Phi Brain S3 – 08

Time for roughly 4 hours of daily moping, followed by sulking.

Remember when Melancholy was revealed as having the true Orpheus Ring and then she was tossed aside by Freecell immediately? Do you remember what she did in season 2 that was relevant to the plot? I don’t. I only remember that one time she tossed rose petals in Mizerka’s face and acted like a bitch (which is always). She’s kind of cute in how self-sufficient and streetsmart she is, despite my teasing, but not likeable enough to get a condensed soap opera based on her life. Unfortunately…a mini soap opera is basically what we have to endure this week.

I loved the “Contact” puzzle so much that I was so sad to see it end prematurely. I suppose there wasn’t much else to do considering they had time limits and a limited amount of space, but I still felt like I was cheated out of more puzzle time. I want to maximize my puzzle time, you see. Always. The end of the puzzle was rather nice, with them all connecting in a 4-way pipeline. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that as a possible solution. Anyways, it ends with Melancholy getting blown up and then rather skillfully shimmying down a pole, which is a definite plus.

After the puzzle ends things go a little…downhill. I know this show loves to dwell on past characters, but giving us the whole backstory and epilogue for Melancholy before and after her stint with the Orpheus Order wasn’t very fun. I really had no concern with any loose ends of Freecell making up to her and how her life was ruined by the Orpheus armlet. She’s not one of my favourite characters, so I’d be okay to just leave the aftermath of all that as a mystery. But no, we have to go through a lengthy pity party to make the world’s most dishonest tsundere admit her true feelings. It was almost painful how much she lied. When your guests catch you crying in mud and ashes at the crack of dawn all alone and offer to become friends, you’re not in any position to turn them down. Does accepting their friendship someone push you lower than “sobbing over puzzles in the dirt”? Things like that made the dialogue unbelievable and clunky. One minute Melancholy was faking smiles and the other minute a seemingly inconsequential, throwaway statement would have her reeling. It was just…not a good time.

This episode also had problems switching from scene to scene. Namely, when Melancholy sees her guests rummaging through her puzzles and then somehow she’s setting fire to them seconds later. I feel like my video file was corrupted – that’s how bad it was. If anyone can explain how Melancholy scooped up all her puzzles, ran outside, started a fire and threw her puzzles into it while everyone watched her…please let me know. That in itself is a puzzle I need an Orpheus armlet to solve. Maybe two. I was extremely relieved when Freecell gave her a puzzle and things ended happily ever after.

Although this episode is mostly MELANCHOLY MELANCHOLY MELANCHOLY, there are some neat little plot tidbits. One is that they haven’t forgotten Kaito isn’t the only one who can do the psychedelic-eye-vortex deal. I liked that Freecell had his activate while he was making a puzzle as well, which is a nice reminder that it takes a lot of skill to be a Giver. A random note considering how it shouldn’t be exciting now since everyone and their mom can do it. It’s like Orpheus Rings – once a rare device, suddenly as common as thrown away pennies in the street by season 2.

The more relevant stuff is with Enigma, who is still being a massive jerk. He non-chalently tells Raetsel about how he “accidentally” tried to kill 3 of Raetsel’s targets again, as if it’s no big deal. Thankfully, Raetsel is starting to realize that this guy isn’t as honest as he seems. She will most likely stick with him since he’s helping her stay close to Jin, but being betrayed is inevitable at this point. Even if she’s aware, she’s getting owned. Enigma is looking more and more like the final boss here. He’s got a pretty secretary and the photo of a mysterious lady on his desk that he talks to every now and then. Those are the signs of being a big shot! Unfortunately I can’t say much about the portrait on his desk other than how she looks like Raetsel. Otherwise, it’s anyone’s guess. With that fuzzy hair she might as well be Rook in drag. How else do you think he raised the money to build those puzzles?

Is that the Mai Valentine lookalike villain from S1?

I wasn’t really loving this episode, but at least it wasn’t a total waste. Melancholy cleared up some info about the Orpheus Ring (clearly it made Jin evil) and Enigma did more nasty stuff. It’s kind of cute that Melancholy is SO TSUN that an Orpheus Ring changes nothing about her bratty attitude. It affected her, but she’s so dishonest anyways that it’s just like the Ring made her dere side completely go away. I would have been okay if they left it at that instead of the “boo hooo i’m so lonely in my big, giant mansion” drama. Ah well. Next week is probably important since the preview didn’t dare to show us anything but close-ups of faces.

Bonus Screenshots:Show ▼

Preview: I bet this episode has a lot of talking and explaining because the preview shows nothing but faces. That or something so shocking they don’t dare reveal it until next week. Anyways, let’s see what the crew in Japan are up to? :3

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.