Phi Brain – 25 [END]

 

*dramatic air keyboard solo*

Welcome to yet another final episode where I have to say “…it’s not really over yet!” This is indeed the last episode of season 1, but we’re hurtling right into season 2 next week without skipping a beat. So this isn’t even close to a dramatic, final goodbye since I’ll be seeing your stinking faces next week. Darn, just when I thought I’d gotten rid of you!

The puzzle of gigantic balls (doesn’t sound as majestic when you call it that, eh?) that Rook set up is actually supposed to represent the sun and all the planets that orbit around it. Kaito has to jump from planet to planet as they move in their orbit to get to the sun. If he pauses too long, the planet he stands on will crumble and he’ll fall to his death. If he reaches the platform around the sun, then Rook will fall along with the sun. To make the outcome more certain, Rook destroys most of the planets so that Kaito only has one possible route to take, and he can’t stall or else he’ll fall to his death. He only has a limited amount of time to think of a way to have both of them live, and he has to do it without the help of the Orpheus armlet.

As Kaito hops from planet to planet, everyone watches with baited breath. Nonoha, Cubic and Jikugawa arrived on Bishop’s flight, the rest of the POG and its captives got there by Gammon busting them out (I guess one of them has a pilot’s license), and Ana got there by flapping her arms really really hard. Anyways, everyone made it there somehow to watch Kaito’s final showdown, although things look grim. The only hint Kaito has is that the sun Rook is on appears to have the exact same design as the kumiki puzzle he gave him.

Standing on the last planet next to the sun, Kaito finally comes up with a plan. He yells about making a biohazardous recipe to Nonoha, which everyone somehow connects via word association to mean “make a bomb and throw it at the pillar closest to you, thus causing the sun to fall and allowing the both of us to jump off.” I know these guys are supposed to be bright but that is a LOT of degrees of separation there. Regardless, everyone catches on and starts concocting a deadly apple juice bomb while Kaito stalls for time.

Rook, stop being selfish! The world doesn’t revolve around…oh.

The planet crumbles and Kaito is forced to jump onto the platform surrounding the sun. However, he only barely grabs onto the edge before slipping down. Rook freaks out, not expecting this outcome and definitely not liking it in the slightest. However, Kaito quickly swings back up after hanging just out of view from Rook to shove his smaller kumiki puzzle into Rook’s bigger one. This stops the sun from disassembling for at least a little while. By then, Cubic has finished the bomb in time. Nonoha has no idea what’s going on, but she still pulls through and hits the exact pillar needed to get those two back on the ground alive.

Kaito grabs Rook and jumps just as the sun hits the edge of the cliff, and some branches manage to break their fall. In fact, they’re not even bruised, cut, or dirty from the whole experience. Perfectly fine. Now that their lives aren’t in danger, Kaito can calmly explain to Rook that they are friends and it’s better to do normal friend things like hang out instead of trying to kill each other. It makes for better memories, you know? Rook starts to cry at Kaito’s show of kindness, and the Orpheus armlet melts away much like it did for Kaito. Apparently, the armlet dulled his emotions to the point where he wasn’t quite in control of what he was doing…but not enough that he didn’t spazz over his precious Kaito every 10 seconds. A weird thing, that armlet. Now that the main baddy is good, the God Scroll burnt, and everyone happy – things can go back to normal. I bet you even forgot they went to school, but hey, that’s where they’re returning! Good luck with exams after missing that many lectures, buddy.

Just in case you needed even more fuel for this pairing

Bonus Puzzles:

Rook is in Kaito’s lap. There is no punchline, I just wanted you to know that.

“I guess I shouldn’t mention that I kept all the security cameras that follow Kaito in my letter, hmm?”

“Guys, this is apple juice and a bottle of glitter, I’m not so sure-” “THERE’S TAPE TOO! JESUS, WOMAN, GET A CLUE!”

In the end, the God Scroll was just a collection of Rook’s photos of Kaito, but now we’ll never see it…

End Thoughts:

Alright, that wasn’t bad for a finale. It really didn’t differ much from a normal Phi Brain episode since the stakes were essentially the same as usual – solve the puzzle or die. Kaito even faced a puzzle where he had to try and keep both participants alive already when he faced Gammon. There wasn’t even the element of trying to solve the puzzle in addition to saving Rook, because there was only one way to solve it. The tension wasn’t as high as I’d have liked in the beginning, but when it finally came down to jamming a kumiki puzzle into the sun and using a makeshift bomb, things finally got intense. Rook was using his “Oh Kaito, I love you so much” voice throughout the entire episode instead of his evil voice, which made it all the more unsettling…especially when Kaito supposedly died and Rook nearly had a breakdown. He really, really wanted to be the one to die for Kaito. We’ve seen this level of dedication before so it’s not really a surprise though. All in all, there really wasn’t very much that was special about this episode. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, of course, it just means it’s another good episode of Phi Brain! Luckily, there’s season 2 coming around the corner which makes this episodic-like finale fit in more with the grand scheme of things. I’m glad Rook is done with trying to kill his friend on one hand, because it means he can cling to Kaito in season 2. On the other hand…he’s not crazy anymore. He’s likely to be replaced with some other, psychotic character, which makes me sad. I loved crazy Rook! I just have to hope that his brutal childhood left some lasting emotional scarring that keeps him eerily possessive and moody when it comes to Kaito.

