Im Not Sure If Youve Answered This Before (ive Been Scrolling Back In Your Blog But Cant Find Anything?)

so like basically in the REIGEN manga tome tries so desperately to throw herself into the center of this literal Superhuman world she sees and play the role of the eager young protagonist and its so endearing but in the end reigen has to come clean and she can’t keep using the spiritual premise as a crutch. not because she was wrong to have her whimsical interests, but because the fantasy of specialness can often be an escape from the isolation a person feels due to being unable to live up to societal ideals of normalcy, and yet in the end the fantasy can itself end up feeding directly into the isolation by obscuring your view of the other people in your life. you cannot prioritize the idea of being unique or special alone and that is the reason that the power structures in the story (as represented by roshuuto in REIGEN) so frequently fail short; because actually EVERYONE is a Pathetic Freak Weirdo Nerd Loser, from the handsome, popular rich boy, to the pretentious Dark!Reigen foil who takes himself too seriously, to all of the mundane teenage girls who the audience is initially tricked into dismissing as shallow, but also by the same token EVERYONE deserves to be loved and feel supported. 

because actually bonds with other people are the most important thing, and centrally this is also why REIGEN relies so heavily on bonds with others as something to create horror. the evil spirit mimics the voices of the ones you love and lures you in and when you’re at your most lost and scared and in need, that’s when you turn around and the face of the person you trust betrays you. tome only contracts the fatal curse in the first place because she cared about reigen and went back to make amends with him. because that’s the most horrifying, most terrifying thing, the thing that renders you absolutely helpless, isn’t it? it’s letting yourself rely on others and trust them to the point that it leaves you vulnerable, isn’t it? but you have to do it, if you want to achieve true connection then you can’t continue keeping up a veneer of Specialness and posturing as someone you’re not no matter how afraid you are of being seen as your true self. that’s the idea that really connects tome and reigen above all else. you have to be who you really are and you have to trust that you’ll be loved for it. and that’s horrifying! that’s an unimaginable, Forbidden terror! but it’s necessary. 

and also I think it’s so clever how REIGEN conveys this by only bringing in shigeo kageyama, the protagonist and most recognizable character who the reader has so many preconceived notions of, in at the last moment as a terrifying ghost who is impersonating him. I mean also it’s partially because shigeo can easily be made to look scary lol, because let’s be real, he can be pretty goddamn scary /hj BUT MOSTLY it’s to have him in his uniform, in his most recognizable and iconic form that the reader will cling to, and then have it be blown away by the post-canon shigeo, the real shigeo, the shigeo who has grown and changed and is no longer stuck in the role he once was. because to be vulnerable with others you have to grow and change and do away with old pretenses and dynamics that you’ve become dependent on. it can be scary to stop playing roles after you’ve grown use to them for so long, but you don’t need them - your most honest self will be the most loved. and also I love how just like tome could tell that it was the real reigen bcause he immediately ran into a spiderweb and yelled, you can tell that it’s the real shigeo because he’s immediately rude as fuck and he and reigen literally instantly go into their mean pithy little affectionate banter lol ok sorry anyway.

and also because you cannot really be any more or less special than anyone else and you need bonds with others, it’s true both that you have to rely on other people, but also that you owe it to them to be kind. reigen is literally a normal person working in the spirit business, so he has to rely on other people with the necessary abilities, such as dimple the spirit and serizawa the psychic, yes, but he also does his part to take care of the people who matter to him. roshuuto is so focused on appearances and power - as shown by how he goes on and on about connections - but when it comes down to it, he was not willing to save others (leaving hoshido in Reliance), and so nobody bothered trying to save him in turn. he only abandoned, and was abandoned. this is shown most acutely in the end by how roshuuto “has no other option” but to pass his curse on to someone else to save himself, while reigen “has no other option” to take on a curse to save someone else. reigen and serizawa accepting their responsibility as adults to protect the children around them is an extension of the idea that you are equal to everyone and are obligated to be kind to your loved ones and recieve kindness in turn. anyway mutual trust and communication is all that matters and tome kurata is The protagonist of all time Sorry,

ⵜⴰⵍⵡⵉⵜ ⴷ ⵜⴰⵢⵔⵉ

Edit: Print now available here.

