Don't Get In The Robot Mob! (Evangelion, Mob Psycho 100, & learning to run away) 

I love "you can run away" as a moral. It is really important to breaking away from a cycle of abuse. The messages that kids get tend to be things like "family is important," "your parents want what's best for you," "obey your parents," and "Be grateful for what you have." People don't even question these morals and they SHOULD because kid live in all kinds of households. Kids hear and internalize these morals whether or not they live in a healthy, functional home. What I needed to hear, and never heard, was "This isn't your fault" "What's happening isn't alright" "It's not your job to fix things" and "You can leave, you don't owe them this." Great video!

Moral of the story, Shinji just needed a Reigen.

THANK YOU!!!! What I love about both MP100 and NGE is that they’re among the rare anime that realize that their child protagonists are actually children. They take the concept in somewhat different directions, with NGE showing what adults shouldn’t do, and MP100 showing what adults should do instead, but it’s still a really set-up for more memorable stories and more relatable characters than what we usually get in anime.

If everyone is not special maybe you won't need to get in the damn robot

Ive never understood the Shinji hate. All of a sudden all these nerds are brave enough to put their lives on the line

I swear every day my love for Mob Psycho 100 grows even deeper and deeper.

This is... an incredible analysis. And thank you for agreeing that the adults were forcing their own failings onto the children's shoulders in nge, Shinji and the others were nowhere near capable of dealing with such insurmountable forces. They were set up for failure, and each time they failed it dealt heavier and heavier blows to their psyche and self confidence. And their own depression was given an environment to fester and swell. It's so nice to hear a refreshing take like this, thank you so much!!

Or, why Reigan is Best Guy and How to Adult.

I think this begins to hit a point that I started noticing, strangely, when a friend of mine was describing to me the conditions in which surgeons have to work. he's in nursing, and has a lot of friends in the medical profession, and he was basically talking about how surgeons are on call for such long, brutally punishing hours... you basically have to be barely human. and there's no practical reason for it. sure, the process of becoming a surgeon is rigorous, but they're not so understaffed as to require things to be this way. instead, it's more like a spiteful rite of passage. the mentality is "I had to do this when I came into this field, and it wouldn't be fair if you didn't have to do it too." and I think there's a lot of that sentiment that gets baked into certain communities that define themselves largely by their struggles. the example that I am most personally well acquainted with is the idea of gatekeeping in the lgbt community. there's this idea of needing suffering, almost as some form of credentials, in order to justify your need of the community, and your worthiness to have a presence within it. it's the sort of thing that makes people reject asexual people, or bisexual people in different gender relationships, or trans people that don't appear to be trying hard enough, or feeling bad enough about their assigned gender. these people don't appear to be the product of such overwhelming persecution... they haven't been beaten into the same shape as a lot of the older members of the community. and I think the idea that this invalidates them is pretty spiteful. so how does this relate to Mob Psycho 100? well, in recent episodes, we actually saw a situation in which Reigen assumed that Mob had no social life outside of his work with Reigen. and when it became apparent that Reigen was wrong about this, we got a window into Reigen's life. this showed us his struggle to find fulfillment in salary work, and the way he eventually dropped it in pursuit of a more satisfying yet unstable endeavor. we never saw him as a person with a social circle... or at least, not one that cared about him on anything more than a superficial level. on the surface, it seems as though Reigen's uncharitable assumptions about the nature of Mob's social life were just a desperate bid to keep Mob right there with Reigen in relative social isolation. like it wouldn't be fair if Mob progressed into having a better social life than Reigen. but given the context of Reigen's life, it's not surprising that he assumed Mob had no friends. Reigen might've been projecting a little... he had no reason to assume that Mob was any better off than him. and although he is distressed at learning that Mob is legitimately liked by his peers in this way, Reigen doesn't make it Mob's problem. it's very clearly Reigen's problem. the basic idea here is that there's a huge difference between an adult that struggles but paves the way for the growth and progress of a young person, and an adult that forces a young person into the same pattern of dissatisfaction that they've experienced. whether they do it because it's all they know, or because it's only fair, or because the world is tough and they think they have to prepare young people for a harsh reality, adults often become a part of the problem. in this set of episodes, Reigen becomes part of the solution, by once again taking Mob out of the equation. Reigen's journey into notoriety goes a bit like the flight of Icarus... it's messy. but in the end, he knows when to make things about himself. not about Mob. not about Dimple. they don't need to be involved in this, even if they may have been part of what sparked the change. I saw this as Reigen trying to see this endeavor through to it's end. prior to Mob's involvement with Spirits and Such Consulting, it was a bit of a shot in the dark for Reigen. he just wanted something that felt better than salary work but still paid the bills. now that Mob might not be a part of this operation anymore, Reigen basically wanted to see how far this could take him. he pushed the upper limits of what he could do as a fake psychic and found the ceiling. or he would've if Mob hadn't still cared for his own reasons. and that's the thing about kids... given the opportunity, they will care. they can see the struggles of the people walking ahead of them. and if you don't force them down the hard path, sometimes they'll become strong enough to lift up the people who inspired them and helped them grow.

