#like... again.. from shigeo's perspective

If I had to describe them in pictures:

Tome, to her clients

Shigeo, to life in general

(Specifically Micheal Cera)

☆

Them together ( Tome after Mob lost his job because of her )

BONUS☆☆☆

What contradicts them:

Tome: Is fully aware she doesn't fit into the society or its norms

Kageyama Shigeo stares down the drop from a 5 story building without his shoes on and feels a tugging at his chest to jump.

His arms hang down his sides, the wind picks at his uniform and whips his pant legs about his calves in every which direction.

He’s tired of waking up every morning to the same painful life he’s living. He’d like to close his eyes and not have to open them again - Every morning he wakes up to his ceiling light, knowing what school brings him; Knowing the cold shoulder from his brother won’t help him any - And his parents who are never home to ask him how he is won’t either.

He just wants it all to stop. He has nobody on his side to count on, and even if he did, what could they do besides watch him be picked on? Join the audience for the butt of the joke, as always.

Shigeo clenches his hands by his sides vehemently.

It doesn’t matter anyway, he thinks. None of it matters.

He lifts a foot and scoots it over the edge. The echo of Minori’s goons telling him he’d be better diving off from a building makes the freefall feel like it’d be easier. Maybe that’s the final way to get back at them. To make them sorry, make all of it stop once and for all-

“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing, kid?!”

Shigeo stops with a gasp.

His heel rests on the edge like a tightrope dancer, and remains there, as he turns around slowly.

Behind him, at the rooftop stair entrance, is a man holding a pack of cigarettes in one hand. His face is pale and mortified, his carrot-blonde hair whips around from the wind.

An office worker, Shigeo thinks. Maybe he works here. This is an office building afterall.

“You’re making a mistake!” The man sputters, sweat practically dripping off of him. His voice is uncertain, like there’s a well of things he wants to say all at once, but can’t seem to voice any of it correctly.

“How do you know that?” Shigeo replies blankly. The man seems taken aback by this.

“Because you’re- Well you- There’s just-”

“You don’t know me.”

The man looks lost for words entirely, and it looks painful. Shigeo doesn’t think he can jump when somebody’s watching. He doesn’t want someone to see him like that.

He just wants it all to stop hurting so much.

“You’re right.” The man says after a moment.

Shigeo watches impassively as the man slowly pockets his crumbled pack of cigarettes with unsteady hands. “I don’t know you. But I’ve…”

The silence becomes noticeably heavy. Shigeo says nothing.

“I know that it can’t have been easy for you. But this isn’t going to solve anything. This won’t make anything better, and I know you might think it will, but you’re not solving your problems by running away from them.”

Shigeo turns and looks back down at the street below him. Nobody notices him. The building in front of him doesn’t seem to care. Just like his parents, his teachers, his brother-

“How about you step down and we go and get some ramen, huh?”

Shigeo blinks.

He turns back to look at the man again. He remains in the doorway of the stairs, hands spread out in an inquisitive gesture towards him.

“I know a place down the street. I’ll let you have as many additions as you’d like. You like boiled eggs in your ramen?”

Shigeo is quiet, not by choice, but because he can’t think of what to say exactly.

The question is mundane and completely irrelevant to the situation at hand.

But yes, Shigeo does like boiled eggs in his ramen - Albeit he doesn’t get ramen very often.

“Yes.” Shigeo says, baffled.

“Me too!” The man replies with a frantic smile. “What type of meat do you like?” He follows up quickly.

“Pork.”

“Is that your favorite?”

“I don’t know…”

His feet are getting cold standing on the bare concrete this long in only his socks. His hands are stiff, his nose is cool and he doesn’t entirely know why he’s up here anymore.

That’s not true - He does know, but…

Ramen would be nice. It would be warm. The broth would be salty, the noodles savory, the egg… The pork…

“C’mon.”

