Phi Brain S2 – 09
Ever get that feeling that a giant, crimson-tinted head is leering behind you? Me too.
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Oh man, I have finally caught up. Finally! That means I’m back on schedule, so expect some more E3 coverage posts from me and the rest of the gamers at Metanorn, a special editorial I’ve been working on with someone, and..regular posts. You know, like this one you’re reading now? If all this makes you somewhat happy, it means you are a fan of Metanorn, and should probably vote for us in the Aniblog Tourney. I’m amazed we made it past round 1 (I thought everyone hated us! I’m so touched/surprised!), so my expectations have already been exceeded but..uh…you can exceed them even more? Anyways, check out the competition and then see who you wanna vote for. Hint: it’s us. |
Reaction
In case you didn’t know, I love yanderes. The more mentally unstable a character is, the more I like them – this is a fact. Furthermore, a villain you can feel bad for and sympathize with on some level just makes things that much better. Seeing Freecell go so far off the deep end was absolutely glorious. His creepy grin throughout the puzzle was enough for us to key in that something wasn’t right inside his head, but he really went nuts when he lost. The trembling, forced grin, hysterical laughter, and desperate speech combined almost everything crazy about Rook into one golden moment. He had a complete mental breakdown, and the way everyone just watched in silence made it better. What do you do when someone is thinking in such an illogical fashion that they want to play puzzles with you for all eternity? A+ psycho moment, Freecell! Bonus points for showing similarities to Rook and his darkest moments. I’M SO GLAD THEY FINALLY SHOWED ROOK AGAIN, EVEN IF JUST A LITTLE. I can’t wait to see how he acts in the following episodes, because you just KNOW he’s not going to give up. Even if he does, Kaito isn’t going to just let this creeper wander around and challenge people to deathmatches.
The yandere drama was the best part, but everything really came together nicely this week. It felt like everyone was helping Kaito get over his problems – even Gammon. I know the power of friendship is dorky, but it’s nice to see Kaito actually need other people. He’s been so hellbent on doing things himself, but he should be aware that relying on others is perfectly fine. You can’t do everything alone, no matter how much of a genius you are! I don’t know how Cubic’s data was of any help though. Like, I’m pretty sure in season 1 they explained that Orpheus armlets alter your emotions? That’s why Kaito was a huge asshole with the armlet activated just half of the time, and Rook was batshit because his armlet was always on. Did they think we had forgotten and that it would be a HUGE SURPRISE that the armlets were making them loco? <_< This season kind of sucks at giving us GOOD and INTERESTING surprises.
Overall, a must-watch episode because of FULL-FLEDGED YANDERE FREECELL! OH, THE DRAMA!!!
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Analysis
Ana is secretly praying to God that everyone dies in a horrible fire :3
I think I’d have a heart attack if I rewatched season 1 and had to sit through Kaito treating his friends like they were disposable. Now he actually trusts them, and for a good reason. Cubic and Jikukawa always provide phenomenal data to solve the hidden mysteries of the enemy, Ana gives great insight about character motives (when he’s not being dumb), and Nonoha…uh…she’s a woman so she doesn’t do anything. Anyways, Gammon really surprised me this week. The guy who joined the POG in order to beat Kaito is now pushing him to be a better Solver. He’s no longer afraid of Kaito eclipsing him, because he sees his friend’s intelligence as a way to make him shine even more. The more talented the Solver, the harder he Giver has to work to devise a clever puzzle. The two of them are no longer rivals. While they do compete and push each other to do better, it’s done in a lot more friendly manner. They’re actually..reciprocating!!!
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Speculation
CRAWWWLINNG IN MY SKIIINN!!! I’M FULLL OF PUZZZLLLEE FEEEELLLLLSSSS!!!
Freecell is trapped in this sort of limbo where he just wants to play puzzles with Kaito until he dies, similar to how Rook wanted Kaito to belong to him so badly that he was going to etch his existence into his heart forever through death. It’s no big surprise that the Orpheus armlet is just twisting his emotions to make matters worse. That’s…kind of the whole point of those armlets aside from boosting your IQ. What would just be normal loneliness has shifted into a swirling mass of hatred, violence and depression. As soon as you crack that bad boy off, he’s going to go back to normal and beg to be Kaito’s friend, I’d bet you anything. However, his mind is pretty messed up. Not just his emotions, but his memories too.
