OP: “1” by MOB CHOIR
I always believe in not burying the headline, so – it was great. That will come as very little shock to anyone, I realize, given the pedigree of this series and the staff behind it. But there was just a hint of change to make one worry about this season of Mob Psycho 100. Not as much as Golden Kamuy with its new studio and director (based on the premiere, that bullet’s dodged). But monumentally talented director Tachikawa Yuzuru is stepping back to the “chief director” role – presumably to work on the upcoming Blue Giant film, a serious hype bomb itself. That leaves Mob Psycho S3 in the hands of Hasui Takahiro, a very experienced Bones animator and episode director, who’s slipping into the big chair for the first time.
It’s impossible to know in a case like this how much Tachikawa is directly involved, but presumably he endorsed (or made) the selection of Hasui, and there’s no evidence whatsoever in this premiere of any drop in quality. While on a certain level series like Mob Psycho and Golden Kamuy and Made in Abyss are competing (I have to rank them, after all), in truth they’re really only competing against themselves. How does any given season of Mob ranks against the others? Masterpieces like these are so unique that they establish their own benchmarks.
One thing Tachikawa always did was start a season with a relatively “normal” episode – a stand-alone where Mob and Reigen handle the mundanities of Spirits & Such and Mob deals with his school life. This time is no exception, as we find Mob consumed with worry about filling out his career path survey. Now, Mob is a second-year middle schooler and not only is this totally non-binding, it’s routinely blown off (as Ekubo tells Mob in no uncertain terms). But one of the reasons we love Mob so much is that he’s painfully earnest (and neurotic, but then those often go hand-in-hand). He can’t grok the idea of disrespecting the process by not taking it seriously.
The problem of course is that Mob is a second-year middle schooler. And he doesn’t belong to one of two main exceptions (hardcore achievers who have their life planned out to the last dump, and head-in-the-clouds types who say “soccer player” or idol manager”) who have a real life plan. As such he has no clue what he wants to do with his life (which is actually perfectly fine). He proceeds to talk to just about everybody about this (it’s striking that everyone in Mob’s circle except himself is either at the very bottom or very top of the academic pyramid). But the most memorable conversation is with Reigen, and there will be a callback to it later in the episode.
The first exorcism case (Serizawa is the new face at Spirits & Such, and getting the rookie treatment from Reigen) is a guy who paid ¥80000 for a ¥500 statue which turns out to be infested with an actual curse. Reigen is in full bullshitter mode here of course (his natural state), but Serizawa has no trouble exorcising the doll, In the process he does break off one of its arms (still believing it to be worth ¥80000) which prompts Reigen to pull out a secret move – “Rice Grain Big Bang” – to repair it, much to Serizawa’s amazement.
Meanwhile, the giant broccoli outside of town has only increased interest in the Psycho Helmet cult, which has not escaped Mezato-san’s (or Dimple’s) notice. Mob remains singularly uninterested in the impact his powers have on people like this, though that can obviously only continue for so long, Another case comes in, this one somewhat meatier – a guy who’s blaming everything in his miserable life on an evil spirit when in reality, he’s cursing himself. While Reigen does unveil his “Hydrogen Water Mist” finishing move, this time around it takes both Mob and Serizawa to clear the air.
Both Mob and Serizawa find this case hitting a little too close to home – which you can sort of understand in Serizawa’s case, but with Mob is really just tragic. For a 14 year-old to be so terrified of making a mistake that will curse his life is not really that unusual, but still rather heartbreaking. Mob may be only 190/360 in the class rankings, but he’s special in ways beyond his esper powers – he understands things people are happier going through life oblivious to. This all builds up to one more conversation between Mob and Reigen, where the latter tells his protege that the only thing he needs to worry about is doing whatever he wants.
As always, it’s in the quiet moments between these two phenomenal characters that Mob Psycho 100 shines brightest. See, Reigen telling Mob that he was kidding earlier about Spirits & Such being his career path is perfectly logical and believable – but he’s 100% lying here. Reigen will say and do anything for Mob, in the end – not for personal gain but simply out of empathy and decency. He’s seriously bummed to hear Mob say his future lies elsewhere, but he’s not going to let Mob see that at a time when he’s clearly vulnerable. Mob’s wisdom in seeing the danger in cocooning himself with Reigen, and the fundamental paradox of Reigen’s nature – a complete scam artist and self-promoter who’s an absolute mensch when the chips are down – this is Mob Psycho 100 at its absolute best. And that best is about as good as anime gets.
sonicsenryaku
October 7, 2022 at 12:29 am“See, Reigen telling Mob that he was kidding earlier about Spirits & Such being his career path is perfectly logical and believable – but he’s 100% lying here.”