The man reaches a hand out, recapturing Shigeo’s attention with an uncertain smile on his pale, sweaty face. “I’ve only got around 40 minutes for dinner before I have to get back to my station, so we need to get going.”

Shigeo stares for a moment that feels like years. His hair whizzes into and out of his face erratically. His legs are leaden and his eyes are dry, his skin feels too tight, the wind is stealing his breath with it from the cold.

“Kid?” The man from the office falters.

Shigeo steps back from the edge with a baffling lightness and he steps back into his worn shoes.

He tells himself it’s because he doesn’t want the man to feel bad witnessing his death, as he walks robotically along with him into the stairwell.

As a twitchy hand lands two consecutive and heavy pats on his shoulder before he’s led down the stairs.

The well echoes more than usual on the way back down towards the street. Shigeo counts every step of each section of each floor, over and over, the same as he did when he went up, his heartbeat quickening the further down they go.

99-98-97… all the way down to 1, rinse and repeat, and the traffic he’d been above before surrounds him in a noisy, jarring cacophony.

“It’s this way.” The man from before gestures to the right and Shigeo follows quietly.

“My name is Reigen Arataka. I work in the building back there.”

The pavement moves beneath their feet like a fisheyed lens. The officeworker Reigen’s suit shifts with each step. Their feet fall to the ground out of sync.

Reigen is tall. Taller than his dad and wears a dull navy-blue suit and a green tie. He looks overall like just some stranger Mob wouldn’t have looked twice at on the street. Kind of like him. Kind of in the shadows.

Reigen glances down at him from time to time with an odd expression as they walk. Shigeo makes himself as neutral as possible despite the bile that’s beginning to culminate in the back of his throat.

Shigeo feels his palms grow sweaty the further away they go from the building and it starts to dawn on him slowly what it was he’d been about to do.

Whatever blanket had muted his mind before is quickly receding and giving way to reality.

He feels the rush in his stomach at the height he’d looked down his nose at and his breathing suddenly feels labored, like he’s been running.

And oh, thinking about that on top of everything else is making his stomach churn even worse.

He’s never had a strong stomach - He’s always been pretty susceptible to vertigo, the feeling of falling, of floating, or driving, always made his stomach uneasy.

“Do you think you’ll get pork and an egg or is it fine if you just get one of the two?” Reigen, the office worker that had almost seen him fall to his death, asks nervously.

Shigeo stops walking and grasps a hand at his chest. He wrings his uniform and bites his teeth together tightly. They creak in his skull. Sweat drips from his hairline down his neck and he can’t believe he almost threw himself off of a building.

He can’t believe he was that close to dying.

He’s here because of chance. He’s here because of Reigen with his cigarettes and frantic gesturing and his absurd questions at a time that doesn’t call for them.

“Alright! Both are fine! As many as you want!”

If he talks he’s going to throw up. If he moves he’s going to throw up. Cars pass them. Shigeo heaves through his nose, but keeps himself somewhat composed. Carefully curated to indifference, as the world falls apart and respawns all around him. A dizzying, purple fractal pattern begins to cover every part of his vision.

Reigen moves and Mob’s eyes snap up to look at him as he curses and places a firm, heavy grasp on Shigeo’s shoulder.

“Hey, you’re alright! We’re just going to walk a little bit further and then we can sit down and have a nice warm bowl of ramen. All you gotta do is put one foot in front of the other.”

One foot in front of the other.

Reigen turns to stand beside him, one hand gesturing vaguely, while the other gently begins to push Shigeo forward.

“You see the store over there? With the small sign?”

Shigeo does see the sign. It’s a small one, standing on the ground in front of a warmly lit street shop with red entrance flaps billowing gently in the wind.

One foot in front of other.

“Yes.” Shigeo says breathlessly.

