as this is my favorite manga this review and its score are biased. but i think that's ok because this manga is awesome and definitely worthy of a 100 score. also, it just seems fitting considering the name.

i try to reserve a perfect score for manga that i really do feel has no flaws, or at least the flaws themselves are a part of its charm rather than a detraction from it. ONE's uniquely raggedy, stiff, and awkward art style has always been a very charming "flaw", one that gives a feeling of "if i can do this, anyone can do it"- and his visual style shines through in mp100 as always. with some generous tweaks and improvements that make the whole work feel very polished, mp100 looks great, much better than you might expect if you would look at his earlier work on the one punch man webcomic. in part this is, by ONE's own admission, thanks to the efforts of his assistants, but also it can't be understated that ONE's understanding of framing and composition, and even overall artistic skill have improved much even across mp100 itself.

visuals aside, though, mob psycho's art is still predictably dwarfed by the quality of humor, character writing, and storytelling that are the trademark qualities of ONE's works. just hearing that this is a coming-of-age battle shonen manga might already make most readers feel tired and bored before even looking at the first page (it's a very oversaturated genre), but mp100 handles its slice-of-life elements in a way that is also distinctly like ONE's other notable work- one punch man. the irreverant behavior of mob, the protag, mirrors saitama in many ways, although mob's comes with shades of youthful inadequacy and social anxieties that make his struggles relatable and humorouslya much greater threat to him than a majority of his psychic opponents.

like you might come to expect of this type of story, most enemies end up as allies as the story progresses, with mob converting foes to friends through the usual shonen "look how great i am, you can be great too" trope, except almost reversed. mob shows his opponents that their dreams of world domination and subjugation of the human race are just a result of overcompensating for how much of a loser they are in every other part of their life- and the key part here is that his words have weight because mob feels this way himself. his powers are just a crutch, and without them he's an awkward, plain, unremarkable kid. this is the keystone of his character story and the plot throughline of the manga itself- just learning to "be yourself" is hard when you don't even have an idea of who you are.

with his mentor, reigen- an exorcist conman, guiding him it might seem like mob really has his work cut out for him, but in true ONE fashion reigen is just as complex a character as our lead character. reigen himself has intricacies and character development- from his depressed stagnation of having to fake exorcisms to make his business just barely scrape by, reigen finds new purpose in mentoring this lost child, a genuine psychic, and shaping him not into a powerful exorcist (since mob is effortlessly already one) but instead into a self-capable adult. if you're coming from one punch man, reigen's shtick might remind you of king- although instead of having a stupid amount of luck he has charisma instead. a conman wouldn't be very good without it, but it also makes him a natural leader and over time shows that not only is he a great role model to mob but to many other characters that join later as well.

mob psycho 100's central premise is, of course, the constantly running build-up to mob's "explosion"- a meter from zero to 100% that results in a psychically-enhanced emotional outburst. from the daily struggles in the life of an ordinary middle school kid to the psychological strain of seeing your friends and family in mortal danger, everything adds up in mob's "meter" until he blows up, maxing out his already powerful psychic ability into overdrive. in some cases, yes, this is a battle boost that let's mob flex his ESPer superiority on some overconfident jerk, but more interesting still are cases like an explosion of sadness that let's him revert and restore the destruction he caused with his powers, or an explosion of graditide that allows him to instead channel his psychic powers into his mentor, reigen. this cycle of repression and release defines mob's struggle to find and express his true self, and in turn help others see themselves too.

i could easily go on for pages and pages about mp100's strengths, its premise, themes, and so on but i tried my best to just show its strongest points without spoiling anything- it's genuinely the best slice-of-life-psycho-battle-comedy manga i've ever read, not to mention the anime is a great adaptation and has jaw-droppingly amazing animation and visuals. i can't recommend it enough no matter which "medium" (sorry, i had to) you choose to consume it in.