Freecell doesn’t go into details about his mother’s death because I think he actually doesn’t know how Kaito directly caused it. He said that the details didn’t matter, all that mattered was placing the blame on Kaito. He must have felt helpless that his mother suddenly died without a reason, so he had to blame SOMEONE. That someone was Kaito, and those dark thoughts have festered with time until Freecell forgot the reasoning behind them. Kaito didn’t actually kill his mom – he just happened to be there on that day. By the end of the series, I bet you anything there will be some sort of flashback where kiddy Kaito comforts Freecell for a moment. Memory can be very selective, and if you only think about the bad things in life, that is all you will ever remember.
Alternatively, Freecell might realize that his GOOD FRIENDS THE ORPHEUS ORDER were actually pretty decent. I mean, it’s not like he was alone and tortured like Rook…he had friends. Pinochle especially seemed to be constantly trying to cheer him up. Out of all the Orpheus Order members, Pinochle is the only one who didn’t shy away when Freecell started to spazz out. The other reactions ranged from terror to shock to annoyance, but Pinochle was sincerely worried. He pinpointed exactly what was wrong with him, and felt really bad seeing Freecell in that state. This is coming from Sleazy McScumball who spent an entire episode verbally abusing Kaito so he was driven off the edge. Even under the control of his armlet, he cares about Freecell and wants to protect him. He’s been sulking ever since he got slapped – you cannot deny that he has a special (albeit one-sided) connection to Freecell.
Bonus Insanity:Show ▼
Preview: Okay, I was joking when I said I wanted a strip-puzzle on Twitter where you remove clothing for every puzzle you get wrong…but this is the closest I’m going to get to that, huh? BEACH EPISODE! EVERYONE IS HALF-NAKED! I give it 10/10 A+++ 100% and 5 stars without even seeing it.
A nice, relaxing beach vaca…okay, I give up.
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: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
LOL. Don’t worry, I’m a devoted fan of Metanorn and have become a Meta Resident as proof. You guys have my vote. I look forward to your upcoming editorial. They’re some of the best, impressive posts I’ve seen.
I should’ve known something wasn’t right about Freecell. So his mind is consumed by ring like Rook. He must be so warped that he, himself probably doesn’t remember the truth. When Cubic said there wasn’t any logic in his story, I was thinking “You don’t say”. He went total yandere. Who’s better, him or Rook? In my opinion, it’s Freecell because he did a lot more pschological damage to Kaito (Maybe it’s bias because it’s Hiroshi Kamiya).
Gammon was playing the honorable knight this time around. It truly is surprising. Only he could’ve come up with an idea like the setting change of the game and all to help Kaito out of his self-induced slump. He’s come a long way from being the money grubber he uesd to be. I still see him and Kaito as rivals just like Goku vs Vegeta or Naruto vs Sasuke. Just not on a deathmatch level.
“CRAWWWLINNG IN MY SKIIINN!!! I’M FULLL OF PUZZZLLLEE FEEEELLLLLSSSS!!!” Niiiice. Are you a Linkin Park fan? I love their music and you should check out the band “Three Days Grace” They’re awesome.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Thanks for the vote, Briar! I’ll have to work extra hard on that editorial to earn all those votes >:3
He’s already had it rough and the armlet…really isn’t helping matters :/ Yeah, not sure why Cubic revealed it like it was a HUGE SURPRISE. I can’t believe it took super computers that long to process what we already knew *sighs*
I prefer Rook because his past is just so much better. Parents die all the time in anime…it’s not everyday you are locked in a room and forced to devise MURDEROUS PUZZLES. By all rights, he should be crazy WITHOUT an armlet. Freecell just looks like a big whiner in comparison. LOOK AT ALL HIS FRIENDS TOO! Rook didn’t have any of that. I’m also pretty loyal so I can’t really turn away from Rook. Freecell is great, don’t get me wrong…but I shall remain a Rook loyalist!
