#mp100 meta

[halcified]

ok. falls to the floor. something interesting i find about this omake is that reigens reaction to terus living situation is pointedly Not shown. reigen finds out that teru has no one and spends entire months alone in his apartment and his first course of action is to try to set up positive relationships for this kid while acting casual about it so as to not trigger terus defenses. insane actually

[necronatural]

The Reigen Arataka Deranged NormalMan Review

Do you ever think about how Reigen has like. A really strange belief in The System and How Things Should Be. Like REALLY strange. Whatever he's got going on is so much weirder than "scammer with a heart of gold".

I think it all comes together if you read the 10th Season 3 omake like, seriously interrogate this:

This is normal, if comedically thoughtful and realistic for a shounen character. This guy talks like a mandatory reporter. What's strange is what immediately follows:

"AS A SPIRITUAL SPECIALIST" DOING A LOT OF HEAVY LIFTING HERE REIGEN

Not only did he hunt down the families of the children bullying his client (insane. where did he get that info), he also contacted the school as if he were representing his own son in order to get justice, and then hunted down a source of complaints when the school fell through.

This is like a genuinely bizarre level of commitment to the bit, and the bit is "the system works, and if it doesn't work, we will find a system that does work, and if we cannot, hell or high water it is my PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY to make the system stop slouching so it works again".

Long thread on the manga with this reading⬇️

Before I start. Reigen adopting Teru is more IC than you think but I don't think it is IC in the way people think it is. I think about this a lot and I think people who do it because they like Reigen aren't understanding how into his bit he is. Guy who talks to social services

So remember the arc that won people over to Reigen despite the fact he's an asshole who takes advantage of Mob and derides him constantly in order to keep him complacent?

He has Mob's phone on his GPS. This makes sense; he's been taking him out and about since he was 11. Very responsible!

Reigen dismisses the "Boss" mistake thinking well, it's a misunderstanding, but it got me in. Yet as soon as he heard they're committing crimes, he VISIBLY puts on his Boss Pants to chastise them. Again, normal so far. I think any scammer with a heart of gold would do this. (And foreshadowing for why he retried reprimanding the Claw Cadres a second time after getting power.)

Again. He's a scumbag. So he leaves Mob to beat their asses using his previous rhetoric. But then!

Reigen's shady morality is more like "people who can take care of things should take care of things". To him, Mob is the Authority on Espers, and can handle conflict like this. Immediately upon becoming aware he can't, Reigen thinks "oh, okay, so the only person who can take care of things is someone who can deescalate". (Pictured: Deescalation)

Okay. Besides the fact this is insufferable as a general concept - YOU just told him to handle it YOU are the source of his stress - his first step in deescalation is to force Mob to back down. Rather than asking him not to fight, he reestablishes "rules" in order to convince Mob he must back down - the same way he tried using what he said to worm his way out of dealing with this shit - and then sets himself up as the authority figure to which the others must obviously defer in matters of His Boy, like a parent accepting criticism at a PTA meeting. This isn't Reigen claiming Mob so much as "in order for them to not attack Mob, they must view me as a representative for Mob".

And like a good authority figure:

Continuing with his phrasing:

If you think about it, this is like...an objectively very strange and incredibly bold approach to this situation. They're homicidal. Reigen is a DERANGED level of Normal Man. He has this image in his head of normalcy, of the world at standard operating procedures, and reinforces it right through an entire conflict. Carceral beliefs don't even factor into this, simply expressing his principles and expecting them to fold.

And they do lol. I keep wondering how Shou must have felt listening to him talk like that

We see a little more of his good side in work; when he was getting so little work it was affecting his grocery bills, this moneygrubbing scammer still asked for like $200 to clear an entire city of hauntings. (His regular exorcisms are around $30). Fair prices are part of his principles of how the business should be. He operates basically at-cost. He mentions he wanted to come out here because he's bored. He's killing time as a career.

Aside:

Just realized he called Mob in last minute so Mob didn't know he accepted crops instead of money. Shigeo didn't like that

So consider that he never got caught here and there was a call on the news to hunt him down at the end of this bit: for the average viewer of the anime, it's just funny, but this is part of the Mogami pre-arc so we've gotten a hold of him by now; he probably holds an inherent belief that the police will intercept him and not Mob. Why wouldn't they? Why would an adult man want to dress up in a highschool girl's uniform? The System will understand.

Not relevant to my point but I like how he realizes what's wrong with Mob way before the final arc, just not why it's happening. Also he doesn't say anything.

With the way his principles are, you really get the feeling that Reigen does his best to avoid culpability specifically because if something happened that was his fault, he'd have to step up to the plate to compensate for that, which is troublesome to him who is a career time-killer. It does not occur to him that an actual bad person and scammer would not step up to the plate as a matter of course. This is his way

What I find really interesting is that this Militant Insane NormalMan does have a sense of wanting something "special", but rather than whip Mob up the way Dimple did Ritsu, he ended up projecting his own values onto Mob, as if he could recreate a special "self" within him. He's always deriding him and baiting him and lying to him in hopes of creating a superb person that a special individual like Mob finds admirable, as if Mob is the authority on his quality of character. Sad! lol

Anyway, it adds a lot more kick to this famous line. Reigen genuinely believes in Authority

Authority works!

And if Mob (the authority on espers) doesn't work, who's the person who MUST step up to the plate [common sense]? You guessed it.

There are other aspects of Reigen's character that everyone and their dog has already picked up on (his self-loathing is the entire reason the way he talked to Mob in Confession arc hit so hard), but this one's my favourite. He's insane

[russenoire]

i don't think the background art in mob psycho 100's anime adaptation gets nearly enough love. it's full of mundane objects depicted in the most exquisite watercolors.

like this electrical pole here. with its giant soup can-like transformer and attendant power lines against a cloudy twilight sky, all shot through with vibrant pink and lilac and creamy butter yellow.

not only does this painting–and it is a painting–bring new meaning to the phrase 'golden hour', it's still one of the most glorious things i've ever laid eyes on. and you might pass one of these utility poles every day without a second glance. since seeing this image? i haven't been able to.

this is a single frame of animation. there are hundreds of thousands more in this series, maybe just as beautiful. i wanted to call your attention to this one. just because.

it reminds me to pay attention.

to notice, and keep noticing, the beauty in ordinary things (and beings!).

[exilepurify]

“You know a lot of big words.” — Determining Shigeo’s Kanji Literacy

An analysis in four parts:

Jouyou kanji and Japan’s compulsory education system, explained.

An introduction to the analysis—what I did and why I did it.

A presentation of data, evidence, and counterarguments.

The truth revealed: can Shigeo write a reasonable amount of kanji for his age group?

Jouyou kanji and Japan’s compulsory education system, explained

Let us begin this analysis by establishing a basic understanding of how Japan’s education system is structured.

As you may already know, only elementary school and middle school are compulsory in Japan, meaning that high school and college are completely optional. Therefore, compulsory education in Japan consists of grades 1-9, with grades 1-6 being 小学校 (primary school) and grades 7-9 being 中学校 (middle school).

The term 「常用漢字」(jouyou kanji, “Daily-Use Kanji”) refers to a list of 2136 kanji that the Japanese Ministry of Education requires be taught throughout education grades in Japan due to their importance and frequency of use in Japanese daily life. Knowing all 2136 is defined by the Japanese government as the baseline for basic, functional literacy in Japanese. The jouyou kanji list is further divided into two sub-categories: 「教育漢字」(kyouiku kanji, “Education Kanji”) and 「中学・高校漢字」(chuugaku • koukou kanji, “Secondary School Kanji”).

教育漢字 (kyouiku kanji, “Education Kanji”) (A.K.A. 学年別漢字配当表 [gakunenbetsu kanji haitouhyou, “list of kanji by school year”]) is the Japanese term for the 1006 kanji that are taught over the 6 years of primary school in Japan, grouped into different grade levels by difficulty and complexity.

「中学・高校漢字」(chuugaku • koukou kanji, “Secondary School Kanji”) is the term for the 1130 kanji that students are expected to learn throughout middle school and high school. This list of kanji is not strictly divided by grade level, though a general grade level is often provided, because students in secondary school—whether it be middle or high—are expected to learn kanji more independently. Though the responsibility of learning these kanji is shifted from the classroom to the individual, the importance of knowing these kanji by the end of one’s education, if that be middle school or high school, cannot be overstated. Once again, these 2136 kanji are considered the basics of Japanese kanji fluency.

According to the “Kanji Frequency Number Survey/漢字頻度数調査” conducted by the National Cultural Affairs Division in 2000, in 385 books published by a major publishing company, 8474 different kanji were used (not including duplicates). However, speakers are able to understand 99% of them if they know the top 2457 kanji, and 99.9% of them if they know the top 4208 kanji. And as is true for speakers of every other language, people can generally read more words than they can write.

I determined the “grade level” of each kanji in this analysis according to the grade level provided in my Japanese-English dictionaries, but consideration will be made for Secondary School Kanji due to the lack of official grade divisions and the less organized circumstances involved with learning them.

An introduction to the analysis—what I did and why I did it

In this analysis, I focused specifically on Shigeo’s ability to write kanji, not to read them. This is most obviously because it’s much harder to determine whether or not someone can actually read something, especially in anime, without it being explicitly mentioned. However, it is also because the meaning of kanji can be inferred from knowing the meaning of radicals, and as mentioned above, it is common for people to be able to read more words than they can write. The true mark of knowing a kanji is being able to write it.

