Emi’s Short Story — A Translation

Aftermath (part 1)

I offer… a post-canon comic i decided to start on a whim. will i finish it? hopefully. Part 1 - You are here! | Part 2 - coming soon..?

Things I love about this exchange:

1. It’s really funny.

2. Reigen refers to being the bodyguard and right hand man of a megalomaniacal esper terrorist as “Serizawa’s last job” which is a perfect example of his attitude towards everything. “Yes I know you kidnapped the prime minister but have you, personally, got any customer service experience?”

3. It’s clear from this scene that Serizawa’s job interview was saving Reigen from a giant ball of psychic power and at no point did either of them discuss what he’d be doing there.

4. “Smack them with my umbrella.” Obviously this is a translated work and I don’t know if this nuance was in the original line at all, but I love the phrasing here. I don’t believe for a second Toichiro told him to “smack” people with his umbrella so much as "eliminate them without hesitation or mercy" and the fact that Serizawa would frame it in such an innocuous way speaks to the level of denial he was in.

5. Reigen, who recently had to knock out a client that pulled a knife on him: Yeah, things aren’t that different here.

I’ve been screaming about this for a whole hour he really was just going to beat the fuck out of roy for no reason

This may have been said before, but Mob Psycho 100 is just full of golden reaction images.

For example:

And they’ve been on my computer for so long because I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to use them.

There is no narrative basis for what Teru is saying here. Shimazaki was winning the fight before he sensed Mob approaching. Shimazaki gauged the situation, determined he was outclassed, gave a flippant reason for surrendering, got spooked when Mob’s anger/powers flared, and teleported away. At no point do we see him showing any signs of being traumatized, contrite or having changed for the better.

Teru is absolutely projecting his own trauma from the ???% encounter onto Shimazaki. It’s obvious Teru sees his past self in Shimazaki when the man declared himself the world’s greatest after Toichiro, and we know Teru is talking specifically about Mob when he says “there are people in this world with powers you can’t even fathom”. 

Teru interpreted Shimazaki’s situation based on his personal experience, namely: person has delusions of grandeur –> encounters the nonpareil greatness that is Kageyama-kun –> sees the error of his ways. He’s “pretty sure” about his conclusion. He can’t imagine having any other kind of reaction after being the target of Kageyama-kun’s wrath.  

This is the second time in the anime we’ve heard Teru acknowledge the lasting negative effects of his encounter with ???% (the part about nightmares for three days and nights wasn’t in the manga). I think it’s moments like these that can add nuance to discussions surrounding Mob vs Teru Part 1- a fight and its aftermath whose comedic elements (the ochimusha, heel-face turn, wig) have already, though well-deservedly, been repeatedly explored. 

Versions without glasses&color under the cut

Shigeo and Mob omitted scene dialogue translation

I felt like the way some of the dialogue in the MP100 manga during the Confession Arc “No one will save me” scene (not included in anime) was a little confusing, so I got my hands on the raws for that chapter and translated it from the Japanese to English to get a better feel for it.

Translation under the cut! (It’s long)

This scene happens in the manga directly before Reigen’s scenes start. It’s basically Shigeo’s internal dialogue that happens as Serizawa and Reigen are attempting to reach Shigeo using the umbrella as a shield. It’s also one of my top three scenes in the entire manga and I was crushed it wasn’t included in the anime.

But! The translated dialogue can be pretty confusing. The subject matter is already a bit abstract and nebulous, and it’s made even harder to fully grasp translated out of its original language. It’s the curse of translated media to always be slightly less clear than the source material. This is why I wanted to go and translate the Japanese myself.

The first page I translated is this one:

Below is the translated dialogue, separated by speech bubble, going right to left and top to bottom:

Mob: なぜこんなことを？— Why do something like this?

Shigeo: 僕のためだ。— For me.

Shigeo: やりたいことをやるためだ。— To do what I want to do.

