Self-Proclaimed Psychic: Arataka Reigen
~And Mob~
Japanese Title:
自称霊能力者・霊幻新隆 ～とモブ～
Jishō Reinōryokusha: Reigen Arataka ~to Mobu~
Original Air Date:
12 July 2016
A small, vaguely human-shaped hole in the universe opens over a desolate valley, exploding the ground underneath it. As gigantic yōkai flood in after it in pursuit, an on-screen counter ticks upwards from zero. The little figure blasts these, and more, faster and faster, into psychedelic splatter... but eventually succumbs to the onslaught. Eyes sparking like agitated white dwarf stars, it self-destructs, taking this entire world with it as the counter hits 100.
Another time, another place. Arataka Reigen, who calls himself a psychic, is meeting with his client Hanako and her skeptical boyfriend Taro. Hanako explains: a spirit has been headbutting her in her dreams every night after her visit to an abandoned building on a dare. She needs an exorcism. The Ceiling Crasher, the spirit haunting this building, laughs off Reigen's attempt to exorcise him with salt, so our phony psychic pulls out his phone and calls on his 'ultimate weapon': a short, harmless-looking middle-schooler named Shigeo 'Mob' Kageyama. Mob, an actual psychic, raises his arm in silence and exorcises the incredulous ghost mid-sentence. He then reminds Reigen—who happens to be his mentor—not to summon him on short notice.
Reigen hands Mob his insulting pay for the day, then imparts some wisdom laced with more insults. As the boy makes his way home, a counter appears on-screen. It reads 'Progress Towards Mob's Explosion: 22%'. At dinner with his family that night, Mob's spoon bends and dumps his food on the dining table. This is a pattern. Mrs Kageyama wonders aloud why he can't be more like his younger brother Ritsu.
Mob blushes at the sight of his crush Tsubomi in school the next day, falls asleep in algebra class, and flails weakly in physical education. Reigen calls him at the last minute again on his way home for another job: this is also a pattern. The counter jumps to 25%... They've been called to exorcise an abandoned tunnel where an entire biker gang perished in a group accident decades ago. Reigen asks Mob to watch and learn, but Mob does all the work: an ancient and far more powerful mountain spirit was holding the gang boss and his friends hostage, forcing them to savage anyone who entered the tunnel. The teenager easily exorcises the thing, releasing the grateful boss and his crew to the afterlife.
While the two wait for a bus back to town, Mob wants to know: why didn't he do anything back there? His shishou, sweating bullets, reminds him that weak spirits are his responsibility. Reigen treats the boy to ramen, imposing limits on Mob's toppings; his own bowl, however, is loaded. Mob's counter now reads 27%.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Action Prologue: The first 90 seconds or so of screen time is taken up by a battle between our protagonist in ???% form and multiple evil spirits. Neither this battle nor the form the counter takes in this scene is ever referred to again in the series—it's implied that this was an earlier concept for a battle that appears in the show's second season.
- Asleep in Class: Mob falls asleep in his algebra class, and is embarrassed in front of his classmates for both sleeping and not knowing the answer to the equation in question.
- Bōsōzoku: The ghost boss and his crew were members of a biker gang in life.
- Brutal Honesty: Mob kindly comments on or questions Reigen's BS at least three times here.
- Catastrophic Countdown: Every emotionally-significant event in Mob's life adds up on an on-screen hit points counter in the form of a percentage, ticking ever upwards.
- Crush Filter: Mob sees his crush Tsubomi as brimming with light. He even imagines her friends as vegetables compared to her.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: Parodied and zigzagged, as Reigen absolutely knows how strong his psychic powers aren't and is lying. Reigen's go-to excuse on why he doesn't exorcise spirits himself: because 'he's too powerful' and everyone around him could get hurt if he unleashed his powers.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Mob's silent introduction reveals much about him: that he complies with unreasonable demands, is far more powerful than he appears and that he hides his emotions.
- In just under a minute of screen time, Mob is shown to be a hopelessly unathletic and lackluster student. He doesn't seem to have any friends either.
- Reigen gets a couple. He is introduced as an inordinately sweaty, dramatic, wacky salesman who ensures his clients are satisfied. Later we see he is not the kindest boss to Mob.
- Mob's parents are shown to be essentially loving, but emotionally distant. His mother in particular openly favors his brother.
- Feet-First Introduction: Mob enters the story this way, framed by a massive blue aura that illuminates his steps.
- Gonk: Reigen's client Hanako and her boyfriend Taro are not aesthetically pleasing to look at.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: When Mob exorcises the old mountain spirit and comments on its weakness, the gang boss is shocked. He wants to know who this kid is. Mob replies that he is nobody.
- Insane Troll Logic: Downplayed, as Reigen does not believe his own logic. He is so powerful that he'd melt everyone around him if he attempted to exorcise weak spirits? Really? Mob comments on it, but plays along.
- Jerkass: Reigen's justification for underpaying Mob and selling it as a 'bonus'; his putdowns to Mob's face; the threadbare ramen Mob is allowed. These are toned down significantly in subsequent episodes.
- Just a Kid: The Ceiling Crasher's response to Mob before the boy obliterates him.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Mob doesn't even allow the Ceiling Crasher to finish talking before sending him to the void.
- Lemony Narrator: Lemony both for its style and its tendency to point out the obvious, in direct comment on narration in other shōnen action series. The narration becomes more satirically heavy-handed later.
- Morality Chain: Reigen to Mob. He implies a few times in this episode that Mob needs a limiter. We will later discover why.
- Not So Stoic: Mob is not as emotionless as he appears.
- Look closely and you'll see a glimmer in his eyes after the gang boss thanks him for releasing him and his friends, or his mouth widening in wonder/surprise after Mrs Kageyama comments on Ritsu's perfect exam score. Mob's emotions are also made apparent from other characters' reactions to his words: Reigen's end of his first phone call with Mob implies the boy's displeasure before he voices it.
- Lampshaded: The emotional hit counter also shows otherwise.
- Punished with Ugly: Reigen initially assumes that Hanako was cursed with an ugly face. Her boyfriend corrects him, saying that that's how she normally looks.
- The Stoic: Mob's few displays of emotion in this episode are subtle enough to be lost on the characters and some of the audience.
- Tough Love: Reigen's calling Mob different variations on Baka multiple times in this episode while reminding him of the important purpose he serves in Mob's life... can be read as this. Mob seems to take the verbal insults in stride.
- Undignified Death:
- The ghosts haunting Honeido Tunnel turn out to be the members of a bōsōzoku gang who died when the pack leader slipped on a banana peel and caused a huge crash.
- The Ceiling Crasher, who jumped so high his head punched through the ceiling at the sight of a cockroach.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Reigen finds cockroaches terrifying.
