2022 is coming to a close and man what a crazy year it’s been guys. We’ve seen ups and downs, but overall it was fan-bloody-tastic! Elden Ri- wait, we just discussed this recently. This site has been mainly dedicated to discussing video games since its conception back in 2019, but every once in a while I attempt to break away and talk about different topics. My other interests, which show that I’m willing to explore new horizons and analyze different pieces of media. You may have seen me do this already with reviews on Arcane, Demon Slayer, and a short essay talking about why I believe animation matters. I had a lot of fun writing about these despite struggling to figure out how to explain my thoughts. I’ve been wanting to do more content like this for awhile, but have been afraid of what results it would bring. Not that any of my written thoughts would offend my audience, no. Content on this site is mainly positive and any forms of negativity is usually constructive criticism. See what's right and what's wrong.
What I’m mainly afraid of is that if I try to write reviews on shows and film they won’t do as well as my main game reviews. My site has been struggling to find the audience it needed since 2019, and now I’m starting to obtain said audience. Some of my game reviews are gaining more traction, and I don’t believe my reviews on subjects such as Arcane or Demon Slayer have performed as well. So I strayed away from writing about anime and films, but I still want to talk about it. Throughout this year I checked out a handful of shows, more than usual, and quite a few I found to be special. We’re here to discuss what I watched during 2022. What they do right, wrong, and why some of them I recommend. Anyways, these are the animaited shows I watched during 2022.
Smiling Friends
I actually watched the pilot for Smiling Friends when it originally came out. It was 2020, and the whole internet was freaking out about an eleven minute cartoon Adult Swim premiered the night before. Saying how it was actually funny compared to a lot of their other shows, and that it had this Newgrounds energy to it. I don’t really like the modern day humor of Adult Swim shows, in fact I really dislike Rick and Morty and how a lot of adult cartoons nowadays seem to want to be like it or Family Guy, but Smiling Friends was right up my alley. I watched the pilot and was immediately impressed by it. The show had potential and I recognized some of the people behind it. One of those individuals being Zack Hadel, also known as psychicpebbles, who is a renowned Newgrounds comedy animator and co-host on the comedic gaming channel OneyPlays. Basically Game Grumps if Game Grumps were actually funny. Anyways, Smiling Friends had that good old Newgrounds energy because it was being made by those who worked on Newgrounds. They got Adult Swim to air their pilot and soon got the green thumb to make a full season. A big shot dream that felt out of reach as the humor of Smiling Friends was really random even for Adult Swim standards.
Smiling Friends finally comes out two years later with a full season, consisting of eight episodes each being around eleven minutes each, and the critical reception is really positive. The show is a smashing success and even garnished a couple internet memes as the humor was that good. I was one of the few watchers to see each episode as they came out, and let me tell you that of course the humor is that good. Smiling Friends just made me laugh, more so than any adult show made in years. Part of that being to the mentioned randomness to the humor. Now randomness can work in two ways. Either it suddenly happens with no context, or it suddenly happens but the context behind the joke makes sense and lands. Smiling Friends does exactly that. The humor is random and obscure, but it makes sense to the scenario. That’s why I’m able to recall so many jokes from each episode. The simplistic and poorly drawn artstyle also adds to the value of the show. It’s supposed to be making fun of those children shows which teach lessons of friendship and happiness, but Smiling Friends is a little more mature and places these child lesson teachings into a more grown up environment. A world similar to ours and is populated with people like us. The teachers, otherwise the protagonists who are going around making people happy, don’t even want to attend their jobs and the one that does is trying to ignore the bad which surrounds him every day. Combine that with the absurdity of the comedy and you get an adult show with a consistent tone. Something that a lot of other shows on Adult Swim struggle to maintain. Smiling Friends is great. 9/10 for excellence at best.
The Venture Bros.