Seriously though, did they really just blame all of Rook’s actions on the armlet? I know we’ve seen it completely change Kaito, but to say “oh it was just the armlet controlling him! Poor Rook, it’s not his fault.” seems like an excuse to get everyone to forgive him. Yes, the armlet played a huge role in shutting out his emotions and facilitating his murder-puzzle sprees. But I believe that those traits had to be there at least a little bit before he put the armlet on. Being caged like an experiment as a kid probably didn’t help his mental state, neither did being forced (or at least brought up to) make deadly puzzles. Being forcefully separated from his friend, shoved in the POG, and used as a tool for his intellect didn’t exactly fill his head with dreams of becoming a good person. It kind of makes me mad that they’d wave it off as the armlet’s doing. Rook is a much more complex character than that. I think his love for Kaito was genuinely at the “HOLY SHIT CREEPY” level since the armlet should take away emotions if anything. The whole killing everyone – yeah, I can see how the armlet obscuring your judgement could make that a lot easier. It’s definitely a combination of the armlet and his life thus far. Don’t forget he was making death puzzles before most of us learned how to divide or multiply, so he had a pretty deep disposition towards this kind of thing. It was one off-handed statement though, so I’m probably getting riled up for nothing. <_<

Almost everything came to a neat conclusion, which is nice. The God Scroll burned (and we SAW it burn, none of this wondering if it will come up again later), the POG crumbled, the armlets dissolved, and everyone became friends again. There are a few odd things that stand out though. One is Gammon never openly says he wasn’t a traitor. We all know he was a double-agent (he saved Kaito and the hostages), but can’t we get a word about what the hell he was thinking when he tried to kill Kaito (genuinely) all of those times? I know he’s not one for showing emotions, but it’d be nice to know why he went so bloody far. Other than, you know, Phi Brain logic where risking your life is totally fine as long as it’s for puzzles. Secondly, the bomb. I…okay, I’m just going to assume you can make a bomb with apple juice and stuff that Cubic habitually carries around like how normal people carry around wallets. Bomb experts, please come out of lurking and teach me about this magic, if such a reader demographic even exists. Thirdly….Jin u ok? Wasn’t he barely even able to communicate before? Is he suddenly mentally stable now? Last of all…guys…HOW DID ANA GET THERE? He wasn’t on the plane, and everyone was clearly surprised when he appeared from the bushes. Can he teleport now? Does he walk on water like Jesus? WHAT EVEN IS HE!?!?! WAKARIMASEEENNNN!!!!

*Ahem* so yeah, pretty much everything was wrapped with a bow and nicely presented at the end. A decent ending with no cliffhangers, just a few annoying inconsistencies. All in all, season 1 was a strange, strange beast to behold. At first I watched it for the lulz because it approached the “so bad it’s good” territory. It wasn’t long before it shaped up to be a show that could be taken seriously, with genuinely surprising plot twists. What a transformation! Just when I thought I drew the short straw for blogging, Phi Brain became one of the most enjoyable shows of the season for me. It certainly was the most fun to blog (if you couldn’t tell by my lengthy end thoughts all the time). I’m sorry, you’ve probably read a novel’s worth of stuff about Rook at this point because of me. He’s just such an awesome villain! Thanks for sticking through Phi Brain all this time! Although, even if you didn’t, I’d have kept going because this series is a real diamond in the rough. Err, okay, maybe not a diamond, maybe more like a rubix cube or something less…valuable.

Before we move onto season 2, please accept these “gifts” of Phi Brain fanart, a small drabble/fic, and yet more fanart. I vaguely remember telling Kitty that I’d try and “do something special for the finale” and as vague as a promise that is, I am very strict in keeping my word. Hopefully I didn’t just imagine saying that, and this is a thing that actually occurred in real life, not in some hazy daydream or the like. Anyways, this is kind of a short goodbye since next week is season 2. I’ll be joined by other people for the first impressions, so look forward to hearing someone else’s thoughts instead of just ME ME ME! See ya!

Preview: Wow, there’s even a preview. Season 2 wastes no time in introducing a brand new villain voiced by the fangirl-attracting seiyuu Kamiya Hiroshi. That alone is enough to make most of us excited. Other than that Gammon is still a dick and some chick I barely remember becomes semi-important! Fun times as Phi Brain continues rocking on; crazy as always.

…If he’s actually Rook’s brother, I don’t know what I’m going to do.