that scene in season 1 where teruki hanazawa exorcises ekubo mid-sentence... and shigeo's eyes widen in shock?

i really want to talk about it, specifically the explosion meter accompanying it.

normally, when the teenager's emotions aren't obvious to the audience, that meter relays to us a sense of what he is actually feeling. but we cannot trust the meter here. we see it jump up a few points at teru's 'psycho wave' sending the sleazy ghost to the shadow realms, and remain steady at 50% upon shigeo's recollections of the spirit's unsavory nature. the boy outright tells teru that he isn't bothered. and it's funny!

but shigeo isn't being honest with himself here either.

his face briefly gives his feelings away before resettling into its normal flat affect. (to be fair, what he's really feeling isn't teru's business. this kid is trying to provoke a fight out of him, after all.) after he's basically tortured into exploding, shigeo spends three hours in the pouring rain, searching everywhere for ekubo.

three. hours.

these are not the actions of someone who isn't bothered. letting himself get drenched to the point of sickness,

even though he literally holds the power to shield himself from it,

reads to me like unconscious self-punishment for allowing all this to happen.

after a large chunk of his short life spent denying and fearing them for good reason, shigeo's first impulse is often not to use his psychic powers -- even after his integration at the story's end. i wish this was discussed more, because many watchers cannot fathom why this boy with world-breaking psychic abilities would ever refuse to use them.

also: the explosion meter lying to us / representing shigeo's detachment from his own emotions alexithymia may occur elsewhere in the series as well, especially when he's not close to an explosion; i'm reminded of the tiny dent ritsu's provocation of him makes in it a few episodes later.

Got an iPad this week!! 😋 here’s a Serizawa redraw I did to test CSP out

Mob 1 ~Moving~

Thoughts: Mob on Tsubomi

So, Mob isn’t able to answer Mezato's question about why he likes Tsubomi. And this part has a really nice anime addition here because the flashback it uses when he thinks of why he likes Tsubomi works on multiple levels. Firstly, it calls back to his dream at the start of the episode where Tsubomi is impressed by Mob's powers and shows that in reality Tsubomi was actually bored.

Dream:

Actual flashback:

Mob's idealised version of Tsubomi would be impressed but that's not what comes to mind when asked why he likes her because that's not actually why he likes her. And yes, my read may be biased here because I’ve read the manga and that influences my opinion, but the flashback answers that Mob likes Tsubomi exactly because she isn't impressed by his powers. However, as he hasn't consciously come to this conclusion he just resorts to “I just like her”.

hi kay!! i keep telling myself i need to watch mp100 since it’s supposed to be so good, but i watched the first couple of episodes a while back and didn’t love them. does that mean i won’t like the whole show, or does it sort of grow into itself?

Hii Astrid!! 💜💜 I'm actually thrilled to get this question because I usually field it while reccing the show!! (Prepare for, just, so much text.) I promise it isn't (just) my bias talking when it say yes, it absolutely does grow into itself! I think to an uncertain viewer, the first episodes, especially the first one, are best viewed while keeping in mind that they're setting up the characters and world (not to mention showing off their animation chops) in them. I know I certainly wasn't super interested by them either when I first started watching the show, which is why I'm so excited to defend it!!

Personally, I was truly hooked onto the show by episode five! I'm not sure where you left off at, but if you didn't get to five, I think it's the first one which felt so visceral that it was upsetting AND which showcased the real ethos and struggles mob has in the show to me. After there, things start snowballing quickly, so if you haven't hit five, I'd really really urge you to watch it! In my opinion, the action and character stakes pick up right around there too, so it is 100% (hehe) worth sticking around for.

Not to mention: I think the one sad thing about mp100 getting supremely popular (plus, uh, reigensweep) is that people go into the show knowing that reigen is the most character of all time, but part of the fun is starting off FUCKING HATING HIM. I was genuinely convinced the reigen love was an elaborate joke when I started the show, and being proved wrong felt RAPTUROUS. That is not an exaggeration. There's a reason that I've rewatched the s1 finale more times than I care to count. And, just so I can make a sales pitch one more time: mob psycho 100, with no exaggeration, might be the story which has caused me to cry more consistently than any other media, which is HIGH praise coming from me. I've never met a narrative of its kind which handles its themes with more love or care. I mean it

Tl;dr: yes, the first episodes are slow, but that makes the payoff of going through with the show a thousandfold more potent!!! The pacing in the beginning is much slower, and you could say that the characters are still feeling themselves out. I am sure you'll like the show if you give it a chance, and I really really hope you'll grow to love it as much as I do!!!! Happy watching!!!!!!!

microdosing on rewatching mob psycho 100 + finally getting around to watching season 3 by clicking on ‘german dub reigen funniest moments compilation’ that youtube recommended to me randomly because i can somewhat understand it enough without subtitles but not nearly enough to be spoiled on any parts that are from s3 and besides i don’t remember half the stuff from earlier seasons anyway while i procrastinate my philosophy essay due at midnight

Mp100 AU where everything is the same except Reigen calls Mob his kid instead of his "student" or "subordinate/disciple"

Excited 2 see this slut in s3

everyday i must restrain myself from watching mp100 s3 episodes... 

