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NOTE: This review contains spoilers for Mob Psycho 100 Season 2! Animation/Art Style --------------------- - - -- - Before I go any further, I want to go a little more in-depth on Mob Psycho's animation and art style. Bones went a little crazy here, and I meant it. There is not a single episode that, in motion, you can say looks bad. Initial look, it's just a scratchy doodle. But in motion, in context, the emotion of the scene, the sheer awkwardness of the character shines through. The emotion and passion Mob Psycho conveys are simply astounding. There is nothing I can say here that I have not already said previously, so the best thing I can do is this. If you are not convinced about Mob Psycho's animation.

Compounding this, Mob Psycho also doesn't tie itself down to any one style. There is a baseline art style, that being ONE's original art, but Bones never feels constrained by it. Often throughout the series, they will change it or even jump to completely different mediums if it fits the scene. Multiple times throughout the season we see unique mediums such as paint on glass, sand, watercolor or sketches, that really make the scene stand out. This helps break up what little monotony Mob Psycho has. And once you start taking color into consideration, the entire series just pops. It really felt like Bones just let their animators and artists do what they wanted, trusting them. And what results is a series that, visually, is wholly unique.

Soundtrack and Voice acting --------------------- - - -- - Mob Psycho has always stand out for its amazing voice acting and soundtrack, ranging from its amazing opening "99.9" by MOB CHOIR, and endings that change over the course of the season, to its amazing battle ost and amazing voice acting putting some examples like the always calmed Mob to the always exaggerated Reigen voice. Also, the sound effects are top-notch! Story/World --------------------- - - -- - However, here is where Mob Psycho starts to falter a bit from its otherwise perfect record. The early stories are fantastic! Each one either being a well-done standalone episode or a 2 parter that tells a long story. I don't think there was a single arc prior to episode 10 that I did not enjoy in some way. From the opening establishing episodes to the more emotional such as Mogami or Reigen's, they all told their stories well. In particular, I found Reigen's arc of discovery and admittance of his actions to be the highlight of Mob Psycho's run. There was no bombastic action set piece, not real stakes at play. Just a single man and his friendship with our lead. Yet it was the most emotionally impactful arc of them all. Sadly, Mob Psycho doesn't manage to keep this up through to the end.

You see, Mob Psycho's finale is nothing short of a disappointment. For most anime, this is horrendous, but for Mob Psycho its worst arc is still good. Simply not as good as the others. In my opinion, this final arc has all the hallmarks of a good Mob Psycho story. Its issue however is that it doesn't do anything new or unique this time around. All of the major plot points or set pieces can be found in previous arcs, even ones in this same cour. For example, Suzuki, the villain, is just a poor man's Mogami, while the arc itself in Season 1's Claw Arc on a larger scale.

Characters --------------------- - - -- -

Mob Psycho picks itself back up with its characters though, as all of the important ones are fantastic. Mob and Reigen, our two leads, carry every single episode on their backs. Reigen's sheer charisma making him joy on-screen while Mob captures the hearts of the viewers. Together, their chemistry is perfect, with Mob acting as Reigen's straight man. Mob also grounds Reigen's character, helping him never get too absurd, acting as the focus for Reigen's more serious emotions and dilemmas. This isn't to say these two leads are the only good characters in the series, not by a long shot. Mogami is a terrifying villain and Serizawa a unique take on what Mob could have become. However, Mob Psycho is by no means perfect in this regard. For every good character in the series, there is a dull and pointless one with no reason to be there.

You see, for as colorful as Mob Psycho's cast may-be, I could only tell you the names of maybe... 7 of them. A large portion of the cast is just dead weight. Nice enough in their individual episodes, but not needed most of the time. Now, this isn't actually a problem until the final arc. Until then, Mob Psycho never has any of them overstay their welcome. However once the final arc comes along, in its desire for a big Shounen set-piece, Mob Psycho focuses to much on them and reveals their problems. Take Sho and his posse for example. I don't care about any of them but Ritsu and none of them were introduced until the end. Yet here they are having a fight with one of the big Ultimate 5. These characters take away from our leads, instead of playing off them, and it's sad.

Ending --------------------- - - -- -

Lastly, I have to talk about the ending, as I have lambasted up till now. The final arc of Mob Psycho Season 2 is... unfocused. Prior arcs had an emotional throughline, hit on a single section of Mob's personality. Where as this finale just feels like a standard Shounen arc for the sake of having a big fight. Suzuki the villain is a weaker version of Mogami, the fights are fantastic but often devoid of any emotional weight, and the plot itself is just dull. This is a fight to save the world from domination, yet Mob Psycho's strong suit until now has been the deeply personal connections of its stories. Simply put, the arc is to grand in scale to fit with the rest of the series.

That's it! I hope you enjoyed my review for Mob Psycho season 2 and see ya again in other reviews!
You can watch Mob Psycho season 2 here.