Mob Psycho 100 II ⬢ Returns With A Great Vengence

Original Run: January 7, 2019 - April 1, 2019
Number of Episodes: 13
Genre: Action, Comedy, Supernatural
Based on the Series Created By: One

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Mob Psycho 100 II. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama (voiced by Setsu Ito), like he was before, looks like the biggest wimp in the world. He is soft-spoken, lacks confidence, and there are always people who seem to take advantage of him even when they aren’t trying.

Nevertheless, Mob strives to remain humble and kind to everyone he meets. Or, at least, that is, until someone is foolish enough to set him off.

Mob is possibly the most powerful esper that has ever been, and his unimposing stature makes it easy for people to forget how destructive he can be.

In fact, the only thing that keeps Mob’s powers in check is Mob’s own self-restraint. When he can, Mob will try to mediate and offer a friendly ear. But should his emotions ever reach an explosive 100%, no being on heaven or earth can stop the storm that is about to be unleashed.

Series Positives

In the past, I have mentioned annoying it is when unwanted and unneeded sequels are given to series that failed to deliver while actually decent shows get nothing.

Thus, it is nice when something deserving gets a continuation. Mob Psycho 100 is one such show, and its sequel, Mob Psycho 100 II, did a fantastically beautiful job of recapturing what made the original so much fun. Also, as any good follow-up should do, this second season added more to the series as a whole, allowing it to go beyond where its predecessor left off.

Before I say any more, Mob Psycho 100 II was undeniably reliant on the success of season one. Most notably, the sheer insanity that was basically the entirety of the first season was significantly toned back in terms of frequency. Season two had its fair share of over-the-top craziness, but there was much more focus on inherently slower character-building moments.

That wasn’t a bad thing.

In addition, Mob Psycho 100 II was willing to go dark, an aspect I don’t remember the first season doing much of. Or, at the very least, season one didn’t reach the levels its successor would go on to do. And if nothing else, I am certain Mob Psycho 100 didn’t have anything close to Mob Psycho 100 II’s episode five.

If you don’t believe silliness and heart can coexist, then I strongly suggest you give this show a look.

Speaking of “looking,” Mob Psycho 100 II was exceedingly well animated. As I am writing this post, I have only just begun to showcase 2019’s anime, so I don’t quite know what this year has to offer yet. Accordingly, a benchmark needs to start somewhere, and this set one nicely.

With final regards to this series’ visuals, when Mob Psycho 100 decided to go big, it went gargantuan.

Lastly, for this section: The characters.

I already mentioned how this season focused more of its energies on in-depth development. What I didn’t say was how much that paid off. There were two characters who encapsulated this.

The first was Arataka Reigen (voiced by Takahiro Sakurai) – Mob’s “teacher.”

Assuming you remember how Reigen was last season, it goes without saying how much of a sham he was. To catch everyone else up, Reigen was a self-proclaimed psychic whose business only became “legitimate” when Mob teamed up with him.

In season one, Reigen was a likable doofus who proved to be surprisingly reliable when necessary. In season two, we learned more about where he came from and how his relationship with Mob started. I never thought I would think of him this way, but Reigen wasn’t an in-name-only mentor to Mob.

The second character who was outstanding this go around – like he was last time – was Mob himself. He had dominated in season one, but in season two, you could see how much more confident he had become since his introduction.

Seeing this more self-assured version of Mob made it even more exciting whenever his explosion meter ticked closer to 100%. Then when he finally got there, things got awesome.

Series Negatives

This section is going to be both a critique of this series, as well as a cautionary prediction for a show which is coming soon.

The quick answer to Mob Psycho 100 II’s negatives is that, at times, it felt disjointed. Nothing ever seemed to connect to form a full picture.

Okay, Odyssey, what in the hell does that mean?

The very element which made Mob Psycho 100 so entertaining was also the thing that weighed it down the most. Mob was the most powerful esper in existence, to the point where no one could stand a chance against him when he was at 100%.

This dynamic created some spectacular beatdowns, especially when Mob’s opponents were huge D-bags just asking to get slapped around. There was little – if not nothing – Mob’s powers were incapable of doing. If this series straight-up called him a god-like being, there wouldn’t be much of an argument to the contrary.

Unfortunately, this meant that any conflict was instantly not one. Mob could simply take care of whatever was going on. Therefore, to have any sense of tension, this series had to find ways to nerf Mob’s abilities. Either he wasn’t around to be part of a fight, or something incapacitated him in some way.

Neither option was ideal.

There were plenty of other espers throughout this series who would have been the ultimate badasses in most other stories. However, they weren’t Mob, and thus, that meant there was always someone better than them.

It’s kind of difficult to get into an action scene when you know the solution is coming.

That’s my critique. As for my prediction: Mob Psycho 100 creator, One, has another of his stories getting a follow-up anime this year. If you want to see the drags of having a real instant problem solver, you don’t receive more bang for your buck than with Saitama.

Granted, I think – and am hoping – One Punch Man 2 will be great, but if Mob Psycho 100 II is any indication, I have a few guesses about where some difficulties might come from.

Final Thoughts

This was a 2019 series I was looking forward to quite a bit, and it did not disappoint.

This was an outstanding sequel to an already wonderful show. The animation was epic, the story was denser, and the characters were so much more interesting.

Although Mob is extremely overpowered, it was still a ton of fun seeing him do his thing.

Mob Psycho 100 II gets a full recommendation.