Ma Dongwook is so large lakjdlaj I know his power is getting larger, and I grew up with characters like Giganta, but it's still funny to see alkdjalj

Funny story about the anime: in the manhwa, the Japanese Hunters all get name cards in the gym battle. It's not truly lengthy, but it is time I can see the anime cutting to make room for other things, especially given, well, most of these people don't survive the next episode (assuming that hasn't been changed anyway, given they've changed a lot, even largely sticking to the manhwa). It's a funny almost novel-accurate thing because, well... the 4 v 4 South Korea v Japan fight is a manhwa-original thing. In the novel, Sung Jinwoo shows up to the gym, and Goto Ryuji asks to fight him. While the Japanese Hunters still matter for the plot, they're made more relevant in the manhwa, which is nice, I like when characters get names and backstories and whatnot.

A guy named Atsushi fighting a magical white tiger man is also very funny from the perspective of a Bungo Stray Dogs fan.

I'm less enthused by "let's have the few female characters fight each other, we're so original", which is also from the manhwa. As this fight is manhwa-original, Jinwoo stepping in for no reason to white knight for Cha Haein is entirely manhwa-original. Benevolent sexism still sucks. Let Haein fight her own battles. And no, her stopping Jinwoo later doesn't make up for it.

They seemingly compensated by making Tanaka Kenzo's interaction with Baek Yoonho here a lot gayer than it was in the manhwa, and I'm not complaining.

There's a lot of pretty Jinwoo shots in this, too. It's nice.

This episode reminding us: did you forget Lee Joohee (and Haein, Gina, and Park Heejin) has boobs? We want to make sure you remember. But it's okay, because Yoonho also has boobs. Equality TM.

Jinwoo stretching is cute. He's having fun. He doesn't need to do this. Everyone staring knows he doesn't need to. But he does it anyway.

The fight with Ryuji (at least most of the first part, especially when Jinwoo's dodging the little fireballs) is neat-looking! It's a nice bit of animation.

Again, a lot of cute Jinwoo shots in this episode. Love his little smile.

I wondered if they'd remove Ryuji freaking out after the fight, and yes, they did.

In the novel Ryuji is actually injured in the fight, because Jinwoo does grab his wrist, and he's so alarmed by the fight that he calls not the manhwa-original vice guildmaster of Drawn Sword Guild, Sukimoto Reiji, but rather the president of the Japanese Hunter's Association, Matsumoto Shigeo, and tells him, in alarm, about Jinwoo (Yen Press English translation, Volume 4, Chapter 3: Ryuji Goto). As a reminder, in the novel, Japan's plans to backstab South Korea in the Jeju raid are already revealed (to the audience). Ryuji believes they need to alter the plan to compensate for Jinwoo. And it's Shigeo who points out Jinwoo isn't on the list of South Korean Hunters attending the raid.

And this is how Ryuji is after the fight between him and Jinwoo is stopped in the manhwa:

I didn't honestly expect the Japanese animation studio making the adaptation to keep this, because it, well, I guess from a certain point of view, makes Japan look weak (e.g., "this South Korean Hunter nearly made Japan's strongest S-rank piss his pants"). But given everything else... I'll get to it.

The rest is mostly similar to how things are in the manhwa, which means we miss more of Yoonho fanboying over Jinwoo (which he does a lot more of in the novel), but we also miss some of Dongwook fanboying over Jinwoo, too, which is really cute. Sad. But hey, if you want to see Dongwook feeling up Jinwoo, the novel is right there!

Jinwoo giving everyone shadows (but particularly Choi Jongin) :3

Also as a note, Park Kyunghye returning home with Jinwoo and Sung Jinah to Jinah's sea of destruction is after the gym fight in the novel.

On the one hand, I really like that Jinwoo is going so hard in supporting his family, particularly in that his family is two women, and he's not precisely doing it from "they are weak womenz and need my help", but that his mom just recovered from a coma and his sister is underage, so they need support. He doesn't just abandon them to go fight (though he did leave Jinah home alone a bit before Kyunghye woke up soooo). Jinwoo's devotion to his family just hits different than a lot of similar stories. He does like fighting and proving himself against strong opponents, yes, but the simple parts of family life: keeping a clean home, paying rent, sitting down to meals together, supporting each other, helping his sibling pursue her education and career, helping a parent recover from an illness, are all important to him, too. Like, in the novel, we get this:

“At the same time, those few days were the happiest of Jinwoo’s life since before his mother’s hospitalization. So many things had changed.

