Review: Phi Brain: Kami No Puzzle 2

Phi Brain: Puzzle of God Season 2

Haha, wow. I remember way back at the start of this show, about 40ish episodes ago, I complained to no end about how ridiculous it was and how it didn’t make sense. I’m sat here, at the end of Episode 50, and the second season’s ending, to tell you just how amazing this show has become, in the hope that at least one of you will watch it and see for yourself that this is a wacky, fun-filled adventure worth enjoying.

The concept of the show is simple, Kaito, the male lead, solves puzzles. At the end of last season, he came close to solving the Gods Puzzle, but stuff happened. This season is a direct continuation, with new baddies and a new plotline in the Orpheus Order and Freecell. The idea of using puzzles as a method of “battling” is ambitious in itself, but this show doesn’t lack ambition, throwing wacky and creative idea after another, be it the motives behind Freecell, the plot itself or even the characters interactions. I’ll get to the characters later, but really, if there was a prize for ambitious shows and creativity, this show would easily take the first prize.

In fact, having so much creativity really works in this shows favour. It uses all of this to create a world, the world of Phi Brain, and it really brings it to life with it’s atmosphere and the characters. Once you get sucked into the atmosphere, the entire show becomes ridiculously fun and enjoyable, so it really is just a matter of hitting the magical point where it absorbs you. Hell, when everything goes in it’s favour, including the absolutely amazing OP, I’d question why it wasn’t using all of this to create it’s own world.

Obviously, in any world, you need something amazing. Phi Brain delivers this in it’s characters. Kaito, the lead character, has previously had 25 episodes of character development behind him, along with Nonoha, taking the role of leading female again. The positions havn’t really changed since the first season, Nonoha’s the supporting female and Kaito’s the lead puzzle-solver. However, the roles aren’t stagnant this time around, as Nonoha gets plenty of development, truely deserving of her role as supporting character. The rest of Kaito’s friends get screentime, but to be honest, it’s a really tiny amount, really pushing them back to backstore characters. No, this time, the best character is, without a doubt, Freecell.

It was going to be hard to top Rook from the first season. He was almost a perfect baddie. So what does this season do? Throw us a psychopath. Insanity is hard to pull off in anime, so when Freecell played the perfect part of an insane lunatic, I was really happy with how well he was handled. He’s the main antagonist for the season, and he’s a really good one. Not because he torments Kaito, though. Because he mentally tortures Kaito and his friends with his crazed rantings, and it becomes a huge plot point to ask what’s real and what’s just one of his lies? Needless to see, he’s handled really well, and is an amazing character in this show, right up until the last moment of the show.

Amazing characters, amazing OP, amazing amounts of creativity and an amazing world are just a few of the things that Phi Brain has going for it at this point. It really is an amazing show, and it’s my hope that more people will see for themselves just how fun it is. It may not be the next Fate/Zero, but it doesn’t try to deliver serious drama or anything, it wants to be a thriller…and I can safely say, as a thriller, Phi Brain excels.

Alex’s Score: 10 out of 10 Meeps (Masterpiece)

Liam’s Score: 10 out of 10 Meeps (Masterpiece)

Phi Brain: Kami No Puzzle 2 Episode 25 [Final]

Release the Infinite Puzzle

Well, previously, I thought this would be the final episode, where either Kaito or Frecell got the God Scrolls and everything, but I guess that since the show’s popular in Japan, it gets another 25 episodes onto it. Are they needed? Well, let’s see how this episode turns out.

The ultimate showdown between Kaito and Freecell starts without any explination of the rules, but it seems to be a super-duper game of tag. It’s actually a rather innocent puzzle, but the simple tricks are the best ones.

With Kaito switching into his ultimate form somehow, bringing back that trademark Red Eye he always had in S1, it became obvious very quickly that this puzzle was actually going to be evenly matched. When you have two gods with equal powers clash, things never end. It’s one of the unwritten rules of gods, and that’s what it looks like this puzzle will do. However, is this what Freecell wants? In a rather emotional “fantasy” of his, he’s back to being a child, the child who was forsaken by Kaito, and the two of them are playing together. Is this what he wants?