To determine Shigeo’s kanji-writing ability, I studied screenshots from a few scenes from the anime, specifically a couple of scenes from the Reigen OVA where Shigeo is writing a LOT, and a couple scenes from the regular anime where Shigeo is explicitly seen writing stuff down and the audience is shown the writing.

The data has been organized into two different excel charts—one for kanji he uses correctly, and one for kanji he doesn’t know or messes up. The kanji in each of these charts have been color-coded and organized by grade level, with readings, translations, and explanations provided. There is only one kanji in the entire analysis that is not considered a part of the jouyou kanji, and this kanji has been marked by “N/A” in the grade level section.

I will provide each chart alongside a percentage likelihood that Mob will know any given kanji from each grade level based on the information gathered from the anime. Please note that the sample size is obviously limited, but I’m working with what I have. If there is a kanji with some sort of detail worth consideration, I’ve marked it with a (**) in the chart and will explain below.

Lastly, I included kanji used in names in the chart here after some deliberation. Name kanji are tricky in general, because multiple kanji share the same pronunciation and people usually don’t know what kanji are used in someone’s name unless they are shown by that person (unless it’s some crazy common name like 高田 or 森 or 田中).

A presentation of data, evidence, and counterarguments.

Shigeo’s known kanji:

Shigeo’s unknown kanji:

IMPORTANT NOTE: There are one or two instances of Shigeo NOT using a kanji at all that I’ve decided not to include on the chart. This is because it is common for Japanese speakers to omit kanji for super common verbs and write them in kana instead, either for personal style reasons or for convenience. Since the verbs are so fundamental and commonly-used, it’s unlikely that they will be misunderstood or mistaken for another word if written in kana. So, if Shigeo wrote the verb for “to read” or “to eat” without using kanji, I didn’t include it, as I highly highly highly doubt he doesn’t know those kanji and I felt like it would unfairly skew the results against him.

米** = I don’t blame Shigeo for not knowing this kanji. It’s fair to assume that Mob might not have seen Mezato’s name written out and therefore wouldn’t know which kanji to use. On TOP of that, “me” for 米 is a special nanori (used for names only) reading and is super obscure and uncommon. I couldn’t even find it in my name dictionary by searching “Mezato”, I had to find her name written in kanji in S1E3 and go from there. I wouldn’t expect this kanji to be in anyone’s top ten possible kanji guesses for the “me” in “mezato”. I included it because rules are rules, but wanted to mention this to make it fairer on the boy.

世** = I want to make it known that Shigeo does successfully write this kanji in the image shown here, when he writes 「世紀」(century):

HOWEVER. However. He messed it up SO BAD before that I think it actually overpowers him using it correctly and brings it back around to a “not properly known” kanji, especially because it’s a kanji taught in second grade that he shouldn’t be messing up at all:

The subtitles intersect it but I’ve rewritten what Shigeo wrote there at the bottom. He tried to write 「世の中には」”In the world…”, but tried to write the kanji, messed up, crossed it out, and then rewrote it in kana. Didn’t even try to write it a second time. This is egregious and, in my juror’s power, cancels out his later usage. This would be like misspelling “world” in English. I’m willing to entertain arguments that he just wanted to write it in kana for some reason, but as it is now, I don’t think that excuse is compelling enough against such damning evidence, so in “missed kanji” it goes. (It’s partly cut off but what gets me is that it doesn’t even look wrong in the first place lol but if he crossed it out, it means he didn’t know it well enough, which allowed him to doubt, which is still damning enough.)

造** = Just like above, Shigeo actually does successfully use this kanji once in the show when he’s filling out his paperwork for the Body Improvement Club in S1E2 (forgive my awful kanji, it’s hard to draw on the phone lol): 

However, that was not only on an official school document, it was also in the presence of a student council member and Saruta (#2 in the grade lol) so I have to assume he either asked someone for help or got corrected. Either way, the instance where he doesn’t use the kanji is when he’s in his bedroom alone, writing in his personal notebook—a much more casual environment, and one that takes place AFTER s1e2 (can’t argue he learned it):

This leads me to believe that Shigeo does not naturally know the kanji, as he can’t reproduce it in casual day-to-day or when alone.

焉** = This kanji is not only not included in the jouyou kanji, but it is also used in an obscure word. In fact, it took me a minute to locate it in my Japanese-English dictionary app. It is absolutely not reasonable to expect Shigeo to know this kanji off the top of his head, and he probably wouldn’t know it even if he were a kanji ace. It is included and working against him, however, because the kanji he initially tried to write in its place was 「円」, a.k.a. the kanji for YEN/¥:

Sure, 「えん」is a reading for「円」, that part makes sense. But 「終焉」means “the finals years in one’s life”, so I’m really struggling to understand why Mob would think the yen money kanji would be a part of that word and why he would try to write it with that kanji instead of just writing it in kana first, like the majority of the kanji he didn’t know. It’s truly an enigma to me. I’m bewildered he even tried that, and for that, I’m holding it against him.

BASIC STATS:

GRADE 1 KANJI:

- Total known: 17

- Total unknown: 0

- Grand total: 17

- Shigeo knows: 17 out of 17

- Percentage likelihood of Shigeo knowing a grade 1 kanji: 100%

GRADE 2 KANJI:

- Total known: 16

- Total unknown: 3

- Grand total: 19

- Shigeo knows: 16 out of 19

- Percentage likelihood of Shigeo knowing a grade 2 kanji: 84.2%

GRADE 3 KANJI:

- Total known: 13

- Total unknown: 6

- Grand total: 19

- Shigeo knows: 13 out of 19

- Percentage likelihood of Shigeo knowing a grade 3 kanji: 68.4%

GRADE 4 KANJI:

- Total known: 11

- Total unknown: 0

- Grand total: 11

- Shigeo knows: 11 out of 11

- Percentage likelihood of Shigeo knowing a grade 4 kanji: 100%

(Baby apparently had a great year in fourth grade.)

GRADE 5 KANJI:

- Total known: 3

- Total unknown: 4

- Grand total: 7

- Shigeo knows: 3 out of 7

- Percentage likelihood of Shigeo knowing a grade 5 kanji: 43.9%

GRADE 6 KANJI:

- Total known: 0

- Total unknown: 2

- Grand total: 2

- Shigeo knows: 0 out of 2

- Percentage likelihood of Shigeo knowing a grade 6 kanji: 0%

😭

GRADE 7 KANJI:

(No known or unknown 7th grade kanji found)

GRADE 8 KANJI

- Total known: 5

- Total unknown: 6

- Grand total: 11

- Shigeo knows: 5 out of 11

- Percentage likelihood of Shigeo knowing a grade 8 kanji: 45.5%

^ To Shigeo’s credit, this isn’t bad at all considering he’s only halfway through his eight grade year at this point in the story.

% OF JOUYOU KANJI SHIGEO KNOWS:

% known from observed data:

65/86

75.6%

# of jouyou kanji: 2136

75.6% of 2136 = 1615 jouyou kanji

Here’s a graph for your visualizing pleasure:

Finally:

(All values are rounded up)

There are 1006 kyouiku kanji. There are 1130 secondary school kanji. Because high school in Japan is not compulsory, we’ll assume that the secondary kanji are to be learned over the three years of middle school. That means about 377 words per middle school grade. If Shigeo is halfway through eighth grade, let’s say he should generally know 1006 + 377 + (377/2) kanji, which comes out to 1,572.

There are 80 kyouiku kanji assigned to first grade, which Shigeo should know 100% of—80 total.

There are 160 kyouiku kanji assigned to second grade, which Shigeo should know 84.2% of—135 total.

There are 200 kanji assigned to third grade, which Shigeo should know 68.4% of—137 total.

There are 200 kanji assigned to fourth grade, which Shigeo should know 100% of—200 total.

There are 185 kanji assigned to fifth grade, which Shigeo should know 43.9% of—81 total.

There are 181 kanji assigned to sixth grade, which Shigeo should know… 0% of…. 0 total.

This all totals out to:

80 + 135 + 137 + 200 + 81 + 0 = 633/1006 elementary school-level kanji. That’s 63% of the kanji required for elementary school.

(Didn’t include a calculation for middle school kanji due to having 0 data on seventh-grade kanji and also him being halfway through eighth.)

The truth revealed: can Shigeo write a reasonable amount of kanji for his age group?

Uh… no. Maybe? Well… probably not, no.

I mean, of course there are flaws with my methods. I had a super small sample group and applied the stats there to all of the jouyou kanji, which is almost guaranteed to be lower than reality. I just didn’t really have another choice. Also, I’m very certain that Shigeo MUST know some 6th grade kanji, even if in the results here I considered the probability to be 0%. That’s assuredly not accurate. There were just, by chance, only two instances of sixth-grade kanji in all of the sample writing and he happened not to know either of them. This is just for fun, anyway. I can say with confidence, though, that he certainly isn’t a writer, and he definitely knows less kanji than the average eighth grader, but I wouldn’t take my numbers for anything more than entertainment.

But yeah. Shigeo is…. a little kanji-impaired. Which explains why he struggled with Emi’s writing and is only ever seen reading Shounen Jump volumes lmao. I believe in him though. He makes it work. My illiterate king. Who needs the other half of your elementary sight-words anyway?

All jokes aside though, he really started to scare me with the 世 and 円 things 😭😭😭😭😭

[littlebigmouse]

No you don't understand. Reigen does not commit tax fraud or insurance fraud. He doesn't actually have psychic powers, not even a little, or empath powers or what you have it. His family are regular ass people with regular ass jobs and frankly, so is Arataka, a young, self-employed guy living pay-check to pay-check because that's what most people starting out self-employed do. He spends most of the day at work and then gets take-out not because he's bringing college-student energy to the table, but because that's what the average single and fresh member of the japanese work force does. Because holding on to friends at that age is hard enough without existential-crisis-induced self-loathing.

