HOLY CRAP THIS EPISODE OF MOB PSYCHO WHAT THE HELL. This week’s fight felt even MORE impressive than the Hanazawa fight, somehow, amazingly, holy shit. It wasn’t as directly tied to cathartic emotional moments as that one, but given it came right after a wonderful reunion between Mob and Ritsu, I couldn’t feel that mad. I was actually kinda worried going into this episode that Ritsu was going to become a villain, in fitting with ONE’s general downer attitude. That fortunately didn’t happen – Ritsu has made bad decisions, but he’s still the same person he always does. It’s actually pretty satisfying to see one of the “heroes” make such ugly decisions, and then so quickly realize what he’s actually done.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

Hanazawa’s the one who brings Mob to Ritsu. Mob’s actions actually inspire another, which curves back to him in turn

“Ritsu… congratulations! You always used to want psychic powers.” Aw jeez, Mob

“The buddy-buddy brothers act ends now, Nii-san.” Aw dang

Like with Hanazawa, Mob’s strength is that he doesn’t bend towards the violence other people wish to see in the world. He makes them accept that they must grow

The lab has been destroyed, and the other psychics captured

“Only the strong get to give orders”

Mob uses his powers against someone else for the first time, in order to save his brother

For the first time, Mob is fighting against an Esper who’s used to fighting Espers

I love the mix of grounded and cartoonish animation in this sequence. Realistic animation that emphasizes Mob’s real bone structure is used to evoke the heaviness of the damage, while cartoonishly massive punches and stretches convey the power of the punches

Mob’s scribbly design actually losing form as his power erupts

Multiple animated sequences where the camera just spins around as the characters fly. Incredibly hard to do

An organization called Claw