One of the oldest shows on this list and probably most underrated. The Venture Bros is a comedy drama series that makes fun of several old cartoons. Specifically the works of Hanna Barbera, superhero shows, and more specifically Johnny Quest. It follows the Venture family as they go on daring adventures around the world while facing various problems along the way. Mainly supervillains that are always popping up in front of their face. The family consists of two twin brothers Hank and Dean, their bodyguard Brock Sampson, and father Rusty who is a grizzled scientist trying to follow in the footsteps of his father Jonas Venture. Rusty used to have the role of Boy Venturer, similar to that of Johnny Quest, and was dragged out on missions by his father and a crazy group of superhero friends. Now much older, he wants nothing to do with it and would rather handle more tame tasks than face the trauma he had before. However, he’s kinda doing the same thing as Hank and Dean face numerous threats hence they have a bodyguard.
The first few episodes of The Venture Bros, while not incredibly terrible, are rough compared to what happens later on. The problem with most adult animated series that are trying to build up a universe is that their first episodes are centered around comedy and introducing the cast. The world building and dramatic plotlines are saved up for later, but for now they usually just waste your time. Seeing the characters get into shenanigans until more interesting things happen. I will say there are a lot of interesting characters. The Ventures have a mystical nextdoor neighbor who has wizard powers beyond their world and speaks in tomes, but also has a goth daughter who is fed up with her father’s bullcrap although acknowledges how much he cares about her. The mad villain who pursues them almost everyday, The Monarch, is doing the best he can to please his mistress Dr. Girlfriend who has a voice similar to that of a man. He has an army of henchmen, but two in particular ramble on about how they work for a man who spends his life obsessing over butterflies and chasing the same guy over and over. One henchmen in particular starts off super fat and then becomes buff a few seasons later. You have Rusty’s old caretakers, two friends consisting of a deformed scientist who looks like a kid and albino, a smart villain who is literally just a floating torso and head because his limbs are invisible, OSI agents who are supposed to be a parody of GI Joe except they do more scummy things, and much much more.
The cast and world of Venture Bros continue expanding and so does the universe. What the show does really well with later seasons is world building, and I love shows that explain why things are the way they are. You learn that Rusty’s father, Jonas Venture, was actually a really terrible person who would sleep with several women and never cared about his son. That Jonas’ friends, the guardians of Rusty, were a bunch of crazy lunatics that sadly made his life worse. That his father would often put him in life endangering scenarios and simply not care, because he was to obtain info and find some other female soul to impress. You learn that Brock was part of a big organization designed to protect the world, and didn’t have much of a choice when it came to being assigned the task of protecting the Venture family. However, he grows to love the boys he protects as they are the only family he basically has. There’s a whole system of what heroes and supervillains can do when fighting each other. How there’s a rule that lower ranked villains can only face lower ranked heroes, because a cartoonish villain was beaten and shot to death by one of Jonas’ friends. How there’s a system of checks and balances, negotiations between the good and evil sides. Then you have the development of the two boys, Hank and Dean. Much like their father a majority of their lives have been spent going on adventures. Not knowing what the real world actually brings. Their father sends Dean to college and slowly they learn how life works. How their ideologies conflict and they can’t always be with each other. Dean is grow up and become a functioning human being, while Hank is stuck in that childish mindset.
The Venture Bros is a great show. It’s not perfect though. Those older seasons waste your time for what eventually becomes really great. The animation didn’t get better until after season two and some of the humor doesn’t really work today. They throw around quite a few slurs and offensive jokes in earlier seasons. I thought it was kinda funny because the whole adult cast of the show are crude and tired of everything going on. However, not everyone might like what the writers are trying to do with humor. The Venture Bros gets a 9/10 for excellence at best. Really flawed but rock solid.
Spy x Family
Now we move onto the anime I’ve watched during 2022, and by golly I’ve watched quite a bit of anime. I want to do these next few shows from least favorite to most favorite, and sadly my least favorite anime of 2022 is also one of the most popular ones of the year. Spy x Family is fine. I can respect what it does and understand why dozens of people love it, but it’s not the type of show I personally love. I’m more of a shonen fan. Flashy action, but still maintaining good world building and cast development. I like shows that don’t waste my time and even if an episode is not spent moving the plot forward or setting up a new action scene they spent it doing something. Spy x Family is not that, but I still found enjoyment with it. The story follows Loid, secretly a Westalis undercover agent by the name of Twilight, and his current mission requires him to hunt down a man who wants to start a war between two nations. Sadly, this new mission requires him to send a child to the school his son attends oddly enough.