This right here, I think speaks volumes as to how well Mob Psycho handles the duality of its main cast of characters: they’re presented as people whose personalities are multi-faceted in logical and believable ways, and that’s a concept ONE continues to explore in interesting, goofy, and cathartic ways during this final stretch of Mob Psycho, hence why its my favorite section of the story. This section of the story also has a slower, more serial build compared to previous seasons (probably a product of ONE’s evolution writing Mob Psycho over time) but that’s what I like about it. As such, the character interactions get to shine while driving the action setpieces that will impress courtesy of BONES’ great production values. Now more than ever, I appreciate the aesthetic of this series; having all three seasons have be entirely handdrawn gives the show this nostalgic, early 90’s anime look about it despite its modern animation flourishes. And speaking of animation, if the 20,000+ frames rumor is to be true (and at this point I think it is), I don’t think it’s going to be spent on an action sequence like I thought it was initially. From the looks of the final pv they released a week prior to the series airing, I have reason to believe this tour-de-force of animation is going to be spent on a particular “slice-of-life” section in this stretch of the story, which just so happens to be one of my favorite moments in the entire series and supposedly animator, Hakuyu Go’s (animator in charge of season 2 ep 5) favorite chapters in the manga. If that’s the case, the effort BONES’ is going to put in this cornerstone of coming-of-age slice-of-life storytelling speaks volumes to the duality of the anime’s productions priorities. Yes, for BONES, Mob Psycho was an excuse to flex a bunch of experimental animation techniques, and to show that off especially with action scenes; but more than that, the staff love the series for the characters and the soul of ONE’s narrative and are just as willing to flex their animation efforts on the more quieter moments of the series. Mob Psycho is back and I am so ready for this ride to the climax. So few series ever get to have a “perfect” ending, but Mob Psycho achieves it; kind of reminds me of FLCL in that way as that’s another series I thought concluded perfectly
Mob Psycho season 3 seems to be in capable hands under the guidance of Hasui; he did a great job directing one of the episodes in the Mob and Reigen separation arc, which is Yuzuru Tachikawa’s favorite chapters in the manga. I wouldn’t be surprised if that played a role in Tachikawa leaving this season is Hasui’s hands.
Guardian Enzo
October 7, 2022 at 7:46 amThis is all music to my ears, because for me less volume means more greatness for Mob. The multi-episode action arcs are special too, but they don’t resonate with me as much as the character-driven material.
Rob Barrett
October 7, 2022 at 2:18 amIs that aerial shot revealing that the plaza outside the god tree is laid out like Psycho Helmet’s face borrowed from the manga? Or is that anime-original? Either way it’s brilliant.
sonicsenryaku
October 7, 2022 at 6:25 amThat shot is anime-original if I’m remembering correctly
Rob Barrett
October 7, 2022 at 8:52 amI tracked down the manga: the shot is not there. Similarly, the horrific house the second client lives in? Also anime-original.
sonicsenryaku
October 7, 2022 at 9:45 amYea; part of Reigen’s advice to mob this episode was also anime-original; it wasn’t as personal in the manga. Expect more anime-original content in this last season given the fact that the manga material, I would argue, is really only about 8 to 10 episodes of animated content. S3 is slated for 12 eps so there will mostly likely be extended fight sequences and extra character moments to flesh out the season’s animated length. BONES could have just done a 10 episode series and been done with it sooner, but the team probably felt they could add a bit more to this final stretch of story and went with the standard cour length
Guardian Enzo
October 7, 2022 at 9:49 amWell, Mob from the beginning has had Seko Hiroshi writing the adaptation, and he’s a serious scribe. And it’s not as if the original ONE series didn’t already get plumped up in transition to the print version.
sonicsenryaku
October 7, 2022 at 11:28 amOh yea; this is definitely a good thing in my eyes
Simone
October 8, 2022 at 7:49 pmI wonder if the final denouement for Mob will have to do with accepting his powers not as something that should go to his head, but still as a part of himself and a talent he can nurture and put to good use. It seems like the lesson he’s gotten for now isn’t just to be humble, but to straight up reject the one thing that he definitely is very good at and not value it at all. A bit like a math prodigy deciding he must necessarily work in the arts lest he grows too conceited with his skill. It’s possible of course that he simply doesn’t *like* using them much, but it’s unclear if that is so. He fears them to some extent, but that’s also hardly healthy long term. Having to deal with a cult of followers who straight up deify him might force him to confront these issues.
sonicsenryaku
October 8, 2022 at 11:42 pmThose are all good points. I’ve bumped into discussions where people have criticized Mob Psycho for Mob himself underselling his psychic abilities and claiming that the narrative unrealistically tries to justify the idea that psychic powers aren’t as awesome as their cracked up to be, criticism that I think the story has demonstrated awareness of and makes it a point to integrate into the character exploration. Yea, while the narrative does support Mob’s decision to better himself rather than rely on his powers: 1. the storytelling has set up logical and in-character reasons for why Mob feels the way he does and 2. it does point out in very subtle ways that it’s aware of how extreme Mob’s viewpoint is on this topic despite the truth of it. Of course his stance on his psychic powers doesn’t fully entertain the other side of the argument: his viewpoint is a consequence of his early childhood and the trauma of his psychic powers causing him to commit what he saw at the time as the greatest taboo ever: hurting someone.
Simone
October 15, 2022 at 7:31 amYup, of all things he’s going a bit through the arc of Frozen’s Elsa, which makes me wonder if he too will have his Let It Go moment at one point (well, emotional and superpower outbursts are kind of his defining character trait).
Marty
October 8, 2022 at 8:43 pmDamn, I was really starting to like Dimple too. I hope his “Oh yeah, I’m a villain” realization/moment is just a red herring. I would hate to see him come in conflict with Mob or be killed off.