Honestly, this episode was WEIRD. And while I liked the first episode more than this one, I still enjoyed it. Considering its jokes still had me laughing and the animation… oh the animation… we’ll get there.
The episode brought the series back to the action and occult part of the series as opposed to the first episode’s slice of life aspect. Urban Legends was the theme and during a rather slow day at the office, Reigen takes Mob out to scope them out. They happen upon another psychic by the name of Shinra and I didn’t expect him to bounce off of Reigen as well as he did. At first you think Shinra is another conman, but he really is just an earnest psychic, even if he does get a little too excited when dealing with spirits and such. Which gets him into a bit of trouble.
A resident of the town asks Reigen to get rid of all the urban legends due to a very strong and eerie feeling she’s been feeling lately. I was surprised to find that Reigen was actually underselling his services as Shinra comments that he’d charge at minimum 200,000. Despite Reigen’s sleezy methods, he is still a good guy at heart, genuinely wanting to help people and ease their anxieties, even if it comes with a price tag. I was half expecting him to mentally smack himself for asking too low of a price but instead he just waves it off. Reigen gets a lot of spotlight in this episode and I really like how it puts a big emphasis on him caring for others. From asking Dimple to keep an eye on Shinra to make sure he’s okay and even washing an old man’s dog for free no less after some kids drew all over its face. Which was freaking adorable. And boy do I love how Reigen comments on how the world needs more adults who can keep bratty little kids in line. Because he’s absolutely right.
Things start getting a bit creepy when Shinra chases after a flasher in a red raincoat into a forest. The red raincoat guy is a freaking creep considering he only flashes little kids. However, he’s only the tip of the iceberg when it came to creepy things this episode because it literally went from like 10 to 100. I was actually super shocked to how creepy it got. While Mob has always dealt with spirits, it never went into to nightmare fuel type things like this. The Dragger was freaking TERRIFYING. I’ll be probably seeing it in my nightmares now… Everything about it was so creepy. From the leeches on its face to the dragging of broken dolls. shudders I was already horrified after the Red Raincoat guy tazed Shinra into unconsciousness. But this was so much worse.
The real MVP has to be Dimple this episode surprisingly. Dimple has certainly come a long way from just possessing people and using them for his own benefit. After the Dragger beat Shinra and started drowning him, Dimple came to the rescue by taking over Shinra’s body. Not only did he successfully save Shinra, but he did his very best to fend off the Dragger. And when the chips were down, he could have easily just hightailed it out of there, leaving Shinra to die. However, he chose to stay because he didn’t want to disappoint Mob. It’s hard to tell if Dimple is just trying to earn brownie points with Mob so that one day he could control him or if he is genuinely supporting Mob. Though I have a feeling it could be a little bit of both.
BUT LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT ANIMATION. The fight between Dimple and the Dragger was AMAZING. Bones did a fantastic job with the animation (as per usual) and it’s only the second episode. And I thought the Dragger was scary enough but the fighting animation made me just want to die out of horror. I honestly can’t decide what is scarier. Something that comes at you at lightning speed or something slowly inching towards you. But this sequence definitely made me believe faster = scarier. Especially since Dimple could barely manage to evade and escape her. Dimple’s dodging maneuvers definitely made Shinra look more cool than he is.
However, the scariest thing about this whole thing is that the Dragger was created by the imaginations of the masses. The fact that literally anything can be brought into existence if the collective consciousness thinks it up is SCARY. It means that anything can happen and anything can exist in this world. Imagination can become reality. And considering how terrifying the Dragger is, I’m terrified to think of what else could be lurking out there because of people’s beliefs.
Thankfully Mob also exists in this world. And funnily enough because of how detached Mob was from urban legends (and anything else popular), Mob didn’t find the Dragger scary and dealt with it as he would any other spirit. For once, Mob’s lack of being in the loop became the key to victory. Not to mention I feel like Mob just became a little more relatable since I’m often left out of the loop on many things. I did like how it was established that Mob wasn’t aware of the trending fads at the start of the episode. Basically foreshadowing what would lead to him defeating the spirit. It also feels like the series is saying it’s okay to not always be in the know and to just be your own person (as the opening theme tells us).
I probably thought the episode was weird because Mob wasn’t the focus or had a large impact in a sense like he did in season 1. Even when the series was focusing on Ritsu, Mob was still a major influence in what was happening with his brother. While in this episode, it felt like he was kinda just there. I can’t really complain too much since I did really enjoy this episode. I also liked the references to Street Fighter and even It. Not to mention Mob freaking wrote a fanfic about the Dragger in his head. And then having an old lady out run him despite Mob running in his club every day, leaving him traumatized and in tears. To think an old lady would be the one to defeat Mob… poor guy lol. I’m also a little sad to not see Emi after her adorable interaction with Mob last episode. Hopefully we’ll see her again in the future.
This episode did a pretty good job in setting up how almost anything is possible in this world. I am both excited and terrified to see what comes of that.
Also, can I just say that the ending theme is FREAKING ADORABLE???