He adopts a pink haired child named Anya and they move into an apartment close to the school she’ll attend. What he doesn’t know is that the child is psychic, and Anya quickly figures out that her adoptive father is a spy. However, she is excited by this as she grew up watching a spy show and can’t wait to witness the stunts her spy father will do. Loid says his fake family looks odd and they need a mother figure so that they fit in with society. He then meets Yor Briar and she seems like the figure fit to play as a fake mother. Then Anya reads her mind and discovers that she is secretly an assassin. She’s afraid at first, but realizes a spy and assassin living together is really cool. Yor moves in with Loid and they start being a pretend family. It’s a really interesting concept and there’s a lot of wholesome scenes to be had. Cute moments with Anya, Loud trying to figure out what it feels like to have a family, and just seeing a bunch of odd strangers grow comfortable with one another. One of them is really well done. I love the character designs, the art direction, and some of the other figures they encounter.
If you’re watching it for the plot though like me you are going to be disappointed. I understand it’s a slice of life anime and they are keeping it as chill as possible, but for such an interesting concept and cast of characters you’d think they would do more. You have a spy, an assassin, and a psychic. You expect some moments to happen. Watch them go out on side missions and get into fun fights with corrupt political figures who want to start a war besides the one Loid is after. You want this stuff to happen, and it doesn’t. Not saying the tame slice of life aspect is bad, but there were times where I really felt like they were wasting my time. I’m sitting there waiting for something to happen and then I have to wait for the next episode. Hoping a plot related event will occur. Like I know this sounds like terrible nitpicky criticism, and I do want to admit slice of life anime is for a specific audience. I respect Spy x Family. 7.5/10, okay.
Jujutsu Kaisen
I don’t remember much from Jujutsu Kaisen besides the plot driven episodes as I watched it earlier this year, but I really love it. It’s a shonen anime and this is the genre I specifically love. Second anime I watched after going through Demon Slayer and it got me to start caring more about what the medium can do. I watched it because my sibling took me to see Jujutsu Kaisen 0 in theaters, which she was really excited to see. I enjoyed the film and the universe it presented, but what I felt like it needed was better characters. Specifically a more enjoyable protagonist. My sibling agreed with me and then led me to watching all of season one. I binged that within three days and man did it keep me hooked. The story follows Itadori, a ruffian teenager who attends high school and is capable of defending himself. His grandfather took care of him for his entire life and the old man is now sitting on his deathbed. He gives Itadori a talk about making a ton of friends and to not end up lonely and depressed like he did. He passed away shortly afterwards and the words of Itadori’s grandfather still lingers with him.
A teenager he’s never seen by the name of Megumi one day approaches him asking for an object placed in a mailbox nearby. At least that’s what I remember. Itadori knows exactly where the object is as his friends, who run the Occult Club at school, said the object was potentially cursed and wanted to mess around with it themselves. Megumi warns him of what the cursed object will bring, and his words are proven true as another Curse runs through the halls of Itadori’s school. Curses in Jujutsu Kaisen are sorta like monsters, and Itadori tries to save his friends from it. He gets caught, but remembers specific details Megumi told him. The object Itadori’s friends took has the ability to grant tremendous powers to those willing to consume it, but the cost is that he will be possessed by the most powerful Curse long ago. Itadori consumes the cursed object and transforms into this curse-human hybrid form. Defeating the monster using the Curse’s strength and Itadori’s physical flexibility. Megumi states Itadori is now a threat that must be purged, but before he can kill him a magical man named Satoru Gojo appears. Offering him a deal that if he fights alongside them and helps reclaim the fingers to Ryomen Sukuna, the Curse that now swirls around inside Itadori, then he’ll live for a bit longer. Once he collects all the fingers though they’ll be forced to kill him. Itadori sees this as an opportunity to do something more fulfilling with his life like his grandfather says, so he joins a Sorcerer school. Sorcerers being these heavily trained individuals who used blessed weapons and magic to hunt Curses.
