EVENT: Mob Psycho 100’s Grand Anime Graduation Ceremony Goes Beyond 100%
Photo: Daryl Harding
Last December saw the final episode of Mob Psycho 100 across the world, ending the popular and brilliantly animated six-year-long anime adaptation of the hit manga series from ONE. While Mob continues his education in-story, for the cast and crew of the anime, this is the end — their graduation from Mob Psycho 100.
To thank fans for their support over the better part of a decade, the series held a Graduation “Thank You” event at Tokyo Garden Theater in the Odaiba area on April 9 with around 6,000 fans in attendance, ready to send the series off in style and squeaks.
Photo: Daryl Harding
Mob Overflows With Flowers and Historic Memories
Before the event began, the foyer was lined with flowers from a range of people and groups connected to Mob Psycho 100 in one way or another. These groups included multiple different fan groups – including one from Taiwan – the anime staff, the voice cast and even manga creator ONE himself.
Flowers from ONE-sensei
Photo: Daryl Harding
Flowers from Setsuo Ito with an illustration of the voice actor and his character
Photo: Daryl Harding
The event itself was accompanied by a continual chorus of adorable Dimple squeaky toys that were given out, likely as a way to combat people from screaming out. Not that Dimple could stop fans from expressing themselves!
As the lights dimmed over the stage — which was lined in a dignified, very graduation-like, red look — a video of Setsuo Ito going around backstage was shown where he gave out different Dimples to everyone who would be soon appearing at the event and welcomed fans by blowing out their eardrums in the most fun way possible.
Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
Before the extended introduction of all the cast and directors, a very ominous “1%” was displayed on the screen, counting up to something…? As each cast member introduced themselves they all kept breaking their focus from the energy of the Dimple toys, including the very professional MC, Chiaki Matsuzawa. Katsuya Serizawa’s voice actor Takanori Hoshino, in particular, stole the spotlight cosplaying as his character, business cards and all.
The first event of the day was a talk between all 10 people on stage while going through the history of the anime and discussing their favorite parts of the anime production.
Photo: Supplied
Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, who voices Teru in the series, highlighted the fifth episode of the first season, focusing on the scene where Mob shaves Teru’s hair. Matsuoka asked director Yuzuru Tachikawa what the purpose was of that shot. Tachikawa laughed in response and explained they were “enthusiastic about putting in a lot of shots that we had never seen before.” Even Reigen voice Takahiro Sakurai chimed in and joked that whenever he sees Matsuoka, he can’t help but think of that one shot, “That’s how much of an impact he had on me.”
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Tsubomi’s voice actor Uki Satake noted that between the transition of seasons two and three, she became more aware of the character by reading the entire manga. This caused her to change how she voiced Tsubomi, moving from a “strong heroine” type of character to a more sensitive one.
Photo: Supplied
The Writing on the Mob Fan Board
Following the walk through the memories of their time as the graduating class of Mob Psycho 100 Reiwa 5, another ominous percentage appeared on the screen…“23%”
Wheeled out from the side, a graduation memorial board appeared on the stage filled with fan art from those who sent in their work. Sections were left for the cast to add their own spark, which included stickers of Teru’s bare behind, Mob and Tsubomi holding hands in the sunset and more. The cast also drew some fun illustrations to the best of their abilities.
Photo: Supplied
Photo: Supplied
It was a stroke of genius to throw a roving camera on the stage and give it to the voice actors to pass around. Starting with Satake, she could just walk straight up to the other voice actors and give the whole moment a sense of intimacy and camaraderie from the graduating class.
When the event headed, the board was carried out to the lobby for attendees to get an up-close look at what the cast wrote.
Photo: Daryl Harding
Photo: Daryl Harding
After the board was dutifully filled out, “47%” filled the screen. The number then jumped to “58%” after photos were taken in front of the board and then again up to “72%” after pictures with the audience, rising quickly to an unknown number.
Photo: Supplied
MOB CHOIR’s Electrifying Performance
While the cast got a break backstage, the audience cheered along with MOB CHOIR (sana from Sajou no Hana) performing music from the series in what was dubbed a “special live.”
Photo: Supplied
After pumping up the crowd with the first two opening themes, sana spoke about how her professional debut as a singer was with Mob Psycho 100 and how she performed on a smaller stage during her first live performance for the series. She was beyond happy to see how big the fandom has become to be able to fill out Tokyo Garden Theater.
From then, she sang the lower key, more solemn songs from the series as if she was expressing her love for the franchise through her voice and dancing as if she was sad to see it come to an end, mirroring how the crowd felt knowing this was the graduation of the franchise. Though, that sorrowful feeling couldn’t help but be undercut by the Dimple squeaks.
Photo: Supplied
Sana left the stage after having the entire crowd chanting and fist-pumping to “1.” The percentage increased again to 91% as graduation music began to flow through the speakers.
Standing For the Graduating Class of Mob Psycho 100 Reiwa 5
The cast, staff and sana returned to the stage for the final segment – a graduation ceremony – complete with the entire hall reciting “Aogeba Totoshi,” a regular song performed at graduation ceremonies across Japan since 1884. With the tune echoing in the air, it really felt like a real Japanese high school graduation.
Photo: Supplied
This is when the percentage glitched out between “99” and “100.” With all the signs disappearing, the stage finally moved on from Mob Psycho 100 the series, letting the cast reminisce on their time at Mob Psycho Academy as alumni. This reminiscing came in the form of the cast performing their favorite lines from the series in character.
Season three director Takahiro Hasui said that though he’s sad the series has come to an end, he “feels happy that we have achieved completion on this work of art.” Tachikawa said that he thought the idea of a “graduation ceremony would be sad,” but was “very typical of Mob Psycho to sing Aogeba Totoshi” together with fans in a large venue “while people are laughing and smiling.” As what has become usual at this event, that point garnered a large number of squeaks.
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Setsuo Ito, the voice of Mob himself, capped off the speeches by saying “[Mob Psycho 100] was a work and a role that changed my life so much that I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t met him at the audition seven years ago. Mob-kun will live on and my life will continue. One thing I learned through this work is that everyone has their own life and that the main character is yourself.”
Photo: Supplied
To fix the glitch, the audience, alongside the cast, staff and sana, became the one and only one singing “1” again – this time with karaoke at the bottom, not that the audience needed it! – making that perfect 100% together, ending the graduation ceremony and saying goodbye to a franchise that many people hold dear to their hearts.
Daryl Harding is a Senior Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.