It is so, so important to me that Reigen is the most statistically average twenty something japanese man there is. He's literally just a guy. A perfectly average middle schooler who liked to slack off and forgot his lunch that one time and wanted to be someone one day, when he was filled with youthful optimism, before life got complicated, before he realized he was just another fish in a really, really big ocean with a LOT of other fishes. One perfectly average fish among thousands of other, average fishes that become perfectly average members of society.

[exxaltioras]

Something about Mob Psycho 100 I truly adore is how beautiful and real the platonic love is. I know this has been said again and again but as a younger brother it just slaps me in the face sometimes. I feel like casual platonic intimacy between people who care about each other is so undervalued in media in general, and the way Mob loves people unabashedly and with open tenderness is so important to me.

His open adoration for Ritsu, despite the hurt underneath. My sister and I have hurt each other like breathing over the years, but there is no one on this Earth I would give my life to protect like her. No one else knows me like her. And I see that in Mob and Ritsu.

Mob’s deep love and appreciation for Reigen. The way Mob sees his own loneliness reflected back in Reigen. The way Reigen is the only person who can tell Mob it’s going to be okay and make him believe it. The way Mob collapsed into his arms when he said his family was okay, even when Reigen was lying through his teeth. Not even Dimple’s word was enough. He finally felt safe enough to sleep. How Mob disrupted and terrified an entire room of reporters on purpose, when he’s already scared of his powers, so Reigen wouldn’t have to look so sad and cornered and alone anymore. Remembering his birthday, even when they’d been apart for a long time. Reigen always crouching down, hand on his shoulder, eye-to-eye; mutual saviors. They both entered each other’s lives at the perfect time to say, “You’re going to be okay.”

Even Mob’s love for the ones who have hurt him. His unwavering resolve to help Toichiro Suzuki apologize to his wife and his son—to see them again, to make amends, to build a better life than the one that saw him wandering the world for years and years alone, looking for something more. To channel his vision and his drive into a future that Shou deserves. The way he embraced Serizawa when he felt his fear and his pain and welcomed him into a better life without a shadow looming over his shoulder, accepted him as a peer and a friend that he never had. How Shou burned down his house and nearly made him destroy the world in horrible grief for his family, but still he was roused with anger to defend him from his father’s hand. “I’m sure you have a lot going on. I mean, look at what your own father has done to you.” Look at what the pain has done to all of you. What has it done to me?

Mob and his heart full of love, and the story of how, eventually, that loving heart learns to love itself. God. Shit.

[bandtrees]

mp100 is a very very kind show, i love how compassionate it is and how forgiving it is, but i also love how hard it hammers in that there’s no such thing as a perfect person with endless bounds of patience and forgiveness, and that living your life only to please others isn’t living much at all.

the confession arc is very special to me for this reason, and below the cut is some analysis as to why! obviously, this contains spoilers for all three seasons of mp100.

the confession arc takes mob, this very kind loving sweet person who’s compassionate and has been able to see good in and treat with kindness people like mogami, touchirou, etc, and tells you... hey! this kid actually has (reasonable) building resentment and unresolved issues from being constantly people-pleasing and forgiving and not really acknowledging peoples’ flaws!

and no, it’s not a case of mob having this evil dark side who hates everyone, it’s just a case of mob... being human! expecting him to brush off the way reigen treats him and the way he and teru met and the danger to his life shou and touchirou were, as compassionate and mature as he is about them, isn’t realistic! because no human person is just a walking well of love and forgiveness, and for as mature as mob is, he’s still only a kid!

mob, as ???%, is very violent towards teru and reigen, and i choose to interpret this as how intensely he’s repressed his unresolved resentment for them that he swallowed down in favor of forgiveness and being the bigger person - the wider theme of mp100. we never really see mob express any discomfort around teru for nearly killing him, or around reigen for lying to him and generally treating him like trash sometimes, or around shou for burning his house down... and while i can’t express enough how important the messages of compassion and forgiveness are in this story, i think it’s also equally important to see, in ???%’s rampage, it’s not some evil side of mob or some shadowy separate personality in his body who’s deciding to hurt teru and reigen, it’s mob himself, because he never unpacked his conflicting emotions towards them, and now, when he can’t control himself, they’re running wild.

and this isn’t me saying teru and reigen are horrible people who never earned mob’s forgiveness. of course not! they’re very important people to him, he cares for them a great deal, they help to bring mob down from his violent episode... but as we hear in the mogami arc...

mob, kind as he is, isn’t some all-forgiving, forever-loving kid, and the same goes for his relationships with others. he cares about teru as a friend, he has resentment towards him for what he did that he never unpacked until now - these things coexist!

and there’s the ultimate catharsis when reigen tells the truth about himself, revealing to mob that he’s a complete liar who’s been using and exploiting him from the beginning. he lied to him from the day they met, and those lies ultimately led to the disaster in seasoning city that we’re seeing now. it was mob’s honest belief that reigen was a strong, powerful adult who had everything figured out -

- that led to him being unable to accept the contradictions within himself, and so reigen laying those bare, the fact that he’s a liar and an exploiter, that he too, this person mob has admired and learned from for the whole series, has a part of himself he hates for how it thinks of other people, is what’s able to let mob finally accept himself. 

reigen being a liar doesn’t make him an evil monster who deserves nothing but mob’s resentment - and in turn, mob destroying the city and trying to kill his friends doesn’t make him a violent, hateful murderer. it makes him and mob flawed humans, whose relationship couldn’t ever have healthily continued if those things weren’t unpacked - if reigen never honestly confessed about who he was, if mob kept forgiving reigen without looking inward to ask how he felt. at best, it would have been shallow and dishonest for them both until the end, and at worst... well, mob wouldn’t have been able to repress his emotions, dangerous as they are the more he hides them, forever...

this is why the scene of mob breaking down and crying is so important to me. finally, he feels safe expressing ugly, crude, selfish emotions. until now, when we see mob cry, it’s either tasteful tears running down his face, not changing much of his actual expression, or the complete opposite direction in exploding and bawling his eyes out with 100% sadness and 100% rejection - either mob’s emotions are pretty and subdued, or soul-crushing explosions he has no control over.

(sidenote: 100% rejection is one of the coolest explosions in the series to me and i wish it was talked about more!)

now, though, with the reassurance that he can cry, full-on cry, and it won’t hurt anyone, that he isn’t some selfish evil for being a middle school boy devastated he got rejected by his crush, that he’s allowed to feel broken up and miserable and have it not be an explosion that destroys the city... he cries! he feels all those negative emotions he’d held back, and because he feels safe expressing them, they’re not dangerous at all, they’re just... again, a middle school boy crying because he got rejected by his crush.

mob’s emotions, on their own, aren’t dangerous. it’s his refusal to express them, and the violent outbursts that leads to, that is.

something i love so much about mob psycho 100′s ending is that it’s not an ending at all. it’s just the beginning - finally, after three seasons, mob can actually feel and safely express his emotions. he can be on even footing with teru, reigen, all of them. he can start balanced, open, communicative relationships with those around him, showing that the compassion mp100 preaches goes far deeper than simply forgiving those who hurt you, or giving people chances.

mob’s kindness is so, so, so important to me, and where season 2 was about extending kindness to others, culminating in mob sitting down with touchirou after deciding that letting him die alone would only have been needlessly cruel and reinforcing the man’s worldview that he needed nobody, and that extending kindness towards him was what he needed to properly change - season 3, culminating in mob confronting the parts of himself that may have wanted to leave touchirou behind, is about extending kindness to yourself.

[yaraneechan]

Lemme talk about Serizawa and Reigen's slow burn relationship actually, because there's something cool about how they met each other at the right time when it comes to their character arcs and the way they grew as characters fit together (1.8k words)

So from the very beginning, we see Reigen's main character flaws in telling Mob to come to work on short notice, ignoring Mob asking him to stop.

And when Mob tells him that he's worried he's wasting his youth, Reigen encourages him to stick with going home club, says Mob doesn't need to have a life outside of work cause just learning how to use his powers from Reigen is enough. Because If Mob has no other commitments, then he has more time for his job at spirits and such. for Reigen, it's half about the money half about Reigen wanting company

he's not intentionally malicious, but he's isolating Mob and is in the way of his growth.

Mob doesn't go by his advice and joins a club anyway.

other times Reigen does have a positive influence on Mob's growth when gives good advice otherwise and takes responsibility. (See after lol cult arc, after teru fight, end of 7th div arc)

In urban legends arc, spirits and such starts getting more work because they got more famous. Reigen ends up getting Mob to stay overtime till it's night and didn't even have time to get him soba. the arc ends with him realizing he fucked up. Mob is growing up and is trying to understand himself, and he's losing his sense of self in how he feels distant from both spirits and humans, they time they spend hanging out is much more important than jobs, then they do go get soba.

then Mogami arc happens: 1) Mob experiences being all alone and says he will appreciate the people in his life more. 2) back in lol cult he refused to acknowledge humans can be bad and that it wasn't Tsubomi who was mean but it must've been an evil spirit. in Mogami arc he accepted that Minori was really bad but people can change.

So in separation arc, 1) when Mob again tells Reigen not to call him on short notice (again) cause he was hanging out with friends, Reigen felt threatened. he's losing his monopoly on Mob. He tells him that they must be using him (he's projecting) and that he should should cut contact with them for it (this comes back to bite him)

2) Mob recognizes Reigen has said something bad and needs to change. the theme of recognizing someone can say something terrible and can still change carries over from lol cult arc to Mogami arc to separation arc and he stops coming to spirits and such.

at the press conference, Reigen realizes he was holding Mob back from his growth/ experiencing the world, and realizes that he should acknowledge that Mob has grown instead of being in his way.

