In today's world, we're always told to just be ourselves. But when we are ourselves, we're deemed as either weird, creepy, or even strange. And let's be honest, we're all a little weird. So how can we truly be ourselves when we're trying to be normal? Well, on today's episode, we're taking a look at a character who struggles with that very idea of what it means to be special and what exactly makes you special. And that character is the main character of Mob Psycho 100, Shigeo Kageyama.
Hey, what's going on guys? My name is Nate and you're listening to the Otaku Liberation, a show where we help you break the chains that are holding you back in your life by connecting some biblical principles with themes for your favorite anime. And without further ado, let me get right on into it. So Shigeo Kageyama or Mob, as most, pretty much everybody in the series calls him.
And from here on out, I'm going to say Shigeo or Mob pretty interchangeably and just know that it's the same character. Mob is a very interesting, interesting character and he's not the typical, you know, prepubescent main male character who's always crying and just whining about either having the powers, not having the powers, having to defeat the anime, whatever the case is. And you watch enough anime, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
Mob is the almost exact opposite of it in the sense that he doesn't really have much emotions. And for a reason I'm going to get into it because he chose to essentially seal them off, right? And to hold himself back, which inevitably holds back what other people seem to think makes him special.
And throughout the whole series, the whole series is about Mob's growth and how he goes from viewing his psychic powers as a burden and as a possible liability to fully accepting them as a part of him and in everything that comes with it. And to really understand, I'm going to break down Shigeo's journey or aspects of himself in a couple of points. Before I get into that, for today's verse is going to be Ephesians chapter four verse 14.
Then we will no longer be little children tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness and the techniques of deceit. So we have to look at it as once we come to realize again whose we are, right? Because we're gods, we were made in his image, we were made for a purpose. And once you not just know that but truly believe that, then we're not going to be defined by what other people say we are, right?
But you're not going to be who other people say we are. I'm not talking about people who truly care about you, who want to speak goodness over your life and speak good things for you. But what I'm saying is you're not taking everything everyone says to heart. If somebody says you're ugly, don't just believe that you're ugly just because somebody decided to be mean. We have to learn how to filter those things.
And we filter it through God's lens and not our earthly lens because again, we're all flawed, right? I don't see how somebody else who's just as flawed as I am in whatever aspect is going to judge me for what I've done, right? For who I am. That doesn't make any sense and I'm just not going to deal with it. So that's the main point I want you guys to kind of get out of that and kind of as a jumping off point for the first point.
So Shigeo, or Ma, he has a sense of selflessness and a very forgiving heart. And he constantly forgives his opponents and even tormentors. I'm talking Keiji, Toruki, even his little brother Ritsu at one point tried to be his enemy and every time Ma decided that, hey, you know, it's okay. No matter what they're doing to me, it doesn't matter. I'm still going to forgive them anyway. And you know, because we're always told to turn the other cheek when wrong is done to us or to our loved ones.
But this is a much, much, much more difficult task than we realize, or at least what I realize. Because I know I have a tendency to get angry relatively quickly. I like to think I've calmed down or mellowed out more over the years, but I was always quick to just to take it there, especially if someone does something to somebody that I care about. And I know a lot of people can relate to that, right?
Somebody somebody messes with you is one thing, but when they start bringing in a little sis, a little bro, you know, mom or dad, your best friend, then it turns it turns the switch, if you know what I mean. But looking at mob mob, all always, which every time takes the high road and decides to not to not retaliate, to not give in to the very human nature of, you know, lashing back.
But I have to add, but the one question I have to ask when I was watching this and the question I'm opposed to you is how much is too much? When do you go from being meek, you know, kind meek to gullible like mob? Because mob took this point to the extreme, to the fact that he would just listen to anything Reagan said and Reagan is a con man at heart.
And mob would just take everything that everyone said to him at face value, which is not the right approach because again, we're all flawed human beings and some people, they just they just do wrong because they want to do wrong. Right. And back to the whole filter filter through God's lens, right? We have to be able to see people for who they are, not what we want them to be. And in mob's case, he always saw people for what he believed they could be. Right. Which again, that's not a bad thing.
I don't want you to think that seeing people for the potential or seeing the potential you and other people and wanting the best for them and believing the best for them, that's not a bad thing. But at the end of the day, we have to be able to see the truth of what it is right now in this current moment. Because just just because they have the potential for great good doesn't mean they don't have the potential for great bad either.
So we have to be able to see and discern that and not just within other people, also within ourselves. Right. It's kind of part of that kind of old self-reflection is just being able to to push yourself through that filter. And honestly, from from mob, even though this was it was a little too much on the goody goody side, it lets him go global, it does showcase his ability to just recognize the impact of forgiveness on his own well-being and the importance of letting go of negative emotions.
