hey, i think i just Got it.
Reigen not really understanding what Mob is going thru (him not being a psychic) is the perfect parent/teen child analogy. Like, he kinda pretends to get it, but he doesn’t really know – until the end. and he says, “I didn’t know! Is that what you’ve been going through? something this big?” That line just cuts me to my core and it’s because… isn’t that what we all wanted to hear from our parents when we were 14 and at the mercy of our uncontrollable emotions? to be seen, to be validated in that way? wow
the clickbait title: Amazing! This manga has the power to heal your childhood trauma!
rayman
I've had this ageswap story in my head where as a kid Reigen jumps in the middle of the street to save a dog and he meets Mob when Mob shows up to save Reigen (and the doggo) from oncoming traffic. So Reigen stalks Mob to the office and he's genuinely a good kid because little Reigen thinks it's the coolest thing to help people with your powers and Mob acknowledges this and agrees to take him on as his student
reuniting with mom
If you really think about it, what Ritsu was going to do for Mob during Confession Arc (allow himself to be hurt again to snap Mob out of the state he was in) is pretty much exactly what Mob did for him during the Cleanup/Claw Arc of season 1. Mob’s wasn’t intentional or planned out like Ritsu’s was going to be, but he found Ritsu in a violent and abnormal mental state and accepted him fully despite his actions, allowing himself to be bullied to protect Ritsu from enduring the pain of the consequences of his actions. And it was this self-sacrificial beating Mob endured from Koyama that snapped Ritsu fully out of his rebellion and bloodthirst by begging some “super powerful being” not to hurt him (like Mob did to himself in his head).
Also, “Half of that is true, isn’t it?”/“Dont bother trying to get rid of me. Because I’m your brother.” VS “This isn’t some separate, scary version of you. It’s a part of you.”/“Because I’m your younger brother.”
[ID: A series of Mob Pyscho 100 screencaps, here described in pairs.
Ritsu with shadowed eyes and Mob with solid glowing white eyes.
Mob looking serious or neutral and Ritsu with a fearful, shocked expression.
Mob kneeling with a genuine smile and Ritsu smiling with self-assurance.
Ritsu crying and looking battered and Mob sweating and looking harrowed. End ID]
But Ritsu decided to change the ending this time, and end the cycle of self-sacrificial trauma.
Of course, parallels in Confession Arc is a given bc it’s half of the entire point, but it’s fun to explore them.
I like how MP100 fully sidesteps the "But Who Deserves Redemption?" question bc honestly it's a bad framing that gets extremely bogged down in philosophical debates about Good and Evil and who gets to make the call and becomes an awful quagmire and is also not necessary. the better questions are:
Is this person capable of change? (Answer: Yes, always.)
Are they actually going to change? (Answer: That's up to them.)
Do you want them in your life? (Answer: That's up to you.)
my predictions for mob’s haircut, if he gets one
The thing about Reigen is. He’s Reigen. Sometimes he’s Reigen Arataka, and on very rare occasions he might be Arataka Reigen, but there’s no scenario in which he’s just Arataka. I don’t know him like that. You don’t know him like that. He doesn’t even know himself like that. He’s on a last name basis with his own mother.
nora - she/her - yelling about other things in @extra-spicy-fire-noodles
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