Mob 2
~Rival~
Japanese Title:
モブ２ ～ライバル～
Mobu Ni ~Raibaru~
Original Air Date:
7 December 2022
This... this is bad.
Mob lies sprawled, unmoving, in the middle of the intersection, his life force spilling out under the swiftly darkening sky. Panicking, the hapless driver who put him there calls for an ambulance... but the phone lines seem to be out? With only the slightest hint of warning, the asphalt craters in under Mob.
Tremors that refuse to let up collapse streets and snarl traffic for miles around, triggering landslides, bursting subterranean pipelines, felling telephone poles and buildings... An immediate evacuation order on the news now: Serizawa and Reigen watch as the pandemonium unfolds on TV, the Spirits and Such office trembling in uneasy resonance around them. Wasn't today supposed to be the day Mob finally asked Tsubomi out...? They eventually elect to close up shop for the day; a wise decision.
In his shock, a policeman's legs buckle under him as he sinks to the street... or what remains of it: a caved-in trench of earth leading into a nearby forest. The brave man's report back to headquarters of the fresh hell that just walked past him will, sadly, only be met with static.
A lone, dark figure in the shape of Shigeo Kageyama—???%—marches through the trees, bouquet in hand, cleaving the earth underfoot. Teruki Hanazawa, having figured out before anyone else that his overpowered friend might be the culprit behind all this upheaval, intervenes in hopes of calming him down. But how do you talk down an earthquake? A landslide? You don't.
While Teru's considerable strength can't hold up against the boy forever, he saves many lives in the process—and shakes something loose inside this walking unnatural disaster. ???% presses on inexorably towards Tsubomi, his continuing advance a silent shrug.
Cut to Sakurai lecturing Koyama on proper stock rotation practices; the two former Claw Scar echelon members' convenience store just so happens to sit squarely in ???%'s path. Just as they spy him approaching and gear up to defend their workplace... we see Tōichirō Suzuki, sat among other overpowered criminals on a prison transport plane, as Joseph the enforcer explains their situation. Suzuki, visibly anxious to act, knocks the rest of the prisoners out of commission, bids Joseph allow him to go alone, then jumps... sans parachute.
Tropes appearing in this episode include:
- Adaptation Deviation:
- We are treated to the effects of the shockwave resulting from Mob's ???%-reanimated form rising from the wrecked street instead of a direct view, as in the comic. Nearby streets buckle and collapse in turn, bursting pipes, toppling passersby, and frustrating drivers in suddenly-stalled traffic.
- The policeman sinking to the pavement is shown to have directly intercepted ???% for questioning in the manga... after being briefed on the danger the child had already caused. We do see the direct results of his confrontation on-screen, however.
- Teru in the manga slides off the side of the apartment complex—in the middle of downtown—onto the roof of a parked car, crushing it. In the anime, the boy's cushion is a set of trash receptacles that maintains its shape after his impact, and his last stand against ???%!Mob occurs in a significantly less-populated part of Seasoning City.
- Reigen and Serizawa connecting the destruction to Mob is 'heard' but not seen on the page. The adaptation clarifies the reveal by having Serizawa show his boss the same candid image of ???% from the back that Mezato, the Telepathy Club and the Muscle Bros find online.
- Whereas Suzuki uses his psychic powers to put the other psychics to sleep in the manga, anime Suzuki punches them (or sends them flying) into unconsciousness with a mere thought.
- Armor-Piercing Attack: ???% demonstrates this capability by shattering Teru's barriers at least three times during their fight.
- Berserk Button: In the original Japanese, ???% can be heard to let out a sharp sigh at Teru's calling him ordinary note , before exploding for almost three minutes of screen time. The English dub draws that sigh out into a near-growl.
- Call-Back:
- ???%'s Feet-First Introduction—not in the manga—harks back to Mob's first appearance in the series.
- Teru recalls Mob weeping, alone, on the Black Vinegar Middle School grounds while piecing the school back together. He wonders aloud whether Mob is crying now inside the relentless figure demolishing Seasoning City; the child is indeed doing so.
- ???% strips Teru of his clothes and his hair yet again, as in their very first meeting. This time, Teru keeps his dignity: he risks his own life to stop his friend and saves dozens of additional lives.
- Hatori, formerly of Claw's Ultimate 5, pilots the prison transport plane Suzuki jumps from.
- Determinator:
- Teru. Out of love for his friend, the boy nearly gives up his life to stop ???%'s destructive rampage. He refuses to back down either in fighting him off or trying to get through to him, only relenting when he proves too weak to continue. He's still strong enough to enclose all the endangered apartment residents in separate barriers and keep them afloat out of ???%'s path even after losing consciousness, however.
- ???% himself. He will not be shaken from his objective: Mob's arranged meeting with Tsubomi.
- Easily Forgiven: Subverted. Mob may appear to have forgiven Teru for nearly killing him earlier in the school year... but ???% has not, and makes a special effort to return that favor with interest when he stands in the way of Mob's original objective.
- Elemental Powers: Mostly hinted at until now. Over the course of the series, Mob has displayed the ability to bend water, create clouds and stimulate plant growth—as well as an immunity to immolation and electrocution—when conscious. When unconscious, he can also generate tornadoes, earthquakes, landslides and electrical storms.
- Feet-First Introduction: The first glimpse we get of ???% after the damage he's wrought is his feet mid-stride, the rest of him enveloped in darkness.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Teru's attempts to bring Mob back to his senses by tying him up in his scarf, pleading with him to see reason, even targeting Mob's bouquet. It doesn't stop ???%, but does shake Mob's consciousness loose inside.
- Kind Restraints: Teru lassoes his friend with his scarf to immobilize him until he returns to normal, apologizing for tying him up.
- Match Cut: A shot of the now-awakened but helpless Mob weeping inside his hijacked body dissolves into the resolute glowing eyes and darkened face of ???% as he presses on towards his destination.
- Neck Lift: ???% lifts Teru up by the front of the neck and hurls him so hard that his body exits the forest entirely and collides with an apartment building's wall.
- Shadowed Face, Glowing Eyes: A whole-body variant. ???%'s eyes glow white; while his black gakuran already offers a dark contrast to them, his face, hands and feet are all cast in quivery, spiky shadow as well.
- Shout-Out:
- The scene where a girl tracks strange ripples in her glass of orange juice—caused by ???%'s advance—is a reference to a very similar scene in the 1993 film Jurassic Park.
- ???%'s behavior is almost certainly a shout-out to classic kaijū films. ???% cannot rival a skyscraper in height but can easily topple one, and has elemental powers to boot.
- Silent Antagonist: ???%!Mob, who meets all questioning, pleas of mercy, or attempts at physical restraint with indifferent silence and even more violence, is nonverbal. He lets out a little gasp of shock at Teru attacking his bouquet, and sighs at the boy's remark that losing control like this makes him quite ordinary indeed, but otherwise speaks to no one.