Shigeo: 僕は僕のためにいる。— I am here for my own sake.

Shigeo: 僕には僕が必要なんだ。— I need myself.

Shigeo: 車にはねられたのを覚えているか？ — Do you remember being hit by a car?

Shigeo: そして身体だけじゃ動けなくなった。— After that, I couldn’t move with just my body.

Shigeo: だから意思で動くしかない。— So I had no choice but to move with my will.

Mob: 何を言っているんだ。お前は僕の意思じゃないよ。— What are you talking about? You’re not my will!

Shigeo: わかってないな。それが偽物だっていうんだ。— You don’t understand, do you? I’m saying that it’s not true.

Shigeo: ツボミちゃんに会いに行くための強い気持ちがあるだろう。— You have strong feelings about going to meet Tsubomi-chan, don’t you?

Shigeo: 僕にとってそれはとても大事なものだ。— To me, that is a very important thing.

Mob: そんなもの… こんなに人に迷惑かけてまですることじゃない。お前の考えは普通じゃないよ。— Something like that… isn’t worth making trouble for people like this. Your mindset isn’t normal!

Shigeo: 普通ってなんだ？またそうやって僕そのものを否定するのか？What’s “normal”? Are you going to keep denying me like that?

Shigeo: アンタはいつもそうやって納得したつもりになってた。— You were always pretending you understood like that.

Shigeo: そして割りを食うのはいつも僕だ。— And it was always me who scraped by as a percentage.

Shigeo: このままアンタが壊れて消えれば… — At this point, if you break apart and disappear…

Shigeo: もう僕は我慢しなくていい。— I won’t have to endure it anymore.

Shigeo: 僕の好きにやらせてもらう。— I will be able to do as I please. 

Mob: 自分勝手に力を速って… — Using my powers for selfish reasons…

Mob: 誰かに迷惑をかけることが「自由」なのか？— and making problems for everybody… Is that “freedom”?

Mob: 僕はそんなことを求めて生きてない！— That’s not what I want, or what I’m living for!

Shigeo: 誰かって誰た？誰に迷惑がかかるんだ? — Who is “everybody”? Who are you making trouble for?

Mob: え… — Uh…

Shigeo: 誰なんだよ。— Who??

Shigeo: その誰かが僕を幸せにしてくれるのか？— Will those people bring me happiness?

Shigeo: いつか助けてくれるのか？— Will they save me someday?

Shigeo: 思い出すんだ。Remember.

Shigeo: …いつも僕を助けてたのは…僕だろう。— …The one who always saved me… was me.

Shigeo: そんなこと… 利用されてたんだよ。— You always used me… for that sort of thing.

Shigeo: しかもそれをわかってて喜んでた。なぜ？— And yet, knowing that, you were pleased. Why?

Shigeo: 臆病だからだよ。自分の行動に…力に…責任を持ちたくないから… — Because you’re a coward. Because you don’t want to be responsible for your actions… your power…

Shigeo: だから他人のためにしか自分の力を使わない… — So you only use your power for the sake of others…

Shigeo: でも力を認めて受け入れてもらえるのは嬉しかった。なせ？— But you were happy that your powers were acknowledged and accepted. Why?

Shigeo: 力を使う僕こそ本当の僕だから。— Because the me that uses my powers is the real me.

Mob: 違う。力は関係ない。力がなくたって僕は僕だ。— That’s wrong. Power is irrelevant. Even without power, I am me.

Shigeo: 関係ある。力があってこその僕だ。— It is relevant. It’s precisely because of power that I am me.

Shigeo: 自分の本性を、裏を、半分を、隠して安心？— Does it give you peace of mind, hiding your true nature, your hidden side, half of yourself?

Shigeo: 嘘だな。— It’s a lie.

Shigeo: 自分に嘘をついたまま長いこと忘れちゃってたんだよ。— Telling yourself lies for such a long time like that, you ended up forgetting.