Firstly, Jinwoo had brought Kyunghye home after her discharge from the hospital.

. . . Jinwoo slept comfortably without any worries for the first time in a long while. When he woke up the next morning and saw breakfast on the dining room table, it finally sank in that his mother was home.

Kyunghye, who was chopping green onions in the kitchen, turned to look at him.

“Did you sleep well, son?”

He smiled at her, not quite fully awake yet.

“…Yes, I did.” (Yen Press English translation, Volume 4, Chapter 3: Ryuji Goto)

He loves them. And he's happy. He deserves that.

On the other hand... Jinwoo, this is a national emergency. What are you doing lol It's just... I don't know how to fix this, because it simultaneously feels in character but also it's kind of dumb in a way that's just strange. It actually makes a little more sense in the novel because Kyunghye returning home is after the gym fight. She hasn't already settled in. But it's still weird. You could have him do this in the days before the raid and then he goes off with the raid. But no. I get it's so he can make a dramatic entrance, but still.

What we're also not getting in the anime (and in the manhwa) is the social media element of the story (from the novel). There's a bit of time devoted to the media and how the Japanese public in particular shits on the South Korean raid team on articles about the raid. Again, it's a time-saving thing, I can see why they cut it. But it also is very carefully cutting away most everything that's critical of Japanese people. And that's got its pros and cons. For anyone coming in with, "Well, Solo Leveling's novel and manhwa Japanese arcs are super racist against Japan", I think you need to crack at least one book on the history between Korea and Japan first. I'm not saying these arcs are perfect, but I can, to a degree, see why Chugong wrote them the way he did, and why even the manhwa did what it did with them. And that what the animation studio is doing, in some ways is probably improving the story... and in other ways is... mmm...

I'm also not encouraged by what appears to be the continued removal of the backstabbing plot. I'm not saying the original plot as written in the novel and rewritten in the manhwa was writing mastery, and I'm not sure how massive a change it will have on the story (though it does get referenced later, in the second arc, and frames that; Shigeo isn't in the story at all at this point, so removing the plot wouldn't matter as much because he's the most deeply affected by it (outside what actually happens on Jeju to the Drawn Sword Guild), and Go Gunhee has other fish to fry), but it is a decently massive story change. Maybe they didn't remove it entirely, and it'll be revealed next episode. Who knows? It's not looking good, though. I'm happy to be proven wrong next episode.

Also just saying, as someone who's cautiously looking forward to Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint being adapted into an anime, and knowing how the Peace Land arc was revised in the novel and the manhwa to be less critical of Japan (and with less emphasis on Korean history, particularly in standing up to Japanese imperialism), this is not at all encouraging for how that might be handled by a Japanese animation studio. It might be a different studio, maybe they'll have different values/direction, who knows! It's just worrying, is all, and that's part of why I'm focusing on it.

I'm not sure how much is going to be included in the next episode, and if they just skipped it for now and will include it then. There's a lot of stuff with Yoo Jinho and Jinwoo setting up their guild headquarters, Jinwoo saving a woman who's getting stalked... But there's no Han Songyi and Jinho meeting. There's also, again, a lot more with the media reaction to the raid and Jinwoo not joining it (a lot of people shit on him). And a training session with just the Japanese Hunters. Generally, it's not major stuff to remove, it's just stuff that's at least for now not there.

And we get a little Beru tease :D

I also think it's funny how, at least visually, Jongin looks almost like Felix Harrowgate from The Doctrine of Labyrinths with short hair and glasses (I mean it's mostly the rings and red hair and flirtiness and cockeyness but).

I don't have a type.