Afterwards, Reigen did change and have a character development. he even lies about having free time so he can help out Mob practicing for the marathon (an anime added detail shows his calendar mostly booked)

now lets talk about Serizawa

Serizawa works for Touichirou, and while Touichirou is helping him with using his powers and gives motivating advice that helps him be more confident, he's still isolating him, preventing him from experiencing the outside world so he can stay reliant on him. The umbrella both helps him go outside but is also an extension of his room. He just wants Serizawa's loyalty and he wants to use him as spare battery. He tells him he needs to not hold back on using powers and that he can be stronger by being arrogant and self centered like him (this will come back to bite him)

when Serizawa protects Reigen, he has grown within Touichirou's advice and ideals, so Serizawa tries to tell Touichirou that he's grown and gotten more couragous thanks to Touichirou's support, that he did it in good faith and that they all are on the same side. but Touichirou didn't actually care about Serizawa, and because Serizawa gaining courage/ Serizawa growing means Touichirou can't unconditionally use him anymore, Touichirou considered Serizawa's action a betrayal.

at the end of wd arc, Touichirou had realized he was in the wrong. and to cleanly break off their relationship, he tells Serizawa that he only saw him as a tool, so he shouldn't feel indebted to him for anything.

Touichirou's last advice for him, an advice he intentionally didn't give him when he was using him, is to not to let others take advantage of him.

So after wd arc, Serizawa starts working for Reigen at spirits and such, now the manga goes right ahead to Serizawa's first job at the office, Reigen calls out Serizawa for not telling him there's a curse and Serizawa is still confused what he's supposed to be doing and the dynamic and etiquette at the office. But the anime has the ova events happen before this

In the onsen ova, Serizawa has done his research on how to be a good employee and even has notes in his sleeve. one of the things he learnt from it is that he's just supposed to follow boss's orders (which honestly I'd say he should've already figured out why not to do that, but the ova is more or less filler (aka has character development constraints). but anyway this caused the miscommunication between him and Reigen about the whole spirit trapped him in a never ending train thing. Reigen explains that he appreciates and even needs for Serizawa to have his own thoughts and to voice them.

this genuine and equal relationship-literally same eye level- contrasts with Touichirou and Serizawa's relationship and is similar to Reigen and Mob's relationship.

later, Mob has to fill out a future prospects form. at first Reigen tells him not to worry as he can just keep working at spirits and such.

Reigen had grown because of his separation arc experience. when Serizawa and Mob talk about their worries about their future, Reigen assures Mob that he doesn't have to keep working for him. And Serizawa was there for this conversation.

soon after, Serizawa tells Reigen he will start taking night classes so that he doesn't have to rely on Reigen all the time. He has the courage to do so after dealing with the client who worried he wasted his life and after seeing Reigen support Mob's choice even if he leaves spirits and such.

he is also taking Touichirou's advice, because if he has different things going for him it would be harder for him to get taken advantage of. he's not putting all his eggs in one basket, if he's going to keep working for spirits and such, it'll be because he wants to and not because he's trapped there as he has no qualifications for anywhere else.

and Reigen isn't offended or threatened by this. he recognizes that Serizawa is improving himself, is supportive, and adjusts the work schedule even though its inconvenient. he doesn't brush him off or tells him that he already has a job, the same way he used to brush off Mob thinking about joining a club or wanting to hang out with friends.

When Serizawa and mob talk about their lives....Reigen feels lonely, but he's not going to lean into old habits to pressure or guilt them into spending more time at spirits and such just because he's lonely. but instead, he uses an I statement, acknowledging that he feels bored instead of telling them to spend more time in the office, dissmissing their lives and trying to keep them from growing so that they stay close to him. My guy went to therapy!

he does regret it immediately because Mob tells him he's getting popular and Reigen is like "okay that's cool thanks for telling me you can leave now no I'm not jealous or anything" but baby steps lol

broccoli arc happens, and we Reigen relapses, in the anime, it happens with similar framing as separation arc.

and like Reigen putting Mob down is separation arc saying he's just being taken advantage of and doesn't have friends, here Reigen is putting Mob down by pointing out that psycho helmet is doing something Mob can't do, leading people- a jab at him thinking he's getting popular.

Reigen tells Mob he's not going with him to the divine tree, expecting Mob won't go where he doesn't, assuming that he can hold Mob back.

Because broccoli arc is about how someone can get carried away and about empty relationship through brainwashing/idolization/worship and inability to be honest with someone and call them out on them getting carried away.

on that note there's Reigen wanted to be special but getting carried away in isolating mob and not accepting that Mob has his own life, Touichirou saw himself as main character and put down Serizawa (shoutout to Dimple calling Serizawa's dependency on Touichirou brainwashing), and finally Dimple controlling everyone to believe in him as a god.

though the theme applies to all of them the story focuses on Dimple and Mob in this arc and how you can't have a genuine relationship with the idolization power dynamic and that's lonely.

Mob can and had already called Reigen out back in separation arc. Serizawa was less direct about it but he stood up to Touichirou too when he had protected Reigen.

It's interesting how we don't see Serizawa in broccoli arc....

after that in alien arc, Reigen asks Serizawa to go out together for drinks. Serizawa refuses saying he has plans with friends.

I know this scene is famous as a serirei rejection BUT It's important that Serizawa can say no without worrying about Reigen's reaction. the point is that Reigen doesn't brush off Serizawa's choice to go out with friends. because that was a character flaw of his that was called out when he had brushed off Mob's friends in separation arc. It's a test and Reigen passed.

luckily for Reigen he does end up not spending new years alone cause Mob and his friends needed a ride, funny how that worked out.

in confession arc, after gave advice and Serizawa gave love advice to Mob (noting that Serizawa told him than his feelings are true if they'rethe same no matter what anyone tells him, and Reigen's advice is to be honest to her), Reigen asks Serizawa about relationships and Serizawa says he'd never been interested in anyone. Reigen tells Serizawa that he hopes to be a partner in a relationship where one doesn't distort the other.

IT'S ABOUT THEM. this whole time they've been subtly establishing their boundaries and figuring out how not to fall into their past mistakes and they can be partners in a healthy relationship where they don't distort each other.

Finally here's a translation note about Serizawa saying he drifted towards this job in the REIGEN manga

[cowardlybean]

How many Esper-related laws do you think Mob sparked into existence just by being Mob

like what the hell did worldwide governments do when a middle school kid got into a fight with the guy claiming he’s gonna take over the world ending in a giant fucking broccoli appearing in seasoning city japan. like what do you do about that.

[r0semint]

hey! let’s talk about teru’s relationship with food!

all three of us get the feeling that food is a love language for teru, or at least, we feel like it’s important to consider how food plays a role in his story arc when doing a character study of him.

okay so first off, right from his introduction he is a foil to mob.

[ID: four manga panels featuring teru getting ready for school. from right to left: the first panel shows his hand and a pan frying an egg. the second is his hand holding a remote. the third shows a tv of a meteorologist saying: “today’s weather.” The forth panel is teru pulling on his school blazer, watching the tv. the meteorologist continues: “a lot of sunshine through the country, though the air is a bit unstable. /END ID]

when teru first appears, we as an audience don’t know it yet, but he lives alone and has been living alone without his parents for several years. here he is cooking his own breakfast and getting himself ready in his apartment by himself.

[ID: five manga panels of mob being woken up for school. from right to left: the first panels is a shot of the roof of the kageyama house. the second is mob, asleep on his futon. his mom is talking from off screen. she says: “shige, get up! you’re gonna be late!” the third is mob yawning and stretching his arms about his head. the forth panel is ritsu opening the door to mob’s room. he says “bro. mom said breakfast is ready.” the fifth panel shows ritsu looking at mob. mob is putting on a pair of pants saying: “yeah ritsu. let’s go.” /END ID]

meanwhile mob, is woken up by his mom and is checked on by his brother to make sure he was up in order to get a breakfast that was more than likely made by their parents.

when mob plans on confessing to tsubomi, teru brings up how homemade things tend to make him feel happy when someone confesses to him.

[ID: manga panel of teru being offered a gift from a girl. it reads: “I tend to be on the receiving end of confessions, but…when someone gives me a handkerchief, or a letter, or homemade cookies or something, it makes me kinda happy, so…I was just thinking, there’s that kind of thing too.” /END ID]

also we see teru tend to overindulge when someone (reigen) is offering to buy food for him

[ID: panel from yakiniku omake. teru is ordering food. he says: I’ll have have 4 orders of top ribs, 2 orders of sakura yukhoe, 2 orders of choice salty beef tongue, the extra special zabuton-cut beef, the offal sampler, 3 orders of rice, a tomato salad, and the naengmyeon…and a green tea.” /END ID]

[ID: cropped screencap of official art. teru has finished two ice cream parfaits. the empty glasses sit in front of a third one, which he is using telekinesis to float the toppings near his face. /END ID]

this often played for laughs, but stick with us here…

in the fanbook teru is asked if he cooks for himself and he says yes, and mentions that he’s confident in his pasta making skills.

