is a Japanese web manga series written and illustrated by One. It was serialized on

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the H ...

's ''Ura Sunday'' website from April 2012 to December 2017. It has been also available online on Shogakukan's mobile app ''MangaONE'' since December 2014. Shogakukan compiled its chapters into sixteen ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volumes. The story follows

Shigeo Kageyama , nicknamed , is the protagonist from One's manga series ''Mob Psycho 100''. Shigeo Kageyama is an average middle school-aged boy. Although he looks like an inconspicuous person, he is in fact a powerful esper with immense psychic power. To keep ...

, nicknamed Mob, a boy who has strong

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws ...

powers, and his struggles to find the simple happiness he is looking for. An

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series adaptation was produced by

Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, a ...

. The first season aired between July and September 2016, followed by a second season from January to April 2019, and a third season from October to December 2022. A

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...

series adaptation aired from January to April 2018. A spin-off manga series, titled ''Reigen'', was serialized in Shogakukan ''MangaONE'' app in 2018. In North America,

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...

licensed the manga for English publication in 2018. Meanwhile, Crunchyroll licensed the anime series for streaming, with an English dub produced by

Bang Zoom! Entertainment Bang Zoom! Entertainment is an audio post-production studio with its headquarters in Burbank, California, in Greater Los Angeles. It has worked on anime, video games, television series, feature films, and original animation projects. Their work ...

in December 2016, and broadcast on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

Toonami Toonami ( ) is an American late night television programming block that primarily broadcasts Japanese animation and occasionally American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and produced by Williams Street, a divis ...

block in October 2018. As of July 2016, the manga had over 1.2 million copies in circulation. In 2017, ''Mob Psycho 100'' won the 62nd

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga and features candidates from a number of publishers. It is the oldest manga award in Japan, being given since ...

in the '' shōnen'' category. The anime adaptation has been considered one of the best anime series of the 2010s.

Plot

is an average middle school-aged boy, nicknamed Mob. Although he looks like an inconspicuous person, he is in fact a powerful esper with immense

power. To keep from losing control of this power, he constantly lives a life under an emotional shackle. In order to help learn how to control his abilities, Mob works as an assistant to con-man Arataka Reigen, a self-proclaimed spirit

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane *Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

. Mob wants to live a normal life just like those around him, but a barrage of trouble keeps coming after him. With his suppressed emotions growing inside Mob little by little, his power threatens to break through its limits as he eventually encounters other espers like the Claws.

Media

Webcomic and publications

Written and illustrated by One, ''Mob Psycho 100'' began in

's ''Ura Sunday'' webcomic magazine on April 18, 2012. It has been also available on Shogakukan's mobile app ''MangaONE'' since December 2014. The series finished on December 22, 2017. Shogakukan compiled its chapters into sixteen individual ''

'' volumes, released from November 16, 2012, to July 19, 2018.

announced on April 23, 2018, that they have licensed the series for English serialization in North America, with the first volume which was released on October 24, 2018. A spin-off manga series titled ''Reigen'' was serialized online in ''Ura Sunday'' website and in the ''MangaONE'' mobile app starting on March 19, 2018. Shogakukan released a compiled volume on February 19, 2019. In March 2020, Dark Horse Comics announced the acquisition of the manga for English-language release. The volume was published on December 2, 2020.

Volume list

Anime

On December 2, 2015, ''Ura Sunday'' announced that ''Mob Psycho 100'' would be adapted into an anime television series. The anime adaptation was produced by

and directed by

Yuzuru Tachikawa is a Japanese anime director. Starting his career at Madhouse, he is known for directing the anime series '' Death Parade'', '' Mob Psycho 100'', and ''Deca-Dence''. Biography Tachikawa was born in Iruma District, Saitama on December 2, 1981. H ...

Hiroshi Seko is a Japanese anime screenwriter. After serving as an episode screenwriter, he was put in charge of all the screenwriting for ''Seraph of the End''. Since then, he has also done screenwriting for many other series, of which notables include '' A ...

wrote the scripts, Yoshimichi Kameda designed the characters, and

Kenji Kawai is a Japanese music composer and arranger. Known as one of the biggest names in the soundtrack world, he has worked on a wide range of mixed media productions, including anime, TV shows, films and video games. Among his credits are Toei's Kam ...

composed the music. The series aired between July 12, 2016, and September 27, 2016, on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

, later airing on ytv, BS Fuji and TV Asahi Channel 1. The opening theme song, "99", is performed by Mob Choir while the ending theme song, titled , is performed by ALL OFF. ''Mob Psycho 100'' was simulcast on Crunchyroll, while

