Mob Psycho 100: Episode 1 Review | The Self-Proclaimed Psychic

September 2, 2022January 12, 2023 Vaishnavi 1 Comment Action Fiction, Anime, Comedy, MB100, Mob Psycho 100, Mob Psycho Season 1, Shonen, Supernatural Fiction

This is my review of Mob Psycho 100’s first episode! It’s a manga series written and illustrated by One and the anime adaptation is produced by Studio Bones. I have heard a lot of praise from the series fans, and on a Sunday afternoon, I caved in and gave it a shot!

The Self Proclaimed Psychics :

The anime opens up with a fight sequence between a dark show-like creature with white eyes fighting monsters which have bizarre appearances. We are told that there exist supernatural spirits which can’t be explained by science which renders normal humans frightened. Psychics are heroes that fight these supernatural phenomena.

A girl haunted by a ghost, named Hanako asks for help from Aratake Reigen, who has a consultant shop called “Spirit and Such”. It turns out that there is indeed a spirit in the place she went for a test of courage and Reigen is unable to do anything about it (since he is a fake psychic) so he calls in Shigeo Kageyama, also known as Mob.

Mob defeats the spirit with ease. He also easily believes when Reigen tells him that he is too powerful for a “small fry like this spirit”. He seems to be a dull everyday eighth grader, who has a crush and who is naturally bad at school. Shigeo also has a supportive father, a nagging mother and a caring intelligent younger brother. He is ordinary in every way possible despite the extraordinary potential of psychic powers.

The Tunnel Spirit

Later Aratake Reigen calls him to the station for a big job, a tunnel where thirty years ago a lot of people died. There they find the spirit of a bike gang, which turns out to be the weaker one. After Mob degrades the spirit of the leader of the bike gang, he goes in further to investigate and finds a much more powerful spirit. It’s still nowhere near as powerful for him, so when he is “eaten” by the spirit, he painlessly melts it from the inside.

He goes back to Reigen and tells him that the spirit wasn’t that powerful while giving a photograph of the bike gang to its leader. The leader of the bike gang feels like he can pass on to his fellow members now and they do so.

Once again, Mob asks why Reigen didn’t help, and his mentor responds (falsely) that it’s because he “left the small fry to him”. In the end, there is a flash on the screen which reads: 27% towards Mob Explosion.

Personal Opinion of Mob Psycho 100: Episode 1

The art style is unconventional, it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But I am in absolute awe of it. The animation is so fluid, the color palette is a refreshing mix of both realistic and non-realistic colors.

We are not told much in the first episode, not enough to get to the base of the show really. What is the origin of these supernatural elements, is it related to human emotions? How come certain spirits remember their human lives, but others are mute and hell-bent on chaos? Mob Explosion is also not explained yet, so I suppose it will explore soon.

I especially like the element of Mob being absolutely ordinary in every way possible, except being a badass in Psychic abilities.

Highlight Of Episode 1 of Mob Psycho 100

The fight between Mob and the tunnel spirit, it was fluid and dynamic. I like the protagonist cause of how calm and collected he is during frightening situations. He truly is likeable due to the innate chill energy he radiates.

Another noteworthy thing was the interaction between families, it showed a supportive family which is rare to see in Shonen. I am all for cliches done right and open mockery of troupes. So it was a nice addition to see a family which loves the main character despite him bending spoons all too often.

Lowest Point of Mob Psycho 100: Episode 1

The entire sequence of Hanako asking for help and the teacher (Reigen) conning her was a little dragged out, I was anticipating Mob’s entrance but I felt that the sequence was drawn out in order to create suspense knowingly. However, I didn’t enjoy that part as much as I did the rest of the episode. Seven minutes seems like overkill to introduce the main character.

Overall Rating of Mob Psycho 100: Episode 1

It’s a solid hook first episode, I’d have to give it a 7.5/10 simply due to how non-linear it was, but it was fun. The first didn’t really establish much of the plot except Mob is super strong as a psychic but it was interesting. It was a fun start to what seems like a pretty solid anime.

Well these are all my thoughts on the first episode of what seems to be a promising series! Please tell me if you agree or disagree and what part of the show gripped you the most! Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day!