Unfortunately, the fandom of this anime (or manga) isn't big, so it's very hard to find fanarts or the specific fanarts in the internet. Maybe the anime doesn't have the charm other shounen shows have and i think I can understand why. But as someone who has seen this, I'd like to recommend it to you. It's not that great, but it's not so bad either. If you're bored and have nothing else to watch, just try this for the sake of killing time.
Studio: Sunrise
Previously I said that KARUTA is serious business. This time, PUZZLE is serious business.
Rather than having magical powers or ninja skills, this is a battle between intelligent people. Oh but it's not like they're challenging who's more knowledgeable than the other... it's more like how'd you use tactics to play an over-exaggerrated board game. It's not about quizzes or math whiz, but you're fighting against bad guys using the power of the brain - the typical shounen way. I think what makes this show unique is that almost all the main characters are very bright, regardless of their personality, and same goes for the villains' side. Like just because you look badass and lazy, doesn't mean your muscles overpower your brains. It's very different from an average shounen genre where you need to have at least one smart guy, average guy and dumb guy in one team.
So Phi Brain is about a high school kid named Daimon Kaito who walks around in casual clothes just because he has the priviledge as a title holder (Einstein). He's obsessed with puzzles, and he eats, sleeps and drink puzzles much to his childhood friend, Nonoha's annoyance. These two stumbled upon an unsolvable puzzle near their school and Kaito can't fight the urge to solve it. After going through one hell of a time solving it successfully, he was appointed as a Solver to solve other Kami no Puzzles. And the challengers are often the villain team called POG. But he does not fight alone, of course, there are a few other kids in his school with the 'title' (acknowledged as excellent Solvers) teams up with him.
And you'd think you have one character, who's not part of the smart guys, you might find her annoying but somehow I'm able to accept this 'busybody' girl. Well, she makes up with it with her power of memory and also as an all-rounder sporty girl.
something to look forward to?
But to conquer the world using puzzles and optimizing the "Phi Brain" kind of doesn't make much sense. For when the bad guy loses they'd honourably accept it... which i think, as bad guys they should've just cheated their way in. And other than puzzles another important theme is the bond between the characters. Other than that, there's this strange thing about feeling the emotions and meaning behind the puzzle. They can detect wether the puzzle has affection or hatred lolwhut i guess it takes another level of intelligence to comprehend that.
The most pointless thing about the show is that you can't seem to follow how the kids are solving the puzzle. It doesn't allow you to 'connect' with them, how they think and how they strategise, and learn to be as tactically smart as they are. They show you how the character hops from one point to the other, but not really see how the game went. Suddenly, you have a winner. If not, it's the climax where they need to decide which piece should they move. Rather than motivating viewers to improvise on their thinking skills, we're fed with the same old bonding and friendship thing. Not that it's bad but then I think it's missing the point. Well, at least this show makes the genius kids are the popular and most enviable schoolmates you could ever meet.
And then comes the even more supernatural stuff, other than the Orpheus armband which seem to accelerate your puzzle solving abilities. This supernatural interference is also one of the factors that prevents us from being able to 'connect' with the Solvers. Unfortunately, the supernatural stuff becomes even weirder near the end.
And they also have a yandere antagonist who seems pretty gay towards the protagonist. Oh don't be discourage to watch just because of that. There aren't that many subtle hints of homosexuality...
owait...
Art-wise, is just so-so. Character designs look cool too.
The reasons why I stayed loyal to the show is because of FukuJun (he played as a deliquent-like character and I love that guy most), the OST and the OP + ED is great too.
this one is by MAY'N and thanks to this i just realized how awesome her voice is. addicting song is addicting :3
If you want something a little different, like Chihayafuru, go ahead and digest this.
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