#reigen is a good master because he teaches mob social skills

[miraco]

[incomingalbatross]

Reigen doesn't even lie about being good at things, really, is the thing. Reigen consistently delivers on whatever he promises, and he does it by being good at lots and lots of things! The "con" part is just that he tells people he's able to deliver these things effortlessly.

Reigen is highly competent in a lot of things, from massage to photoshop to computer games—but really he's good at learning. He teaches himself skills and researches topics and is able to do it well and frequently. But with other people (from clients to Mob to random bystanders), he not only can't let them see the effort being put in, he can't let them know the effort exists! It's like he thinks having to put work into his skills negates their value.

...Which is interesting in itself, but then you have Mob. Who is immensely, innately good at One Thing without any effort required, and does not value that thing at all. Mob spends most of the series learning to improve himself by putting effort into things, and he values those acquired skills/abilities so much! What he values are his muscles and social understanding and friendships and experiences, partly because all of those things took long and painful effort!

And. AND. With Mob, and Serizawa, and even the Scars, Reigen vocally supports this take. He says expecting everything to come easy to you is absurd, and you have to get out there and work at being a part of society. He consistently admires Mob and Serizawa for trying new things, stepping outside their comfort zones even when it's uncomfortable, doing things they are visibly not good at so that they can become good at them.

But he already does that himself. He does it a LOT. But when HE does it apparently it's a shameful weakness to be hidden, because only being Automatically Good At Everything can give him worth?? Even though where other people are concerned he clearly gets that being Automatically Good at something does not make them at all superior??

This man and his DOUBLE STANDARDS. Anyway I think at some point Mob should have said "I think it's really cool how good you are at teaching yourself things, master," wide-eyed and sincere, and broken his ridiculous mind in an instant.