Short summary is, he is an boring and unremarkable middle school kid, except he happens to have city-levelingly powerful psychic abilities that trigger from his emotional state. As a child, he was comfortable with those powers and saw them as normal, until two incidents occurred. First, he used to use his powers to impress his childhood crush, Tsubomi, but eventually she got bored with them and was only interested in boys who were good at sports, which Mob is terrible at. This incident led to Mob seeing his powers as weird and himself as not good enough. Then there was a more serious incident where he and his younger brother Ritsu were attacked by bullies, who accidentally knocked Mob unconscious. This triggered his psychic powers, and when he woke up, severe damage had occurred, the bullies were badly injured, and Ritsu was hospitalized. After this incident, Mob learned to be afraid of his powers and of his emotions. However, this incident also led him to attempting to find an adult who would understand what he was going through. This led him to Reigen Arataka, a con artist "psychic," who gave Mob advice that genuinely helped him, including the advice that psychic powers do not make you more special than ordinary people, that psychic powers are like knives - useful tools, but dangerous if you point them at people, and that the most important thing in life is to become a good person. Reigen agreed to become his teacher, and Mob began working after school as a part time exorcist helping Reigen with his business.
A couple notable things that happened include meeting another middle school ESPer, Hanazawa Teruki, who saw himself as superior because of his psychic powers. Teruki tried to goad Mob into fighting for him to prove he was the stronger ESPer, but quickly found out that Mob was much more powerful but refused to fight. When he accidentally knocked Mob unconscious, Mob destroyed his school and beat him soundly, and after this they became friends. Later, Ritsu developed powers, became a complete turd, and got himself kidnapped by an organization that wants to take over the world with psychic powers, Claw. Mob and Teruki tried to fight Claw to save Ritsu, but wound up in a situation where they were overpowered. Ritsu and Teruki insisted Mob had to go all out and fight to kill the psychics attacking them, and Mob nearly listened, but was stopped by Reigen, who insisted he should not kill anyone and assured him it was okay to run away and hide. This led to Mob temporarily transferring his powers to Reigen to allow him to deal with the bad guys and protect Mob, Teruki, and Ritsu.
Mob and Reigen attempted to deal with a ghost possessing a teenage girl, Minori, which turned out to be the spirit of a powerful psychic, Mogami. Mogami tricks Mob into entering Minori's head to try to save her, and instead tries to persuade Mob to adopt his misanthropic worldview by putting him in a simulation where he has no powers, friends, or family and is relentlessly bullied by Minori and her friends. Mogami wants to convince Mob people like Minori are not worth saving, and Mob should use his psychic powers for himself, not for others. Mob nearly falls victim to this, but is reminded by his ghost friend(?) Dimple about all of the people he cares about. This leads to Mob realizing that all people are capable of changing. The people around him changed him into a stronger person, and likewise he's capable of changing others, even people as awful as Minori.
Finally, after Mob trains for and runs a marathon, he comes home to find his house burning down with what looks like bodies inside. He believes his parents and brother are dead, but Dimple convinces him this is a trick. Mob goes 100% to try to find out who took his family. Although he doesn't find them, he is brought back to a hideout of ex-Claw members who say Claw has made their move on many different ESPers. Reigen is there too, and tells Mob that he thinks Dimple was correct, and whoever faked his parents' death did so in order to protect them from Claw. Relieved, Mob passes out from exhaustion and spends the next episode and a half asleep.
Canon Point: S2 E10 (around when he wakes up after passing out)
Personality: Mob starts the series as an extremely awkward, passive, directionless kid. He is a loser at school with no friends and no particular talents, overshadowed by his brilliant and talented younger brother. He's painfully shy - barely able to talk to girls or strangers - and basically goes along with anything anyone tells him to do. He relies on Master Reigen for most of his decisions, despite having no real interest in exorcism and getting paid pennies, because in his words, it "seems to go okay" when he does whatever Reigen tells him and takes what he says at face value. At the core of this passivity is his fear of his own powers and his self-rejection. Mob keeps all of his emotions tightly bottled up to avoid accidentally losing control of his powers, which works until the point where they hit 100% and he becomes overwhelmed and explodes with power. This has led to a cycle where Mob becomes even more afraid of himself and his emotions. He avoids experiences that may cause him to feel anything too strongly, and is unable to fit in with his peers because of his inability to process emotions normally.
