Review of Mob Psycho 100 II
Mob Psycho 100 II is a show with a premise so glaringly unoriginal that it may dissuade some of our more, well, more 'seasoned' anime viewers from committing themselves to watching it because of this aspect alone. It obeys most of the standard anime tropes that one has come to expect from the Shounen genre; the body count is kept to a minimum, friendship always prevails in the end, and there's a evil organisation that's hatching a diabolical scheme to do, uh, standard bad guy things and the protagonist is the only one who can stop them. Then what's with all the praise that thisshow has been generously showered with during this past year, you ask?
Well, Mob Psycho 100 II is an anime with a very pedestrian story but PHENOMENAL writing & gorgeous(I dare say, even revolutionary)animation. The show is so well-written in almost all of its aspects; character development, fight scenes, story progression, relationship dynamics; that you'll hardly notice that zero effort went into planning the premise of the story itself.
There are like fifty characters in this anime and all fifty of them have extremely well-crafted character arcs. The huge character growth will only become apparent at the end of the season and the character arcs are so incredibly written that you would've barely noticed. None of them are neglected or simply written off as fodder for fillers or as an ends to comedy; every single one of them plays a vital part in the story. The story arcs also converge seamlessly as the show approaches its climax, and it is BEAUTIFUL, to say the least.
The action sequences make the fight scenes in first season seem like mere scuffles in comparison. Again, each and every character is tied into these action scenes in such a way that it never seems forced or out of place, only further enhancing the pace of the fights and leaving you out of breath by the end of them, not only because of how good the animation is, but because you NEVER know what's gonna happen next, or rather, you're not allowed to; that's how fast-paced these fights are. The action sequences are truly one of a kind. Each and every scene is brimming with kinetic energy, the likes of which I haven't seen since Akira and Quentin Tarantino. That's about all I can say without spoiling anything.
Mob Psycho 100 II is definitely the most enjoyable anime I've seen in a long, long time. I was in a perpetual state of awe for the last five episodes of the series; ONE sure knows how to wrap up a season. I never felt bored for even a second while watching the anime.
Fuck it, I'm just gonna say it. There's a certain scene involving the Body Improvement Club in the final arc that will remain in my heart for all of eternity; if you've already finished watching the season, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. I will nominate it without a second thought for my favorite scene from any anime ever.
SOUND:
The OP in my opinion wasn't as good as the first one, but was still great nevertheless, with the trippy & colourful visuals and the obscure references to future events. The voice acting for all of the characters(especially Mob-kun and Reigen)was great this season.
ART:
BONES animated the hell out if MP100 II. Half the reason the action sequences were as good as they were was because of the seamless animation. Also, Reigen's 'special moves' were beautiful to look at.
Overall, I really wanted to give this season a ten, but the story was pretty damn weak. I know that wasn't ONE's intention, but still...it would put shame to anime like FMAB and Made in Abyss that have spectacular worldbuilding and original concepts if I gave this anime a 10.
However, I will say, Mob Psycho 100 II turned me into a child again; internally rooting for the good guys to win, unabashedly gaping at my TV screen during the action sequences and saying 'Aw, that's cute!' during the more light-hearted segments of the story. It's an anime everyone should watch and will definitely enjoy, maybe not as much as me, but to some extent.