[ID: cropped screencap from the fanbook that reads: “Q1: do you make your own food? What are you good at cooking?” Teru answers: “I cook lots of different kinds of things! but what I’m confident in is my pasta.” /END ID]

at first this may seem like a very 14 year old answer…I mean, pasta is fairly easy to make. But knowing teru and how he tends to become and expert at the skills he learns, odds are pasta started off as something simple to throw together on a school night. Pasta is easy and convenient and kid friendly, but it is very easy to experiment with and eventually become a speciality.

and one thing we know about teru is that he has too many specialities to list.

this kid has been needing to make his own food 100% on his own since the start of middle school. we can infer he’s getting money from his parents, and we aren’t exactly sure how much or how he spends it regarding food, but the only time we seem him eating alone, he is making a meal for himself outside of something premade or takeout. he said it himself, he makes lots of different kinds of things! he knows how to cook!

but with all things teru something simple and silly comes with tragedy. while it’s nice fore a kid his age to know how to cook, he NEEDS to know because he doesn’t live with his parents. if he didn’t know how to cook he would be relying on others, and that’s just not what teru does. He is fully capable and learns for himself out of necessity. teru is responsible for all of his own meals.

so what happens when he is no longer responsible? it could be an issue with humbleness. it could also be just normal 14 year old boy hunger, but when reigen takes him out to eat there’s no limits. but here’s the thing…when’s the last time teru has had a home-cooked meal that was made for him by someone else? not from a restaurant, but someone making something for him?

this is why we have the omurice scene in backdraft. there’s a comfort in the domesticity of having food prepared for him in a familial setting that he has not realized he has been missing from his life.

we’ve focused on the fear of him getting cut off from his parents and how money scarcity turns into food scarcity. he’s always been in survival mood, it’s just that money was the breaking point for him.

going back to mob. he and his family are normally seen sitting at the dinner table together. a normal domestic setting.

[ID: screencap of the kageyama family eating omurice together]

something teru doesn’t have. he eats alone at a table in his apartment…one with multiple chairs around it.

[ID: screencap of teru in his apartment. In the background, he is getting ready, looking in a full length mirror. next to him is a tv showing the weather. in the foreground is a table with an empty plate, mug and saucer, and a basket with a single roll. two chairs are seen at the table. /END ID]

teru has not invited anyone into his apartment until mob got attacked by koyama.

who are those chairs for teru?

of course, in backdraft we have the restaurant scene that mirrors this. empty chairs for absent parents.

BUT ITS NOT ALL SAD

back to food being a love language and specialty to teru…imagine once he’s no longer in survival mode due to trauma. food as a comfort, not only receiving, but making it for others as well. tying into him wanting to be a teacher, sharing his skills with others…the fact it feels good creating and sharing something. no longer taking care of himself out of necessity, but learning what his skills and hobbies are and genuinely sharing them because they make him feel accomplished and happy! it just ties everything together with this dude.

in short, cooking is more than likely another speciality teru has developed due to needing to live on his own. since mp100 has themes that involve human connection and relationships with others, we feel food is something that brings people together and our boy teru here should experience that firsthand.

that is why it plays a big role in what we have so far in backdraft!

[hanazawat]

thinking about how cool, calm, and collected teru was always a front to begin with. it became a reality he had to adapt to in order to survive.

the reality teru has before meeting mob is this: he lives on his own, he asked to live alone, no one has visited his apartment, his parents live overseas, he believes himself to be the only natural born psychic there is, he has been targeted by a terrorist group trying to kidnap him and brainwash him into being a manufactured esper soldier, all the other espers he has met have been claw grunts

the has lead teru to believe he is the main character of this world. he is arrogant, egotistical, thinks he is better than others due to his powers, and uses his powers to get his way without ever revealing he is an esper. this has gained him popularity status and morphed his perception of the world and himself

from the second he meets mob his world is flipped on its head

first off, teru is shocked to see mob is a natural

[ID: two screenshots of teru. in the first he says “are you a natural” in the second : “there’s another like me?” /END ID]

he wants to ask mob questions about it! (and im mad we never get to know what they are!) but his fight or flight kicks in. the only espers he’s met up until this point have tried to attack him. he does the only thing he knows and he needs to establish that he is more powerful than mob. in the episode prior, he tells the body improvement club that people always underestimate him.

[ID: first screenshot is of a stormy sky. teru says: “society always underestimates me…” second and third screenshots he is standing in front of the body improvement club saying: “fools who don’t try to look beneath the surface…that’s why you’re so easy to control.” /END ID]

i’m still not entirely sure what this is in reference to. who in society? just being a kid in the world? the fact people dont expect him to be a powerful esper? in context it refers to strength and size, so that perhaps? he mentions fools that are easy to control…so it could be his classmates?

earlier he says

[ID: screenshots of text teru says. “Those pieces of trash lying around here are the symbols of my authority within my life at school. And now that you’ve shattered that, you’ve basically thrown mud in my face.” /END ID]

first of all, wonderful foreshadowing here. second, teru is acting cool and calm during this altercation. he sees what he’s up against. a group of big burly guys, but commoners nonetheless. he can take them down with ease and he does.

then enters mob, who teru hadn’t noticed, saying that he shouldn’t use his powers on other people. immediately, the suave and cool guy we’ve seen teru been up until this point is SHOCKED.

which returns us to my first point. teru goes into fight or flight mode. all the other espers he’s encountered in the past, he’s had to fight. he needs to prove he is better than them in order to establish him being the best.

so, he tries to get mob to fight him. and we know how that goes, mob refuses. he knows it’s wrong to use your psychic powers against other people because it can lead to others getting hurt. this only makes teru angry. why isn’t this other guy trying to fight back, isn’t he on the same page? if he was here for a reason, he would be fighting. but no, mobs reaction is to become friends…which teru rejects.

teru sees this as a mockery of his powers. why would anyone want to work on bettering other parts of themselves? his powers made him special. they gave him attention and the life that he wants. why would someone who also has that gift refuse to use them? someone who appears weak and got himself tied up by his lackeys…why is he refusing to fight? this is making teru angrier and angrier. he’s going to go after mob with his full power to prove he is the best!

and then this guy says:

[ID: screenshot of teru in his fighting stance with mob in the background. mob says: “If it wasn’t me, you could hurt someone.” /END ID]

and teru loses it

[ID: close-up shot of teru. he says: “quit underestimating my powers!” /END ID]

teru’s not looking to rationalize or listen to what mob has to say. he wants to fight so he’s going to do what he can’t to get mob to fight back, constantly pushing him more and more, until oops, he gets ochimusha’d. and of course his ego and appearance is all he has, so vanity pushes him from making fighting threats to killing intent

and then mob has a moment of clarity, we all know the scene. “I just realized why you hold such animosity toward me. you don’t like me because we’re the same.”

and mob hits the nail on the head. without psychic powers, teru has no confidence in himself. his ego is built on them alone. take them away and he has nothing. no more standing out. he’s scared of that realization, that without his powers he is just a lonely, average person.

all of this is right, but, what mob doesn’t know is that he’s adding salt (ha) to teru’s wounds he also is afraid of confronting. mob doesn’t know teru’s circumstances, he’s rightfully calling him out but, teru is a terribly lonely child. he even admits in a quote above that his authority (as a powerful esper) only extends to his life at school. what about outside of school? does teru’s ego and confidence remain where he doesn’t have authority and power?

when teru is choking mob out, flashes of the perfect life he made for himself appear before shattering (told you it was foreshadowing). we see him doing well on tests, getting praise from classmates and teachers, doing well in sports, getting cookies and being asked out from girls at his school…all school-related activities. there is one exception. one thing that was only shown in the manga: teru’s mom

[ID: manga panel of Teru’s mom. “I’m proud of my son, Teruki.” she says.]

when we know nothing about teru, this just seems like another line of praise teru has gotten to fuel his ego. but we do know things about teru that makes this…questionable. this is the only appearance we ever get from teru’s parents in the entire series. teru lives alone without his parents, parents that work overseas. he’s been living alone for a few years now and even before then his parents weren’t around often. he’s 14. those parents don’t visit him often and he’s left alone during school vacations. vacations where he doesn’t know how to relax. teru has also been attacked by a terrorist organization. he knows this organization brainwashes child espers into becoming part of a manufactured esper army. he knows this because he overheard it while fighting an adult esper who was trying to kidnap him.

i would be hard pressed to argue it’s not implied that teru’s behavior is a result of coping with neglect and trauma. just cover up all those issues with the idea you were put on this earth to be the main character. you aren’t weird or lonely, you’re special and powerful. your powers make you confident because they’re cool! the things you do with them make people like and pay attention to you. but don’t let them know you have super powers, it’s just your natural charm.

it’s weird how the majority of praise teru gets comes from school, but he has never invited classmates, or anyone for that matter, over to his apartment.

[ID: manga panel of a outside shot of teru’s apartment. teru says: “this is my apartment. you’re my first visitor, by the way. dimple-kun told me everything.”]

there’s some sort of metaphor here with teru’s apartment, but i can’t put my finger on it. it’s just curious how how teru breaks from being told he’s nothing and lonely without his powers. but his apartment is a place away from school where he’ll be alone with no need to show off. he would get no attention at home either. why was mob your first visitor to an apartment you’ve had since the start of middle school. you are the most popular student at your school as a 2nd year student. you said you don’t know what to do with yourself in the summer…why don’t you have any real friends?

why was mob the first one?

teru you’ve said so much with the things you haven’t said.

if teru is so afraid of admitting he’s lonely, why does he say this when mob passes out/teru thinking he killed him?

[ID: screenshot of mob passed out on the floor. teru says: “wait! don’t leave me behind!” offscreen. /END ID]

also why does he mention this beforehand?

[ID: screenshot of teru being punched in the face by mob. he says “people can’t change that easily” /END ID]

perhaps he is projecting. perhaps he is afraid to change…seeing how his hands are wrapped around another boy’s neck that tried to befriend him. someone that noticed he was lonely and that he had put up a front this whole time. that the praise he gets is superficial and he has no true friends. maybe he is afraid of being himself because being yourself means confronting that loneliness.

