100% Blind Mob Psycho 100 Review: SEASON THREE (The End)

I have no idea what to expect this season and I don't mean that in the ooh I'm interested in what's going to happen next sort of way I mean that on a I honestly don't know how the hell they're going to tell 12 episodes worth of story with what has just happened in season two sort of way the last season's climax felt definitive final claimactic pick any assortment of words that indicate finality and that would be it there is a coming full circle with both Reagan and mob's character acts respectively both have grown tremendously and found their footing in a good place at the very end of the series if someone told me that that was it at the end of season 2 that's all one wrote I would have accepted it and called it a perfect series but now I'm staring down the barrel of something I don't know what to anticipate from which on one hand is exciting but on the other it makes me wonder can one stick The Encore after executing one of the best seasons of anime I have ever seen only one way to find out [Music] tonight [Applause] anxiety aside going into this more than anything I was overcome with curiosity how was one and this team working at Studio bones going to make this final season field final there has to exist some emotional through line that gets paid off so let's see what episode 1 has to offer these Seasons normally start off with a few Standalone episodes that act as the building blocks or indicating factors that point us to the general direction of how this season is going to conclude so let's see what's cooking in these first two episodes something I noticed rather quickly was the tonal difference or contrast expressed between these opening episodes from season 3 and the opening episodes from season one in those season 1 opening episode the focus of the plot was to demonstrate how and where mob was lacking in his life and that just so happened to be pretty much everywhere with the first episode itself ending on a note that lingered with a sense of longing for what he doesn't have Friends season 3 on the other hand opens with a collection of episodes emphasizing just how that has changed forcing us to reflect on the evolution of of this character and the most powerful aspect of this being he transformed in ways that all of us have the power to transform ourselves as I pointed out in the beginning of this review series within the first episode itself mob felt very much like a side character in his own show with him not really showing up until many scenes and character introductions later acting as the mop for Reagan's mess with his introduction to us in the very first episode being from behind where he was barely noticeable in the background of his own show with the scene itself specifically centered around him as he's surrounded by all of his friends he's made thanks to the brave choices he stuck to I love stuff like this and the substance of the episode itself only further reflects why I love it career path survey God I remember those and good God Almighty I did not know what to do ranked 190th which is very middle of the road for that school apparently mob sits nicely and doesn't really know what he wants to do but all he does know is that he wants to pursue his Crush we get exposed to pretty much every other adjacent character's overall academic ranking the body Improvement Club all looks like how you'd expect they've put all of their time into their bodies and their academic goals are either nothing or are helped by the extracurricular achievements in sports and Athletics except for one I love how one of them is randomly ranked second in the entire school like or Year I'm not sure and looking to become a vet that's just kind of funny but all that aside I do relate to this episode quite a lot I remember succinctly at the age of 17 sitting in my guidance counselor's office completely stressed out of my mind when she confronted me about not filling in my forms for college yet truth is at 17 and well even at 25 I still didn't know what it was that I wanted to do with my life this is all to say that not knowing what to put down for one of these future forms in school is stressful and at worst depressing and terrifying as I praise at the end of episode 13 of season 2. I was thrilled the series our and Ma both found a place in Reagan's business that helped them feel like something worthwhile and the way this episode builds and leans into this new Dynamic was brilliant they encounter enter a man professing that he has been cursed by a spirit that has made his life unsuccessful he attributes all of his personal social and professional failings to this spirit and while mob and sarizawa exercised this Spirit successfully both are left reeling after this encounter as they can both see themselves in the mistakes this man has made this man is in his 50s sarizawa is 30 and MOB is still in school but looking at this man offers them a mirror or future projection to how their lives might be if they don't make the right decisions from here on in and this is where mob demonstrates profound levels of growth as a character once again and really this aspect of his character is where the focus is placed in these opening episodes while the first few episodes of season 1 demonstrated fairly basic areas of mob's life where he was severely lacking these episodes offer far more understandably complicated and difficult social situations and professional circumstances where many people might find difficulty but mob somehow finds a way out of it thanks to his mindset the most interesting of which episode one concludes with and this conclusion mob reaches concerns comfort and One's Choice is dictated by that the idea that Comfort isn't necessarily a goal one should seek but rather the enemy of personal development and progress is a wonderfully mature and profound way of looking at things for someone as young as he is and because of this mob has to make decisions he otherwise isn't comfortable with because they are what's best for him that he must eventually step away from Reagan and his company with his reason being the only thing that would change about him if he were to stay there be his age and the best part is there's no hard feelings and Reagan supports mob's decision is somewhat confusingly the episode ends with dimples sitting atop a giant piece of broccoli that was in The Arc prior uh this doesn't make any sense in context but we'll no doubt in a few episodes or so episode 2 in the same fashion as episode 1 acts as a standalone episode that serves to emphasize the growth of mob again more specifically his ability to speak up for himself his ability to lead and prioritize problems that he has despite it being inconvenient to others he's able to put himself first which is great for everyone to learn the episode itself sees mob accept the job of a costume or prop designer for a school day of sorts all the wild Reagan humor is the silly antics of some self-professed Yokai Hunter um okay naturally this doesn't interest Reagan until a massive amount of money becomes involved to which Reagan begins speaking in a theatrical fashion just like the Yokai Hunter it's hilarious and fun specifically when the yokai's eventually do show up however there is one thing that's a little weird about this place uh there's like these weird roots and Vines growing everywhere um I don't know whatever I'm sure it's nothing they take out the Yokai King easily and in the process of doing so mob solved his own problems without the help of Reagan which is again another wonderful little development in the end the work mob and his team did for a school wasn't exactly praised but it felt rewarding because they liked it and they knew they had worked hard to make it now before I dive into the minutia of the next four episodes which make for themselves a very compelling and well thought out mini Arc I'd like to discuss a rather large change that's taken place on the production side of things for this season 3 specifically during my breakdown of the production for the prior two seasons of the series tachikawa was a series director in addition to being super Hands-On throughout those Seasons unfortunately during the production of this final season he was busy directing an anime called Blue Giant and so a new series director was brought in called takahiro hasui hasui has been with Studio bones since 2012 and directed the sixth episode of mob psycho in season two so he's not a complete Outsider by any means but this is the first time he's ever led a TV series interestingly however while tachikawa was working on another Pro he did remain somewhat