Min Byunggu showing up for his husband is lovely to see. It's also kind of funny the anime remembers Lee Minsung exists, I guess lol (Yes, they didn't make the scene, but considering earlier scenes of his got cut a lot, this being in here is funny).

Jongin showing off is fun. Poor guy going to confront his nightmares. But he fun to watch :3

Angel.

Anyway, there was a lot to like in this episode, despite some of the narrative implications of cuts and changes. Looking forward to Episode 23!

Other thoughts:

Season 1: Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11, Episode 12

Season 2: Episode 13, Episode 14, Episode 15, Episode 16, Episode 17, Episode 18, Episode 19, Episode 20, Episode 21, Episode 22 (you are here), Episode 23, Episode 24, Episode 25

Where to read Solo Leveling by Chugong in English:

Novel: Yen Press (ebook, physical book, audiobook), Tapas

Manhwa adaptation by Dubu: Yen Press/Ize Press (ebook, physical book), Tapas, Tappytoon

Ragnarok (sequel novel written by a different author): Tapas

Ragnarok manhwa adaptation (drawn by a different artist): Tapas

            If there was one thing to be said about Midoriya Inko, it would most certainly be that she loved her son more than anything else in this world. She strove to be the best mother she could be for him. In his ups and his downs, she always did her best to support him. It was difficult, at times. Izuku, because of his Quirkless nature, was a frequent target of bullying. He showed difficulty in making friends. The one person he claimed as a friend, Bakugou Katsuki,  seemed more like a bully than a friend to Inko. To her, it seemed as though she was the only person in the world Izuku had as a means of support. Thus, it came as a shock when Izuku returned home one evening and asked if it would be okay to invite two people who weren’t Katsuki to celebrate his birthday with them.

             The way his eyes lit up with eagerness and anticipation made it hard for her to say no. There were nerves bundled up in her stomach as she said yes, though. She wanted to protect Izuku from the scars that bullying left behind as much as possible. A fear of this being some sort of cruel prank didn’t leave her mind, even as he thanked her and rushed off to text his invitees. She did her best to brush that fear aside—if she was asking herself who in the world would want to spend Izuku’s birthday with him, then she was submitting to the idea that his Quirklessness made him stand out as someone undesirable. Even as she felt nervous waiting for that day to approach, she did her best to have hope.

            Please. Please be true friends.

            She repeated those words over and over in her head as she prepared his favorite meal for this special occasion. It was strange making katsudon for four; usually, she and Izuku ate alone, since her husband worked abroad. Hopeful warmth filled her chest. It was going to be a positive thing, seeing these four plates set at her table. Today would be a great fifteenth birthday for Izuku. Pushing her worries aside, she finished setting up the table just before she heard the front door swing open.

            “Mom! I’m home!”

            Inko hurried to the front to greet her son and his guests. Her nerves started to bubble up again as she saw the two people on either side of Izuku. One was a boy with a bowl cut wearing the gakuran of an unfamiliar school. The other was a very tall, thin man with longer blond hair that seemed vaguely familiar. Izuku waved his hand at the boy first.

            “Mom, this is my friend Kageyama Shigeo!” he announced excitedly. “He’s been training with me to get into UA as well!”

            She gave a polite bow as the boy did the same. He gave her a small smile as he did so.

            “Nice to meet you,” he said.

            His voice was soft. She could tell just from his gentle greeting that he was a kind boy at heart. Her worries had been for nothing, perhaps. Izuku turned next to the man on his right.

            “And this is who’s been training us!” he added.

            The tall man bowed.

            “I’m sorry for not speaking with you earlier, Mrs. Midoriya,” he said. “My name is Yagi Toshinori. You may know me better by my professional name, All Might. I’ve been training these two boys to help them prepare for their entrance exams for UA.”

            She wasn’t sure she’d heard that quite right. All Might? THE All Might? Training her son with this other boy from another school? All she could be was flustered as she invited the number one hero into her home as one of Izuku’s birthday guests.

