English Dub Review: Mob Psycho 100 “Poor, Lonely, Whitey”

Nothing is scarier than a tofu ghost.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Mob has grown quite a bit in the past months and has made some serious advances in his fitness gains. Not to mention, he’s also surrounded by a group of kind and honest friends who genuinely enjoy Mob being around. They’re about to go to a joint birthday party for a couple of their friends, but Reigen calls Mob out of the blue and tells him he really needs him for a job tonight. Mob protests, but goes along with it anyways, missing out on karaoke with his friends.

Mob finishes the job of exorcising a “tofu ghost” with total ease and afterward gives Reigen guff for being so dismissive of Mob and his friends. Reigen makes a bad move however, continuing to attack Mob’s friendships as fake and shallow. Mob responds by revealing that he knows Reigen is something of a con, and he doesn’t want to keep doing things for him.

This fight serves to sever Reigen and Mob’s friendship, as the two stop seeing each other after this. Reigen believes that things will blow over soon enough, but Mob seems quite happy with himself and his friends, and Reigen realizes he may have lost his friend for good. Knowing this, he returns to an old bar he used to frequent full of gullible people that serve as his only friends. He reveals to them that it’s his birthday, and he glumly accepts their praise while nursing a lemon sour. (Without alcohol)

After his depressing night at the bar, Reigen decides he needs to make something of himself. He throws himself into his work and takes the agency to new heights. Through networking, persistence, and taking on specialty jobs that other psychics won’t touch, he’s able to earn some notable fame for himself. He’s even able to earn himself a television spot on a corny psychic television show. Things finish out as Joto, a rival psychic, monologues to himself about some kind of trap he’s lured Reigen into.

Our Take:

Now, this was a nice turn in the series. Mob Psycho is a show that has such a strong foundation built on its premise and it’s many, many, great episodes during its career. The core of this foundation is the teacher/student that Reigen and Mob have. As a surrogate father, Reigen has always been Mob’s way out of a bad situation, even though Reigen is something of a con artist taking advantage of Mob’s incredible power. He’s not a “bad guy” since he really is a positive influence on Mob, but he’s still no saint. This episode decides to point the spear of conflict square at the bond between Reigen and Mob. This makes for an episode that’s as unique in the series as it is tense. It’s wholesome, dramatic, and satisfying; an episode that anyone can enjoy.

It’s heartbreaking to see two friends struggle to keep their relationship alive. Mob and Reigen are such a good pair you just want to see them happy in each other’s company. Yet, Mob Psycho understands that with growth comes change, and sometimes that means becoming too big for old friendships. This is exactly the kind of sincere, complex storytelling I come to Mob Psycho for. Of course, it’s balanced out by plenty of good humor and cheeky dialogue, so things don’t get too glum, but the weight of this episode remains quite heavy.

This episode also gives us a closer look at who Reigen is as a person. We’ve only ever seen Reigen as a source of charisma and social power, representative of the traits Mob lacked. Yet, without Mob by his side, we see that Reigen might not be the charming figure we once thought he was. This behind-the-scenes look adds a new dimension to Reigen’s character, and boy is it tragic. Nothing like a sad birthday to make you feel for a poor, lonely, whitey kind of guy.

This episode is far more down to earth than the usual Mob Psycho story, but that’s not at all a bad thing. After the surreal acid-trip of psychic trauma that was last week’s Mob Psycho, we can afford to get back to the lighter stuff. And, as always, you can expect the same quality dialogue, great characterization and fun direction that has made this show so wonderful. I can’t wait to see where things go from here.