| “ | I don't really get it. | „ |
| ~ Mob's catchphrase. |
| “ | I don't want to see anyone else hurting people, or anyone else getting hurt. | „ |
| ~ Mob. |
Shigeo Kageyama, better known as Mob is the titular main protagonist of the manga and anime, Mob Psycho 100, written by the manga artist, ONE. He's a powerful Esper with vast powers, the former assistant and disciple to Arataka Reigen, as well as the current Vice President of the Body Improvement Club.
He is voiced by Setsuo Itō in Japanese and in English, he is voiced by Kyle McCarley in seasons 1 & 2 and by Jason Ernesto Liebrecht in season 3.
What Makes Him Pure Good?[]
In General[]
- Despite possessing incredible psychic powers that could potentially make him a god, he never succumbs to the temptation of these powers, only desiring to improve himself and become a better person.
- Mob holds a pacifistic nature and refuses to use his psychic powers to hurt others, though he partially sheds this as the series progresses.
Season 1[]
- While working under Reigen, he exorcises multiple evil spirits and saves the lives of many people.
- When infiltrating the Highso Private Girls' Academy, he saves a basketball team from the evil spirit, Scent Ghoul, and exorcises the evil spirit.
- Defeats Dimple and frees the many followers who was put under his mental control.
- When fighting another esper, Teruki Hanazawa, he refuses to fight back because he doesn't want to hurt Teruki. Even when he's being choked, he only uses his fists, demonstrating how much he holds to his pacifistic nature.
- When knocked unconscious and losing control of his powers, upon seeing the destruction he caused, he breaks down into tears of sadness and guilt, despite the fact that it was Teruki who provoked him and that he didn't intentionally try to use his powers to hurt Teruki or the school, then uses his powers to rebuild the school.
- He helps Teruki Hanazawa reform and see that he's just a regular person without his psychic abilities.
- He forgives Teruki for attacking and nearly choking him to death and forms a friendship with him.
- When Ritsu became drunk with power and beat up an army of gang members, Mob apologizes to all of them on his behalf, going so far as to get down on his knees when they ordered him to.
- When infiltrating the enemy base to rescue his little brother, upon fighting one of the female upper echelon, he starts crying because he does not want to have to hurt a lady, only using his powers against her when she asks for him to give it everything.
- Upon reuniting with his brother in Claw's base, is relieved to see he is safe, and when it's revealed the room they're in prevents them from using their powers, expresses confidence in Ritsu's intelligence and wit, causing Ritsu to cry when seeing his brother express his admiration for him even after having insulted and hurt Mob before. This also changes Ritsu for the better and causes him to abandon his previous quest for power.
- He is extremely hesitant to fight the remaining members of Claw, expressing that he really didn't want to hurt other people before lending his master his energy to deal with the situation.
Season 2[]
- He becomes the boyfriend of a girl named Emi; however, she reveals she only dated him because of a bet she made with her friends and expresses how she doesn't believe Mob to have any feelings. Instead of being upset at the way she lied to him, he takes what she says to heart, intending to consider his feelings more. Then, when her friends rip up her notebook, he puts it back together with his psychic powers.
- When his master gives a fake curse to a client when he asks for it, Mob objects because of the potentially negative effects the man could have living his life believing he cursed someone.
- Upon encountering a group of peaceful evil spirits he was hired to exorcise by clients, he refuses because the evil spirits were merely existing peacefully, treating them like real people.
- He is put in a mental landscape by Keiji Mogami, an evil spirit, where he has no one to support him, no memories of his past life, and experiences bullying on a daily basis. Eventually, his mind breaks, and he prepares to kill his oppressors, though is stopped by Dimple, who reminds him of who he is and his ideals. Upon understanding the cruelty of the world, instead of choosing to give into his hatred and how terrible the world can really be, views it as proof of how lucky he is to have amazing people around him in his life, demonstrating his incorruptibility.
- He saves Minori, the one who was bullying him relentlessly for six months in the mental world and who fatally stabbed him with a knife, and upon returning to reality, when Minori apologizes, Shigeo chooses to instantly forgive her, going so far as to say he was glad that they could meet.
- He doesn't hold any true hatred towards Mogami, despite him putting Shigeo in a mental world and mentally torturing him for six months.
