Mob Yells At Reigen To Shut Up At The Yakiniku Restaurant And Reigen Walks All The Way Back To His Apartment

Friends, once again :’)

I really love how Teruki’s hair acts as a barometer to his personal development. It’s so true-to-life for teenagers (guilty of this).

His hair drastically changes whenever something big happens that affects his outlook on life or his sense of self, and it’s exactly the same as when your friend would show up to school one day with an extremely different hairstyle, maybe even dyed a different color, and you’d think like, “Something must have fundamentally changed in your life’s trajectory and your personal understanding of it”. (Honestly, being a teenager is just a series of these moments strung together by homework and video games.)

And every single time his hair changes, it’s against his will. Sure, he usually chooses how to style it afterwards, but both of the Kageyama Scalping Incidents, Sakurai’s hair chop, etc. were against his will. But without fail, it always happens at a major emotional turning point in Teruki’s life. Him being snapped out of his superiority complex (mostly), him being influenced by Reigen’s 1000% and finding a passion for teaching, Mob breaking his own pedestal with the Confession accident, etc.

Teru’s gonna walk into a room at some point in the future with a totally different hairstyle that he chose for no real reason at all, just to shake it up, and everyone’s going to be like Oh My God Teru What Happened and he’s gonna be like, “????? Does it look that bad???? 🥺”

EXCELLENT CHOICE to actually show ???%'s expressions a little instead of them just being a black void with white, blank eyes. Especially since we don't get their internal narration like we do in the manga. Gives a nod to the fact that this is a person, not just an unthinking entity,,, i love it

[ID: two screenshots of Unknown Percentage from season 3, episode 10 of Mob Psycho 100, where they're first shown to be glaring, teeth gritted, then raising their head, eyes widening in what looks like surprise. End ID.]

Also, anyone else get the sense that here, ???% was leaning in to Teru to check if..... well, maybe not if he's okay, but if he's alive at least? Whether or not that means they care for Teru's well being, I'm not sure, but I find it interesting. In the least, it does show that they are aware that they are hurting people, and not just doing it indiscriminately, so that's something.

[ID: a screenshot of Unknown Percentage eerily leaning over Teru, who is prone. End ID.]

In light of that, it's also interesting to consider exactly what ???% kept attacking Teru for then. This part is gonna get a bit long, though (as ???% is my childe and I have many a dozen thoughts about them), so I'm putting it under readmore.

(Also, there are gonna be manga spoilers on account of me getting way too deep into it, so beware !!)

[ID: a screenshot of Unknown Percentage, facing away from the viewer, looking up at the sky where Teru's bag is exploding where it floats. All the following images are screenshots as well. End ID.]

1 ) First thing first, ???% immediately destroys Teru's bag. I don't think there's much to this one, but you could consider this a sign of hypervigilance - they saw Teru drop something, and immediately went to destroy it, perhaps in fear that it was aimed for them. So it quickly becomes obvious, that ???% is quite distrustful.

[ID: In the first, Teru is in side profile, looking to an off screen Unknown Percent, saying, "I'm not sure what happened," and in the next image, he is facing front, his face still relaxed, but now illuminated by the white light of Unknown Percentage's powers, saying "but if I'd suffice, I'd be happy to lis-" then cutting off. End ID.]

2 ) Next, Teru says this, and ???% immediately gets angry... I think. The first part, the implication from Teru that 'something must have happened for you to act this way' is what annoys ???% more. Because to them, they're just finally acting as they've always wanted to.. This isn't a bad thing to them. And they're frustrated that Teru, this person that acted much like them not even that long ago, is looking to talk them out of it.

[ID: In the first, we see Mob's bouquet of flowers, Teru off screen saying "Oh, you bought flowers! That's great!". In the next, he's smiling as he says, "But it might be a little dangerous going as you are right now.". In the third, he is illuminated by that same light, only brighter, his hair sweeping back, his expression turning panicked. End ID.]

3 ) Now this one... manga readers will know, ???% wanted to see Tsubomi as much as Mob. And so Teru denying them that chance here... well, suffice it to say, they feel a bit rejected here. Reigen told Mob in the previous episode to show his 'true self'. And in ???%'s eyes, they are the true self. To let Mob simply continue on, lie to Tsubomi as they see it, and keep pretending ???% wasn't a part of him, as if they weren't the whole reason he was even still alive right now... ???% probably would find that unbearable.

