Category: Mob Psycho 100 II

Hello one and all, to the finale of Mob Psycho 100 Season 2! This week Suzuki explodes, Mob grows up and Serizawa gets a haircut. I hope your ready for a contrary opinion, now lets jump in!

I want to preface my mixed reception with this, Mob Psycho’s animation is insane. It looks fantastic in every way, knocking everything else out of the park. BONES clearly cared a lot about this series, because the animators really got to flex their own styles and do what they wanted. From the interesting camera angles and tracking shots as they flew through the sky, to the unique animation that often popped up. Simply put, I don’t believe Mob Psycho’s animation is something that be contested. From digital effects to uncommon mediums, it really made the most of what it means to be “animated”. I caught myself mid “whoa” multiple times this episode. It’s interesting to, because this is more tame (for Mob Psycho at least) than Episode 5’s insanity, yet still fantastic. Showing that BONES doesn’t need a dreamscape to go all out. Sadly, it wasn’t all perfection this week.

Continue reading “Mob Psycho 100 S2 – 13 [Boss Fight ~The Final Light~]” →

Welcome one and all to the penultimate episode of Mob Psycho! This week Mob steps up, a Hobo finds his courage and Reigen finds a gun. Lets jump in!

Right off the bat, as always, I have to say Mob Psycho looked fantastic. There has been some disagreement/quibbling on my part about some still shots in the past. But none of that changes how, in motion, Mob Psycho is the best looking series of the season and probably year. The style in all of the important shots is beautiful, and the motion put into even the tiniest scenes is astounding. Often in anime, you will have scenes where the only movement is the mouth as they talk. Occasionally though you get a series, like Mob Psycho, that goes the extra mile. That animates body or facial movement to go with the mouth. Its a small thing, and often when reading subs you don’t notice it. But when you do, like I did this week, it makes you appreciate it all the more.

Continue reading “Mob Psycho 100 S2 – 12 [The Battle for Social Rehabilitation ~Friendship~]” →

Hello and welcome once more to the Mob Psycho 100 blog, where I gush about Mob Psycho 100! This week see’s an old villains return, multiple defeats and more of Mob’s growth. Lets dive in!

Now, at this point I feel like a broken record when talking about Mob Psycho’s animation. But the fact is, Bones is killing it this season. Yeah there are parts that look iffy as still’s, sometimes when the action slows down Mob Psycho’s style is off putting. But this is anime god dang-it, its meant to be viewed in motion, and Mob Psycho looks unparalleled in motion. All three of the fights this week could be another series finale, with the scale and prowess that went into them. This isn’t even mentioning Mogami, who seems to be Bone’s excuse to get weird every time he shows up. Combine this with the tracking camera, inventive use of space and liberal interpretation of the word “adaptation” and you have enough animation to take over Sakugabooru every week. Still, none of this is new to you, so lets just get to the spoilers.

Continue reading “Mob Psycho 100 S2 – 11 [Guidance ~Psychic Sensor~]” →

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!

Continue reading “Mob Psycho 100 S2 – 10 [Collision ~Power Type~]” →

Hello everyone to a double feature of Mob Psycho 100 this week! I have returned from my vacation and its time for some catch-up. This time Mob Psycho goes from 0 to ??? faster than a bullet and we meet our big bad. Lets jump in!

Starting off, as always, lets talk animation and visuals. Mob Psycho is without a doubt one of the best looking series of the season, and probably the year. It’s all so expressive, from the faces to the wild activity on screen. I find it almost impossible to look away while Mob Psycho is on screen. Combine that with it’s willingness to dive into completely different mediums and styles, and its a feast for the eyes. Always changing for whatever works best for the scene instead of feeling constricted by its art style. Simply put, Mob Psycho looks fantastic. As far as the actual story goes, I am going to tackle this two-parter one episode at a time. Delving into 8 and then 9. Really, I think I got lucky with the vacation, as it meant I didn’t have to wait on that cliffhanger. And remember, spoilers after the break!