In the words of Greg Universe, sometimes you just gotta know when to bail.

It's okay to run away. That stuck with me for some reason. In a medium that constantly reinforces the idea that any man worth their salt should be strong, courageous, and determined at all times without fail, and frequently fellates itself over the idea of unconditional perseverance, this is something that took me completely off guard. Sending the message that it's okay to pick your battles, that sometimes you can just have more on your plate than anybody should ever have to deal with, and that there's nothing wrong with relying on others in those times, in my opinion, is not only more constructive by far than the standard action anime fare, but also much more applicable to life. Then I remember that one of the most popular anime in the world right now is about a washed up superhero foisting all of his baggage onto a kid who doesn't know any better for the sake of preserving some garbage idealized representation of heroism, to the point where the child in question begins literally breaking himself against every obstacle he comes across.

You hear a lot of "what is power without justice" in anime, but not a lot of "what is power without perspective". Especially important when justice is often defined by perspective. Good video.

Thank you, i never understood why people disliked shinji for being a broken teenager forced to fix what adults have ruined?? I love mob psycho and have read the manga to completion, watching the second season right now is also a blast. I would love to see you say more about its themes, as i feel there is so much more to be discussed about it. Mob psycho is truly amazing and very very good at teaching life lessons most anime casts aside. Lovely video and excited for the next one!

That right mob you don’t know where that robot has been

TLDR: Reigen teaches mob the Joestar secret technique and Japan has daddy issues that hurt them deeply.

This is a beautiful attack on modern Japanese capitalism. This is great

Get in the robot Enter mechanical war-bot Insert self within robotic titan Proceed to use human limbs to locate into a position that is inside of the area that a large robotic weapon occupies *Finger the Gundam*

I think it’s mainly because we forget that The Eva pilots are children somewhat due to their design. while in mob psycho it’s pretty obvious that Mob is a child it shoved it into our face constantly throughout the series that mob is a very immature and quite childish person.

You got me at "slaundering my baby for decades". Shinji deserved better and everyone failed him, including himself. I have a lot of feelings about both shows, okay?!

The chad Reigen vs. The virgin Gendo.

Amazing analysis that does a fantastic job of explaining why Mob Psycho 100 is such a unique and intelligently written show. I admit I had some problems with the ending of season 1 before watching this video, but the points you brought up really helped contextualize it and make me realize how powerful and effective of a resolution it was. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for future content from this channel :D

Historically Japanese military culture completely forbid running away or surrendering (see kamikaze pilots and ratios of Japanese military surrendering compared to western military surrendering). Continuing your theme of prior generations letting down the young and not having good parental role models, Regan teaching him the opposite is so interesting.

'Just casually leaves in the clip where her girlfriend kisses her... Ah, spring is coming

Shinji had a terrible support group.

You ever think about just how many 90s jrpgs started with your home town burning down completely, and now RPGs very rarely start with that unless it's a retro throwback? Y'ever think about how Grave of the Fireflies started?

this is a phenomenal video. its really and truly sad to look at the world and realize just how much misery there is because of this type of betrayal being commonplace, being rewarded, being pushed. i cried. mp100 and ngeva are absolutely amazing.

such a great video. mob really is the anime we need but don't deserve.

