I was going to make an art account, but then I got hyperfixated on animaniacs so now this is just an outlet for my hyperfixations and I'm just going to do whatever I want now because cringe culture is dead. Talk to me if you want I guess.
As much as I love the relationship between Lisa and the creature, I wanted to think about what it looked like to interpret this movie less literally, and instead, through a lens of someone dissociating and reclaiming their agency through action after severe trauma and alienation.
It’s on the long side, but I’m having fun using my brain again for the first time in ages, so let me know what you think! Totally open to different interpretations; the beauty of art is that it isn’t finished until we witness it and it can mean different things to everyone.
Spoilers under the cut (I’m learning how to use this site, slowly!)
Lisa is introduced to us as quiet, unsure, awkward. Her initial movements while getting ready for the party are even stilted, and in the car she’s very quiet and dreamy-sounding. This is not a person who moves through the world fully in her body. When she talks about not wanting anyone to be forgotten, she’s clearly talking about herself and her mother, because the current familial situation was rushed, even when described by Taffy, its most avid proponent.
Her interactions at the party are negative - Tamara embarrasses her in front of Michael and then drugs her, Doug acts protective but then assaults her *as she talks about her dead mother,* sending her into a horrific trip.
Directly after she stumbles through the graveyard to the headstone and said she wishes she was with Creature, the lightning strike happens — right as she breaks the mirror, fracturing her consciousness.
The dream sequence shows gum, sticking dream!Lisa in her silent film form (selective mutism) to a stone shaped like a person - impenetrable and impossible to kill because he’s already dead.
When the Creature appears, he’s been buried, he’s rotted and falling apart. The song from the dream (Strange by Galaxie 500) plays as she speaks with him against her better judgment. She’s externalized everything about herself that feels damaged and unlovable -the literal scars and decay, the silence, and the violence. He hands her mom’s rosary back to her - indicating his connection to her trauma.
She remarks on how she hasn’t spoken this much in ages, and immediately starts nurturing him in the way no one nurtures her. The dress-up montage is, albeit a silly send up, an addressing of her loss of identity. She stores him in a closet decorated with a famous silent film still from Trip to the Moon (1902) done in glow-in-the-dark, signifying things she hasn’t explored yet but stays aware of, and she’s still trying to maintain that barrier.
The outfit he chooses for her is dark, powerful, and commanding, unlike her other articles.
Janet’s outburst and threat signify a paradigm shift from her perceiving herself as alienated to seeing herself as predated.
She appears shocked at Janet’s death, but embraces it fully after being soothed for a moment. Each death opens her up more - expressively AND emotionally. She dances with the creature made whole, and that’s the first time we hear her laugh open-throated. She’s fully chosen to stop hating herself and place the blame externally, shown when she justifies the events to Creature and the talk after the ‘massage.’
Her attitude shifts, adopting a braggadocio and her hair becomes more and more uncontrolled with her ego, and flowier, darker fabrics are used until the marriage/love scene with Creature - as they are made one, she is in a white shift and made pure by her imminent death.
teru is the perfect character to imagine in jobs because his level of practical skills matched with his general level of intensity means he would be hilarious in any of them. cashier teru. chef teru. barista teru. film teacher teru. teru leading exercise classes. zookeeper teru. literally just pick any job and take a moment to imagine teru preforming it for infinite entertainment.
something about teru's continuous struggle to be humble. something about mob's teaching was the reason why he wanted to temper his ego. something about him facing off something that calls itself god, and also with the likeness of mob ohhh this is so fucked up
"I am god" and he looks like the one person teru genuinely looks up to. his fight against the brainwashing is him refusing to bow down to anyone. god and faith and pedestals and prayer and reverence. guys. GUYS
found these on pinterest and ngl i spent a good minute trying to understand if my idea of mob's character had become that separate from the source material. they look official so i searched for the final art and...
yep. much more mob-like. couldn't find the last one even though im p sure i've seen if before
I love mezato so much she told mob that she started getting involved in the whole cult cause she was bored, but then actually got into it because mob is the main character in this story and is part of all the exciting things happening, so by being in the cult she gets to be included in something exciting- mob's life, and she says that that will be the most exciting moment in HER LIFE, and at first mob tells her something actually cool about how she'll experience much more exciting things in life than this , y'know your life is your own and if everyone is not special maybe you can be who you want to be etc, but then unfortunately later mob gets 100% carried away and starts thinking that all the girls are in love with him, and so when mezato calls him to talk about the cult he interrupts and asks her if she likes him, because what better way to be part of something interesting than to be part of the main character's harem! So she cringes and I cringe with her cause WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT! MOB! Anyway she gets brainwashed and has such little role in the arc she was actually interested in BUT ITS FINE! ITS FINE! you know why? Cause she's gonna have an interesting life thats unrelated to Mob's, and that might mean its off screen to us viewers as we're following mob's life but that doesn't make hers any less interesting. And also she's going with the others to meet the aliens next new years.
At the very beginning, we learn that Mob's main goal is to ask Tsubomi out. he is given the choice between the telepathy and the body improvement clubs, and he considers if it can help him understand girls, Tsubomi specifically.
In flashbacks, Tsubomi was interested in Mob's powers then got bored of them. Mob then saw her paying attention to Akira for winning a race. And remembering that made him choose to join the body improvement club. He figured out that using psychic power to impress her- be that making animals fly or using telepathy-won't work.
We get the confirmation eventually that telepathy doesn't work to get Tsubomi to see someone as a romantic interest through Takenaka. Takenaka also likes her, but he doesn't see telepathy as something that can help him get close to her. He mentions that he prefers trying to understand others through their expression rather than telepathy, which Mob did in a way, when trying to understand tsubomi through observation and figuring out what she likes and thus choosing the body improvement club.