            He must be ecstatic, she thought.

            But something seemed different. All Might was standing here in the doorway, taking in the humble Midoriya home, and Izuku was excitedly bolting down the hall to show Shigeo something in his room. The warmth from before returned to Inko’s chest. She pressed her hands to her heart and did her best not to audibly sigh. This was an unfamiliar sight, yes, but it was a welcome one. However this unlikely trio had met, it was for the best that they’d done so.

            “Is everything all right, Mrs. Midoriya?”

            Inko jumped a little at the sound of All Might’s voice breaking the silence. She turned and gave him a polite smile and nodded.

            “Yes, I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just grateful to see that Izuku has a friend. He’s had such trouble making friends, especially since we found out he was Quirkless.”

            All Might nodded.

            “I’m sure that was hard for you both,” he said. “Young Midoriya is a selfless soul. He needs people around him who care about him deeply because of this. I can already tell that Kageyama will be someone he can depend on when he needs support.”

            She wanted to believe that more than anything. All of his life, Izuku had wanted nothing more than to be a hero. Being a true hero was a very selfless act. He wanted to put his life on the line for those in need, just as All Might did. The number one hero was right—those who were the most selfless often needed someone else to care about them for them. Izuku was no exception to that. If this Kageyama Shigeo could truly take on the role of a true friend for him, it would put Inko’s heart at ease.

            The boys looked happy as they sat around the table to partake of the birthday dinner. Inko watched as they dug into their meals, both almost immediately expressing their gratitude a second time to her once they’d tasted it. After they’d talked for a bit about their training regimen for the day between themselves, Inko finally found the courage to insert herself into the conversation.

            “So, Kageyama, what kind of Quirk do you have?” she asked.

            He hummed for a moment, as if contemplating the best way to answer the question. Then, he lifted his hand over the table, and one of the dishes started to float a few inches over another one. It was very similar to Inko’s own Quirk, if she had to say.

            “I suppose you could call it telekinesis,” Kageyama said. “It’s not just lifting things in the air like this, though.”

            Izuku nodded enthusiastically.

            “You should see how much he can lift!” he exclaimed. “I bet Shige could lift a whole building!”

            The boy blushed a bit and scratched the back of his head.

            “Maybe…” he mumbled.

            Inko just laughed.

            “I’m sure you’ll get into UA with a Quirk like that,” she said.

            Kageyama tilted his head to the side.

            “Well, I still don’t feel like I have everything it takes to be a hero,” he said. “That’s why I’m training with Izuku to continue improving my body and my powers. I want to make sure that I can avoid hurting people with my powers.”

            His statement sounded as though there was something deeper about this in his mind. Izuku and Kageyama were complete opposites in terms of Quirks; Izuku wanted to help people even without a Quirk, but this boy had a very powerful Quirk and wanted to improve himself despite that Quirk. Perhaps, deep down, the two were more alike than she realized. Perhaps this was why they became friends. Izuku placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder and gave him a smile.

            “We’ll improve our bodies together,” he said.

            Kageyama smiled back at him and nodded.

            “Yeah,” he said. “We will.”

            Inko glanced over at All Might. He was beaming brightly at the two boys, clearly proud of their drive to better themselves.

            “So, Kageyama, what made you want to become a hero?” Inko asked. “That is, if you don’t mind me asking.”

            Kageyama shook his head.

            “No, not at all,” he said.

            He paused for a moment, clearly putting some thought into his answer.

            “I’ve thought a lot about what to do with these powers,” he said. “At times I’ve used them to impress people, but I’ve learned that it takes more than powers to earn someone’s favor. That’s why I want to be the best person I can be. I have these powers for a reason, and if using them to save lives is the best use of who I am and what these powers are, then I should strive to use them for that purpose.”

