All right guys, strap in for some MP100 meta.
So you know how ONE very intentionally likes to draw distinct parallels between some of his characters, particularly between protagonistic and antagonistic characters? It’s pretty easy to see in the case of Mob and ???%, for example- ???% is the side of Mob that Mob’s repressed and kept down. The concept of character parallels is also brought up between other characters, Teru/Toichiro being the most obvious example. Toichiro is selfish, egotistical, and convinced that he’s the “protagonist of the world”- which is exactly how Teru described himself before being defeated and humbled by Mob. Toichiro is essentially the person that Teru would have grown up to be, had he not crossed paths with Mob.
But these aren’t the only cases of ONE subtly drawing a comparison between a young ESPer and a shadowy, villainous counterpart. There’s actually another example of this, though it’s far more difficult to notice at first…
Remember these panels from ch. 29?
Ritsu is speaking here, in the scene where he faces off against the rival gang members in the alleyway (right before he gets kidnapped). These lines were adapted into his infamous “I’ve obtained loss” monologue in the anime.
But interestingly, this isn’t the last time the theme of a character “losing their moral limits” appears. Nor is it the last time we see a character remorselessly hurting others for his own gain, just as Ritsu does during the Big Cleanup Arc.
So when do we see this theme again?
These panels are from ch. 61.1… otherwise known as the Mogami Arc.
So, if ONE’s logic of comparing Mob to ???% and Teru to Toichiro holds up, he’s intentionally drawing a pretty clear parallel between Ritsu and Mogami. If Ritsu had continued down the dark path he set out upon during the Big Cleanup Arc, he would have become a person much like the worst villain in the entirety of the series- powerful, merciless, and without any moral limits whatsoever.