Took a while to explain the premise, but in summary I really love Jujustu Kaisen. Itadori makes a butt ton of friends and they are all really interesting characters. They have unique personalities, traits, and none of them I would say are unlikable. You have Nobara who has the same ruffian mentality Itadori has and starts off as annoying, but proves to be a diligent fighter and wonderful friend to the group. There’s Megumi who starts off as quiet and not really being there, but grows to care for Itadori and the new friends he earns as it’s the only signs of friendship he gets. You have this kid who speaks in cursed wording, this badass woman who competes with her sister over who is better, this talking panda, this muscular dude who sees Itadori as the brother he never had, you have Gojo who is basically the funny mentor figure who can easily kill you, and much more. Some of the episodes have really engaging arches and they use them to flesh out Itadori as a character. Like there’s this one episode where Gojo demonstrates his overpowered powers, and that’s a symbol of what Itadori can do if he uses his cursed powers for good. Itadori meets this kid who is bullied and treated like an outcast like him, but Itadori feels sorry for him and tries to be the first friend he ever had. Only for this character to meet a terrible fate as he chooses the opposite path as to Itadori. The action is top notch and done right crazy. The choreography, the environments, the techniques, and everything else is so cool. They do have a problem explaining techniques and special moves too much, but I didn’t mind. I strongly recommend you check out Jujutsu Kaisen. One of the best shonens right now. 9/10.
Demon Slayer: Season 2
Season two of Demon Slayer finally came out this year, sort of. The first half of season two is the Mugen Train arch they released as a film back in 2020 chopped up to be twelve episodes, and the second half being a whole new batch of episodes being the Light District arch. Some people may be disappointed that only half of season two was new content and the other half they watched in theaters, but I’m fine with it. Partly because I never went to theaters to watch the Mugen Train movie, because I just didn’t have the time and forgot. Now I’m witnessing the Mugen Train arch for the first time and let me tell you it’s really good. So far it’s one of my favorite arches in the series and I personally like it more than the Light District arch. Won’t re-explain the premise of Demon Slayer, but as of now Tanjiro and pals have been hired by the head of the Demon Corps to help out the Nine Pillars, the highest ranked Demon Slayers, hunt Muzan’s strongest demons. Tanjiro still hoping he can one day find a way to transform his sister back into a human and stop demons from hurting people ever again.
I’m gonna spoil what I love about the Mugen Train arch a bit, so if you don’t want spoilers skip to the next section. Anyways, the Pillar they are assisting on their latest assignment is the overly enthusiastic Flame Pillar, Rengoku, and compared to some of the other Pillars who doubted them earlier Rengoku takes a liking to them. Seeing them as young warriors who can learn from the best of the best. They all enjoy the train ride waiting for the demon to strike. Some terrible things happen and they are all put into a deep slumber. The demon has created dream worlds to trap the individuals aboard the train, and to prevent them from realizing they are trapped in a dream he made sure these dreams project what they want. Zenistu and Inosuke’s dreams are purely jokes, but I think what made me love this arch most is what Tanjiro and Rengoku had to face. Rengoku has a dream where he gets to go home. He no longer has to hunt demons, can live a life in peace, and be with his family. You think he would be happy, but then we actually learn of his father. In reality his father used to be the previous Flame Pillar, because there were previous iterations of the Pillars, and he has fallen from grace. He’s depressed over his dead wife, drinks, and abuses his children. The dread of Rengoku’s father is what reminds him why he’s a Demon Slayer. He wants to help people and prove to his father that he has a strong warrior as a son. Something to truly be proud of. Meanwhile, Tanjiro has a dream where his family is still alive. He’s happy, but quickly realizes he’s in a dream and a bunch of people are about to die. He has to wake up and save those people, but at the same time sacrifice his family. Lose the thing he didn’t want to lose. I really like this scene, because it shows Tanjiro has to move on.
That’s the Mugen Train arch, so let’s move onto the Light District arch. After the high thrilling task of slaying the Demon on the train they just rode, Tanjiro and pals assist Tengen Uzui the Sound Pillar in defeating a demon hiding away in the Light District. A place bustling with shops, business alike, colorful lanterns, and festivities at night. I enjoyed this arc a lot too and the story behind the demon they fight was sad. Like really sad, if it’s one thing Demon Slayer does well is show not all things evil where evil begins. They were good at some point, but life put them in a spot where everyday was eternal suffering. Everyone around them hated them or treated them like outcasts, and eventually they had enough. They take influence or make deals with terrible individuals, Demons, and soon they are granted the powers to stand up for themselves. They abuse said powers and become no better than the people who hurt them. Demon Slayer gets you to care about who is about to die despite them being evil, and that’s lovely.
