The world of manga and anime is more so special with the variety of art styles each artist can offer making their work unique to their own. Mob Psycho 100, One Piece, Naruto, and all the other mangas can be recognized alone with just their art style. ONE, the creator of Mob Psycho 100 knows firsthand the uniqueness their manga offers through the illustrations.
However, there have often been moments where the art style gets overlooked. Nevertheless, the story is one to be praised again and again. So much so that fans regard it to be one of the most captivating series out there. Despite it all, there was one decision the author refused to take, making it even better.
Mob Psycho 100 Wasn’t One to Sexualize
Sexualization in anime and manga is an unfortunate occurrence that is more regular than not. Almost every other anime takes its time to sexualize its characters for the appeal of the audience. Be it the male characters or the female, somewhere or the other, their features are enhanced to an almost unbelievable proportion to feed the audience.
Works like One Piece and Bleach thrive on sexualizing their characters, so much so that when Toei Animation introduced Jewelry Bonney, the fans were infuriated because of how vividly they sexualized a child to no end. Women aren’t the only characters who get sexualized, with MAPPA’s focus on the audience who thoroughly enjoyed Jujutsu Kaisen’s male characters.
Food Wars is also perhaps one of the biggest examples of the over-sexualization of characters when the story requires it not to be so. With so many different works indulging in fan service, one particular work stands out for doing the exact opposite. Mob Psycho 100 creator ONE was not going to bend to the conforms of their audience.
Mob Psycho 100 Isn’t About Glorious Characters
During an interview with the director Yuzuru Tachikawa (via Mob Psycho 100 Fandom), Mob Psycho 100 author ONE talked about how it was never an option for him to sexualize and entail to the female audience for his manga.
Mob’s meant to come off as somewhat standoffish or nerdy. If we made him into a supermodel, that’d force us to change a lot of the story.
The director went on to state that had their designs been enhanced, the entire process of making the anime would have also become easier. However, the mangaka wasn’t going to change that. According to them, the way Mob and the other characters look adds a realistic touch that brings about the idea of who they are as people.
Were they to look exactly in a way that would make fans fawn over them, things would be different and the manga too would have to change in many ways. It wasn’t about people who were smart but also met the stereotypical beauty standards, it was about those who were nerdy.
Mob Psycho 100 is available to watch on Crunchyroll and Hulu.
