This Is The Greatest Anime Of All Time

Hello! I’m Evan D. Mullicane, Senior Editor and founder of Screen Rant’s Anime Section. Ever since watching the first episodes of Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing on Toonami when I was 5, I’ve been obsessed with anime. Though I have a healthy appreciation for the classics, my favorite anime of all time, Mob Psycho 100, holds a special place in my heart that no other anime can top. Disagree? I’m ready to debate you in the comments.

With the unprecedented success of Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle at the American box office, all eyes have turned to Japan for a glimpse at the future of entertainment. Far from the niche interest it was when many Millennials were watching Naruto and Pokémon, anime is officially mainstream in the Western World, meaning the topic of ‘best anime ever’ is no longer relegated to cafeterias or small internet forums.

In my job as Screen Rant’s Senior Anime Editor, I’ve spent more time thinking about the topic of best anime than most. I have nothing but respect for series commonly cited as the best, such as Cowboy Bebop, Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. In 26 years of watching anime, however, I still haven’t seen an anime series more impactful than Mob Psycho 100.

Listen to the podcast with Evan Mullicane (@EvanDM) and ScreenRant’s Megan Peters (@meganwpeters) debating the GOAT Anime:

Mob Psycho 100’s Premise Alone Sets It Apart

Based on the manga series by One-Punch Man creator ONE and animated by Fullmetal Alchemist studio Bones, Mob Psycho 100 is about a boy named Shigeo who is the world’s strongest psychic. Due to the unreasonable power of his abilities, Shigeo (nicknamed Mob by his con-man mentor Reigen) is forced to suppress his emotions.

As new foes rise and threaten to harm his friends and family, however, Mob’s stress grows, as does the risk of him losing control of his own abilities and becoming a major danger to himself and the world at large.

Mob Psycho 100 Deconstructs Anime’s Biggest Genre

With its focus on a young man facing off against a variety of super-powered villains, Mob Psycho 100 sits firmly in the popular battle Shonen category occupied by massive series like Dragon Ball Z, Demon Slayer, and Naruto. Far from a typical Shonen power fantasy, however, Mob Psycho 100 interrogates the genre’s obsession with power.

In typical Shonen battle series like those mentioned above, strength isn’t just a measure of battle prowess; it is a reflection of character growth. When Naruto unlocks a new form or jutsu, it is understood that he is not just physically stronger, but is a stronger person as well. For Shonen heroes, growing stronger isn’t just a necessity for survival; it’s a vital component of being a complete person.

For Mob and his friends, however, things aren’t so simple. Much like One-Punch Man’s Saitama before him, Mob has reached the pinnacle of power and found nothing there. If anything, Mob Psycho 100 inverts the typical Shonen power fantasy. An abundance of psychic power isn’t just unfulfilling; it is a corrupting force that makes someone believe they’re more special than others.

From antagonists turned allies like Dimple and Teru, to looming threats like Mogami and Claw leader Touichirou, every major threat Mob faces has bought into the central assumption underlying the majority of Shonen battle series that strength is what makes people special.

This is why it’s so critical that Mob Psycho 100’s deuteragonist, Reigen, is someone with basically no psychic power. Far from making him less worthy of moral consideration, however, Reigen’s ‘weakness’ gives him an outside perspective on psychic powers that the series’ villains lack.

A common theme for power fantasy series, even outside of anime, is that the strong have an obligation to protect the weak. For Mob Psycho 100, however, that dichotomy is part of the problem. The lines between ‘weak’ and ‘powerful’ are arbitrary ones meant to separate people both in universe and out.

All of this makes Mob a far more introspective and contemplative series than its contemporaries. Far from just villains of the week, the series’ foes are all, more or less, reflections of each other and of Mob.

Teru is what would happen if Mob used his powers for small self-interest, Mogami is what would happen if Mob let life’s cruelties make him cruel, Serizawa is what would happen if the people in Mob’s life used his anxieties to control him, and Touichirou is Mob if he never met Reigen.

It is a telling choice that the series’ ostensible main antagonist, Touichirou Suzuki, is defeated at the end of season 2. For the series’ third season, Mob’s final test isn’t against an external threat; it’s against himself.

Mob Psycho 100 Taught Me a Valuable Life Lesson

When I was in elementary school, there was this program called GATE that I was obsessed with. It was a special after-school program for gifted kids who had earned high scores on their standardized tests. I’ve subsequently heard from friends that the program was really nothing special and that it was mostly a waste of time, but I don’t think I’d have cared, even if I had known that at the time.

What GATE was didn’t matter so much as what GATE represented.

Year after year, I’d wait for my test scores, excitement and dread mixing in my stomach. Year after year, I’d be crushed by the results. Average. Maybe slightly above average in one respect, maybe slightly below in another. Never exceptional.

I spent the lead-up to my final set of standardized tests studying furiously. Video games and TV melted away as I hit the books, determined to finally be one of the gifted few. I took the test. I felt good about the test. I got the results back. Average. It seemed to me that a permanent line had been drawn, and that I’d fallen on the wrong side.

I got over it, of course, but I never forgot that feeling. That pit of anxiety trapped in my throat and the numbness in my fingertips as I realized I’d never achieve my goal.

I still struggle with my self-worth, but now it looks different. I obsess over my work’s metrics, refreshing view counts and comment threads long into the night, hoping that my hard work will be validated by cold numbers, as though a higher view count will somehow convince my brain that my work is good enough. Like there’s some magic number that will convince my brain that I’m enough.

Maybe I am a good writer, or maybe I’m not. As Mob Psycho 100 teaches, however, that’s not what’s important. My strength as a writer isn’t tied to any view count, and my strength as a person isn’t tied to my abilities as a writer.

Mob Psycho 100 Gave Me The Reality Check I Needed

We live in a culture obsessed with talent. Political talent, creative talent, athletic talent. It doesn’t matter. Talent, in fiction at least, is what makes people special; it’s the difference between someone worth moral consideration and someone beneath it. Talent is the great divide between a superhero who fights to save the world and the civilians who are crushed in the ensuing battle.

In Mob though, that’s just not true. Mob is special despite his psychic abilities, not because of them. It is ultimately Mob’s dedication to self-improvement and kindness that make him the series’ true hero.

There’s a lot I could write about in terms of why Mob Psycho 100 is the best anime ever made. I could write about the sublime production work by Studio Bones (the best anime studio working in Japan, don’t @ me), or I could write about the gut-busting comedy. But, at the end of the day, there are so many anime with incredible production work and good jokes.

What determines the best anime of all time for me is something far less tangible and far more personal. Mob Psycho 100 is a series about how to find the good in others and how to find the good in yourself. Everything that is loved about anime is present in Mob Psycho 100’s 37 episodes. But more than that, Mob Psycho 100 represents a philosophy shift.

For Mob Psycho 100 and for me, kindness, compassion, and empathy are more important than talent and power. That’s why it’s the absolute GOAT.

But what do you think? Do you think Mob Psycho 100 is the best anime of all time, or do you think it stinks? Let us know your favorite anime in the comments below!

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