Phi Brain: Puzzle of God


Phi Brain: Puzzle of God is a 2011 Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise. The first two series aired on NHK Educational TV between October 2011 and September 2012, with a third season airing as of October 2013. The series is directed by Junichi Sato with script supervision by Mayori Sekijima. Hajime Yatate, the collective pen name for the creative staff at Sunrise, is credited with the original story. The anime has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks. A manga adaptation by Haruo Ueno was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Weekly Shonen Magazine magazine from November 2011 to December 2011. A PlayStation Portable video game by Arc System Works was released on May 31, 2012.

Plot

Kaito, a puzzle-loving high school freshman, is selected as a candidate for "Phi Brain". He and his friend Nonoha find an "unsolvable puzzle" near their school. The puzzle turns out to be a life-threatening "philosopher's puzzle" created by the mysterious group P.O.G.. After successfully solving the puzzle, Kaito is designated as a Solver and is joined by other Solvers as they battle P.O.G. all over the world by solving the "philosopher's puzzles".

Characters

Root Academy

;Kaito Daimon
;Nonoha Itou
;Gammon Sakanoue
;Cubik Galois
;Ana Gram
;Souji Jikukawa
Other students
  • Tamaki Chieno
  • Airi Mizutani
  • Naoki Takeda
  • Yuuichi Aizawa

    Puzzle of God

;Rook Banjo Crossfield
;Bishop
;Elena Himekawa
;Baron Kaidou

Orpheus Order

A group dedicated to usage of the Orpheus artifacts to unlock mankind's hidden potential, which they believe was locked by Gods who were afraid of the humans' intelligence. A quint is sent to battle Kaito's group, led by a boy named Freecell.
;Freecell
;Pinochle
;Doubt
;Melancholy
;Mizerka
;Whist
;Klondike

Master Brain

;Johan Sigmund Enigma
;Raetsel
A young girl who has a past with Jin; she has traveled the world with him solving Fools Puzzles. It was during this time that she receives her cat pendant from Jin, which she is seen wearing throughout the 3rd series. As he is going to solve a puzzle, Jin leaves her, never to see each other until the beginning of the series. It was soon after parting with Raetsel that Jin met Kitao and Rook at Greathenge.

Others

  • Jin Makata
  • Shizuka Daimon
  • Akira Daimon
  • Count Pythagoras
  • Miharu Sakanoue

    Media

Anime

The anime series by Sunrise began airing on NHK-Educational from October 2, 2011. The series uses two pieces of theme music, an opening theme and an ending theme. The opening theme is "Brain Diver" by May'n, while the ending theme is "Hologram" by Natsumi Kiyoura. The anime has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks and they streamed the series on The Anime Network. The series began releasing on DVD and Blu-ray Disc from March 26, 2013. A second season aired between April 8, 2012, and September 23, 2012. The opening theme is "Now or Never" by Nano whilst the ending theme is "Super Step" by Ammoflight. For the third season, the opening theme is "Destiny" by neko while the ending theme is "Say Yeah!" by the Genius Terrace Set consisting of Shintarō Asanuma, Kaori Shimizu, Jun Fukuyama, Kouki Miyata and Satsuki Yukino. "diamond secret" by Raetsel is used as the ending theme in season 3, episode 9. Two insert songs are used in the first season.

Manga

A manga adaptation illustrated by Haruo Ueno was serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine's Newtype Ace magazine from April 27 to October 12, 2011, and was collected in three volumes. Another manga, illustrated by Yoshiki Togawa, began serialization in Newtype Ace on November 11, 2011. A comic anthology was released on March 24, 2012.

Video game

A video game adaptation titled Phi Brain: Kizuna no Puzzle was developed by Arc System Works for PlayStation Portable and released in Japan on May 31, 2012.