Teruki Hanazawa (Mob Psycho 100) – DEATH BATTLE! Analysis

Note: This analysis of Teruki Hanazawa will focus on his appearances in the Mob Psycho 100 manga. Supporting feats from the anime will also be included.

Background

The world is generally made up of average people. While some may be better than others, this usually ends up being the case through hard work in one’s studies, hobbies, or anything one put their time and effort into. However, that isn’t to say some people weren’t gifted, but not in the way one would expect. These people are known as espers, people who possess psychic powers, and one of these espers just so happened to be a teenager named Teruki Hanazawa, better known as Teru.

Living in Seasoning City, Teru considered himself the main protagonist of the world. Confident with his psychic abilities, he was also successful in his studies and popular throughout Black Vinegar Middle School, though all of this together made him more pompous than anything. When his school was in conflict with another called Salt Middle School, Teru was the secret weapon that would help them achieve victory, or so they thought. During the dispute, he would end up meeting another esper for the first time in his life: Shigeo Kageyama, called Mob by many.

Furious that he wasn’t so special anymore, Teru attacked Mob. Mob continued to try to explain to him that using his psychic powers on others and everything in his daily life wasn’t a good thing, but that only made Teru want to force Mob to use his powers. Reaching a point where he was actually going to kill Mob for making him bald as a result of Mob defending himself, Mob reached his own breaking point after dealing with Teru’s constant assault, defeating Teru with ease with his much more potent psychic abilities. This event would lead Teru to become a better person, never using his powers on innocent people and becoming friends with Mob. He would even later help Mob in defeating the evil organization Claw, as well try to stop him from losing control of his psychic powers later on.

More Info

• Age: 14
• Height: 5’4” | 161.4 cm
• Weight: 105.2 lbs. | 47.7 kg
• Birthday: April 13
• Second-year student at Black Vinegar Middle School
• Favorite Food: Steak
• Hobbies: Going to the cinema and bicycle touring
• His wig: snatched

Powers & Abilities

Telekinesis

As an esper, Teru can manipulate things with telekinesis, whether that be erupting rocks from the ground beneath them, defending himself from attacks, crushing things, launching others away, pressuring others against the ground so hard that it craters and breaks, lifting and throwing objects as projectiles, or picking up and twisting or throwing opponent’s bodies, though he can also just lift and immobilize them completely. He can also use it on himself to make himself move faster, tackle opponents with his full weight, or fly around freely in the air.

Energy Manipulation

As an esper, Teru can manipulate psychic energy, which he can use in various ways, such as blasting energy projectiles, forming barriers around himself or others, including being able to trap opponents in them and cause their attacks to backfire, control the barriers’ movements, and create dozens at once, erupting psychic energy from the ground, or transferring his psychic power to someone else through physical contact to completely overwhelm them. Teru can also channel psychic energy through objects, such as putting it into the tie he sometimes wears to make it as strong and sharp as a sword for melee combat, which can even launch sword beam projectiles. He also sometimes wears a scarf that he can imbue and wrap around opponents to bind them up.

Extrasensory Perception

Like other espers, Teru can sense spirits and other espers, including how strong they are.

Power Mimicry

Teru is a smart esper, to the point where he can learn other espers’ abilities perfectly after only seeing them in action once. Many of his esper powers come from mimicking others, and he can even utilize them better than their original users.

Psycho Fist

An attack where Teru channels his telekinetic power through his palm to his opponent that also reserves his energy and hides the technique’s true nature, which blows them away.

Psycho Wave

An attack where Teru slashes his opponent with telekinesis, which can erase spirits easily.

Air Whips

Replicated from Terada, Teru can create whips made of psychic energy, which each possess a range of 60 meters. He can use these to grab and drag opponents around, and he can make up to 10 of them simultaneously.

Ethereal Bodies Technique

Replicated from Muraki, Teru can create astral clones of himself, which can fight opponents using the same abilities as him, though they’re weaker than Teru himself. He can also use them to trick others into thinking a clone is the real him.

Telekinetic Explosion

Replicated from a Claw grunt, Teru can generate powerful explosions of various sizes wherever he wants.

Pyrokinesis

Replicated from Miyagawa, Teru can create and manipulate fire in various ways, such as creating fiery blasts around himself or launching flame projectiles. Being able to control fire also grants him resistances to flames and heat, even being able to jump through fiery pillars with no issue.

Multi-Layer Barrier

An enhanced version of a normal telekinetic barrier that Teru can create, where he forms up to three barriers around himself that grant him extra defenses and can stall opponents. He can also try to trap them inside one of the layers to limit their movement.

Super Qigong

Replicated from Takeuchi, Teru can create an aura of qi, or life energy, which he can use to launch energy projectiles.