As the two of them have a heart to heart talk in the closed world that they’ve created together, Kaito and Freecell reveal their honest feelings, and Kaito shows Freecell that he’s not a strong person after all. It’s cheesy, but when you consider how much Freecell’s motives have been based around Kaito when he was a child, it makes perfect sense, and it’s actually rather touching to see. Freecell’s desperation to keep hold of his closed world, and Kaito’s desperation to bring the other out of the closed world…you actually end up feeling sorry for Freecell.

After the puzzle’s end, Freecell, forsaken by his own world, lost his soul in the ring…and the only person who can reach out to him is Nonoha, the bearer of his mothers pendant. As he’s dragged out of the closed world by Kaito and Nonoha with the pendant puzzle, it looks to be a happy end for everyone. With the puzzle solved and Freecell’s Orpheus Ring smashed, there’s only one person unhappy with this result, and that’s Whist. Whilst I don’t know what Season 3 will be about, it looks like i’ll see you all then!

Phi Brain: Kami No Puzzle 2 Episode 24

Closed Off

I…don’t think it’s wise to trust Whist. As Freecell sits in a snowy mountain region, using his awesome new powers to predict the future, he sees Nonoha in all of them, and she features more prominantly than Kaito does. It’s been a rough ride, but at Episode 49 of Phi Brain, it looks like everything’s heading towards one hell of a finale.

Rook and Kaito never fought the Puzzle of God, Rook was released from the rook beforehand. So this looks like it’s the first time we get to play with the Puzzle of God…and after learning that Klondike’s ring wasn’t smashed and just stolen, Freecell’s twisted motives look to be showing themselves. Surely, it isn’t very long afterwards that Nonoha gets herself kidnapped, and Team Kaito is off to rescue her and put an end to whatever Freecell’s up to.

However, it’s uh. Not long afterwards that Nonoha notices that she’s been taken to the Himalaya mountains as a willing guest of Whist and Freecell…and it looks like the reasoning for this is based on their talk in that episode they saved Kaito. However…well, I don’t know if Freecell is out of whack or bipolar. He has a lot of problems, and as Nonoha hands him back that memento she’s been carrying, it’s revealed that it’s a puzzle that even Freecell can’t solve…the puzzle that Freecell wanted to solve with Kaito all that time ago.

And that’s what shows me that something is wrong here. Freecell reverts back to a child when Nonoha shows him what his mother made for him and what she wrote about him…and, well. Nonoha said it better. He hates his mother, but loves her. He’s happy Kaito wants to keep his promise, but doesn’t feel anything about it. He’s trapped in two worlds, and as he constantly digs up memories of his mother with Nonoha, he…he seems almost pitiful.

Before long, my theory that Whist is hardly trustworthy comes into the open. Him and Solitia, Freecell’s mother, sought to create a god…a god to take control of the Orpheus Order and rule the planet. With Kaito having shattered the final ring for good, the showdown of gods, the fight that all the episodes have been leading up to finally getting underway, the creepy episode that shows us what kind of person Freecell really is comes to an end.

Phi Brain: Kami No Puzzle 2 Episode 23

God’s Miscalculation

When an episode opens with a line like “Nobody can stop Klondike now”, you know that the finale’s getting closer. As even Jikugawa reappears, it’s pretty clear things are going to turn. Returning with him is a diary, the diary of the Orpheus Order. It contains the power, and the sad truth behind Klondike’s ambitions to activate the ring, and how he aims to make mankind exceed god.

On top of that, it reveals just how Freecell came to be involved in everything, and just how the ring is dangerous…very dangerous. Infinite knowledge and power can warp even the softest of hearts, and turn mankinds greed into a sin stronger than hatred itself. At last, we get an explination about Freecell’s mother…and I was happy with it. The saying “fate is ironic” really applies here.