Thankyou for being a popular anituber who understands the point of Evangelion. I'd love to see anything more you have to say on it, too. (Also I think this convinced me to put Mob Psycho higher up on my to-watch list)

Best Boi Reigan Arataka

In one fell swoop you got to the heart of Shinji's character and Mob' s attempt to break the cycle of anguish and pain that these types are asked to endure. Hopefully after the events of this last episode the writing doesn't fall into the old tried and true trap that is abject tragedy forcing heroism upon the young, but we shall see. Great video.

the thumbnail made me wanna cry cause I suddenly realized why I love these two boys so much. and then I was hit with nier immediately upon starting the video and now i'm dead lolol I can't wait to watch this but i'll have to come back to it after binging the second season of mob!!

Nailed it! I have also always disliked the notion of Shinji hate, I'm glad someone on the internet agrees instead of going "Well he was a bitch-baby, he deserved it". No!!!

the main "problem" with eva (not a real problem, more like the thing that generally makes people not like the show) is the fact that most of the show's intentions are buried under a lot of subtext, which makes so that some people end up not seeing these intentions to their fullest and thinking that the show is fake deep and the "get in the robot" scene is made only to create some emotional tension, which is not true. it's kinda sad to see how a considerable part of this community ends up only looking at things from the most superficial level possible. i once witnessed a video made by a supposed anime critic titled "mob psycho 100 is one punch man, but worse", and it's probably the best example that i have of this. i know i sound a bit like Mr. Fedora Knowall, but i don't think that liking or disliking things for their surface level quality is wrong or that you should watch everything with a pretensious lens, trying to figure out the meaning of everything, i just think you shouldn't shit talk a work because you couldn't see past it's surface.

Once again your videos have personal meaning to me. Thanks for reminding me that I'm not alone in my pain. I found a person like Reigen, and judging by your videos you've found your own. You're awesome, PedRo, thanks for allowing us to see your inner most thoughts.

Even though I've yet to watch one episode of Evangelion, from what I've gleaned of the plot and characterisation through social osmosis, that Shinji meme (and the general attitude represented by it of Shinji being a pathetic/unlikable/irredeemable protagonist) has always bothered me... Because I know I would probably relate to him a great deal. Perhaps a bit too much for comfort. A hypersensitive, depressed, socially isolated and self-loathing teenage boy (like I ostensibly was at the time, ha) with an abusive father and the weight of the world on his shoulders, unfittingly countered by a propensity for cowardice? That outline rung as something of a vague (incomplete - but rather vital) mirror to my face. Learning that in the context of a zeitgeist's worth of people essentially declaring that that person isn't valid - that their cowardice really can't be justified (or even considered to earn sympathy) by their trauma (or, of course, their age)? That their lack of will to handle the compulsory role of a soldier/superhero is a mortal moral failing, of which even their presumed inevitable rise to succeed it by the end of the story (as the series' _hero)_ could not absolve them? That they really are as worthless as they seem and deserve whatever terrible thoughts they already have for themself? Well... lest I overstate myself: in the grand scheme of things, the occasional occurrence of a meme (/prevalent opinion) about an anime I haven't even seen is hardly the worst thing I've at any point had to contend with in terms of self-esteem and mental health. But, for what it's worth: it's pretty cool to have the validation of finally hearing it unequivocally countered in a (prominent and educated) take such as this one. Like, I'd forgotten it was even a thing I was insecure about sometimes. But you brought it back up to heal it. Thank you, Pedantic Romantic - for continuing to refute toxic nonsense in the anime community one take at a time.

I'm in love. I never caught this comparison but I love it. Mob and Shinji are my best boys that I want to protect.

This is a really good video that introduced a really interesting view into Mob! Thanks

My favourite anituber, Talking about my favourite Animes, With an opening shot of my favourite RPG Localised entirely within 8min and 20secs?!?!

So good! And for my favorite anime this season! MP100 keeps forcing out those happy tears with beautiful messages. T-T

Oh this is a SCALDING hot take and I love it

I think it is important to notice that while Mob had the option to back out, Shinji never really had the option. His mother had rigged the game in a way that left him no chance to do so.

This video is absolutely amazing. Thank you for giving a new perspective; i have a deeper appreciation for Mob now. Such a brilliant show. I still need to watch Envangelion though

Regan 1000% versus all of the angels

I've been telling this my friends for years but they still don't wanna listen. probably because I'm shit at explaining stuff. So thanks for making this video. Either so I can show it them or just to feel validated😊

Your OG Mob Psycho video is what introduced me to your channel years ago and is one of my favorites of yours. Glad to see you talking about the series again. Nice vid!

