zondag 21 mei 2017

(Good) Mob Psycho 100

Series in one sentence:
A less funny and less self-aware One Punch Man.

Series in more sentences:

A young teenager is gifted with immense psychic powers, but prefers to not use them and wishes to live a normal life. As these powers tend to take over his body when he becomes too emotional, the unpopular high school student suppresses his feelings and swallows the comments thrown at him daily.
While seemingly absent-minded and unimpressed by his surroundings, he has his heart at the right place and always wishes the best for everyone.

 


It took me 2 episodes to get into it, but I can't say I didn't enjoy the whole deal. It reminded me of One Punch Man, which makes sense, as it appears to have been made by the same gentleman.
The similarities urged me to compare the two shows, and while Mob Psycho is definitely enjoyable, I still find One Punch Man to be the better One Punch Man. Lewl.

I would've liked it if Mob Psycho 100 had a better title was slightly more casual about the dangers presented. It had its funny moments, but I've seen enough animes with the same types of jokes and imagery; it's not an overdramatic/comedic masterpiece like its predecessor. I don't think I can pinpoint what differentiates these shows from each other exactly, but maybe it's that Mob Psycho's story wants to take its characters more seriously than One Punch Man bothered to. There's a noticeable conflict within the psychic community about what they should do or feel towards normal humans.

Nearing the end of the season you can see more of that One Punch Man-silliness bleed into the fighting scenes, but the rest feels like an actual story with the occasional misplaced joke.

It wasn't my intention to compare the two shows to each other like this, though, it's not the kind of review Mob Psycho deserves, but when you watch the show, it's hard to ignore that its main character is almost a copy of One Punch Man himself. Just without the urge to become anything other than normal, and being surprisingly fragile still. I think it looks weird when we see our stone-faced main character in need, often for no reason but to further the story. He's described to be unusually powerful and when he chooses to engage in battle at the end, he fights his opponents with ease, but then suddenly fails. As if the series told him to "slow down, bitch", so there's still a conflict to carry over to season 2.

The main excuse the series gives for Mob's reluctance to fight is that he wants to protect people from himself by reinacting
Ghandi. Even when the people he wants to protect are in lethal danger caused by someone else. Which is just a weird way of doing things, but alright.

It would be a shame to pass this one by, though. It really doesn't matter if you've seen One Punch Man or not, I think it'll please both groups just fine. There aren't that many episodes, so you can watch it all in a day and reach a fairly quick conclusion, without feeling your time has been wasted.
Besides, it's still the product of a mad genius that the manga and anime industry is lucky to have, there's no such thing as regrets.

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09-01-2023 UPDATE:
A while ago I finished the 3rd season, which, by the looks of it, concludes the series.
It started alright, but was ruined by two boring filler episodes that came right after an emotional death, and this same emotional death was further ruined by a total cop-out at the end of the season.

Speaking of the ending, what a rushed experience. Mob just suddenly loses his mind and enters an internal battle that could've used way more (or actual) foreshadowing throughout the series, and his careless destruction draws in all the other prominent characters, who use the moment to conclude their own story arcs.
Reigen showing up to confess his uselessness was the weirdest decision. What urged him to do this and why did it snap Mob back into reality? It was so random and dissatisfying.

Mob apparently suffered no repercussions for his murderous rampage, either, and people continue to act overly happy around him. Implausible, did not like the sappy ending.
Season 3 was a season I had high hopes for as it began, but it looked like the creators were in a hurry this time.


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