And again, part of this ties back into the whole incident with with Ritsu back when they were younger. So the whole reason why mob decided to hold back his power, hold back his emotions is because one day when they were younger, I mean, like much, much younger, Ritsu was getting picked on by these just neighborhood bullies. And mob stepped in to try to protect him as a as a older sibling should. And the bullies turned and they they essentially just bulled him. They started bullying both of them.
Well mob at the time let his emotions run high, run to the 100 percent. And he his powers went out of control. He ended up injuring pretty much everybody there, including Ritsu. And that moment scarred him so deeply that he vowed he would never use his powers like that again. And whether intentionally or unintentionally, he essentially turned off his emotions and in doing so, he opened him up to these all these other problems that the later going to plague him later on.
But throughout the story, he does learn to forgive himself for what happened and recognize that, OK, these powers are a part of me. What happened happened. But Ritsu is OK. He is, you know, eventually reconciled and Ritsu's even moved past that incident as well. But the biggest thing for mob was just letting go of the guilt of just feeling responsible.
And I know that's something that's hard for us to do is to let ourselves off the hook for something that we've done or something that we we see as bad. I mean, other people may not see it as bad or see it as an as an issue. But to us is a very it can be a very big issue. And we since if we hold ourselves to too high of a standard, you know, we're trying to reach for a God level perfection, even though we're just as flawed as everybody else, then the disappointments feel that much worse, right?
They feel that much more intense and it can lead us to making rash decisions such as turning off your emotions if that's even possible or, you know, things like that. So the biggest point I want you guys to get out of this is just being able to let go of your negative emotions. I mean, feel them, they're going to come. You can't stop it, but don't hold on to them and don't ignore them either. We just let them go, process them as you need to. And then and then just move on. Right. Just move on.
So the next point, a point of growth for mob is the recognition of the joys in the world. So oh, man, even after being tormented for six months in a dream world, Ma was able to see the good in it, the good in it. And put put in the perspective. Right. So Ma went against his evil spirit named Keiji, who is probably the strongest evil spirit we see in the entire series. And I was trying to stop him from possessing this girl or to get him out of the girl he's already possessing.
And in order to do that, mob basically released his own spirit to go inside inside the little girl's body so him and Keiji can battle it out real Shonen anime style. But while he was in there, again, his goal of when it's got the best of him and Keiji was able to trap him in there. And for six months inside the dream world, it was only like maybe a couple of minutes in the real the real world. But inside the mind of mob, it was six months.
And I mean, Keiji took away everything that mob had he had in the real world. He took away his friend and mentor and Reagan. He took away his his little brother's, you know, the relationship he had with Ritsu took away, you know, dimples guidance. He took away all the things that mob had in the current life in his current life and just made his life completely and utterly miserable. I mean, I'm being bullied every day to the point either he mobly to commit suicide or commit genocide.
And what is there? There was no in between. He was at that point. But even after all of that, even after, you know, dimple came in, broke him out of that. At the end of the day, mob really showed just the utmost gratitude for what he did have. I mean, he became more grateful and appreciative for what he has in the real world.
And that spoke volumes to me because in the world like ours right now, that's getting darker and more chaotic by the minute is just really important that we take the time to cherish what we have while we have it. And I'm not talking about things. I'm talking about just the people around us and even even the opportunities that present themselves. You know, just having fresh water to drink, right? A roof over your head, working AC.
I mean, I live in Florida, so working AC is a very, very, very important thing. And it's a blessing. Again, just being able to have just be thankful for what you have, even if it doesn't seem like it's a lot, right? Because in a world or in a culture where it's just so go, go, go more and more and more, we lose sight of the things that we've prayed about, the things that we've asked for, the things that we worked hard for.
And once we get it, we lose sight of, you know, just of appreciate it, of appreciating it. Because as soon as we get it, we're looking for the next big thing or the next thing after that or the next thrill or the next dopamine hit. And I've been guilty of it. Again, I'm getting better with it. Still struggle sometimes with the whole shiny object syndrome.
But it's just against all this whole thing is about just taking a step by step little by little and just really just taking a moment to stop, you know, breathe and just take stock of what you have and just be just be thankful. Just be thankful and grateful. And just I really want you guys to get that really, really, really do just to because you can only appreciate people.
While they're here, you don't we don't want to recognize the value that they had in your life after they're gone because at that point it's too late. The only thing you're left with are memories. So while they're still here, I used to have the opportunity to physically talk to them, just be around them as much as you can and just enjoy each other's company. Let's enjoy each other more. All right. And again, again, this message is for me just as much as it is for you guys.