[ID: four panels of the manga. first one is teru walking away from mob’s passed out body. it says: “kageyama shigeo vs hanazawa teruki. the first encounter between two espers has ended in a tie. the second panel shows a storm cloud with rain falling. it says: “teru couldn’t surpass mob’s psychic power. mob couldn’t protect himself perfectly either.” third panel shows teru looking down pensively. it says: “both refused to back down from their principles, the result is…there is no winner…only a feeling of emptiness remained in their chests…” the forth panel has no narration. teru faces the viewer, away from mob’s body. he looks past the viewer, he’s eyes narrowed. /END ID]

what do you think he’s thinking here?

[halcified]

dont get me wrong, i like tsubomi as much as the next mob psycho guy and i understand the desire to see more of her but i do think theres something to be said for the exact amount we Do know about her

shes the device through which the story is framed-- we begin on mob deciding he wants to impress her and end on finally asking her out. theres a lot that could be attributed to mob/shigeos inner state and how he sees her, and you can definitely say that the narrative is contained in the time it takes mob to accept himself, but since that sense of self is so deeply linked to his view of tsubomi its sort of difficult to separate the two, especially when that shadows onto her so heavily.

its important that their relationship is only referenced or implied, because this show is as shaped around her as mob is, and as such its important that We, The Audience dont know a lot about her, on a meta level. we get gleams of her personality from other characters but its never allowed to be substantial, because if mob Knew tsubomi through his main arc things would have to be significantly different, there would be a genuine chance at not being rejected in the end which would (arguably) unravel Other threads. the idea that you must be kind for the sake of it, for the sake of self improvement, would then conflict with the incredibly solid ending of Doing the right thing, being the kind person, but ultimately having to do it for yourself instead of to impress/win over someone else

this is also why tsubomis writing has never come across as shallow or like, misogynistic to me, bc in a lesser show she would be perfect and unattainable and mob would get with her at the end as a reward for being a good person, but mobpsy ISNT that show. it treats tsubomi with the same amount of care that it treats any other character. even more minor characters like mezato and the claw members, who dont have a lot of depth as a whole, have Something to say for themselves. there is something you could find there. so the amount of details put into tsubomis character (as the Leading Force of the show) is then made so much more deliberate. the one thing emphasized by this show (especially over time) is that shes a person. a regular person. and thats the best way she could have been treated

[impmansloot]

So to summarize my thoughts on the final episode (two final episodes actually) of mp100, I think it was great. Yet, I would still do some scenes differently, especially "Shigeo" and "Mob" inner dialogue.

I guess my high expectations are at fault. And don't get me wrong, it definitely gets the point across, but personally it just doesn't awake the same feelings as in the manga.

I think it's mostly because in the anime there is no striking difference between "Shigeo" and "Mob" and their characters. Anime!"Shigeo" feels somewhat lukewarm, idk how to explain it. Sure, he mostly says the same lines as in the manga (exluding the ones that were cut), but it feels different. And frankly, it doesn't sound as I imagined - the way it was delievered.

Because while "Shigeo" is a manifestation of Mob's powers, he also represents his bottled up emotions and even some personality traits. Ranging from strongly positive ones to more negative ones such as selfishness and indifference (to other people's lives and well-being), distrustfulness, spitefulness.

Which is why I expected a more clear dichotomy, I guess more instense emotions and line delivery when it comes to "Shigeo". The anime - also with the fact that they cut a lot of lines of their conversation, sadly - doesn't really do that much? It doesn't feel as raw.

Here's the cut lines:

Yeah you had to see my face when I read those the first time. The last frame feels so eerie, it really feels like a threat. And to "Mob" it is, obviously. Because to "Mob" - initially - "Shigeo" is the antagonist and acts so. I mean, he does antagonize "Mob", he straight up insults him, calls him weak and a coward and wants him to cease existing basically (which is mutual). There's also arrogance that we're not used to see from Mob in general, and there's clear resentment and hurt on "Shigeo"'s part, and it makes sense.

How do I explain it, overall it hurts to read? "The truth is, I don't trust anyone."

Also the frame in the anime for comparison:

Btw I don't know why they decided not to make him speak in real life too/at all. Can't explain what exactly it would add... but it would definitely add something. It makes him feel more "aware" I guess and sort of more chaotic as a result.

Do I think those lines were necessary to include? I don't know. Maybe for character analysis nerds. Again, the point is gotten across anyway, but the impact is not the same, in my opinion. So I wish there was more time spent on the inner conflict itself. (I would personally change a bunch of things from line delivery to sound design, but it's just because this moment is important to me.)

Oh and I also feel robbed of this shot, it's kind of iconic

[russenoire]

that scene in season 1 where teruki hanazawa exorcises ekubo mid-sentence... and shigeo's eyes widen in shock?

i really want to talk about it, specifically the explosion meter accompanying it.

normally, when the teenager's emotions aren't obvious to the audience, that meter relays to us a sense of what he is actually feeling. but we cannot trust the meter here. we see it jump up a few points at teru's 'psycho wave' sending the sleazy ghost to the shadow realms, and remain steady at 50% upon shigeo's recollections of the spirit's unsavory nature. the boy outright tells teru that he isn't bothered. and it's funny!

but shigeo isn't being honest with himself here either.

his face briefly gives his feelings away before resettling into its normal flat affect. (to be fair, what he's really feeling isn't teru's business. this kid is trying to provoke a fight out of him, after all.) after he's basically tortured into exploding, shigeo spends three hours in the pouring rain, searching everywhere for ekubo.

three. hours.

these are not the actions of someone who isn't bothered. letting himself get drenched to the point of sickness,

even though he literally holds the power to shield himself from it,

reads to me like unconscious self-punishment for allowing all this to happen.

after a large chunk of his short life spent denying and fearing them for good reason, shigeo's first impulse is often not to use his psychic powers -- even after his integration at the story's end. i wish this was discussed more, because many watchers cannot fathom why this boy with world-breaking psychic abilities would ever refuse to use them.

also: the explosion meter lying to us / representing shigeo's detachment from his own emotions alexithymia may occur elsewhere in the series as well, especially when he's not close to an explosion; i'm reminded of the tiny dent ritsu's provocation of him makes in it a few episodes later.

[exilepurify]

I see people everywhere all the time raving about how flawless and satisfying MP100’s ending episode is, and I agree. But sometimes it kinda takes me aback exactly how well-planned the entire story is, especially because it began as a webcomic.

The individual relationships Mob has with the “Big Three” (Reigen, Teru, Ritsu) each follow their respective themes from start to finish, with the application of each theme to the story changing as it progresses but the major idea remaining the same—until the final arc, which is broadly split into three episodes, each featuring the culmination of the respective relationship.

Teru’s theme is strength, Ritsu’s theme is communication, and Reigen’s is acceptance.

More under the cut bc this got a little long.

We find each of the Big Three struggling with these concepts throughout the series. Teru grapples with what it really means to be strong, Ritsu struggles to open up and communicate his feelings with his brother (garnering resentment), and Reigen refuses to accept the self he hates, opting instead to build his career and his relationships out of lies to hide this despised identity.

These are also, coincidentally, things Mob is struggling most with. Mob’s terrified of his strength, he’s unwilling to open up about his guilt and self-hatred, and he outright refuses to accept his powers and his repressed self on many occasions throughout the story.

But the finale is structured to not only perfectly demonstrate and polish off the ways in which the Big Three have overcome the struggles of their themes, but also how that growth powers their love for Mob, subsequently helping Mob achieve the same growth.

In S3E10, Teru finds true strength by enduring pain and humiliation in order to save people and forge connections with others. Not only does he rescue Shigeo’s victims, but it’s his love and strength that allows him to push through Shigeo’s powers at any cost to wake Mob up internally and begin the process of ending the disaster. It’s because of Teru that Mob wakes up and realizes what he’s done, in much the same way that Mob helped Teru realize what he’d done at Black Vinegar.

In S3E11, Ritsu manages to communicate his unfiltered feelings to Shigeo for the first time and ends the tentative, repressive resentment boiling between them (both Ritsu and Mob harboring resentment for “Shigeo” specifically). He talks about how he hates this destructive side of him and how scared he’s always been, but this honest communication is what allows Ritsu to see the situation clearly beyond the scope of his repressed resentment and accept Shigeo as a part of his brother that’s not to be feared. It also opens the door from Shigeo’s end, finally knowing how his brother feels and not having to tiptoe ineffectually around the issue. Ritsu’s open and honest communication allows Mob to locate where Shigeo is being held in his psyche, opening up a channel of communication between him and his repressed self. This communication is what allows Mob to be confronted with the truth of the disaster he’s created, and this ability to talk it out with himself is crucial to ending his suffering.

Finally, in S3E12, the finale, Reigen is confronted with the ways in which he’s inadvertently worsened Mob’s condition with his inability to be genuine and makes the decision to drop the smoke screen and come clean about everything. The fear and gravity of it brings him to tears, but he bares his true self to Mob, admitting the things he’s done wrong and confronting the side of himself that he hates. He has to come to terms with this aspect of himself, even if it hurts him, and even if it hurts Mob. Self-acceptance is, in this moment, non-negotiable. Seeing Reigen’s true self in its entirety for the first time leads Mob to realize that everyone has flaws and a darker side to them, and it doesn’t make you a bad person to mess up, but you have to embrace it all unconditionally and own up to it honestly and without hesitation. Reigen, and everyone else, saw this ugly and angry side of Mob and continued to love him unhesitatingly and unfalteringly. And so, Reigen’s acceptance inspires Mob to accept Shigeo, ending the disaster and finally making Shigeo whole and happy again, unfettered.

