It’s the nature of the sort of series Mob Psycho 100 is that it doesn’t really matter whether an episode is “stand-alone” or “serious” – they’re all powerful and they’re all connected. It’s easy to be dazzled (bedazzled?) by the sheer spectacle of this show – simply put, one rarely gets the chance to see this kind of talent on display in TV anime (Made in Abyss is probably the closest recent analog). But Tachikawa Yuzuru, the man perched atop this gargantuan pile of brilliant creators, is as much a genius for his storytelling as his visuals. And with Mob Psycho 100, you can’t separate the two.
This is a show that’s full of paradoxes. A protagonist who’s the most powerful esper in the world (probably) in the person of a sensitive and kind young boy. A preposterous con artist who also happens to be the most GAR character in anime when he cranks it up. Absurd physical comedy juxtaposed with deep and nuanced emotional exploration, and a healthy dollop of horror. It’s in the fitting of these disparate elements together that both ONE and the anime team really display the full heights of their ability, and in their hands even a seemingly routine episode like this one becomes truly exceptional.
As he so often is it’s Reigen who’s the driver of events here. Desperate as usual to stir up business he drags Mob off to Cuticle Town, a local hotspot for urban legends – not because he believes any of them to be true, but because such places are rife with people who believe in the supernatural. Tiny table at the ready, he sets up shop at a busy intersection but the attention he draws isn’t the sort he was hoping. Eventually a member of the local psychics association, Shinra Banjoumaru (Kusunoki Taiten – who coincidentally played the only other anime “Mobu” character I remember, in Kingdom), shows up to berate Reigen for encroaching on his turf. But when a client shows up asking for help, he ends up roped into helping Reigen with her seemingly impossible request – to rid the town of its urban legends she’s convinced are contributing to her personal hauntings.
This being Mob Psycho 100, nothing is as simple as it initially appears. The rotund Shinra-san not only isn’t a con man, but he’s actually a legit psychic – and dead serious about it too. Reigen may browbeat him into helping for free (theoretically Shinra will get a cut, but…) but he’s still Reigen – he recruits Dimple to tag along and make sure Shinra doesn’t get into real trouble (Dimple agrees only after it’s Mob who asks). And despite what Reigen tells Mob, the most famous of these urban legends – “The Dragger” – turns out to be real (in a sense, though the philosophical implications of that statement are by no means straightforward).
So much happens here that it’s hard to believe this was only 22 minutes, especially since things never felt rushed. Reigen and Mob go off to investigate the human-faced dog story, and find a pooch who’s had his face written on with magic marker. Reigen again shows his true stuff here – cruelty to animals is a non-starter with him. Meanwhile the hapless Shinra almost gets himself arrested as a pervert questioning a couple of kid witnesses at the park, then gets into it over his head with a real pervert who also happens to have become an urban legend – Red Raincoat (Ueda Yuuji). That’s bad enough when said pervert pulls out a stun gun, but the ectoplasm really hits the fan when The Dragger (Kobayashi Yuu) shows up.
If The Dragger isn’t a real urban legend (and I can find no evidence she is) she should be. She’s fucking scary and her M.O. sounds like a classic Japanese ghost story for sure. Dimple steps in (literally) just in the nick of time, and the battle between Dimple-Shinra and The Dragger is utterly fantastic. But then the whole scene in the rainy woods is gorgeously drawn and directed – stuff like the face-shapes mud splatters and on the trees might go unnoticed if you aren’t paying attention. Dimple has been so changed by the inherent goodness of Mob that he puts it all on the line to save Shinra for fear of letting Mob down, but the best he can do with the psychic’s corpulent frame is buy time until his SOS is answered (which is not before Shinra’s Achilles ruptures).
I love the whole idea of The Dragger – a fake legend given real form by the combined beliefs of those in the modern urban jungle who’ve heard the stories and been frightened by them. As Dimple says, she’s really not real or fake, but somewhere in-between – but that means that she’s basically impervious to those who fear her, because it’s their fear which makes her powerful. I love even more that the salvation of the moment is that Mob is such an unspoiled cinnamon roll that he’s never heard of The Dragger or any other urban legend for that matter. And the sad reality that the reason is not just that he doesn’t concern himself much with frivolous things, but that he’s never been part of a posse of boys close enough to swap ghost stories with.
Mob defeats and exorcises The Dragger easily enough, but there’s one urban legend in town who’s too powerful even for him – Dash Granny, who’s like the cherry on top of the episode’s story. Mob’s powers are useless against her – because she’s not a spirit after all, just a genki obaa-san who ruins Mob’s fragile self-esteem by making all his training with the Body Improvement Club seem fruitless. Not all is lost, though – a new ally has been found in Shinra, it seems (I hope so – he’s awesome) and Reigen has finally entered the 21st Century and built a website for his con business. Unfortunately, judging by the landing page it’s the very beginning of the 21st Century.
