Promoting Good Animation: Mob Psycho 100

Milo Klein
Sep 4, 2018 · 2 min read

I’m a huge fan of Studio Bones’ work, most especially their fight scenes. The camera movement that whips around to emphasize the speed, the weight behind the impacts, and especially the shifts in art style to show when the main character gets serious- going from somewhat exaggerated to extensively exaggerated forms, sketch lines, sharp blacks to contrast with the bright technicolor flashes for the psychic energy- it’s an incredibly dynamic fight scene. The real meat of it starts at 3:16, but the shift is very strongly felt by watching the whole clip.

Mob, ruffled but almost at his usual standard, for reference.
The exaggeration of impacts with physical blows.

Behind the great animation is also a significant weight, as Mob, the main character, has never set out to cause injury with his psychic abilities. They’re like knives, something you should never point at anyone. This is the only time he’s ever set out to injure someone, and that lends the scene a bit of a chilling weight.

The way the style of the animation is used, however, is my favorite part of this fight. There’s a distinct change in animation to show the massive rawness of the psychic ability being used, and it’s made clear with bold color choices and the use of dark and sketchy lines as opposed to general animation.

Mob becoming serious.

Not only does this show us, the viewer, that things have changed in power, but it’s a very clear way to show how the world itself bends to the will of a person when the actual animation style no longer applies to him. It’s a clear change in ability and in tone when this device is used and I adore it. It’s raw and unpolished and very very powerful with stark colors and high energy. In some usages of this device you can see the colors and lines moving as they’re sketched so roughly, adding to this sense of being stronger than the black lines that could contain another character’s form.

It’s a technique that delivers brilliantly and I think it’s a phenomenal example of originality and dynamism in animation.

BetweenTheFrames

Animated analysis from UMBC's Intro to Animation class

Milo Klein

Written by

BetweenTheFrames

Animated analysis from UMBC's Intro to Animation class

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