Mob Psycho 100 is a web manga series written and illustrated by One, serialized from April 2012 to December 2017 (later adapted into an anime by Studio Bones that ran from July 2016 to December 2022) about Shigeo Kageyama, a middle schooler and powerful esper trying to live a normal life while working under self proclaimed spirit medium Reigen Arataka.I'm not normal about this show god bless
this is my page for this thing because I can never shut the fuck up about it. look around if you want! learn a little about the series if you don't know shit, see if it's something you'd like. but be wary of spoilers, you might find a curse placed on you......
typically any anime I watch is one I had previously been recommended, but in mp100's case I actually have no exact memory of how I found it! all I remember is a friend and I used to scroll through crunchyroll at weird hours and watch whatever looked interesting, and we watched mp100 together, so as far as I know we found it that way.
since I don't remember how I found it, I don't know what my expectations were, but I can say I was instantly fascinated with this show. what got me into it at first was certainly the visuals. the show's style can so easily shift between hilariously simplistic and insanely detailed, and it consistently uses unique forms of animation I had never seen before (namely the paint-on-glass technique used in multiple scenes and EDs). As an artist, I find mp100's style to be really inspiring and a motivator for me to work towards my own goals and experiment as I please :)
art aside, each character's introduction to the story was so compelling as well, and I had no idea I'd get so attached to all of them lol. everyone has their own character arcs, and while they can get pretty weird, they always end up feeling very genuine and human and very rewarding in one way or another. characters are allowed to be both selfish and generous, confident and humble, good and bad, and the series really emphasizes how all of these traits are important and at times necessary. likewise, every antagonist is listened to and given the chance to change regardless of their wrongdoing, which really sticks out to me. they aren't necessarily forgiven by anyone, but they're never just punished and tossed aside after being defeated. except for ishiguro I guess because I'm pretty sure he died
I was 14 when I first found the show (the same age as mob) and growing up I had my own issues with communication and expressing myself I still kind of suck at it even now lol. it felt like such a me-specific issue at the time, like a 'wow everybody else gets each other so well but not me guess I'm the weirdest guy on earth' type of thing and I kind of just accepted that for a long time. and then THIS show appeared and my brain BLEW UP. I can't really describe how I felt finally seeing a character that dealt with the same things I do and saw the world so similarly as me, but it ruled. I think what really made me fall in love with it especially was the way mob is never made to feel bad or in the wrong about the way he expresses himself. his act of repressing his feelings for years is rightly stated to be unhealthy and a major conflict in the story, yes, but even when he learns how to open himself up to others and let out his emotions, his voice and facial expression are most of the time still flat and this is perfectly fine it's just who he is. makes me happy as someone who only has like 3 outward states of being dbhsabdhabj. It felt so good to see a series so deeply discuss the type of isolation that comes with those kinds of communication issues, and in general the topic of isolation and how anyone can be lonely regardless of whether they are 'special' in any form and how everyone can find a sense of belonging through kindness and vulnerability and imagine me slamming my fist into the ground right now god I love this anime
I could go on and on about what this show means to me and say a bunch of similar points in different ways but overall: mob psycho 100 is a show about growth, and the choice to be kind regardless of the horrors, and recognition and acceptance of every part of who you are. I don't want to be walking around saying this show is perfect, no media out there is, but despite it's flaws there is an overwhelming amount of good (to me at least). and I don't know where else in here to say it but this show is hilarious too. it's really fucking funny. anyway, this show appeared in my life during a time where I think I needed it most, and it taught me a lot about honesty and showing compassion. I think I'll always be thankful for the impact the series has had on my life, or at the very least mob will always be a character I hold close to my heart :)
I'll end this section with the note that I've read the entire manga as well as the reigen spinoff, and I love them a lot! however I like discussing the anime more because I am not immune to bright colors. I absolutely recommend reading it though, considering some arcs were shorter in the anime due to time constraints, and little differences that you may or may not find important. also mob gets to be far more unsettling at times and I think it rules.
Shigeo Kageyama aka Mob an incredibly normal 14 year old and powerful psychic. Mob is described by others in the series as lacking any sort of presence and generally being very socially awkward, but he builds confidence and learns to open up as time goes on. his main goal in the beginning is to live an average life without relying on his supernatural abilities, a goal that sort of fluctuates the more he learns. I'm very king harkinian voice my boy about him. he's the only character in anything I've ever watched that I so deeply related to, and found extremely admirable as a result.
Arataka Reigen age 28. mob's boss, owner of Spirits and Such Consultation Office, and self proclaimed "greatest psychic of the 21st century." in reality, reigen is a con artist and not psychic at all, but regardless of this he does actually try to help his clients through ways he claims to be "spiritual." while shady and at times very manipulative, reigen does care deeply for mob and does usually give him worthwhile advice. reigen is the type of character I like to slap around and make fun of in my mind, as most people do to him, but I do love this guy as a character very much, I think he's very unique :) especially compared to other mentor type characters.