I think the message one DOES NOT need to take part in a broken system is a huge message people of all ages need to hear. The human mind often characterizes this as "running away". We are inherently people who want to rush to challenges. Even thriving in them more than in peace, but there is that darker side to that equation. Sometimes it tries to get dressed up as the better part of valor. Not running away. Retreating to regroup and reengage later. I think just calling it what it is and stating this is fine is a much more powerful message. Leave the broken system and it's broken people to their own devices. Like when you try to help someone that doesn't want help but will use that as an opportunity to drag you down to their level and corrupt you too. It is not unkind to simply run. It is not a lack of compassion to turn the other way. When a situation is truly lost, truly hopeless, it's fine to run away and find some better place to exist in.

So in short, Reigen is the number one dad.

Just from the title alone I know I'm gonna enjoying this

Damn fine video, and now I have even more reason to love this series!

Ive never watched Evangelion, but I have been wanting to see it. But I have always heard the joke "get in the robot shinji" It was funny for a time, but people called him a wuss and I'd always look at them like "Yeah, hes fucking 14, are saying 14 year olds should suck it up and go to war" And if I ever do get to watching Evangelion, I'll proudly be claiming shinji to be my cinnamon roll who needs better adults in the world.

HOLY FUCK SHIT THANK YOU FOR THIS LIKE...FUCK thank you for this take it's so good.

*god* i love the mob psycho ost anyway jesus *crust* this is a great analysis!

I loved the heart analogy in this vid.

Love the nod to Penguindrum, and how it connects to the theme

This is one of the most beautiful syntethic analysis I've ever seen around anime. Sincerely, thank you

Mob is a good boy and Regein is a good adult and is a good Dad

I lately had something of a fallout with your content, but this video brought me back in, good stuff.

Why can't I give this video a thousand thumbs up?

THANK SO MUCH! I love the animes(and the mangas too) and talk about this topic (which almost nobody talks about) is so important 👏.

There's plenty of shows about coming of age. Is Mob Psycho 100 the only show that actually shows its viewers how to do so in a healthy way?

Didn’t make this connection at all but thank you for pointing it out!!! Also you and your girlfriend are so cute 💗

dang a video about my 2 favorite anime

Evangelion was way ahead it's time

Your life is your own.

I adored this, thank you for giving me so much context and a great comparison, wow, never using that meme again! (Not sure I ever did, but I won't like any posts using it either)

have you have noticed how often Shinji "fixed" verson is just a sexist tool

Like the damn video, Shinji! Great vid!

I think the Reigen arc in Season 2 alluded to your point even more directly

Another thing i love is how mob and rikus parents are actually around unlike loads of other shows

This is honestly one of your best videos I've seen

Seize the means of anime production!

you're the only anituber ever

Wow, it actually makes sense, never thought of it this way. Nice vid man, keep it up

pedro how'd get so smart n well written this is so dang good

I was making comparisons between Mob and Shinji in my head just a few days ago.

this landed hard on me. thank you.

Great video!

If only Shinji hang out with Kaji a little more...

that title send me somewhere i really didn't want to be

Moral of the story: "Fuck this shit i'm out"

You know Pedantic, you make great stuff. I can't stand some of the videos you've made and even considered unsubbing a few times, but this quality and ability to articulate complex consents we find in anime make you one of my favorite anime youtubers. The presence of a father figure in one's life is very important.

Ooh shit you're hitting the feels of modern Japanese society in this video

Another reason to love Mob

Nier automata, mob psycho, evangelion, its like putting all your favourite sweets in your mouth at once.

You do good work I should pay you

O wow I'm im the video at 7:27! Niceee

Never actually thought of this when watching both series. It was awesome that you pointed out this layer, I really couldn't have seen it on my own. Awesome video, dude

I already wonder what our generation will leave behind for our children. Can we fix what was broken? Can we prepare them to carry on the work? Can we keep what hurt us from hurting them? I don't know. I'm not optimistic.

Looking for ward to any kind of Mob Season 2 review to do in the future.

I just find it amusing to shout "Get in the fucking robot Shinji!"

Out of curiosity have you read the Noragami manga?

Wonderful

Ahhh I love this show

Recently subbed to you.... great content buddy

5:26 what anime?

4:16 what was that about!

Bruh i just got spoilers regein has powers 😳

Right ! Goed vid

0:42 nobody can just deflect the Emerald Splash!?