Mob Psycho 100 II
a review by Nagumo
a review by Nagumo
“People need other people,” is a theme that plays throughout the second season of Mob Psycho 100. People don’t change easily, but if they put in the commitment and get help from others, they’ll be able to change slowly. Season 2 is a lot more action-packed, but yet it perfectly showcases the bonds/connections between the characters and how dependent they are on each other. The characters develop through their interactions, bond, connects, and encounters with each other and it makes the character development absolutely astonishing. Every character develops, realizes their own problems, and tries to change. The character development in Season 1 was phenomenal, but this feels much more real. It does a fantastic job of showing emotions. I made a review of Season 1, so I’ll try not to repeat and only look at Season 2. My previous review; https://anilist.co/review/14905
The themes and topic of Season 1 are still present in Season 2, how greed takes over people, how the psychic powers end up controlling them. Mob lets his own powers control him sometimes, but his friends help him calm down. He needs other people to help him when he enters his rage stage and he lets his emotions get the better of him. He doesn't want to enter that mode and hates it whenever he lets his emotions take over him and it perfectly shows how he is trying to change. It also depicts his ideology really well; You shouldn't use your powers against others.
Season 1 also heavily focused on spirits and how they exorcised them. Reigen told Mob it is okay to use his powers on evil spirits, but not on humans. The spirits were always depicted as being evil, sometimes having regrets, but there wasn't made a big deal out of it but in Season 2. It explores the spirits and shows that not every spirit is evil. Some have regrets and are just trying to fade away peacefully. This made Mob question if it was the right thing to exorcise them since they were a family and hurting no one, but their customers wanted them to exorcise the spirits. It also made Reigen question if it is right to exorcise them since he himself always prioritizes the customers, but he decided not to go along with it because of Mob's state. Sadly, this is not explored anymore in Season 2, which could've been pretty interesting.
The comedy in Season 2 is still hilarious. The OSTs and Art/Animation does a good job of making the comedic moments funnier. Reigen beating everyone in RPS, the expansion of his business, Mob’s training montage, Mob becoming the God of a religious group was all funny moments, and it doesn’t turn down on the humor even though it explores emotions more and there are more fights. It always connects the humor with the fights or the emotional moments.
Characters/Characomecter Development 10/10
Reigen had the best character development in this season. He went harshly on Mob, saying things like "His friends are using him and he's the only one who can understand him". He didn’t think Mob actually could change, but this entire time, Reigen was the one who helped Mob changing without him realizing it. Reigen is a narcissist, he exalts himself, he never lost in an argument against someone. Mob decided to take some time off work, but he’s the one who’s been doing the exorcism since Reigen is a con artist.
During this time, where he is left alone, he goes through the different stages of grief and changes. Reigen couldn't perform exorcises without Mob and kept denying Mob had changed. He constantly thought he would return to work, but he sees Mob walking alongside his friends and realizes that Mob had gone through a change.
He becomes someone without Mob. He takes on his usual jobs, where he doesn't exorcise, but gets a lot of attention, media publicity, but is ultimately outplayed by Kirin Shodou. This entire time he tried to cement the fact that he didn't need Mob to run his business. Kirin Shodou calls him out for being called out as a fraud on live television. This entire sequence shows how overconfident he has gotten and illustrates how much Mob help is to him. How important his connection with Mob is and that he should value it.
Him being called out as a fraud is his downfall as a psychic and people call him out for his scam. Reigen realizes during this period how important Mob was to his business. Something he previously tried denying by doing the jobs by himself. Reigen holds a press conference and makes solid arguments as usual, but towards the ending of the press conference, Mob uses his psychic powers, making it look like Reigen is actually the real deal.
Their last encounter during this "arc" is so well-written and perfectly shows their connection. How much they value each other. Reigen didn't care about anyone's opinion during the press conference, but when he asks Mob if he knew he was a fraud. He genuinely cares. In the sequence, Mob is facing towards the sun, while Reigen faces towards the shadows, symbolizing their situations. Mob is changing. He has gotten friends that genuinely matters, while Reigen is caught in a hell-hole, slowly losing his business and career.
Mob's answer is "I've always known... from the beginning. What my master really is..." and this frustrates Reigen because he truly believes Mob knows. His expression gets darker and darker, as Mob responds. He truly values Mob's opinion and doesn't wish to lose him as a friend.
Reigen finally accepts Mob's change and later on when Mob is training for the marathon during work-time, Reigen tells him to take some time off and it just showcases how much he changed.
Reigen learns he needs to value other people instead of using them and that people change.
Mob also went through massive character development and learned everything Reigen says is not true, but he’s a genuinely good person. Mob becomes a lot better at expressing his emotions in Season 2 and convinces many of his enemies to stop fighting since they have no reasoning and are being used. It makes the show more enjoyable when he has more confidence and tries talking his enemies out of fighting, but ends up defeating them with a one-sided match.
The body-building improvement club shines with positivity and is the club Mob is in. Mob doesn’t have lots of muscles, but he’s allowed to enter, he puts in the commitment, trains with them. They motivate him and he improves a lot, being able to take over thirty push-ups and run a marathon. The body improvement club thinks like Mob, that fighting is unnecessary and tries to avoid fights with other schools. Whenever Mob faints, they are there and bring him back to the clubroom. The body improvement club values the connections they have made and never leaves Mob alone. They really help progress the story and help Mob a lot with his character development.
Art/Animation 10/10
The Art and Animation are just as good as Season 1, if not even better. There are so many more fights and they are all fantastically animated. The animation of the last fight was gorgeous and added a lot to the fight.
The Art-Style and the Animation are very dynamic. Whenever there’s a fight, the Art-Style changes to match the emotions shown and expresses them well. Bones is doing a fantastic job at animating the series and it adds lots of value to comedic moments.
[The animation is top-notch]Music: 9/10
I wasn’t a fan of the first OP and this is the same with OP, I kind of disliked it, but I tend to not like OPs. Though, again like the previous OP, the lyrics do a good job at telling you what the season is about:
“Your life is your own”
The story of Season 2 touches the connections/bonds between people and tells you how important they are. After Reigen went harshly on Mob, he took a break, realizing that his life is his own. He made his own decisions, doing what he wanted to, hanging out with his friends, and doing what a normal teenager would do.
The OSTs are really good and out-shines Season 1. Whenever there’s an emotional moment, the OST perfectly matches the scene and adds tons of value to it. The explosion of Mob’s feeling is still extremely good and matches his pure rage mode.
A funny moment like when he was training was extremely well-matched with the OST and added a lot of value to the reference and the build-up, which in the end of the episode was well-used to execute the joke.
Enjoyment 10/10
I enjoyed Season 2 as much as I enjoyed Season 1, perhaps even more. It has some of the best character development, I've ever seen. The ending was hilarious with that giant broccoli, which appeared because Mob placed the broccoli seeds, that he got from a job in his pocket and it ended up being planted during the last fight. Overall, the ending of this Season felt very satisfying to me.
Overall 10/10
Overall, I’ll give it a 100 score. It felt better than Season 1 with better fights and the humor was on top. The character development was phenomenal and overall just really damn good.
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