Phi Brain S2 – 25 [END]
A special, heartfelt ode to puzzles before we say goodbye…
Puzzles. Puzzles have been the heart and soul of Phi Brain for a year now. My life has been infused with these life-or-death, sudoku-or-sudon’tku situations every week for 365 days, which has now brought me to a state of enlightenment. At first I thought that Phi Brain was ridiculous. Why would anyone risk their life just to solve a puzzle on a regular basis? Kaito is never actually forced into many of these situations. Imagine the novelty of Kaito just saying “no” to a puzzle with the practiced precision of an anti-drug commercial actor and walking away. These are all options, yes. But you have to understand – as I have come to understand – that puzzles are the most important thing on the planet.
There is nothing in this world that cannot be related to a puzzle. Food? Make a puzzle out of it. Childhood grudge? Solved with a puzzle. You show ambivalent feelings towards your child that constantly corrodes your soul? Give that son of a bitch a puzzle. Sadly, we live in a society that very rarely embraces the ideals shown in Phi Brain. Imagine if all our problems were solved by puzzles. Whenever we fought with our significant other we could secretly mope about it, create a puzzle, and then mysteriously hi-jack a construction site overnight to make a puzzle to test out whose turn it REALLY was to take out the trash. Isn’t that so much more elegant? There is so better solution to any conceivable solution to any problem than a puzzle. Nonoha tried to reason with Freecell, calmly explaining everything about his past to him, but that wasn’t enough to help him. Pinochle attempted to revive Freecell with high levels of homoeroticism, but failed. The only way to bring his wits back was to solve a puzzle with him.
This whole issue with Freecell would have been a lot harder if there were no puzzles. For one thing – it wouldn’t have been as fun! You can’t live your life out to the fullest without a good puzzle (and unescapable death for the loser). The alternative solution would be to talk to him, ignore him, or arrest him for stalking and get a restraining order. Gross! Following the Phi Brain way, Kaito gets to travel to the picturesque Himalayan mountains and solve an exciting puzzle that may or may not have put the entire country in debt so that it could be created. You have to admit it’s a real beaut though.
Talking about your “feelings” isn’t needed when you have a puzzle that explains everything through design alone. The tag theme perfectly suits Freecell’s constantly conflicting emotions about wanting to hide from Kaito and simultaneously be close to him. Just by running in circles over and over again, Kaito was able to activate Phi Brain mode (because running in circles is the peak of intelligence and requires ALL your mental resources) and communicate with his opponent. He came to understand that Freecell was lonely, and didn’t want to ever finish the puzzle in case Kaito left him afterwards. Once Kaito realized this, he knew exactly what to do and how to comfort Freecell afterwards. All this from a puzzle. Soon we won’t even need to actually speak – BAKA morse code and puzzles will be the new official universal language.
Kaito’s season 3 catchphrase: “PUZZLES OR GTFO”
Freecell is stubbornly stuck in the past, refusing to accept his current situation until he solves the pendant with Kaito. The solved puzzle shows an engraving of his mother lovingly holding him. His mixed feelings melt away and give rise to only his true emotions. He loved his mother and his promise to Kaito meant everything to him. That gives him the strength to cope with his mother’s death and his harsh childhood. It’s only then that his Ring shatters and he is truly happy. The same thing happened in season 2 with Rook, who communicated his love for Kaito using…wait for it…puzzles.
This irrefutable evidence proves that puzzles are the way of the future. All of our classes should be replaced with puzzle expeditions, much like what Kaito and friends do. They don’t have time for mindless drivel like algebra and english, so they go out and chase after what is truly a source of useful knowledge. Following this philosophy, I have dropped out of University and dedicated my life to completing dozens of those little “101 puzzles” booklets to become a true genius. I am not there yet, but I have high hopes.
Phi Brain has taught me that puzzles are capable of increasing your intelligence to the point where you can accidentally destroy the world (a common mistake) and actually die from thinking too damn hard. Luckily, we don’t have Orpheus Rings in real life to facilitate this, so we can solve all the puzzles we want without all the side effects! However, I still strongly enforce death penalties for losing a puzzle, because of reasons.