working on the series in a more hands-off supervisory role though outside of offering a small bit of storyboarding in episode 10 his main contribution was taking on a scripting role writing episode 7 and 8 of this final season which isn't too strange seeing as he also wrote episode 6 and 7 in season 2. now I thought this was worth mentioning right off the bat because it's not often you see directors of adapted Works writing scripts and moving on from those broad Strokes however the first episode is both boarded and directed by hasui himself so it's nice to get a sense right away of how suitable he is for this role the answer is uh very mob psycho 100 is such a special series to these people because it's all about elevating its source material taking fun ideas from one's manga and extrapolating cool new set pieces from them right in the first half of this episode Reagan fixing something with rice is turned into a hilariously dramatic action move in the anime it's a simple change but one that lets me breathe a sigh of relief over the demonstration that this still feels very much like mob through and through within the first episode also we have returning character animator toshiyuki Sato animating a very common-esque sequence of Reagan along with koki Fujimoto of Chainsaw man Fame who produced this fantastic scene that feels like a nice parallel to a similar season 1 sequence and it's certainly not the only reference in this episode either concerning episode 2 however hasui's storyboards once again we get to see his skills as an action storyboarder this time around and I was very curious to see the results of this and these results are pretty damn competent tying together characters and the environment in ways we've come to expect from this series you can see this throughout in these stunning sequences that showcase awesome background animation which as I mentioned during my breakdowns of previous seasons is but one of the many common elements of mob's animation in its series that does not make use of CGI overall the second episode for me was one that definitely solidifies hatsui as a great successor tatachikawa however as I'm sure you'll notice as I talk about what else this season has to offer what's probably the most fascinating aspect about this season is that it completely breaks the mold of a typical anime production as I mentioned in the previous videos mob Cycles production always had a strong production environment often finishing its production before the final episode airs but season 3 was different this time the entire season was completed before even the first episode hit the air this is almost unheard of now with that said however this season isn't as action driven as the prior to nor is it quite as ambitious due to many of its former animator Associates being busy elsewhere but a conservative season by mob psycho 100 standards is still light years ahead of most other shows and despite this talent pool change there are plenty of returning stars to continue to shine Mio Sato returns once again with her incredible paint on glass animation throughout the season and she even takes on the ending sequence herself something she also wowed us with back in season one I have so much more to say about this production but I'll leave it here for now time to move on to the next and first mini Arc of this final season the Divine tree right off the bat I just want to say that this mini Arc is my favorite part of mob psycho thus far I liked it better than the climax to both the previous arcs and I shall intend on explaining why in this preceding section but in short it's a rather straightforward story with nuances and interesting areas for the involved characters taking them in directions we've not yet seen before in this series to date all told within the context of broccoli zombies you heard me right Brock zombies this is the best Arc of all time these are really cute but short scene that kicks off this episode and indeed this mini Arc to a large extent where mob actually has a positive interaction with tsubomi without embarrassing himself and indeed impressing tsubamey by coming to her social rescue the point of this successful interaction once again is to act as a contrast to the horrible interactions he's had in the past all the while shining a light on the blossoming social life he now has with a number of girls in his school with that reality suddenly Paving the way for a very different set of circumstances to be fallen Bob back being he is popular how can you blame him but the tearful Pride relief and happiness ritsu has for his older brother speaks for itself he knows how he struggles socially and to see that no longer be the case must be a massively uplifting sight for him it's such a wonderfully tender moment but it isn't without certain drawbacks thank you hilariously on the nose visual metaphors aside mob does get a big head over this concerning his Newfound popularity and this could not come at a worse time because it's also the time the cold surrounding Bob has mobilized around the giant broccoli to worship it and moments later dimple shows up and says to mob his popularity has gone to his head and confronts him about the founder of the new religion audition and dimpled true to Fashion tries to weasel his way into the conversation but Bob sees through it and maybe his ego allows him to believe he doesn't need dimple's help at all mob's confidence is turning into overconfidence and that's when Bob confronts dimple with a pointed question is more foreign Ed meetings with mob and female friends later and one bad t-shirt purchase we find that despite Bob having decided to go onto the podium to audition for the position of founder since mizato bailed on him Bob did go but curiously someone looking just like mob arrived at the podium to wow the audience this is where the plot of this mini Arc starts to ramp up and things really start to become mysterious as Reagan watches from the comfort of his own home on Livestream this supposed founder sprouting before everyone in the audience a giant broccoli stock the next day yields a lot of suspicious activity both mizato and Tomo who they were both meant to meet Bob the day prior now are suddenly all in with this new religion but in addition to that have no memory of why they bailed on the respective arranged meetings with mob in the first place but once Reagan shows mob the clip online mixed with the strange goings-on on the town being slowly infested with these mysterious roots not to mention those weird new broccoli green candies people are together for free everywhere the true nature of what's actually happening starts to form a clearer image they need to destroy that broccoli and MOB agrees in the midst of all this craziness Taro has his own little adventure with the brainwashing broccoli plant the section itself is really well directed and there's a heavy emphasis on the smaller details in the day-to-day that I really enjoyed the openings of fridges the slow rise of someone's head to look up or even the use of a mundane vending machine all these subtle details that are given extra attention really help to ground the episode no pun intended but more broadly this section really more than anything else just serves to expose us to the real enemy of this section and what we can come to expect from him and his goals vomiting up the food that he had just been brainwashed with tarot investigates the giant plant in an effort to put an end to all of this craziness but through doing so get sucked into a terrifying fight against this broccoli mob figure the fight between the two is rather great but once again this section really serves primarily to expose us to the necessary details of this character that we're encountering right now to show us what this being strengths and Powers truly are while cutting away to other characters like minigishi who grabs the roots draining the city and falls to the floor unconscious as a result and as the Fight Continues with tarot It's Finally Revealed that all of this has been dimpled all along dimple is the founder the spirit who formulated all of this he says that mob doesn't matter that he's always had one goal and that will be to become a modern God ooh the plot suddenly just became so much more interesting a foundational character now playing a key role in an adversarial position and cut away to mob and Reagan formulating a plan they think that they might need help with this and so sea of ritsu will help when in actuality he's actually brainwashed and just guides them to more followers in the whole today except this new religion too needless to say mob and Reagan just run