Mob Psycho 100 S2 – 10 [Collision ~Power Type~]

Hello and welcome once more to Mob Psycho 100, the premier animation destination of the Winter 2019 season. This week we have some fantastic highs, questionable lows and a show of brotherly love to rival Run with the Wind. Lets jump in!

As always, let’s start with production. After some discussion on last episode in the comments, I resolved to try and look a bit more closely at some of Mob Psycho’s stills and group shots. From what I saw, I can understand the opinion that it doesn’t look great. However, in my personal opinion, I think it comes down to the style. BONES purposely chose to mimic ONE’s simple style, to allow for more consistent and expressive animation. Yes, some of the stills come off as iffy. However I think this one comes down to personal preference. As Mob Psycho looks like nothing else airing right now, and stands out from the pack because of it. It’s willing to go wildly off model for the sake of effect, putting the strengths of the medium first. Whatever costs it has, I am willing to pay them. Now onto spoilers!

Story wise this episode, I wasn’t 100% on board. I enjoyed the dramatic moments, I thought they were well done and fun. However I find it disappointing that one of the Ultimate 5, the big bad’s, were done in so easily. Sure, there’s only 3 episodes left and there is a lot to get done, and sure the BIC (Body Improvement Club) are fantastic. But he was supposed to be one of the big ultimate Espers of the world. I suppose I wish there was just a bit more to the whole thing. The other issue I have is Sho’s whole side group. I get that he is supposed to mirror the classic Shounen Protagonist, gathering his group of allies. But we haven’t seen him since the 1st season, and beyond Ritsu, I don’t really care about any of them. At the moment, it feels like a waste of time.

But you know what isn’t a waste of time? The freaking BIC! God I love these boys, and while I wish he hadn’t lost so quickly, their confrontation with the Ultimate 5 member was fantastic. Once again, these sweet cinnamon rolls prove their worth, and technically it was Dimple who won the fight, using Musashi to do so. And while the short fight between Dimple!Musashi was great, the best part to me came right before that. As we see, once again, the BIC’s dedication and respect for Mob. This kid who isn’t suited to what they do in the slightest, but always preservers. It’s the classic “If the weakest of us can do it, what excuse do we have?”. Having Musashi put that respect to words and action was cathartic for me. They are my favorite characters, so it’s just good fun for me.

The message for this arc, or at the least this fight, appears to be similar to “Don’t take shortcuts”. Once again we see many of these Claw members acting like children. Such as Hatori calling the helicopters RC toys when stopping them. Another example of Claw acting as man-children while the others smack them upside the head with reality. I hope Mob Psycho shakes it up a bit though. As while the plot is decent, and lends itself well to symbolism and the like, it is retreading the same ground as Season 1. Where Reigen came in to save the day, let Mob distress, and showed the Scar’s how ridiculous their delusions were. My suspicion is that this time, Mob will be the focus and do that job. With the idea being to show his growth from last season, rather than the villains delusions. We will have to see.

As for Reigen and the other Claw/Scars, I like that they are all together. It was nice to see what they have done with their lives since Season 1’s debacle, and provides a ready-made group without requiring new characters. We already know all of their base abilities and personalities, so this saves Mob Psycho time in preparing this arc. I have no idea how they will stake up to the Ultimate 5, but I suspect their maturation will help them out here. From Reigen, we continue to see his pragmatic attitude, refusing to be the Hero and letting the police handle it until forced to. Granted, he was forced by ridiculous circumstances that were played for comedy, but that’s been Mob Psycho’s MO for ages now. Besides, his perpetual luck in combat is hilarious as he causes more problems than he solves.

Finally, I need to talk about Suzuki, the Claw Boss. To be perfectly frank, I don’t care about him at all. He is very… generic, in his portrayal so far. Mob Psycho is an expressive, colorful, wild series and Suzuki is the antithesis to all of that. He is grey and un-emotive. Yes, he mimics Mob in a way, shutting off all of his emotions and will no doubt help Mob realize how unhealthy that is. However the difference, for me, is that we have seen Mob be expressive. Animation going wild for him, surrounding him with color. It’s a very different first impression. I am sure Mob Psycho will change this, will give us a bombastic fight or some scenes with him. It’s just his first impression so far has left him feeling bland, a generic, ominous, to perfect bad guy. Hope that changes.

So all in all, I think this was another good episode. Even at its worst, Mob Psycho stands above most other series in this season. Its worst animation still looking expressive because of the style. Its questionable plot point being carried by the lovable characters like Mob and Reigen that surround them. Yet these lows are rare, leaving the average quality high. Is this the best episode of Mob Psycho? Not even close. But I enjoyed it, had a good time, and even with its faults, look forward to next week. In the end, for a weekly show, isn’t that the most important thing? Keeping the audience coming back?

But what do you think? Was Mob Psycho dull this week? Did the BIC not do it for you? Or perhaps you find Suzuki to be a more compelling villain than I do. Let me know down below, and I will see you next week!