
The show really isn't about the puzzles, and they're given the focus that they get so that the viewer can solve it him/herself and feel like they, too, can be the GOD OF PUZZLES and not focus too much on how things like sudoku and the rush hour puzzle are presented as brain-busting puzzles that only the most brilliant of minds could ever hope to solve. People who complain that the puzzles are mostly solved off-screen are missing the point.

With Phi Brain, these moments ARE the sea, and just when you think the well has run dry, an unnecessary character revelation or an inappropriate phrase pops up and gives you such a giddy whiplash that you're sold all over again.Īnd the show is currently only four episodes in! Should it continue this trajectory for the remainder of its 25 episode run, it may end up as one of the better offerings from the Fall 2011 season. While Yu-Gi-Oh had moments of shining brilliance such as this, they were mere glimmers amidst the sea of generic shounen merchandise glut and couldn't bring up the show. Or the moment, also in the first episode, where the female lead asks about what to do, to which the main character replies "Isn't it obvious? It's PUZZLE TIME!" as a salsa tune kicks in. Take, for example, a flashback in the first episode wherein a certain person implores the main character to solve unsolveable puzzles and ease their pain. By all accounts this show should be awful and a waste of time.Īnd yet, it is neither, due to its dedication at The animation is bad by 2011 standards and the character designs are amateurish.

Denouements for each episode are easy to see, especially if you've ever seen any other anime series in your life. The series can be summed up as "basically a less merchandise-driven Yu-Gi-Oh, but instead of HEART OF THE CARDS it's UNDERSTAND THE FEELINGS OF PUZZLES".

Phi Brain has one of the widest gaps between an astoundingly moronic premise and a brilliant execution that I've ever seen in an anime series.
