Recap / Mob Psycho 100 OVA: 'A Healing Trip That Warms The Heart'

Mob Psycho 100 II: The First Spirits and Such Company Trip
~A Journey that Mends the Heart and Heals the Soul~

Japanese Title:
モブサイコ100 第一回霊とか相談所慰安旅行〜ココロ満たす癒やしの旅〜
Mob Psycho 100: Daiikkai Rei toka Soudansho Ian Ryokou ~Kokoro Mitasu Iyashi no Tabi~
Original Air Date:
25 September 2019

Tropes appearing in this OVA include:

• Bilingual Bonus: 'Ibo' (疣) in Ibogami means 'wart'. The onsen's innkeeper has one in her nose that resembles the boulder at Ibogami's base.
• Blush Stickers:
  • The human characters all sport these when soaking in the onsen waters. Mob and Ritsu lose theirs at the shock of Teru’s joining them.
  • Mob picks them up after sampling some baked apples.
• Butt-Monkey: Reigen cannot leave the cursed train—not even by jumping out of it. He assumes Serizawa is stuck there with him, but eventually realizes the psychic can leave at his leisure (and actually enjoy the onsen's fine accomodations).
• Call-Back: Reigen claps a hand on Serizawa's shoulder as he reminds the psychic of the importance of thinking for himself. The scene, in which Serizawa sits seiza and Reigen stoops to his level, directly recalls the one in which the phony psychic gives Mob the advice that changes his life forever.
  • This scene also mirrors Serizawa's first meeting with Suzuki, when the latter offered his umbrella and promised to teach Serizawa how to use his powers. With Suzuki, Serizawa was still sitting while Suzuki remained standing; the background is dark except for the light cast under the umbrella, emphasizing the abusive power dynamic to come for the next three years. In contrast, Reigen makes sure to be on the same level with Serizawa; the background is sunnier, all to show that Serizawa has truly found the right place for him, just like Mob.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Reigen takes Serizawa to task for leaving the train car repeatedly and not bringing him along. The whole story would have been over much sooner had the older psychic been explicit about his ability to leave.
• Going in Circles: No matter in which direction Reigen walks through the train, he invariably ends up in the same place.
• Hot Springs Episode: The Spirits and Such crew have been invited to solve the mystery of strange happenings driving away the Ibogami onsen's patrons in exchange for a night's stay, meals and travel there on the house. Hilarity ensues.
• Just Following Orders: Serizawa, uncertain of proper comportment in a legitimate workplace, consults a book on business etiquette before the events of this episode. Why didn't he tell Reigen that he could leave the cursed train car hellscape? His book said to 'follow boss's orders'.
  • Judging from his sleeve notes from this book (among its most questionable advice: 'Make sure you don't wound [your boss's] pride'), it's also heavily implied that Serizawa fears courting verbal abuse for insubordination by speaking up. Reigen kindly reminds him that he is no longer anyone's slave or a shut-in: Serizawa's honest opinions and observations are not just appreciated, but necessary.
• Modesty Towel: For the top of Teru’s head, presumably still much shorter than the rest of his hair.
• Mr. Fanservice:
  • The camera lingers on Teru's defined chest muscles and biceps as he slips into the same hot spring Mob and Ritsu are sharing. A very embarrassed Mob blanches and averts his eyes at the sight.
    • Parodied, as we're treated to the sight of Teru's hairy buttocks in the previous scene.
  • Also the bathing Serizawa, from the chest up.
• Sanity Slippage: Reigen goes through hell in this episode: trapped in the train car, he can no longer keep up his normal façade of breezy competence for Serizawa as he runs out of food and options (though none of this stops him from trying). At the absolute end of his rope, he writes a will leaving Spirits and Such to Mob and attempts to end his torment by jumping out of the train.
• Tally Marks on the Prison Wall: Reigen etches the Japanese equivalent of tally marks (正, the five-stroke kanji for 'correct' or 'right') on one of the train's bulkheads to mark how long he's been stuck there.
• Trapped in Another World:
  • Played for Horror: The isekai in this story is a train with no exits, running on a perpetual track through a forsaken landscape dotted with gnarled, dead trees and a dark mountain looming on the horizon. Reigen nearly starves and is unable to escape despite all his best efforts. Time seems to move much slower here...
  • Parodied and subverted: The OVA story is a gentle ribbing of many isekai light novel/anime tropes.
    • The OVA's excessively long appellation, 'The First Spirits and Such Company Trip - A Journey that Mends the Heart and Heals the Soul' is a jab at overlong isekai titles.
    • While Reigen fills the role of the standard isekai anime protagonist^note though he is far less of a loser, he is completely helpless in this world he's been sucked into, which is usually not the case. He's also fortunate enough to be traveling with four psychics (one of whom is the most powerful in the world) and one 'high-level evil spirit'... all of whom can easily cross between this cursed place and the Ibogami Onsen to get him the hell out of there. If only Serizawa had spoken up sooner...
• Unsound Effect: Mob, abashed, says nothing but 'パクパク' (paku paku) for some time after Teru asks him outright if there is anyone he fancies. パクパク is a Japanese mimetic word meant to evoke the kind of mortification that might make someone gasp like an oxygen-starved fish.

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