#if it isnt obvious i just finished watching mp100 and am currently going insane over reigen :'>

[darkkitty1208]

Thinking about reigen and mob again. A bit sleepy so this'll read really oddly.

Do you ever just think about how reigen doesn't actually know how much influence he's given to mob since day one. Like he always claims he's his mentor and always says he's given mob the best advice anyone ever could in his position, but i don't think he even believes it.

I'm a firm believer that reigen doesn't believe in his own lies. He may come off as confident when spewing them out and he knows he can fool others but he can't fool himself. That's what his character's all about; he knows he's a fraud. It's his career, fgs. He knows nothing he says is ever true and he hates himself for it.

So i don't think he fully realises how much his words stuck to mob. It was literally the back bone of the series' arcs. NONE of the things that happened would have happened or been the way that it was if reigen had never met mob and taken up his role as a 'mentor' of sorts. Mob actually learnt more from reigen than he could ever believe. Mob wouldn't have approached any of the villains with compassion and no intent to harm them if it wasn't reigen who told him not to use his powers against people/for harmful purposes. Mob wouldn't have such a strong moral ground (or, well, as strong) if reigen hadn't told him being a good person was enough the first day they met. Even in the hanazawa teruki arc it was CLEAR that his actions stemmed from reigen's words.

Reigen is (mostly) the reason mob is the way that he is. He literally helped shape mob to becoming a better person and he doesn't even fully realise it. That's why he's an important character that drives the plot even if subtly. Which is also why I'm a little upset that the series treats him as comic relief a majority of the time and why i hold the separation arc so, so very close to my chest because it gives us so much depth to reigen's character.

Another reason the separation arc was really important to the story is cos there's an almost-parallel in the way reigen told mob he just needed to be a good person to be enough and the scene where mob told him that he sees reigen as who he is: a good person. And it just twists and pulls at my heartstrings how the words probably meant so much for someone with such low self-esteem. That scene is absolutely VITAL because it was probably one of the reasons reigen confronted and revealed his 'true self' to mob in the ???% arc.

It's because he realises mob sticks with him despite everything because mob views him as a good person, not because of the lie that he's also a psychic or the empty promise that'd he'd be an exceptional mentor to develop and train mob's powers. And i fully believe reigen feels the same way towards mob; maybe at first he had used him and his powers, but along the line he clearly grows affection and cares about mob too deeply and doesn't see him differently with or without his powers.

And that realisation is what led to mob calming down when he went berserk in the ???% arc. And isn't it just brilliant how that's literally the same thing mob's been doing to other villains???

Two common themes in the series are 1. Second chances and 2. Emotional repression and (eventually) connection/revelation. In most of the arcs mob gives the antagonists a 'second chance' to become a better person and make them want to choose a better path by emotionally connecting to them, like how he shows teru he doesn't need his powers to have some semblance of 'worth' or how he shows suzuki that they are one and the same and choosing a better path won't ruin your life or make it any less good.

I say 'emotional repression' as a common theme because there are characters who shut their feelings out and instead fill The Void with other things (Dimple wanting recognition/acknowledgement and thinking he could achieve that through becoming a god) or characters who want to seem like they're Worth Something (Teru, Suzuki, other (ex) Claw members) or having the desire to seem like a better person and thus hide their true selves/put on a facade due to incredibly low self-esteem (Reigen). Mob made them all realise they don't need to do the things they do in favour of fulfilling that negative, unprocessed feelings.

There is an irony in the way that it also applies to mob. He's been repressing his powers his whole life because he loathes and is fearful of that part of himself, and if that's not a metaphor to emotional repression then I don't know what is. And reigen ALSO loathing a part of himself led to the confrontation scene at the climax of the ???% arc because mob sees himself REFLECTED in reigen and knows it takes courage to reveal that part and accept it as part of yourself which means that he's ALLOWED to embrace that part of himself TOO and it's just. That parallel between their characters is just. I'm. I am so. I just. And it's just. I think it. I just. It's very. I. Does this even. Does this. Make any sense. Can anyone hear me. Hello is anyone there do you see what i'm trying to say here guys im literally breaking down over this please oh my god can't you see how much fucking. How this is. Can't you see do you get it do you understand CAN ANYONE HEAR ME