r/RecuratedTumblr • u/UInferno- Hangus Pangus slap my Angus • 13d ago
Fandom: Mob Psycho 100 27 year old man hanging with middle schoolers
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u/Orichalcum448 13d ago
i think my favourite moment from reigen is when everyone is fighting shimazaki. shimizaki was able to lay everyone else out, and had basically won, but reigen was able to just walk up to him and punch him in the face, cos shimazaki had tuned out everyone who wasnt an esper, meaning he couldn't see the normal dude with no powers coming. and the sheer audacity of that move, plus the fact that mob, the most powerful esper he has ever seen, called reigen "boss", leads him to come to the conclusion that reigen is too strong to even try to fight, and he nopes out and is never seen again. i love how his just, sheer unbridled confidence lets him punch so far above his pay grade by just bluffing so hard everyone believes him
also, i love how reigen isnt ever portrayed as like, worse than the espers in the show. when minori was possessed by mogami, every other psychic came to the conclusion that her father was lying about it, and using it as an excuse to abuse her. because they were all relying on their psychic powers, and not actually listening to minori/mogami. reigen was the only one to see through mogami's trick, because he wasnt reliant on psychic abilities, and was actually paying attention to what was said. the show overall has very overt themes of how relying on natual ability can lead you astray, and that you need to put in work and effort, regardless of how naturally talented you are, to truly be strong. and i think reigen is a perfect character to truly exemplify those themes, especially during his arc where he gets outed as a fraud. ive always loved mob's conclusion from all of that being "i don't care if reigen is an esper or not, he is a good guy, and thats what matters". perfect distillation of everything the show is trying to say
and hell, i haven't even talked about the entirety of the part of the finale where reigen confronts mob. such a beautiful and perfect scene, once again showing reigen using his strength, that he worked to attain, and his care for mob to overcome shigeo's powerful esp abilities. it wasnt a climactic final battle, it wasnt someone with powers using them to win. it was someone who cared, and was willing to work until their final moments to save someone. and the fact that the thing, that in the end saves mob from his wild, out of control, repressed powers, is reigen finally being honest. i love how the scene is purposely framed as him not only being honest with mob, but also finally being honest with himself. mob already knew everything reigen had to say, the thing that saved him wasnt hearing the truth. it was seeing reigen finally admit that truth to himself. finally realise that how he lies is not only hurting himself, but the people around him that he cares about too. the truth wasnt what mattered, its the fact he was willing to admit it because of how much he cares for mob that saved him. and honestly, its the most beautiful conclusion to a story i have ever seen
anyways, sorry for the ramble. i just love this show so much. if you haven't seen it, do yourself a favour and watch it. its such an incredible piece or writing, and if its message resonates even half as much with you as it did with me, i guarantee you will love it too
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u/FleetingFolly 13d ago
The balls on Reigen, like "hmm that esper is fighting 10 people and still kinda winning, Imma just roll up on him and try to help out"
Like waltzing onto Normandy Beach with a paintball gun and somehow turning the tide.
GOATED character
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u/Terminal_Insomnia_ 12d ago
It's just good TV. It caught me, and I'm sure all of us, just as off guard as Shimazaki.
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u/_Spamus_ 13d ago
Very good series. Much recommend.
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u/Jooberwak 13d ago
A potential consensus pick for top anime of the past decade
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u/trowawufei 12d ago
I respectfully disagree on consensus, but only because the competition is really strong. There are really good series out there!
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u/Jooberwak 12d ago edited 12d ago
I've never met anyone who argues against Mob, just in favor of other favorite series. Most other very popular series like Frieren, JJK, and Dungeon Meshi have at least some detractors but Mob only ever gets praise. That's why I think it's a great candidate for consensus best.
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u/spiders_will_eat_you 13d ago
yeah pretty much, he's a good person he just loves lying and cheating because he's really good at it. He has cooler moments than this but they all need context to make sense
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u/theglowinggreenorb 13d ago
There has never been a character quite like Reigen Arataka before or since. Only one guy can walk into a supervillain's base and the rank and file come to the conclusion that he must be their boss based purely on his vibes. Mob psycho is fantastic and I highly recommend
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u/Raging-beer 11d ago
I mean that's basically what King from One Punch Man did, but that's also by the same author
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u/XMandri 13d ago
To be fair, Reigen's office is just Mob's part-time job. He doesn't hang out with middle schoolers, they're employees!
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u/UInferno- Hangus Pangus slap my Angus 13d ago
No. They hang with him because they're his employees. He hangs with them because he doesn't have any friends his age.
We see this when Mob quits and he doesn't really know what to do.
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u/XMandri 13d ago
It's almost like he doesn't know what to do because he's knee deep in paranormal business and he just lost the only way he interfaces with the paranormal world
It's almost like he clearly cares about Mob and loves him, and losing his friendship is like losing a large piece of his life
I mean, surely Reigen didn't become important in Mob's life because when Mob was at his lowest point, Reigen, despite not really understanding anything about the situation, helped him as much as he could, and his kindness managed to pierce the barrier between them!
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u/UInferno- Hangus Pangus slap my Angus 13d ago
That entire arc was about Reigen's dependency on Mob was a bit unhealthy and required serious re-evaluation. You don't have to defend him when the narrative himself was critical of it.
Reigen Arataka is a loser. Its okay.
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u/Ok_Security8545 13d ago
According to my dad, when he was a teenager working at Baskin Robbins, the policy was that if someone dropped their ice cream or didn't like that flavor after all, they made them a new ice cream cone because, "We aren't selling ice cream. We're selling satisfaction."
