Mob Psycho 100: Mob and Reigen

September 29, 2016 8:36 PM - Season 1, Episode 12

Mob decides: should I stay or should I go? [Season finale]
posted by filthy light thief (4 comments total)

I finally caught the finale, and I really liked it. OK, I really liked the whole show.

According to the Mob Psycho 100 wiki, this episode covered manga chapters 47 through 50, and the manga is up to chapter 96, so a second season is totally feasible.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:41 PM on September 29, 2016

I've heard my friends complain they never got the big beatdown they were promised from the end of the previous episode, but this ending feels right to me. Especially the moment where Mob reflects on being called a coward and just thinks "whatever." Also so glad Reigen is still around to perform more shouty life-coaching.
posted by Peccable at 8:43 AM on September 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Man, I loved this. I especially liked the big ending finale, with Reigan mentally demolishing the poor, angry man-children in charge of the 7th division. What Reigan was saying about not being able to use psychic powers (which I read as being smart, talented) as an excuse to escape or rule over society seems like a main point of the story. One of the big points of the alt-right, but especially the dork enlightenment, is the idea that they have a natural right to rule over others, being (as they see it) smarter and more keyed in than the sheep that make up the rest of society. Reigan, and by extension the philosophy he's instilled in Mob, say that's not so. "Being psychic doesn't make you popular." Even with smarts you still have to live with other people. I think that also ties into the 100% part of the story. The first two acts are punctuated by Mob losing control of himself and wreaking havoc, but the final act concludes with him instead giving his power to someone else, who simply uses that ability to defend the people he cares about while also talking sense into some very disturbed individuals. When you have extremists constantly committing terrible acts because they think they're above society, that sort of positive ending really resonates.

I guess I'd call this a pro-social shonen show. Most of the time those shows are about domination, extreme talent of chosen individuals, beating back a faceless evil force. MP100 grounds those fantasies in a world that's still fairly real. It's interesting that a conman ends up being the moral center of that world. It's interesting that evil characters find reconciliation (like the mini-fascist student council president). It's interesting that the jocks in the story are caring and kind. To make an obvious comparison, I'd say it's like an optimistic Evangelion. I'm not going to spoil the latter with any specific details (you should watch it, though), but MP100 feels like it takes the themes that Eva is working with and turns them on their head.
posted by codacorolla at 9:03 PM on October 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

So, just posting this in the finale because why not, but something I've noticed recently in genre deconstruction anime (like this) is how it elides the big battle, the chase, and the quest like we find in other shounen shows, and really western fantasy too. I've been watching Flip Flappers (got some mixed feelings), but you can see it here too. The big-bad for a typical anime is a cut-scene. The main thing is the emotional growth of the character, a side reflection, a total non-sequitur. Mob does this a lot, although it falls back into it at certain points. I wonder if western media will ever reach this point - where a general audience cares more about the characters, and the commentary on the form, than they do on the masturbatory fight scenes that pad it all out.
posted by codacorolla at 9:44 PM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]