At the beginning of confession arc when mob was asking around for love advice, he asks takenaka why he doesn't use telepathy to get tsubomi to like him and takenaka says it would only work at first but he won't be able to keep it up.
Mezato-also asked by Mob for advice- tells him that Tsubomi hides part of herself. he asks how she knows this and she says just by observing her, and asks him how he didnt notice.
So is mob right? is she interested in physical strength?
In the omake we get more of their past as mob tries to get better at what she's interested in, mostly physical strength.
We get Takeru who keeps trying to win her over. He is great at everything (plus has minions listing all his qualities) and yet she isn't interested. So he asks whats her type, what he might possibly be missing that she'd reject him for. And she tells him: she likes guys who persevere.
It must be Mob then right? When it comes to persevering, he's the one trying his hardest at whatever she asked, despite how hard her challenges are for him. Then again he stopped doing the challenges when Tsubomi lost interest.
In middle school he joined the body improvement club for her at first then liked it and persevered in it for himself. One might even assume he has grown to be her type!
This omake was posted while s3 was airing but way later than the manga's ending. Someone who's anime only but following along with the new omakes may think they've cracked the code that Tsubomi would accept his confession!
Here's another theory: When someone is crushing on her and tries to figure out her type, she lies with something that eliminates them as possible candidates.
Takeru is considered great at anything and doesn't need to make an effort and persevere to reach his goals, so she says she likes guys who perseveres.
Mob is bad at physical activities, so when he tries to impress her she challenges him with physical activities. And other things he's bad at too (like maths! Of all challenges she could ask for!).
>Let's then unpack how in confession arc shigeo said she is a genuine person,
in divine tree arc, that's the arc with the message of how someone who idolised or considered a god would have trouble getting genuine friends who know their true self and can be bluntly honest to them when they get carried away. Dimple and Mezato were both pushing Mob into being god when that kind of idolization would put prevent them from having an honest and close relationship, and from both parties getting to know the other's true self.
-Dimple tells Mob she is strong, doesn't compromise her values and beliefs for others, and is blunt ..... as he was trying to brainwash everyone in the city to consider him god. As in, his character arc is understanding that being idolised is bad for him as would cause a distance between him and others, and he wouldn't have the type of close relationship where someone can be blunt with him, like call him out for going too far trying to be a god, or call him out for wearing an ugly monkey shirt, or call someone out for not reading the atmosphere etc.
As in, Mob wouldn't be showing his true self by instead projecting the image of a god, and Tsubomi wouldn't be showing her true self as someone who fell for him because of brainwashing and became one of generic mass of admirers without truly knowing him.
- when Mezato tells Mob not to confess to Tsubomi behind school, she explains how everyone is getting rejected, with the imagery of masks on an assembly line...smth smth lol cult using smiley masks and how a sea of admirers' masks blend together with no one standing out. "Mob" characters even.
in one of the drama cds, mezato interviews tsubomi and asks about her type, the "fight on!" yelling from the bi club covered her response.
Mezato don't get what others see in her, she's the school idol who hides her true self from others (ironic because she thought making mob into someone who's idolized>wordshipped would be cool) ...but tells him that general advice about being courteous to girls being reliable a good listener and accepting those who show weakness, things he already does. And nothing specific to Tsubomi either, Mezato even says "you might be able to take on Takane-san" like it's a last boss challenge
.. then she asks what he sees in her
- why does Mob love her?
Mob is the outer self/shell/ the one who focuses more on his actions and how he is perceived by others. His answer is that they get along well. and he is more accepting of changing for the one you like..
- now why does Shigeo love her?
he focuses more on inward emotion and thoughts. His answer is that she's a genuine person who liked him for who he truly was.
Since Tsubomi is that guarded around others,even lied to Reigen about having a crush (omake) and possibly lied about her type(omake), it's interesting that shigeo loves her for being genuine and right after talking about her said that he hated Reigen for being a liar.
Shigeo is projecting the way he sees himself on Tsubomi. It is by understanding that everyone has two sides of them (his talk with Reigen) and recognizing that Tsubomi has a side he doesn't know that he can actually know her. Even after the rejection they become closer and talk often.
Note: in the fanbook she answered "what kind of person would you marry" with "someone who tries to do the right thing and is hardworking" which fits Mob but she also answered "what are the chances you will go out with Mob-kun?" with "right now 0%" so maybe she was just giving a general answer.
But also there's chance she's being honest about her type but she doesn't know him well enough, considering for the question "how mob changed?" she answered "he has more friends now." She doesn't know the rest since they weren't really talking. since they do talk now her answer maybe implying a future relationship.
have resigned myself to the fact that i’m not gonna finish this in a long time so i will post this first part and post the second part whenever i get around to it
ib this post
ID under the cut
[ID: The next three drawings consist of Tome, Mezato, Takenaka, and Tsubomi from Mob Psycho 100.
The first drawing shows Tome surrounded by walls of red string boards. Her hand is leaning against one of them and she seems to be passionately talking to Mezato, who we only see the back of her shoulder and head of.
The second drawing is of Takenaka and Tsubomi. They’re facing each other on a grass field. They’re dressed in their tennis uniforms and have tennis rackets positioned above their heads in a threatening manner.
The last drawing shows all four of them. Tsubomi is on top of Mezato, throwing punches. Takenaka and Tome stand next to them, Tome taking a picture of the fight and Takenaka cheering one of them on. End ID]
contemplating mezato. something about the way she says "i guess some people really are born lucky" when comparing ritsu and mob on a basis of popularity... something about her putting her all into trying to make mob "popular" despite barely knowing him... the way she doesnt really seem to have any other friends... the way she talks about how she doesn't get what everyone sees in tsubomi then describes her like she knows her despite seeming to only watch her from a distance the way mob does... i feel like there's something there.
