Arataka Reigen

Arataka Reigen (霊幻新隆, Reigen Arataka) is Mob's mentor and boss. He is the self-proclaimed "Greatest Psychic of the 21st Century" as well as owner and operator of the (霊とか相談所, Reitoka Sōdansho).

Appearance
Reigen is an attractive looking man, and he has a tendency to sweat profusely. He has dark eyes and short, light brown hair with messy bangs. He is also very emotive, with his facial expressions ranging anywhere from attractive to terrifying. He is usually shown wearing a dark grey business suit with a pink or black tie, though he has also worn such outfits as a sweatsuit, a tank top with shorts and a complete high school girls' uniform, though that revealed that he also has relatively hairy legs. He is considered an "internet sex-symbol" due to his good looks.

Personality
Reigen has few to no qualms about manipulating clients, enemies, allies, and even spirits to his own advantage. Later in the series, he starts to feel guilty about manipulating Mob in particular. Conversation is his speciality. Throughout the series, he has been shown to remain composed in almost any situation, and he is extremely reluctant to admit to his own mistakes. He is very careful during his investigations, and he often confuses his adversaries by announcing his next action aloud and then doing something different.

Reigen seems to be a man guided by principles and is very socially and emotionally intelligent, as he believes that hurting other people is wrong and reminds Mob of that often, demonstrating his very honorable and noble side covered by his shady business. When he entered into the Claw headquarters, the subordinates found him to be a very kind and honorable man, and even after they realized he wasn't "The Boss", they still commented on his wise and caring nature. He is even willing to carry some of Mob's burden if it means the boy will suffer less, showing that he does care about those close to him, and even told Mob he didn't have to stoop to their level and fight because he knew Mob would be hurting, showing he doesn't want Mob to feel pain. He is clever and agile, often taking action at critical moments with his special techniques.

He is also a very intelligent man, being able to analyze a person's psychology fairly well and giving advice to several people which makes them better individuals, such as with the members of Claw. He is also not easy to fool, as he was the only one of the many espers who were assigned to eliminate the evil spirit possessing Minori who didn't believe her lies. While the other espers believed it was simply the father attempting to control her and using the claims of an "evil spirit" as an excuse to justify his behavior, Reigen was able to notice things wrong with what Mogami said, such as switching from "papa" to "father", and calling Reigen a psychic despite not introducing himself beforehand. It was because of this that Mogami abandoned his charade and attacked the espers.

Despite his status as a con artist, he often gives at least some sort of procedure or "spiritual cleansing" for whoever requests them. When one of his clients told him about some spiritual negativity enveloped in their shoulders by a fortune teller, but she didn't provide any actual service to the client and just words, Reigen found it disgusting. Adding onto that, his "spiritual cleansing's" have been shown to greatly relax his clients, and many remark on how they feel much better, demonstrating his abilities as an expert masseur.

He finds all people to be equal, no matter what kind of abilities they have, and as thus, he believes that those with psychic abilities who claim themselves to be "superior" are simply detached from the real world. Even when he gained phenomenal psychic abilities, he just scoffed them off as no particularly big deal.

History
His grades were above average during his teenage years. He wrote an essay as a student expressing his desire to make a difference in the world; this was leaked to the media after his scandal on live television. One time when he was in grade school, he forgot to tell his parents that it was sports day at school, and so he was the only one in his class with nothing to eat. He was a regular salaryman before he quit his job and decided to start his own business. One day, Mob encountered him seeking advice on how to control psychic powers. After discovering Mob's powers, he decides to hire the boy.

Keiji Mogami Arc
He and Mob go to perform an exorcism on Minori Asagiri. He interviews Minori and realizes she is possessed when she calls him a psychic, despite the fact he never said he was a psychic and that she was behind sound-proof room, meaning she could hear him.

Separate Ways Arc
Reigen called Mob, who was currently hanging out with his friends, to come to his office and claimed that Mob had time to spare due to the fact that he had no friends. Feeling obligated, Mob decided to leave his friend and meet up with him. Mob explained how he had some privacy at school with his friends and to not call him without warning. He responded by saying that the friends at his school were fake and only using him. Surprisingly, he sternly said that Mob had to abandon his friends because he was the only one who understood him. Mob talked back to him. Shocked due to the fact Mob treated him like that, he offered to get some ramen but Mob refused and left.

He waited for Mob to show up at the office but Mob never did. Worried that if he ever needed to do any actual exorcism he'd be disadvantaged, but he was lucky that all of his customers were not the real deal. He started to think back on how he usually did the job with his own two hands. He also felt that Mob was a burden to him and felt better now he was alone.

Days passed and he was consulted by several men telling him that inside a game that they were playing, existed a Player Killer who was very powerful. The owner of the account was said to have passed away but the character was still there so they claimed that it was a spirit that was playing the game. The character had been online in the game for 24 hours a day nonstop for months. In order to counter this, Reigen first analysed the character and borrowed several personal computers that he got from acquaintances. He played on 12 accounts simultaneously and the shabby looking one became the bait while the other 11 accounts ganged up on the spirit. Online news said that the Psychic did exist thanks to him getting rid of said spirit.

