- This review contains spoilers -
Mob Psycho 100 tells the adventures of the hustler Arataka Reigen and his student Shigeo Kageyama, know also as Mob, who has psychic powers while his master says he has but he doesn't, the story is set in a world where some people has psychic habilities which can be used for interfering both: the spiritual and the material dimension. It seems simple, and it can be considered as that, but the show's soul it's in the internal conflict of our characters, and when this is well done, it makes something that seems simple special, and that's the case of this show.
Mob Psycho 100 is a slice of life, consequently, the story sometimes is very soft in a narrative way, a good part of the series bases it's plot in seeing Shigeo day a day, his life in the school, his life in the house, his life in the job, you got the idea; it's in this slice of life section that we can get an approach to the conflict that Mob tries to reach: although he is really (really) powerfull and has no problem with his psychic jobs, he's really insecure, he's shy and socially clumsy, furthermore, he is prudent with his powers because he knows that, when unleashed, those powers are dangerous. Based on ths conflict, the story puts Shigeo in a variety of situations, most of them with a comic tone, where he is compromised by his insecurity and absence of confidence, but these situations are prretty normal, something that practically everyone has had to be in front of; this is a curious aspect because, altough he has this rare power and is very good with it, he's a normal guy, someone who has a normal life and who consider his psychic powers just as one hability more. But when the story wants to go further, it does it with a very good level, it can easily pass from a comic moment to a dramatic and vice versa, one example is episode 5, when Mob has to confront to Teruki, in this episode we pass from some jokes to action to dramatic moments to tension, etcetera, and it does it with a good rhythm and a nice use of transicions. The slice of lice aspect is very strong through the series till episode 8, at the end of it begins the Claw Arc, here we left aside the slice of life and we get already in a linear story, this is an interesting twist but the transition between the anterior arcs and this one feels a bit rushed, but after it begins, it goes in a nice way and finish with a good note.
As mentioned in the anterior paragraph, Shigeo as a characther is built around a conflict, the balance between his normal life and his psychic life, meanwhile he is completely overpowered as a psychic, he's relatively normal as a guy, even it could be said that he's a bit behind the average, so through a great part of the series Mob is in a search for getting normal habilities as physic resistance or sociability, motivated by the thinking that his powers are just an hability as any other; this is the center of the Shigeo character, but the rest of the characters have also some interestings treatments.
Let's begin with Reigen, he's a hustle, he states that he has psychic powers and he's the best that anyone could find, but he's a normal guy, he uses this lie as a fount of money, the jobs he does he does it for money, and he's not cheap, instead, he's really expensive, this reveal a vague morality, he doesn't care about lying to everyone in his seeking for money; but he has also some principles, for example, he was the person who teached to Mob that he must be prudent with his powers and musn't use it for damaging other people, in addition, although he uses Mob as a tool for getting money, he cares about him and people in general, a good example is in episode 1 when he is worried for Mob's integrity and yells him to leave the job, he was disposed to loss money for guarantee the life of Mob. In conclusion, he's someone avaricious, with some vagues concepts of morality, but someone who is disposed to don't hurt to anyone and protect to their close people.
Another characther with a great weigth in the series is Ritsu, Shigeo's little brother, he is a nice guy who works as a support for Mob, but who is also afraid of what Mob is able to become when his powers are unleashed, although this fear to Mob's powers, he has wanted to have them since he was a child, he also wants to be a psychic, and when he finally get it, he loss the control and is consumed by the power; another aspect is that he sometimes won't worry about making unmoral things to get his objectives, although he's a nice guy, he's also cold and calculator, and if necessary, he will make aside his principles for get what he wants, one example would be the case in which he and the council's president conspired for blame to Onigawara and take him out of the equation, another one would be when he decided to join the psychic investigation with his brother's identity. Instead of the image of nice guy that he has, he take some questionable actions for his own good, but with the time he learns to redeem himself and fix the problem he caused; that's basically his arc in this season, someone who seems to be a good guy but who makes unmoral things, and after some kind of events, decide to redeem himself and leave aside his personal pretentions.
The rest of the cast has different treatments, like Ekubo, this spirit who was introduced as an enemy but decided to stay beside Mob; or Teruki, who begins as a complete opposite to Mob who thinks that his powers are everything he needs, but finish as an allied; or Tome, this strange girl who don't see anything special in him, but ask him for help, after knowing that he's a psychic, in the seeking of making reality her strange wishes; or the body builder club, who don't see any potential in Mob but decide to make him part of their club anyway; and a lot of supporting characters with a great amount of differences among them. I can say that all of them are interesting and pretty good, being for me the strongest point of the show: it's characters.
One of the points that I've saw more often, sometimes as a negative point for this show, is a comparison between Mob Psycho 100 and One Punch Man, two great works from author ONE, the similarities are obvious at a first look, but the differences between them are more than the similiraties; the most prominent resides in the main conflict: Saitama wants to feel more emotions because he feels that his life is too monotonous, while Mob wants to suppress his emotions because they can become him in a danger for the people around him; a simple difference but an important one when we talk about character development and execution. Along this one, there are much more differences which make each one of the shows to have an identity for itself, even if it's origin as works from the same author is visible.
In the technical aspect, Bones gave us a very good job with the animation, a great work which use an amount of different styles for emphasize the ideas it's presenting in the moment, all this below a style which is pretty recognizable and a bit psychodelic, giving it a more abstract atmosphere in addition to the supernatural nature of the story, maybe it has a little dye of cartoon style, but it manages to give it a good essence to the series. The work with sound was equally good, the OST is, as the animation, characterized by an amount of diferent styles, going from some instrumental pieces to a more synthetic melodies, all of them working together to give a sound that fits very well with the style of the series; the opening song "99" is pretty catchy, the animation has a psychedelic style and is very well done, to count from 1 to 100 never had been so exciting, personally, although it took some episodes for get me, this opening has become in one of my favourites; at the other side, we have the ending, "Refrain Boy", a good piece of rock which is pretty catchy also, accompanied by a really outstanding animation which has a unique visual style; the work of the seiyuus is excellent and give to the characters all the personality that the script has required from them.
All the aspects mentioned before let us enjoy this series without any major problem, the conjunction of all these aspects give us a series that is very enjoyable and, very probably, will let you hoping for more. A great experience through this twelve episodes which gave me a sunrise at the end of the journey.
