The premiere of Mob Psycho 100 III is now streaming on Hulu and Crunchyroll.
Mob Psycho 100 returns with a wholesome, emotional, hilarious, and gorgeous premiere for what seems to be the final season of one of the best anime in recent years. After Season 2 showed us the terrifying consequences of a psychic using their powers to subjugate others, and after already giving us a spectacular battle against an entire army of psychics, Mob Psycho 100 hits the brakes in its season opener and goes back to basics. It’s a fantastic albeit relatively mundane slice-of-life episode that has Mob face his biggest challenge yet: a 1/6th life crisis.
The show takes place in a world of psychics, spirits, and monsters; some use their powers to take advantage of others, and some try to do good. Then there’s Shigeo Kageyama, aka Mob, a kid who simply doesn’t care about having extraordinary psychic abilities, and wishes more than anything for a normal life, to have his crush to notice him, and to stop fainting when trying to keep up with his buddies at the middle school body improvement club.
Season 2 dove more into horror territory, with a focus on people who abuse their powers, and the effect of evil spirits. This resulted in an epic finale where Mob defeated the organization known as Claw, and accidentally caused a giant broccoli plant to grow in the middle of town. Still, that is nothing compared to Mob’s next challenge, one that cannot be solved with psychic powers: a career survey.
Of course, we’ve seen “the identity crisis caused by a career survey” storyline play out dozens of times both in anime and live-action – in Japan and elsewhere – but there is a reason why it still works. It is an important but dumb and difficult thing for a kid to go through, and it fits perfectly in the world of Mob Psycho 100. Throughout the series, Mob has stuck by the idea that having powers does not make you special, that entitlement is bad, and that he cannot solve everything with his abilities, while still using them to accomplish inhuman feats and save the world countless times. Now, he cannot use his powers to save the day. He is still a kid, after all, so having to consider the rest of his life when the only thing he knows how to do – the only thing he excels at – has been used for a part-time job he doesn’t particularly care about is terrifying to him. It certainly doesn’t help that everyone else in his life has theirs figured out.
This leads to some emotional and profound moments in the premiere as Mob sees both the consequences one single bad choice early on can have over the rest of your life, while also learning important lessons about taking things easy.
Of course, this is still Mob Psycho, so don’t expect it to be all gloomy and sad. On the contrary, there are some hilarious moments in here, as the premiere gives plenty of time for the supporting cast to shine, from the members of the body improvement club and their career goals (guess who wants to be a manga artist and who wants to be a veterinarian with his surprisingly great grades), to the new employee of Spirits and Such Consultation Office, Serizawa, and Internet Sex Symbol Reigen. Mob’s boss and mentor is a standout in both comedy and heartfelt moments, showing us another one of his special attacks by fixing a broken vase and fooling Serizawa with his “powers.”
Mob Psycho is posing itself to conclude on a series high.
Animation-wise, we don’t get anything special in terms of fights this episode, but Studio Bones still infuses every frame with a lot of care for details, making the intimate, emotional moments feel as grand as the big psychic power showcase while teasing bigger moments to come.
One special thing about anime series is that they, with certain exceptions, are allowed to actually come to an end, unlike many American cartoons (especially now as plenty are canceled). Mob Psycho is posing itself to conclude on a series high, a poignant recognition that just because you have powers doesn’t mean you have to make that the center of your life. While author ONE’s other famous character, Saitama, desperately wants to use his powers for good (and cash) and become a proper professional hero, the biggest show of growth for Mob is that he is considering a life where he doesn’t use his abilities. It is a testament to this show that the possibility of Mob simply becoming a regular kid is the best possible outcome and a happy one.
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