But as the series progresses, Mob begins the process of breaking out of this cycle. For the first time, he begins to consider what he wants out of life. His goal starts fairly shallow - develop muscles to become popular with girls so he can confess to his crush Tsubomi and hold her hand! - but eventually changes into more of a general desire to change himself, to become a better person who does not just rely on psychic powers or blindly follow others, to become a different person than the person who once hurt Ritsu. It is this firm desire to change that leads him to refuse to use his powers against others, to join the Body Improvement Club to try to get stronger, and to push himself to become braver, make friends, and have new experiences, and maybe someday even confess to Tsubomi.
In the process, Mob begins to learn that he is also capable of deciding right and wrong for himself. He's terrified of the responsibility to decide what's right and wrong, and would prefer to lean on people around him, but begins to accept that the amount of power he has means there will be times he alone can decide. And he begins to learn that because he has so much power, he is uniquely positioned to change the minds of others who might otherwise brush off those they see as weaker than them.
Underneath all of the repression, Mob is an extremely kind and sensitive kid. He finds it easy to empathize with others. He has a lot of anger, alienation, and negative emotions in him, and when he gets overwhelmed he can easily lose sight of himself and control - he can even become violent and dangerous, and he fears this more than anything else. But because of his kindness and empathy he always manages to pull himself back and turn those feelings into something positive no matter what is thrown at him.
Motivations/Desires: Almost certainly will not kill, though I'm setting up my mem loss to open a path. He definitely needs to lose the 100% Gratitude memory and probably the memory of accidentally hurting Ritsu to be able to kill somebody. Even then, it would be pretty difficult, and would come down to him being convinced it was the only right thing to do and would require him losing control of his anger.
Otherwise, Mob is pretty strongly motivated by wanting to fit in and change into a better person (which he's internalized as a person Tsubomi would like). He is also strongly motivated by his fears about himself, losing control or being in situations where because of his power, he has to take responsibility for decisions he doesn't feel ready to make. Because of his canonpoint, and with memloss, putting him in a situation where he has this type of responsibility would likely cause a breakdown and extreme avoidance so I don't think he'd be suited for a blackmail/coercion killing role.
Other than that, he'd incredibly, powerfully motivated by a desire to protect his friends and family. Most of his most extreme 100% emotional states are caused by a desire to protect one of his family members or the perception that someone has harmed them.
Measurements: 157.7 cm, 44.3kg. Foot size/hand size fairly average middle school boy based on his height and weight.
Moral Alignment: Neutral Good. Being a good person is one of his driving motivations, and for a long time he listened to what others told him was right and wrong, but is beginning to understand he must make those decisions himself.
Item: Uhhhh tell me if this doesn't work, but I thought I'd bring the cat from the Mogami arc. She isn't really Mob's pet, and is in fact technically not real since she only exists in the fake world Mogami creates, but is otherwise in all respects just an ordinary stray kitty cat.
Memories:
Conclusion of Mogami Arc - He will first lose the memory of how this arc ended from when Dimple shows up to the ending. Dimple shows up, reminds Mob of his various friends, and encourages him to fight back. This leads Mob to enter a 100% Courage emotional state and defeat Mogami, proving negative emotions aren't stronger than positive ones. With this memory gone, Mob will remember he eventually got out of Mogami's world, but not how, or that he managed to save Minori. This is a very important memory because while Mogami shows him cruelty and helplessness, Dimple's arrival teaches him that his bonds with his loved ones have made him strong enough to persevere through the cruelty, and this also makes him realize that if others have the power to change him, he can also help others change.
(Haven't decided yet, but may also erase generally his relationship with Dimple. This is especially important because trusting Dimple is the main reason he didn't lose control when his house was burned down.)
