I HAVE SO MANY FEELS YOU HAVE NO IDEA. I didn’t anticipate to feel so emotional after this episode. While I didn’t cry, I felt like I wanted to at certain points.
We continue the “Sad Reigen Arc” with a VERY cringy first half. I absolutely HATE watching when characters are set up to fail and we just have to wait for the inevitable fall. It always makes me so uncomfortable to see these things happen in any piece of media. They wheel out a boy supposedly possessed by a spirit and Jodo was to be the one to exorcise it. However, instead he suggests Reigen do it instead while also phrasing it as if it was just part of the program. I think the most frustrating part about this was that after throwing salt on the boy, Reigen figured out that the kid was only acting. So he kept up the act, believing it would end soon. Sadly for him, Jodo set the poor guy up to the T. After 30 min of improve exorcism, Jodo comes forward to declare that the child wasn’t even possessed and was just acting. Like, this was such a slap in the face. It was the complete opposite of what happened with Asagiri. Jodo is such a scumbag. The guy literally knead you to save your dumb life from Mogami. To set Reigen up like this was so petty.
The rug was completely pulled right out from under Reigen and it was sad to see him so shaken up that he couldn’t process things correctly. But man, that public execution and the media slander felt way too real. Especially with how people over the internet blew things out of proportion, making Reigen look like a complete villain. Even that one guy who came in asking Reigen to curse someone added fuel to the fire by posting false bullcrap about him. THIS EPISODE IS TOO REAL. But it was nice to see the psychic kids showing genuine worry for him (even if they are fooled in a sense). Not to mention the first woman we see Reigen help actually declined going to a meeting of “victims” despite her boyfriend suggesting they go. I’m glad to see someone has somewhat of a reasonable head on their shoulders.
Though the award for best reaction to this whole ordeal was Mob who declares in confidence that it’s all part of Reigen’s plan. MOB NO. But it’s really sweet that he has so much faith in Reigen despite their falling out. He still cares… T^T
Reigen tries to do damage control, but when the internet is running with something, they will run all the way with it until something else catches their attention or the situation blows over. You can’t fight the internet, Reigen. No matter how wrong people may be, you can’t change a mob’s mentality with just words. At that point, the internet made Reigen out to be the “ultimate Evil.” Even the people Reigen considered his friends all turned their backs on him. The internet has so much power over people’s opinions. It’s so easy to spread lies and slander, it’s scary.
Though it was pretty hilarious how all the media platforms had the series’ name mixed in somehow. Also shout out to Ekublo.
The poor guy is completely backed into a corner and is tired of all of this so he just ends up settling to do a press conference to try and clear his name. The poor guy just looks so tired of everything and I can’t blame him. He’s dealing with public slander over the internet, it’s hard not to get so worked up and frustrated. On one hand, he kind of deserves being outed as a fake for essentially conning people. HOWEVER, on the other hand, he made sure his clients were satisfied with his work and genuinely would help them out (save for a few who got aggressive with him). So the situation is warranted, but also it’s not completely justified. Especially when it only came about because of Jodo’s pettiness to destroy Reigen’s reputation.
After all the stress he’s been under, Reigen wasn’t even able to sleep before the conference and his mind was just not up to the task to talk his way out of anything. Blowing his good first impression and starting a rather rocky start with the press. Reigen has always been able to talk himself out of situations, so having his greatest strength taken away from him left him extremely vulnerable and I was just extremely worried over what would happen. And while he wasn’t able to completely talk his way out of the situation, he made some rather solid points while temporarily holding off the press. Especially with pointing out “self-proclaimed victims” and how people won’t be satisfied unless he goes along with what everyone says.
“I want to be someone” was something that made a big impact on Reigen throughout his life. It was interesting to learn that he had actually planned to cut his con artist days three years prior to the start of the series. He didn’t know what to do with his life and was trying so hard to figure out what path he wanted to take. It wasn’t until he happened upon Mob where his life started to change. It was actually really sweet to find that they changed and taught each other different things. They both looked up to each other in different ways. With Mob looking to Reigen as a guid and Reigen looked to Mob as an inspiration.
Reigen wanted to become someone special, but in the end only used Mob and didn’t accomplish anything himself. I appreciate that he realized how much of a jerk he was the last time he spoke to Mob. He finally understood how much he was actually holding Mob back from changing. It’s as if he hadn’t realized he was changing. Looking back at the previous episodes of this season, Reigen had been missing out on Mob’s personal growth. Only having passing thoughts of “did he change a little?” He was only focused on his jobs that he neglected to look to see how much Mob had grown. It was so touching for Reigen to finally acknowledge Mob’s growth by saying it straight into the camera.
Immediately after, all of the press’ equipment starts floating and flying around, shocking everyone in the room and some of the viewers. However, Reigen had such a knowing smile on his face when this started happening and gave such cool remarks, it became obvious what was going on. And wouldn’t you know it, Mob was waiting for him outside. Initially, I thought when equipement starting floating on its own it was the public’s thoughts and feelings being made into reality. The order of shots made it a little confusing since Ritsu ran after Mob after this started happening. However, I suppose we can assume it really was Mob since we never really saw where he was while this whole press conference was happening.
BUT OH MY GOSH THE FEELS. When Reigen asks if Mob knows who he really is, Mob claims he knew from the start and follows it up by stating that he always knew Reigen was a genuinely good guy. UGH MY HEART. MOB YOU’RE SO GOOD. And just the touched and grateful look Reigen had just hit me so hard in the feels. However, Mob just tops off his feels fest by wishing Reigen a happy birthday. Literally being the only one to give him a genuine birthday wish.
This was such an emotional rollercoaster. Starting out so painful but ended on such a satisfying and touching end. While Reigen’s name may not have been cleared, he can rest knowing that one person sees him in a good light and will support him through thick and thin. And we all thought that Mob was the only one depending on Reigen. But it was also Reigen depending on Mob. This was such a great character developing arc for Reigen, fleshing him out even more and seeing him bounce back from such a severe fall. I did have a little bit of an issue with the amount of reused footage. But considering how much animation they pulled at the climax of the Mogami arc, I think I can let it slide. And with this, I believe we can assume the “sad Reigen arc” has come to a close.
