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Mob Psycho, like One Punch Man, is a really good show. However, I hold stuff I really like to a high standard, and I liked season one more than this season, so I have some beefs. Warning: beefs ahead.

I think One's (the author of both series' original mangas) writing style of introducing so many different characters and trying to reincorporate them throughout the story is more effective in One Punch Man, a story with such a simple premise that you don't get lost in the minutiae of who's who, who did what and when, and why they're being shown again.

For the sake of comparison: One ... Punch Man has such a simple premise that you never lose sight of how other characters relate to that premise. Sonic wants to be Saitama's rival, but Saitama barely registers him as a nuisance. Suriyu wants to humble Saitama, but he humbles him. All very simple stuff. You could say even a bit too simple in the second season, where Saitama spends much of his time in a bored funk playing video games because of how overpowered he is. But that's another topic.

My point is that Mob Psycho doesn't have such a simple, basic premise. Despite also being overpowered and able to win virtually any straight-up fight, Mob is much more complicated than Saitama, and the intellectual ideas and emotions expressed between Mob and other characters are rich enough that they could go in countless directions. Mob really is a show that should have fewer side characters than it does. Otherwise, if you aren't binging seasons 1 and 2 together, you'll probably be left thinking, "Wait, who is this guy again? And what was his deal?" It's a lot more to think about and remember in the moment than something as simple as "Tank Top Tiger."

Because of all this, the final few episodes of Mob Psycho 100 II are a bit of a cluster-fuck. Not entirely, mind you, but it just feels like juggling too many eggs at once. Inevitably, you're going to make a mess on the floor, even if you mostly succeeded. Don't get me wrong, it's an impressive juggling act. Very impressive. But you took on a little too much all the same.

I can't stress enough that I still really admire this show and all of One's work. The animation is gorgeous in a unique way, the comedy is top-notch, the pacing is very strong, the sound design and visual effects are awesome, and nearly every character is both well-designed and well-conceptualized and presented. But season 2 is a bit of a step down, if only because that instead of reigning things in and harvesting some of the richest sources of intrigue, more stuff gets piled on and ultimately, during this epic final fight with two guys throwing entire city blocks at each other, I found myself thinking "Man, what's Tsubomi up to right now?"

Here are some concrete examples of what I mean:

[SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT]

1: The show takes a hard turn toward a darker mood when it seems like Mob's parents were violently killed. This turns out to be a fake-out almost immediately. That in itself is annoying, but I understand the story reasons why it happened, even if I think something a bit more subtle could have been done instead. My issue, however, is that by the final credits, the show is ending with Umbrella Guy joining Spirits and Such with Reigen and Mob. It's a fine emotional note, sure, and it makes me curious about how this new dynamic will pan out. But I was left wondering, hey, has Mob seen his parents again? If so, shouldn't we have seen something so emotionally important to the main character? I know if I were in Mob's position, I would really want to see my parents as soon as the fighting was done. He does care about normalcy and living an honest life, right? How about his parents' reaction to the craziness that happened in the city, and maybe knowing Mob had something to do with it? I don't know, just something that doesn't feel like the parents were wheeled out and held on the chopping block for fake drama only to be forgotten entirely. Speaking of...

2: The second season builds a lot of interest in Mob's school life and then gradually abandons it. I'm still pretty annoyed that after two seasons, we didn't get anything more from Tsubomi than that moment where she pretends to be a client to check up on Reigen, and that little shred of a moment where she sees Mob get punched by the angry muscle guy. So many characters from the school felt underused. How about journalist girl, the one who wanted Mob to be recognized for his powers? I would have loved to see that sort of thing escalate until Mob, after going through a bunch of character development, just tells her no and to stop using Tsubomi to manipulate him, and then goes to reconnect with Tsubomi all by himself. That would have been amazing. At least, I think so. But keep in mind, my favorite episode of this season is the one where Mob and Reigen get back together after a disagreement. The ordinary life stuff centered around the more focal characters, you know?

3: The Psycho Helmet Society. So much potential. And I get that yeah, the concluding events of the season might lead to more in that direction, but a bit more from that group would have been nice. Maybe some interaction from Dimple.

4: I think Teru and Mob's brother are barely characters anymore. They've both gone through major developments and changed over the first season, but nothing new has come in to build from there. Also, I might have forgotten something, but what was up with Mob's Brother and Suzuki? They met for the first time when he burned down Mob's house, right? But by the last episode they're basically friends? I don't know.

5: By the last few episodes, it kind of feels like the show is no longer about psychic powers or spirits and is instead just about superpowers. My favorite episodes are ones that dealt in really interesting occult phenomena, like the Dragger lady who existed and had power only because of other people's belief in her. That's some Umineko level shit right there. I don't know, I just kind of felt like the scale of the action reached its ideal peak at the end of season one. When I picture Mob Psycho 100, I don't picture Mob playing Katamari Damacy with entire cities to defeat a god-like super-villain. It starts to feel like Mob and One Punch Man are blending together.

Yeah, those are my main gripes. I still really like the show, and I'll be there with bells on when season 3 comes out. But I just wasn't loving the second half or so of the show nearly as much as the first.

I hope that with Claw taken out, we can get more focus on all the things that felt overshadowed by that group. Not every show is Dragon Ball Z, so you really don't have to meet or exceed the scale of your past season in order to stay interesting. Anyway, that's it. Thanks for reading.