away and as of right now it's really starting to feel like the entire city is pursuing them like there's no one left in their right mind I and feeding into this very notion is a brilliant piece of character writing between mob and Reagan when Reagan catches mob calling the founder fake now this is a very important thing for him to call him out on Reagan says that that's a very strange thing to say seeing as the group didn't have a Founder in the first place and this is so subtle and while it does go on to be revealed that Reagan is also brainwashed by The Wacky plan too it's also evident that something far more subtle is at the root of all of this mob's ego the same ego that pushed dimple away to perform this mess but needless to say mob doesn't accept anything Reagan says of course and tearfully runs away to set this whole situation straight with heroic music booming in the background he begins to step towards the Divine tree he's going to save everyone and Visually this is communicated by him stepping out of the Shadows no longer hiding and asking for free entry to the person who so feverishly in the past begged him to do just that people Rejoice that they now have two Founders to me and all the gym Bros watch on this tree and dimple have infected the minds of the entire city this is where things really start to get mind [ __ ] and this Fanfare mob is experiencing this clapping and cheering all from Dimple and strangely it contrasts harshly against what he said the episode prior that he doesn't need mob anymore well if he's trying to feed into mob's ego here to manipulate him why is he doing so if he doesn't need him he shows him tarot restrained and claims that ritsu and Reagan are under his influence too with the explosion counter in mob Rising he even draws attention to what he made Reagan say that in the end the ones who have the most fun win foreign foreign dimple tries to convince mob to join him explaining that everyone in the city and everyone he ever knew is under his control now I think it's safe to say that dimple within this series is one of the few characters who can claim that they know mob really is and how he thinks what his weaknesses are and what he can do to exploit just that and he does so through uncertainty and it's quite unsettling he forces tarot to fight mob trying to confuse mob by leveraging the lesson he tried to tell Terror back in season one not to use his powers for his own self-interest and all of this makes even me as an audience member feel unsure and unsettled as a result but mob he sticks to his convictions because he isn't the same kid that was in season one exploding with power sending Teru flying more of these broccoli monsters start to show up and subdue mob as his explosion meter Rises dimple still refusing to show himself despite being called upon by mob refusing to face him is he scared well mob Falls the floor after clutching his chest his power is being sucked away dimple is now all-powerful deciding at this moment now to appear before Mom but interestingly despite finding him the vast majority of his time is spent still trying to convince him over to his way of thinking just a quick aside for a second the animation for this transformation and indeed this form reminds me so much of frieza's transformation into golden Frieza everything from the form itself to even the reveal animation the swooping Grand angles feel very freezer but also really help to sell what dimple is doing here dimple is combining everything he knows about mob to defeat him draining him of the max energy he demonstrated during the fight against toichiro Suzuki alongside the Mind Games he learned from mugami through the lens of someone mob thought of as a friend no less this is an interestingly evil decision by dimple and an approach that me sitting right here now watching has me thinking damn this just might actually work on both of these occasions mob came close to losing to dying and combining these approaches with a close friend's underhanded attack it's more likely to succeed than pretty much any other approach that's been taken in the series however in response to this mob takes a different approach again meow and I dimple explodes with a massive attack and regrets firing it with such energy almost immediately by catching himself but he says that he can still feel his rage mob once more asks for dimple to say something honest something authentic but he doesn't and attacks one last time I think given the fact that mob has been the point of view character in this mini Arc with him effectively trying to figure out the mystery surrounding dimple with his ever dwindling number of allies it's then an interesting choice to not have Bob himself be the POV character of the climax but instead to switch it over to Dimple once he reveals himself or shown his internal thoughts his strategies and his concerns as mob creeps closer and closer to 100 and once he does explode nothing happens because we're still stuck only seeing the thoughts of dimple were made to empathize with him that little bit more were confused just like him what is happening and the monologue from Dimple is quite telling he's confused but not once practice on about his plans for world domination he's not looking past mob even in the slightest in fact he seems more concerned about whether or not he mob is given up on him that he's resigned to giving up to turning this fight into a half-assed Climax and I think that more than anything else in this Arc feels like a cry for help like he wants mob to convince him and as dimple threatens mob's Life One Last Time with a sharp blade inches from his face mob says he won't do it by turning off his powers Bob lays himself defenseless and by doing so exposes dimple in return both metaphorically and literally pushing through his guard foreign the lesson here Harkens back to a number of instances in this story reflected in the words Reagan offered him in passing about those who gain confidence usually going too far before finding their footing later and as mob admits rightfully he didn't treat dimple with the level of respect and care he needed to he was at his most vulnerable through this mob realizes the role he played all the while seeing that the exact same shortcoming and lesson befell dimple they were two people going through the same thing and by being such fed into one another creating this mess we see before us by hearing him out and offering him what he's always truly needed dimple is allowed to on his own terms realize for himself that he has more income with mob than he might have ever even realized that just like him all he has ever really wanted wasn't to be a God or to be a leader or to be some cult of personality but to be acknowledged to be seen to have a real friend that wants him for who he is and nothing more and it makes sense that manipulation is dimple's calling card in this instance he doesn't trust anyone to actually want to altruistically be his friend and in giving dimple that time of day mob saved everyone in the town and indeed dimpled from himself it's a brilliant story reaching a conclusion with dimple carrying a defenseless and sleeping mob back to his bed to rest gonna and suddenly boy this is such a cool idea made possible with this world and its Unique Mechanics but what in reality is happening here is that dimple now has to face the consequences of his actions alone without the help of his support system to do what makes him uncomfortable to do something dangerous for someone else to do the right thing the cycle helmet wants mob for sustenance but dimple refuses his advances here we have a fight between the real dimple and the part of him that he rejected his good side versus his evil Tendencies and ah I was so excited watching this the way this broccoli doppelganger moves is even spooky in and of itself like he's some sort of evil spirit or Specter impervious to the attacks of the real world and In This Moment dimple is the only one standing in defense of an unconscious mob while staring down hundreds of clones the file itself is spectacular and comes with its own bells and whistles we've come to expect from this incredible series with dimples slowly having to end energy drained by his impressive foe but even outside of that there's such an incredible sense of scale to this fight the occasion is Grand and the action surrounding it my God it's stunning and then the final scene takes place where from the midst of this intense action we cut to Dimple waking up mob he's unable to stand but for the first time proper dimple is able to use his powers to manipulate Bob for his own good and despite the