Mob Psycho 100: An Impressive & Empowering Reconstruction of Shonen:

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Note: This review is a spoiler-recommendation for why the viewer should dive to the fascinating and tremendous depth of Mob Psycho 100, with a general breakdown on the use and direction of animation, OP & ED, soundtrack, voice acting, plot, and characters rather than an episodic breakdown to illustrate how the anime is both interesting and effective in its storytelling. Likewise, this review contains a summary on the fundamental theme developed in the anime, which exemplifies how rewarding of an investment the anime can be to the viewer.

BONES’s Mob Psycho 100 is an exhilarating reconstruction of the shonen genre that proficiently delivers the highly anticipated action of shonen anime intricately developed with a unique diversity of comedy, drama, slice-of-life, and supernatural elements whose worldbuilding allows for the plethora of creative characters to shine from various angles. The anime has the heart-pumping action and visuals of newer shonen anime, however, with a unique approach in animation and choreographic direction that stands out and doesn't stale like the heavily formulaic action of Black Clover, Boku no Hero Academia, Enn Enn no Shouboutai Ni Shou, the God of Highschool, etc. Like Shokugeki no Souma and Yakusoku no Neverland, the refreshing quality of Mob Psycho 100 is its development of the heart of shonen, a motivating drive to influence the world around you with a strong resolve to protect and embrace the bonds of the ones you care about, through a new perspective.

The Introduction: Episode 1, Animation, Character Design, & Voice Acting -
The introduction of the anime in Episode 1 opens with a visually stunning action sequence, a teaser for the mesmerizing major fights that occur later in the season, before transitioning to an immediate subversion of typical shonen tropes with a comedic slice-of-life approach that allows for an intriguing first-impression. The well-development of those subversions allow for Mob Psycho 100 to become an anime that, in simplest form, is equivalent to Yukihira recreating the same dish of his opponent's in Shokugeki no Souma but tasting so entirely different and better than its counter-part that the judges' tastebuds moan "Yamete kudasai."

Although a majority of fans, generally those who strictly indulge in the fast-paced gratification of shonen anime, have described Episode 1 as slow, it is not unengaging or unnecessary, which is commonly suggested by those unfamiliar with great slice-of-life anime. The immersive depth in characters and worldbuilding that comes from the thoughtful and patient writing of a great slice-of-life approach makes Episode 1 give room for the many fascinating aspects of Mob Psycho 100 to be taken in and breathe before they quickly intensify into a masterfully connected and deep worldbuilding by the first emotionally charged arc of Mob Psycho 100 in Episode 5, where the first major reconstruction of shonen, the undeniable influence of self-value, comes into play. Episode 1 closes with a touching passing moment where the background OST, consisting of very fast, supernatural-action beats, smoothly shifts to the ED song, transitioning the lingering action vibe to a characteristically upbeat, genuine, and triumphant song that shonen is loved for on an emotional level. The character design is extremely simplistic, allowing for the characters to be easily recognizable and have a mundanely realistic homogenous appearance, in which the lack of highly conspicuous differences in character design ingeniously makes the characters feel vastly different from other shonen anime. Plus, blushing Mob-kun is one of the most wholesome sights ever besides literally any scene of Kobeni blushing from Mikakunin de Shinkoukei.

The voice acting of the anime, which highly suits the characters and develops them through a slice-of-life light, makes them feel strongly individualistic and memorable.

__The OP, ED, & Reconstruction on the Heart of Shonen -
__By Episode 2, the iconic Mob Psycho 100 OP "99," an anime original song by Mob Choir, that hypes the viewer up while abstractly foreshadowing the developing theme, characters, and events of the anime, as well as serving as a visual metaphor for Mob's character development with the count to 100 and reveal of Mob's devastating psychic ability; the ED is also properly introduced by the end of Episode 2, with a slice-of-life first-person perspective of Mob and his relationship with Reigen. The theme of self-value, explored during Mob's increasingly escalating confrontation with Teruki in Episode 5, completely flips the shonen trope of the presence of self-value being inherently beneficial to one's perspective and abilities as self-value is highlighted and juxtaposed as two extremes: the lack of self-value, exemplified by Mob in his thinking that he is not in any form special, and the overabundance of self-value, exemplified by Teruki in his thinking that he is as special as a god; this polarization in self-values showcases that regardless of the amount of self-value, too little or too much is destructive.

Score, Level of Recommendation, & Critique:
When it comes to scoring an anime, I have observed that a majority of anime fans tend to score with a heavy rubric system, where the score rubric consists of basic categories such as Animation, OP, ED, & Soundtrack, Characters, and Story, to more esoteric categories such as Premise and Voice Acting. The issue that I take with this kind of scoring system is that more often than not, animes with poorly written characters and story, such as Kami no Tou or Sword Art Online, tend to be scored significantly higher than or just as high as animes with amazingly written characters and plot, such as Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica or Sora yori mo Tooi Basho, because either their animation, soundtracks, or premise are considered more appealing. What i would argue to be the most crucial aspect of an anime, the characters and the plot, is but a small fraction of an anime's score following this scoring system. So an anime as poorly written as The God of Highschool could on average score an 8, when the plot and characters are some of the worst written in anime (due to how unbearrably rushed the anime was). Personally, in terms of precedence in scoring, plot and characters are the most important, where the animation, soundtrack, and voice acting complimentary to the plot and characters as they either help further develop and exemplify the emotions, motifs, and ideas of an anime, making it better received, or they don't, limiting how much the anime resonates with me aside from plot and character strength alone. With that aside, Mob Psycho 100 receives a score of 9/10 (Strongly recommend regardless of personal taste), as it is a technically impressive anime that combines the richness of well-developed writing with the compelling heart of shonen anime. There are not any major problems with Mob Psycho 100, however, that does not mean that some of the many things that the anime executes effectively cannot be improved, some of which are: the antagonists of CLAW's 7th Division could have been given more time to develop to add more weight to the fights; less characters could have been introduced at a given time to establish more significance within each character and making them feel much more supportive to the plot as side characters, etc.