Mob Psycho 100 I still remember when I first heard about what is supposedly the spiritual successor to One Punch Man Which had blown its way onto the scene after being released in 2015 Jesus am I really that old? Both were written by the same manga artist one And while I and nearly everybody else enjoyed the shit out of One Punch Man Mob Psycho was a bit of a tougher sell in my opinion You see, while the previous had badass character designs that would go on to become damn near iconic The latter looked as if it were drawn by a third grader off their anxiety meds using their non-dominant hand So yeah, I would go on to watch the first episode in the summer of 2016 And while I will admit that I thought the animation was pretty cool The talking potato heads were a little distracting So I happily returned to my third rewatch of High School DXD What I didn't realize at the time is that the show I had left on the backburner for years Was actually one of the few anime that I would come to consider as damn near perfect Between the masterful fight choreography and shot composition that blows almost all other pieces of animation out of the water The hilarious yet vulnerable characters we come to meet Or the heartfelt themes of self-betterment and loving oneself This show is about as amazing as it gets and without further ado Mob Psycho 100 Mob Our main character is an extremely normal middle school student In fact, his nickname Mob roughly translates to background character Because to the people around him, he is just that forgettable To them, he's just a shy kid that has no friends, hobbies, or any semblance of social awareness And they wouldn't be wrong He really does have no friends, hobbies, or semblance of social awareness But the viewer quickly comes to realize that there's more here than what first meets the eye You see, Mob is a psychic and an especially powerful one at that From a young age, he would use his natural born gifts to impress anybody and everybody around him In order to become the hot shit of the neighborhood And pull the baddest hose on the block However, just like any other party trick, shick it's old after a while And once the initial cool factor wore off, as harsh as it sounds Mob didn't really have much going for him in terms of a personality Because of his latent gifts, he never really had to worry much about developing those key social skills Because sh**, I can bend a spoon with my mind His psychic powers would only continue to grow and strengthen over time And while this meant that he could finally pee without using his hands It also meant that any sort of emotional outburst could have really dire consequences To prevent this from ever happening, Mob would go into actively suppress any strong emotions that may cause him to go out of control Toss in a bull cut, only a mother could love And you have the recipe for an emotionally stunted, easy to bully main character That is essentially dimmed from the get go with no clear path forward in life This is the starting line And as Mob learns that apparently nobody gives a f**k if you can make a dog float 20 feet in the air He also meets characters such as the body improvement club and Reagan Who show Mob that there is so much mortal life and psychic abilities in their own unique ways The genius to one's writings that by making the main characters completely unbeatable in their own right There is no suspense or attention once they enter the scene Whenever he begins to take a fight even somewhat seriously, it's just over Yet despite Mob being literally the pinnacle of strength in this world The irony is that he still finds himself leading a boring and unfulfilling life He wants to learn how to get along with people so that maybe he can make some new friends To hit the weight room so that maybe one day his crush will look his way Just completely mundane things that all people can relate to to some degree These relatively normal topics very much contrast with the talking fart cloud that follows Mob Or the ludicrous situations our characters find themselves in Resulting in a bizarre viewing experience that at first glance sounds like absolute pure chaos Which it is but the one thing tying this whole kitten caboodle together Is Mob and the underlying themes of self improvement Watching him fight and struggle to become the person that he wants to be To find out what it is that's important to him and learning to speak up for himself We aren't rooting for him to win a fight as we already know the predetermined outcome Mob is going to win but rather hoping that he's able to stand by what he thinks is right He goes on to fail loses his composure and does things that go against everything he thought he had learned But rather than giving up after encountering the first setback He just gets up and tries even harder the next time Watching the people he interacts with slowly come to realize what an incredible person he is Not because of his powerful psychic abilities but because of his innate kindness and determination Is where the real payoff of the show lies And while there is some semblance of an overarching plot line The development of our flawed main characters is far and away the best part of the series Of course while I could continue sucking off the writing of the show until my lips are chapped None of this works as a piece of animation Unless the animation is actually somewhat good Wow one reason that I think the art style actually ends up working to the show's benefit Is that because of the simplicity of the character designs It's easy to exaggerate the shit out of the reactions without losing too much detail Everything from the way the characters walk Talk and punch each other with fistfuls of salt Or oh so vibrant and full of life It's impossible to visually convey feelings of sadness or anger If your character moves like a 2x4 plank of wood with a finger up its ass But thanks to the animation team's efforts They're able to command the tone at will through the use of either overblown or more subtle shots And regardless of their choice it still fits into the world that they've established And while I stand by my statement that the art style really can be a pretty big turnoff for a new viewer I also believe that once you've seen it in action Like what you've been watching on the screen for the past couple of minutes It becomes a little bit clearer as to why it works for so many others The character animation is on point The fight scenes are out of this world and would take an entirely separate video to break down And the heartwarming narrative can be related to no matter where you come from Because of all these different factors Mob Psycho 100 really does feel like one of those special one-off kinds of shows The team had the perfect situation in which they had all the talent, source material, and passion needed To create something truly special And then they actually went and did it, which is all the more impressive I could sit here all day and try to unpack why this show made me and so many others care so damn much about these goofy characters But for now, I think this is all I've got What I'm really trying to say is that this show had no right going as hard as it does But I love it and I think that anybody else who gives it a chance will end up loving it as well Also the openings are bangers