Mob Psycho 100 (Best Anime of All Time Fight Me IRL)
It can be so hard to find good anime. Well, I take that back, it’s probably true that most anime is good since it breaks with the stale conventions of American and European media, but there’s just so damn much of it. Who has the time to go through a series with like 500+ episodes? Not me, that’s a job there, and you don’t get paid for it. So I tend to restrict myself to anime that’s more obscure, but it’s also within an acceptable episode range. Anything breaching 100 is getting a bit more difficult to consider. Shut the hell up and get to the point! 50 episodes is plenty for good plot development and resolution. Even if I got paid for it I’d have to think about it when you get higher. Even if I was paid and got a raise I’d have to think about it. So listen here anime studios, keep those series manageable, also obscure so everyone can feel so very elite for watching it and this site is still legitimate.
Enter Mob Psycho 100, or モブサイコ100 in Japanese. I’m going to pretend that both you and I know how to read that now. First released in 2016 by Bones Inc. (link below, known especially for the series Fullmetal Alchemist) and available on many streaming and multi-server sites we autocrats utilized, the series is the lesser-known of two big ones by legendary manga creator ‘ONE,’ who you likely know from the stellar One Punch Man, or ワンパンマン in Japanese. Again, let us pause and make believe we can read that like the true anime fans that we are. Ready? Good, because I’m about to drop a one-punch bombshell knuckle-sandwich into your teeth. Then I’m going to make you eat those teeth and feed you the excrement. Mob Psycho 100, which like One Punch Man first appeared in manga before its anime debut, is in my opinion superior. Now just let that troll tension rise and then punch something, one time, before I continue. Just look at this glory:
No spoilers, don’t worry. We’re above that here. Mob Psycho 100 follows the story of Shigeo Kageyama, known mostly as ‘Mob,’ a super-psychic that works for a proclaimed exorcist named Arataka Reigen, who is actually a con artist supreme, and quite good at it. As a series geared for teenagers, it plays on lots of classic themes in Japanese popular culture, with Mob’s powers slowly unveiling themselves to the viewer as he wrestles with his job of fighting ghosts and trying to fit in to high school. Classic coming-of-age, really. Mob is quite docile for the most part, and disinterested. This personality is mainly for appearances, because he needs to restrict his powers, otherwise, when he goes to 100%, he becomes unstoppable. But his social interaction with different teens as he fights other superpowered psychics and ghosts makes for great action and comedy. Mob and his “master” eventually end up intertwined in a struggle against an organization of super-psychics called ‘Claw’ that is, as expected, seeking world domination. Thus there is a lot of standard form here.
But much like One Punch Man, Mob Psycho 100 is a vehicle to reflect on the genre and leave it upended as something new. The series has a wonderful style like charcoal sketches, mixed with more traditional cel shading and lots of fancy tricks. When Mob reaches his maximum power, or close to it in his various battles with ghosts and psychics, the extreme colors and visuals are candy enough to satiate, but come with one of the greatest anime soundtracks I’ve ever heard. It’s always difficult to review a series like this because there are currently only 12 episodes to watc, but with its spectacular character development, plot twists that will have even a dedicated anime fan surprised, a more purposeful direction, and a willingness to confront style for the aesthetic value of it without distancing itself from the viewer, this is possibly the best anime I’ve ever seen. You can usually tell when I really enjoy something, because I’m far less artful in explaining why. Just watch the damn thing and see because by the second season comes in January 2019 everyone will be acting like they knew about it already. You have the gift of saying twas true.
Bones Studio Official Facebook
Written by Stanley Stepanic
Mob Psycho 100
Bones Studio Inc.
5 / 5