Marathon Training - This is a memory of his friends and family members all teaming up to help Mob train for a marathon. Mob runs the marathon because he's decided if he places in the top ten, he'll have the courage to confess to Tsubomi. Finding out he's this serious about it, everyone he knows drops everything to help him, and example of how cared for he is.
100% Gratitude - This is a memory of the conclusion of his fight to save Ritsu from Claw. Ritsu, Mob, and Teruki are overpowered by adult ESPers, and in danger of losing. Teruki and Ritsu tell Mob that he's powerful enough to defeat the adults, but only if he doesn't hold back, if he loses the fear of killing someone with his powers. Mob doesn't want to hurt anyone, but internalizes the lesson that the one with the most power is the one with the responsibility, and is on the verge of entering a 100% Killing Intent emotional state. However, he is stopped at the last moment by Reigen, who insists that he doesn't have to be responsible, that it's okay for him to run away and hide, and tells him attacking with killing intent will only hurt himself. As a result of this advice, Mob decides it's okay to leave the responsibility to Reigen, and enters a 100% Gratitude state, transferring his powers temporarily to Reigen and leaving it to him to defuse the situation. Mob will remember the fight with Claw up to when Reigen intercedes, but won't remember what Reigen says to him or how it resolves.
Hanazawa Relationship - This is the memory of his friendship with Teruki, after the conclusion of their fight. After Mob defeats Teruki, he's ashamed of how far he went and that he hurt Teruki, even though it was an accident. But this event leads Teruki to change for the better and to become Mob's friend and ally. Without remembering their friendship, he'll just be left with the memory of their fight and his sadness and shame at how it resolved.
Body Improvement Club - This is the memory of joining the Body Improvement Club, and their friendship. Mob joins the club on a whim, despite being abysmal at sports, because he wants to get muscles to impress Tsubomi. However, he finds acceptance with the club, because they are the coolest jocks in the world and appreciate how hard Mob works to improve even if he's terrible at working out. The club protect and look out for Mob, but also encourage him and praise him for his resilience and drive to improve. Their influence is important in encouraging him to work hard and keep trying even when he doesn't feel like he's able to do something, and they teach him to like things about himself that have nothing to do with psychic abilities.
Childhood Tsubomi Memories - He was friends with Tsubomi as a child, and used to play with her and Ritsu, using his psychic powers freely with them both. However, eventually Tsubomi made him feel rejected, because she was more interested in athletic boys than she was in his powers. This happened around the same time Mob started to hate his powers. Subconsciously, he has tied his memories of accepting himself and his powers with Tsubomi, and wants her to accept him again so he can accept himself.
Reigen Meeting + Relationship with Reigen - Mob met Reigen when he was 10 and badly needed an adult he could trust with his problems. Because he believed Reigen was also a psychic, and because of Reigen's con artist charisma, he took the advice he got from Reigen to his heart. Reigen taught him that having psychic powers didn't make you special - what was important was to be a good person - and that it was possible for his powers to be a useful tool instead of using them to harm others. This was exactly what Mob needed to hear, and words he still lives by.
(Haven't decided yet, but may also include the feelings surrounding his relationship with Reigen in this. Reigen is someone Mob trusts a lot, even though on some level he also knows Reigen lies to and manipulates him. He is the adult Mob always knows he can go to with his problems or can rely on when he's in over his head. Removing this relationship removes an important safety net for him that he has an adult he can depend on. From his canonpoint, too, he believes his family is safe entirely because of the amount of trust he has in Reigen, so removing that trust would cause him to doubt what Reigen told him.)
Lost in the Woods + Relationship with Ritsu - This is a memory of a time Mob and Ritsu were lost in the woods as children. Ritsu knew how to use moss on trees to navigate their way back. This memory was important because it encapsulates why Mob admires Ritsu so much. In contrast to his powers, which only seem to cause destruction, Ritsu has no powers but is smart and capable and (in Mob's view) can do anything he puts his mind to. Along with this memory he will lose his memories of the bond between him and Ritsu. He will remember everything else, but will lose the closeness he has with his brother.
Traits: Caring / Insecure
Role: Yes! I'd prefer not a killing role unless it involves some type of brainwashing/possession etc, however.
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