English Dub Review: Mob Psycho 100 “Ripped Apart ~Someone is Watching~”

Even psychics have girl troubles.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Mob has returned to his (mostly) normal high school life as an exceptionally gifted teenage psychic. The episode begins with Mob helping out his psychic sensei, Reigen, deal with a ghostly possession in a nearby vegetable farm. As Reigen and Mob inspect the field, they encounter a powerful entity that controls the vines in the area to form a titanic vegetable monster Mob has to fight. After a few failed attempts to defeat the ghost through conventional means, Mob realizes he can possess the vines with his own magical power to stop them from moving, which allows him to stop the ghost in it’s tracks.

With that business done, Mob goes back to school and starts to struggle with his affections for Tsubomi, who he wants to ask out. His friend Ichi Mezato, who wants mob to become a leader, advises him to run for student council president, so that he might attract Tsubomi’s attention. However, despite Ichi’s help and Mob’s best effort, he completely freezes up when it’s time to deliver his election speech, and loses by a landslide.

Despite his failure, the next day Mob receives a love letter from a girl named Emi. She asks Mob out right then and there, and though Mob, in his awkwardness, refuses her offer, he starts walking with her to and from school every day. Mob feels like he finally has a girlfriend, or at least a girl at school that he’s close to.

Yet, things don’t end up going so well. While they’re sitting together in a grassy field, Emi explains that she was dared to date Mob by her friends, and that she doesn’t think Mob really has any opinions of his own, as if he’s a non-person. The two part ways, leaving Mob heartbroken. Later, however, Mob comes across Emi being bullied by her friends, who take a story that she’s written and rip it up, scattering it to the wind. Emi doesn’t fight back, but Mob comes to help her pick up the pieces. Emi gives up on the attempt, but Mob uses his psychic powers to help her reassemble the story, much to her amazement. In that moment, he earns her respect and friendship, as he demonstrates what it is he really cares about.

Our Take:

I don’t think there’s a single soul in the whole world who’s seen Mob Psycho and doesn’t love it. The secondary series created by the enigmatic web mangaka, One, it’s always had an abundance of originality and heart. Mob, shy as he is, is as endearing as protagonists come, and his loudmouth swindling teacher with a heart of gold, Reigen, is a one-man band of hilarious lines and “special moves.” When I finished watching the first series, I was completely blown away, so the news of a second season was welcome news, but with a little suspicion thrown in. Even great shows, like “Durarara”, get bad second seasons, so there was a part of me that, while watching this premier episode, was ready for disaster. Ready to see how a show so beloved could become just another franchise.

I’m extraordinarily pleased to say that whatever fears I had for this second season have completely vanished. Make no mistake, this is the Mob Psycho that you know and love, the continuation of one of the best anime made in the past five years, sterling from start to finish. From the charming visuals to the voice acting, to the great characters, there is so much to love.

What’s curious is that this episode picks up right where the last left off. Rather than trying to jazz things up with a hot new arc or some new take on the material, we’re going right back to Mob’s attempt to lead an ordinary life, as he takes on his biggest challenge yet, wooing the heart of a girl. Though, like most of Mob Psycho 100, it ends on a bittersweet note, it expertly captures the emotional complexity of Mob, this boy who sputters along through life, never quite getting what he wants, but maturing little by little with each episode.

By the end of this episode, I wasn’t in tears, but was absolutely feeling all sorts of things in my cold, dead, heart. The true power of Mob Psycho is, and always has been, it’s ability to draw an emotional response from it’s audience, and this new season is clearly up to the job of filling that role. It’s a show that works as a slice of life comedy, complete with the shounen and fighting elements that guide it’s structure and inform the background on which it draws from to play with your expectations. If you’re already into Mob Psycho, then sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. If you’re not already watching, then hurry up and get started, this is one show that nobody should miss.