[ID: In the first, Teru is frowning and sweating, saying, "You leave me no choice." In the next, the background behind him has turned an ominous purple, his expression intense, Unknown Percent's shoulder seen in the corner as Teru restrains them with his telekinetically powered scarf, and says "I'm gonna have to keep you restrained until your powers calm-". And in third, we see his vacant face, flying through the clouded sky, his noise slightly bleeding. End ID.]

4 ) Once again, Teru is denying ???% being a part of Mob, being Kageyama-kun, instead labeling them as just Mob's 'power'. Fitting for Teru, who just in this episode said, "[Kageyama-kun taught me], how important it is to accept yourself without any psychic powers." For Teru, accepting himself without his powers was essential, since he hinged his everything on them to an unhealthy degree. But to Shigeo, the opposite is true. And ???% has had enough of being restrained.

[ID: In the first, it's closed up on Teru's trembling hand, which he is clutching with the other, saying "Kageyama-kun...." The second image is a closeup of Teru's eye, slightly serious, as he says "Stop this. You should head home for the day." And third is a similarly composed closeup of Unknown Percent's eye, glowing a bright white against his shadowed skin, as Teru continues off screen, "It's for your own good." End ID.]

5 ) The same as in the third point, except this time, there's the added salt of Teru saying "It's for your own good", as if he even knows the slightest thing about ???%, and, by extension, about Shigeo (as ???% sees it). Logically, we know that it truly doesn't do Shigeo any good to let ???% just keep rampaging like this. But ???% doesn't. Feelings are often irrational. And in this case, ???% just feels scorned.

[ID: In first, it is closed up on Unknown Percent, them turning back to the flowers flying behind them, their mouth slightly open in alarm. Teru in the background is staring wide-eyed, aura glowing. In second, Teru is looking more serious, saying, "If I destroy those...". In third, it is focused on the flowers, Unknown Percent and Teru in the background, as the bouquet gets enveloped in Teru's powers, seemingly exploding. In fourth, it is closed up on Teru's gritted teeth, as Unknown Percent grips their hand around his throat, choking him. End ID.]

6 ) Once again, same as third point... ???% is very determined to do this one thing 'right'. The fact that Teru almost took that chance entirely away from them probably scares them. And, of course... there's the obvious parallels with the choking.... this follows Teru's little inner monologue about how Mob has changed him. So even though I am still undecided on whether this was an intentional act of revenge on ???%'s part or not, the narrative meaning of this is pretty clear... they are, as Mob said all that time ago, the same, in that Mob needs to deal with his feelings involving his powers just as Teru did.

[ID: In first, Teru is noticeably beat up, expression worn and concerned, as he asks, "Kageyama-kun, are you having some kind of episode?". In second and third, it pans the back of Teru's head across the screen to reveal more of Unknown Percentage, a he says "To think you, of all people, would go berserk and lose control of your powers...". In fourth, the background has turned to a splash of warm yellow, as Teru disjointedly smiles, points a finger at them and proclaims "I guess you're pretty average, too! I'm a bit relieved, honestly.". The fifth is a closeup of Unknown percent's eye, staring angrily. And the next, the lines shadowing them get more intense, and Teru in the background lets out a "No..." End ID.]

7 ) Whoooowgh,,, this part..... it's hard to hear, but ???% gasps a little after Teru calls them average. I think... this runs deeper than Shigeo's relationship to Teru and their collective view on a person's worth. I think, this traces way back to Reigen. When he told Mob, right after he hurt a loved one with strength beyond any 'normal' person all by accident, that he's 'just like everyone else'. That he's average. I think... this talk. Was instrumental to the born divide between Mob and ???%, just as the actual violent act was. Because how do you reconcile the fact that you're apparently just some normal, average, harmless little kid, with the fact that you can also kill people without even trying? While not even aware?

Reigen does say, after all, upon seeing this. Upon actually witnessing ???%, Mob's power in it's entirety, that he didn't know about this. He didn't know. He had no idea, and he was just speaking out of his ass about things he didn't understand... so while that advice did help Mob immensely in a lot of ways, people aren't wrong about that... I think. A lot of people are also missing that this advice Reigen gives isn't the full picture. That it is, just like everything about the conman, flawed. Just as Reigen influenced Mob positively, he was also one of the negative influences in his life, that led to this point. To Mob splitting himself in halves, and paying the price.

Everything and everyone, after all, has two sides to them.