Shigeo: 部活に入って自分を変ようとしたけどそんなのは無理だ。— You tried to change yourself by joining your club, but that’s not possible.

Shigeo: 簡単に新しい自分を作ろうとしてるだけ。— You’re simply trying to fabricate a new self.

Shigeo: 一番難しい問題を先送りにして努力した元気になってるんだよ「モブ」は。— You tried to put off the most difficult problem by working out and getting fit, “Mob”.

Shigeo: ずーっと… 僕を見てなかった。— You didn’t look at me… for a very long time.

Mob: だって… もしこれが本当の僕の姿だっていうなら… — That’s because… if this is my true form…

Mob: 本当の僕になんて誰も近寄られない。誰も… — If this is the real me, no one will want to be near me. No one…

Mob: 誰も助けてくれない。そんなの嫌だ… — No one will save me. I hate it…

Shigeo: 本当は僕は誰も信用していない。まあ…律はわかってくれたみたいだけど。— The truth is, I don’t trust anyone. Well… Ritsu seemed to get it, though.

Shigeo: こうやって暴れる僕だって本当の僕だ。— The one violently raging like this is the true me.

Shigeo: まだ認めたくないの？— Don’t you want to admit it already?

Shigeo: まだ逃げるのか… — You’re still running away…

Shigeo: 本当に弱い… — You really are weak…

Shigeo: だから認めるんだ。これが僕だ。— Admit it. This is me.

Shigeo: 誰も助けてくれない。No one will save me.

Shigeo: それならそれでいい。それが僕だから。— If so, that’s fine. It’s me, after all.

Shigeo: 次に目覚めたときは僕は僕になってる。— When next I open my eyes, I will become me. 

Shigeo: さようなら、モブ。— Goodbye, Mob.

———-

Notes:

1) In the most widely-used scanlation, this line:

Shigeo: そして割りを食うのはいつも僕だ。— And it was always me who scraped by as a percentage.

is translated as:

Shigeo: “And it always put me at a disadvantage.”

It’s generally correct, but I think it loses some of the impact that the original, seemingly very intentional wording has. 割り means “percentage” or “proportion” in this sense, and 食う, though most widely used as a masculine slang word for “to eat”, has a secondary usage meaning “to survive/to make a living (through hardship)” My version of this line is not the most strictly dictionary-accurate one but I feel like it captures the feeling well, which is the point of translation when done well.

2) The line:

Mob: 誰も助けてくれない。そんなの嫌だ… — No one will save me. I hate it…

is translated in the scanlation as:

“No one will save me. I don’t want that…”

This is still technically correct, but I’ve always thought 「嫌」 to be a bit stronger than that. It’s most often used to express dislike of something, so it’s correct to say “I don’t like it…” but it’s also the kanji used in 嫌い (I hate…), and it makes more sense to me to think of it as “I hate it” because it also parallels Ritsu’s “嫌いだ/ I hate it” statement in his vs ??? sequence.

Anyway, sorry this was so long! I hope it makes sense. I feel like it cleared up a few of the murkier statements for me.

A list of interesting vocab used here, for Japanese language learners:

偽物　「にせもの」：(n) counterfeit, imitation, sham

迷惑をかける　「めいわく」：to cause trouble (for someone), to bother, to inconvenience

否定　「ひてい」：denial, disavowal, repudiation

我慢する　「がまん(する)」：to endure, to bear with (something)

臆病　「おくびょう」：cowardly, timid (kanji literally means “timidity sickness”)

近寄る　「ちかよる」：to approach, to draw near

暴れる　「あばれる」：to act violently, to rage, to be riotous

repost of this lovely boy

The Same People (1/5)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

Drive folder - AO3

In which Mob asks Tsubomi out and then some other things happen. Four of sixteen twenty total pages. Click to make the images bigger/more legible. ID in description.

i haint even fucking seen the finale, i wanted to finish this bit first. sortof tryna emulate ONE's busted no-taper fixed-width inking style. id follows

ID: Four black and white comics pages about characters from Mob Psycho 100.

