Story:
Young high school boy by the name of Mob is a psychic of unparalleled power, but finds no use for them as they don’t seem to help him with what he wants and he doesn’t seem to have full control over them. In order to properly maintain his powers, he looks for guidance from the spiritual medium/con artist, Regan. While the premise is quite simple and the show focuses on comedy, it takes the extra mile of looking into the psychology of Mob and what makes him the shy, yet powerful, psychic that he is. Even this season alone gives up so much character development that it seemed to not fair well with some audiences, finding some of it to be boring or just filler. But these moments are what make Mob Psycho so fun and endearing as we can experience the misadventures of our characters and how Mob develops through them. Not only that, but the comedy is actually good! Not all anime can always hit with its comedies, and most even fail the mark in my opinion. But I think that Mob Psycho has humor that most people can find endearing and well-thought out that you can’t help but crack a smile.
Characters:
As I mentioned previously, this is a series about Mob, and everything regarding him, his master Regan, and the wisecracking apparition he accomplishes, Dimple, are what really shine about this series. While Mob is the center focus, the series does an excellent job of giving the viewer a wide variety of colorful characters to enter Mob’s story. That can go from his supporting characters like his supportive younger brother Ritsu, to eccentric background characters like Tome, to more threatening antagonist like the leader of a secret psychic organization like Toichiro. There’s so many characters of different personalities and each one gets enough screen time and care that you can’t help but love and enjoy. While some find episodes from this season to be dull when it isn’t focused on Mob’s story, I find them to be great side stories where I can see everyone interacting and sharing charming dialogue with each other.
Art:
What else can be said here? Studio Bones and it’s staff have shown their love of this series by giving it the energy and style befitting of ONE’s crude and hilarious illustrations. Each character is expressive, kinetic, yet simple in design that it makes it easy to recognize any character in frame(not to mention, making it easier to animate). But they still understand how to keep a scene serious and even animates an ugly cry in such excruciating detail. And Bones will even change art styles to fit the tone of the scene. There is not a dull moment when it comes to the animation of this series and why I still prefer it over reading the manga, but that doesn’t mean the manga doesn’t have its charm despite how many people will put it down for its art quality.
Sound:
Of course, an anime is not as good with just animation, but with good sound design and music. The score of Mob Psycho has such a strange yet energetic feel that any fight, or any emotional scene, hits extremely hard. Music that fits the overall supernatural vibe while still having its comedic simple music to balance it out. And that goes for the sound design with its wacky comic book-esque sound effects that overlap with their expressive animation.
Conclusion:
Mob Psycho is something that will be remembered as one of the couple anime that will not only entertain but will make the viewer reflect on themselves. It’s not like I’m going to say that this show almost made me cry a couple times throughout its three seasons… BUT it’s a fantastic show that needs to be remembered for what it accomplished. And we should never forget it’s parting message after the credits roll, “that smile is One and only 1.”
*I’ve noticed that I spelled Reigen’s name out as “Regan” but I decided to keep it because I thought it was pretty funny.
