Mob Psycho 100 S1E8: "The Older Brother Bows ~Destructive Intent~"

Now there's an ominous episode title. The part outside of the little curly marks in particular. Let's see if the entire status quo of the series is about to get upended like it seems it might.


The teaser rewinds a few minutes and shows Teru notifying Mob of the situation in the alley. Mob had been sitting on a bench with whatsername the telepathy club girl, people-watching and scanning for other espers (he hasn't detected any since creepy hooded guy a day or two ago) when Teru showed up. Naturally, he was wary and distrustful of Teru, since the two haven't spoken since their battle. However, when Teru tells him that some other psychic kid is getting into fights while letting people assume that he's Mob, Mob decides it's worth the risk of betrayal and goes to check it out, leading to the final shot of the previous episode.

Okay. About what I expected. Kind of a lame teaser, since it doesn't provide any context that couldn't already be easily inferred. Roll OP.

Ritsu and Mob face each other across the alley full of comatose (I think?) bodies. They ask each other what the hell each are doing here, and address one another as brothers. Teru is still watching from the alley's entrance, and he can hear them, so he understands the situation a little better now; he decides to leave, because he doesn't want to get involved in a family squabble that doesn't concern him. The creepy hooded guy on the rooftop, meanwhile, just keeps narrating the scene into his cell phone.

When Ritsu tells Mob that yes, this carnage was all his own doing, Mob initially can't believe it at all.

Ritsu is indignant at Mob's incredulity. Insulted. Either at the insinuation that he couldn't possibly have powers, or at the insinuation that he couldn't possibly be this violent. Or both. Probably both, honestly. Ritsu is tired of not having powers, and he's ALSO tired of being thought of has the perfect, well-behaved one whose good citizenship (and ultimately, boringness) can be taken for granted.

Narrowing his eyes, he builds up his TK field again and prepares to fight. Dimple warns him even more frantically than before that he should NOT try to pick a fight here; Mob might not be as ruthless as Teru was during Dimple's initial encounter with him, but he's at least as powerful. Ritsu mentally tells him to shut up, he's doing this no matter what his little brain parasite thinks about it. At that, Dimple promptly nopes out; Mob sees him shooting out of his brother's head and flying away into the sky to put as much distance between himself and the confrontation as possible.

Mob might be starting to realize what's going on here; he certainly knows better than to trust Dimple's intentions, regarding his brother or just in general. Ritsu, meanwhile, has had enough psionic stimulation at this point that he can use his powers without Dimple's symbiosis. He may or may not be a little weaker than he'd be with Dimple, but he seems confident that it's only a small difference at this point. Ritsu glows with power, raising dust and chipped pavement all around himself, and starts advancing on Mob. Mob's reaction disarms him completely, though; he smiles enthusiastically, and congratulates Ritsu on finally getting the powers that he's wanted for so long! Now the wedge that's been driven between them over these years will hopefully fall away and they can be proper brothers again!

Ritsu seems shocked by this, being actually reduced to staring, open-mouthed confusion for a moment. Like he had put himself in such a dark, hateful place that he couldn't even remember what his brother is actually like.

After getting his bearings though, Ritsu gives Mob...well. Hmm. I guess the question of "what his brother is actually like" is one that's been hanging over Ritsu for much longer than I realized. And it frames the story from a new angle that I didn't think about until now. I'm not going to hold that oversight against myself, though, because in this show it really is anyone's guess where consequences and psychological realism are going to align with the real world and where they aren't. But anyway. Ritsu tells Mob that sure, he envied his powers for all these years. And sure, he had something like admiration for him on account of those powers, ish. But more than anything else, he was afraid. Afraid of what Mob would do if he got too stressed out. Afraid of annoying him. Afraid of him attracting something. Just constantly living in fear, lacking their parents' mysterious ability to be nonchalant about all this stuff.