goals he's espoused to have in the past he chooses to let mob walk out under his own power it's through this brief interaction that dimple acknowledges just how strong mob is and as the seconds tick by we notice a scratch on his cheek and more damage and more damage as time passes on and as the camera pans out slowly but surely we recognize the damage that dimple himself has taken and moreover that he's used this power to lure mob home because he knows he may never see him ever again from such a heartfelt and uplifting finish to their encounter one has dragged us back to the pits of Despair and sorrow as he reminds us of what happens when we get too carried away when we hurt too many people that those consequences just might exact the ultimate toll it's a crushingly beautiful selfless heroic and sad scene but when I am delighted dimple got to have and as mob sits there lying in his bed unsure of what exactly happened his heart knows the truth and he cries himself to sleep this is the first major Action episode of the season and was directed by Yuta kiso having previously worked as an animator on shows like my hero Academia as a regular animator episode 6 is his very first time directing an episode proper and interestingly he's actually a newcomer too mob psycho 100 series having only contributed a small rather unrecognizable section of season 2's opening transitioning from an animator to a director storyboard artist can be rough but his work here is truly remarkable not only does it nail the action sequences with the most Monumental scale possible it also manages to execute the emotional moments with real gravitas the animation staff assembled for this episode is pure All-Star material also and the results speak for themselves I mean this does not stop moving yoshimichi kameda takes on the animation director role and along with him there's the legendary Yutaka Nakamura Yuki Hayashi hironori Tanaka and many other All-Star names it really is just the most ludicrous episode nakamura's sequence is undeniably the Highlight however of the the episode with his trademark three-dimensionality and dynamic lighting that just explodes off the screen the scale here I have to reiterate is off the charts Tanaka's smoke is also insane and the snappy timing feels very common to esque in its execution helping these sequences blend together nicely many people know Yuki Hayashi for his Dragon Ball super Broly work and his many contributions to my hero Academia and he's here too pulling off the same craziness with arguably the most weighty scene in the episode there's a quality to this work that's hard to put into words it never loses its sense of exaggeration despite how much grounded oomph it conveys the big emotional finale with wonderful lip sync however hasn't had its animator identified yet but it's one of those scenes that jumps into realism in a way that really grabs your eyes and emphasizes the emotional weight of the scene the telepathy Club Arc these are the episodes that convince me that this story could focus on just about any of The Supporting Cast and still deliver superb storytelling that captures my attention and Imagination perfectly I love these characters and on this particular occasion it's graduation time entrance exams for some private schools will start soon and unlike the last mini Arc which Focus largely on Mob himself this one more specifically focuses on the insecurities of Tomei and The Wider telepathy Club as they struggle to face a difficult reality that they may just have wasted all their times goofing off instead of working on themselves or building memories in this club taking it seriously this is a very interesting idea and direction to build on the story we've seen mob focus on the body Improvement club for these very reasons and in this moment we see the rest of the club sort of come to grips with that lesson with the very Growing Pains of this realization acting as the impetus for this entire mini Arc foreign this is the indirect call to action for the rest of the club to try and help Tomei not feel as though she's a total failure to help her once and for all make real strides towards her goal that she created this club for to meet Aliens now naturally something like that would seem completely unreasonable in any other sort of story but let's not forget that this is Mob psycho 100's world we are talking about a story where the main character can hurl buildings while crying and a magical giant head of broccoli can brainwash thousands and so naturally inukava one of the other boys from the telepathy Club employs the help of mob who employs the help of ritsu who eventually employs the help of those two uh no come on come on you can do it I believe in you what were their names oh uh the Twins daichi and kaito who could forget them anyway Jokes Aside while the stakes are comparatively low compared to those that occupied much of season 2 the fact that this contends more personally with the characters we've all come to know and have grown attached to it actually feels all the more important as a result of that I was so damn invested in how they were going to resolve some of these seemingly unsolvable problems how would they attract the attention of a real telepath and not a crappy one like these guys well as it happens they can send a signal to attract other telepaths and MOB can boost that signal which creates one of the coolest twists and creative choices of the entire season dada [Music] um takanaka the guy who left the club in episode 2 of season freaking one answers the call I cannot describe to you how damn cool this Choice was creatively not only is it a callback that sent me reeling but he's showing up and initial departure are all linked to the underlying themes and journey of this story the reason he left in the first place is because they clearly weren't serious like he was about understanding telepathy and the club itself but as soon as they start to show that level of seriousness and compassion they created for themselves the perfect set of circumstances to bring him specifically back into the fold this is terrific storytelling and character writing on all one and even some Advanced [ __ ] it is awesome and the icing of the cake is Mob breaks through his wall too finding common ground with him coming from a place of isolation also and guess what takanaka because he's a telepath knows that mob isn't lying to him I love stuff like that and this was by far the best scene of the episode foreign this scene is hilarious and if you know you know I ain't explaining why the plan however is to drive to a mountain go to the top of it and give Thoma her telepathy experience with Reagan agreeing to tag along and drive with the ultimate goal being to use takanaka to make contact with aliens using mob as a signal booster as they make their way up the mountain enjoying setbacks both mentally and geographically I just have to point out that the direction of this episode is absurdly stunning and on another level compared to pretty much every other episode I've seen up until now and you best believe I'll be talking about exactly this in the production section for this episode in just a moment but regarding the narrative there's a moment with takanaka that once again highlights that one knows exactly where to put the focus in his stories and that place is the heart and emotion of a particular scene and really more than anything else that's the calling card of this particular artist it's why despite the crude drawings at times billions of people read his work more than just this incredible Direction I praised earlier it's the heartfelt and tender message that this episode offers takanaka cared so much about this and Thomas experience that he dedicated his entire night to learning and researching everything he needed to for today explaining away his lateness earlier in the episode which was a brilliant touch it's just such a touching Revelation with the very ritual that takes place itself acting as a wonderful prelude for all of us to take a lesson from adventuring outside of our comfort zone and putting in effort with friends to achieve and try something is not only fun but can change our lives create memories and more importantly can change your outlook in life however shockingly they do make contact with aliens I love how Toma is so nervous that she reaches out to shake their hand with the wrong hand to do so with it's such a subtle detail but for me really went a long way in visually communicating how nervous and really important this moment was for her needless to say they have a great time hanging out with the aliens and playing games like