I never watch after anime eds so during my first watch this was the first time I saw this image. was the audience supposed to know kite was dead all along? man I hate post-credit scenes. are they a part of the story or what. is the audience expected to know this information or WHAT

the teruki hanazawa arc seized me by the brain almost two years ago and still refuses to let go. teru is just warped in a slow-burn-horror kind of way, despite his apparent good cheer, and i find him tragically fascinating.

i looked up a word he attempts to bludgeon intimidate shigeo with in episode 5: 上下関係。

it's read じょうげかんけい (jougekankei). for context, here's teru's dialogue where it appears:

｢聞きたいことは いくつかあるけどその前にハッキリさせとかないとね。上下関係ってやつを差！」 ききたい　こと　は　いくつ　か　ある　けど　その　まえ　に　はっきり　させ　と　かない　と　ね。じょうげかんけい　って　やつ　を　さ！ k'kitai koto wa ik'tsu ka aru kedo sono mae ni hakkiri sase to kanai to ne. jougekankei tte yatsu wo sa! 'i have some questions i want to ask you, but first i have to clarify something. between the two of us, who answers to whom?'

the english subs translate 上下関係 as 'hierarchy', though it's a little closer maybe to 'pecking order' or 'senpai/kouhai dynamics'. i couldn't even find it on a 15000-word japanese frequency list. fortunately, this 四字熟語 (よじじゅくご・yojijukugo・four-character idiom)'s individual components are common and easily assimilated; i was able to understand what it meant on sight:

上下 = among other meanings, high and low, top and bottom... the ruling and the ruled. kanji: 'up, above' + 'below, down, inferior'.

関係 = relationship, connection, concern. kanji: 'gateway, connection' + 'thread'

the katakanized english loanword for hierarchy, ハイアラーキー, is far more common in japanese. so why would teru use this word? why might he just drop it on shigeo without explanation as he does?

much of the vernacular co-opted by criminal organizations -- at least in anime -- tends towards the archaic and/or formal, in keeping with samurai ideals they profess to uphold. was this language he picked up from fending off claw mooks, alone, throughout his childhood?

knowing the exact word teru uses for 'hierarchy' lends even more hilarity in japanese to shigeo's bafflement when he hears it. it's unlikely that he would know teru's peculiar choice of expression, given his lack of interest in academics. the joke in the english translation falls a little flat IMHO, as the boy doesn't seem so poor a student as to be unfamiliar with the word 'hierarchy' or the concept.

i... i want to examine more of teru's language now in this arc, to see how much of it is as elevated as this word and his sense of self-importance here.

an edit (2023.03.31) for some minor errors in this post:

上下関係 actually isn't a yojijukugo... not all four-character expressions are four-character idioms, of course. i should have consulted the monolingual japanese dictionaries i use on this. ごめんなさい！

my transliteration of the line 「聞きたいことは いくつかあるけどその前にハッキリさせとかないとね。」 should have been: k'kitai koto wa ik'tsu ka aru kedo sono mae ni hakkiri sasetokanai to ne. i still get stumped semi-regularly by 〜て＋おくcontractions in the wild. thank you @listlessnss for this and the previous erratum! させとかない is just させる (to cause or make someone do. usually taught to JSL learners as an inflection of する) in its conjunctive affirmative form させて + 置く (as an auxiliary verb, here meaning to do a thing in preparation for something else).

'formal' would have been a better word choice than 'archaic' for describing 上下関係。上下関係 is not an archaic word, but it is uncommon-ish and more likely to be found in formal writings.

holy shit i love ekubo so much

finished rewatching mp100 s1 earlier today and it's literally The funniest reigen arc when you break down what's going on in his head through all that... he was like huh my student is AWOL and not answering his phone.. good thing the phone i gave him doubles as a TRACKING DEVICE, i'll find him. huh he's all the way out here in the woods in this sketchy facility [no more than mildly concerned about this]. ok i'll just walk up to the twenty-five or so people standing guard outside this building and act bitchy until they let me inside. now i'm waltzing down the halls and corridors of this sketchy building way out in the woods and i've discovered that these people are KIDNAPPING CHILDREN? well, i'll give them a stern talking-to about THAT! oi mobbu! they kidnapped you? damn ok let's get out of here. wait lol who are these lame adults in silly costumes... weird lmao. oh SHIT they have POWERS? mob isn't the ONLY PERSON in the world with psychic powers as i have assumed for the past 3 years?!? ok ok ok adjusting my entire worldview.. ok it's adjusted. let me just punch these guys in the face real quick.

Sorry I have no art and am just retweeting text posts that remind me of characters. This side blog has no real direction i just need to go wild while the last few days waiting for AiNi consumes me

"You must embrace that as a part of yourself and continue to live positively."

(Anime comparison pic + rambles under the cut)

Rewatched all of s1 and s2 Mob Psycho 100 so I could watch s3 as it aired and naturally the brainrot seeped in LMAO

Formulated a whole mp100 x Deltarune crossover in my mind,, will definitely be posting more art of it, but rendering my beloathed </3

This drawing of human Spamton tho... my babygirl, my malewife, my ideal gender presentation

Also I feel like I shouldn't have to say this but just in case: spamton/kris and reigen/mob shippers will be blocked on sight yall are not welcome here gtfo

rewatching mp100 and the “progress towards Mob’s explosion” percentage is a LOT more threatening in s3 than it is in s1 knowing what happens

Rewatched mp100 s1 (yes I just finished the show the first time through a couple days ago. what of it) and wondering. When the low level claw guys were talking about sho without naming him, the details of why they he was there were lies, but was the part about him awakening his powers from their whole literal actual torture also lies? Because fucked up if real but it could also be part of his cover. I dunno man I'm new here and I haven't read the manga yet either so if there's something in there that explains I haven't seen it.