Continue reading “Mob Psycho 100 S2 – 8/9 [Even Then ~Continue Forward~/Show Me What You’ve Got ~Band Together~]” →

Hello and welcome to the halfway point of Mob Psycho Season 2! This week continues Reigen’s story as he rises high, falls low and comes to an epiphany. Lets jump in!

Starting off, Mob Psycho once again looks fantastic. Say what you want about the story or characters, the quality of the animation is undeniable. In an episode with no big fights or villains, just character moments, Mob Psycho was more expressively animated than most series finales. Everything from Reigen’s exorcism and incredible reactions to the continuous ending shot of the floating camera. Mob Psycho impressed me this week, in a very different way from episode 5. We also got to see more examples of unusual animation, with the paint on glass effect appearing again. I will admit, this effect is a personal favorite of mine. Seeing the individual brush strokes takes me back to the backgrounds of cell animated series of old. Yet it has a modern polish that makes also crisp and clean. Enough about animation though, as always, spoilers below the break.

Continue reading “Mob Psycho 100 S2 – 7 [Cornered ~True Identity~]” →

Welcome to a very poignant episode of Mob Psycho 100. This week Mob shows us his growth, Reigen his lack-there-of and things start to fall apart. Lets jump in!

Starting off, almost anything would look inferior when compared to last week. Almost as if knowing this, Mob Psycho decided to be very light on animation this week. Focusing on small character animation and details rather than any big action sequences. This isn’t a bad thing though, as this episode acts as a breather both visually and narratively for the series. Letting our characters spend some time with each other outside of harrowing situations, actually interact. Mob Psycho is very good at this, as the first episode of the season showed. So I think stepping back and flexing its narrative muscles a bit is a perfectly valid thing to do at this point. Plus, who doesn’t love spending time with the Body Improvement Club? Such wholesome boys they are. But now, onto the details.

Continue reading “Mob Psycho 100 S2 – 6 [Poor, Lonely, Whitey]” →

Screw the intro, forget being clever, Mob Psycho just dropped an episode so well animated, you could piece together the entire thing with nothing but Sakugabooru clips. Lets go!

I will get to the actual narrative pacing and adaptation discussion later. For now, I just need to gush for a bit. Mob Psycho look good. Like, real *good*. As in, 23 minutes of Sakuga good. Everything from the character and facial animations to the psychedelic, bombastic ending 12 minute fight scene. I loved it so much I had to find a good way to shove more screenshots into this post, so enjoy like… 4 slideshows below the break. Sadly static pictures don’t do it justice. Hakuyu GO did a fantastic job directing this episode and I can’t imagine how many animators they had working on this. We aren’t even halfway through the first season and Mob Psycho already has Best Animation for the year locked down. It’s insane. My gushing aside though, how about we actually, objectively, look over it a bit hmm?

Continue reading “Mob Psycho 100 S2 – 5 [Discord ~Choices~]” →

This week Mob Psycho hits us full force with its unique style. Reigen and Mob get a new job, we meet a bunch of new psychics and a villain makes a questionable tactical decision. Lets jump in!

First off, Mob Psycho went a little crazy with the animation this week. Almost as if to make up for the character focus of last week, as if that was an issue. We got straight up animated renditions of manga panels, slow motion shots, bright colors, wild camera angles and more. Personally, I loved it. I find Mob Psycho’s willingness to go wild with its animation, go off model or use unique mediums, one of its best features. Mob Psycho is, even in its quieter moments like Rock Paper Scissors, always visually interesting. It really makes you wonder why Mob Psycho is so unique in this. I attribute it to BONES, who had absolutely no chill this week, and you know what’s funny? This was all setup for the big sakuga explosion we can expect next week! This was the appetizer!

Continue reading “Mob Psycho 100 S2 – 4 [Inside ~Evil Spirit~]” →