the scale of his work grows from carrying logs to supporting agriculture, industry, international expeditions, and the Moon project.

Taiju’s name is written 大木 大樹. His surname, Ōki, combines 大, meaning “big” or “large,” with 木, meaning “tree.”

His given name, Taiju, combines the same character 大 with 樹, another character meaning “tree.” The complete name can therefore be read as “big tree, big tree,” matching his large body, physical stability, and exceptional endurance.

The tree imagery also connects him with Senku and Yuzuriha through a broader land, sea, and sky naming motif. Taiju’s name emphasizes solidity and rooted strength rather than intellectual or technical ability.

• Taiju’s full birth date is April 2, 2003.

• His petrification scars disappear after a later revival, so he recreates them with paint.

• Taiju’s head is rated eight on the Mohs hardness scale in a comedic official comparison, placing it alongside several gemstones.

• He did not watch television before the petrification event.

• His straw hat is listed as his personal treasure.

• His motif color is bronze.

• Taiju placed tenth in the first official Japanese Dr. STONE character popularity poll with 649 votes.

• Makoto Furukawa voices Taiju in Japanese, while Ricco Fajardo provides his English voice.

Taiju appears throughout the Dr. STONE anime adaptation, beginning as its first viewpoint character. The television series follows his awakening, partnership with Senku, conflict with Tsukasa, espionage mission, and return to the Kingdom of Science.

Dr. STONE: STONE WARS expands his role inside the Tsukasa Empire. The anime emphasizes the trust required for Taiju and Yuzuriha to maintain their cover while waiting for Senku’s communications network.

Dr. STONE New World depicts Taiju as part of the Perseus expedition. His underwater recovery work and participation in the Treasure Island operation return his physical endurance to the foreground.

He appears in mobile-game collaborations, promotional artwork, character goods, and stage adaptations of the manga. Merchandise commonly groups him with Senku and Yuzuriha as the three modern-era childhood friends who begin the reconstruction story.

Taiju ranked tenth in the first official Japanese character popularity poll, receiving 649 votes. He placed thirteenth in the second poll, remaining among the series’ better-known early characters despite spending a long portion of the village storyline away from the main cast.

His opening role has attracted attention because the first chapter initially presents him as the likely protagonist. The shift toward Senku redefines Taiju as a physical and emotional counterpart rather than removing his importance from the reconstruction effort.

Audience discussion commonly focuses on the practical value of his labor. Taiju does not invent devices or defeat major opponents, but agriculture, mining, transport, and construction depend upon work that the series repeatedly assigns to him.

His refusal to strike people also distinguishes him within the action-adventure format. Taiju’s strength is measured through what he can build, carry, survive, and protect, allowing him to remain useful without abandoning his pacifist principles.