Anime Trending had a chance to screen the first two episodes of Mob Psycho III before the series premiere on October 5, 2022. Here is our writer’s initial first impressions of the third season. There will be spoilers in this article, so readers beware.  

The first two episodes of Mob Psycho III are a fine return to form for the highly anticipated anime series. I recently realized that I love this story’s ability to balance its tense supernatural elements with deadpan comedy and a relatable coming-of-age plot. 

Episode 1 centers on Mob’s concerns about his future aspirations and career path. The debut episode wastes no time in reintroducing Mob, Reigen, and their new friend, Katsuya Serizawa, living their everyday lives. After this brief re-acclimation, we shift to their main supernatural gig of the day. 

The latest client of the Spirits and Such Consultation Office has had terrible life prospects and currently lives as a shut-in surrounded by mountains of filth and garbage. For most of his life, his parents supported him until their untimely death and began spending frivolously on junk and hostess bars. Naturally, he begins to suspect that an evil spirit is haunting him when life starts to go awry. 

As we progress through the episode, the story’s central theme becomes clearer — the man’s depression turns into a living wraith haunting him. The man laments that he has reached a point in his life where he hasn’t accomplished anything in his life and often finds himself relying on others. He has no set goals and adopts a self-defeating attitude. His lethargy and listlessness not only affect Mob and Serizawa, who have also dealt with this feeling, but everyone in the surrounding neighborhood. 

Mob Psycho 100 is ultimately a series about navigating the challenges of not only adolescent life, but also transitioning to adulthood. Sometimes, this path isn’t as clear-cut or transparent for everyone, as this episode effectively demonstrates. After rescuing Mob and Serizawa, Reigen offers Mob a powerful piece of advice: the future is what he decides to make it. It’s life-changing advice for a young student like Mob, who holds his own destiny in his hands.

I enjoyed how this episode shows Reigen in a good light, despite him being irresponsible most of the time. I appreciated learning that he originally started his psychic consultancy office simply because he got bored at his old job. He only continued to operate after meeting a young Mob, who seems to have inspired Reigen when he was at a crossroads in his life. 

The second episode has less depth than the first but is still entertaining. In it, Mob and Reigen meet an overzealous youkai hunter named Amakusa Haruaki, voiced by the high-pitched Nobuyuki Hiyama. He’s the type of character you really loathe, as he rehearses his own intro before meeting new people, has rich parents who financially support his expensive hobby, and is in his own delusional head too much. He recruits Reigen to help him slay a dangerous group of youkai, offering a reward of 1 million yen. Naturally, Reigen obliges and decides to humor him while Mob is mentally preoccupied with making costumes for his class’s haunted house.  

Amakusa is similar to the shut-in client featured in the first episode. He’s an entitled character who has lived a spoiled life supported by his parents and isn’t aware of his own foibles. Instant karma hits Amakusa hard when his shiny 7 million yen Holy Sword instantly shatters to pieces in his attempt to slay a youkai. I couldn’t help but laugh when that moment happened abruptly. Afterward, Mob easily dispatches all the youkai spirits and the experience inspires his costumes for his haunted house. 

The second episode once again makes Reigen the star of the show. He can be seen as a deliberate fraud who knows what he wants and will take advantage of people when he sees fit. However, he still draws the line at crossing his moral code — regardless of how low a bar that is. On the other hand, Amakusa can be seen as a delusional fraud, whose self-aggrandizing image falters when he’s exposed as spoiled and weak. I think I’m beginning to see why Reigen is a fan-favorite character and sex symbol of the series. 

The animation for both episodes is on-point and of expected quality if you’ve watched previous Mob Psycho episodes. The show always excels at portraying these vengeful spirits at their scariest, with Mob and Serizawa’s otherworldly psychic powers carrying the spectacle of the anime’s cinematography. The first two episodes aren’t as dazzling as the series’ best episodes, but they still pack a punch this early in the season. 

Keep your eyes peeled at the end of the first two episodes. While these episodes are mostly standalone, the ending scenes appear to be building up a huge moment between Dimple and the broccoli-shaped Divine Tree. It seems to be a big plot point for Mob Psycho 100 III, and I can’t wait to see what happens over the course of the season. 

Crunchyroll is streaming the anime series in select English-speaking countries and territories.