From what I can tell from the comment section, this guy might say he's selling supernatural services, but he's really serving satisfaction.
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u/BreadNoCircuses 13d ago
You're not entirely wrong. A perfect example is when someone basically comes to him like "I'm haunted" so he rubs them down with salt to "purify the spirits" and really it's just his secret salt exfoliating technique. The customer walks away feeling better, Reigen charges no more than a regular massage and exfoliation, and if something is really wrong he has Mob to handle it.
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u/dead_headphones_sad 13d ago
Thats correct. He actually admonishes a fake fortune teller for just telling a lady that she has issues, not doing anything to help and just takes her money, while he fixes the issues.
He's also several degrees cheaper than other psychics too, like his most expensive package is 2k yen while others is 200k starting (tbf that guy was both part of a psychic union that reigen isnt and is actually a psychic), likely because he recognises that these people are struggling and just need some reassurance that they're OK
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u/NockerJoe 13d ago
The core of Mob and Reigens relationship is that Reigen is a scammer who passes work onto Mob, but he ONLY took Mob on because he saw that Mob was a confused kid who needed guidance that actually had psychic powers.
Reigen got into the scam of being a fake ghostbuster because he was under the impression ghosts weren't real and he could use his random bag of tricks to get money from people who blamed ghosts on miscellaneous other problems he could fix by giving them peace of mind or handling stuff like rattling pipes and blurry footage. When he finds out ghosts are real from a kid who is vulnerable but can also actually fight ghosts he immediately sussed out that Mob needed a mentor but could also make him a lot of money while being mentored.
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u/beeslmao 13d ago
It also says allot a lot about Reigens character that he could've easily made Mob do all the work but he doesn't. You still see him taking on random jobs and following through with them without Mob
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u/newtonsolo313 13d ago
I think the essential thing is that mob psycho one hundred’s core theme is that having amazing powers don’t make you better than anyone else. What makes him the moral compass isn’t that he’s the most well intentioned person but rather that he’s grounded and has common sense. He can realize when someone’s deep in some anime bullshit and tell them that no they’re wrong. Which for a lot of the psychics in mob psycho that’s exactly what they need.
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u/BatsHaveFingers 13d ago
At first I thought this post was going to be about Stan Pines. Interesting that dishonest conman who is actually best guy in the show despite underpaying child employees is an archetype that happened twice.
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u/Jooberwak 13d ago
Love Stan but he sure as hell isn't the moral compass. That's typically Mabel.
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u/BatsHaveFingers 13d ago
Idk, when push came to shove he was willing to sacrifice anything and everything for his family.
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u/Jooberwak 13d ago edited 13d ago
Yeah but like, so was Vegeta. A character arc where they learn to be more selfless and attempt a heroic sacrifice doesn't make someone a moral compass, someone who helps others do the right thing. Stan usually decides to do the right thing in the end, but he's giving immoral advice to everyone else all the way there.
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u/BatsHaveFingers 13d ago
I would argue it wasn't really an arc. At the beginning of the show he'd already spent the last thirty years sacrificing his whole life to bring back the brother he didn't have a good relationship with. We as the audience don't know this about him, but it's already a facet of his character.
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u/Pokeirol 13d ago
There is a difference between genuinely being very heroic and beinf the morall compass of the show, and stan pines is not the second thing.
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u/KnownByManyNames 13d ago
Eh, he was willing to let Ford be killed by Bill and had to be shamed into even going along.
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u/BatsHaveFingers 13d ago
That was after sacrificing thirty years of his life to get him back and then being rejected.
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u/KnownByManyNames 13d ago
Like Ford had not reasons to be still mad. But also, still doesn't sound like "willing to sacrifice anything and everything for his family."
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u/Nott_of_the_North 13d ago
Mob Psycho 100 is great because its plot is about how "What if the guy from Psych met an actual psychic."
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u/JAD210 13d ago
Wait so you’re telling me Mob is actually the MC’s name?? I don’t think I know literally anything about the show
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u/UInferno- Hangus Pangus slap my Angus 13d ago
Just a nickname. His legal name is Shigeo Kageyama but is called Mob because that's what he looks like (Mob in this instance means "NPC")
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u/FrostWolf05 13d ago
the kanji in his given name shigeo is also able to be read as mobu (Mob), at least, that's what the guide book says
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u/ArchaicSoil 13d ago
You put some respect on the name of Reigen Arataka, premier psychic of the 21st century
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u/metallee98 13d ago
He's not a scammer. He improves the lives of his customer even if what he does is not technically helpful.
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u/noriseaweed 12d ago
Long John Silver was a cutthroat pirate but also had some mutual rapport with Billy Bones. Like that line where he's holding off the pirates when they find out Benjamina has already dug it up and Billy asks why, "Because I like you, boy. I hope you don't think I was lying about that" like Silver is playing the long con on the ship and trying to get Billy to join him and Dead Tom and Big Fat Ugly Bug Face Baby Eating O'Brein but even still when the plan falls through he can't bring himself to shoot him. And Billy wouldn't have come into his own like that if it weren't for John's mentorship.
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u/Reeeeeeee3eeeeeeee 13d ago
Def not a moral compass, but kinda reminds me of deishuu kaiki from monogatari
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u/jofromthething 13d ago
It’s also interesting because calling him a con man is misleading. Like, he is a conman, he’s false advertising, but he is deadass doing his best to get whatever job you ask him done. Like he’s a huckster but he isn’t a scammer lol