The Light District has incredible detailing, art direction, and much like the Mugen Train arch and everything before kept me hooked until the end. It’s almost perfect, and this brings me to my only complaint with season two. The action in the Light District arch may turn some watchers off, because the fight scene between the demon they face is really long. Don’t get me wrong I love the action in Demon Slayer. One of the main reasons why it’s one of my favorite animes. The fluidity, the detailing, the choreography, the destruction, the many skills and postures they use, and the animators giving it their all when they are given time and fundings. They create a fight that is truly brilliant and sets a new standard for what shonen should do. That being said, it does come at a cost. What was probably a few panels, otherwise a page, in the manga is stretched out for more than five. Each of the episodes which follow the epic fight are dedicated to their own sections. When another character pops in and participates. It feels like wrestling. When one person is done they ring the bell, another guy steps in, and they continue fighting until the bell needs to be rung again. Wrestling isn’t terrible and so isn’t the Light District arch fight, but not everyone like me is going to enjoy the big old fight compared to character development. Overall though I really enjoyed the second season of Demon Slayer. I really want to give it a 9.5/10, but there are better things I’ve watched this year. In the end 9/10, for excellence at best.
Chainsaw Man
Now this I actually have quite a bit of knowledge of before the anime came out. Chainsaw Man is Tatsuki Fujimoto’s latest piece of work and his most successful piece to date. That’s right, this isn’t the only thing he has made. Besides Chainsaw Man he made Fire Punch and two one shot novels, the first being Look Back and the second Goodbye Eri. I know nothing about Fire Punch, but I have read Look Back and Goodbye mainly because my sister suggested that I read them. Look Back is a lovely story about a manga illustrator remembering the core reason why he makes manga each month, and Goodbye Eri follows a filmmaker trying to make a film after making a complete fool of himself during a film contest. Both stories follow the theme of friendship, but they also follow mature themes such as learning to let go, improve as a human being, grieve, and move on. Both of them are great with Goodbye Eri still being my favorite piece.
With that said I was heavily recommended to check out Chainsaw Man. It’s my sibling’s favorite manga as of right now, all of my friends love it, and oftentimes they would have discussions with me about the plot. I got spoiled, but I still wanted to check out Chainsaw Man either way. The anime came out this year after high speculation and it’s really good. One of the best anime shows of this year and highly worth checking out. I don’t have any complaints besides that it’s short and serves as a warm up for what is to eventually come. It follows Denji, a rascal teen who has spent most of his life in a terrible environment. His mother died at an early age, and his father died shortly afterwards leaving him with a ton of debt. He’s never had any friends besides a little devil dog with a chainsaw sticking out naked Pochita. They’ve been the best of friends up until Denji turned into a teen. He makes money by slaying demons for the yakuza and taking jobs where they treat him like dirt. Dude had to sell a couple of his organs just to barely survive. All of well until one night where they are called in. All the members of the yakuza he works with made a contract with the Zombie Devil who possessed them, and they are then torn limb from limb from an army of zombies. Denji is left dead in a dumpster, but long ago he made a deal with Pochita. Little doggy gets to have his blood and body to continue living, but in exchange Pochita gets to share Denji’s dreams with him. This then transforms Dejni into Chainsaw Man, a human devil hybrid with a chainsaw sprouting from his head and superpowered capabilities.