[ID: First is a closeup of Teru's eyes, the background being a stark white, everything illuminated in a haunting red glow. His expression is horrified, he is bleeding from his nose, and someone in the background is yelling "Help!". In the second and third, Unknown Percentage turns to Teru wordlessly, as the people around them continue to shout "Look out!" and "Save me!". End ID.]

8 ) And you can see it here. The way ???% is staring at Teru, almost asking him, "Do you see it? What I am actually capable of? Is this really 'the average' you speak of?" because I have the feeling, Shigeo is tired of people brushing past his very real concerns of being more than capable of hurting people, to a disastrous extent. To deny he is different in any way, is to deny his capabilities are different, and that what he needs is different as well. He cannot go on living just as any other human without powers, or as any other esper even. Because although he is equal to everyone else on a human level, he is not the same as everyone. This desire to fit in, to not stand out, to not acknowledge his unique fears and desires and feelings, is the entire reason 'Mob' as a persona got constructed. And ???% is finally finding the chance to unravel all of it.

[ID: two shots framed from low perspective, the background being a cloudy, gray sky, as Unknown Percentage first looks down at an off screen unconscious Teru, then turns their back, beginning to walk away. End ID.]

It is meaningful, then, that after this, ???% just lets the people Teru saved float, and leaves the boy to lay on the ground, to continue on. It wasn't really their intention to hurt people just to hurt. They certainly don't care that much about their pain right now, either, but. It was for a point. It was all just to prove a point, to Teru, to the world. That they're not something to be stifled. That their desires deserve to be heard, too. And, more than anything... I think it was a way to get back at Mob, at this person that has shunned them all this time, and say - you think you're the only one who deserves to be happy? You think you can be happy, with me continuing to writhe underneath the surface, unacknowledged, like this? How long are you going to go on? How long, until I'm able to exist freely again? And how long, until you realize, that what happened 4 years ago, wasn't a fluke?

Because they're not the one who hurt Ritsu. It wasn't some otherworldy entity, this power that is inhuman and uncontrollable and unreachable. It was Shigeo. Shigeo, who is comprised of Mob, in all his desire for self control, and ???%, in all his desire for freedom. And only through them meeting together, can they fulfill both, and learn to not repeat those same mistakes.

Because Shigeo is human. And Shigeo is the protagonist of his own life. For better, for worse <3

As much as I loved Brotherhood’s version of this scene, there is this wonderful detail in the manga:

He took off his glove.

The Same People (1/5)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

Drive folder - AO3

In which Mob asks Tsubomi out and then some other things happen. Four of sixteen twenty total pages. Click to make the images bigger/more legible. ID in description.

i haint even fucking seen the finale, i wanted to finish this bit first. sortof tryna emulate ONE's busted no-taper fixed-width inking style. id follows

ID: Four black and white comics pages about characters from Mob Psycho 100.

Page 1:

A park bench sits along a trail in front of a wall of trees with black trunks and white, vague foliage. Tsubomi pushes herself off of it, smiling, and says "Oh--you made it!"

Mob approaches her along a trail. The same black trunks surround him, but a few are broken--one lies across the trail in front of him. He steps over it and says, "Hey, Tsubomi."

Tsubomi and Mob stand across from each other, maintaining eye contact across a blank gap. Tall vertical trees stand behind Tsubomi while those behind Mob are broken and bent. Tsubomi's expression is vaguely demure, her hands folded in front of her, while Mob is smiling and leans forward. He carries the sunflower in his right hand.

Page 2:

Tsubomi's face is large in this empty panel. She has an odd expression on. There is a smirk; her eyebrows are slightly folded and one is raised higher than the other. One eye squints a little. She says, "I guess the, uh. The storm has passed."

Mob looks down, makes himself anonymous, two eyes and some black shapes. "Yes."

Then he looks up, and there he is in full detail. One side of his collar is damaged and torn. He smiles widely, his upper lip curled. "Yeah. It has."

Tsubomi points with two fingers and takes a step along the trail, looking back at him. "Great. Let's take a walk, I'm tired of sitting here." She's smiling widely, clearly relaxed. Mob, staying where he is, gently holds out a hand and says, "Oh, yeah, but, uh, if I could--" His shoulders hunch. The sunflower is visible in his grip.

Mob is in an empty panel in exaggerated perspective so the top of his head is huge and his feet are tiny, far below him. Only his wobbly eyes are visible, looking down at the sunflower that he's holding diagonally across his chest now. He says "--ask you to stay here one more minute. So I can..." Tsubomi interrupts across a panel border, "Right."