Ritsu Kageyama mob's little brother! ritsu is a member of the student council, and is sometimes described as having everything mob does not (athleticism, good grades, social skills). despite this he has a sort of inferiority complex toward his brother because he lacks the same abilities. when he does eventually gain psychic powers he ends up going down a darker, more violent path (average 13 year old moment), but he comes around and his relationship with mob improves :) I honestly didn't think very much of ritsu when I watched season 1 for the first time, but I've grown to really love him since then! he canonically does not listen to music
Teruki Hanazawa age 14. he considers himself mob's rival! before meeting mob, teru was very self centered and thought his psychic powers made him better than anyone else, going as far as to call himself the main character of the world. and then he tried to fight mob and completely ate shit and lost, and he came back with a really cool hairstyle and the realization that he's just an average person. I had a crush on him when I was 14 LOL I greatly admired his gained humility and ability to change. now he's more like a younger cousin I would take to gamestop or something.
Katsuya Serizawa age 29-30. serizawa is introduced as one of the bad guys, but it's quickly shown that he doesn't truly want to hurt people. he's a man who was manipulated into following a path he didn't really want to, but after meeting mob he finds courage and begins working for reigen! I've seen people say as a character he's kind of what mob could've grown up to be if he never met reigen? and that checks out I think. he's a very anxious person, having previously lived as a shut-in for most of his life, but when he joins Spirits and Such he begins to work towards getting his life together on his own terms! I love him so fucking much
TBA: tome, shou
Openings
Trailers
Manga Promotional Animations
Pictures
weed smoking reigen. thank u
in which I talk about my favorite arcs. originally this was me trying to talk about every arc but I felt like I couldn't go in depth about my real favorites that way, so uh lol. this will get updated over time I have a lot of feelings
(LOL) Cult Arc + Divine Tree Arc: I'm lumping these 2 together simply because my feelings about them are fairly similar? in that my feelings towards them are very complicated for a lot of reasons. the LOL arc is where things start getting a lot less silly from what we saw before, and the arc that really truly hooked me into the show. the reveal of what exactly mob's 'explosions' look like and the way he sees himself as a result is so interesting, as is dimple's reveal. dimple's really what I want to talk about here real quick. the thing that always really hits me about these arcs specifically is the way dimple goes about sort of isolating mob to get him to his side. that phrasing/thought process of 'everyone else here is in on it except for you. why is that?' and the implication that it is simply because of a flaw within you yourself (in mob's case, inability to 'get a clue') is something I'm very familiar with, and I was actually stunned seeing that in an anime like I was actually speechless lol. I kind of hated dimple for a little while after that because his words frustrated me so bad I was glad to see that mob was allowed to be upset about all of it as well. that being said, mob's anger towards what dimple was doing in the divine tree arc always makes me so tense even though I already know what's going to happen lmao. and it SUCKS worse in that arc now that we've seen dimple become a better person only to decide to be a dick for a little bit. as a side note really quickly the divine tree arc is SO fucking tense I think the anime did a great job depicting that slow rising horror of the situation ugh it makes my skin crawl and it rules. that all being said, I LOVE dimple's character development so much. it feels so good to watch him realize for himself what he's really always wanted (friendship) and how much he really cares for mob. I sob and weep and lay on the floor etc. also I've gotta say teru's role in this arc is insane LMAO. he is facing a being that claims to be god and takes on the likeness of the one person who motivated him to temper his ego. his struggle with humility and pedestals and his sheer reverence for mob helping him see the truth HELP. gets launched into the air again and just giggles and claps about it this time. I love teru btw
World Domination Arc: this could easily be my favorite arc in the series I just love everything about it aaauuuh the scenes the story the everything it's incredible to me. it's a very energetic arc as well, things are very consistently high-stakes action, which isn't always my favorite parts of a series but mp100 really nailed it with this one lol. toichiro is a really funny villain to me he's just some fucking guy. but he's genuinely threatening too and I love the main cast teaming up with the 7th division members and the kids from the awakening lab I love to see everybody fucking around and winning also the fight scenes in this arc are CRAZYYY. first person shot of sakurai aiming his gun my beloved. shimazaki is an asshole and I'm beating him up with my mind but god his fights are cool. AND TERU GETS TO BE SO COOL he's amazing in those fight scenes I'm so proud of him. and SERIZAWA REVEAL!!!!!! serizawa is very important to me and watching him find the ability to stand up to his boss and truly act of his own accord always makes me soo happy. the genuine message of this arc (people need other people) is actually so sweet and communicated so well, the ending of this arc made me cry lol. I am never not thinking about how mob first told toichirou 'someday there will come a time where you need others, and you'll regret things, but if you don't have anyone I'll be there' and by the end of the arc toichiro is all alone about to die when MOB SHOWS UP TO STAY WITH HIMMMM I'm normal about it I swear. also I love that toichiro is given the opportunity to change without necessarily being forgiven by anybody.
MORE TBA
Autism in Mob Psycho 100 (imagine me taping a picture of mob on my wall and then taping a copy of the DSM-5 right next to him. that's this webpage)