Page 1:

A park bench sits along a trail in front of a wall of trees with black trunks and white, vague foliage. Tsubomi pushes herself off of it, smiling, and says "Oh--you made it!"

Mob approaches her along a trail. The same black trunks surround him, but a few are broken--one lies across the trail in front of him. He steps over it and says, "Hey, Tsubomi."

Tsubomi and Mob stand across from each other, maintaining eye contact across a blank gap. Tall vertical trees stand behind Tsubomi while those behind Mob are broken and bent. Tsubomi's expression is vaguely demure, her hands folded in front of her, while Mob is smiling and leans forward. He carries the sunflower in his right hand.

Page 2:

Tsubomi's face is large in this empty panel. She has an odd expression on. There is a smirk; her eyebrows are slightly folded and one is raised higher than the other. One eye squints a little. She says, "I guess the, uh. The storm has passed."

Mob looks down, makes himself anonymous, two eyes and some black shapes. "Yes."

Then he looks up, and there he is in full detail. One side of his collar is damaged and torn. He smiles widely, his upper lip curled. "Yeah. It has."

Tsubomi points with two fingers and takes a step along the trail, looking back at him. "Great. Let's take a walk, I'm tired of sitting here." She's smiling widely, clearly relaxed. Mob, staying where he is, gently holds out a hand and says, "Oh, yeah, but, uh, if I could--" His shoulders hunch. The sunflower is visible in his grip.

Mob is in an empty panel in exaggerated perspective so the top of his head is huge and his feet are tiny, far below him. Only his wobbly eyes are visible, looking down at the sunflower that he's holding diagonally across his chest now. He says "--ask you to stay here one more minute. So I can..." Tsubomi interrupts across a panel border, "Right."

Now Tsubomi's head and shoulders are in the empty square, and this time we're looking up at her from below. "You wanted to tell me something." She again looks mildly concerned in her eyebrows; there is a dimple in her cheek but otherwise her mouth betrays no happiness.

Off-panel Mob says, "Yes." Tsubomi, in close-up, squints and looks down.

Page 3:

In a tiny little panel Tsubomi is just her hair, a black oval, facing Mob, who looks up from his head tilted down.

Mob faces the reader, the otherwise empty panel framing his head, shoulders, and upper torso. He looks straight at the reader and says, a calm smile on his face, "Tsubomi, I like you. A lot."

This view is maintained as Mob looks away and shrugs one shoulder, still smiling. "Always have. Ever since we were little. You never treated me any different because of..."

A smaller panel just shows his head and shoulders as Mob looks back at the reader and traces a small circle by his head with his finger, to indicate him, his brain, something.

Another smaller panel just shows his shoulders and upper torso as Mob once again holds the sunflower diagonally across his chest. He fidgets with the head of the flower. "So if you would--uh, I was wondering..."

The same view of Mob returns, now with a few of the bent trees half-visible, highlighting his form. He holds the sunflower out in front of him. The flower is large and has its own little highlight. He has one of those smiles that's so strong that the front of it gets pushed down by your upper lip. He says, "Would you like to go out. With me."

Page 4:

Tsubomi stands, head, shoulders, and upper torso highlighted by the vertical trees behind her, looking right at the reader. She has a mild smile on and leans to the right.

The same views but the trees are gone, so it's just her as she leans farther, her shoulders slump, her mouth flattens out of the smile, her eyebrows crinkle together. She stares right at the reader.

The same view of her in an empty panel now twice as wide as the others, so she looks smaller though her size doesn't change. One arm has goes up to hold her hip. She drops her head down so her partially-visible face is a silhouette surrounded by the black shape of her hair and collar, just a nose, an ear, and a closed eye.

End ID.

yall already know what it is. sad tsubomi hour. this comic will answer two questions: one, what did the rejection actually look like?? two, how did mob get tsubomis number later???