Now Tsubomi's head and shoulders are in the empty square, and this time we're looking up at her from below. "You wanted to tell me something." She again looks mildly concerned in her eyebrows; there is a dimple in her cheek but otherwise her mouth betrays no happiness.

Off-panel Mob says, "Yes." Tsubomi, in close-up, squints and looks down.

Page 3:

In a tiny little panel Tsubomi is just her hair, a black oval, facing Mob, who looks up from his head tilted down.

Mob faces the reader, the otherwise empty panel framing his head, shoulders, and upper torso. He looks straight at the reader and says, a calm smile on his face, "Tsubomi, I like you. A lot."

This view is maintained as Mob looks away and shrugs one shoulder, still smiling. "Always have. Ever since we were little. You never treated me any different because of..."

A smaller panel just shows his head and shoulders as Mob looks back at the reader and traces a small circle by his head with his finger, to indicate him, his brain, something.

Another smaller panel just shows his shoulders and upper torso as Mob once again holds the sunflower diagonally across his chest. He fidgets with the head of the flower. "So if you would--uh, I was wondering..."

The same view of Mob returns, now with a few of the bent trees half-visible, highlighting his form. He holds the sunflower out in front of him. The flower is large and has its own little highlight. He has one of those smiles that's so strong that the front of it gets pushed down by your upper lip. He says, "Would you like to go out. With me."

Page 4:

Tsubomi stands, head, shoulders, and upper torso highlighted by the vertical trees behind her, looking right at the reader. She has a mild smile on and leans to the right.

The same views but the trees are gone, so it's just her as she leans farther, her shoulders slump, her mouth flattens out of the smile, her eyebrows crinkle together. She stares right at the reader.

The same view of her in an empty panel now twice as wide as the others, so she looks smaller though her size doesn't change. One arm has goes up to hold her hip. She drops her head down so her partially-visible face is a silhouette surrounded by the black shape of her hair and collar, just a nose, an ear, and a closed eye.

End ID.

yall already know what it is. sad tsubomi hour. this comic will answer two questions: one, what did the rejection actually look like?? two, how did mob get tsubomis number later???

i'm down for giving reigen baggage but only in moderation and not in that really angsty fanon way. reigen has abusive parents -> reigen's parents are mid and have expectations that he doesn't fulfill leading to a bit of distance between them; reigen wants to kill himself -> reigen struggles with self-loathing but not overwhelmingly so and still tries his best to make something out of his life; reigen is tormented by his disciple's little brother look everyone look at this brat who hates his bro's savior for no reason -> lol this man is getting bullied by a middle schooler like the pathetic wet dog he is

If ??? are Mob's supressed emotions and desires, when he talks about Reigen those could be his intrusive thoughts? Deep down Mob already knew the deal with Reigen but he denied it/didn't want to think about it. Like he refused to believe that his master could be that type of person after everything he's done for Mob.

Deep down Mob did already know the truth about Reigen, while also knowing he's a 'good person' at heart too. (The Separation Arc showed this.) But ???% takes that to those raw, unfiltered extremes of thinking, like 'that person treats me the most different out of everyone; he only lies and uses me for my powers, he never actually cared for me.' Which is pretty whoa (Mob would rationalize how all of that can't be true), so in a way yes, they are some of his most negative opinions + repressed intrusive thoughts. Especially when Reigen himself does what ???% doesn't expect, by showing how much he truly cares for him as a person and honestly coming clean to him about everything. :')

I like how MP100 fully sidesteps the "But Who Deserves Redemption?" question bc honestly it's a bad framing that gets extremely bogged down in philosophical debates about Good and Evil and who gets to make the call and becomes an awful quagmire and is also not necessary. the better questions are:

Is this person capable of change? (Answer: Yes, always.)

Are they actually going to change? (Answer: That's up to them.)

Do you want them in your life? (Answer: That's up to you.)

His Battlefield Once More

Book in Figure: BLUE

Grief in art

Grief is an interesting subject for depiction, because it isn't ever really just one feeling. It's a cluster of feelings, an array of very different, sometimes almost contradictory emotional states, which collectively we understand as expressions of that one underlying condition, which is grieving.

So how do you show that? How do you take that and make it visible to an audience? Many, many artists have tried, and their attempts are varied, fascinating, and very occasionally heartbreaking.

Let's take a little non-comprehensive walking tour of grief in art history, from the 1400s to the 2020s, from the religious to the cartoony, and get in our feelings a bit.