Winter 2019 First Impressions – Mob Psycho 100 II

“Mob” is a boy who will explode if his emotional capacity reaches 100%. This boy with psychic powers earned his nickname “Mob” because he does not stand out among other people. He keeps his psychic powers bottled up so he can live normally, but if his emotional level reaches 100, something will overwhelm his entire body. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll and Funimation

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama has an after-school gig working for Reigen Arataka, an exorcist of questionable talent with an eye toward making a profit. Otherwise, he’s an unremarkable boy who happens to have access to some of the most powerful telekinetic abilities most people have ever seen. However, Mob’s friend Mezato has reason to help (force?) Mob to overcome his bland existence. Without his knowledge, she’s positioned him as the leader of a budding psychic group, and she needs for him to take on a more impressive stature so that her ruse doesn’t fall through. This is easier said that done, however. Mob makes a run for student council president, but freezes when it’s his turn to speak, destroying Mezato’s dreams.

Unexpectedly, Mob receives a love letter in his locker. When he meets its author, Emi, behind the school, she says that she was so impressed by the courage it took him to get on stage for his aborted speech that she’d like to go out with him. The two spend a week together before Emi lets on that this was all a ruse. As Mob starts to walk home, he discovers Emi being bullied and uses his powers to reassemble the manuscript the other girls tore into pieces. Emi is impressed by his kindness, and makes a pledge to be truer to her own feelings.

Impressions: Though I don’t typically address sequels with their own posts, the first season of Mob Psycho 100 is a story that I’ve experienced multiple times and which means a lot to me, so I felt it would be worthwhile to talk a bit about how its second season begins, as well as about the overall tale thus far.

Mob’s story introduces a lot of big ideas that hit very close to home (and which I’ve talked about a lot here at various times, so apologies for re-treading territory once again!). As a small child, I was labeled “gifted,” and while I’ve learned over the years that sometimes that label mostly equates to things like “can read earlier than usual” (which was my situation), whether it was true or not for me didn’t matter as much as how the label itself transformed from a “gold medal” to a burden. When someone tells you that you’re smart or special, you start to believe it; when you eventually hit a roadblock, something you don’t pick up on instantly and with full understanding, it can result in an identity crisis.

Shigeo or “Mob” is a character who actually does have an irregular, rare talent, and he’s continually confronted by other individuals who are similarly gifted. Much of the first season sees Mob dealing not only with physical encounters between himself and people with whom he shares some of his abilities, but also broader ethical conflicts about how and when to wield them. Most of the characters who have telekinetic abilities start off using them to bully and dominate others; this rare power gives them a sense of superiority over the rest of the “typical” human population. Mob’s abilities are likely the most powerful of all, but he’s reticent to use them due to the possible consequences and his personality is relatively meek to begin with. He’s gifted, and the struggle to discover what that means on personal and a macro level consumes a lot of the late-game narrative.

While the psychic battles have always been unique and fun to watch, the parts of the series that felt most interesting to me were those that addressed these deeper conflicts between gifts and human social hierarchies. Ultimately, it’s Reigen, whose only special “power” is his ability to read people and to behave like an adult, who presents the first season’s central message. The psychics and espers are gifted, sure, but everyone is talented or special in some way; to assume a hierarchy based on that is a sign of an immature mindset.

This episode spends a bit of run-time reintroducing some of the characters, and its opening scene starts off with a bang, featuring a lot of the exciting animation and creative visualization that we’ve come to expect from the series. It’s attention-getting and fun to watch, but it’s also deceptive in the way that the entire series has been to this point; watching Mob exorcise a vengeful spirit is flashy and cool, but this episode’s, and indeed the series’ strength, is in the depiction of Mob’s internal story and the way he wields his strength of character rather than overtly-weaponizing his superhuman abilities.

Considering all the controversy this anime season has wrought already, a protagonist like Mob is a breath of fresh air to me. Mob is a kind, gentle soul, admirable in his convictions even as he’s being picked on by bullies (or encounters bullies picking on others). This experience of mine was from a few years back, but as I was dealing with the aftermath of a bad situation in my own life and trying to make sense of it (and prevent myself from wandering back into the same situation again), I read in a book that we tend to mentally excuse abusers (to some extent) if they were abused in the past. The connection between harm being done to someone to that person then perpetuating that harm upon others is sometimes looked at as an inevitability. One point that this book continually made was that being abused does not in fact always lead to becoming an abuser, and that abused people are just as likely to choose not to perpetuate that cycle as they are to choose to bring their pain down on others.

While genuine physical or emotional abuse is portrayed infrequently in anime, bullying, including physical attacks, intimidation, isolation, and extortion are pretty frequent occurrences. Sometimes these situations are an opportunity for other characters to rush in and rescue the bullied one; other times they become fuel for the bullied character’s own revenge. In almost all cases, though, it’s the catalyst for some sort of action or emotional shift. Mob, having learned that Emi only asked him out due to a dare, is positioned at a crossroads. Seeing that Emi is really the one under the thumb of the bullies, Mob strikes out – not with vengeful energy or anger, like other characters might, but choosing to help heal with pure, unadulterated empathy and kindness towards Emi.

It’s rare to see a fictional character make this sort of choice, because it’s obviously more viscerally satisfying to see a character tear someone down who “deserves it.” Knowing Mob’s character, his actions in this episode make a lot of sense; the prior season of the show saw him gaining self-awareness and confidence in his convictions, even if they’re not something he demonstrates outwardly that often. Considering the tumultuous nature of the past couple of days, the heated defenses of mean-spiritedness and vengeance, Mob’s quiet reminder of boys’ and men’s (and really anyone’s) potential to overcome hatred and transform its DNA into something more akin to love is something that I find moving.

These are all a lot of words to say that I’m so, so glad this series is back to continue its story this season. I think people underestimate the healing potential of stories; so many of them are produced to fulfill short-term emotional needs (something we definitely need, too!), but fewer choose to address the longer-term status of our emotional well-being through sympathetic characterization the way this series has a knack of doing.

Pros: In addition to its unique, cohesive art design, the episode incorporates some interesting animation techniques. Protagonist Mob demonstrates that revenge isn’t always the natural conclusion of being bullied.

Cons: The first episode takes a while to get started due to some character reintroductions and other kinds of bookkeeping.

Grade: A-