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

broadcast the show's simuldub. The English dub was produced by

. The series was simulcast on

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed other cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, it is headq ...

in Southeast Asia. The Bang Zoom!-produced dub has been released on Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack with a limited edition on December 5, 2017, and was broadcast on

starting October 27, 2018. According to Jason DeMarco, Adult Swim executive producer, legal issues with the licensing of the second season at the time, with the Japanese version licensed by Crunchyroll, and the English version licensed by Funimation, prevented the second season from the airing on the block. The third season would also not air on the block, mostly due to Crunchyroll's "unwillingness" to licence the series to Adult Swim. The series was also streamed on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

in the United States until August 3, 2022.

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatr ...

imported Funimation's release in Australia and New Zealand, and

Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1987, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyr ...

distributed the series in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Following a screening of three Bones films, attendees reported that Bones teased that progress was being made on a further ''Mob Psycho 100'' anime project. In October 2017, an event anime titled was revealed. It is a 60-minute compilation of the anime series and features new scenes focused on Arataka Reigen. The event anime was screened twice at the Maihama Amphitheater in Chiba on March 18, 2018, and was later released on home video. At the end of the event, a second season of the anime series was announced, with the staff and voice cast returning to reprise their roles. ''Mob Psycho 100 II'' aired from January 7 to April 1, 2019, with the series being simulcast on Crunchyroll. On April 18, 2019, Funimation and Crunchyroll confirmed that season two would simuldub on April 25. The opening theme for the second season is "99.9" by Mob Choir feat. sajou no hana. Four ending themes performed by sajou no hana; , , and , were used for the second season. Following the conclusion of the second season, another

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

was announced, with Yuzuru Tachikawa reprising his role as director. The OVA, titled was released on September 25, 2019. The second OVA episode premiered worldwide at Crunchyroll Expo 2019 on September 1, 2019. Simulcast streaming of the OVA episode on Crunchyroll began worldwide (except Asia) on September 25, 2019. On October 19, 2021, it was announced that a third season was in production. Takahiro Hasui directed the season, with Yuzuru Tachikawa serving as chief director. The main cast and staff reprised their roles. ''Mob Psycho 100 III'' aired from October 6 to December 22, 2022. The opening theme is "1", and the ending theme is "Cobalt", both performed by Mob Choir. The third season's simuldub was slated to be produced by Crunchyroll rather than Bang Zoom! with some roles recast, due to the choice to move dub production to in-person recording sessions at their Dallas based studio, rather than remote recordings, after largely relying on the latter at the start of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Among the planned recastings was the voice of Mob,

Kyle McCarley Kyle McCarley (born December 5Birthday tweets: * ) is an American voice actor known for his work in video games and anime. In anime, he is known as the voice of Shigeo Kageyama from ''Mob Psycho 100'', Mikazuki Augus from '' Mobile Suit Gundam: ...

, who stated that he would likely not be reprising the role as Crunchyroll had refused to negotiate a potential union contract for future anime dubbing productions with McCarley's union

SAG-AFTRA The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA, stylized as SAG·AFTRA ) is an American labor union representing approximately 160,000 film and television actors, journalists, radio personalities, recordi ...

. McCarley had offered to work non-union on season 3 under the condition that Crunchyroll discuss with SAG-AFTRA, but as this did not proceed, McCarley will likely not return. This news prompted much criticism of Crunchyroll on social media.

Drama

A 12-episode

Japanese television drama , also called , are television programs that are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, jidaigeki, thrill ...

was broadcast on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...

's MokuDora 25 timeslot from January 18 to April 5, 2018.

Other media

A fanbook was published on November 17, 2022. It includes detailed information about the series, its characters, story and setting. It also features illustrations by various manga artists, including

Hiromu Arakawa is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for the manga series '' Fullmetal Alchemist'' (2001–2010), which became a hit both domestically and internationally, and was adapted into two anime television series. She is also known for '' Silv ...

, Kotoyama,

Takako Shimura is a Japanese manga artist. She is primarily known for her manga works which feature LGBT (especially lesbian and transgender) topics. Her best known and selling series are ''Aoi Hana'' and '' Wandering Son''. ''Aoi Hana'' was adapted as an anim ...

, Nagano,

Ryōji Minagawa is a Japanese manga artist born in Sumida, Tokyo. He was invited with ''Spriggan'' story writer Hiroshi Takashige to go to a comic convention in Portugal in 1996 as a guest of honor due to his work on ''Spriggan''. He worked on other manga c ...

and Itaru Bonnoki.

