Mob Psycho 100 III
Short Synopsis: The third, and final, season of “Local boy goes through puberty and has difficulty controlling his emotions, exploding in psychic mayhem”.
Lenlo: It’s happened everyone, the Anime of the Season has aired, pack it up and go home. My joy at Mob returning aside though, I really did love this episode. There were some small inconsistencies writing wise, like Reigen having to figure out its career survey time of year despite Mob directly asking him about it earlier. But that wasn’t anything more than a blip on what was otherwise a really nice reminder of what their relationship has become and how much they have come to respect and care for each other. Combine that with Mob’s continued excellent production, expressive animation and beautiful color palette and you have what is my favorite show of the season. But I kind of expected that to be the case way back when it was announced, so no big surprise here.
Potential: 99%
Amun: While Mob is back – and that’s great – I can’t help but feel a little sad as this is clearly the beginning of the end. It has been a bit since the last season, and I must admit, I’ve sorta forgotten who Reigen’s new assistant is (was he a former baddie last season?) – that aside, it’s nice to see our cast again. The plotlines look pretty straightforward, with Dimple reverting to his old ways, and Mob looking to take his next step plus fighting his new status as resident deity of the broccoli tree religion (that’s a weird sentence). Of course, the visuals are still fantastic, and Mob + Reigen dynamic is top shelf – everything we’ve loved is back in spades. I think the OP showed it best, with watching Mob grow up – that’s how I feel as we start this final season: a bit bittersweet to see our favorite OP psychic finally graduate and end our journey together. But we’re not done yet, and there’s still tons of evil spirits and silly humans to take care of!
Potential: 90%
Blue Lock
Short Synopsis: A gifted player from a losing team gets invited to join Battle Royale: Soccer Edition.
Lenlo: I’m just gonna come out and say it, Blue Lock is fun. Locking 300 egotistical assholes into a building and telling them to hunger-games-style eliminate each other to become the best forward in Japan? No “friendship” or “teamwork” here, just actively hunting down the strongest person and kicking their butt in soccer? Yeah, it’s dumb. But Blue Lock plays it so straight that I can’t help but have a good time. And this is reinforced by its visuals as well. Strong, sharp linework, crazy eyes and proportions the more characters fall into their own ego, the muscles. It looks good! The soccer looks jank most of the time, the space is obviously CGI and you can tell, as is the ball and a lot of the background characters in any given scene. But Blue Lock distracts from it well most of the time, enough that it only marginally impacted my experience. So yeah, as far as “stupid Shounen fun” goes, this is probably one of the stupidest, funnest, and most “Shounen” shows of the season. And I’m gonna watch it.
Potential: 65%
Mario: Speaking about “diamond in the rough”, woh boy, I just can’t get past how silly Blue Lock is. Although it presents itself as a soccer anime, Blue Lock is more akin to Kaiji or Squid Game – a survival, twisted thriller show with a moral-ambiguous protagonist. To heighten all the drama and personal conflict, the show amps it up to 11. Just look at the prologue when our MC’s decision backfires on him – it’s so committed to its drama that it’s on the verge of collapse under its self-importance. The show totally lost me when the GameMaster appears and explains his twisted nonsense philosophy. He’s completely over-the-top with crazy eyes (I’m not a fan at all with the character’s designs) and exaggerated gestures. Likewise, the players are decidedly selfish and villainous. It’s certainly appealing for those who like to watch what becomes of the ultimate anti-hero striker, but as the one who also feels Squid Game is overrated, I can safely say that Blue Lock is not for me.
Potential: 10%
Fuufu Ijou, Koibito Miman
Short Synopsis: Two students resolve to improve their relationship after they’re forced to live together as part of their high school’s marriage practicum.
Mario: It’s such a blatant set-up to get a boy and a girl together who eventually fall in love to each other (I expect it’s more of physical attraction and have nothing to do with understanding each other), and of course to add more spice to it, they both have a love interest who happen to be together themselves. There are lots of red flags for this show (and sorry, unlike Wooper, I cannot come up with any positivity). The first issue is that the episode is chock-full of tired tropes, from character stocks (the virgin type, childhood friend, gal girl…) to situations you literally see in countless anime before (potato-kun’s reaction to being close to a girl, he’s unable to call his crush by her first name), and the list keeps piling up. Second, Potato-kun is so plain and so far possesses zero charisma, and that extends to the whole cast as well. Last, the set-up itself of grouping a male and female students as husband and wife is stupid enough that I can’t really buy the concept itself. Oh well…
Potential: 10%
Wooper: Positives first: this series’ high-contrast color design, which would come off as garish in most other shows, does a fine job of complimenting and countering the personalities of its female and male leads, respectively. I also liked the ED’s groovy synth lines, sultry vocals, and 80s-inspired art direction – it has to be one of my favorites of the year so far. Too bad everything else about Fuufu Ijou gave me an allergic reaction, especially the premise of high schoolers cohabitating in order to “prepare for marriage.” What it actually prepares for are cleavage shots, bad teen angst, and quantifiable romance for ranking-obsessed otaku. The students at this school can’t graduate unless they get a good grade on their marriage simulations, and the fluctuations in their couple scores are updated in real time via a digital readout in their living rooms. You know, just like a real marriage! The gloomy male protagonist (who is so pitiful that he monologues about acting sad to attract his childhood friend’s attention) and his domineering gyaru partner can’t stand each other, but they have to work together to achieve Rank A and get their choice of roommate during the next phase of this ridiculous experiment. Except oh no, she’s too sexy, and what if they end up falling in lurve?! Every character introduction and story development within these twenty minutes seemed designed for people whose brains can no longer feel shame, or have transcended the need for such a response. If you belong to either of those categories, you might enjoy this, but I’m not enlightened enough to avoid the embarrassment factor here.
Potential: 10%