            It was evident from his words that Kageyama strove for one thing: to be a good person with people who appreciated him surrounding him. He and Izuku were compatible in this way. Izuku’s heart was open to everyone, and Kageyama’s desire was to be close to someone. Even if those weren’t the exact words Kageyama had used, Inko could see through it. She was grateful that Izuku had made a friend who sought true friendship regardless of Quirks.

            Her gratitude only increased as the evening passed by. After dinner, she, Kageyama, and All Might all presented Izuku with a small gift. The two boys played a few games while Inko set up birthday cake, and they excitedly hurried back to the table to grab a slice. Inko asked a few more questions about Kageyama’s life, and he humbly filled her in on some details while skirting around others. By the end of the evening, she felt as though she’d learned a little bit about her son’s friend, even if it wasn’t everything she was curious about. As the two guests stepped out of the door to leave, she gave them both a bow.

            “Thank you both so much for coming to celebrate Izuku today,” she said.

            The pair waved their hands.

            “Of course!” All Might said. “I wouldn’t miss a chance to celebrate with my students!”

            Kageyama nodded.

            “It was a lot of fun,” he said. “Thank you for having us.”

            Inko shook her head back at him.

            “No, Kageyama, truly,” she said, “thank you. Thank you for being a true friend to my son. Can you promise me something?”

            The boy smiled and dipped his head politely.

            “Please support Izuku as you continue this journey together,” she said. “He needs a strong friend to support him. He needs support in ways that I nor your mentor can support him in. Can you do that for me? And for Izuku?”

            With a smile, Kageyama nodded his head.

            “One hundred percent,” he said. “I will have Izuku’s back no matter what.”

            Even after the boy was gone, and Inko was alone with her thoughts, Kageyama’s words warmed her heart. Izuku had found a true friend. She clutched a pillow to her chest and did her best not to cry. It felt as though a burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She had long guilted herself for Izuku’s Quirklessness, and because of that, she guilted herself on his lack of friends. But now, he had someone who would stay by his side on his journey to becoming a hero.

            “Thank you, Kageyama Shigeo,” she whispered.

Superheroes are naturally special people. There’s a reason why they’re super, after all. Many deconstructions of superheroes have been done, but ONE characterizes his works by making his characters as ordinary as possible -- powers aside. Instead of making world catastrophes the main conflict, he chooses to focus on a smaller scale of the character’s personal world and how those powers affect their day-to-day lives.

Kageyama Shigeo (”Mob”) is an unassuming second-year middle schooler who has a complicated relationship with his psychic powers. While he’s indisputably the strongest esper on the show, he strives to suppress his powers whenever he can. As a result, he comes off as so ordinary that his presence is constantly overlooked.

And, of course, his resolve to stay ordinary will be tested again and again.

It makes for a great set-up and punchline. Mob wants to be popular to impress Tsubomi, so he’s unwittingly roped into a cult. He doesn’t want to risk hurting a girl’s feelings, so he lets himself be duped by Tenga’s fake confession letter. But this formula is also what gives the show an emotional weight. After all, the line between good comedy and good drama is blurred.

The genius of Mob Psycho 100′s writing stems from this: Mob’s psychic powers are tied to his emotions. The show naturally integrates character-driven conflicts because of this. Each arc represents an emotional challenge Mob must overcome. This allows each episode to have zany, over-the-top situations ranging from smiley-faced cults to a school brawl gone wrong to a shady organization, while still maintaining its heart. It’s never just about Mob’s powers -- it’s about why he chooses to use them the way he does.

The beginning and end of each story arc is marked by Mob’s progress towards his emotional explosions. These explosions are necessary breakdowns where Mob must wrestle with a truth that threatens to turn his world upside-down. And it is through these breakdowns that we grow to sympathize with him.

Through flashbacks, we learn why Mob has chosen to become a nobody. He’s terrified of hurting others and, as a result, has subconsciously compartmentalized all his emotions, positive or negative. Because of this, he is unable to take action for himself. He’s essentially a doormat, easy to sway and without a strong stance on almost anything. There isn’t much to Mob at first because he’s too afraid to express himself.