Being a Giver-type who knows how to spice up a puzzle really helps, doesn’t it? I’m surprised (but glad) that his money-loving side hasn’t surfaced for a while. It was a weird part of his personality o_o
I used to love them, but I’m not so big a fan these days. The CRAWLING IN MY SKIN thing has just evolved into a meme whenever someone is being emo so I took advantage of it.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 60 comments
I thought it was the Orpheus Armbands that caused the dark thoughts to fester and break their heart? Not that Freecell did it on his own. But this episode made up for episode 7 with Pinochle in deed. I liked Freecell go psycho.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I think it acts like an emtter of negative emotions as it releases the user’s full brain power. Like last season, it did the same to Kaito. He gets more intelligent but at the same time, his personality decays the more it is being used but he wasn’t using it full time like Rook did. And from this point of view, Freecell’s condition is far worse than Rook’s.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Err, it is the armlet. It takes pre-existing emotions and makes them much, much worse. Without it, Freecell wouldn’t be nearly this homicidal.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 47 comments
So, it’s cause Orpheus armlet is twisting their memories, emotions, logic that whole this “Kaito kiled mommy” case sounds so ridiculous….While I also had “U don’t say~” moment during this revelation (and: That was you big data!! xD), now that I think about it, in beginning of first season, we knew that Orpheus armlet is something apparently already ment for genius kids to boost speed of their thought process evan more, so they’ll be even smarter…By the end of the season we found out that it does more than that, it suppresses persons emotions for sake of solving puzzles making person ultimate douche bag, in Kaito’s case, or with Rook who was naturally missing his dear friend got his emotions twisted by that thing to the point of becoming yandere..
And now we get confirmation of that and that it can actually go as far as to completely changing someones memories as well, beside twisting their emotions and logic. I also think you need to have Orph. armlet attached to you for a long time to get to that point thou…
Yah, I don’t usually like Yandere characters. But I started liking Rook after first season ended xD (lol I’m slow..) and here I can sympathize with Freecell on some level cause I lost my mother young too due to illness …U__U So when I saw that last scene with Freecell crying in his sleep I just wanted to huggle poor guy Dx (Linkin park ftw btw :D) While I could always find character similar to me personality wise, it never happened with…Life stories xD So Freecell is special in that way to me, even through I’m not exactly crazy about him…:3
Also, YAAAAAAAY 😀 We get obligatory beach episode! But there is something seriously wrong with preview…..There’s no Nonoha in frikin’ swimsuit!!! Dx Unforgivable!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I thought it was just derp Phi Brain logic…Turns out Freecell is just insane!! XD This would have been a surprise in season 1 when we didn’t know the negative side effects of the armlets…but we know them now. You can’t reveal the killer twice in a row and expect us to be surprised the second time. Ah well, Freecell is crazy and that’s all that matters. I guess the twisted memories thing is new though, although I suppose you could reason that anyone who is mentally unstable could fabricate memories or rearrange them unknowingly. I wonder how long the Order have had their armlets for, now that you mention it…
Aww, Yuushin, I’m sorry you had to go through that. This isn’t the most serious of anime shows, but it’s always a little eerie when a character’s life issues match up with your own. It hits a bit closer to home than it should.
I’m sure Nonoha will be in a swimsuit. Didn’t she wear a devil-bat outfit once for NO REASON? Yeah.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 47 comments
I’m sure they had that thing on for more then few years….Rook too. I’m sure it takes time for armlet to take full control over person. It doesn’t happen overnight for sure xD
Bat outfit?? Oh yea, I almost forgot about that xD I barely noticed it since we were busy bashing Kaito for being douchebag xD and animation was quite derpy then, so I didn’t dare to look too much and one scene too long xDDDD…
I really have to point out that animation this season is a lot better than it was first season. They’re holding quality and consistency really well so far 😀
And I can’t stop listening full size opening O___O Just as I got used to tv version and cooled down from it, there comes amazing full ver O___O
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Probably. Although the prototypes made Airi and Chieno go nuts immediately, so it might actually happen overnight…:/ Not sure if that’s just prototypes though.
The derp is getting better in S2, yeah. There was one REALLY BAD episode (the one with Airi) but that’s about it. It’s not gorgeous, but it’s a heckuva lot better.
Now or Never is pretty ace. Aww yeaaahhhhh!
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 62 comments
I rewatched a S1 episode and the difference is clear. I do feel like they used the budget intended for Airi on the first episode (and a little on the second, but if you look carefully there already were slight derps).
Maybe if they spent less on animating hair and cut the Order’s Dramatic Lights budget we could have less derp, but it wouldn’t be as fabulous then. The strong lightning and contrast feels like S2’s caracteristic to me now.
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
Kay, I offically cannot stomach another episode without Rook. I want to kick Freecell in the face and light him on fire.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Creative murder is the best kind. Why all the hatred for Freecell, though?
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 62 comments
Probably because he replaced our beloved Rook but didn’t offer something really different… or the whole you-killed-my-mother story ಠ_ಠ
I thought Rook would interrupt the last match but the possibility was shot down by Gammon and Kaito’s cooperation… and we didn’t get to know why Doubt got in the Order. He seems ultra serious and especially admirative of Klondike.
My Freecell/Pinochle feels are too strong for me to hate those two. Freecell baby don’t cryyyy ;A;