they did in their homeroom almost like all that time wasn't wasted after all and yet despite all that's going on Reagan's mind is on the passage of time the New Year late fees on his rental he looks at this group of kids and says that they are quote blinding almost like their future is all ahead of them and looks promising and I'm of course just inferring this but when you take into account his relationship with his mom what she's been writing to him and what little he shared about his past it all seems to point in the direction perhaps also alluding to him not feeling fulfilled in his life I mean he's very much the proverbial extra wheel in this group of children while having himself no plans for New Year's anyway with that said they all exchange gifts with the aliens before leaving except a new Kawa who accidentally stays and gets abducted more on that in just a second at Tomei is thrilled with her experience and says it's a new year she will never forget this was a a really nice serious oddly introspective and emotionally mature mini Arc centered around a group that represented exactly the opposite of that in the series and really that's perfect because this episode is four people that feel like that the end of school Life as we know it is a formative period for anyone and to see this story leverage that common aspect of all of our Lives to help tell this captivating and heartwarming tale is just so powerful production the one the only hakuyogo returns to completely blow mines once again in a distinct flavor unlike anything we've yet seen from him and it is breathtaking goes head-turning episodes have previously been huge action climaxes and yet this is an episode with no such fighting or action and one that proves more importantly that ghost versatility knows no limits as an artist and I'm referring to him as an artist and not simply as an animator here because much like his episode on season 2 this is all from a single mind he takes on the role of Direction storyboarding and animation Direction meaning everything you see in this episode is go through and through his animation Direction here is incredibly striking doing away with model sheet adherence in favor of Blobby loose characters with almost no shading and very distinctive rounded hair displaying a constant striking approach that extends throughout the episode entirely and is truly emblematic of how mob's production environment is Creator first its artistic Freedom has been a defining part of its success and it really is on Full display here it truly cannot be overstated also however just how animated this episode is and feels when talking about other episodes I've definitely said this does not stop moving which is a bit of hyperbole to emphasize the insanity that is the quality of the animation across the episodes but that statement applies with no hyperbole whatsoever right here it genuinely does not stop with its ludicrous character animation for its entire runtime it is one of the most insane Feats I've ever seen committed to an episode of its type and the painful thing is I'm sure a lot of people typically would notice this because it isn't an action episode there's such a grounded approach to the animation that believe it or not it is not rotoscoped in any way also you have foreign animators like Julian Bentley producing insane work of characters simply walking there's crazily detailed shots that have no reason to be as good as they are such as Reagan taking his shirt off like that is insane and it's a background element it just goes on and on walk Cycles from super hard angles fully fleshed out cities and crowd shots it is breathtaking through and through and on the topic of talking about crazy animation sakuka this episode also has what is as close as you can get to music sakuga if that makes any sense at all starting at 1646 the entire back third of the episode is one contiguous dedicated piece of music not something that you see live literally anywhere else in general let alone kawaii's mob psycho 100 score and honestly this creative Choice has me perplexed maybe one could argue that it gives this entire section of the episode a rather alien feel to it not that it sounds alien but that it feels alien to have this one big piece of music over an entire third of an episode unbroken I mean that big track does transition from largely Earthly textures like strings and Woodwinds to more alien sounding instruments like synth patches once we do get to the final scene detailing inukawa's adventures in outer space and then as if the episode itself wasn't enough of a flex it throws in a crazy alien jungle sequence animated to Perfection by Yuki Hayashi once again and ajin and on the topic of this closing section it reminds me tachikawa scripted this episode and features some major changes to the manga in manga many chapters famously end with Omak stories that are not present in the anime generally speaking but interestingly in the manga some of these actually expand on character backgrounds that are not present in the anime like the welcome kids for example which got that added bit of attention in the manga but for these particular omakas at the end of the telepathy Club story kachikawa used them to produce the strangest and yet greatest sequence in the series inukawa's Abduction the manga section of this plays out as a regular gag manga ending abruptly at the moment where they come back to earth and realize that they can't find inukawa that's the punchline that's the joke that's the end of it then during the next few chapters of the mob conclusion story were presented with the omake known as inukawa's diary every chapter representing a different time and experience from those abduction days narrated by inukawa himself via a journal he's writing and it's the same Journal we saw in the anime but the anime on the other hand takes all those Omak pages and makes this weird crazy somewhat unsettling and hilarious story about inukawa's Misadventures in this alien world it's an outstanding change to the source material in my book and one that totally enhances the material the final Arc episodes 9 10 11 and 12. say the line mark this is the best Arc of mob psycho 100 by default and I say as much because it utilizes literally every element and every event that made the mob psycho 100 story what it is today this is a storytelling Triumph and more than that an utter Masterpiece Master stroke and masterful work of art as everything from the production to the narrative setup and set pieces and even the music work together with a unified vision of bringing to life what is in my estimation one of if not the best Arc of Storytelling I've seen from an anime in my life this is a special Story one near and dear to my heart now and I hope that while I break down why I think this is so impressive you find something that you too can take away from it so let's dive in one of the many aspects that makes this Arc so successful in my opinion is how it leverages a character's point of view to tell a compelling story changing the point of view of whose or narrative POV can be interesting but changing povs can also give us a clearer picture of the reality at and divorced from the feelings of a particular onlooker now that's a lot of words what do I mean well for now let's take a look at the focus of this episode and indeed a big role player in this final Arc subomi this Arc is effectively about mob mustering the courage to ask out tsubamey before she transfers to a different school and in the opening moments of this Arc we see a dream mob is having about her and him playing as children it's nice it's warm and it's Fantastical however when we contrast that with the actual core memories he has of her while he's awake you have for yourself a very different outlook on the scene and indeed her as a person creating this sense that while she and he were once close nowadays that doesn't seem to be the case this is reinforced musically around the nine minute Mark of episode 9 where we hear the music that was used for the alien investigation now repurposed for the discussion between mob and mizato concerning tsubomi someone who is now foreign to both of these folks talking in the scene but what's more is that in this scene and indeed later episodes again they begin to show a very understated visual design aspect of tsubamey that I could well imagine went unnoticed by many people watching this video and it's Unique to the anime in the manga super depicted with largely the same style all the other girls have plain mostly regular sized eyes crude eyelashes Etc but in the anime she is the only female character with traditionally