Phi Brain: Puzzle of God

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. (Puzzle Of God). 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 (大門カイト, Daimon Kaito)

Voiced by: Shintarō Asanuma, Chiwa Saitō (young) (Japanese); David Wald (English)

Kaito is a high school freshman who enjoys solving puzzles, feeling insulted whenever they are used for hurting others as his parents were killed while attempting to solve a deadly puzzle. He carries the Solver title, 'Einstein'. One day, he discovers the Orpheus armband which attaches itself to his arm. Under high levels of stress, he enters a strange state that allows him to use his brain to its fullest potential and see the solution for any puzzle. Normally, the Orpheus armband glows in a bright golden light and shows Kaito the solution to the puzzle, after which he faints and is exhausted. As of the 20th episode, the armband has evolved along with Kaito (as observed by Rook). It now glows in a dark blue light and shows Kaito an almost apocalyptic future (including all of his dead friends), if he continues down a certain path. It is then that Kaito realizes that no one should get the "Divine Scrolls" sealed by Pythagoras that the P.O.G. wants. After the 23rd episode, the Orpheus Bangle shatters, but Kaito is still able to use his accelerated brain potential without losing his convictions.

Kaito does not seem to have many interests other than solving puzzles. As seen in the first episode, he will e.g. use school property (in that case school desks) to solve puzzles, if he can't "see" through them right away. His friend Nonoha scolds him for that and slacking off, not refraining from physical violence as well. Although it is still uncertain what kind of feelings he might have for her, Kaito cares a lot about Nonoha by not letting her come in harm's way. He even hides the fact that one of her friends, the kindergarten teacher Madoka, is in fact a P.O.G. Giver. Kaito is very outspoken about Nonoha's cooking, calling the "Nonoha sweets" "weapons of mass destruction", which causes Nonoha to punish him physically. As for now, Kaito is the only one who openly dislikes Nonoha's cooking.

Nonoha Itou (井藤ノノハ, Itō Nonoha)

Voiced by: Kaori Shimizu (Japanese); Luci Christian (English)

Kaito's childhood best friend, who always accompanies him when he goes to solve puzzles. She possesses great strengths, excelling at sports, and has a photographic memory, though she is not too good with actual puzzles. She often makes sweets that almost everyone finds delicious but Kaito is incredibly fearful of. After helping some kindergarten kids during a puzzle, she ends up with the title 'Nightingale'. This is a shock for her, since she sees everyone with a title as a "weirdo".

Puzzle of God

Rook Banjo Crossfield (ルーク・盤城・クロスフィールド, Rūku Banjō Kurosufīrudo)

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese); Greg Ayres (English)

Leader of P.O.G. Japan and Baron Pythagoras's confidant. He is also a P.O.G. Giver and dear childhood friend of Kaito.

Bishop (ビショップ, Bishoppu)

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese); John Gremillion (English)

Rook's right hand man.

Elena Himekawa (姫川 エレナ, Himekawa Erena)

Voiced by: Megumi Nakajima (Japanese); Shelley Calene-Black (English)

Elena is a 14-year-old idol, who is a P.O.G. Giver with the title "Antoinette". She hosts a show called "Puzzle Kingdom", and she is really popular. Although she has many personal problems - such as not working for something she's not pleased with or hating people who have friends.

She accidentally admits to Kaito and Nonoha that she fell in love with Gammon, despite the fact that both of them did not hear that. However, she is unsure of her feelings towards him, after Gammon joined the P.O.G. and told her of his true motives.

Baron Kaidou (解道バロン, Kaidō Baron)

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese); Jay Hickman (English)

He is the headmaster of Root Gakuen High School. Throughout the series, there are very few things revealed about him, but his connection to the P.O.G. has been hinted on several occasions. In the ninth episode, it is revealed that Baron is the section-chief of Section Φ, a section within the P.O.G. with its own jurisdiction. He has opposed the new direction of the P.O.G. to turn puzzles into murderous threats, with no intention of letting the Solver survive. This was his motive for bringing Souji Jikugawa into his section and guiding Kaito and his friends to the Puzzle of God. Baron was also the one who brought Kaito to Root Gakuen High School and it is hinted in several flashbacks that he was involved in Kaito's past.

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 (フリーセル, Furīseru)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya, Ayana Taketatsu (young) (Japanese); Christopher Ayres (English)

One of the Orpheus Order's members. He is the de facto leader of the group from the Orpheus Order that is often pitted against Kaito's group, of which all five are owners of Orpheus Bangles and thus, children of the Phi Brain. He appears to have a personal grudge against Kaito, believing a promise he broke to him caused his mother to die sad. He is revealed to be using a replica ring when he pushed his mind to its limits trying to save Kaito from a collapse and it turns into a real Orpheus ring.

Pinochle (ピノクル, Pinokuru)

Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese); Ty Mahany (English)

One of the Orpheus Order's members. Freecell's childhood friend. He is the most loyal to Freecell even though he sometimes feels intimidated by him. He specializes in researching one's patterns and developing a strategy against them. He has no qualms about using dirty tricks in order to win, especially psychological attacks. He is revealed to be using a replica ring when Kaito saves him and his ring breaks.

Doubt (ダウト, Dauto)

Voiced by: Daisuke Ono (Japanese); Andrew Love (English)

One of the Orpheus Order's members. He is the most physically overbearing of the quint. He has zero tolerance for nonsense and unpunctuality. He pledges absolute loyalty to Klondike and endures with Klondike's wishes no matter how much it goes against his own will. He is also the only one in the quint that does not feel intimidated by Freecell. He is revealed to be using a replica ring when he and Mizerka obtain confidential information about the Orpheus Order.

Master Brain

Johan Sigmund Enigma (ヨハン・ジーグムント・エニグマ, Yohan Jīgumunto Eniguma)

Voiced by: Jōji Nakata

Johan Sigmund Enigma is the President of the Republic of Amgine.

Raetsel (レイツェル, reitseru)

Voiced by: Minori Chihara

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 (真方ジン, Makata Jin)

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese); H.K. Kahng (English)

A mysterious person of Kaito's childhood who had served as something of a mentor to Kaito and Rook.

Shizuka Daimon (大門 シズカ, Daimon Shizuka)

Voiced by: Kazusa Murai (Japanese); Meaghan Avocado (English)

Kaito's deceased mother.

Akira Daimon (大門アキラ, Daimon Akira)

Voiced by: Toshihide Tsuchiya (Japanese); Kyle Jones (English)

Kaito's deceased father.

Count Pythagoras

Miharu Sakanoue (逆之上ミハル, Sakanoue Miharu)

Voiced by: Ayana Taketatsu (Japanese); Maggie Flecknoe (English)

Gammon's 14-year-old little sister. She is really bad at cooking and seems to like her big brother very much.

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" (ホログラム, Horoguramu) 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" (スーパーステップ, Sūpā Suteppu) 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 (Minori Chihara) 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 Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine 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 (ファイ･ブレイン ～絆のパズル; lit. 'Phi Brain: Puzzle of Bonds') was developed by Arc System Works for PlayStation Portable and released in Japan on May 31, 2012.