Phi Brain – 24

Best episode? Best episode.

I finally got all of my annoying schoolwork out of the way, so I have some breathing room before exams start. No more essays, just blogging from here on in. Ahhh, how nice. Want some good news that actually may apply to you? The Phi Brain OST is coming out March 28th, so PAY ATTENTION!

Mentally stability is not Rook’s specialty, and he’s having a terrible time getting over Kaito leaving him behind. A video of him freaking out was leaked to Youtube or something (by who? I don’t know. Cameras in this show are an ubiquitous entity) and now the POG has been laughed out of business. Everyone considers quitting quite openly, but Gammon has a bit more of a poker face. It’s still unclear exactly which side he’s playing.

Meanwhile, Kaito is having a heart-to-heart talk with Nonoha about his armlet and the new vision of Rook destroying the world. Nonoha is very pleased that Kaito is finally relying on her, and Kaito seems to benefit from it as well. As they’re chatting, he receives a call from Rook of all people. He’s worked up the courage, composure (and cunning. How else did he get his number?) to ask Kaito to meet with him tomorrow alone for their own ‘heart-to-heart’ chat. Just like the good old days. Kaito explains things to Nonoha at the very least, but in the end he’s still leaping headfirst into a dangerous situation without any back-up.

“I’m an anime protagonist. I don’t DO chairs, I do dramatic leaning on balconies.”

Rook meets Kaito as promised early in the morning…and he’s in affectionate, puppydog mode. Kaito’s “wtf” reaction to everything makes a lot of sense, and he keeps that sort of guarded stance all throughout breakfast, exploring a book store, and then lunch. He only starts to show a flash of his old self when Kaito responses to a text from Nonoha. He wants Kaito all to himself, and he’s not afraid to tell that to Kaito straight up. Why can’t Rook find other friends, Kaito may never understand u_u

Their next stop is the library, where Kaito shows Rook a picture book filled with photographs of where the two of them used to play. Rook says more creepy, possessive things and Kaito tries to direct his…friendliness…towards other things. By now the sun is setting, but they continue to walk around town and explore. Kaito finally gets to the root of the problem of the whole..you know…killing people with puzzles thing, but Rook doesn’t take it so well.

Rook wants to immortalize their friendship by having one of them die for the other in a puzzle battle. Whoever lives will have the other live on in their heart. Kaito is about to refuse a puzzle battle for the first time, but Rook has a bargaining chip just for that. He has the God’s Scroll. It was actually successfully uncovered by Jin and Pythagoras, but reading the Scroll drove the latter mad. Rook snatched the scroll for the sole purpose of blackmailing Kaito to fight him. If he refuses, he’ll let the world know about the scroll and start a huge war that will rip the world apart as they scramble to obtain it. As for reading it – Rook isn’t the least bit interested.

Rook carries a wind machine everywhere he goes for situations such as these

He doesn’t really have much of a choice, so he agrees. At the very least, he has the decency to say goodbye to Nonoha in his own, weird way by calling her out and complimenting her cookies. Kaito and Rook are headed for a small island that has Rook’s HUGE puzzle set up for the two of them. Naturally, the peanut gallery decides they want to follow him. The POG is in a mess right now, so Bishop is totally okay with randomly flying everyone to the island and letting them interfere. FINAL SHOWDOWN, GO!

Bonus Friendship Stalking:

…I’ll be diagnosing you some day soon, at this rate.

“I’m glad you trust me more. Hopefully it’s character development and not the aphrodisiac I slipped in your tea.”

“Girls Gone Wild…Over Sudoku. That’s my favourite magazine!”

“Alright, Kaito. Just get up here and kiss me and you’ve solved the puzzle. Hehehehe…”

End Thoughts:

JESUS CHRIST, ROOK YOU INSANE BASTARD, YOU! I knew what to expect, but actually seeing the extent of his fawning nature for 20 minutes was unnerving. The regression back to his affectionate self made me extremely leery, as we’ve seen him use that as a ruse to fool Kaito before in that burning tower. I couldn’t let my guard down the entire time, no matter how cute and innocent he acted. I don’t doubt that part of it was genuine, as Rook really hasn’t been let outside much to enjoy the wonders of takoyaki (“octopus?!” Aww his second language is Japanese?) and puzzle magazines. The problem is sorting out how much of his friendliness is acting, how much of it is real, and how much of it is backed by his desire for them to be eternalized through death. Like I thought, he really does have twisted thoughts about one of them dying and the other living on in spirit.

Just when I thought Kaito was breaking through to him, the sun set and his eyes totally changed as if he were some sort of werewolf. I know it’s cheesy for the weather to change with the mood (lol that convenient rain later on) but having his eyes change really made it clear that Rook’s two sides are like night and day. He becomes a totally different person when he gets serious – although both side share a creepy obsession about monopolizing Kaito. I guess he didn’t take to be separated from his only friend too well, and the torture (or whatever they did to him) made his mind all the more fragile. Thus, we have a yandere Rook. It’s kind of sad when you realize he just wants “Kaito’s heart” as the Principal said. Now you see why Kyokai mentioned these two in her bromance post, don’t you? Kaito would love for them to be normal friends who don’t re-inact a one-sided Romeo and Juliet suicide for love scene, but that’s going to be tough. I think Kaito will be able to talk him out of it in the end once he solves the puzzle, and maybe get him to be friends with ALL of his buddies. Then he won’t have to be as jealous since he’ll have other friends too.

I love Rook as a villain, because he’s the type of person you want to be saved. He doesn’t care about destroying the world or anything, he just REALLY loves his friend and REALLY sucks at showing it within a normal range of human expression. His motives are believable, because it is what he honestly thinks is right. Well, if you ignore the monster-sized puzzles he makes to go around completing his goal, then yes…it’s pretty believable. He’s not evil, just misguided! Look at him, HE HAS THE BLOODY SCROLL and he refuses to use it! I thought that Jin and Pythagoras may have actually solved the puzzle before this episode confirmed it, but the scroll made Jin go crazy…Guess they unlocked it and Pythagoras went mad instead. But shouldn’t one of them have died in the puzzle they solved to unlock the scroll itself? Isn’t that how it goes? <_< Anyways, Rook has had the scroll for all this time and he hasn’t so much as peeked at it. I find this odd since Kaito has a vision of the world ending with Rook being the cause. If he doesn’t care about the scroll, why would he end up destroying the world? Would he need to worry about destroying the world once he has his precious Kaito in his kokoro? I can’t tell if these are loopholes or hints at something bigger…

If you couldn’t tell by now, I thought this was a pretty sick episode. Rook and Kaito were the stars, but some other great character dynamics were shown off. This is the episode where Kaito finally started to ease up and explain his problems! GOOD FOR YOU, KAITO! I just love the smell of character development in the morning! Let’s not forget Bishop, who seems to genuinely care about Rook’s wellbeing and the dignity of the POG. He’s a mysterious one…I hope we see more of him in season 2. We’re on the road towards an exciting final episode. Everything should be able to be wrapped up in episode 25! Perfect! I’m using so many exclamation points, I can hardly contain myself! I may have to re-evaluate this as “a good show” instead of “a derp show that became good.” Phi Brain has the soul of a genuinely well-crafted anime at this point. Boy, they really turned things around. Until next time!

Preview: FINAL SHOWDOWN! ROOK VS KAITO But more importantly, can someone explain how a recluse whose only physical activity is breathing heavily over pictures of Kaito got so beefed up? Dude is ripped! Look at those muscles!

Unf.

About Overcooled

A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.