So smart you can see the future and the past. Comes in either a stylish sketchy filter or black ink blots!
Phi Brain has also taught me that thinking about alternatives is pointless. There is use in trying to think of a better way to structure our society than to have it revolve around puzzles because there is none. Stop. Puzzles are all that matter. You go into withdrawal if you stop thinking about puzzles and end up hallucinating them everywhere you go, as seen by the beach episode. So just stop. Kaito is the perfect role model to demonstrate the plus side of basing your every waking thought (and dream!) about puzzles. He never thinks about anything other than puzzles and look at how successful he is! He’s got an entire harem of hot guys screaming his name for half of the episode, and they’re all his! Don’t you want a harem of hot guys to have puzzle time with? I thought so. This is why you need to shut off your brain to useless things like school, calling the police, or when your grandmother’s birthday is and think about puzzles 24/7.
Further Benefits of Puzzles:Show ▼
In conclusion, his show has changed my life. Before puzzles, I was a loser who actually did sports and went to class. Now I’m a cool kid, hanging around abandoned construction sites at night to get my fix. I have found my place in life as a true believer of the heart of the puzzles. Remember – puzzles have hearts, and tell us a lot about the people who made them. Freecell didn’t want to kill Kaito (unlike Rook’s puzzle) so there was no murderous intent. He just wanted Kaito to himself, while ignoring all of the friends he had with him the entire time. I think that puzzles are the most beautiful thing in the entire universe, and am sad that this masterpiece is ending.
I’ve been blogging about it here for an entire year and enjoyed every minute of it. Well, minus the first 5 episodes, which were hard to get into. Overall I’ve loved it though. It’s been an amazing show that is absurd, stupid, unintentionally funny, and amazing all at the same time. I even managed to worm my way into SCCSAV’s livewatch group, which is pretty much the only time I’ve had enough courage and drive to actually join a livewatch group. All for Phi Brain! Ahh, such good memories…I can’t believe it’s ending just when I found my true calling. Thank you everyone for following these posts, or potentially just reading this one post somehow. There is no more reason for me to live so I guess I’ll commit sudoku and…
Oh, wait season 3! I can wait another year before I kill myself. Until then I’ll be lurking around dark alleys asking little kids if they want to see my puzzles.
Rejoice! The Phi Bros shall meet again for season 3 in 2013!
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.
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
i think that now i’m going to see until the end i’ve never even seen the second season
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
So you haven’t watched all of Phi Brain? It’s an odd show that not many people will see the appeal of, but those who get into it…get really into it. Try it!
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
i probably will
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
Puzzles are everything in this world!
I was also one of those kids who spent their lives going to school and learning about the world, until this anime changed everything and I learned that all you need in life are puzzles to solve all of the life crises. Everyone must be converted to the way of the puzzles…
As for episode comments, I expected it to go this way and be a parallel to the previous season with Kaito solving a puzzle and everything becomes happy. I wonder if we’re going to get ANOTHER white haired crazy boy in love with Kaito that knows him from childhood or are we going to branch off from that a little. Maybe have it be a…white haired crazy girl instead! Such a plot twist there. Guess we will just have to wait until next year to see.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Is that so? Actually, we have a Phi Brain cult here and Overcooled is the leader. We’ve been trying to create more followers for some time now. We’ve recently got Karakuri on board as proof of our efforts. Now, if only we can get Fosh in as well. Ku ku ku.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I hope the white-haired villain trend continues, because it’s hilarious. Women don’t have a real place in Phi Brain, so it will probably be another male, childhood friend of Kaito XD
Pretty sure Fosh is part of the cult…we livewatches Phi Brain together with a bunch of other bloggers. The cult is bigger than you know, BB! And it will continue to grow!!!
POWUH: iLurker with 17 comments
Final season 2 episode of Phi Brain! It was nice to see Kaito pull his signature Einstein expression for possibly the final time :’). Time to go through the withdrawal symptoms XD.