He saw, much to his surprise, that Mob was having a good time with his friends. He then set his goal to something greater and invited Dimple, much to Dimple's rejection. He started to clean up the city while hanging his plate on his back. He also filmed the process of an exorcism at haunted places and put them on the internet, offered free classes from being tricked by exorcism frauds and gave advice to people about life, quickly becoming famous in the process. He was called Spice City's Bro and his reputation rose rapidly. He was interviewed by several magazines and even got an offer to be on television.

He accepted the offer without knowing that it was a plan by Kirin Jodo who wanted to bring him down as a revenge for the fact that Reigen kneed him in the stomach during Minori Asagiri's exorcism. The live show started with an introductions of a boy that was said to be possessed. The host asked Shoudou to exorcise the spirit that was possessing the boy but he rejected and claimed that he would like to see Reigen's abilities instead. Reigen started to get nervous and replied that he was here just to make some comments. He realised that one of the staff gave a script to Jodo meaning that all of this was staged and he would be fine if he followed the script. He started by throwing salt on the boy resulting in the boy cringing in pain, thus convincing him that it really was staged. He used a lot of different techniques to falsely get rid of the spirit in the boy's body. 30 minutes later and nothing changed. The host asked Reigen to swap with Jodo. He at first thought that Jodo tricked him by showing that his exorcism techniques had no effect so that Jodo could take the credit for exorcising the spirit. But Jodo resorted to a much more cunning move when he claimed that the boy was not actually possessed, but it was all an act. This claim shocked Reigen and the audiences.

The television bombshell instantly destroyed Reigen's reputation. He tried to defend himself by posting comments in a thread on a certain website of how he was a legit exorcist but it was seen through and his reputation dropped even lower. His acquaintances ignored him and he was being spied on by a private detective. He put up a trap and confronted the detective and told the detective to leave him alone. Whenever he was outside, the media were following him. His house was surrounded by the media and he finally decided to take a press conference. He was asked a lot of questions but he dodged almost all of them. He made a statement that no-one in the press conference could prove that he was not a Psychic. During the press conference, he started to have a flashback of how he met Mob. At first, he thought Mob was playing around when he claimed the he was an esper. But he was convinced that Mob was an esper when he accidentally dropped a cup of tea right on Mob and Mob used his power to make it float in the air. Reigen started to think of how he had treated Mob ever since and he then gently smiled as he said on the television of how Mob had grown up. Mob, who was currently watching the press conference realised that it was directed to him. The media responded negatively to the statement because they thought he was making fun of them. Suddenly, all of the cameras started floating and the media immediately thought that Reigen was really a Psychic even though it was actually Mob using his power secretly. After the press conference, Reigen and Mob met up and Mob said that Reigen's actual identity was a good person. Reigen then treated Mob to ramen for their reunion.

World Domination Arc
His office is burnt down by Claw espers. After learning that insurance won't cover the damages, he decides to lead an attack on Claw. He inadvertently and unknowingly takes advantage of the fact Shimazaki can only see Espers with his powers and defeats him with a combo attack.

Divine Tree Arc
He receives a job to remove the Divine Tree.

Powers & Abilities
Reigen possesses a wide variety of skills and knowledge due to working a lot of different jobs while trying to avoid becoming a masseur like his parents wanted. He applies these skills and knowledge when helping his clients, only calling in Mob if actual spirits are involved. Reigen has also said he possesses the green belt in Shaolin kung-fu and is proficient enough in martial arts to knock people out. Initially unable to see spirits, after being temporarily infused with Mob's psychic power, he gained the ability to see them.

Reigen's true strength lies in his mental fortitude and charisma. He has the ability to focus on and execute solutions when in the face of uncertainty or adversity, and keeps his cool in all situations. He is good at winning arguments, able to maintain common sense and positivity no matter the argument. He's a skilled manipulator of other people, able to naturally tell half-truths and straight-up lies. He's also a good actor, which helps him carry his lies along and is critical to maintaining his persona as a master psychic, especially during the years that he couldn't even see spirits.

Reigen is also the creator of various "special techniques", which he uses to great effect in his line of work. They can range from offensive abilities to restorative body or mind-cleansing procedures, and often involve him dramatically shouting the name of said ability as he performs it.

Quotes

 * Catchphrase: "Safely"
 * Business phrase: "That's the work of evil spirit!"
 * (Reigen to Shigeo) "Listen well, we are different than regular people because we are born with special powers. But that shouldn't give you the illusion that you're a special being. We are part of humanity. Besides our rare power, we are no different than them. People who run fast, people who can sing well, people who study hard, people who are funny, and people with psychic powers. Are we different from them? Having confidence in your strength, is good thing but do not get carried away. Our powers are a dangerous weapon."
 * (Reigen to Shigeo) "Stop it, Mob. You'll make yourself suffer. At times you don't like it, it's okay to run away."

Notes & Trivia

 * His seiyū voices Zombieman from One-Punch Man.
 * His favourite music is the classic stuff at his workplace, and his favourite movie genre is B-rated movies (and then falling asleep).
 * He is very weak to alcohol and has been known to get wasted on a single lemon sour.
 * Reigen has said the F-word.
 * According to his character profile, his biggest weakness is that he is too kind to scold anyone...