ED Sequence:
Miyu Fan
January 15, 2019 at 8:47 pmI watched this episode at 1.30 am with all lights off in my room and the Dragger scene was really creepy, they got it right with the horror atmosphere. For the Dash Granny scene, I love how Dimple just pointed out why didn’t Mob just teleport instead of competing with the Granny on who can outrun each other. It does beg the question why the Granny decided to run in the tunnel every day at full speed, I would freak out too if I saw the Dash Granny.
leongsh
January 15, 2019 at 8:51 pmI personally think that it is Reigen that makes the show even though Mob is the main character. Without someone like Reigen to play off against, it would be a few steps down fro m what it is. Their combination is, to me, essential for the success of this show.
King Wombo Jr
January 15, 2019 at 10:16 pmWhat’s crazy is the Dimple fight is just a typical monster of the week battle in the manga, and a relatively brief, low stakes one at that.
Yet the animators went out of their way to extend this fight with amazing choreography, sakuga, and fluency. They didn’t need to, no one would have blamed if the fight was only good. But they went ahead anyway and turned it into an amazing, eye-candy battle.
I’m curious to know if you go back and read/look at the adapted manga chapters after the episode’s release (like you did with some previous adapted series)?
I love the Mob manga series, but by god is the work these passionate animators putting in awe-inspiring. It so much fun to look at the manga and see just how much they are improving on an already great source material.
Guardian Enzo
January 15, 2019 at 10:21 pmIt’s very clear that this is a huge labor of love for Bones and everyone who works on it. Big-time.
I haven’t been going back to the manga with this one – just letting the anime carry the experience.
Orion Taylor
January 16, 2019 at 12:43 pmBased on the ED, I’m a bit more confident that we will see the entire manga adapted to the end.
Guardian Enzo
January 16, 2019 at 2:22 pmIn this cour, though? That would really surprise me.
sonicsenryaku
January 16, 2019 at 4:00 pmNo; according to leaks mob psycho S2 will be 13 eps; so basically 1 more ep than the last season. There’s no way in hell they are adapting the entire manga. I know that there’s imagery in the ed that foreshadows the finale of the manga, but that doesn’t really mean much. The first season’s opening foreshadowed plenty about future arcs that didn’t get adapted in that cour. It’s my hope that those scenes being put in the ed are indicative of BONES’ plans to ultimately adapt the entire manga. On another note; this episode was such a brilliant display of top-notch directing; it almost felt like i was watching an Edgar Wright film i.e. shaun of the dead or World’s End; that’s how good this episodes pacing, character work, and visual cohesion was. Both eps of this second season have been stellar in their own respective ways. While ep 1 had more emotional gravitas, ep 2 was a better display of the series’ kinetic eccentricity, making what was supposed to be 24 mins seem like 3. Hot damn i love Mondays; and by the looks of next episode’s preview, if my predictions are correct, we are approaching the first phase (well, technically this ep was the first phase) of the good SHIT aka the arc we are currently in
Guardian Enzo
January 16, 2019 at 4:58 pmWTF with the two best shows of the season being on Mondays though. That’s whack.
Orion Taylor
January 16, 2019 at 4:54 pmDefinitely not in this cour XD. You/me/sonic are all in agreement here. Sonic just worded it much better than I did:
“It’s my hope that those scenes being put in the ed are indicative of BONES’ plans to ultimately adapt the entire manga.”
(which is exactly what I was trying to express).
IMO there is a pretty clear stopping point for this cour/season just based on how the series has been paced so far, which is further reinforced by imagery in the OP and the way the chose to start the first episode.
Given the above, and assuming 13 eps, I do worry a bit that one of my favorite short arcs is going to be put on the chopping block to make room for the two major arcs this cour (the fact that they chose to move a key flashback to season 1 does not help).
King Wombo Jr
January 17, 2019 at 12:42 pmBy short arcs I assume you mean the “SW” arc. Rest assured they are adapting it; the second trailer shows scenes directly from said arc so it’s getting adapted.
The upcoming “M” arc will supposedly be ending by episode 5, which makes sense given its similar length to Teru’s arc (which also ended in episode 5).
It’s looking like the second season is following the first’s pattern, which makes me believe the “WD” arc will begin episode 8 and end episode 12/13.
If I’m correct (and by how the season has been going I’m 99.9% sure now that I am) the “SW” arc will actually be getting two episodes through 6-7.
Orion Taylor
January 17, 2019 at 2:40 pmThat’s good to hear. I was trying to figure out the exact pacing of this season yesterday, and things weren’t quite adding up for me, but things make a bit more sense now. The point you make about Teru’s arc fitting into two eps is especially relevant, since it’s evidence that showrunners are capable of coherently covering 100+ pages in a single episode. I think you’re predictions will be right on the money.
Guardian Enzo
January 17, 2019 at 2:57 pmLet’s everywhere just exercise some caution here. You’re entering the spot where the map says “here there be dragons”.
Earthlingzing
January 16, 2019 at 8:06 pmGreat animation for the fight scene.
Lost Link
January 17, 2019 at 12:14 amUnspoiled cinnamon roll.