Phi Brain S3 – 23

Phi Brain 206

It’s time to celebrate Pi Day!

After just about everyone died last week, it’s time to see how the survivors are faring. They have left behind their dearest friends, and yet they still must face the very same puzzles that took them away. With all this weight on their shoulders, the world must still be saved. What better way to depict this than a slumber party and a festival?!

I love when Phi Brain has silly, dorky episodes. The “so bad it’s good” sense of humour and nonsensical plot progression makes the shenanigans of all the puzzle addicts all the more fun. However, now is not the best time for that sort of thing. Three people just died, and they were some of Kaito’s closest friends. His initial, depressed reaction is fine…but he’s quickly snapped out of it by meat on a skewer. Raetsel and Nonoha throw food at him and he forgets the fact he watched his friends die before his very eyes. If they wanted to have shocking deaths for the sake of being dark and edgy, at least run with that idea! If the main character is no longer shocked and doesn’t care, then the viewer isn’t going to treat it as a big deal either. As a result, there’s a huge amount of whiplash from last week to this week as they completely abandon all responsibility for killing off a good chunk of the cast. It’s just bad writing.

Phi Brain 201

Makes you wonder why Kaito even bothers tying his hair up in a skimpy rat’s tail

I guess they realized what a horrible idea it was to let Urobuchi Gen go nuts last week and kill off characters, and now they don’t know what to do. It’s like they’re making up for it by having everyone be inexplicably happy and adorable. It’s not the most normal reaction to death – the first deaths in the series. Most of the characters are placated by Baron’s lies, so that could technically explain why they’re so confident. But in that case, Ana and Jikukawa should be acting more depressed since they see through the lies. But in the end, none of them act any differently based on whether they believe their friends are alive or dead. If there’s any way to disrespect a character after they die, it’s forgetting about them and throwing a party immediately after.

For the record, I’m still doubtful that they’re dead. If they really are dead and this is the best send-off they get (Kaito moping for a few seconds in a shower) then this show has really lost sight of itself. I would hate for Phi Brain to end with pointless deaths as if someone was picking ideas out of a hat at random and just rolling with it.

Phi Brain 204Phi Brain 205

Nonoha approves of kidnapping.

On the plus side, this episode brings out a ton of cuteness and Phi Brain nonsense. It’s frustrating that everyone is partying at such a time, but the actual antics are enjoyable if you ignore the fact that we’re near the finale. Putting all aspects of a sensible plot aside, you have to admit that some cute stuff went down. Raetsel having a heart to heart with Kaito was sweet, especially since she should technically be going psycho with that Orpheus Ring on. The sleepover was definitely the highlight of the show, since they actually carried Raetsel away and forced her to party with them. Ana being included in the girl’s party is a running joke that I never get bored of. Then you have the ending scene which has red petals floating around for NO REASON and horribly awkward camera angles and pauses in dialogue. It literally felt like a crappy soap opera where you knew someone was offscreen just dumping buckets of fake petals onto a fan.

Phi Brain 207

There’s really no substance to this episode unless you consider all the girls cooking and hitting each other with pillows while giggling madly to be substantial. Speaking of cooking, I had to shake my head at the fact that the girls were once again pigeonholed into the role of the housewife. The only role they have is to cook for the guy and cheer him on? That’s their job? The most recent episodes of this show are entertaining, but really quite frustrating when you think about it for more than 5 seconds. I’m a little disappointed in how things have turned out.

On the bright side, the final puzzle looks perfect. I felt like yawning when they announced that it was just a regular, area-capturing puzzle. But it was quickly revealed that the memory-evoking powers of Orpheus would be put into use to trap them into the maze of their own past. It’s a perfect way to finish things.

More Puzzles:

Phi Brain 210

Bishop tries to be strong for Rook’s sake, but it’s hard when Nonoha doesn’t get very…excited…when she’s shown puzzles. I dunno man, it just looks like you laid out a bunch of cut-outs from an old newspaper and Cracker Jack boxes to me. Wait, that’s not even a joke because that is literally what these things are. They took some vintage puzzles from those crazzzy folks in England and expect everyone to be amazed. Although they may be rare and expensive in this era, it’s still funny to me that they’re showing these slips of paper immediately after a GIANT TOWER PUZZLE THAT MAKES THE USERS TRAVEL THROUGH TIME. It really takes the edge off of my enthusiasm for paper puzzles, you know?

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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.
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5 Responses to “Phi Brain S3 – 23”

  1. BlackBriar says:

    If we didn’t already know Phi Brain story formula, this gathering before facing Orpheus’ puzzle, it would’ve looked like a bunch of death flags were going up. I’ve got say; Baron has a lot of nerve lying to everyone, and with a straight face no less. Though his reasons for doing so are already justified so you can’t really blame him. For a moment, I almost bought in to his deception.

    Nonoha approves of kidnapping.

    You’ve got to wonder just how strong this girl is. She picked up Raetsel as if she was a sack of flour. One of the times Herbert was up to his tricks, after he was beaten and nearly got himself killed, Nonoha was carrying him on her back. The one person I can recall being such an intimidating female with physical prowess would be Jormungand’s Sofia Valmer (Valmet).

    Overall, it was a solid episode with everyone from different groups getting together, especially putting a smile on the lonely Raetsel’s face. Nonoha’s rather forceful intervention was what she needed and now she can drop that “she only Jin” state of mind. I had to agree with Melancholy’s shocked expression. Um, it’s not really girl’s night out if Ana, of all people, is there!! His efficiency as a trap works far too well.

    Again, Orpheus is screwing with people by tormenting with their past and what they could do if they could change it. Using temptation like that is beyond cruel, dude.

    Side note: In case you didn’t know yet, the Funimation dub for Psycho-Pass was released three days ago and the initial airing was Fall 2012. To think so much time has passed already. Wow.

    • Overcooled says:

      It made everyone a lot calmer, even if it was a bold lie. Although then again, Ana saw through it all and he was still the same as usual so WHO KNOWS.

      Nonoha is crazy strong. Remember that one time she swam across the ocean to find Kaito on their puzzle-less vacation? She’s insane. It’s her one strength aside from cooking and cheering.

  2. Karakuri says:

    OTL I was hoping that they would bring back the dead characters through the magic of puzzles, friendship and whatnot, but I guess not (maybe in the finale).

    In the mean time: DAMN IT ALL now who am I supposed to ship? They destroyed all of my old ones in 2 episodes.

    • Overcooled says:

      There’s not much shipping fodder left…so I have hope they will come back in a fabulous, homoerotic reunion!!!

      • Karakuri says:

        Taking Rook away from Kaito was just too cruel, and then they killed off Freecell too. I have no idea how to cope with this. OTL

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