Reception

Manga

''Mob Psycho 100'' won the 62nd

in the '' shōnen'' category in 2017. As of July 2016, ''Mob Psycho 100'' had over 1.2 million copies in circulation. The comic book writers of

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is ...

listed it as one of the "Most Wanted Manga" from 2016.

Critical reception

Ian Wolf from ''Anime UK News'' praised the first two volumes of the series, giving them 8 out of 10, and stated " One’s art is notable for a few reasons. The art is designed to be humorous rather than stylish. Part of the comedy value in One’s work is the rough styling that adds to the scenarios he creates. In this second volume of ''Mob Psycho 100'', it is the action which is the main focus. There is some comedy thrown into the mix as well, but mainly this time it is about the battle between the two psychics and their different philosophies. It is also interesting to witness this fight because it is one in which one of the participants is trying their hardest not to fight, while the other is giving it all they’ve got. Having said this, there is still some comedy added to the heat of the battle, the main highlight being when Teru tries to use knives to beat Mob, but Mob deflects one of the knives away, accidentally cutting off a massive chunk of Teru’s hair. It is at times like this where One’s art style can sometimes fall down. His rough artwork does lead neatly to the chaotic scenes he is trying to depict at the height of the fight but when it comes to the more dramatic moments, the rough style lacks pathos. Here, the anime has the edge when it depicts the fight because other elements such as the music or the use of colour can add to the tension".

Anime

In the 1st Crunchyroll Anime Awards, the first season of the anime series received two awards: Best Action and Best Fight Scene (Shigeo vs. Koyama). It was also nominated in six other categories, including "Anime of the Year". At the

4th Crunchyroll Anime Awards The 4th Crunchyroll Anime Awards were held on February 15, 2020, honoring excellence in anime from 2019. Crunchyroll announced the categories and the list of judges for the 2020 awards on December 17, while also noting that the list was still not ...

in 2020, the second season of the anime also won two awards: Best Animation and Best Opening Sequence for "99.9" by Mob Choir feat. Sajou no Hana. It was also nominated in five other categories, including "Anime of the Year". ''Mob Psycho 100'' was one of the Jury Recommended Works in the Animation Division at the 20th

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by a ...

in 2017. In November 2019, ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...

'' named ''Mob Psycho 100'' as one of the best anime of the 2010s, and Crunchyroll listed it in their "Top 25 best anime of the 2010s".

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

also listed ''Mob Psycho 100'' among the best anime series of the 2010s. In September 2020, the series went viral after American businessman

Eric Trump Eric Frederick Trump (born January 6, 1984) is an American businessman, activist, and former reality television presenter. He is the third child and second son of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and his fir ...

, son of then-

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

, published a tweet connecting the series to allegations of censorship by Google, due to

Google Search Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the most-visited website in the world. The ...

results for "mob" showing Mob's face rather than a group of people.

Critical reception

'' Anime News Network'' listed the first season of ''Mob Psycho 100'' among the best anime series of 2016. Nick Creamer praised the series' visual style, character story and its concepts of heroism and society also presented in ONE's other work ''

One-Punch Man is a Japanese superhero manga series created by One. It tells the story of Saitama, a superhero who, because he can defeat any opponent with a single punch, grows bored from a lack of challenge. One wrote the original webcomic manga ve ...

''. Lauren Orsini commended the coming-of-age story of Mob and praised the series' animation and music. James Beckett of ''Anime News Network'' gave the second season an A+, and describes the series as "I don't know how else to put it: ''Mob Psycho 100 II'' is about as close to perfect a season of television as I can imagine. I am willing to bet that the series will go down as one of the best seasons of anime ever produced, and you owe it to yourself to experience it first-hand. A modern masterpiece of animation that needs to be seen to be believed".

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Toonami Adult Swim 2010s webcomics 2012 manga 2012 webcomic debuts 2017 webcomic endings 2018 Japanese television series debuts 2018 Japanese television series endings Action anime and manga Action webcomics Anime series based on manga Bones (studio) Coming-of-age anime and manga Crunchyroll Anime Awards winners Crunchyroll anime Dark Horse Comics titles Exorcism in anime and manga Fiction about psychic powers Fiction about spirit possession Funimation Ghosts in popular culture Japanese comedy webcomics Japanese-language Netflix original programming School life in anime and manga Shogakukan franchises Shogakukan manga Shōnen manga Supernatural anime and manga Television shows based on Japanese webcomics Tokyo MX original programming Toonami TV Asahi original programming TV Tokyo original programming Warner Entertainment Japan franchises Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen manga