# Calming Down, Could You Feel Your Satisfaction? Mob Psycho 100



## Attaman (Apr 8, 2019)

Having given everyone approximately a week to wind down and mull over the recent season finale, I figured it was about time I spoke up about a series that... uh, while not _flawless_ (see later commentary), has generally been well-received and accredited.

_Mob Psycho 100_ is the brainchild of ONE, also known for the more popular (if, IMO, inferior) _One-Punch Man_ series. The story follows a relatively (at least in terms of demeanor and appearance) average middle schooler by the name of Shigeo Kageyama (often referred to as Mob, hence that part of the series title). And as to be expected from a Shonen series, Mob has a special power. Namely: He's a stupidly powerful psychic.

Less expected from the typical Shonen series, the plot doesn't follow Mob as he attempts to get more powerful and learn new psychic techniques. Instead, it's... a vague mix of slice of life, comedy, and typical Shonen fight scenes rolled into one. To avoid going too heavily into spoilers, the main thrust of Mob's character arcs relate to _personal_ growth: Deciding what he wants to do with his life and how to get there, as well as growing less extroverted and emotionally suppressed (as his psychic powers flare when he experiences emotions too strong to suppress, such as happiness or anger or so-on; hence the Psycho and 100(%)).

Some people might notice I said _Mob's_ character arcs. That is because the series has a fairly solid list of secondary and tertiary characters, most infamously Reigen of #RedrawReigen notoriety. While not all of them get much in the way of screen time, almost all of them display some degree of depth and a fair few of them have their own character arcs as well (the main ones off the top of my head, without including spoilers, being: Reigen, Tome, and Ritsu).

As I've said, the series is... less than perfect. If reading the manga (something I heartily recommend), you'll find the art is well-compositioned and lain out, if a bit... unpolished, compared to a lot of published works. This is most especially obvious in the first few chapters and arcs. Furthermore, while ONE is far from the most problematic of mangaka, there is a bit of a stickler in some of his character design. Specifically: One of the characters in the Claw arc is... in a word, "minstrel" in their design. ONE's other work, _One-Punch Man_, features more and more serious issues, but it would be remiss to avoid mentioning as much now as I can understand entirely why such a character design might put somebody off from the series and / or its writer.

~ ~ ~

Now, with all the above said, why is this in TV, Video, and Film? Because as mentioned previously, the second season recently ended. And many people have been exposed - either directly or via memes - to the animated series before (or exclusively instead of) the manga.

And what a fucking ear and eye candy the animated series has been so far. With music by Kenji Kawai, too many animators and different artistic mediums between just two seasons to properly list, and... fuck it, let's just say "It's made by Studio BONES", it's received a fair deal of acclaim even without touching upon the story.

Did I mention the ear worms? Because the additions to the soundtrack by Mob Choir are those, too.

So, _Mob Psycho 100_. Watch it. Thoughts on it?


----------



## Miles Marsalis (Apr 12, 2019)

I'm watching this soon, so we'll have something to talk about.


----------



## Attaman (Apr 12, 2019)

Unicon said:


> I'm watching this soon, so we'll have something to talk about.


Hope you enjoy when you do! Bear in mind if you binge the whole series that there's _approximately_ one season's worth of content left to adapt from the (complete) manga, so it's possible the anime isn't over so much as on another hiatus.


----------



## Miles Marsalis (Sep 27, 2019)

I was watching the series with my girlfriend and her roommate this week, so we're about midway through the first season. I have to admit that I didn't know if I was going to like this series as much One Punch Man, which was another anime I was initially skeptical of but wound up appreciating.

This series blew me away. Actually all three of us loved it and we didn't have high expectations going in. 

Just expand upon what you said about the depth of the characters, you weren't kidding. Starting with the antagonists in the first six episodes, all of the deep motives and attitudes driving their actions. The ghost of the motorcycling riding wrestler was haunting a local tunnel ... only to be revealing to be doing so against his will and he had no real animus against anyone. The ghost of the boy haunting a girls' school and scaring the students ... turned out to be a lonely guy who hanging around the girls' school trying to enjoy himself since he was nervous around girls in life. Teru came across as a social Darwinist only concerned with maintaining his place in hierarchy he was creating around himself with his psychic powers ... until Mob pointed out that he was really afraid that without his powers, he was nothing, which is a fear that Mob shares but strives to not indulge through his self-imposed rules and humility. 

The actual main characters exhibit even more depths. Mob has awesome telekinectic powers, but uses them with great responsibility and tries to better himself through the Body Improvement Club, even though he has problems keeping with the members. His brother seems to not have psychic powers and struggles with the need to be special like Mob, only occasion touching the truth that both him and Mob subtly envy each other and wish they were the other. 

We'll probably finish up the first season this weekend and I'll let you know what we thought of it.


----------



## Attaman (Sep 27, 2019)

As a note, there's two OVA's out at the moment (the latest of which was released... I want to say just three days ago?).

The first is rather comedy-centric, for the most part, and was in part created to help catch people get back up to speed due to the gap between Season 1's (July 2016) and Season 2's (January 2019) release dates. It doesn't hurt to watch, but can be skipped over without missing much. The second OVA was created to _directly_ follow the events of Season 2 (most probably filling a chronological gap between Season 2 and a hypothetical Season 3), and has a little bit more character development (if, again, something you can skip without much fuss).

~ ~ ~

That said, glad to hear you've been getting some enjoyment out of it. 

As a bit of a forewarning, Season 2 has a little bit more action and is a _lot_ more dark in a couple spots. The main trauma / trigger-warning points will be the two episodes around an Invitation (you'll know what I mean when you get there, trust me), and the Smokey part (again, you'll know what I mean when you get there). It never quite gets to the point that you feel like you're watching _Berserk_ or _Game of Thrones_ or something, but it's still worth the commentary as the whiplash can be a bit unsettling for people. The attention to characters and slice-of-life aspects never really falls to the wayside, however.


----------



## Attaman (Oct 18, 2021)

Reviving the thread, as, well:


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1449344371665502211

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1449706767143735299

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1450069147623125000
Whether this will go straight from 99% to 100%, 99% to 99.1%, or skip 100% to reach ???%, point is that the series is apparently going to have some big news soon. News big enough for them to officially count down the days for several months.


----------



## Attaman (Sep 3, 2022)




----------



## Attaman (Oct 5, 2022)

It's time. Both for the initial soundtrack, and S3 has begun. Keep in mind that some of the PV's spoil the plot of the season, so if looking to go in blind you may want to avoid those.


----------

