Phi Brain – 17

Bitch, please. I’ve been doing puzzles since I was 2.

I got a little distracted writing other things, so you’ll have to forgive me for being a bit late. On the bright side, some interesting news cropped up while time went by! I found what appears to be a preview image for season 2, which implies heavily that Rook somehow becomes not crazy by the end of this season. I can’t confirm it’s authenticity, but it’s cool to look at! Also, Karakuri pointed out to me that they’re making a game. I wish I knew where they were getting all this mad bank from…

Things are all going according to plans for Rook, despite the fact that he hasn’t killed off any of Kaito’s pesky comrades yet. He enters the next stage of his plan, which mysteriously coincides with the Principal going missing. Both Jikugawa (his lapdog) and Kaito (his adoptive son) don’t know where he is. Nonoha finds it a bit weird that Kaito knows so little about his adoptive father, but he doesn’t seem very concerned. All that matters to him is that he remembers his real parents and how nice they were to him. Just as he starts reminiscing blissfully, he gets a message telling him to go to the same puzzle that killed his parents. Talk about pouring salt into the wound.

This week’s suffering brought to you by: Rook!

Where Kaito goes, his friends will follow. This is just a fact of life. They all take the train to the cave, comforting Kaito on the way. However, no amount of pep talk could have prepared him for what he’s about to learn. The Principal appears from the shadows and he lays it on thick. Not only is he part of the POG, but Kaito’s parents were as well. In fact, they weren’t even his real parents – they were just instructed to look after him and groom him to be a powerful Phi Brain child. The Principal shows him video proof on his terminal, which Nonoha promptly throws into the chasm. It’s not enough to protect Kaito from the truth though, and the damage has been done.

Rook looks on with a look of horror that quickly turns into a smirk. He may not have been able to separate Kaito from his friends, but he’s separated him from his family. Kaito starts to have a meltdown, but the Principal forces him to listen to him further. He explains that the POG didn’t used to be bad, which is why he and Jikugawa became a part of it. It was only after Count Pythagoras took control that they moved from building harmless puzzles to protect treasures into trying to solve the God’s Puzzle. The Principal wanted to act as a double agent and play along with what the POG wanted until Kaito solved the God’s Puzzle so he could then destroy it and stop the forbidden secrets from getting out. However, he had no choice but to betray them at this time and tell Kaito that his fake parents really did love him, that he must beat the POG, and that Jin (his old friend!) must be rescued from the POG’s claws.

First I was like….but then I was like….

To really drive his point home and make Kaito recover from the devastating blow he gave him earlier, he shows him a video of his parents celebrating his birthday (presumably on his monitor, since Nonoha threw Kaito’s into the pits of hell). Kaito’s parents are loving…confirmed. Phi Brain mode ACTIVATE! Kaito breezes through the puzzle and does a victory pose at the end. He had to “free the puzzle” and “avenge his parents.” The puzzle collapses after he completes it, leaving Rook standing there flabbergasted at the results. His only small victory is capturing the Principal for treason, but otherwise, he’s lost the upperhand.

..Okay, now how do I get out?

Bonus Baby Footage:

Cubic: Child Prodigy at Solving Puzzles and the Art of Being a Tsundere

The POG used all their budget making season 2 and cannot afford guns to threaten people with.

“It’s okay, Kaito. I was madly in love with another person who spent their free time talking to puzzles too.”

“AGGHHH!” “Whoops, wrong video! Guess I forget to delete the XXX folder.”

End Thoughts:

Huh, I actually didn’t laugh as much as I thought I would. I think it was only at the end where Kaito was screaming to the heavens about puzzles that I started to crack a smile. It’s becoming a running joke that Kaito ends each episode shouting “ROOOOK!!!” in the assumed direction of the camera that Rook ALWAYS has set up somewhere. Other than that, this week was pretty serious. I have to admit I wasn’t expecting Kaito’s parents to be members of the POG and not blood-related, but that blow was swiftly softened since they actually loved him. Although, just because someone is in the POG doesn’t mean they’re bad. Shouldn’t Kaito be over that kneejerk reaction of hatred by now? It sounds like before Count Pythagoras took over the POG was a perfectly legitimate organization who basically took commissions to make puzzles. We, the viewers, already knew Jikugawa and the Principal were in the POG, so it was kind of annoying to have to sit through that explanation all over again and see Kaito get riled up over it. RELAX, THEY’RE THE GOOD GUYS.

This episode very quickly resolved the issue of Kaito potentially being raised as an unloved experiment like Rook (kind of lame that it happened so fast), but it brings up another question. Who were Kaito’s real parents? Right now if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it’s Jin. Don’t know who the broad is, but Jin is the only one of the appropriate age other than the Principal. They may very well keep that truth under wraps though, and I might prefer it that way. Let Kaito suffer a bit from never knowing who his real parents are! He has it easy compared to Rook, anyways. I was getting ready for Kaito’s childhood to be a mirror of Rook’s, but that certainly wasn’t the case. Kaito went through puzzle training, but he was loved. Rook went through puzzle training, but was kept behind bars. I doubt anyone gave him extra strawberries on his birthday cake or a nice present (Hmm, what did he get for his birthday? A puzzle? A puppy? A PONY?!). Rook may be a murderous, delusional man with good intentions gone awry…but I still feel bad for him. Okay, yeah, I laughed when he sputtered “ai” (love) because he sounded like some otherwordly creature trying to grasp foreign human emotions. I know they’re trying to tell us that his emotional capacities are stunted but I think he should at least know what love is unless he has a legitimate mental dis-….Oh….<_<

The drama shouldn’t be over yet, because we still have to see how Kaito soaks this in and handles it in the next episode. He may have triumphantly solved the puzzle, but I’ll bet he’s still a bit shaky. He’s pretty volatile, after all. I’ll also be curious to see if it was just a coincidence that he was able to retain his emotions during Phi Brain mode this time. Usually he goes dead silent aside from a few words, but he had a whole inner monologue about how he felt the burning need to avenge his parents. Not quite the type of thing that would spring from someone using only the technical aspect of their brain, no? Then there’s the drama with his friends. Gammon should still have some sort of grudge to get over (hence the sword fight in the preview? lolololol) and there was some *symbolism* about Kaito growing farther away from his friends. I’m still waiting for Kaito to finally accept his friends, and I will not start harping on about that until he does! Cubic is practically in heat over him…Dude needs to realize not all friends need to be a guy named “Rook.”

Preview: Antoinette is back! Is she back to challenge them again? Probably, since the POG is like the mafia and you can’t leave without getting a finger cut off or something. If so, I have no idea who she is challenging since everyone seems to be in action this episode. But I do know that at the very least Kaito and Gammon have a light saber battle for the sake of puzzles. Brilliant.

Cosplay puzzles are the best puzzles