Just the sheer volume of seiyuu talent on display tonight was pretty insane between Dororo and Mob Psycho 100. BONES isn’t exactly known for cutting corners when it comes to casting, but the whole legion of Claw and its various (and seemingly endless) internal factions was a veritable who’s who of big anime names. I almost can’t wrap my head around Ohtsuka Akio, Inoue Kazuhiko and Miki Shinichirou all appearing in the same episode of the same series – it’s like my speakers were going to explode from the Godly glow.
If there’s anything that concerns me a bit about the episode, in fact, it’s that there really is too much packed into a small space. It’s all great – great acting, great animation, great plot – it’s just a lot to take in over only 22 minutes. I can’t speak to the pacing in this part of the manga because I haven’t read it, but there have definitely been a couple of times this season (the second half of the Mogami arc being the other main instance) when I’ve felt that things seemed to be moving very quickly (which, as it happens, I don’t ever remember thinking about the first season).
In any event we are where we are, which is squarely in the middle of the World Domination Arc – one which I’m assuming is going to take us to the end of the season. There are a lot of players moving about on the chessboard here, but we have to start with the incident at Mob’s house. Here – yet again – Ekubo really steps up in a big way. Seeing just how fucked everyone is (including himself of course) if Mob really loses it, Dimple thinks on his feet (if he had them) and convinces Mob that the bodies in the house aren’t real – that they’re psychically-created dummies, and that his parents and Ritsu are safely evacuated.
As it turns out that was true (I suspected something along those lines) but Ekubo was bluffing in the moment – or at least, acting a lot more confident than he really felt because he had no choice. Mob seems to be evolving at an alarming speed (remember what Mogami said about negative emotions being much more powerful catalysts than positive, and that Mob is a 14 year-old boy), and he follows the psychic trace of the ones who burned his house and teleports to their location. But they don’t give him the information he wants, and he’s eventually picked up by some familiar faces – Scar, the ex-Claw members hiding out in Seasoning City, waiting for their old organization to come after them.
This is a bit of a jumble – but then, it seems like Claw is an organization that’s perpetually on the verge of total internal chaos (which perhaps makes it a prequel of sorts to Shin Sekai Yori). Claw’s head, Suzuki Touichirou, is in town to put his plan for world domination into action. He’s surrounded by the “Ultimate 5“, who do seem to be the strongest Claw members we’ve met (notably, we’ve never seen Suzuki’s powers in action). But the Claw “Foreigner Squad” is in rebellion – apparently incited by a government plant in their midst. That rebellion is crushed easily enough by the Ultimate 5, but none of this has anything to do with Mob. Remember him?
It seems it was Suzuki Shou who was responsible for what happened with Mob’s family – though just what exactly his endgame is I don’t quite get yet, though it’s clear he’s acting independently of his father. He’s got Ritsu willingly supporting him, and the parents have been sent off to an onsen out of harm’s way – but Ritsu is unaware of what’s happened to the house, and I can’t imagine he’ll be pleased when he finds out. And speaking of Mob, neither he nor anyone at the hideout the Scar members take him too knows any of this – including Reigen, who they’ve recruited to be their new leader after seeing Mob’s impressive performance at the press conference and attributing it to Reigen.
For now, Mob is out like a light – and it was pretty touching to see how his absolute trust in Reigen’s wisdom allowed him to finally come down off his adrenaline high and pass out. Once again we see Mob has been dealt a good hand in the friend department – both Ekubo and Reigen especially. But what happens when he wakes up, I wonder? The immediate crisis for the moment is that Teruki has taken it on himself to go off and try and prevent the kidnapping of the prime minister after seeing it on TV, and proved no match for one of the Ultimate 5, but the big wild card remains Shou and what role he’s chosen to play in all this. The showdown with Claw that ended the first season was incredibly epic in the action department, but I fully expect Mob Psycho 100 to top it with this rematch against the A team.
Yukie
March 6, 2019 at 12:07 amNon-manga reader here~I completely agree that the pacing is a little rushed. Of course, they’re always executed with flair, like the eyecatch showing Teru’s fight, but the high pace definitely felt a bit overwhelming with all the new characters introduced this episode (thank goodness for the pause button).
Actually at the beginning of the season, I was kind of shocked that Mob Psycho (after such a successful S1) only has one cour, whereas Dororo has two cours. I’m not familiar with the TV schedules, but it’s kind of sad that Mob Psycho doesn’t have more episodes..
Also, it feels like it’s been a while since we’ve heard Inoue Kazuhiko in all his godliness. First Ishida Akira as Mogami and now Inoue Kazuhiko! All the seiyuu choices are perfect too. I was surprised that even Sugiyama Noriaki, whose distinct, nasal voice often makes him sound miscast, fits naturally with his character.
Guardian Enzo
March 6, 2019 at 8:26 amYou can hear Inoue-san in a very different sort of role (he’s the best chameleon there is, IMHO) in this season’s Ueno-san. A very underrated little half-length comedy.
Miyu Fan
March 6, 2019 at 12:12 amI do wonder if Reigen and Dimple’s bluff would have any consequences later on. Mob might not found out because the bluff become true, but still it was a big gamble in the end. Shou is already in the danger zone if Mob or Ritsu found out what he did.
