—Yuzuru Tachikawa, the director of Mob Psycho 100
Under the hands of the director Yuzuru Tachikawa and Yoshimichi Kameda—an animator with a strong background—Mob Psycho 100 crushed the anime world like a wild storm in 2016 with its experimental animation. With the techniques and style we rarely see in anime; paint-on-glass animation, excessive hatched shadings, and sketchy-looking yet detailed artwork, Mob Psycho 100 is like a box full of surprises—just as its director pointed out.
Mob Psycho 100 is a mix of action, comedy, and slice of life. The first half has served for setting up the world and the characters. The episodic stories from the start of the shown shape as different occurrences from the protagonist Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama's daily life—who is an overpowered esper. Most of these stories, politely to say, are tedious. The author used these stories for Mob's characterization, and that side of the writing is impressive. Instead of introducing us to Mob's character solely in the first episode and forgetting to develop him for multitudinous episodes, the show takes the slow route. We get to know a new thing about him in every new episode and understand his character unhurried—and this is an effective way to write a protagonist. However, the other side of these stories—the episodic plotlines—are uninspired and dull, and the reason lies in the core. Mob Psycho 100 is a show that doesn't take itself seriously most of the time and even can be considered a parody of supernatural stories by some. Therefore, these episodic plotlines usually rely on comedy for the plot progression—which isn't a problem. But Mob Psycho can't decide what type of comedy it wants to use. It sometimes tries to be a slapstick comedy and sometimes goes fully light-hearted. Of course, a show can use these two types together, but Mob Psycho is short at slapstick. The jokes used for the slapstick comedy in Mob Psycho is dry and poor. They could've solved this problem with good joke deliveries, but the show also fails with that because it chose the cheap ways again. Hence, what we see as the result is show can't decide on the focus of comedy and falls on its face. Thankfully we have an exception here, so the slapstick comedy doesn't feel unnecessary—Arataka Reigen.
Reigen is the mentor and the boss of Mob. He has an office where he helps the people who come claiming they have problems with ghosts. Little do these people know that Reigen is a charlatan. He's a self-proclaimed psychic with no powers and uses ordinary methods such as aromatherapy, photoshop, and shoulder massage to solve his clients' problems. And when he runs into the real ghosts, he sends Mob to exorcise them. They presented most of these sequences with slapstick comedy, and that's the only time when slapstick of Mob Psycho doesn't feel like watching an untalented comedian embarrasses himself. Because the delivery of the jokes is good—thanks to the opportunities that Reigen's witty personality offers, no scene with Reigen is boring; you know there won't be any dry jokes whenever he's on the screen. However, woefully say, these scenes are not as frequent as the other comedy scenes.
While the first half of the season focuses on the build-ups and introductions without any overarching plot, the second half takes a different turn with the involvement of Mob's brother, Ritsu Kageyama. Unlike the shy and meek Mob, Ritsu is a boy you would show as an example for the ideal student. He's socially active, good at studies, and good at almost everything he does. However, he also is jealous of his big brother's esper skills. Despite wanting to be like his brother and do cool stuff, he never obtained esper skills, and it left him a big scar he tried to hide. Three episodes in the middle of the season focus on him by turning him into a complex character from a generic sedulous student. We also meet with an organization that tries to help latent espers to awaken their true potential as espers during these episodes. And the set-up for the last episodes & the next season gets completed with a bigger fish in the similar "work field" coming into the play. The second half is where Mob Psycho 100 shines—thanks to many fun action scenes blended with comedy and character developments. Unlike the first half, the jokes during the fight scenes can hit, and the "Reigen humor" in the last episodes is even better than the other jokes done with Reigen in the show. The second half also has some tawdry slapstick comedy that doesn't hit, but thankfully it doesn't overshadow the rest of the jokes like in the first half.