Ritsu struggled to bend spoons as a kid and cried when he couldn't because he was scared. Scared he'd never be able to defend himself. Scared that he'd have to live like this, in constant terror of his brother, forever. That, rather than envy, is what really ruined their sibling relationship. And that is also why Ritsu always tried so hard to stay on the straight and narrow, to attract only positive attention if any at all, to both minimize conflict and keep himself out of the house as much as possible. He became an overachieving student with a large involvement in extracurriculars and school government out of fear.

Well, now he doesn't have to be afraid anymore. Which means he also doesn't have to do so many other things that he hated doing. It feels amazing. If Mob wants to come at him with his powers now, Ritsu says, then that's fine. He doesn't care if he wins or loses, just being able to fight back at all will have been enough for him. In any case, he also doesn't see any need to be cordial and walk on eggshells around Mob anymore, so he won't. The pretense of friendship, let alone family connection, between them ends now.

Mob's stress meter immediately rises seven percent. I'm surprised it's not much more than that, honestly.

In response to all this, Mob patiently tells Ritsu that he doesn't believe everything he just told him, but he does believe at least half of it. He sounds patient. Sad, but understanding. Definitely not judgmental or condemnatory. To Ritsu's further surprise, Mob then walks passed him and kneels over some thugs who are just waking up. He apologizes to them on his younger brother's behalf, and begs them not to keep pursuing this conflict with either Ritsu or himself, and - if they can find it within them - to not hold this beating they just received against Ritsu if he wants to be friends with them in the future.

Because they are one-off Jojo villains, however, the recovering thugs angrily tell Mob that a mere spoken apology can never be enough after what just happened, and they need him to AT LEAST grovel and literally kiss the ground under their feet before they can think about forgiveness. They still think they're in absolutely any position to be making demands? It would almost be cute if it weren't so tiresome.

Mob complies, doing exactly as they ask. As is his way when placed in such situations. Ritsu, looking absolutely torn with confusion and outrage, tries to tell Mob to stop. His voice barely comes out as a cracked whisper. Maybe Mob would stop if he could hear, maybe he wouldn't.

I think I understand what's going on in Ritsu's head right now. First of all, seeing the thing he's lived his whole life in terror of act so meekly and humbly must make him feel all the more pathetic. Second of all, intentionally or otherwise (like I said, it's not clear if Mob can hear him), Mob is ignoring Ritsu's commands and heeding those of these brainless aggressors. Which tells Ritsu that he's even lower and less worthy of consideration than JJBA Extras 118-141. He's likely interpreting this as a show of contempt and/or paternalism from his brother.

Now, that said; while Ritsu's reasons for telling Mob to stop this are probably bad ones, I do think Mob should stop. Just from a consequentialist perspective. Validation and deference are the LAST things these punks need right now. Realizing how pathetic their whole way of life is would do them a world of good (remember, these are middle school juvenile delinquents out looking for fights for sheer bragging rights, not people forced into crime to get by or the like), and Mob's show of submission is going to make it harder for them to realize. This isn't even against the show's own ethos; we just saw Teru turning his life around and becoming a better person after receiving this exact kind of lesson in humility.

I'm not saying that this is a problem with the story. More that it's a lesson that I think Mob is going to have to learn over the course of it.

Anyway, Ritsu manages to find his voice again and asks Mob what the hell he thinks he's doing. Mob just smiles, and tells him that they're brothers, so they're going to have to tolerate each other's way of doing things. He hasn't tried to stop Ritsu from doing anything, after all, has he? Hmm. That in itself is a lot of backbone, for Mob.

Cut to a sinister-looking office somewhere, where a man with a military demeanour is being updated by Hoodie. It doesn't look like the bumbling rich guy from before; pretty sure this is an actual government agency.

There's some back and forth between Dr. Evil and Hoodie. The former seems to be a pretty demanding and obnoxious boss, talking down to Hoodie and verbally abusing him at the slightest provocation. When Hoodie sends him a photo of Ritsu (Mob and Teru haven't demonstrated any powers where he can see them, and - despite his own creepy inhuman aura - he apparently lacks Mob's ability to percieve other people's auras and identify espers from them), Dr. Evil confirms that this is the missing kid from their list.

