He has returned. In mob form! There is little chance for me to reflect on the passage of time as Mob Psycho 100 III kicks up like that was yesterday. I can’t believe it has been more than three years since the second season finale where a huge broccoli floret was placed in the midst of the city. And it’s appropriate since MP100 is a series that, based on what I’ve seen online, hasn’t really left my brain. Do you recall the moment when Eric Trump made everyone’s favorite cartoon son trend? Or the many examples of Reigen’s schlubby sex appeal engulfing the internet like a coconut crab? The series is one that stays with you. like your preferred gum. Also, it’s back in vogue.
The first three episodes of season three are excellent in bringing back our appreciation for Mob and his psychic (and psychic-related) comrades. It’s a vibrant synthesis of wonderful characters, compassionate storytelling, stunning animation, and—possibly most importantly—a feeling of emancipation. MP100 seems like an anime that could try anything and do it brilliantly. A rogue’s gallery of yokai may be seen being exorcised into oblivion in episode two if psychedelic ghost wars are your thing. If you enjoy social criticism that is timely, the last act of the premiere skillfully weaves the worries of numerous characters into a deft and moving ending. And may God have compassion on your soul if all you want to see in the third episode is Mob in a gigachad costume with an absurdly wide mouth.
The extremely skilled creative team remained largely stable throughout Mob Psycho 100’s lifespan, with the normal adjustments that can occur over six years, but it is still every bit as fantastic as it has ever been. In the most noticeable change this season, Takahiro Hasui takes over as director while Yuzuru Tachikawa, who oversaw the first two seasons, remains as chief director (a position usually reserved for more supervisory roles). This may seem frightening, but it makes sense. I’m sure Tachikawa is occupying his time with the next Blue Giant movie because it comes out in February. Hasui, on the other hand, has worked on Mob before; in addition to Carole & Tuesday and Sk8 the Infinity, he also directed the sixth episode of season six. And given how much I’ve liked this season thus far, any doubts I may have had about that personnel switchover have been completely allayed, so I believe the anime is still in excellent, shrewd hands.
The new OP and ED both manage the challenging task of living up to their predecessors on the periphery. Out of the three we’ve received, I think I like this one the most since it expertly combines the now-standard freeform psychedelia with moodier abstractions appropriate for this season, when Mob’s teenage troubles are likely at their height. Similar to her Reigen-focused season one ED, Miyo Sato makes a quiet study of Mob’s morning ritual for the ED. Miyo Sato’s signature and exquisite paint-on-glass animation is back. The finest anime beginnings and endings are always greater than the components that make them up. They are chances for artists to break free from the constraints of narrative storytelling and produce 90 seconds of A-level art. MP100 is a perfect 1000 in that regard.
Mob Psycho 100’s animation philosophy is permeated with the spirit of creative abstraction, and to me, that show’s soul is the union of freedom and passion. Without allowing its animators to go berserk in each and every situation, Mob just wouldn’t be Mob. The series’ vibrant centerpiece, the psychic fights, are undeniably its most vivid aspect, but I’m constantly surprised by how much personality even the most routine exchanges can convey. This week, the animators use Tsubomi’s untimely sneeze to create a comical exposé of her most irrational phobias, covered in rainbow-sheen snot. Furthermore, if Reigen weren’t frequently shown in Looney Tunes-style animation, he would not be nearly as well-liked. Everyone online wants to jump his bones because he is a scam artist with the face suppleness of silly putty. Cartoons mostly focus on this.
In a broader sense, this program is significant to me because it is one of the industry’s last remaining bulwarks of transformational adaptation philosophy. High-profile adaptations seem to be growing safer and safer as they try to appease supporters and attract new viewers.. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but to cut to the chase, Flowers of Evil by Hiroshi Nagahama is one of my all-time favorite anime series. Therefore, I hope you can see where I’m coming from. And in many ways, Mob is the ideal television show for achieving the craziest visuals. It only makes sense for an animated version to adapt the spirit of those paintings, if not occasionally the text, given how character-driven ONE’s rough graphic style is. In my Ideal World, vibes and spirit would always take precedence above integrity to the source material and coherence. But I suppose that because Mob comes to blow my hair back once a week, I don’t need to waste time wishing for a Perfect World.
I now see that I have scarcely mentioned the incident. Oops. However, as this story arc is still in its infancy, I believe that these episodes did a good job of reintroducing the audience to these individuals’ lives gradually. I like Reigen’s need to tease Mob, but I also appreciate how he finally reassures him that he will have plenty of time and space to choose his own route. I also appreciate the low stakes of Mob’s brief moments of job concern. Their strange, accidental, but utterly true relationship continues to be the series’s core and standout feature.. I really adore how this week’s episode takes a lengthy joke about Mob finally reaching adolescence and, in the last scene, gradually transforms the circumstance into something much more scary. While MP100 excels as a sentimental comedy, its ability to endure comes from its desire to say and do more.
I don’t feel like there is much else to say at this time other than, yes, more Mob! One of the finest animes of the last ten years, and we’re fortunate to see it end on a note that is both certain and legendary.
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On Crunchyroll right now, you can watch Mob Psycho 100 III.
Steve is a frequent writer to ANN as a freelancer and was the person who once referred to Arataka Reigen as an online sex symbol. Feel free to mock him about this on Twitter. Otherwise, listen to him on This Week in Anime talking about both garbage and treasure.