"This 14-year-old is the most powerful person in the WORLD but really... he just wants to be a normal middle schooler...!" is absolutely not new to anime but USUALLY it's all a power-fantasy. It's humble-bragging. It's an awkward marriage of relatability and bus-window-day-dreaming. "Oh MAN, I just SAVED the WORLD 😱😏🌍💥but I still have a MATH TEST tomorrow 📏✖️AND I have a CRUSH 😊 (who doesn't know I'm the coolest badass in the world because that's a secret!! 😜)"
Which is all to say once again that no one is doing it like Mob Psycho 100. Because Mob is unambiguously the most powerful entity in the world and he goes "Okay but that's not very interesting. Being powerful isn't a personality. I'm gonna try to improve myself in ways that matter."
The evil spirit on his shoulder spends all series going "PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!" and Mob says, "No thank you. Do you want to help me with my math homework?" and the second most powerful person in the world comes up to say, "We are a supreme species of super-human better than everyone else!" and Mob says, "You sound stunted as a person. Maybe try working a customer service job?" and a classmate will go, "Why not use your powers to be popular?" and Mob says, "Psychic powers don't make you popular. Do you want to see me lift this 10kg dumbbell? I've been working on that."
And it's not a joke or a bit. And it's not the narrative giving a wink-wink-nudge-nudge to the audience like 'Sure Mob SAYS he's not more important than anyone else but WE know how secretly cool epic he is for his powers 😏'
Like Mob or Reigen or whoever it is in the moment says, "Maybe you'll learn something about yourself working a customer service job" and the narrative turns to the audience and says, 'You too might learn something from a customer service job. Just a thought.'
Mob Psycho is a power fantasy for young teens about how if you apply yourself earnestly and put yourself out there and value everyone equally and stick to your compassionate principles, then you too can foster a healthy and growing support network of people who care about you and who will help guide you as you figure out the kind of person you want to become. The psychic powers parts are just in service to that narrative.
