Summary
Kageyama Shigeo is undoubtedlyone of the most powerfulespers ever. However, without his esper abilities, Mob is considered a scrawny and bland kid with no standout feature. His many insecurities have been seen as ways to manipulate him and get him to fulfill the wishes of others instead.
Mob thoroughly worked on a lot of his weaknesses over the course oftheMob Psycho 100series; however, they still remain his greatest vulnerabilities, through which he lost many things, including possibly the love of his life. While he eventually worked on his weaknesses, they did keep him from a lot of things, particularly early on in his life in theMob Psycho 100series.
Emotional Suppression
Suppressing His Emotions Has More Disadvantages Than Benefits
Throughout mostof the series, Mob’s greatest weakness may as well be his inability to express his emotions without his psychic powers overflowing. Because of this, Mob constantly suppressed his emotions, and eventually, he became known as a ticking time bomb.
Whenever he got stressed or felt emotional stimuli over a period of time, he would explode with his psychic abilities depending on what he felt. In better controlling his psychic abilities, Mob lost his ability to accurately depict what he was feeling and how to move forward based on it. This often led to uncontrolled outbursts that endangered even those close to him.
Socially Awkward
All-Powerful, But Clumsy In Social Settings
On a long list of the most socially awkward anime characters, Kageyama Shigeo would definitely rank among the top. Mob’s social awkwardness is seen in his interactions even with those he calls friends, much less strangers. A prime example would be when he went up to give a speech to participate in an election. Unfortunately, Mob froze up and was unable to utter anything.
Mob’s social awkwardness often affects his day-to-day relationships, and his long-time crush Tsubomi tells him, “Get a clue,” referring to his literal inability to read the room. Unfortunately, Mob’s social awkwardness makes him unable to make lasting friendships; instead, he attracts bullies who think they can make short work of him.
Heavily Dependent On Reigen
Mob’s Obsessive Reliance On His Boss
Right from the beginning of the series, Mob is dependent on his boss and mentor, Arataka Reigen. As a character,Reigen is downright shadyand is not above manipulating his enemies, clients, and even allies. Despite having no psychic abilities, Reigen is the owner of Spirits and Such Consultation Office and uses pure manipulation and psychology to charm and help his clients.
When Mob enters the picture, however, Reigen grows more credibility with an esper at his side. However, said Esper began to feel too comfortable leaving all his problems to Reigen. Over time, this becomes a problem as Mob loses all forms of accountability for himself and sees Reigen as his problem solver rather than taking responsibility for his life and actions.
Tsubomi
Loses All Sense Of Reasoning When It Comes To His Childhood Crush
As a character who’s unable to properly express himself, Mob keeps his emotions suppressed instead; however, when it comes to matters of Tsubomi, his childhood crush, Mob is unable to maintain his usual “bland” nature, and his emotions are thrown into disarray. While they were once childhood friends, Mob and Tsubomi gradually grew apart as she lost interest in his psychic abilities and became bored with the concept.
Depending on what Tsubomi says to him or how she reacts to his actions, Mob could go from 0-100 or vice versa. Tsubomi’s many actions have guided certain aspects of Mob’s life as he’s tried to “fit her tastes.” Showing that when itcomes to the woman of his dreams, Mob can be easily manipulated.
Low Self-Esteem
Struggling To See His Own Worth
Being one of the strongest espers in the series doesn’t do much for Shigeo Kageyama’s confidence. What many people covet doesn’t make Mob feel special, as he believes he’s an ordinary, unimpressive individual. Due to his lack of confidence, Mob is unable to stand up for himself in various situations, which generally impacts his performance in various aspects of his life.
In terms of decision-making,Mob’s lack of confidence in himselfand his abilities makes him highly reliant on the opinion of others, which in turn makes him easy to manipulate. While Mob does get more confident over the course of the series, his apparent lack of self-confidence serves as a central theme to the personality his character embodies.
Physically Weak
A Powerful Esper That Can Barely Lift Weights With His Hands
Mob’s abilities are capable of leveling cities and exorcizing evil spirits in the blink of an eye, but his vessel itself isn’t the most impressive in terms of physical strength. His generally perceived weakness makes him a target for bullies who always want to show off their strength. Because he dislikes fighting bullies or showing off his abilities unnecessarily, Mob generally chooses to endure abuse without retaliation and is powerless in battles that do not involve the supernatural.
His decision to abstain from using his abilities for personal gain is commendable, but as a physically weak individual, it only serves to compound the problem, makingMob a powerful esper, no doubt, but one who can’t protect himself against normal humans. Thankfully, this is a weakness that Mob actively works on by joining the Body Improvement Club, even if it was fueled by Tsubomi’s preference for athletic boys.
Desire To Be Normal
Mob Tries To Conform To Society, Rather Than Accept His Abilities
Desiring to be ‘normal’ is often seen as trying to fit into the narrative of the general public in human societies. As an esper,Mob is anything from normal, but he seeks the mundane, which keeps him from fully accepting his esper abilities and embracing his identity. Rather than develop and refine his abilities, Shigeo Kageyama would rather hide them to fit the general notion of what “normal” looks like.
This leads to a lack of self-acceptance and a suppression of his potential as an esper. This desire often manifests itself at times, as seen during the 7th Division arc, where Mob’s powers were temporarily transferred to Reigen Arataka so that he (Mob) could do without the stress of owning and using them.