Emotions and the fates of everyone entangled in the replica rings and Klondike’s sick twist aside, Kaito now has something to do. Freecell needs to hear his mothers last words, and find out just what the rings do to people. However, Kaito was never a “do-er”. Rook was the person who got things done, and that’s why he’s gotten himself involved yet again, with the POG giving their full support. Even Pinochole and Doubt are chipping in, along with the members of the POG that we never expected to see again. However, pulling the “I can predict the future” thing…is that the power of the final ring, or a useful dues ex machina? Just what ridiculous ability does Hoist have, anyway? Questions still need answers, and as Klondike outruns the POG again and again, it doesn’t look like these questions will get answered any time soon.

As Klondike escapes to the roof of the building, a special someone is waiting for him up there: Freecell himself. The Ultimate Replica, the Final Ring and the Orpheus Ring…this is why Freecell is a worthy rival, as Hoist joins sides with Freecell, and we get a look at the powers of the Ultimate Replica…the ring that’s the strongest, yet the one that’s tainted in a very dark history. As Freecell, consumed by this ring, defeats Klondike and his “final ring”, he leaves one message for Kaito. He’s waiting at God’s Puzzle.

So much for Klondike. It felt a little anti climatic, but creepily anti climatic, almost in a good way…xD But one question remains: What IS that eerie glow Freecell has?

Phi Brain: Kami No Puzzle 2 Episode 22

Lord of the Board

For humanity to evolve, it needs to shed the bonds that hold it onto the ground. Discrimination, war, poverty and suffering are all things which need to be removed for the sake of a perfect future. The episode opens up with Klondike giving a speech about this to a hall full of people. Last week, the Order collapsed on itself…so this week was always going to be a big questionmark. As the man behind the curtains pulls the strings one last time before his big plan, it’s time to find out everything going on in the shadows.

In typical Phi Brain style, this means that it’ll be solved by a game. See, I was slightly buying into the whole “Let’s give everyone a ring to control them” scheme, but if what Klondike is saying is true, he’s created a ring that’s even stronger than the Orpheus Ring, one that can give people the ultimate enlightenment. I don’t know if the puzzle was rigged, or if Klondike is really that good, but the idea of an invisible maze was a really fitting puzzle for the “final boss”. Someone who, even without the ring, can thrash Kaito.

However, that makes no sense as to why Melancholy is there. She may have the only genuine ring, and be a true child of the Phi Brain, but Klondike shouldn’t need that with how brilliant he is. Why didn’t he just throw her away when she wasn’t useful anymore? With the true form of the puzzle being revealed, Kaito’s super “power” kicks in, allowing Klondike’s evil motive of sapping Kaito’s ring to start, powering up Klondike’s ring even further. From what I understood of that ending, Klondike became a Phi Brain with his “final ring” activating.With Freecell drained of all his power, the ending just keeps moving closer. This…will be good.

Phi Brain: Kami No Puzzle 2 Episode 21

The Sad Clown

Resuming from last week, what with the Gusha Puzzles, Kaito is still ploughing through them at a ridiculous pace. I don’t know if there’s that trademark “F” at the end of all of them, but one things for sure: Kaito’s back on the path to becoming a Phi Brain. Solving puzzles and accelerating his brain waves to a new high, well…the only difference is that he’s not wearing a ring anymore.

Freecell’s desertion of the Orpheus Order has caused  some problems, and now that someone’s messing with Mizerka and Doubt, after being spat at by Melancholy, the two arrive in front of Kaito and his friends for one last blaze of glory…one last puzzle to provide the ultimate data, with the ambition to transform their fakes into the real deal. With Kaito and Ana accepting their request to duel, it becomes very clear very quickly that the two are treating this as a suicide mission, without any care or consideration for their lives.