anime characteristics huge sparkly anime eyes more traditional anime eye shapes thick top eyelashes you know the stuff however in this episode around the 9 Minute Mark again a Keen Eye begins to notice that how tsubami looks in the anime is probably actually largely up to mob's interpretation or fantasy of her through his point of view and so when we see tsubami from mizato's point of view in this scene 9 minutes into the ninth episode we see her depicted less flatteringly with the bottom eyelashes and smaller more traditional eyes later in the finale too we see this even more explicitly in this sequence of images this little detail which is also a bit of a retroactive explanation for her played up anime design is brilliant in my opinion and on the narrative front the entire episode itself is basically comprised of mob ass asking the advice of the Litany of characters that have made up this series for advice on how he can approach asking to Bow me out and honestly reika's advice is the best piece he receives saying that while he should keep all the advice he's received in mind he shouldn't worry about strategy or Keeping Up Appearances that if subomi is the sort of girl love wants a deep relationship with she'll like him and be with him for who he is and interestingly once mob leaves he shares a rather Illuminating piece of dialogue concerning his view of himself he says If This Were me I'd probably just try to be slick I mean if they found out who I really was I'd get rejected in an instant this was a line that confirmed for me that my suspicions concerning Reagan's self-esteem were well founded near the end of this episode mob decides to set up a meeting with tsubame via a phone call and I cannot imagine I was the only one who with their heart in their stomach while watching this hoping and praying that he doesn't mess up too badly and I think this is emphasized because for the entire call there's virtually no music just ambient noise from mob's house there's an unusually heavy emphasis on Folly here sounds of doors opening bags rustling footsteps are all elevated higher in the mix than they would usually be a great call in my opinion as it really heightens the tension of the scene I think many of us have been there on phone calls with significant others or brushes when we were younger the feeling is not unfamiliar The Silence of almost everything but the words and the sounds around them capture this sense of tension we all know too well which brings us to the faithful day where mob makes his way to the park to meet subomi and ask her out everyone he's met and continues to meet seems to make this process the best it can be all the advice support and even flowers he's given are all provided by people that he has helped in the past surely this encounter would be the same this is the part of the story where we realize that mob has one more demon to exercise one more emotional hurdle to overcome and when I say that this is one of the best depictions of struggling to accept who you are as a person I mean that what unfolds from this point on is utterly and dumbfoundingly incredible on a narrative animation and even a musical level no punches are pulled here and just like the rest of the series the entire crew and production behind this entire series is firing on all cylinders this is the final time we are introduced to the character indicated by three question marks mob has overcome a host of difficult adversaries across this series some stronger than others and many which pushed him in complicated existential and sometimes physical methods the likes of which he only barely made it out of those situations alive characters like the members of claw bogami toichiro to name only but a few but today mob faces the individual he's being the most fearful of throughout this series The foe that is the indirect source of mob's internal traumas and indeed the main antagonist of this entire series himself and who can stop him as an adaptation the reference of question mark question mark question mark after mob gets hit by a car is handled quite differently in the manga than it is in the anime once again it becomes a question of Direction and point of view here in other words what we as an audience member are allowed to see and understand the biggest difference the manga offers here is that we actually get to see much more of Bob than we do in the anime in the anime there's no dialogue for him and instead we don't see him standing up and destroying everything that gets in his way instead you see the destruction wrought on the city from Faraway Through The Eyes of civilians the news and other characters from the show personally I really like this approach as it offers this sense that someone else is behind the wheel someone we don't know and by keeping this distance the directors indirectly position us as viewers to see this as the act of a Mindless monster causing destruction around him out of pure Instinct in other words we get the distinct impression that this isn't the kagayama shigayo that we all know and love the manga however takes a very different approach and honestly there's mayor to this direction too there's this ominous feeling from him when he wakes up he talks for the very first time and what he says tells us right away that this is in fact not kagayama shigayo this is the moment of Confirmation and in the anime this is presented much later during an inner monologue between the two of them when you already know the identity of the power that he is part of our mob a part that he kept hidden from everybody you realize that shigayo and MOB might as well be two separate identities at odds in his mind and this was when you might think that those three question mark symbols on his percentage name could instead represent three missing letters m-o-b personally I prefer the approach taken in the anime it positions us as fans to receive the swerve later on in a much more effective fashion in my opinion and moreover feeds into this narrative Direction the Story will be taking from this point on that mob is in trouble and whoever this is needs to be stopped I think from a structural standpoint the most impressive aspect narratively or one of them at least is that of who is chosen this stand in the way of the Rogue mob and why and to those that didn't catch it this might be a pretty neat little observation I've made as I mentioned for the longest time mob has been terrified of this exact situation occurring a traumatic concern born from a lifetime of feeling like he has no control past a certain point a Breaking Point we've been shown a number of times throughout this story what instances during this story did he break who did he break in front of Teru koyama toichiro ritsu all of the people who in that order stand in his way one after the other in this very Arc those that are once acted as the reason to draw this entity out of him are now standing on the other side of the field looking to do the exact opposite to help mop to save him to put this Genie back into the bottle and through these individual clashes what's highlighted isn't how Adept they are necessarily or how strong they have become or even how they lose but instead how different they are to the last time they faced each other other morally ethically and personally it's a frankly perfect narrative choice in my opinion Teru vs Mob if I'm being honest of the upcoming fights I mentioned this is the one that received most of the attention from an animation standpoint on the visual front there are a lot of comparisons made to the first fight instead of fighting for ego taru is fighting for the right reasons instead of putting other innocent people in danger he saves them directly and defends them with his dying breaths he even gets his clothes melted away again this time not because he's obstinent or big-headed but because he's courageously standing in front of a hurricane of psychic energy hoping that if he can just hold on he can make a difference he can save up despite the blood leaving his eyes his shield shattering or his skin burning he wants to save mob he wants to save everyone ultimately he doesn't succeed but he does succeed in showing how much of a radical change his character has undergone in the last three seasons and he saves an enormous amount of people in the process koyama versus mob of the four encounters mob squares off against this is the least impactful and striking in my opinion in fact most of it is shown off camera however something worth discussing is that koyama now has made something of himself that is honest no longer working as the muscle for a criminal Syndicate now he manages and