Denji kills the Zombie Devil, the yakuza, and basically earns his freedom. An organization shows up the next morning to find the devil dead and nothing but Denji remaining. A red haired woman named Makima appears and offers Denji a home and luxury, but he’ll have to hunt devils for an advanced organization. Denji agrees not only because he gets to live a better life, but he finds the woman to be pretty hot. Denji makes a variety of peculiar friends, goes on dangerous missions, and lives the high life. That’s as much as I’ll sum up. What I love about Chainsaw Man is when you think about the context really hard. Everyone mistakes this for a teenage boy being really horny, but in actuality he just wants to be happy. He has no family and friends, and this is finally the opportunity to have some semblance of one. He lives with a depressed man and loud girl similar to his age, but everytime they treat each other as a little family. Looking after each other even when the person they live with isn’t the best. Denji gets to develop real emotions and human interactions, and while he isn’t the best at it and still doesn’t have complete understanding you get to see the character grow. Every character you encounter is memorable and lovable. Aki, Power, Himeno, and the other devil hunters feel like relatable individuals. They feel like friends you would have or encounter in the real world. Sure the action is great, fights are intense, the detailing, and change in motion are awesome, but the characters and seeing them grow and develop is what makes Chainsaw Man so great. When they make sacrifices for the betterment of others. Chainsaw Man gets a strong recommendation from me. 9/10.
Ranking of Kings
This seems completely out of my league, but trust me when I say Ranking of Kings is close to being a masterpiece. It’s one of the most wholesome shows I’ve watched this year and it’s one of the best. I’ll try not to spoil too much as it’s really something you have to witness for yourself. The story follows Boji, the descendant of a grand king, and he’s supposed to be the next in line for when his father passes away. Unfortunately, everyone around him doesn’t think he should be king. He’s not as mature and stern as everyone around him, and he suffers from a few disabilities. The first being unable to speak properly and the second is being unable to hear, or so that’s what people think. Boji can hear the doubts and jokes people are making about him, and secretly he’s sad. He’s sad that he wasn’t born like anybody else and he has no one to cope with because there’s one else around him that’s an outcast. Not until he meets Kage, the child of a former assassin clan member who were viewed as outlaws to the kingdom. Kage resents humans, but makes friends with Boji despite being weird to him. This is the first time anyone has shown him kindness and he wants to do what he can to protect Boji.
Boji’s younger brother, who is a jerk, is chosen to be king and the higher ups devise a plan to get rid of Boji which works. Boji is saved by Kage, and together they go on a grand adventure to travel the land, discover Boji’s potential, and prove to everyone what Boji can achieve. There are several reasons why I love Ranking of Kings. First and foremost is the artstyle. It has this very childish look to it and not everyone likes it, but I find it really charming. It’s trying to imitate the feeling of a classical fantasy adventure, and it does so really well with all the color and strange character designs. Nobody in this world has realistic or proportionate body structures, and that’s great in my opinion. Second reason is world building. For a show with such a cute artstyle and feeling it actually has a lot of serious moments. The history to certain characters, why are the way they are, and themes such as legacy and atonement. This is a pure example of maturity within immaturity, as seen is a game like Psychonauts 2. It looks ridiculous on the surface, but when you actually look carefully it has a lot of great things to say. Third reason is despite the mature themes and dramatic moments, Ranking of Kings managed to just be good vibes all around. You want to see this cast of happy characters prevail and achieve good endings by the end. You want Boji to push forward and make friends with everyone even if they look like devils.You want to see where the story goes next, and I was fully engaged. My only complaint is that this one character choice by the end is really dumb, but other than that the story of Boji ends on a good note. I think they are making season two now and it has me worried because the ending was actually good, but I hope they do it. 9.5/10 for excellence at best!
Mob Psycho 100
This is my favorite anime I’ve watched during 2022, and may as well be my favorite anime of all time. Mob Psycho 100 is an absolute masterpiece and I have nothing bad to say about it. At first I struggled to figure out why I love this show so much, but after the conclusion which happened recently I figured out why. The story follows Shigeo Kageyama, otherwise called Mob, and he’s a middle schooler with psychic powers who works for his mentor Reigen Arartaka who claims to be a psychic. However, his mentor isn’t actually a psychic but rather a con artist utilizing Mob’s powers to purge spirits his clients may him to take care of. Sometimes there are spirits and Mob is able to see and talk to them. Sometimes there aren’t actually spirits and Reigen does some cool tricks to easily impress his clients and make them go away. The dynamic between the duo is fun and entertaining, but a lot happens outside of this. Mob wants to ask this girl he knew since childhood out, but she got bored of his psychic powers and really isn’t that interested in him. Mob is afraid he isn’t good enough to be accepted by her, so he does whatever he can to make himself better. The whole show is basically about this shut-in child learning to make friends, socialize, and fit in with society. He joins a fitness club, talks with the telepathic club, engages with public events, and during this he encounters strange people. Some of them being psychic as well.