We then see that the "headquarters" are in fact the dopey rich guy's lab, after some hasty redecoration. The nooblet kids are tied up on the floor, some of them looking bruised and dishevelled as if they've been beaten.

Looks like the wannabe-supervillain had his fortress raided and his subjects kidnapped by an actual supervillain. Possibly a state-sponsored one. The previous owner appears to be laying on the floor unconscious on the other side of the room.

Anyway, Dr. Evil confirms Ritsu's identity, and then gives the order for Hoodie to abduct him and bring him back ASAP. After hanging up and grumbling over his boss' abusive wording and demanding attitude for a bit, Hoodie steps up to the edge of the roof and Ghost In the Shell's his way down to ground level in the middle of the middle schooler gangland drama.

The thugs have mostly pulled themselves back to their feet by now, and are (very, very, VERY stupidly) trying to bait Ritsu into fighting them without powers by threatening to hurt his brother if he doesn't. Holy fuck these kids are stupid, I take back what I said before, there's nothing that will ever be able to teach them better, they're too dumb. This is cut short when Hoodie lands right next to Ritsu, grabs him by the head, and bashes it against the pavement hard enough to collapse his TK field and force him to stop resisting or else start taking hp damage.

Holding the subdued Ritsu back up again, Hoodie chuckles and tells the rest of the startled teenagers that he heard the tail end of their conversation there, and he agrees with the delinquents' overall sentiment. Might makes right. The strongest rule, because they are the strongest. However, he's a bit bemused by how they're saying it. See, they're acting like this reality makes *them* rulers, which, heh, no. He tells them to go back to their little high schools and terrorize their little classmates and beat each other up over their little neighborhood turfs; Ritsu here, however, has ACTUAL power, and is thus above their pay grade. They should realize their own place in the pecking order, or things will get even worse for them than they already are.

Not quiiiiiite the lesson these idiots needed to learn, but I guess it's within sight of the right general vicinity? Ish?

Also, we finally see his face. I'm not sure why Mob earlier thought his aura seemed "inhuman," since he looks human enough. Maybe he's possessed by a Dimple-ish spirit? Or maybe the inhumanity was just down to psychopathy rather than alien origin.

The idiots, being idiots, try to attack the superpowerful wizard who just beat up the other superpowerful wizard who had just finished beating them up. It...goes about the same way as it did when they attacked Ritsu. The only difference is that Hoodie, in addition to not giving a shit about his powers being seen for what they are, is also clearly practiced at this. No big TK explosions or wild light flashes. Every joule of telekinetic energy goes exactly where it's intended to go, throwing kids across the alley are slamming them into the ground or into each other with brutally graceful efficiency. Also, while Ritsu was drunk on power, this guy fights a little bit more like Teru (just without the fig leaf of restricting himself to touch-range tricks). Sadistic. Clearly revelling in every blow suffered by every delinquent. Preferentially targeting the ones who appear to be having second thoughts and backing off, just to make the others feel more trapped and desperate. Laughing all the while.

Finally, the punks all lose the will to fight, and just stand there hoping he'll stop. Which he does. They clear a path for him to leave. He walks along it, still carrying Ritsu, when suddenly Mob - who the others have understandably forgotten about by now - grabs Hoodie's arm and demands that he release his brother. His stress counter rising a dozen points per second as he sees this strange, powerful adult esper attempting to kidnap his little brother.

Hoodie launches Mob across the alley and puts him through the wall of a crumbling old building. While musing to himself on the odds of "that kid" having survived that. If he's still alive, then he's just unusually lucky.

...

Okay, so it IS possible to kill a human being through the direct application of force. Or at least, Hoodie thinks that it is. He could be wrong. It doesn't help that him launching Mob through a wall was only *very slightly* more extreme than what we've seen Teru and Ritsu do to many non-psychic kids.

