Mob Psycho 100 III has twelve episodes. It follows Mob, who is encountering normal school issues in addition to the usual shenanigans brought on by his mentor, Reigen. Mob works part time at Reigen’s shop, helping with fighting against evil spirits, but that takes a backseat in the beginning of the season. Instead, a lot of focus is placed on the “divine tree”, or basically the giant broccoli in the middle of the city. People are obsessed with it, and it comes to a breaking point.
Mob is involved in the whole divine tree affair, but seemingly a lot of the events of the city only partially affect Mob. He’s usually minding his own business and is only affected like a side character. Poor Mob is going through a lot of things in his personal life. He’s still shy and quiet, despite having so much psychic power. It’s not as bad as he was before, but given that he has made improvements, it feels worse when it’s clear that he still has a long way to go.
A key element of the anime is how there is a counter counting to 100%, signifying when Mob is stressed enough to go all out. It goes up and down, and there isn’t really a clear causality between the events and the counter. The season can also feel episodic, with random characters appearing. The characters are exaggerated, doing a lot of questionable things.
At its core, the anime is about Mob and how he deals with growing up, and all the psychic stuff, as well as the fighting, are aids in telling that story. Mob lacks friends and struggles to make them. He’s apart from normal society, different in his own way, even though he is very nice, he isn’t noticed by the ones he wants to be noticed by. Seeing Mob overcome and progress is heartwarming, especially when his sincerity reaches others that you might not have expected it to.
After the arc from the first half of the season finishes up, there is a chiller and more relaxing intermission section. It’s way more down to earth, at least in the beginning, as the characters are graduating middle school soon. They want to make one last memory and it feels like a typical finale to a typical anime set in school. However, it takes a turn for the supernatural and feels out of place with its development, even for this anime.
Yet that second arc leads up to an extremely relevant season finale, and one that is meaningful. Having hidden most of his feelings inside himself, and being so considerate of others, you want Mob to succeed, but also know that reality is harsh. It’s heartwarming to see that when he gets into trouble, there are so many people that he had met along the way, that are willing to help him, and not just giving a token effort either. They genuinely want to help him, and it’s a great feeling.
With all that wishy washy feeling talk, that isn’t to say that the animation is bad either. Rather, it is good animation, and it has a distinct style too. When the fighting gets serious, it is a visual spectacle. With all the flashes of light and quick camera work, it can be hard to keep up with the action and know what is currently happening.
Overall Mob Psycho III has an average beginning and a strong finish. It hammers home its theme of Mob going through what normal teenagers would go through, but with a psychic twist. It keeps its focus on the drama rather than the psychic stuff, and it benefits from that. The second half is where you see Mob distinctly having grown up and matured, and it is a great feeling to see how far that he has moved forward.
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