Just be more intentional with the people around you and be more appreciative of the things and opportunities that you have. And in mom's case, it really shows again, highlights his ability to appreciate the positives in life and honestly demonstrates his his own growth because he's able to recognize the value of cherishing what he has rather than focusing solely on the hardships. And we then say solely because again, hardships are going to come.
We're going to we're going to focus on them because nobody likes pain. Nobody likes being uncomfortable. But it's not that's not the end of the world. Right. It's not the end of the day. We have so much more to look forward to than than the dark season that we're going through now. And the last kind of growth point on go go over for mob is he understood basically you are more than what makes you special.
And in mob's case, he strongly believes that having psychic powers doesn't make you all that special when it's the only thing that you have. And that's the key part. When when the only thing that you can identify with, the only thing that you give stock to is what makes you special or makes you, I guess, different. If it's just one singular thing, if that's all you have, then you pretty much have nothing. Right.
And here's a joke all the time when you say somebody's personality is being six to and it's funny. But this is essentially what this point is illustrating. If you if you only have stock and being six foot two and you have nothing else of value, nothing else you can say, you know, well, I've done this or I've done that. I, you know, I can do these other things as well. If you can't say that and only you have is being six to like it's just it.
Oh, you see what I'm going with is it doesn't really click. It's not that appealing. It's just just weird. But for again, back to mob. So mob had a low opinion of himself in the very beginning of the series due to him lacking in every other aspect of life. And when I say that, I did literally he was not physically able to do anything at the very beginning of the series. He couldn't even run more, I'd say maybe half a mile before collapsing from exhaustion. He wasn't the best in school.
I mean, he wasn't dumb, but he was towards the bottom of the class. He wasn't and he just wasn't really good at anything else besides his psychic powers. And even then he didn't want to use them in his everyday life because he didn't want to be defined by just having psychic powers. And in very contrast, his brother Ritsu excelled at pretty much everything else that mob didn't. And he was a good athlete, he was a star student, he was on the student council, things like that.
And mob commended his brother on all of his achievements because again, Ritsu has everything that all blacks. But even even in the midst of mob devaluing himself in the face, you know, when comparing himself to his brother Ritsu, mob was able to recognize that, you know, personality, character and other qualities hold significant as well as well as your own special ability, as your own gifts and talents that God's blessed you with, right?
It's the combination of everything else that truly makes you special, not just the gifts and talents that God gave you. Because I don't know if you realize this, your gift of or a talent of drawing or being athletic and being able to sing, whatever it is, you're not the only one with that gift, right? Like you're not. I mean, God's given a gift to plenty of other people before and he's going to give it to a plenty of other people after it, after us.
And what truly makes you special, because again, that's not the gift, the gift itself isn't special by itself. But what truly makes special is you and everything that encompasses you again, your personality, your character, your, you know, your gifts, your talents, your flaws, your shortcomings, your blessing, all these things, your life is what makes you special because there's no, there's only ever going to be one you, right?
There's going to be plenty of other singers, plenty of our other artists, plenty of other athletes, but there's only ever going to be one you, there's only ever going to be one me. And that is what makes us special. Not the talents that we have, not the gifts that we've been blessed with, but encompassing everything is what makes us special.
So again, I just want you to really kind of drill that in because again, since everyone in the world is special in their own way, that kind of means that no one is special, right? If you're just looking at it from this specific lens of, you know, everyone has a special talent so nobody's really special, but we all are, we're all very unique and that's okay. I mean, really it's okay.
Just don't let your gift make or break you and just really take the time to get to know yourself more because know yourself more deeply and more intimately than even what you think now. So in summary, you know, mob's recognition of joys and in challenging situations, it helps reflect his own growth and finding gratitude and cherishing what he has. And it's also, and it's also his understanding of what personal worth is. Basically, it goes beyond just your gifts, your special abilities.
It highlights his sense of self-awareness because he values character and individuality and personality above just his psychic powers. And honestly, these are things that I think we should all strive to look for in ourselves and to help us grow and to be more well-rounded people. So again, thank you guys for tuning in to today's episode. I pray that you got what you needed out of it and hopefully you learned something new about yourself.
And if you like what you heard today and want to take a deeper look in today's episode, then head on over to the otakuliberation.net where you'll find a blog article that covers today's episode in a little more detail. And come back next week as we're looking at basically a sibling rivalry gone wrong, where we'll be looking at mob's little brother Ritsu and how striving for someone else's gift leaves you blind to your own.
And before you go, always remember, you are the main character of your story and that story doesn't end until he says so. Alright, be blessed.