It’s kind of amazing of this episodes show a lot of new and old characters together but I still feel that each one of them has a distinct personality. Helped also with a lot of amazing seiyuu cast, seriously this really a passion project for BONES because I don’t know how they got the money to hire a lot of veteran seiyuu to voice basically supporting characters.
Mike
March 6, 2019 at 2:16 amWhew, the cliffhanger was a bluff – avoided the comments section last week so I didn’t see any spoilers. I wasn’t too worried as it would have been pretty out-of-character (super dark) for the show, but you never know.
Ha, I’d never thought of Shin Sekai Yori and Mob together before, that’s genius!
Yeah this episode was pretty packed, and after all the amazing character work this season, super fights with Claw just doesn’t seem that exciting in comparison. But I guess they need something more epic as a season close, and there’s sure to be lots of incredible animation.
azerty
March 6, 2019 at 3:38 amThey left out important detail why Dimple said it was dummies during the conversation with Reigen. Dimple told Reigen there would be vengeful spirits in the house if the family was murdered.
Orion Taylor
March 6, 2019 at 6:28 amTeru’s fight was great in the Manga. I wish they hadn’t reduced it to an eye-catch, but it was a necessary pacing move. Yeah, I was having difficulty placing the boss’s voice.. until I realized it was Gotou from Parasyte. Perfect casting choice.
L0ken
March 6, 2019 at 6:49 amThere werr many references from s1, especially torture scene,the guy commenting was tortured himself by teru and mob in the same ep9)
And holy shit,they did great job to condensing one of the most lengthy arc i the series-World Domination arc in general is big,this episode adapted chapters from 76(specifically pages 11-15) to 82(pages1-5) – that’s like 112 pages in one episode,main loss-teru short fight with kidnapper was shown in manga,in anime it was just eye-catches in commercial break(creative!),besides that they still managed to shown all key events in those chapters which I was pleasantly surprised,though they would cut more,obviously some of the moments were a bit longer and with more dialogs in the manga(for example,part in claw headquarters,there was more small details about the overall structure of organisation,but I’m glad anime point out the main take from it just like in manga-that the Claw is full of delusional manchildren and social outcasts with shit planning while still very dangerous due to sheer psyhic power of top guys and boss)…So nothing crucial but I understand why it felt fast-paced in anime, which is still feels liek god-like adaptation.
Chapters in this arc is generally more lengthy while last one which will be the climax is over 120+ pages epic,so for the rest 4 episodes anime should be packed with a lots of things happening!
P.S.Now I understand the pain of script writer and director which they expressed in interview,saying that due to the limited number of episodes they were working hard to fit all events in one-cour,that’s why this season feel so packed and some parts more fast-paced…and they still managed to do an amazing job on them,justbso much effort put into it despite all limitations.For me it’s Bones best work and best adaptation,I’m done.
Guardian Enzo
March 6, 2019 at 8:33 amNot surprised to hear it was 112 pages – it felt like it.
It’s a great adaptation no doubt, but it does suffer a bit from the pacing IMO. That’s obviously something Tachikawa felt he had to do, but it’s a shame there sometimes doesn’t seem to be time to let the material breathe long enough to have full impact.
Kingwombojr
March 7, 2019 at 7:29 amThe (possible) good news is if they do make a season 3 or second cour, it will have plenty of breathing room with no rushing barring they make it a half cour.
Even ten episodes would be plenty to finish the series.
Guardian Enzo
March 7, 2019 at 9:38 amFlipside of that is, the fact that they’re rushing so much under those circumstances could be interpreted to mean they don’t expect third season to happen. Why cram so much into a second that you’re short of material for a third?
Simone
March 7, 2019 at 6:25 pmStopping point? If they had to hit this point, they’d have to cut the World Domination arc in between seasons at some awkward spot if they went any slower. Even if you know you’re going to get a third season, there still is value to each season having its own independent narrative arc.
Kingwombojr
March 7, 2019 at 10:25 pmAlways a possibility but I really doubt it.
The reason they’re ending on the WD arc for season 2 is because it’s a good stopping point for the series before the series “hits a major check point” like in season 1 after they defeat the 7th decision branch.
The season’s also been a complete parallel to season 1, both starting with three separate story episodes, followed by a two-episode arc with a grand battle in episode 5, some slice of life episodes, a big change in tone for episode 8 directly leading into Mob and co. having a lengthy conflict with Claw.
~
Besides, while it’s fast-paced, this is far from rushed and the essential ingredients and material has and seems to be making it in to properly adapt this arc. An extra episode would have been nice for some slower pacing for breathing room (episode 9 really did follow the manga near faithfully, it’s just the manga has the added advantage of still text bubbles a reader can take their desired time on), but with this adaptation’s gorgeous, most likely painstaking to make, expensive(?) animation in every episode, I fully understand why there isn’t (I’m just joyous it’s one episode more than the usual 12).
Miyu Fan
March 6, 2019 at 11:31 amThis is really one of the instances which an unconventional number of episodes of one-cour would have benefited Mob Psycho greatly – if it’s 15 or 16 episodes then the pacing would be perfect already. But I guess 13 was the limit that they were able to approve that time.
Guardian Enzo
March 6, 2019 at 11:40 amWell, long cours like that are very rare (Boogiepop being an obvious exception). The same was true with Boku Dake ga Inai Machi, which was a superb series but would have been even better with 14 eps instead of 12.