As we butt right up against the end of this amazing journey, of course there’s a sense of melancholy that goes along with that. But for me it’s tempered by the fact that Mob Psycho 100 could hardly have been treated more kindly by anime. It’s received a complete adaptation, with very little skipped (or added). Every minute has been under the auspices of one of anime’s iconic studios in Bones. And most of them have been under the supervision of Tachikawa Yuzuru, the greatest director of his generation and clearly someone who loves and understands the material. A fan of the series could hardly dream of more. Mob Psycho – and we – have been very lucky.
At that, ONE has chosen a very complicated and difficult way to close the story. This is not pretty, what’s happening to Mob – not for him, not for those who love him (both on-screen and in the audience). MP100 is as it’s alway been, a chronicle of Shigeo’s adolescence and struggle with identity. It’s always been that, even as it’s veered between intimate and sometimes comic personal stories and sweeping action blockbusters. What ONE has done here of course is choose the path that unites those two tributaries – the two more or less distinct faces of the series coming together as it nears its end. And for obvious reasons, that seems both ironic and entirely appropriate.
The good will Mob has built up over his life – not by pandering, but simply by being who he is – comes back to him now, as everyone who cares for him tries to come to his aid despite the obvious danger. Teru gave it his all last week, a sweeping conclusion to his arc (but hopefully not his life – he’ll make it). Others are on their way – Ritsu and even the bros from the Body Improvement Club. But before they arrive the stage belongs to Touichirou – and to his son Shou, who arrives to help the father who’s rarely been much help to him (especially in the existential sense).
When Touichirou was last rampaging across the screen I noted that he was a perfect foil for Mob – a big bad who was opposite him as an esper in every meaningful way. As well that “there was surely a bigger big bad on the way”. And that bigger bad – the top boss – of course turned out to be Shigeo himself. Though not Mob, crucially – that’s an important distinction. There’s a nice symmetry to the former big bad doing battle against the current one, and this fight is yet another display of what Bones can do when they really give a show their all. But what’s really striking is just how much of a mismatch this is – even with Tou and Shou pooling their strength. They’re just no match for ???. No one is. And that’s very much the point.
This struggle ends very unconventionally, as you’d expect from Mob Psycho 100. Touichirou is prepared to sacrifice himself by becoming a vessel for ???’s overwhelming power, draining him dry but blowing himself out in the process. But in the end, he can’t – he may have been a supervillain, but in the end he’s a human being. Touichirou assesses what he has to live for and chooses not to die – perhaps a cowardly act, depending on how charitable you’re feeling, but a perfectly understandable one. The struggle going on inside his opponent – rooted in the desire not to kill the father and son – gives them an opening to flee the field, leaving ??? as a problem for someone else to solve. If anyone can…
It’s the bros who get to Mob next, but while their courage and loyalty is above reproach, they have absolutely no idea what they’re up against. Fortunately for them Ritsu – who more than anyone else knows exactly what they’re up against – is just behind them, close enough to yet again prevent a ???-instigated tragedy. Ritsu was present when this happened before – when he and Mob would attacked by bullies, and ??? made an appearance that effectively scarred Mob for life. That incident (among other things) caused Mob to seal away part of himself totally, and caused Ritsu to live in a constant state of fear about what could always happen. And that’s really tragic, given how much he loves his brother.
There’s absolutely a measure of FLCL-style symbolism to all this – the latent power inside Mob to an extent represents exactly what it did with Naota. But ONE certainly charts his own course here. Ritsu agonizes over Mob having to suffer alone, and realizes that he developed powers himself specifically because he wanted to be able to rescue Mob in his inevitable hour(s) of need. But the sad truth is this – Mob is always going to have to suffer alone. No one else bears the responsibility he does. He’s suppressed a very real and essential part of himself in order to cope, but that comes at a cost. ??? is like a 9.0 earthquake, the result of psychic energy having built up over years of having no way to release itself incrementally. When the moment finally comes, it truly is seismic – and catastrophic.
Ritsu does everything he can do, but he too is dust in the wind that is ???. Ritsu’s attempt to shock Mob into awareness by destroying the flowers causes ??? to erect a giant tornado around himself, throwing Ritsu clear. And inside we finally see the full extent of what’s happening here. ??? claims to be the real Kageyama Shigeo, and Mob the imposter – the one whose elimination would finally allow “Shigeo” to be liberated (in Touchirou’s words). This is the nut of the problem – Mob has tried to build an artificial wall between the two of them, to pretend this part of him didn’t exist. And truthfully, what else could he have done? But it was always doomed to fail – he can’t escape who he is, even with his limitless resources of kindness and empathy. What’s the way out of this closed room – for Mob, and for ONE?