It’s honestly fucking masterful. It makes my chest tight. ONE is genuinely something else.

[fullonfandomindulgence]

dimple is a great fucking character and i will fight anyone who says otherwise. specifically i will fight them by making them read this masterpiece client-crashing god-tackle effortpost about dimple

ive deliberately put off watching the telepathy arc episodes so i could finish this. i like tome So Much. you have no idea how much willpower it took. but it is done and its abt dimples like whole story and purpose and life and i think its a real good thing for you to read and enjoy

im so serious about this that I'm gonna capitalize and punctuate. My sorta thesis here is that Dimple's goals of manipulation are an expression of the basic act of choice that Mob Psycho 100 defines as living, but caring for Mob freaks him out because it distracts him from that purpose, and that contradiction and desperation to choose to live through control is tragically what ends him. Dimple is a friend. Strap in, motherfuckers, we're going for a ride.

Dimple's Goals (Dimpoals)

This is kinda an easy one.

I'm gonna be using images from the show and the comics but I'm not talking about anything past season three, episode six, so no worries anime-onlys. I describe all relevant visual info for each image, though there are also extra IDs in the alt text--I try not to repeat information.

Dimple wants to be a god, "the ultimate being in all creation," "the greatest power in the whole world," and "an object of devotion for all humanity." This dovetails with ideas about superiority and idealism in other parts of the comic but this post ain't about that. It's important that he never says what he'd actually do as a god. Like what is the power for? This comes up in his final confrontation with Mob, too.

Dimple claims that Psycho Helmet leads "people onto the right path," but the second Mob interrogates that he admits he has no plan, "no codex of any kind" from the comic. I don't think that's entirely true, though. Clearly Dimple doesn't care about ruling, because he doesn't actually know what he'd do with the power. But he does want to be revered--he wants positive attention!

Dimple's LOL cult is all about people laughing, and in this panel he says he chose that so he could gain a following without violence. Dimple's attempt with the divine tree is the same, he's trying to keep people the same besides their worship of the tree, make them feel happy in togetherness, help them "find peace at heart." I think there is a reading where making people happy is just a means to an end for Dimple. He for sure tries to kill Mob the first time they meet. But he doesn't have any logic for why he's not, like, using his powers to threaten people and demand tribute. He wants to become a god by making people feel good.

All this said--he's not gonna do it by being himself.

Identifying as evil

When Dimple meets Reigen he identifies himself as an evil spirit. Obviously this is sort of a joke. Like the idea that Mob's pet/mascot is actually an ancient malevolent ghost is pretty funny. But it's meaningful for Dimple's character too, so let's talk about what "evil" looks like. First, obviously the possession thing. How good is it that among all the people trying to manipulate Mob, one of them wants to literally control his every move? Second, here's a bunch of bad stuff Dimple did that Mob thinks about right after Teru tries to exorcise him:

Bro! She's like fourteen! (Dimple makes a lecherous comment about Tsubomi in this image.) He threatens Reigen, he tells Mob the body improvement club is a waste of his time, he straight up asks Mob if he can possess him... He's vindictive, pushy, mocking, and transparently manipulative.

Now to be fair lots of Mob Psycho characters are Like That. But there are some other things more specific to Dimple. Third, he tries to possess Ritsu, taking advantage of his fear of Mob. Fourth, again, the attempting-to-kill-Mob thing. Fifth, here's a bit from a recent side story:

My god. Dimple is terrifying in this. If you haven't read it, Uu is a little dog spirit that Reigen's been keeping around as a pet. Dimple notices that it's feeding on Reigen's energy so he gets rid of it. In these panels he waits until Reigen asks him where Uu is before telling him that he ate it. He has all these lines on his face and this expression of like hostile delight. There are creepy effects blobs behind him. He burps! He does a thing he knows will hurt Reigen and then rubs it in his face, acting like he takes pleasure in it. And finally from one of my favorite scenes in season 2:

I love love love this scene, when Mob is asked to exorcise the ghost family and he refuses. It takes the existing tropes in the story and introduces this like moral complexity and thoughtfulness, it communicates a change in stakes... "They won't have to exorcise you if the clients are dead." Again Dimple is smiling maliciously. He tries to manipulate ghost dad into attacking the college assholes, which is the one hand, for the purpose of getting him exorcised by Mob, which is the other hand. Harm in both directions. There is a third hand! We'll get to it.

But I want to summarize this section first: Dimple's default tool for dealing with adversity is manipulation. He, unlike, say, Reigen, is very comfortable looking like the bad guy, and to some extent he believes he is one. He wants to reach godhood by making people feel good, and he's going to do that not through bloodshed or by being a paragon of virtue but by using other people's flaws to control them.

The Living Spirit

Sorry, I want to do some more stuff before I get to the third hand.

I'd like to think I've been helpfully analytical up to this point, though probably not too novel. But I haven't seen anyone talk about this. Dimple is the liveliest dead guy in the comic, by a wide margin. He has multiple genuine relationships with people, he gets embarrassed, he gets happy, he fears things, he fully laughs. Sure in-canon this might be a proximity thing but in a narrative context I think it's significant that he's so much more of a character than other spirits. Here, in essentially his introduction as a significant character, he says, "I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a ghost!" There's also a great pun he makes in the Dark Horse translation when Reigen questions the existence of urban legend spirits--"Look, pal, just because you're a fake, don't disrespect the lived experience of the dead!" He thinks about living a lot.

Dimple comes back from apparent evaporation more than once, first when Mob exorcises him at the LOL meeting, second when Teru exorcises him in their first encounter. He really really wants to live.

Then there's the brief conversation between him and Reigen about the woman being stalked by what appears to be a spirit, but ends up being a neighbor astral-projecting himself. In this panel Dimple denies that spirits get horny. "It's not like we can do anything about it." He doesn't even think about like romantic love. So most importantly, canon aroace Dimple. But also Dimple believes that being a ghost reduces your existence. It's not even a possibility to do certain things, whether you want to or not. There's a tension here, Dimple craves life but knows that as-is he can't have it.

And then there's this six-page omake at the end of volume five. Please please read it if you can, it's not in the anime and it's such a good little story. When Dimple is almost exorcised by Teru, he only just manages to pull together an ant-sized form, and is rescued from being eaten by a pig ghost by a tiny human spirit called Stubble. The above image is an abandoned house in the woods, with Stubble, off-screen, monologuing, "I simply don't want to perish. I don't hold any grudge against this world. Neither do I have any dreams. Years have passed, without a clear goal." Stubble lives an extremely reduced existence, figuratively and literally. He rides around on the back of the ghost of flea, i.e., he is dependent on the echo of a thing that needs to latch onto something else to exist. He has no agency at all.

It's disconcerting, how Dimple starts at Stubble's size and slowly grows--or, reframed, Stubble slowly shrinks. Here Dimple accuses Stubble, "You died, even before your death. But I on the other hand..." Stubble gets angry. "You're dead too!" Again you should read the story, the way it concludes really blows me away.

Remember in the first episode of season three the S&S crew help the bald guy out of his funk, and at one point he says, "Am I doomed to just repeat these meaningless days until my death?" And then, soon after, "Wait, is my life already over?"

This is about the desperation of agency. Because like, Stubble is right. Dimple has been dead for a long time. His goal is ridiculous. His existence is scraps, yet he's clinging to them with everything he has. What's the point? Lay down alone among the insects, shrink and fade.

Dimple doesn't have a counterargument to Stubble. He doesn't justify "why." But the last sentence he says in the omake is, "I want to stay alive." Dimple, and by extension this omake, and if I may be so bold all of Mob Psycho 100, identifies agency with life. It's not even that life is about making choices, it's that life is literally the act of choosing. You have to choose to live. And Dimple does.

He likes control. He likes choice. He may not be alive but he chooses to live every day. Why? Because he has a purpose: he's going to become a god. And he's going to take Mob there with him.

The Third Hand

Are you good? You're like 1500 words in, feel free to take a break, drink some water.

Maybe you're starting to sense where this is heading. On the third hand, Dimple manipulates ghost dad to help Mob. He attempts to take away both of their autonomy in order to ease Mob's obvious distress. Let's talk about Dimple's evolving relationship with Mob.

I say this a third time, Dimple tries to kill Mob when they meet. Then, despite a positive spin on his initial pitch to Mob, he's pretty transparently evil about it.

These frames of the show are from that introduction, the first with Dimple surrounded in stars and bright colors saying "Let's shoot for the top of the world together," the second with Dimple thinking, face lit from below and body language full of menace, "I'll just wait for my chance to possess him." To be fair again, lots of Mob Psycho characters are Like That. Compare this to the first episode of season two: when Mob tells Dimple the story about Emi, Dimple, excited, assures him that they should keep sticking together so Dimple can help him out with these things. The animators even use the same image of Dimple with the stars and colors:

"Looks like you'll always need an advisor like me!" But this time he doesn't have the sinister turn he did when they first met. This is how Dimple keeps acting throughout season two. He helps Mob, apparently so that Mob trusts him so that in turn Mob can help him reach godhood. But he goes so far above and beyond without any malice: he keeps Banshomaru safe, he possesses one of the high school kids bullying Mob, he eats the curse off Reigen's back, he tries to defend Mob against fucking Toichiro.