DRIVE LINK HERE to the official mob psycho 100 fanbook!

as far as i can find, there's not been any comprehensive scans of the fanbook put up online, at least on the english-speaking internet. soooo since there's all sorts of fun stuff in it (character birthdays! character & creator q&a's! who would be most likely to survive on a desert island! guest art by other manga authors (the one in the upper left there is by the creator of FMA)!) i wanted to make sure everybody who wants to could see it!

more info under the cut. enjoy!

5x7", scanned at 300dpi in jpg format. exact pixel dimensions differ slightly due to how my scanner's auto-crop works.

the images uploaded are exactly as they were scanned, no image editing save for cropping. they could use some editing to be more presentable (levels adjustment to bring the darks down, more saturation on the color pages, & a teensy bit of rotation/adjustment) but i wanted to upload the untouched files. i might create a new drive with cleaned-up versions at some point.

i claim no ownership over these images, please feel free to do whatever you like with them, share em, edit em, and so on, no attribution necessary.

i bought my copy from hiro_shop_japan on ebay, if anybody wants to get their own.

these are obviously untranslated- some awesome folks have scanned & translated parts of the book (particularly the qnas). you can find those here! there's also a twitter thread of translated bits from 4chan, but i can't seem to find that one at the moment.

Ramblings about Separate Ways Arc

I am rewatching Mob Psycho 100 with my fiancée right now and wow, Separate Ways Arc was tough before but rewatching it was way harder.

I didn't really like Reigen much on the first watch through haha Until the end of season 2 that is. I was 100% with Ritsu. I thought "This guy is an asshole, how can he use someone like Mob like that?? Fuck him, I don't like him." I hate seeing a character get used by another—it reminds me too much of myself. So I had a weird satisfaction with Reigen digging his hole the first time I watched, like a character getting what was coming to them.

I was happy to see Reigen get dragged through the mud.

But then, I got to know Reigen's character more as the series went on. And after rewatching the start of the season and getting to this point, I was picking up so much more of Reigen's unsaid feelings, about himself, about Mob. I was seeing the little insecurities more, in different ways he was animated (even when over the top), in his dialogue, in just the framing of shots. God damn this show and all the little things it sprinkles in to add clarity and color to a character.

What I didn't expect on this rewatch, was feeling so sad watching these two episodes. All of his over the top antics, everything just made me...

really really sad.

Knowing that we're going to go from here...

to here...

God I just, I really get why people like him so much haha The separation arc rings so much more beautifully after I know where we end up. Reigen fucked up. Reigen said some bad shit. Reigen hurt the people he cares about, but in the end, Reigen cares so much, and his failure is like beautiful little vignette.

Shigeo is still my favorite character, and I love his arc above all else. But I am falling in love with Reigen's growth this second time around.

Even the monster of the week episode at the start of season 2, where he starts to really think about Mob and what his needs are, I felt myself being pulled into his character more than ever before. He had to be thinking about all that stuff when he says those awful things to Mob. Deep down he knew that Mob was struggling and trying to change, and he both wanted to embrace that because he knows it's right but also fears it because he is lonely.

God damnit Reigen. You and your...Reigen-ness. Making me feel shit.

ALSO I have been meaning to do little posts/thoughts as I rewatch with my partner. The Mogami Arc needs it's own post too, same with season 1 haha But maybe I can just start here, I dunno.

(I actually gave my partner a trigger warning before going into Mogami arc which I am glad I did that one was hard for him to watch)

reigen but with his manga colours (1/?)

And this right here is why we stan Reigen. He’s the best Master. And this is character development.

Best Master, not a failure:

No one thought Reigen should go up the tower. He has no powers and -after ep07- he knows that Mob knows, so there’s no excuse to expect that. Not only that, but for once Mob went out of his way to tell everyone to stay out of it, that they’d be in the way.

It wasn’t Reigen’s fight, or his fault for not going.

But he doesn’t see it that way.

He doesn’t treat Mob like an overpowered gun at his disposal, he treats him like the child he is, and sees it as a failure when he forgets to treat Mob as such. 

(He let Mob take the decision of what to do instead helping him through a plan as the adult he is, and now Mob is on the ground with his face all swollen and boy does Reigen regret it.)

He’s the best because when he realized his mistake, he didn’t hesitate to rush to the top to save him even though it’s obvious anything that beats Mob is likely not going to lose to some punches and an esper gun, but he has to try.

And he tried while making sure it’s clear to Mob that whatever happens next -his possible death- and whatever happened until now -Mob losing- is not Mob’s fault at all but his own. 