operates out of a small shop and instead of trying to antagonize someone in this situation he's very much on the defensive but perhaps most miraculously despite there being a tremendous amount of damage being done despite Sirens blaring and despite evacuation notices being issued subami is actually waiting in the Park from up despite being surrounded by all the chaos she still Waits now that is either stupid or immensely honorable and willing to give her the latter but they aren't necessarily mutually exclusive either I suppose toichiro vs bomb toichiro's battle or confrontation with mob while getting a substantial amount of flair via some great animation also has a brilliantly appropriate and resonant conclusion when the I think we need to see more of in these kinds of series toichiro's goal here is to try and save mob the same way he did for him he tries to use his power to absorb Bob's energy and closes the Gap making it a war of attrition but even then mob is so savagely powerful more powerful than he could ever hope to be and even with the added support of his son show they still aren't anywhere near strong enough to put an end to this here and now this is where toichiro knows he has only one option left to take op down and to put an end to this and in identifying this option he shows just how much he's changed since the end of that second season foreign would have just indulged in a simple and rather vapid sacrifice but this is an incredibly mature and moving decision one that honestly has stayed with me longer than that vapid sacrifice could ever have been deciding instead to flee with his son valuing what he has a second shot at cherishing henceforth ritsu versus mob more than anything else this moment really serves to provide us with Exposition for Mob psyche Exposition for the very first time mob lost it in other words the inciting incident that led to this entire story and Ma being the way that he is someone who hates who he is deep down Ritu says that he used to be scared of this form thinking that it was a different version of mob altogether but now I think he understands that he was wrong that it's the same older brother that he's always loved that it's a part of him and the reason he's so destructive is due to mop himself not being accepting of that part of him and it turns out that those times that ritsu went to mob and asked if he wanted to talk about things that they all came from that very day and mob's sudden shift in character he wanted power so that he could be ready for this moment to be here for his brother but despite his best efforts he can't stop Bob it's from this moment on Bob continues to walk and he suddenly become privy to a conversation or conflict taking place in his mind where there is a terrific visual metaphor for exactly what is taking place it's here we realize that that side of mob that part that's been locked away it isn't necessarily bad just suppress beneath years of trauma and now it's exploding ready to take control and to never give it back again and it's at this point in time I think we realize that only one person can stop despite being the final part of this final Arc I wanted to separate this episode from the rest because I think it's just that important not just in the context of the story with it providing everything I wanted and more but also because this is a conclusion that teaches a very valuable lesson everyone I think at one point or another in their lives needs to learn my grandparents never learned this lesson and many adults haven't learned this lesson and growing up as a teenager and even a young adult when I should have I didn't learn this lesson which I think made this episode and finale all the more powerful and personal powerful because it is a terrific story to tell in every sense of the word personal for reasons I'll be getting into in just a moment as I'm sure you've noticed in this three-part series I love to explore what the music in the story can offer its narrative how it can frame a scene and in some cases what it can tell us about the story it's housed within this episode does just that and reveals to us the hidden meaning of its third opening theme and indeed the theme of season 3 as a whole the entire song and its chorus are all about the internal struggle of mob and this unidentified entity he has to Grapple with inside with the resolution of this season being Bob accepting his other half and becoming I'm an only one which makes it all the more interesting that the insert song for this season wasn't that track but instead 99 the op from the very first season and the answer to why that is the case becomes clear when you look at what it represents in context each of the opening tracks for these three seasons represents something important to the material covered in that section referring to mob for the most part as I mentioned the opening for season 3 offered a subtle hint towards necessary changes Bob needed to make that he needs to accept that we are who we are and that just because you don't like a part of yourself that doesn't mean that that part isn't necessarily bad or not a part of you that you need to make an effort not to tear yourself apart and hide away that you need to present yourself not as a person of compartmented sections but a person that is just as the song says one and only one the second opening's main message is to communicate to mob that he needs to get ready to achieve his goals and to remind him in no uncertain terms that he shouldn't be beholden to anyone that he should treat himself with respect and not as someone else's doormat to remind him and indeed all of us that your life is your own no one else's which brings me to the insert song used in this final episode the first opening of the entire series otherwise known as 99 this is my personal favorite of the three tracks and it's the initial and first major lesson Bob learns on his long quest for self-acceptance so if the goal of this Arc is echoed by the words one and only one from the third op and this scene deals with the resolution of that mission statement for Mob accepting himself for who he is why are we hearing 99 the season 1 OPI well because this scene isn't shown from the point of view of Bob but instead Through The Eyes of Reagan and this is what makes this song choice and this scene so intensely powerful and resonant for me I've alluded to this countless times across this review series that Reagan has while taking advantage of mob and those that seek his help through manipulation disease he's also living a life that he isn't proud of or satisfied with while this Series has indeed been about mob and his growth emotionally and physically we've also been offered fleeting glimpses behind the curtain of the Reagan character himself we've heard concerning anecdotes from his childhood about how he never joined any clubs seeing his mother's scathing emails of embarrassment towards her own son and of course A Feeling expressed by Reagan himself that he may have felt like he missed the train to becoming the person he always wished he could be and speaking as someone that never really felt like he had Direction in life that felt terrified to let people in growing up and even lied to friends and family to hide who I was Reagan more than mob or any other character has emotion emotionally connected with me I was scared to be who I was in high school I did what I thought was socially acceptable by going to college but pushing in that direction just led me to being overworked tired exhausted and dropping out in my third year I hated it following that unable to deal with the reality I stopped visiting my friends who were all graduating college and getting great jobs I couldn't face them I took up a job in a liquor store and just sort of forgot about it all and for years it was that way and I've never explained this story in a video before but I used to be really into professional wrestling the WWE were not the Olympic wrestling one I thought that since I was a fan for over a decade that I knew what it took and I figured one day it could be cool to pursue it as a career to train super hard and travel to America to audition and I trained I trained hard I trained for two years straight and put on a great deal of muscle in the process I took lessons and classes in both my city and on the other side of my country that I would travel to every week on a rickety bus all without my friends or my family knowing I put this work in and then right as I was about to leave for America I had to tell my parents and I'll never forget what my dad said to me I'll never forget it because it was the moment I proved to