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September 5, 2016 9:40 AM   Subscribe

Mob Psycho 100 (preview trailer) is an anime series that debuted this year from ONE, the creator of One Punch Man (previously). Adapted from ONE's webcomic, Psycho Mob 100 tells the story of an adolescent named Shigeo, nicknamed "Mob", who has powerful psychic abilities, but lives an otherwise ordinary life as he tries to suppress these talents in favor of being a normal student. As it has been picked up by the Anime streaming site Crunchyroll, their staff has a number of articles about the show's use of animation and color to depict the supernatural, the show's use of the messy "heta-uma" style for its visuals, the way that the story explores the existential dread of adolescence, and the way that angst motivates the central conflict of the story.

Most recently they have looked at the differences between the comic and animated versions of the story. Also, the lead animator for the ending sequence talks about her technique of paint on glass animation. They appear to be releasing approximately one feature per week, and you can follow along with the Mob Psycho 100 tag on their blog.
posted by codacorolla (16 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is a great anime and I love the opening song.
posted by Pendragon at 9:48 AM on September 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


I think it's one of best TV shows I've ever seen, animated / anime or not. The way that they slowly build these really complex and interesting characters is fantastic, and the themes about conformity and the desire to be part of the crowd are really well done. I've only seen a little bit of OPM (mostly because it was on Hulu, which is a terrible platform), but I think this takes some of the same ideas and builds on them more successfully. Spiritually it reminds me of Evangelion - beyond even the genre deconstruction angle, there's also connections to larger ideas of what it means to try and differentiate yourself from society, and the difficulty that young people feel with that process.

That's not even touching the animation, which is a treasure. The colors, the line work, the fight scenes, the mixed animation techniques... it's wonderful.
posted by codacorolla at 11:19 AM on September 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


The English name certainly isn't doing this show any favors. I overlooked it previously because I thought it was about, well, gang violence or something.
posted by Spinda at 1:43 PM on September 5, 2016


(001) The animation really is fantastic. It's as if emotion is being animated rather than objects.
posted by BinaryApe at 2:05 PM on September 5, 2016


I suspect it is no coincidence that title character "Mob" has the same 'bowl-cut' hair as legendary Stooge Moe Howard.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:07 PM on September 5, 2016


Mob Psycho 100 is easily the most original anime I've seen since Kill la Kill or FLCL.


I love the crap(/not crap) art and the "weird Akira" direction it seems to be going in.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 3:01 PM on September 5, 2016


I thought it was about, well, gang violence or something.


There is some, but not in the way that you'd think.


Also, I have to go do some more squats now.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 3:02 PM on September 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


I thought One Punch Man was one of the best anime series to come along in a while, and the mangas (both One's original series and the slick "redrawn" version, which at this point have unrelated story arcs) are each worth keeping up with, their only downsides being that they're updated sparsely and sporadically since the core team is involved in Mob Psycho 100 now.

I haven't seen MP100 yet but everything I've heard has been even more lavish in praise than what OPM has received, so I think at this point I just need a weekend free to binge on it.
posted by ardgedee at 3:19 PM on September 5, 2016


Sakugabooru collects cuts of animation and categorises them by the techniques and animators involved — here's their directory for Mob Psycho 100. It's a good way to quickly see the sheer range of styles the show includes.
posted by robcorr at 3:24 PM on September 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


Yeah, I just watched episode 8, and there is definitely a Weird Akira thing happening.

There was even a scene where they could have used the DAAAAANH DAAAAANH DANH-DANH bit from the soundtrack.

I can't wait to see how it turns out!

TWS EXCITEMENT LEVEL: 79%
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:41 PM on September 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


> there is definitely a Weird Akira thing happening.

There's at least one other homage in the show. There's a high school club dedicated to finding ESPers, ala SOS Brigade.

I assume there's plenty of others; the chief delinquent of Salt Middle school Tenga Onigawara bears a resemblance to Yu Yu Hakusho's main character and wouldn't be surprised if he is granted pyschic powers after sacrificing his life save someone else as a throwaway joke.
posted by pwnguin at 8:35 PM on September 5, 2016


"It's creepy, so no."

Two episodes in and I'm hooked.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:00 PM on September 6, 2016


Also, I have to go do some more squats now.

Don't neglect the 10K runs!
posted by sebastienbailard at 2:10 AM on September 7, 2016


Mob Psycho 100 is easily the most original anime I've seen since Kill la Kill or FLCL.

You should watch Thunderbolt Fantasy.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:04 PM on September 9, 2016


So apparently #redrawReigen has become a thing on Twitter where people are re-creating other pictures with Reigen in them instead.
posted by RobotHero at 10:22 PM on September 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


I've started posting episodes on FanFare, three today (Sept. 24), three tomorrow, then two a day until the first season is done next week.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:11 PM on September 24, 2016


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