Reigen But With His Manga Colours (1/?)

This is my favorite omake/4panel strip:

a) It canonically confirms Mob did not know Reigen was a fraud from the very beginning, but found out some other time (since here he thinks the smoke rings are a power)

b) Reigen as usual being a good dad person by deciding to quit something because he doesn’t want a kid around smoke (and then finding out a financial reason why this is a good idea)

c) Cute 11yo Mob thinking smoke rings are psychic power and being awed

Every character in Mob Psycho is so lonely at the beginning of the series, but they all express it in different ways so they don’t realize they’re all dealing with the same problem!

Mob makes himself small and quiet and blends in and does his best to never make a scene and never ask for anything and never think about what he wants. Reigen makes himself big and loud boisterous and takes up as much space as possible–but it’s all show, it’s all slight-of-hand, it’s a magic trick so everyone looks where he wants them to and he doesn’t have to risk anyone seeing through him. Ritsu makes himself perfect and dutiful and studious and pours himself into the mold of A Good Son, A Good Student, A Good Brother, and thinks that if he buries himself deep enough no one can touch him. Teru makes himself sharp and brilliant and frightening and puts himself at the top of the pyramid and convinces himself that it’s a feature that no one can get close to him. Dimple does the same thing–makes himself into a god and a monster, someone who only sees humans as pawns. Never equals. Never friends.

Everyone has walled themselves off from genuine connection, convinced themselves that there’s an important reason they’re alone that isn’t just that they’re afraid, and the series is about all of those walls being torn down, bit by bit. There are a million ways to be lonely, but the solution to all of them, every time, is vulnerability and kindness.

rayman

Save him!

Some studies/redraws from the last ep turned into a comic.

- “Thank you,  I guess .. I’ll finally be able to sleep at night”

MP100 be reiterating the importance of positive adult influence in child development.

there is a lot of talk (rightfully so) about ???% and how mob has been invalidating and repressing him pretty much his whole life, and how ???% feels about that - i really recommend this excellent post by user luciferstit (I'm not able to @ them for some reason), which really hits the nail on the head imo. no matter how much mob wishes they'd disappear, his powers have saved him countless times, and to reject that idea is to live in denial.

but somehow it never occurred to me until this episode how much the reverse is also true. it's not like the show was trying to be subtle about it, but for some reason i never properly thought about it. ???% wishes mob would disappear because he feels that he's only been holding both of them back, but... mob is the reason they have friends and other people in their life. mob is the one who's been reaching out, over and over, and forging connections. the anime really drove the point home by having this shot of mob extending his hand to ???%.

how many times have we seen mob reach out to people just like this? i've lost count at this point. the side of shigeo that believes in other people's ability to improve themselves and change, the side of him that forgives those who have done wrong in the past and gives them an opportunity to grow, the side of him that shapes others and is shaped in return... that's all mob.

???% says (in the manga) that he doesn't trust anyone and that he doesn't care if no one will come near them, and maybe that'd be true at first, but. people need other people. that's one of the key messages in the show. without mob, living life the way ???% wants to, they'd be completely alone.

???% may (rightly) feel like mob has been invalidating him, but repressing mob in return and making him disappear isn't the answer either. it's like reigen said, everyone has multiple sides to them, but it's because of each of those sides that we are who we are. we just have to accept them.

???% has saved both himself and mob, multiple times, so they survive. but mob has given them connections with other people, so they can live. both are equally important.

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Part 2/3

I think what I find so interesting about Riza is that she’s fundamentally a pessimist and yet she chooses to be hopeful

im not sure if youve answered this before (ive been scrolling back in your blog but cant find anything?) but do you have any tips on how to write mob?

hmm i have not answered this before, so let me think… writing mob…

keep in mind that i have not written mob, but i have read a lot of mob… in canon.

don’t use verbs that imply very drastic action/expression (e.g. rather than “beamed,” use “smiled,” since mob almost never smiles with enough enthusiasm to qualify as beaming). keep mob’s actions and expressions low-key unless shit is really getting serious. (and actually, re: smiling in particular, remember that he rarely doles out smiles to anyone other than ritsu.)

remember that mob is quite passive– like, he usually isn’t actively engaged in his surroundings. he’s prone to zoning out, deep in thought or just deep in the absence of thought. even when things are relatively intense, he still may feel out of place and hesitate. basically, mob’s default state when things start happening is “not knowing what he should be doing.” when things aren’t happening, he tends to be content with idleness or inactivity.

about mob’s speech: his catchphrase, according to his profile, is “i don’t really get it.” from this, we can tell that he’s not afraid to acknowledge his own ignorance or inability. (iirc he is also wont to drop this line at inopportune times, like after someone gives him a detailed explanation or emotional speech.) he’s not stupid, but he’s not especially quick-witted either. he’s a good listener. if he doesn’t know what to say and isn’t forced to answer, he won’t say anything. he doesn’t crack wise or offer witty comebacks or snark; his words may have that kind of effect at times (e.g. “shut up and eat”), but only as the result of a mistake or failure to read the atmosphere. generally, he isn’t sarcastic. he will carry on a conversation, but generally, he isn’t very talkative unless there’s something on his mind.

when something is on his mind, he usually starts by dwelling on it while zoning out (possibly while doing other things, like eating dinner). 

when he does feel strongly about something, he doesn’t hide it, and he has been known to lecture people about their wrongdoings if he gets really riled up. despite that, don’t forget that he trusts in the goodness of people in general and has plenty of faith in his fellow humans. he strongly feels the importance of things he has learned, and as a result, he wants to make sure others understand what he understands. so like… when it comes to communication, his true strength is his benevolent sincerity.

he and ritsu are on better terms than ever lately, and they may come to each other for advice, but i think they both still prefer to think things over on their own if they can. so mob wouldn’t necessarily go directly to ritsu or reigen for help with something that’s bothering him. he’ll probably have a good long think about it first. pensive boy

he has no fashion sense. i would go ahead and credit any/all of his stylish outfits to ritsu or his parents.

he is Not sassy

he is not dramatic (except unintentionally)

he’s not good at reading other people’s emotional reactions if they don’t come right out and say how they’re feeling. or at least, it takes him a while to catch on if he doesn’t know them well

he calls ritsu “ritsu.” he calls tome “tome-san.” he calls mezato “mezato-san.” he calls reigen “master” or “master reigen.” he calls teru “hanazawa-kun.” he calls tsubomi “tsubomi-chan.” generally, everyone is a -san, -kun, or -senpai according to the typical rules. so don’t have him call anyone any weird nicknames or anything overly familiar unless they ask him to call them that (e.g. he calls tome by her first name because she introduced herself as tome-chan, and even then he changed it to -san). and for the record, i don’t think mob has directly spoken to or about shou, but seeing as how ritsu calls shou “suzuki,” mob would almost certainly call him “suzuki-kun.” 

remember that mob’s default neutral facial expression usually comes off as bored, cold, or distant. it’s hard to even tell when/whether he’s deep in thought or slightly upset. even ritsu, reigen, and teru can’t decipher him especially well. (so instead of reading mob’s face… ritsu asks if anything’s bothering him, teru asks what he’s thinking about, and reigen tries to decipher his face anyway and doesn’t ask anything unless/until it becomes Very clear that mob is having problems.)

note that these points apply specifically to non-100% mob

I love jolly posting