When everyone’s balancing on the beams, fighting for their lives, they start to enjoy the puzzle to it’s fullest, and it’s all over too soon…with the two rings shattering as they both truely gave up on their lives, that leaves Whist, Melancholy, Freecell and Klondike in the Order, with nothing about any of them becoming any clearer. Who is Klondike? Why is Melancholy special? With nothing answered and more questions posed, we march forward into the next episode, where i’ll imagine Freecell meets Klondike and has that special talk.

Phi Brain: Kami No Puzzle 2 Episode 20

Return of the Gusha Puzzle

That was an interesting way to start the episode…we havn’t seen that since the scrolls in Series 1. Yet another rather messed up prediction of the future…I think this was the aftermath of Freecell’s awakening as a true Phi Brain, one that’s stronger than Kaito. So with Kaito knowing that Freecell’s stronger and that he’s found a very dangerous toy to play with, there’s one person left to turn to: Rook Banjo Crossfield.

One of the old Rook’s puzzles, the puzzles from when Rook was under the control of his ring and the ruthless head of the POG It’s a very fascinating puzzle, a maze complete with traps and malicious little titbits. But bod, that bit at the end was freaky. Freecell solved the Gusha puzzle before Kaito, and left his taunting remark at the end. Just what kind of person has Freecell turned into? Just who is Klondike, and what is he trying to get up to with Hoist? What has Freecell seen in Hoist? What’s the purpose of the memento that Nonoha’s carrying? I’m starting to worry that they aren’t going to wrap everything up here…

Phi Brain: Kami No Puzzle 2 Episode 19

Awakening

Last week, the double ring fiasco drove Herbert crazy, resulting in him being trapped in a collapsed cavern, with life or death status pretty uncertain. Watching this, Freecell, being the pyscopath he is, goes to save Kaito, since nobody can have “special time” with Kaito apart from himself. And thus, this episode picks up straight afterwards.

During the cave-in, Nonoha appears to be the only person who’s safe, and things start off with her punching her way through some rubble to rescue Cubic, who promptly moves onto locating the others. Sadly, Kaito didn’t get himself killed, but being trapped at the bottom of the foundations means that the only person who can save him is Nonoha, the person who’s been overlooked for the majority of the runtime. But, well…after getting stopped in her tracks by a puzzle, the oddball, Freecell, turns up to help carve the path to Kaito. Not only was it the oddest team-up, it was the oddest combination of efforts: Freecell’s brain and Nonoha’s memory. Pretty much what Nonoha should have been doing all this time, not sitting around doing nothing.

However, Nonoha spending time with Freecell is obviously going to answer one of the biggest questions we’ve had since Freecell got introduced. And as he starts his over-due explaining, the ring that’s being wielded up Freecell glows an unusual rainbow, and appears to start overwriting his memories, like was expected to have happened.Things get a little clearer, Freecell has a very dark heart in him. He left his sick mother who was on death’s door to go play, and when he got back she was dead. That confirms that she knew nothing about Kaito not showing up…and the rainbow glow on the ring seems to have a rather odd effect as it overloads, making Freecell find the truth that we’ve all expected. Freecell hated his mother, and if anything, makes Freecell responsible for the death of his mother. All that shows is just how pyscopathic Freecell is, pretty much loosing it when Nonoha brings up the possibility that the promise is yet another forged memory.

Freecell’s ring appears to have completly gone haywire after remembering this, which ends up giving him abilities pretty much equal to Kaito’s god mode. However, this isn’t all of it. The twist at the end of the episode was a very unusual one, pretty much created by Nonoha’s meddling: Freecell doesn’t care about his mother or the promise anymore, and he understands that the fake ring given to him has become a real ring.Now that Freecell’s become stronger than Kaito, what’s going to happen from here on? Freecell seems to have noticed that he’s being used by the Orpheus Order, Kaito’s reached a wall in terms of his ability, and Nonoha’s hit rock bottom by awakening Freecell’s true abilities.Phi Brain’s amazing at this point, and there’s another 6 episodes left to go.

