─── Asylum ───

MP100 does such a good job of committing to its theme that psychic powers don't make you better than anyone else. It's really common for media with magic or superpowers to pay lip service to the idea that the people who have them aren't any better than the people who don't, but then have their actual plots constantly undercut that message.

But not Mob! It takes its non-powered characters seriously; Mob's time with the Body Improvement Club and his friendship with Tome and the other Telepathy Club kids are just as important to his character development as any big psychic battle. On multiple occasions, Reigen's big contributions happen specifically because he *isn't* psychic--I'm thinking of the Shimazaki fight and the scene where he realizes Minori is possessed, but there are others.

And even when there are fights, they're ideological as much as they are physical. That's why Mob defeats Serizawa with an offer of friendship. That's why in the confrontation with Dimple in broccoli arc, Mob wins by *giving up* his powers, recognizing that they were preventing the two of them from actually talking. And that's why the thing that stops ???%'s rampage isn't another psychic; it's Reigen finally admitting to his own powerlessness.

(this was going to be another casefic sort of comic but my motivation vanished into thin air, so instead of a runaway comic it's three panels with no words or context whatsoever, oops)

you ever think about how mob got psychologically tortured for six months and torn apart by evil spirits then he just had to go school the next day like nothing happened

I know everyone has talked about this but I really do love how much reigen cares about the kids around him. In general, he seems to want what's best for people (even if he lies through his teeth to them or scolds them and tells them to grow up) but it's especially striking with the kids, particularly within the context of the series' genre. So often you see kids in shows and books and movies expected to bear the weight of the world, but then there's reigen going "you're just a kid, this is not your responsibility, you should just be worried about normal kid things." Over and over he throws himself into danger to protect kids who have been failed by all other adults around them. And he looks out for them outside of life or death situations too -- he hears teru talk about being alone during summer vacation and he immediately takes teru on a bunch of summer excursions and invites ritsu along too even though he knows ritsu doesn't like him, he gets a trip to a hot springs and invites both of them even though they're not his employees, he drives mob and his friends up a mountain to summon aliens on new years. He just constantly proves himself to be a reliable, caring adult to these kids, and it's no wonder so many of them ending up latching onto him

the cool thing about mob psycho is that every character is the perfect mix of hilarious and tragic that theyre extremely easy to make fun of but if you think about them too long youre just like.

man….

like.

shigeo destroyed the entire fucking city and injured god knows how many civilians just so he could ask out a girl. he also repressed every aspect of himself for so long that that was the only thing he could even *remember* that he wanted

reigen quit his stable well paying job to scam people for a living despite hating scammers. all he ever wanted was to be something to someone

dimple wanted to become god and his entire plan rested on convincing some random extremely powerful middle schooler to help him. he got everything he thought he wanted and he gave it up because he realized what he really wanted was a friend

ritsu had a mental breakdown over framing a kid for licking recorders, gained telekinesis, and immediately started beating the shit out of random middle school delinquents in the hopes it would make him more powerful. the reason he wanted power was so he could be on even grounds with the brother he hated and feared and loved so desperately he had turned himself into a walking doormat to make his life more comfortable

teru had a superiority complex until he got his ass kicked once and instead gained a superiority complex about not having a superiority complex. he hasnt seen his parents since he was nine and lived his whole life without having a genuine connection to a single other human being

tomes life goal was somehow finding someone with telepathy, something she did not know for certain existed, and using them to summon aliens, something she had no way of knowing would work. the moment she was close to this goal she started to shy away because if it didnt work she felt like she would have dragged all of her friends along with her delusions and wasted their time for nothing

adhd reigen not in a “hes so goofy and silly” way but in a “he has a tendency to hyperfixate on things then drop them the moment he gets bored, has trouble forming genuine relationships with people because he’s so dedicated to making himself likable, is terrified of rejection and actively self sabotages to avoid it” kinda way

one of the best trick mob psycho pulls is lulling you into thinking its a fun slice of life about a kid with psychic powers hunting ghosts for the first four episodes then hitting you with the

the best part is it continues to be a fun optimistic slice of life show, it just also acknowledges consequences and life and people in general.

like, even though this image set describes an amazing moment and arc, i don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea that this show tricks you into some edgelord twist like so many cutesy things tend to do, no.  It’s about a middleschool kid growing and dealing with being a middleschool kid, and being the bestest lil bean good goober, while also inspiring others to care about people in general, and dahfkldjs;aj;fdsa

It’s not madoka. It’s not doki doki literature club. It’s a kid with psychic powers trying to be a normal kid. And succeeding! 

ritsu voted "most misunderstood by the fandom" along with dimple and reigen and mob and teru and tome and shou and

and obviously this translates to

bzzt. bzzzzt CLICK

"Hey. Power's gone out in the whole building, aren't you going to--"

and Reigen never used the office washroom again

You can’t tell me he doesn’t do this all the time.

(@shadowshandsface made me create this.)

i'm never going to write fic (writing's not my forte) but if i DID i'd want to write things like. Tome livestreaming exorcisms

or Serizawa stepping up to be The Capable One

or like. whatever this is

or my personal favorite, when something REALLY SMALL is what finally puts a crack in the shell

anyway just daydreaming

throwing it out into the void~