That was an interesting maze style puzzle where Kaito and Freecell had to figure out where each other were and had the potential to go on forever LOL. Thankfully, Kaito figured out the solution quickly with lots of the “KAIIIIITOOO!” bystander shouting as usual :P.
Yeah!!! Freecell is finally healed with a bit of motherly (still find this amusing XD) love from Nonoha and getting to solve his mother’s necklace puzzle with Kaito :).
I LOL’d at Hoist’s barely cameo appearance this episode :P. So what exactly was the deal with his character?
We were robbed of seeing Freecell and Rook exchange words this season and maybe having a puzzle duel o
ver their mutual manlove for Kaito XDbut we can’t have it all ;).I can’t wait for Season 3. Bring it on! 😀 Overcooled, will you be blogging the new series? 🙂
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Season 3 better come out AS SOON AS IT’S 2013. I’m not a patient person. By the way, I’m 99.9% sure I’ll be blogging it when it comes out. Blogging season 1 or 2 of a series almost guarantees you have dibs on the next season with our system of deciding who blogs what ;D
I don’t know what the point of Whist was. He was discarded so quickly that he really had NO POINT in being there at all. Was he Freecell’s dad? They never even clarified that!
I’m sad that Rook didn’t get to team up with Kaito, but at least they made it VERY CLEAR that Kaito really loves Rook with that blushing text scene. I think we all know that Rook doesn’t need to be jealous since Kaito is so fond of him.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Puzzles… just what are they? Are they just something bored people do to kill time? Are they something for smart people to feel even smarter with?
No.
If Phi Brain has taught me anything, it’s that puzzles are actually the answers to all of life’s questions. Screw food or sleep, all I need is a book of sudoku. Want to know how to stop war? Give them puzzles. The meaning of life? Puzzles. Humanity needs little else.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Karakuri, you get it. You truly understand the meaning of Phi Brain, and thus, the meaning we were put on this planet by the great Orpheus. May your day be filled with puzzles, enlightened one!!!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Puzzles are life itself!! We can only move forward through them. This was a great ending for season 2. At first, I thought it was pure absurdness but I’ve come to enjoy it. It’s really become the puzzle version of Yu-Gi-Oh!
I’m relieved that Phi Brain is not yet over as a whole because I was dreading the very thought. Now there’s a third season but I’m bummed we have to wait until 2013 (Hopefully at the start of Winter). Why can’t the other good animes have this kind of privilige? I guess the puzzle maker for the show needs some time to let off some steam.
The good thing is that the anime is not based on a manga so there are no rules to follow. I want to see what becomes of Melancholy, Nonoha develop puzzle solving skills and I’m hoping for the new villain and potential Kaito stalker to be a girl to spice things up. She must be hot, smart and dangerously insane.
It’s said the Orpheus Rings have been dispersed throughout the world but I get the feeling when season 3 starts, it will be just the tip of the iceberg and something more potent and dangerous will take its place. If you look at it in a Yu-Gi-Oh! point of view, each evil organization was operating in a way completely different from the others along with villains with unoque mindsets: Pegasus, Marik, Darts and Bakura.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yes, puzzles are what make up the flow of life. From puzzles we came and to puzzles we shall return.
I’m always sad when something I love ends too. It’s great that we get a 3rd season! I have no idea how something as obscure as Phi Brain is getting season after season while other shows are stuck with one. Like Durarara!!…
Anything could happen in s3 without a manga as the main source! I don’t want a female villain because Phi Brain has no idea what girls are actually like and sucks at making them useful. What will I do without homoerotic tension between Kaito and the main villain, huh? But I can see how the guy viewers would want a hot chick as the new villain.
I don’t know what happened to Melancholy, but I assume she’s back to normal now that her Ring is gone. She might be a little shaken and sad, but otherwise she should be alive and kicking.