How can Mob reconcile ??? being him – and how can he go on as a functioning member of society even if he does? I see no easy way forward here, but one has to be found in the final 22 minutes. And at the end of all things it was always going to be Reigen who stood next to Mob on the precipice of Mount Doom – how could it be anyone else? Reigen may not understand ??? like Ritsu does but he understands Mob like no one else. In Reigen’s lonely, shallow existence it was meeting Mob that changed everything – that allowed the nobler side of himself that was always there next to the bullshitter to walk into the light. What Mob has done for him – allow him to reconcile his conflicted self and move forward – it’s Reigen and only Reigen who can repay in kind.
sonicsenryaku
December 15, 2022 at 10:16 pmFor the sake of not even hinting to how this all ends, all I’ll say is that I have a really strong feeling you’re going to love the finale
sonicsenryaku
December 15, 2022 at 10:35 pmI do want to add how cool it is that ONE essentially uses ??? as an allegory for DID (dissociative identity disorder). I think it was such a smart writing decision to have initially labeled the alternate personality as ???, only for it to reveal itself as “Kageyama Shigeo,” while this whole time conditioning the audience into calling Mob, “Mob.” As we know, the word “Mob” is a term used for a person who doesn’t really stick out, usually due to a lack of distinguishing features or personality traits. Given that this entire series has mostly been about Mob trying to understand himself and form his own identity, it only makes sense that the final boss Mob has to face is an internal confrontation with a side of him he’s been rejecting. The fact that ONE has been calling it ??? this whole time makes sense with the themes of the show: who are you? Who do you want to be? What do you want? Facing those questions are important to discovering one’s identity, and I can’t help but think that ONE had always planned on making this the thematic endgame; it just makes too much sense
Aera
December 15, 2022 at 11:04 pmThe part before Touichirou attempted to sacrifice himself was really good. Not just Shou’s expression that spoke louder than his words, but also the scenes of Touichirou looking back to his family before stepping out. The realization that, sacrificing himself is not the only way for him to redeem what he’s done, and he could at least be a better person toward his family…that part was really good. Added the fact that the reason why, at the final episode of S2, Mob wanted to save Touichirou because he knew Touichirou wanted to meet his wife and his son again, and sacrificing himself meant that Touchirou would waste the chance that Mob had given to him. Such a powerful scene. I hope that Shou and his family can be in better condition now.
Ritsu discovering what happened, saved Teru, his self-reflection about his relationship with his brother, and finally hitting 100% to halt ???% progress for a bit were amazing too. He did what he could do. And Ritsu, while he did get flung into the air, he was unharmed. It sort of implied that “Shigeo” cares for him as well, probably because Ritsu acknowledged “Shigeo” as part of his brother instead of someone else? Ritsu’s scene was really great.
And…the battle inside Mob’s mind. It’s indeed very fitting for the final boss to be Mob’s other self that he constantly rejected. It’s very chilling to see ???% finally took appearance, claimed that he’s the real Shigeo, and bid farewell to Mob, as he presumably took control of the body? Setsuo Ito’s performance was oddly very chilling as “Shigeo”, even though he sounded exactly the same like Mob, but he also sounded very eerie and unsettling. Setsuo Ito is very talented, hoping to see more of his roles.
Honestly, this still feels like a lot to be finished in just one episode. All good things must come to an end, I suppose. I’m going to miss this series a lot when it’s finally ending.
Orion Taylor
December 16, 2022 at 3:07 amI think Toichiro’s decision to flee was a key moment of growth for him. Deciding to sacrifice himself (and thus abandoning his son and wife) would have been pretty selfish, especially considering that it probably wouldn’t have succeeded at stopping ??? anyway.
100% Ritsu was a great moment. I want to take a moment in appreciation of all the awesome % moments in the show:
-The original misdirect of the series during Mob vs. Teru where instead of 100% Mob we got ???%, and then at the end 100% sadness repairs the school (instead of being used for combat)
-Teru 150% hair
-1000% Reigen
-Toichiro’s variant where he had a power output % that increased during the course of the fight
-Mob going through all the different 100% emotions while fighting Toichiro
-100% Ritsu
-Mob 100% getting carried away
-and of course ???%
Rob Barrett
December 16, 2022 at 9:33 amNot the best episode to watch the same day as the last three episodes of Hi Score Girl. Emotionally drained.
Guardian Enzo
December 16, 2022 at 1:20 pmYeah, totally.
Rob Barrett
December 16, 2022 at 2:34 pmI want to thank you for recommending Hi Score Girl in one of your Year’s Best posts. I was looking for top quality anime romances, and I was hooked (and heart-broken) by the third episode of season 1. Perfection from start to finish–just like Mob Psycho 100.
Marty
December 16, 2022 at 10:10 pmI don’t care what nobody says, if the finale manages not to fumble the bag, MP100 is hands down AOTY for me.
Nicc
December 17, 2022 at 8:40 pmFirst off, you’re right that getting a complete adaptation is indeed a rare treat and I’m also glad that it has been handled this well. That’s even more rare, I think. In the meantime, ???% continues its rampage across the city. The scale of destruction looks like Godzilla is passing through.
As sonicsenryaku mentioned, this does look like dissociative identity disorder. My go-to example for this (In animated form) is Harvey Dent/Two-Face from “Batman: The Animated Series”. Due to an incident as a child, the repressed anger formed a separate personality; Big Bad Harvey. I’ll never forget the line, “You’re talking to the wrong Harvey.” I tried to emulate the coin flip, but I could never get that crazy hang time like he did…
???% does not appear to be an evil, dark side. Instead, it claims to be the true form of Shigeo. As others have already mentioned, it’s rather fitting that the final boss is himself. How can the both of them co-exist? ???% doesn’t think that’s possible.
Oh yeah, and Tsubomi is still patiently waiting for him even as the city is crumbling all around her. How is Mob going to be able to face her in this state? The finale is going to have to do a lot of heavy lifting.