myself that I wasn't who I wished I was he said Son I've never asked you not to do anything before but please for the love of God don't do this and I could hear the embarrassment in his voice when he was saying this to me after years of telling myself that I had changed that I had found what I wanted to do and after making the plan and sticking to it for years I listened to him and I gave up and to this day I've never been able to watch wrestling again this is all of course to say that it's easy to identify that one ought to do something in a given situation but it takes a much stronger person to have the conviction to stick to what they sought out to accomplish in the first place and at 23 years of age I proved to myself that I wasn't who I thought I was I proved to myself that I was the same shy kid who couldn't stand up for himself or be proud of who he was that moment still to this day haunts me and honestly I don't think I'd be in the position I am now without it because of that decision I made when I decided that I wanted to pursue another unconventional job in YouTube and my dad didn't understand that either when he came to me and had that same talk I was able to then prove to myself that I had those convictions that I was missing before and I was able to do that because at that point I knew how painful it was to take the easy way out and do as he said admitting to yourself you were a liar that you were a coward and that you lacked conviction to make your dreams a reality is a horrible existential pill to swallow and that's what made me cry when I was watching this and it's why this song was perfect for Reagan a 28 year old man having not achieved anything in school a man who specializes in lying and scamming people now has to take a series of terrifying steps both metaphorically and literally [Music] instead of letting his fear of himself take over Reagan reveals that he's been training that he won't let mob win that he will for Mob and for him reach him no matter the risks no matter the fear no matter what might happen and as the hurricane of lyrics crash around him counting his each and every step eventually the song crescendos and in that moment Reagan learns the first lesson he helped to teach mod in season one that if everyone's not special maybe he could be what he wants to be it's the perfect song choice for a 28 year old man running to catch up with his dreams of being the person he always wished he could have been and while he still doesn't know if he can be that person he's willing to take that first step and tell mob the truth despite being an emotional mess with my vision obscured by a tidal wave of tears at this point I did manage to notice that despite his best efforts mob still wasn't willing to listen and that's when the single best reveal in the series happens interestingly and quite fittingly the first time mob uses two hands against someone is against Reagan and dimple and I think that's a really nice touch and what's more is if you remember from my review of season 2 my only criticism of the season was that it felt like the two pivotal climaxes of the series had taken place at two different points well this final season remedies all of that ending with two climaxes to the two biggest acts of the series delivering an emotional gut punch the likes of which left me despondent in the best of ways after viewing I don't say this often but this climax this Arc this season this story is perfect in every sense of the word I could not in any way change something to make it better this is a series that needs to be seen by everyone this climax this confession this reconciliation is the scene and moment that mob psycho 100 has been building up towards a place where two characters with effectively the exact same problem dealing with it in totally different ways come together to help each other mob lies to himself about who he is and Reagan lies to others about who he is both coming from a place of self-loathing and insecurity mob through his powers and Reagan not seeing himself as worthy of anyone's time if he were to reveal who he was actually and what makes this scene so special is that together they provide the other the key the answer to what they've been looking for all along again this is just a perfect scene and a perfect show [Music] in the end mob doesn't get the girl but that's not really the point the point nay the Triumph of this moment is that he asked her out as himself who he truly is and in the end allowed himself to feel all the emotions that come with that brave decision initially I wasn't too warm on this tubomy character but after this climax after her waiting specifically for him despite all that was going on I think it's clear to me at least what mob likes about her now and if nothing else in those closing moments of the story I'm glad that they are still in touch building their relationship the right way at the beginning of this video I thought season 2's climax was a fitting way to end the series on a high and I was scared that there would be enough satisfying story in season 3 to conclude this series in a fashion that would feel overshadowed by that climax in the prior season in hindsight this is honestly laughable and for the first time in my life I'm standing before an anime and I'm struggling to think of a way to describe it that isn't simply perfect but I will try to contend against my final thoughts and wrap up this section going into this series much the same way I went into one piece JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Hunter Hunter and many others like them I was expecting to enjoy myself and having began this series with an idea of what the author one has to offer I was expecting a great deal of emotional resonance with an intensely competent direction for each character involved that delivers a humorous yet emotionally fulfilling tale of Good and Evil but I didn't quite understand what I was getting myself into entirely while mob psycho is all of that the flashy animation the dramatic moments rich with emotion and armed with a soundtrack that Echoes throughout the story in equal parts awesome and ambient there's something more to this series that honestly captured my heart in a way no other Series has it's as if while reading or watching the story one knew something deeply personal about my life my history my traumas my highs and my lows and delivered this story to reach someone like me with a complicated yet clear message that encourages all of us to be true to and love what makes us we are and that it's the desire to accept yourself and that drive to make ourselves better people that determines who we really are at the end of the day but in truth this story isn't about me it's not even necessarily about mob himself it's a story about self-acceptance about growth and all the mental barriers otherworldly or otherwise we build up internally that helps us feel a level of comfort one that affords us the opportunity not to look at our ugly Parts the parts people have rejected us for the parts that deeply upset us that we try to pretend never even really existed and so we grow up continuing to lie to ourselves and for some of us we never tell ourselves that truth that we are okay just the way we are that we're not broken if there's one thing that I'm taking away from this series as a whole it's that one is a once in a generation type of artist and writer someone that threw the medium he chose managed to distill down and communicate what is in actuality a surprisingly complicated issue without making its own trite or condescending growth it's hard self-care is hard and one knows that my favorite quote from him is still from this interview when he was asked what mob psycho 100 was about and he said what I have in mind is to tell a story of one little step I don't believe our lives change completely for the better at a short notice it's all the small progress we make that's important that's what I think of while drawing this manga a story of one little step I don't rate things out of 10 on this channel but Bob psycho 100 is unequivocally and without an ounce of reservation from me a clear and emphatic 10 out of 10 Story one that I believe needs to be seen by any young kid that's struggling to accept who they are and just needs that little bit of encouragement to find the strength within and take that one little step I've been told you're not Mark thanks for watching [Music] thank you [Music]

Channel: Totally Not Mark

Views: 207,672

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Id: oEi237Ikypc

Length: 67min 26sec (4046 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 11 2023