There are several things Kaito still needs to do. 1. destroy Fool’s Puzzles and 2. find all the Replica Rings and destroy them. The Orpheus Order was a big organization, so it’s still lurking somewhere. It’s not just Yu-Gi-Oh! where the villains all have different agendas though. Everyone has their own, special plan for world domination, after all.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 47 comments
Puzzletastic post! Wonderful! *slowclap* TuT
Puzzles have set roots into everyone’s life philosophies to some extent I see 😀
I’m glad there will be another season after all. If they decide to rebroadcast whole S1, we can expect it earliest in spring season… Well, no matter, don’t mind me and my
often offpredictions. Hope we get it in winter :3 As soon as possible xDDDI loved this finale probably more then last one. This whole season in general was pretty good I guess. Even through it has been rocky ride at some points and plot started off making no sense whatsoever, in the end all pieces fell into right place and puzzle of this season is successfully completed xD
There are some questions left, but we’ll have another season that will potentially answer them :3
Well, it’s been delightful experience following these posts. Hopefully I’ll be back next year to continue too 😉
(hopefully I won’t cool of off Phi Brain by then O____O o god no….)POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Thank you! I was worried some people might have just read it and think I had lost my marbles.
I want it to air soon, but I also want it to be well-made. If they take their time to make it better (maybe even get a bigger budget somehow?) then I’d be very impressed.
S2 is on par with S1 for me. Season one didn’t really get good until Rook was in the forefront while S2 had ups and downs because the reason Freecell was after Kaito was initially very asinine. More of the same, really. Although because of sheer build-up over time, S2 really left a lot unsaid. I don’t even think S3 will deal with a lot of them like what happened to Eve, Jin, Melancholy or Herbert.
Thanks for following the posts so loyally! There’s been some great discussion in the comments sections, and blogging it has been a pleasure. Enjoy the other shows the Metawriters here are covering in the mean time~ (Blatant advertising? I know not what you speak of)
POWUH: iLurker with 8 comments
Uhuuu~~! Another lovely
homoeroticseason ended in a nice note (less abrupt than the last season…). Thanks for the continuous blogging of this series! Somehow when I see puzzle around me, I want to try solve it!! But I’m not that smart, so I always fail. But those puzzles want to be solved!!I’m starting to read on your older posts haha. Who knew Phi Brain would become this enjoyable 50 episodes afterward! Can’t wait for the new season >w<
Btw, have you listened to the Phi Brain radio?
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
You really don’t need to thank me for blogging it. These posts were so fun to write that it’s rewarding enough as is. But…yes, thank you. :3 You definitely have the heart of the puzzles down. It’s all about trying to solve puzzles, no matter the outcome. Freecell used to be really bad at puzzles, but look at how good he is now!
My posts go from grudgingly continuing on with the series to making fun of it to being guilty about liking it to becoming a diehard fan who goes nuts.
I’ve listened to one or two Phi Brain radio segments, but then forgot it existed. I probably should listen to more since they’re actually pretty amusing. I can understand enough to laugh at some of the jokes and catch a hint of cool info here and there, but I wish there was a full translation somewhere.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 37 comments
I’m so glad that there’s going to be a third season! I didn’t dislike this ending episode, but I felt it lacked a lot of OOMPH for the grand finale of a 50 episode series as awesome and in-your-face as this one. For a seasonal ending, however, it was great. Cleared up all the major troubles and presented some bits to go off of next time.
We even got to see Nonoha solve a puzzle! What puzzle is this you ask? Why, the puzzle of FREECELL’S HEART! And I’m not saying that in a pairing manner either. He stayed broken after being defeated by Kaito, and everyone was like, ‘what do we do?’ but she knew that the real puzzle he wanted to solve was around her neck, so she put two and two together and told Kaito what needed to be done. A puzzle I tell you! Yes, I’m that desperate to see Nonoha solve something. Maybe in season 3? NO. I BET NOT. DAMN YOU ANIME TEAM.
