Post by jaerockets on Jan 27, 2021 21:05:53 GMT -5
MS100 - SEASON 1
8.5/10
Mob Psycho 100 season 1 is an excellent example of what anime can be. Its creativity and originality within a medium that can be quite repetitive and uninspired is truly jaw dropping.
Firstly, the animation. If you know anything about this anime you'll know that this is what it's known for. Never before have I watched a piece of animation as beautiful and expressive as Mob. The main style of animation is reminiscent of American cartoons like Rick and Morty, opting for a highly saturated and simplistic approach. The animation team does an incredible job of bringing things to life and making every single scene pop. The animators use their incredible skill really express the feelings and intentions of the characters from a purely visual standpoint. I honestly think you could watch this show on mute without subtitles and understand 90% of what's going on. The animation just does such a good job of conveying it. Rather than opting for a more convoluted approach like series such as Evangelion, the fights and mechanics of the action are rather simple, allowing for the creativity of the animation to truly stand out. They take a simple concept like generic blast of psychic energy and make your jaw drop to the floor. If I have one thing that's bad to say about the animation, it's that it sometimes feels a bit show off-ey, but never to the extent where it really detracts from the experience.
Great animation is wonderful and all, but the characters really bring this show to life. The protagonist, Mob, is a very enthralling character, and never gets boring to watch. He has extraordinarily rare and powerful psychic abilities, but would rather just be popular and have big muscles. It's this simple plot line that makes his character so interesting and relatable. While most of us can't relate to having godlike psychic abilities, ignoring what you're good at and focusing on what you lack is something that everyone does. His specific situation is especially relatable to me, as the skinny middle school boy who wants girls to like him and be exceptionally muscular hits pretty close to home. Throughout the course of the first season, he progresses in some interesting ways. While at the beginning he has a steadfast rule of not using his powers on other people, he is eventually forced to break this rule to save the people he cares about. It's this humanity that is so appealing in Mob, as he is mostly deadpan and emotionless throughout the show. This lack of emotion is addressed by his "explosion" ability, wherein his emotions reach a level too high to control, and he has an outburst of power that he can't control. This works brilliantly for the pacing, as whenever he is under a great level of emotional duress, the show writers have an excuse for him to basically do whatever the plot needs him to. His mentor, Reigen, serves 2 primary functions. Comedic relief, and plot progression. His shtick is that he's a fake psychic, which is juxtaposed by his protege's extraordinary abilities. This leads to several comedic situations which help to convey the lighthearted tone of the show. More importantly, the significant amount of influence he has over Mob allows him to control the plot in various ways, as Mob is hardly motivated to do anything on his own. There are many other interesting characters within the show, but for the sake of brevity I will leave this section here. What makes the characters so interesting in this show is their simplistic & easy to understand surface layer attributes, which are used effectively by the writing to induce entertaining and thought provoking situations.
Let's talk about the plot. While being entertaining and overall very solid, I'd definitely say that this is the weakest aspect of the show. There's not a lot there, but what is there is all good. The story is more character Vs. self driven than most anime, as Mob is very overpowered, never really having much trouble defeating his opponents. The tension in his fight with Hanazawa is not present because he isn't powerful enough, rather he is unwilling to use his powers against his opponent. Mob's personal journey throughout the season is interesting, but it does leave a bit to be desired. He changes his stance on using his powers, and gains a greater sense of identity, but it just feels like more could have been done there. The overwhelming power of Mob also detracts from the tension at certain places, as you know he will win basically every fight that he takes part in. This is counteracted somewhat by his previously mentioned Character Vs. Self struggle, though not completely. This is also less of a problem due to the show being generally lighthearted in nature. To sum it up, the plot is bare bones. good, not great.
There are obviously many more aspects to a show than these three, but they are the ones that stood out most when viewing the show. It is worth watching for the animation alone, and everything else being above average at the very least makes it one of my favorite animes so far. I have high hopes for season 2. 8.5/10.