Phi Brain: Kami No Puzzle 2 Episode 18

About That Man, Herbert.

After that scenario with Pinochle last week, Kaito continues straight on to the place he was told to go to in order to find Freecell, the secret base of the Orpheus Order. In a very fishy turn of events, the group of get led down to a basement, where the man of the episode, Herbet, is waiting for them.

With this, we finally find out why he was given control of the order; he’s got the mental ability to dual-wield Orpheus Rings.The puzzle underneath the castle is of a very strange setting of eating each other; a twist on the classic Wolves and Sheep puzzle. I have to admire the way Kaito thinks, though…the puzzle was pretty strange to start with, so there’s obviously some catch. For starters, it doesn’t take 8 moves to complete this puzzle. I can do it in 5. On top of that, I love how they’ve used Nonoha’s ability this time around. So obviously, there there was a catch, it had a trick to it that required 8 moves exactly. That wasn’t enough though, and that final trick was to switch the roles around at the very end. The wolf becomes the sheep and the sheep becomes the wolf, a very fitting twist when you consider the nature of the show.That said, Herbert lost too easily. For this extremely smart person with two rings, he lost so easily that it was he wanted to lose subconciously. And that’s when we find about the duel rings; they completly consume your personality/do something strange to it.

With Kaito presumed dead and Herbert having shown his true colours, the episode ends on his suicide attempt to take everyone down…what a cliffhanger. Kaito obviously can’t die, what with him being the main character and all (yet i’d have loads of respect for this show is that actually does happen!), but that Silver Ring…does it project a personality onto someone? The entire episode was build-up towards that finale that they’ve been edging towards, and with Freecell having seen Kaito possibly get killed by ‘Herbert’, even I can’t predict what’ll happen next. This is why I love this show, it’s so creatively brilliant. Heck, even the sub-par soundtrack moved up a notch this episode.

Phi Brain: Kami No Puzzle 2 Episode 17

Pinochle’s Resolve

Well, the Order’s breaking down nice and quickly. Freecell’s holding some sort of ultimate trump card, the others are starting to suspect there’s a problem thanks to Eve’s Replica Ring, and Pinochle’s gone out against the wishes of the “leader” and promised to tell Kaito everything. The only thing you can learn from this is that Freecell isn’t a very nice person at all, laughing at those who’ve gotten consumed by the ring…even his friends.

It’s easily the most twisted game yet, though. Kaito will either lose and fall to his death, or win, learn just what connects his promise to Freecell’s mother and find out the rest of the truth of what happened…but, in return for winning, Pinochle falls to his death.

However, annoyingly, this seems to have brought out a rather shounen-esque style to Kaito. “I need to find the truth amongst your lies so I can apologise for what I did to you all”. But…Hoist did something rather remarkable. He actually tried to kill Pinochle this episode, probably to prevent the secret of the “Gamma Ring” getting out, and the truth of what happened to Kaito and Freecell getting out.

It’s just a shame for the Order that he was saved by Kaito…but that begs the question. What the HECK are the Order up to? Changing tactics, keeping secrets, even showing a ridiculously huge revelation from Freecell about how he felt for his mother. To hate ones mother is normal, but that removes the motive for Freecell from the picture entirely. Freecell’s motive isn’t about his mothers death, since the death of someone you hate isn’t actually a sad thing, especially if you hate them after death. With Pinochle revealing that even he doesn’t understand why the two are linked, or if they’re linked at all, the episode ends up with him being invited into Kaito’s group, the spell shattered and nothing being explained at all. In fact, it’s just cleared up the hate about how the motives for the show makes no sense, and shown that Hoist is a real bastard.

Words don’t explain just how awesome it is to see Phi Brain turn it’s attention back to the ridiculously brilliant plot and the roller-coaster ride that it’s turning into. I’ve got  no idea of what’s actually going on anymore…yet i’m loving it so much right now.