I disagree with what others have to say- I don’t want it to be a female Kaito stalker next time. If he gets another stalker it has to be a guy. I’m not saying this because I don’t want any hetro competition against Kaito x Nonoha- I just hate girls as main villains in these kinds of shows. Not sure why. Given the show’s previous female villains I just don’t think the writers would be able to do a good enough job making her strong and believable without going into Mary Sue territory :/
But on the other hand, the white haired stalker boy is getting old at this point. I guess if they make it different enough- maybe someone who doesn’t have a childhood past with him or something, I don’t know. I’ll look forward to seeing what they do, anyways.
My wish list for season 3:
-For someone to actually refer to Nonoha using her Nightingale title
-More Gammon x Elena stuff
-A life-sized crossword puzzle where the solver has to jump along the letter board to spell words out- I just think it would be fun to watch! Its like hop-scotch! Everyone LOVES hop-scotch!!
-A villain that stays a villain throughout the whole series
-Perhaps some religious group bent on destroying the Orpheus Order and Phi Brain children (new Kaito stalker?) due to their defiance of god and attempting to see out higher knowledge
-VALENTINE’S DAY. ULTIMATE NONOHA SWEETS!!!
-Rook and Freecell interaction
-Freecell being normal like we got to see from Rook after S1
-Jin recovering from his puzzle zombie state
-A mind-blowing opening theme!! XD
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Season three yeaaahhhh!!!! Considering that it’s continuing with another season, it’s not a bad ending. If this was the very end of Phi Brain as we know it, I’d be a bit more critical though. There was a lot left unexplained and they ran out of time to cover it.
Nonoha had her role…even if it was minor. Freecell’s heart wouldn’t have been saved if she hadn’t remembered about the pendant! Sadly, I doubt Nonoha will ever get into puzzles though since that’s a big part of her character. It actually makes her more interesting.
I don’t want a female stalker either. The less female characters in this show the better. Women are useless in Phi Brain, so if a woman was the main villain, the rampant sexism would become even MORE rampant. I wouldn’t be able to ignore it. I’m less worried about Mary Sue territory and more worried about her being a dumb girl who can’t solve a puzzle to save her life (or just doesn’t like them), and is thus ignored by all the guys. But the truth remains that I don’t trust the writers with women <_< If they actually use a white-haired stalker that was Kaito's childhood friend again, I will laugh so hard... Nice season 3 list! I hope you get at least some of what you want. Although, to be honest, I think it will be a huge undertaking to try and squeeze everyone from season 1 AND 2 into the new season. They need to move on. On a side note, I like the idea of a crossword puzzle. I LOVE THOSE! and just for the hell of it... THINGS I WANT FOR SEASON 3: -at least 1 new character who is absolutely mental -rook and kaito in the same scene doing literally anything, i don't care -more of a prediction...but say the new villains are Orpheus Order members from all around the world. They visit all the major countries and defeat the leaders there. Can also double as destroying fools puzzles around the globe. -NO MORE REUSED SLIDING PUZZLES JESUS CHRIST -more crazy Orpheus Ring modes that make no sense -mind-blowing opening theme because HELL YES
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 60 comments
Puzzles, card games [yugioh], if only our world was like this. Peace.
Also, I have to say so far for the spring summer animes this is by far the best ending. I’m man enough to admit I cried at the end of this. Don’t ask how my emotions work.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
What a beautiful world it would be…
I’m really happy that someone loves Phi Brain enough to cry. You sir, are a true fan!
POWUH: iLurker with 3 comments
Soooo what ever happened to Herbert? Ya know the one that used 2 fake rings and then stayed kookoo with his real mind trapped. Also whats the whole point of Phi brain if the god puzzle has been destroyed for the 3rd time. Alll in all it was a decent ending.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
What happened to Herbert? We just don’t know. Seriously, there was no closure. He either still has them or they broke off, but there’s no way of knowing which one is the truth and both are just as likely. At the very least, we know he’s alive.
The point of Phi Brain is the love of puzzles! Who cares about the God Puzzle when they can have fun frolicking through Fool’s Puzzles?