- Despite knowing his master is a fraud and lied to him about having psychic powers, still believes him to be a good person and still works as his disciple.
- After nearly losing control of himself when seeing the burned bodies of his family, once Dimple convinces him they're dummies, breaks down in tears and thanks Dimple for stopping him before he snapped.
- He's enraged by the Claw members looting and vandalizing a store he and Ritsu shopped at, lecturing them not to use their psychic powers against others and attempting to stop them himself.
- He convinces Mogami to spare Minegishi by convincing Mogami that the villainous esper could change. Mogami accepts Shigeo's words, sparing Minegishi and passing into the afterlife, giving him a partial, if incomplete, redemption.
- He is disgusted by Shimazaki's callous attitude towards the destruction of Spice City and how he only joined Claw so he could have fun.
- When encountering another one of Claw's upper echelon, Serizawa, upon seeing how similar they are and how Serizawa just wants to have friends, tells him that Mob will be his friend. After talking with him, Mob manages to help Serizawa redeem himself and finally go against Claw.
- He forgives Sho for burning down his house and planting dummies to fool him into believing his family died, noting the trouble Sho must've been going through dealing with his father.
- Upon encountering the boss of Claw, he only wants to speak with him peacefully, and actually offers him a hand of friendship and understanding, telling him that if Toichiro ever wants to talk, he'll be there.
- Shigeo's words of understanding and desire to spare Minegishi so they can become a better person significantly touches Minegishi, to the point that they go against Toichiro to save Serizawa's life, who had also betrayed Toichiro and who had nearly been killed by him.
- Though he momentarily gives in to the thrill of combat, he quickly snaps out of it after seeing Ritsu look at him in fear, breaking down in tears of shame in how he let his psychic powers control him.
- Only fights Toichiro when seeing there is no other choice, and while fighting, he actually sheds tears for him because he doesn't want to truly hurt Toichiro.
- While he does attempt to kill Toichiro by painfully twisting his body, this was only done as a last resort after Mob had made every effort to settle things peacefully and to end the fight as soon as possible. Mob himself hates doing it, openly stating the fact that he had to resort to such measures meant that he lost.
- When Toichiro is about to self-destruct due to the excess energy he unleashed, instead of running with everyone else, Shigeo chooses to go back and stay with Toichiro in his last moments because he believes that letting him suffer and die on his own would be too sad. This act of kindness manages to reform Toichiro, who expresses sincere regret for his actions and wishes he could apologize to his estranged wife.
- He absorbs Toichiro's excess energy in an attempt to save his life, putting his own life on the line for his enemy so he could have the chance to apologize to his wife.
- He defeats Claw and officially stops the organization from their plans of world domination.
Season 3[]
- While initially becoming arrogant about his rising popularity and the expansion of the Psycho Helmet Cult to the point of disregarding Dimple's thoughts and feelings, Mob quickly gets over this arrogance and returns to his regular self.
- When fighting his friend, Dimple, he chooses to leave himself completely vulnerable to attack all as a show of trust to Dimple.
- Mob apologizes to Dimple for ignoring his feelings before and actually thanks Dimple for trusting Mob enough to try and ask him to be part of his plans, all in the middle of their fight no-less. Then, asks Dimple to tell him about everything he wanted to say before and promises to listen as his friend.
- Through his act of trust, Shigeo manages to completely reform Dimple, who promptly stops his plans of Godhood and mind-controlling the city. Even then, Mob shows genuine concern for Dimple choosing to give up on his dream, and when Dimple states it was Mob's argument that managed to convince him, bows his head down in shame.
- He helps the Telepathy Club find a telepath after Tome disbands the club.
- Mob goes with the Telepathy Club to help them find aliens, refusing to give up even when they didn't initially achieve any results and insisting to the others they merely enjoy the moment.
- He saves a cat from being hit by a car. Then, he saves a young boy from being hit by another car by pushing him out of the way, getting hit by the car in the process.
Trivia[]
- Mob, alongside Mumen Rider and Musashi Goda, are the only known anime/manga characters from ONE's webcomics to be Pure Good.
External Links[]
- Shigeo Kageyama on the Heroes Wiki
- Shigeo Kageyama on the Moral Ranking Wiki
- Shigeo Kageyama on the VS Battles Wiki