It was Mob who insisted everyone stay behind, but Reigen rewrites it like he was the one that allowed it to happen. He even goes as far as to praise Mob for what he’s done up to now, despite, again, anyone looking at the scene thinking Mob failed, and then tries to reassure him by promising they’d go eat like normal later.

And of course, the whole dialogue fight between Mob and Serizawa was a conflict of Masters, and Mob winning the way he did was proof of Reigen’s success as a Master (and a comparison to Toichiro’s shit exploitation of people)

(But Reigen doesn’t know about that and likely never will)

Character Development: 

Reigen said he made a mistake and called himself a bad Master. 

While that’s not a good development for his issues of self worth, it shows development in his willingness to be more forthcoming and sincere with Mob. 

He could have tried to make up an excuse where Mob isn’t at fault for the current state of affairs but neither is he. Instead he chose to admit his belief that’s he’s failed as a Master (even though his worst fear is Mob not needing him anymore, and between him knowing Reigen has no powers, and reigen failing to protect him, the chances of him leaving Reigen are higher, in Reigen’s mind)

Ok so I just read your mp100 fanfic Faith and i know that it's an old fic (like 2016). But based on this fic and your perspective on mob and reigens relationship, do you think the mp100 ending and the reigen spinoff successfully ties up any loose ends and imbalances in their relationship?

I need to know bc the fic was so well done and i have to know what your perspective and thoughts are to the ending and mp100 in general now that it's finished. Ok sorry for asking so much!! Kudos for the fic btw!!

You read Faith? Man, that thing is old...

I do think the MP100 ending levels the playing field in a way that is appropriate, but I also feels like it does so by facilitating - um. Spoilers under the cut.

I actually think the MP100 ending is rather open-ended, but I also don't think that's a bad thing or unsatisfactory.

The MP100 manga ending facilitates their healthy separation.

Reigen telling Shigeo to his face about his biggest lie and insecurity - that he's a fraud - is the most important thing he could do. It doesn't even matter that Shigeo already knows he doesn't have psychic powers. It's that Reigen can admit it.

It gives Reigen a chance to say what has always been on his mind, gives Shigeo the chance to let him know that he admired qualities in Reigen that had nothing to do with psychic powers and that Reigen really did help him. Like, authentically, it did.

I don't know if you read all my BNHA meta as well, but if so, you'll know what I mean when I say that this moment is one of interpersonal intimacy where Reigen expresses his honne unobscured. In fact, I'm pretty sure that him taking off his shoes before running after Shigeo at ???% implies that he was ready to confront Shigeo even if it killed him. While this could be meant as something for the audience to perceive literally, you could also interpret this figuratively - that Reigen will be dead to Shigeo once he finds out.

Reigen is ready to admit the truth of himself to Shigeo and let Shigeo grow apart from him, which runs in stark contrast to the Separation arc - y'know, the one that ends with Reigen still unable to say the words "I am a fraud" to the general public or to Shigeo (and Dimple, who already knows) alone. It also signals to the reader (and potentially Shigeo) that Reigen doesn't need him (for emotional reasons) anymore. Reigen doesn't need to always call Shigeo every time he has a problem.

Why did Reigen choose to tell Shigeo a truth about himself during Shigeo's berserker psychic powers moment? I don't actually remember if he says it explicitly (it's been a while!), but it comes down to these two reasons, I think:

It's probably Reigen's last chance to tell him the truth.

It is the best way for Reigen to express that only Shigeo can stop himself. Nobody else can stop Shigeo from posing this kind of danger to others, and Reigen himself is there as a sign of trust as well as a stark illustration of what is on the line (Reigen's own life!)

It reinforces to Shigeo that he can connect with Reigen as a mundane kid rather than a kid with incredible psychic powers. He comes back to Reigen (and Dimple) after being rejected, cries like most people do, and is consoled like most people would hope to be. It is SUCH an ordinary exchange and I feel that is the point.

In some ways, the ending of MP100 enforces a boundary between them, as Reigen has his business and Shigeo has the rest of his life to live. But it isn't a bad boundary or unbreachable one. It's a more appropriate one that eliminates any codependency and insecurities they had in the past.

I hope that answers your question???

I have the bad habit of leaving my computer on sometimes, so my dad always shuts it down because it drives him nuts. but he knows not to close photoshop without saving my drawings and this is the shit he saves them as. 

Little gif i did for the end of mp100 s3 ! It’s been almost a year… this series has such a special place in my heart, i was so happy to animate a little bit on s3 !