When I said character developments, it was about only the Kageyama brothers—because they are the only ones with proper development. Some other characters go under development too—like a strong esper Teruki Hanazawa—but none of them don't have screentime as much as the Kageyama brothers, and most of them serve as catalysts to Mob & Ritsu's developments. It is a good writing technique for a short series like Mob Psycho 100—because it averts the supporting characters steal screentime from the main characters giving them enough personality and development to be still relevant. And it is used well in Mob Psycho 100. From a random background character in a secret organization to important supporting characters like Teruki, most characters have enough personality to not ended as cardboard characters. However, this aspect of Mob Psycho 100 also has a downside—how the author handled Ritsu's character is inadequate in one of the most important sequences.
The author handled Ritsu's character very well most of the time—the way his complexes and jealousy toward Mob are delivered was excellent, and he has developed heartfeltly. But, there's a moment in the middle of the series where his character takes a 180-degree turn, and despite his actions having a logical base, the igniter for it feels a bit weird because everything happens so fast. He suddenly starts to act like a different person and makes strange choices. While this should've felt like he is going through an identity crisis, it feels like he made artificial choices for plot progressions—and the main reason for this is the eerie pacing which is way too fast.
However, Mob's character doesn't have any major problems like this. He is a benignant and meek boy who tries to help others and improve himself consistently. Also, he represses his emotions too much and, because of this, sometimes gets emotional outbursts. These outbursts are the highlights of their respective episodes because Mob goes insane during the process and lets out his esper abilities at the highest potential. Other than that, just as I stated before, his character is dependent on the other characters in the show. He knows himself more and grows up as he interacts with other people. He isn't just a Gary Stu. He has flaws and tries to overcome them with an unrivaled endeavor and the help of the people around him—and this makes you want to root for him. Beneath the face of an overpowered robot lies a very sympathetic character.
If you are enthusiastic about animation and strive to see different animation styles with quality, Mob Psycho 100 offers you a glorious stage for it. The animation in Mob Psycho 100 is experimental, explosive, and delightful. The animators always push the limits and don't care about the rules for reaching the exact image they had in their minds. The motto of going to the unreached highs is the central point of Mob Psycho 100's production. Paint-on-glass animations of Miyo Sato, fluid character actings, different types of shadings like cross-hatching and smudging, sketchy line art, expressive animations, and more—Mob Psycho 100 is the home of experimental and fun animation styles. So, even though the premise of Mob Psycho 100 doesn't suit your preferences, I suggest you give this show a chance if you are looking for a unique and good animation.
Unlike the animation quality of Mob Psycho 100—which is near perfect for a TV production—the auditory part of the show has some issues. Bones got Kenji Kawai—one of the most iconic Japanese composers of all time—for Mob Psycho 100. He has a gripping yet tranquil style that glues the listeners to their seats and sends chills down their spines. With his unique usage of instrumentals and choir, he creates a distinctive atmosphere—and Mob Psycho 100 is yet another example of his beautiful style. I can't say this is his best work or even close to his other anime OSTs, but it still has the quality you expect from Kenji Kawai. However, there is one crucial problem that ruins everything: sound effects.
The sound effects in Mob Psycho 100 don't blend well with the OST even in the slightest. The soundtracks try to create a mystical atmosphere, while the sound effects are something you would hear in Tom & Jerry. They are too cartoonish for their good which is the opposite of the vibes that come from the soundtracks. I don't know if they tried to create a unique feeling by mixing up these two contrasting elements, but I have to say they failed so hard. Sometimes it feels like someone took the original show and threw a bunch of random sound effects to destroy its atmosphere.
Also, there are some scenes where the sound effects fit the scene well, but the soundtrack feels out of place. The vase scene in episode 7 is a fine example of it. It's supposed to be a satire scene with a twist at the end, so the cartoonish sound effects make sense—despite the fact the sound director used these effects unnecessarily too much—but the soundtrack feels like it doesn't belong to this scene.
As the Yuzuru Tachikawa said in an interview, Mob Psycho 100 was like opening a box of very fun surprises. It's filled with fun and experimental animation techniques on top of a nice story. However, this box also has some unwanted contents that would be better if they didn't exist. Nevertheless, it's a solid first season—and everyone who wants to watch a unique and good animation should give it a chance.