Here's a great couple panels: after Dimple explains the deal with urban legends becoming real, he reiterates that he wants to be a god. Then Mob asks Dimple to "make sure [Banshomaru] won't get hurt," and little surprise lines come off Dimple. He agrees but says, "You gotta do me a favor sometime too." Dimple is a little struck by Mob's trust, but maybe more importantly this is the first time in a while, and I think the last time in season two, that Dimple suggests Mob do something for him. It only comes after he reiterates exactly what his purpose is. Dimple's priorities are a little unstable.

Yeah this is just a full comic page from the encounter with Mogami but it's meaningful as shit. Dimple has just suggested taking over Mob's body to protect it. The first panel is Dimple looking away and down, deflated, ashamed. A few sweat drops come down his face. He says, "but something like that..." And to his surprise (action lines, closeup, wide eyes) Mob agrees. Dimple puts on an evil affect when he responds: a horizontally squashed panel shows his backlit face. He smiles unpleasantly and laughs a little, "Kuku..." But his heart clearly isn't in it! His eyebrows are worried, not hostile. There's no pleasure in his smile. He's covered in sweatdrops, eyes wide. When Mob assures Reigen, "It'll be okay," there's another panel of Dimple where the remnants of that affect slide off him. The backlighting is still present but not as severe, the echo of that smile is on his cheek. He's openly worried and covered in sweatdrops. Mob's speech bubble covers a large portion of his face.

Points about this. First, by now Dimple has given up on possessing Mob. This thing that seemed like the main path to his goal is not an option. Second, while both Dimple and Reigen believe that this is a bad idea for Mob, Mob disagrees. Dimple identifies as evil. Reigen identifies him as evil. Mob no longer does. This is classic Shigeo Kageyama behavior, being generous to people even when no one including themselves thinks they deserve it. And the worst part for Dimple is he's starting to agree with Mob. When the option he'd dropped is handed to him on a silver platter, he finds he doesn't want to take advantage of this kid that way. He's a different person than he was.

I don't even know how relevant this is but. Look how much fucking fun Dimple has when he's possessing Mob to protect him. He's doing all these flips and kicks. His smile when he's fighting Mogami!Asagiri is so funny. He does the wildest mid-air combo I ever did see when he attacks the Claw guy as Mob.

Mob becomes such a top priority for Dimple that in the first episode of season three he realizes he forgot that he wanted to become a god. Not only that, but when he comes to Mob to convince him to lead the cult together he's immediately distracted by Mob and what's going on in his life. Mob has to prompt him for him to remember that he's there about the cult.

All this is why Mob's mistrust of Dimple in this conversation is so tragic. Dimple has helped Mob so much, and been so much of a genuine friend, because he knew that Mob trusted him. Where did it go? What happened? Mob's parting words to him are, "Why don't you give your schemes a rest already?" What schemes?? This is the first he's had in months. The translation in the comic, though, is so much more brutal:

"Why don't you stop doing bad things?"

Dimple is

Dimple is terrified of Mob. When Mob wonders if Dimple is scared of him, he's right, of course he is. He has lots of reasons. Mob almost evaporates Dimple when they first meet, threatens him multiple times. Dimple saw him at 100% rage, Mob's first on-screen. He watched Mob hit ???% without being knocked unconscious. This is all especially threatening given Dimple's drive to live. He's terrified when Ritsu tries to fight Mob, he's terrified when Mob asks him if he had anything to do with Ritsu's kidnapping, he's terrified when he thinks Reigen is about to tell Mob that they don't know what happened to his family. But I also read his fear as a symbol of how important Mob is. Dimple attached himself to Mob as the way to achieve his goal. Dimple helps Mob out in so many ways, putting off his goal, so that eventually they can fulfill his purpose together. Then he starts caring about this kid so much that he forgets his purpose! Of course Dimple fears Mob, because their relationship threatens what drives him to live. As much as Dimple is a manipulator, Mob is the one who ultimately has power over him.

Dimple so easily reverts to an evil persona once he leaves Mob because without Mob that's all he can be. If he can't get to the top with Mob, then he has to do it the old way, by using people's flaws to manipulate them. He's able use the broccoli to become a physical presence and get around the "amazing power" problem--though the broccoli's presence and power are still kinda Mob's! But why does he need to become a god at all? Because that's all he is. If he doesn't have Mob and he doesn't have his purpose, then he has nothing.

"Don't go casually denying the thing I've been wanting so badly!" Dimple gets so angry when Mob tells him he's being fake because first, Mob is denying Dimple's manipulative tendencies, which are really important to Dimple right here because he feels his identity is so precarious. And because second, Mob is denying Dimple's purpose. Dimple is in equal danger from Mob's physical attacks and Mob's denial of what he wants. What he wants, what he chooses, is what living is. Dimple doesn't want to die.

Here's a lot of a comic page again, from the final confrontation. Dimple tells Mob that he's just been using him the whole time they've known each other. Mob says, "I'm sad... Does that mean it's time to say goodbye to Dimple?" He steps towards Dimple, who screams in fear and anticipation. I think this is basically the worst thing ever, because god, Dimple is so afraid. Mob is justified in what he's doing but Dimple's desperation is what stands out to me, how hard he's tried to cling to agency and life and how sincerely he believes Mob is about to take it all away from him anyway, to disappear forever and ever.

And then Dimple insults Mob's shirt.

Dimple insults Mob's shirt

Fucking kills me. These are two frames from episode six, Dimple sees how much Mob suddenly trusts him and his reaction is anger, "You okay with leaving me like this?" His eyes are wide, brow down in anger. And then what he says next, "I'm... a dangerous evil spirit!" Here the anger is present but has softened with worry on his brow. The lines by his nose and his pouty lower lip make him look scared and sad. This fight has made it important to Dimple's identity that Mob try to stop him, because he's evil, and Mob stops evil spirits.

Panels from the comic where Mob tells Dimple, "You weren't doing bad things. You were just doing what you wanted to do. Together with me. You trusted me before I trusted you, Dimple. Thank you." Mob doesn't think Dimple is evil, but he identifies how important Dimple acting on his wants is, and he tells him that he still values their relationship. He denies that he has to hurt dimple but affirms his power to choose.

I maybe could've skipped a lot of BS if I put this page further up but I wanted this to get felt, what Dimple's admitting to himself here. It's another section of a page. Panel one, a white splotch in darkness with Dimple's thoughts, "It felt like my ambitions would fade away. Did spending time with unselfish Shigeo cause even me to lose sight of my goals?" Panel two, Dimple is the white splotch. He's scared. "...eh? Wait, that's a problem...!! I'll lose my reason for existing!" So Dimple tells Mob, angry, "No, not yet... I'm not done yet! Even now... I've still got... plenty of things I want to do! And ambitions!" Mob agrees, with that tired, frank look. "I'll hear you out for real. As your friend." Accepting Mob's friendship like this is terrifying, because it means what it always has, forgetting about this purpose. What if Mob stops trusting him again? If he really, consciously abandons his purpose, will he still have agency? He wanted a friend, always wanted a friend. Will it be enough? Will he disappear?

Dimple takes Mob's hand anyway. This was such an amazing shot, I've reproduced its animated glory here, Mob and Dimple reach towards each other, Mob weakly, so Dimple closes the gap and grabs him. The hand grasp of all time. I'm not gonna talk about how this fits into all the other Mob Psycho hand symbolism, that's another 4000-word megapost.

It's worth it. I'm convinced that by involving yourself in a network of people and creating some sense of obligation to others you can actually give yourself an even deeper kind of agency than you could achieve alone. And this is awful, terrifying. Because it involves giving yourself up a little bit. You have to give up some control. Dimple wants to be a god, to have ultimate power and control, so much of him is his manipulation, but he has to give that up for this. Goals that may have guided you for a long time can become irrelevant--and then who are you? If you've defined your life by something for years, and at the end of the decade you realize you don't fit your definition anymore, where do you go? Dimple tells Mob, "Let's go home." But...

Panels from the comic, where Dimple carries a sleeping Mob and thinks, "I said 'let's go home,' but I don't really have any place to 'go home' to... And I don't have anything to aim for from here... I wonder what I should do now." That Dimple is allowing himself to think this is really powerful. I don't think this has to be a sad moment. Like obviously Mob thinks that Dimple's home is his house. He just asked him to stay away until he reverts to his smaller form, as in, he otherwise would've expected Dimple to stay with him. I appreciate the larger point that now Dimple feels unmoored, and deciding on a new purpose is existential. But I think Mob also has a larger point that he believes he can help moor Dimple. I think allowing yourself to wonder where to go next is so important. Dimple is where Mob was a few months back when he decided he wanted to join the body improvement club! He has a future, even if he can't see it very well.

Or, um.

I keep fucking crying while I'm writing this. I love the translation in the comic here. Dimple kneels before a prone Mob and, finger touching his forehead, says, "Listen well... I'm giving you orders for the first and last time. First, wake up. Stand up, Shigeo." Mob is still for a moment and then says, "...it's no use. I can't put any strength into my legs. I can't move my arms either." Dimple is very serious now as he relays, "Your body may complain, but still... stand up. Even if you cannot stand... you must stand." God damn it, god fucking dammit.

Sometimes it's not so easy to change. Your actions have consequences. Your history follows you. Dimple's desperate attempt to keep his old wants comes back to kill his new ones.

Dimple's final act is the same thing he always does, he manipulates Mob to protect him. And it is good and kind. Suddenly his reason for existence is paradoxical: he's going to have to die to fulfill it. Who exists to die? But that's not what it is. Because he's making a choice. He denies death, he says, no, you can swallow me whole, you can annihilate me, but even then you can't take my agency away from me. And I will use this final choice to protect someone I love.

Dimple was a friend.