Listen, I don’t know how to tell you guys this but up until recently, I hadn’t given Mob Psycho 100 a solid try. You know what pushed me over? Reigen Arataka winning every character poll on Twitter this month. Turns out, he’s everyone’s baby girl, whether they like it or not. And honestly, I get the hype now. Mob Psycho 100 is a real gem of a franchise, and it got me invested in the characters. Specifically, the titular character and protagonist himself.
Now, Shigeo Kageyama aka Mob is considered the strongest Esper by most fans. Which shouldn’t come as surprise considering the mangaka for the franchise, ONE, is known for giving his protagonists the top spot when it comes to power. Remember One Punch Man? But there is more to it than just throwing him on top of the food chain for his plot. If that was the case, there would be 0 conflict and who wants to watch an anime show without high stakes?
Apparently, Mob does. Mob never wanted to be the highlight of anything. The boy is practically allergic to attention. He just wants to live a normal life, way in the background, and do nothing out of the ordinary. But as all long term weebs know, the curse of being an anime protagonist is potent. And it’s so unique and fun to watch! We saw a similar struggle in The Disastrous World Of Saiki K, and it’s really entertaining. There’s just something about OP (Overpowered) protagonists, you know?
But is the ranking for Mob Psycho 100 correct or do we need to consider a lot more here? I mean just because Shigeo loses it sometime, doesn’t mean he is the most powerful character in the entire series. Right? Well to determine that, let’s head on into Character Analysis – where take popular character across anime and manga to break their characters down and see what we can find underneath. And it looks like the White T-Poison has a lot.
Mob: Strongest Character But Doesn’t Want To Be!
Poor Mob. All he really wanted was to confess to his crush. But instead, he has to live with the crushing reality of being one of the most powerful beings on Earth. Truly, what a tragic fate to live!
Okay, so admittedly, being a super powered teen isn’t fun when all you want is just a boring, average life. With that, Mob can’t catch a break. Like, it’s already hard to deal with emotions at that age, but in his case, they can take a real turn for the worst. If his Madness Meter hits 100%? Well, the person antagonizing him is dead, 100%.
The thing is, the violent and brash personality you’d expect from someone like that, is literally the opposite of who Shigeo actually is. He’s just a meek and understanding person who doesn’t like to talk in public or get into physical confrontations. Like even his nickname, Mob, reflects his desire to be in the background just living his life instead of having to fight off all these other Espers tat have it out for him.
Shigeo’s abilities include Telekinesis, Psychic Energy Absorption, Psychic Energy Transference, Chlorokinesis, and more. He can even Astral Project. Like, Charles Xavier is quaking in his boots. Truly, Shigeo is extremely powerful.
Why OP Protagonists Are Fun From The Start:
These kinds of anime are actually really entertaining to watch. It’s basically a satirical take on most Shonen protagonists in general, and it has so many hilarious plot points to explore.
It’s funny seeing all these stereotypes of the bumbling but powerful main character who is motivated to be the best be turned over its head. Here, the protagonist wants nothing to do with ‘playing the Hero’. Like they’d rather just go about their day, doing normal people things because to them? That’s extraordinary.
Ever since we’ve known them, they’ve never experienced an average day of just existing. And to be honest, I kind of understand that. I mean, do you see how much crap Son Goku went through? Or Naruto Uzumaki? It makes sense why someone wouldn’t want all that attention on them.
But Mob Psycho 100 makes it a lot of fun and goes places you wouldn’t expect it to. So hey, Mob will just have to suffer for the fans!
