
a review by Sarumon

a review by Sarumon
BACKGROUND
Shigeo Kageyama or Mob is the protagonist of this anime, he's your 'average' young teenager however, he isn't all that average, from his psychic abilities to his trouble with his emotions. Mob may look like a normal teen but he is far from it and this anime captures his journey to find an equilibrium between his powers and his emotions.
He works as an assistant to his master Reigen Arataka, a con-man psychic who took on Mob as his disciple.
Reigen Arataka is an overwhelmingly unremarkable man in every sense save the fact that he has the con artist skills of a god, hell, this man has the power to turn evil espers (people with psychic powers) determined on world domination into "normal citizens" with psychic powers. Although he did use Mob's powers to help him do so.
Reigen is Mob's mentor and teaches him many values of life while utilising him for his business ventures. He teaches Mob many valuable lessons, telling him that his powers don't change anything they're just an extension of him and it doesn't make him any less of a person than anyone else. That's the premise of this entire anime and I'll go into further details concerning that later on. Reigen also manages to fit hilarity in no matter what the situation and make it feel right at home, from his overly dramatic attacks to his "photo exorcisms" Reigen is the man when it comes to comedic relief and he never fails to entertain.

We see Mob and Reigen go on jobs to exorcise evil spirits and yes Reigen cannot see the evil spirits however he is vital to keeping Mob under control, Mob's family life is just as unremarkable as his personality is. He has a younger brother named Ritsu who at first glance is everything Mob isn't he gets good grades, has an athletic build and has no social anxiety like Mob does however he looks up to his elder brother and is even scared of him. Ritsu may have many qualities but he doesn't have the one thing he wants, psychic powers or so he thought.
Ritsu is a member of the school discipline committee and is corrupted by the president who wishes to remove delinquency from the school by drastic measures, Ritsu unfortunately plays along and the guilt along with the all the other negative emotions he had been storing up had begun to surface bringing his latent psychic powers along with them which he then harnesses with the help of Dimple (An ex religious cult leader spirit that mob defeated). Ritsu however becomes intoxicated with his power and begins to abuse it, when Claw (the main antagonists), an organisation of psychic users otherwise known as espers who are hell-bent on world domination begin to hunt down powerful children espers such as Mob.

ART
At an initial glance the art style is unique yet completely and wholly unremarkable however this is intentionally done by the animation team, it shows how Mob see's the world and how everything is so simple to him even though he has these powers he doesn't see the world any differently for it. It also portrays his lack of emotion; he only can see what his eyes show him and he accepted that fact long ago because his emotions are a trigger for an unwanted power surge from his psychic powers.

SOUNDTRACK
One thing in this whole anime that could be improved is the music, however it isn't poor by any means the OP has many powerful messages hidden throughout "Your life is your own'' and the ED has a very nice closing ambience and wraps off each episode nicely. The OST soundtracks are quite remarkable especially during the major fight scenes, they really push you to the edge of your seat as the tempo increases whilst the battles rages on. Even during the few but wholesome emotional moments during the anime they manage to back it up with a melancholy backing track. The Voice Actors and Actresses did an amazing job with Mob's lack of enthusiasm and Reigen’s obnoxious and loud voice. They nailed every voice perfectly and it really immerses you in the whole experience.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This anime does take a little while to rev up but boy is it worth it, from the stunning visuals to the lovable characters with all their shenanigans and hilarity this anime really is a great balance of Action, Comedy with a hint of Slice of Life.

"Just do what you want to do" ^.^
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