“Mob Psycho 100” was one of the coolest, wildest and craziest anime series I have watched in 2017. From ONE, the creator of “One-Punch Man”, this is a different but equally enjoyable anime series worth watching and one that I highly recommend!
Image courtesy of © 2016 Toho Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Mob Psycho 100
DURATION: (12 Episodes) 300 Minutes
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (16×9), Dolby TrueHD Japanese 2.0 and English 5.1, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Funimation
RATED: PG
Release Date: December 5, 2017
Originally Created by ONE
Directed by Yuzuru Tachikawa
Series Composition: Hiroshi Seko
Music by Kenji Kawai
Character Design: Yoshimichi Kameda
Art Director: Ryo Kono
Sound Director: Kazuhiro Wakabayashi
Director of Photography: Mayuko Furumoto
Anime Production: Bones
Featuring the following voice talent:
Setsuo Ito/Kyle McCarley as Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama
Akio Ohtsuka/Michael Sorich as Ekubo
Atsumi Tanezaki/Cherami Leigh as Tome Kurata
Ayumi Fujimura/Abby Trott as Ichi Mezato
Hiroyuki Kagura as Daichi Shiratori/Kaito Shiratori
KÅhei Amasaki/Chris Hackney as Takeshi Hoshino
Miyu Irino/Max Mittelman as Ritsu Kageyama
Rumi Ookubo/Cristina Vee as Ishiguro
Sanae Fuku/Mela Lee as Rei Kurosaki
Takahiro Sakurai/Chris Niosi as Arataka Reigen
Toshihiko Seki/Patrick Seitz as Musashi Goda
Uki Satake/Ryan Bartley as Tsubomi Takane
Yoshimasa Hosoya/Xander Mobus as Sakurai/Tenga Onigawara
Yoshitsugu Matsuoka/Erik Scott Kimerer as Teruki Hanazawa
YÅ«suke Kuwahata/Bobby Thong as Gou Asahi
Mob is an 8th grader with powerful psychic abilities who wants to be normal. When not exorcising evil spirits he attempts to suppress his powers, causing stunted emotions. But when he hits 100 percent, his pent-up feelings unleash a dark power.
Manga artist ONE became viral when his webcomic series “One-Punch Man” debuted. While it had no official publisher and his art for the most part was quite rough, when the manga was remade into a digital manga illustrated by Yusuke Murata (best known for “Eyeshield 21”) and was serialized in “Weekly Young Jump”.
As ONE would become popular worldwide, he would go on to create another series from 2012-2017 titled “Mob Psycho 100”, which was serialized on the online version “Weekly Shonen Sunday” site, “Ura Sunday”.
With a total of 15 manga volumes published, a one season anime series which aired in July-September 2016 and a live action TV drama starting in January 2018, “Mob Psycho 100” will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Funimation.
The anime series revolves around Shigeo Kagayama, who looks like an average boy and is given the nickname “Mob” (which means “background character” in Japanese).
While Mob may look nerdy and weak, the truth is that he is a powerful Esper.
Mob works for Arataka Reigen, a self-proclaimed psychic but in truth, he is a con artist who happens to excel in persuasion and perception but also quite clever and agile, with a lot of skills that makes one wonder if he’s a very skilled person. Who happens to also be Mob’s mentor.
And through Reigen, Mob has learned one important lesson from his master and that is to never use his Esper abilities against anyone.
Partly becomes if Mob’s feelings reach 100%, he is overcome with a strong emotion that makes him unable to control his powers and he literally becomes a black-souled being that can destroy and hurt people.
And his younger brother Ritsu had witness this. Ritsu is different from Mob that he exceeds in athletics and academically. He is taller, more handsome and popular. But he wishes he has his brothers psychic power and is often envious of his older brother.
Meanwhile, Mob runs to various obstacles, from ghosts to other ESPers that want to fight him and with Mob trying to control his emotions and keeping to the promise to never use his powers on anyone living, how will things turn out for Mob when the going gets rough?
What happens when Mob meets an upper class evil spirit named Dimple who can possess the bodies of others? And what happens when Mob confronts a “hidden boss” named Teruki Hanazawa whose intent is to beat Mob to a pulp.
And just when things are starting to get peaceful, what happens when Ritsu’s ESPer power starts to develop and an evil ESPer organization known as Claw starts to reveal themselves?
VIDEO:
“Mob Psycho” is presented in 1080p High Definition (16:9). Colors are vibrant and backgrounds are extremely detailed. Character designs are fantastic and are respectful to ONE’s original digital manga (with better detail of course). But the series looks great in HD!
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Mob Psycho” is presented in Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and English 5.1. Featuring crystal clear dialogue and music along with wonderful sound effects during the more action-driven scenes that utilize the surround channels. And both the Japanese and English soundtrack, the voice actors were well-cast for both. And as for the English dub, I have to say that I noticed names for the English dub that I have heard before and the casting was wonderful because I found Kyle McCarley’s Mob and Chris Niosi for Arataka Reigen.
I suppose I have been critical of Funimation in the past for using the same voice actors over and over for various anime series and as talented as they are, I don’t want to hear that same voice for every character because an ADR director felt comfortable with that person and wanted to use them for every series. Lately, Funimation has been doing a great job of stepping outside of that circle, casting new talent and this is a series indicative of that. Great casting and the English dub voice actors on this series did a wonderful job!
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Mob Psych0 100.” comes with the following special features:
- Mob Psycho Shorts – (39:54) 8-bit video-game like animation featuring the “Mob Psycho 100” characters.
- Promo Video
- Flipbook Video
- Commercials
- Textless Closing Song
I’m not sure how often I come across an anime series that captivates your attention through fascinating characters, wild concepts and surreal plotlines, but “Mob Psycho 100” does just that.
A story of a teen trying to keep his powers in check and to not bring his emotions up to 100%, he has shut his emotions, not have had any social interactions and has pretty much kept to himself.
But despite not having any friends and not having any true skills (beyond his ESPer powers), he does want to improve his life and be better.
But lately Mob is learning that he is not the only ESPer in town and there are many out there like him, those who have yet to make a decision of how they would use their powers for good, others for evil.
What makes this series work is that it’s wild, crazy and a whole lot of fun. The many characters at first was a cause of worry because there are many of them, but the way the series is able to develop these characters and build them into the story was done well. So, big credit to Hiroshi Seko for the overall series composition.
But I absolutely was proud of the direction from Yuzuru Tachikawa of making this series faithful to ONE’s original works. It has that crazy, wild style of “ONE-PUNCH MAN” but it’s so much different and refreshing that I had a lot of fun watching this anime series. No doubt one of the best anime series I have watched in 2017.
As for the Blu-ray, the anime series is vibrant in HD and the lossless soundtrack is wonderfully done, with the voice acting for both Japanese and English dub soundtrack to be exceptional.
And you also get numerous extras such as Mob Psycho Shorts, promo videos, flipbook videos and more.
Overall, “Mob Psycho 100” was one of the coolest, wildest and craziest anime series I have watched in 2017. From ONE, the creator of “One-Punch Man”, this is a different but equally enjoyable anime series worth watching and one that I highly recommend!