Feats

Strength & Attack Potency

• Lifted 10 cars at once with his telekinesis
• Telekinetically launched Onigawara into a wall so hard it cracked
• Telekinetically launched Psycho Helmet so hard that it damaged the Divine Tree
• Slammed Mob through a brick wall
• Threw Mob through several walls with his telekinesis
• Cratered the ground with psychic energy
• Erupted many rocks from the ground with his telekinesis
• Created a giant blast with his Telekinetic Explosion (calced here)

Speed

• Can casually move at 60 km/h with telekinesis
• Dodged Terada’s Air Whips
• Moved Reigan fast enough to get out of the way from Sakurai’s sword slash with telekinesis
• Can move faster than the eye can see with telekinesis
• Blitzed and sliced up Psycho Helmet before it could react

Durability

• No selled being crashed through a tree by one of Terada’s Air Whips
• Took a beating from Shimazaki
• Survived being launched far from the Divine Tree by Mob, which created a large hole in it
• Blocked a Telekinetic Explosion with an energy barrier (calced here)
• Survived being launched by ???% Mob into a wall so hard it cracked, which happened on two different occasions
• Survived a telekinetic attack from Shimazaki that collapsed the top of a skyscraper (calced here)
• Tanked an explosion from ???% Mob with ease
• Blocked a large twister from ???% with an energy barrier
• Withstood the destructive telekinetic force of ???% Mob, which wrecked buildings and caused an earthquake through much of Seasoning City

Scaling

• Terada - A member of Claw that Teru has fought and defeated. Teru was even able to replicate and utilize Terada’s Air Whips better than he could.
• Uprooted large trees with Air Whips
• Survived being crushed by two trees
• Miyagawa - A member of Claw that Teru has fought and defeated, including being able to withstand his fire attacks and contain them in his energy barriers.
• Filled an entire room with fire (calced here)
• Ryo Shimazaki - After adapting to Shimazaki’s prediction and teleportation powers, Teru was able to keep up with him and react to his attacks. Claw members like Terada, who Teru has also beaten, have also been able to hurt him.
• Should be superior to a group of Claw grunts that telekinetically toppled over a large building with their combined strength
• Telekinetically collapsed the top of a skyscraper (calced here)
• Dodged gunfire (calced here)
• Tanked a bullet to the face
• No selled a rock giant’s punch
• Blocked Teru’s Telekinetic Explosion with an energy barrier (calced here)

Training & Experience

• Can see and hurt spirits
• Considered to have mastered his power of telekinesis by others
• Is smart and skilled enough to be able to learn other espers’ abilities after only seeing them in action once
• Has resistances to possession and mind manipulation due to being an esper, and resisted Psycho Helmet’s emotional brainwashing
• Used a barrier to attack while defending and make Miyagawa burn himself with his own pyrokinesis
• Trained a group of inexperienced and weak espers
• Is one of the few espers who can attack and defend simultaneously
• Fought against multiple members of Claw for almost a day with little rest
• Figured out how to read Shimazaki’s movements despite him being able to predict others and teleport
• Is able to keep standing despite being hit in a vital spot
• Defeated the Body Improvement Club, Dimple, Terada, and Miyagawa

Weaknesses

Teru is an incredibly skilled and powerful esper, and has also overcome weaknesses he used to have. While he was cocky and underestimated others due to his psychic powers, he has since stopped doing that as much after losing to Mob and Shimazaki, though he still suffers from fevers from the shock of losing to someone he thinks he can beat. Like most other espers, Teru was also unable to attack and defend simultaneously, but learned how to do so through enough training. Though, people who can teleport can get through Teru’s barriers and attack him directly. His psychic power is vulnerable to being drained. Also, while he has resistances towards possession and mind manipulation, he still has his limits. Teru also has no real hair on the top of his head due to his encounter with Mob, and wears a wig because of it.

Summary

Advantages

• Can use telekinesis for offense, defense, and mobility by increasing his speed or flying
• Can create energy barriers to defend himself and imbue objects with psychic energy to strengthen them
• Can sense spirits and other espers
• Can replicate esper powers after seeing them in action once
• Can attack from afar with Air Whips, Telekinetic Explosion, Pyrokinesis, or Super Qigong
• Can trick opponents with the Ethereal Bodies Technique
• Can defend himself even greater with Multi-Layer Barrier

Disadvantages

• Can sometimes be cocky and underestimate opponents, though not as much as he used to
• Suffers from fevers from the shock of losing to someone
• Opponents who can teleport can get through his barriers and attack him directly
• His energy is vulnerable to being drained
• Has limits to his possession and mind manipulation resistances
• Lacks real hair on the top of his head