What They Say:
In a world full of spirits and the supernatural, the only ones who can deal with them are those with powers known as psychics. Self-proclaimed psychic Reigen Arataka operates as an exorcist for a living but in reality possesses no powers at all. His apprentice Kageyama Shigeo, otherwise known as “Mob” on the other hand, is an incredibly talented psychic, but has difficulty controlling his powers. Together the two of them battle against the supernatural while Mob remains none the wiser to the fact that his master is a fraud.
The Review
Content(warning as portions of this review may contain spoilers):
So at this point it more or less goes without saying that One Punch Man was one of the biggest anime successes in recent memory, and managed to cross over to mainstream in terms of western perception. With all that going for it, it makes sense that Japan would dig into the well of the author’s other creations to try producing another hit, and decided to pull Mob Psycho 100. With Death Parade director Yuzuru Tachikawa at the helm and a crack team of animators from Studio BONES, this show was pretty much set up for success, and was certainly more one of the most anticipated shows for this season. So now the question is, does this series have a shot at sharing in the same level of popularity as One-Punch Man?
Going by the first episode, the answer’s probably a no, but not necessarily for any negative reasons. One of the key differences between this and One-Punch Man was that the latter had the advantage of being redrawn by the talented manga artist Yusuke Murata, and it was certainly a notable improvement over the more crude art style of the original author, ONE, when it came to the character designs. This series on the other hand has decided to go for adapting ONE’s art style to animation, and it’s a decision that might be enough to turn more casual audiences away from it. It certainly doesn’t have the kind of detailed look that larger crowds tend to go for, and the fact that it’s going for the less western-friendly premise of spirit exorcism than OPM’s theme of superheroes doesn’t help much either. With those things going against it, I have a hard time imagining it’ll make as big a splash as OPM did, and it’s hard to say how much that’ll end up affecting in the long run.
For everything I’ve said though, the show is off to a spectacular start. ONE’s character art may be kind of crude in nature, but that also comes with the advantage of being easier to animate, and the visual presentation here looks absolutely fantastic in that respect. All of the action scenes are bursting through the seams with energy, and even the visual gags have a bit of an extra kick to them, as the staff takes advantage of the show’s overly simple look to make one of the most super-kinetic anime productions in recent memory. It also helps that the material itself is strong in it’s own right, and while the dynamic between Reigen and Mob isn’t particularly fresh, it still works really well, and it’s pretty funny that for all his overwhelming power, Mob seems oblivious to the fact that his boss is a moron. It also makes for something of an interesting inversion of One-Punch Man since whereas Saitama was the perpetually deadpan “master” and Genos was his overly-serious and high-strung apprentice, here it’s the reverse, and that’s kind of amusing in it’s own right.
Of course that also means that if One-Punch Man’s style of comedy didn’t do anything for you, then this isn’t likely to win you over either, but this series does at least seem to have a slightly stronger variety of gags so far. If there’s one complaint I have so far, it’s that the premiere here focuses a bit too much on Reigen compared to Mob, and the latter didn’t stand out much, considering he’s supposed to be the actual protagonist. Although given some of what I know about the show’s premise, that’s likely to change at some point, and since the show is being rumored as having 24-26 episodes, there should be plenty of room to learn more about these characters. For now though Mob Psycho 100 looks like it’ll be a winner, and while the visual style might keep it from being as big a hit as One-Punch Man was, I think this still has a pretty fair shot at enjoying some limelight in it’s future.
In Summary:
Mob Psycho 100 kicks off with a super-solid first episode as it quickly tries to sell both it’s visual style and humor. These elements are working pretty well for it so far, though the look of the latter might be enough to prevent it from enjoying the same level of mainstream success One-Punch Man did. Still this series seems to have a good grasp on what works for it, and if it can keep up the same level of energy as it’s premiere, then it shouldn’t have too much trouble finding it’s audience.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll