"But, in Mob Psycho, the emphasis is not on the bad things that other characters do, the emphasis is always on the good in Mob's heart. And on his active choice to be good, and to forgive, even when it's not easy. Whether or not these characters deserve redemption, the point is that Mob is able to find the compassion in himself to forgive them, along his own journey of self acceptance." VERY well said.
I went into MP100 expecting some typical esper fighting, slice of life comedy, but I didn't expect it to be a story about growing into a physically and mentally healthy person. Actually, I never seen a manga mainly focusing on this issue. As a manga creator, I respect ONE's writing so much! His characters feel so real and grow so naturally, and I know how hard is it to create characters like this. Thank you ONE for giving us this wonderful story and thank you Jenni for the great analysis! (sorry if my grammar looks weird.)
i'm crying!!!!!! this is why mp100 resonates with so many people!!!!! compassion in place of violence, forgiveness in place of hatred, the idea that anyone can change for the better... and the thing that mob struggles with the entire story: learning to accept yourself, flaws and all. if people took these lessons that ONE tells so beautifully to heart, then I think the world would be a brighter place (as corny as that sounds). thank you so much for this video
thank you so much for your analysis! it brings justice to the story one has told, and it further cements that he’s truly a genius writer who manages to make the most humane characters, and not forgetting he’s writing humans. that these characters aren’t a single trope, but multi-dimensional people we can all connect with and learn from.
ah wow! I’ve genuinely teared up watching this video, thank you for making this.... mob’s character is very important to me and the topic of redemption, especially him forgiving himself is something ive always wanted to see more of. thank you for putting this into words, it was very easy to follow along, and the subtitles were a lovely addition too!
“He needs to believe that people can change because he needs to believe in his own ability to change.” Believing in others can be hard as shown at the end of season two it can even lead to you forsaking the principles that gave so much good in your life for the cheap thrill but at the end of the day what’s important is making the big decisions your way and being the author of your own life this is stated by mob right before the explosion for those who may have not seen the light at the end of the tunnel a clear W for mob being able to bounce back after all the negative downright damaging emotions he experienced through the fight to win
(Manga section spoilers) One more I got out of Toichiro's attempt at facing ???% was that it was sort of a reinforcement and continuation to the "people need other people". Mob taught Toichiro to value the people in his life, but to me the second encounter showed him another aspect of that: "value your own place in other people's lives". Absolutely nobody, especially not Sho, owes Toichiro forgiveness for the things he's done, but Sho shows up to help his dad anyway. And right as he's about to try and absorb Mob's excess power in what would pretty much be a suicide mission, Sho calls out to him and he stops to reconsider before apologizing to Mob backing out with Sho. If he wants to repay Mob his kindness, doing it at the cost of his own life would not make Mob happy. If he wants to repay Sho for being a bad father, he has to be there to do it. If he wants to redeem himself, he needs do better, and live to do so. If someone let's you in and let's you stay in their life, the last thing you want to do to respect them is to throw all that and yourself away.
YES! I love the parallel of, at the end of season 2/in chapter 91, when Suzuki is apologizing to Shou and he's like, basically, "i've been a shit dad, sorry.. this is the end. i don't know what will happen to you now." and then Shou says something like, "You don't get to decide to end it all" -- I think that was the manga translation, and didn't really make it into the anime in that same way, but that line always hit me because Shou recognized that his dad was sort of trying to get out of his responsibilities again by leaving. even if he's genuinely sorry, he's not really taking responsibility. SO that means so much then with chapter 100 when he's about to really "end it all" and then he sees Shou and realizes that getting himself killed is just a way to escape his responsibilities toward his son. Actually being "redeemed" means putting in the work and not taking the easy way out like that. Yeah. Thanks for the comment!!
After watching the anime multiple times and reading through the manga I am always surprised about how genuinely moving Mob Psycho is. It's an emotional experience the likes of which I've only felt from a piece of media a handful of times, and for that I'll always remain as one of my favorite things ever. Thanks for the video, I was definitely tearing up the entire time!
Stories with themes involving compassion, forgiveness, and acceptance never fail to make me emotional. I can relate to the way mob easily forgives others, but not himself. I hope I'll learn to get better at accepting myself as well, along with anyone else who shares the same struggles. Thanks for this, you expressed my exact thoughts so much more eloquently than I ever could have. i'm gonna go cry now
I loved this. But there's one thing I'd like to point out that I honestly expected Mogami to point out but didn't. And this seems heavily implied but never explicitly stated because Mob's kindness pretty much eclipses this point: Mob can be so compassionate and forgiving because he has the privilege of having the immense power to do so unabated. He can forgive, show mercy, and be compassionate to even his worst enemies because he's far more powerful than them, to the point that they have no choice but to acknowledge his words and actions. Had Mob been powerless or weaker than any of the villains, then his compassion would fall on deaf ears, or worse, get laughed at. I feel like Mogami's character mostly succeeded at being this more realistic foil to Mob's kindness, but I also feel like the above stated point should have been made by him in order to really hammer the point home that Mob's compassion is a privilege that, without his powers, would only end up getting him hurt or killed when dealing with people who, until they got the shit kicked out of them, were more than happy to harm him. This doesn't mean that mob should feel like the only thing that people respond to is power, because there are plenty of people who either good or bad regardless of the power they possess. It's just that he should understand that he could only save these people from themselves because he had the power to do so. That's all. Loved your video! Hope you make more. I'm definitely subscribing now.
Im 3 years late to replying, bit _very_ good comment. As the end of the manga and this essay reaffirms, mob can't divorce his power from his self, and for that reason, it's not just his kindness that has landed him where he is, as so many other commentators i've seen say. And that doesn't make him less of a person, but it's an important part of him - just as all the other characters, he wanted to make himself into someone he is not, to prove himself worthy, as someone above his circumstances, when really, all he needed was to just see himself as a person. In all that is innate to him, in all the flaws he has, along with all the good
This is very true. Mob could show such kindness and mercy because he knew his power would be enough to protect him if it didn’t work. Having said that, Mob explicitly tried to avoid this and extend only kindness. But as we saw with Hanazawa, it didn’t work and a primal force awakened inside of him. But there are still times in which he chooses to be kind regardless of his power. He chose to stay by Toichiro’s side as he was about to self-destruct despite knowing he didn’t have the power to truly stop the explosion. He just didn’t want to see Toichiro suffer alone. That ultimate act of kindness is what causes Toichiro to change. Then there’s Dimple. Mob explicitly chose to throw away his power and leave himself vulnerable to being killed. But he didn’t, because he chose to trust Dimple. And it was that act of trust that convinced Dimple to change. Regardless of whether he has power, that kindness is his core, and it’s what makes him my favorite character.
Seeing the potential in others means seeing the potential in yourself. This show truly is amazing and it has a some incredible messages. Mob psycho definitely helped me reaffirm values that I was questioning while going through big transitional periods of my life. Great analysis
I absolutely love the way you explain all of this! Mob Psycho 100 is my favorite anime and this video also helped clarify some doubts i had after finishing the manga. Also if anyone knows about a good analysis about Teruki Hanazawa's character development I would love to read or watch a video on it.
I can't believe I only saw this just now, this is probably my favorite MP100 video essay out there! I barely see anyone talk about how prominent the theme of redemption is in mp100, and this video ties it together so perfectly with Mob's personal journey aaaaa 😭
Just,Woah, This is a good video about MP100 (Also, One of the reasons why this series resonates with so many people, including me) Also, Love for the eng subs
Thank you! I just turned on the ability to submit subs so I think you should be good to go if you want to do that... That would be really awesome, thanks!
the fact of ending world with mob only 2 people gonna have to be in this move one punch man and goku but idk if they can stop him is power is to powerful mob can erasboth of them like the creartor
