Mob Psycho 100 – 07

The fall of Ritsu is rapid, perhaps too rapid as the pacing of this series has sped up. Before it wasn’t really apparent that the anime was skipping material to get to the good content but here you can really tell that a significant amount of time has been removed which showed Ritsu’s more gradual descent. With Dimples help Ritsu manages to unlock his dormant psychic powers which appear to have awakened due to his actions in framing delinquents for crimes under Shinji’s orders. The two look to have become heroes of the school despite their nefarious efforts though Shinji clearly revels in it while Ritsu only feels guilt. Shinji’s karmic payback was quite beautiful when after falsely accusing delinquents in order to keep them in line, he in turn is falsely accused by delinquents of being a person called White T Poison and is promptly beaten up. White T Poison being the mantle that Ritsu has adopted despite it originally being a title given to his brother Mob. This episode attempts to tightrope between comedy and tragedy. WIth all honestly I am not certain it succeeds. On one side you have a series of schools delinquents named after condiments with Mob being conned into buying a vase. On the other you have severe cases of bullying and a boy drowning in power. The stories art style keeps a light hearted tone but as the plot darkens it becomes somewhat mismatched with what’s happening on screen. Sort of like watching Jojo if it took itself way too seriously.

Thematically I like the ideas behind this as it shows the main idea off power better residing in those who are apathetic about it. Ritsu seeked power and is now drowning in it while Mob seeks normalcy but is constantly pulled into strange events because of his power. Teruki attempts to pass on the lesson he learned from Mob to Ritsu(While wearing a fairly hilarious wig) but Ritsu is just far too gone to listen. And while all this is going on, Mob is busy being fooled by con artists. This side story feels out of place amidst the telling of Ritsu’s fall from grace while it does show more examples of Seigan caring about Mob. Though I laugh at Mob berating con artists in front of another con artist. Though it does make me wonder as to just why he is keeping up this act in front of Mob. Obviously it could be to exploit his powers for his own gain but I feel like there is another agenda under his facade. Animation looks to have fallen in this series as of late as I notice the number of still frames pop up. It could be due to the lack of a need for flashy animation during this particular arc. It is a wonder just how Mob will react to his brother gaining psychic powers and just what he has done to obtain them. There is also the matter of the mysterious hooded man who appears to be an esper as well. Next episode looks to be an action packed one.