The core question of season one is “Who do you want to be?” For his entire life, Mob has suppressed his extraordinary powers at the expense of himself. Yet, at the same time, he wants to be noticed by his crush, Tsubomi. It’s a very teenage question and a very teenage problem. How do you stand out but not stand out too much? What qualities make you unique and special but not “weird?”

Through Mob’s explosions, ONE makes it clear that suppressing his powers is just as harmful as using them. You cannot ignore something that’s a part of you, regardless of whether you want it or not. Like being able to run fast, being tall, or being near-sighted, everyone must learn to live with the talents they were born with. Because Mob distances himself from his powers, he has no solid identity at the show’s beginning.

How people use their “gifts” to form their identity is also a key theme throughout the show. Teru bases his entire identity on his psychic powers because he is afraid of being ordinary. Ritsu despairs at his lack of powers in spite of his other talents. Dimple sees psychic powers as a mean to an end, while Claw deemed themselves superior to non-espers.

In other words: all these characters see power as a way to assert superiority. Who they want to be is implicitly tied with getting ahead of others or attaining a position of power and prestige. “Because I can do this, I am better than you.” There is, however, one character aside from Mob who doesn’t have this attitude.

Reigen.

Reigen is arguably the most powerful character on the show, despite being the most ordinary. The way he connects with his gifts is completely different from the main characters. He uses his myriad of talents -- massaging, photo editing, acting -- to spice up his business. He has complete confidence in the way he lives, even if his methods are questionable, and it is because he’s able to embrace himself -- flaws and all -- that Reigen is able to defeat Claw.

Although he’s a conman, his actions seem to genuinely benefit his clients by setting their troubled minds at ease. While he initially employs Mob only for his powers, he quickly becomes the voice of reason and kindness in a world that’s all about kicking others down. It’s an inherently funny concept. A conman being the nicest guy on the show? But time and time again, Reigen provides stability for Mob by telling him to be who he wants to be, expectations and society be damned.

Reigen equates powers to knives. In the wrong hands, they’re deadly weapons. But in the right hands, they can be used to create something good, like a warm meal. When Mob says he doesn’t want his powers anymore, Reigen reminds him: "It’s all about how you use knives, remember?”

This is crucial for Mob, who lacks an identity because he’s suppressed his powers his entire life. He’s taken a passive stance to his own being because of his fear of hurting others. But by doing so, he’s isolated himself from his emotions and those around him. It’s an unsustainable way to live, which is meeting Reigen was so important to Mob. He helps him understand that having a talent isn’t necessarily bad. It’s how that talent is used that’s important.

What’s striking is that, in the grand showdown, Reigen ends the season with his most important lesson: “It’s okay to run away when things go south!”

Figuring out who you truly are is a scary and difficult process. Who you think you are will be challenged again and again, but sometimes, when things are beyond your control, it’s better to recognize your limits. To remember that there are other people you can rely on, and that you don’t have to stay in a bad situation to force yourself to learn a lesson when the price is too high to pay. Learning who you are shouldn’t break you.

It’s what makes Mob’s declaration in Season 2, Episode 1 so impactful. Finally, he understands that he must take into consideration his own emotions in order to take care of what is important to him. The use of his powers to repair Emi’s novel is a nice parallel to how he used his powers in front of others in the previous season. We see through flashbacks that Mob had used his powers to only show off what he could do -- lifting frogs, creating bubbles -- but never did anything of actual merit. But Mob now knows that his powers can be a tool to help others and we see firsthand the impact of his realization. Emi goes home and, inspired by his act of kindness, begins writing a new story.

Essentially, Mob Psycho 100 is a story about the pitfalls of growing up, of navigating a world that isn’t so kind but deciding to choose kindness. There are enough people wielding knives to hurt others -- that’s why it’s important to use your knife for something good, in a world that won’t necessarily reward you for the choice. In the end, your life is your own.