It's not even a matter of tone, or cartoon vs. serious violence, because Teru was characterized as pretty much a serial killer waiting to happen (if not already one!) in his introduction. Everything about his presentation and framing said that he was capable of murder, despite his young age.

Maybe that building was much tougher than it looked, idk.

With Mob having tried to get in his way even after the others surrendered, Hoodie - still holding Ritsu - decides he might as well teach these kids a helpful lesson. He demands that they grovel before him and kiss the ground at his feet. If they don't, he says with a smile, he will kill all of them; the police will never be able to get him on it. They obey. He cackles.

Yes, one of the juvenile delinquents is just randomly four times the size of a normal person. No, none of the characters have reacted to this.​

If this is the kind of show of submission they require, Hoodie says, then that's what he'll have to require from them to finish driving his point home. He starts carrying Ritsu away again, while reminding the punks to never, ever forget how pathetic they are, and to always hide in the cracks from now on and spend every moment of their lives in terror of being noticed by something bigger. Heh, I see how Hoodie is the thematic foil for Mob and Ritsu in this arc. It's not exactly subtle lol.

Also, I'm pretty sure I recognize Hoodie's voice. This specific tone and pitch of villainous gloating is really familiar, but I can't quite place it.

Anyway, Hoodie obviously doesn't get far before Mob emerges from the broken wall and levitates after him at breakneck speeds. When he comes close, their repulsion fields rebound off each other hard enough to knock both of them back a good few steps, and to throw even more debris around than has already been thrown. Honestly, I'm surprised this whole city block hasn't collapsed yet.

Realizing that he's run into a pair of psychic siblings instead of just one lone esper, and that the one he grabbed may not have been the stronger of the two, Hoodie changes his demeanor. When Mob is able to tank his own immediate counterattack without appearing worse for wear, he drops the swaggering bully vibe and starts puffing himself up, trying to be actively intimidating. His smarmy confidence starts to feel performative, deliberate, as he shucks his hooded jacket, bears his muscles, and attempts to engage a serious opponent.

He still talks down to Mob for being "just a brat" who's not in his league, but it's a different kind of talking down. Like I said, less bullying and more posturing.

...unfortunately, Mob - at least in his normal state without going into 100% rage mode or going beyond even that and being possessed by the entity known only as "???" - isn't going to be able to win this. Either my hypothesis about the common ceiling is out, or else Hoodie is just much more practiced at using that common energy output level more efficiently for combat purposes. Actually, as the fight continues I'm leaning more toward the latter; Hoodie outfights Mob by using a called attack called "telekinetic helix," wrapping his arms in what's essentially a psionic featherduster chain.

Mob has a moment of hesitation, about whether or not it's right to use his powers against other people like this. The analogy of the knife comes back. But then, this is a situation where using a knife would be justified too, so he fights as best he can. Unfortunately, Hoodie is just too skilled. Mob is knocked down. Then stomped on. Then picked up and bashed through another wall. And then punched some more. It looks like Hoodie is actually trying to kill him now, if such a thing is indeed possible.

Seeing this happen to his brother gets through to Ritsu. He gets back up from where Hoodie dropped him and runs over, telling him that that's enough, he'll come quietly now, just leave his brother alone.

That would be a reasonable deal to make, Hoodie says. Unfortunately, the mission isn't quite as clear now. Who's the real target, at this point? Should he try and bring in both of them, or just one? More imminently though, there's another complication. One that's more fundamental to what he's doing and why, and the terms that he's likely to accept as a general principle:

He follows this (obvious, to be frank) explanation with a declaration that he doesn't like the expression Ritsu is making at him. It's still too hostile and defiant. So, he tosses Mob away and starts beating Ritsu again now.

Which, well. Beating Mob up can rile him, but it's not very efficient. Going for the brother though, well, we saw what that motivated Mob to do a minute ago. Now the guy is continuing, for even less reason.

I think I'm going to have to split it here.