Phi-Brain: Season 1, Collection 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Phi-Brain: Season 1, Collection 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Less puzzling but more satisfying.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 12, 2013

The puzzle solving continues unabated as Phi Brain: Puzzle of God: Season 1: Collection 2 (that’s a lot of colons, mind you) gets underway with the series’ fourteenth episode, only it has to do so without the efforts of Kaito, the leading figure of conundrum crackers in the anime. Without spoiling too many salient plot points, Kaito has been engaged in yet another battle qua puzzle that has left the young genius in a state of incapacitation after having almost met his maker in an all consuming fire. In the deepest recesses of his initially unconscious mind, Kaito may in fact be feeling at least a little betrayed by his childhood friend Rook, who has turned out to belong to the mysterious organization known as Puzzle of God, a group which has been challenging Kaito for some time, but which may also be behind the equally mysterious death of Kaito’s parents years previously. As Kaito lies dormant in a hospital bed, it’s up to some of the other puzzle solvers to fill the breach, and in steps Cubik, a sort of apprentice puzzle ace who wants to prove his mettle as well as his friendship for his wounded friend Kaito, whom he idolizes. And here, over the next couple of episodes, something kind of interesting happens. First, Cubik figures out he may not be in the same league as Kaito, coming to the realization that just calling yourself a genius doesn’t necessarily make you one. And once Kaito has recovered, instead of gloating about his relative supremacy, he actually decides to investigate Rook a little more closely, perhaps seeking revenge but rather surprisingly leading to a series of interesting revelations about the “puzzle giver”. Rook actually becomes more of a fully fleshed out character when some of his back story is revealed, instead of a simple nemesis who throws puzzles at Kaito. And it’s perhaps in these interlinked developments that what is best about this second half of the first season of Phi Brain: Puzzle of God becomes most evident. For all its gimmickry revolving around puzzles (which really serve more as slightly morphed versions of another anime trope, namely battles), the show is really about the camaraderie of a bunch of misfits whose penchant for solving puzzles binds them together in a kind of “you and me against the world” brotherhood.

Phi Brain: Puzzle of God continues to slightly cheat its audience with regard to its central conceit of supposedly mind boggling puzzles. A good example of this trend is in fact in the series of mathematical equations which Cubik attempts to knit together into a seamless whole in this volume’s opening episode. This is yet another puzzle created by the industrious Rook, and Cubik is out to prove that he’s at least equal to the task of solving one of the legendary puzzle giver’s most confounding efforts. But the series doesn’t pause long enough on the actual puzzle to let the audience in on what is so difficult about it. There are hints given—very briefly—that seem to suggest Cubik needs to make equations “balance” both horizontally and vertically, but nothing is spelled out in any concrete way. What we’re left with, then, is Cubik fussing and fretting, failing in several intermediary steps (with a resultant blast from a tank, which is slowly but surely destroying the facility where Cubik is ensconced in his frenzy of puzzle solving), and then ultimately prevailing. Phi Brain: Puzzle of God would be a lot more fun if the series’ creative staff actually showed the puzzles, waited for a while so that audience members’ minds could cogitate on their own for a while, and only then divulging the solutions. As it stands, we pretty much have to “take the word” of the series that these puzzles are so befuddling and that the solutions were hard earned. What fun is that?

But while that approach creates a deficit on one level, on another it forces the show to concentrate more on relationships, and that is where this set of episodes starts to really connect with the viewer. Rook’s back story is a case in point. Kaito has a few “clues” buried in his memory, but once he and Nonoha start poking around, we get some interesting stories that make Rook something akin to the “mutants” held captive in the all time classic anime Akira. While Phi Brain: Puzzle of God probably doesn’t exploit these aspects as fully as it might, little plot points like this help to color the characters and give some emotional lifeblood to the series. They also help to further shade the Puzzle of God consortium itself.

The long history between Kaito and Rook tends to be the focal element more than anything else as the first season wends its way toward a conclusion. One of the interesting, if perhaps frustrating, elements is the “back and forth” portrayal of Rook. Is he a formerly abused kid who isn’t totally responsible for whatever mayhem he’s releasing? Or is he an arch-villain bent on world domination, or at least Kaito domination? Or is he something else entirely? The series tends to waffle, offering one “solution” (no pun intended) and then another, and in fact the first season ends with yet another formulation of the character that may spell a completely different sort of conflict for the second season. Through it all, Kaito’s essential goodness shines through. He obviously wants to believe his childhood buddy is basically good, even when circumstances might indicate otherwise.

Phi-Brain: Season 1, Collection 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As I mentioned in the Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God: Season 1: Collection 1 Blu-ray review, Sentai Filmworks' AVC encoded 1080p high definition presentation (in 1.78:1) can only do so much with a production that never seems to really want to capitalize on some of its potential. A lot of this second volume has what I assume is an intentionally soft ambience (see screenshots five and six for good examples), but even without that overlay, a lot of this series just looks formulaic at times. There is some decent CGI interwoven into several episodes, and some halting attempts to achieve dimensionality with foreground objects moving at different lateral rates than background objects, but the character designs here are pretty rote and frequently whole sequences seem cobbled together out of minimally animated elements (faces can be blobs with only slightly moving mouths indicating "life"). All of this said, colors are very nicely saturated, and line detail remains clean throughout the episodes in this volume. However, as with several other recent Sentai Filmworks releases, there's some pretty prevalent banding that crops up with fair regularity.

Phi-Brain: Season 1, Collection 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Again, as with Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God: Season 1: Collection 1, this second volume also offers DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mixes in both English and Japanese. This set of episodes has perhaps a bit more sonic activity, as evidenced by some more battle heavy moments like the tank attack menacing Cubik and, later, the big showdown between Rook and Kaito in the final few episodes. Fidelity remains strong and both DTS HD-Master Audio tracks easily maneuver between the quieter dialogue moments and the more forceful action sequences.

Phi-Brain: Season 1, Collection 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Clean Opening Animation (1080p; 1:32)


• Clean Closing Animation (1080p; 1:32)


• Trailers for other Sentai Filmworks Releases

Phi-Brain: Season 1, Collection 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While there are still some significant things to complain about with regard to Phi Brain: Puzzle of God, they're largely offset by a story arc that picks up considerable steam as this series' first season goes along. There is some very smart weaving of long developing plot threads (pay attention to the little puzzle Rook gives to Kaito when they're both kids —it turns out to be important), and there's also some really well done character development, especially with regard to Rook. However, that kind of points out how blandly heroic Kaito is. How many times does he have to be "surprised" by Rook's machinations until he starts reacting more appropriately? Maybe the second season will solve that particular puzzle. This Blu-ray offers nice looking video and sounding audio, and even if the supplements are exactly the same as those in the first volume of the first season, Phi Brain: Puzzle of God comes Recommended.