You have these episodes where disastrous events are happening, conspiracies are going on, and it’s up to Mob and his psychic friends to stop it. Then you have the episodes that are laid back and just give you what is basically a slice of life. However, unlike other big slice of life animes, Mob Psycho doesn’t waste your time. Every episode is used to build character and develop the world. I'm gonna be spoiling episodes in seasons two and three, so this is your chance to click off and watch the whole series yourself. Go watch Mob Psycho, because I’m giving a brief dive into why I love it. Anyways, you have a two episode parted story midway through season three where the leader of the telepathic club is planning to disband. She asks if her friends are still willing to help her find aliens which was their goal to begin with, but her friends don’t express interest as the entire time they’ve just been goofing around. This character is disappointed in her friends and disbands the group. This then leads Mob to helping them find aliens, but the leader just doesn’t want to be with them. She expresses distrust, that they abandoned her, and never believed in her crazy thoughts from the start. Mob encourages her to keep pressing forward and that they will help her achieve her dreams. They do and this leads to a breathtaking moment for the group.
There’s an episode where Reigen and Mob separates and this leads us to learning what life is like for Reigen when Mob isn’t around to help. What should be a mindless sidestory is actually one of the best archs as it further reinforces Mob and Reigen bond together. Reigen accepts more jobs than he could handle, scam a lot of people, and is then proven in front of a live audience of how much of a faker he is by an actual psychic. He’s looked down upon by those who looked up to him, and when he’s called to a live conference he’s continuously backlashed. He then starts contemplating on why he made a psychic business. Why did he make something so crazy? Then he remembers his old job. How every day was repetition and his life was a mindless grind. He wanted to get away from it all, so he quit and found his private business. He chose the first thing he saw in a magazine and posted signs for it. A kid walks into his office thinking he’s psychic too. That he can befriend him and learn how to control his psychic powers. Reigen thinks it’s fake until the kid demonstrates his power. Reigen sees this as not just as a bright opportunity, but potential. He sees great things in this kid and obviously the kid hasn’t discovered themselves yet. He wants to teach this kid, get him to believe in himself more, and teach him how to use his powers despite not being a psychic. Reigen remembers why he chose Mob. Why he looked up to him, and it's a reminder of the friendship they have forged. It’s a beautiful moment to be honest.
Then you have those plot driven episodes. The conflict, the fight scenes, and how they are all so batsh*t insane. Mob encounters crazy people who want to make him lose control and abuse his powers, because they themselves abuse their powers. They are evil, cynical, and have bad desires yet Mob sees good will in them. He believes deep down no matter how many wrongs a person has done they can still redeem themselves and find light. He was a villain who wanted to destroy the city to reconcile his life. He got a spirit named Dimple, to realize the time they spent together and the memories they’ve made were much better than what Dimple hoped for. He helps so many people around him despite being a flawed and confused individual, and that’s why I love Mob so much. He’s a flawed character with redeeming qualities. The final episode is a lovely bowtie to this entire series. Mob decides to finally ask the girl of his dreams out, is extremely afraid of being rejected, and gets hit by a car. Sending him into this uncontrollable state where he and the version he wants are arguing over who should control his body. Everyone Mob has ever met confronts him and expresses all the goods he has done. That they accept him and he is better than what is doing now. The words don’t go through until Reign, his mentor, the figure he knew the longest tells him of the lies held all these years. That he’s fake and that Mob probably should not have looked up to him, but he’s proud of where he is now. He has faith in Mob and hopes that where he goes next in life will lead him down a good road. He tells him that deep down Mob is a good person, and this gets Mob to calm down. Mob doesn’t get accepted by the girl of his dreams, and that’s okay because another great scene happens afterwards. Everyone Mob knows holds a birthday party for Reigen and they are happy. It’s a showcase that despite Mob being a weird person he’s accepted by everyone in that room. That he should be happy for those who truly appreciate who he is. Just a perfect ending to such an awesome series. 10/10, masterpiece.
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