Episode 16 of Chihayafuru is mostly a recap episode, but between recap segments we are treated to a number of short gags. These short comedic moments managed to explore some side issues that you might have wondered about, such as where does Nikkuman get all of his T-shirts?

Chihaya's older sister brazenly steals her New Year's money.

The recaps felt quite natural, because the episode starts off with a series of gags about Chihaya not getting her New Year’s money. The feel was as if we were getting additional stories from when they were kids.

Taichi gets his fair share of abuse.

I rather liked the way this episode was used to show characters interacting in a different way than they would if we just stuck to the main plot.

The guys discuss Kanade's ample good points.

I suppose what made these segments work was that they were both amusing and had some truth to them as well. If they were just jokes, I don’t think it would have worked quite as well, because the conceit here is that we are gaining some additional insights into the characters.

Meta discussion of the anime by the characters.

They even managed to address something I had been wondering about for some time: those shirts the club is shown wearing in the OP are not very practical.

Most of the gag sequences used abstract backgrounds.

This episode carefully avoided advancing the plot in any way, but it ended up being clever and fun. It has the feeling of the sort of episode one airs when broadcast falls on a major holiday (like New Year’s Day), and viewing audiences are going to be lower than usual.

Need something to make your next Karuta match more exciting? Listen to this.

Those who are watching Chihayafuru already know that the music is one of the many great things this show has to offer. The series features tracks that add a lot of tension, often converting that built-up tension to a more positive emotional outburst. The Original Sound Track (volume 1) is available now, so it is time to start listening to it in earnest to see  what makes it so good. Of course I can’t do justice to an anime OST review, so what follows is just me pointing things out until Anime Instrumentality gives you a proper review.

First an overview: There are three types of tracks on this CD:

1. Character songs, 3 songs
2. OP / ED, 2 songs
3. Background tracks, 20 songs

My focus is going to be on the background tracks. The OP (by 99RadioService) and the ED (sung by Asami Seto, who plays Chihaya) are both pretty decent pop tunes, so you can consider them a bonus, if you don’t already have copies of them from their single releases. The “character” songs are not my interest; these three tracks are recorded by the voice actors who play Chihaya, Arata, and Nishida AKA Nikuman (“Meat Bun”). The character songs might have novelty value, but that isn’t what gets me jazzed about this album.

Chihaya Ayase tries to sleep, but has to wonder if she is really being the team captain that she wants to be. Is her love of Karuta blinding her to the needs of her team mates?

The background tracks (composed by Kousuke Yamashita) are a brilliant match to the emotional content of this show. Many of the tracks, as I said above, use the build-up of tension and ultimate conversion into a different mood as leverage to generate more energy than simply going to the positive emotion from the start ever could have. The Classical example of this has to be Beethoven’s final string quartet in which a dark question is posed (“MUST it be?”) and then emphatically answered (“It MUST be!”). With 20 tracks, I’m only going to give a sampling of what I am talking about, and this structure isn’t the only one that can be found in listening to the album, but I think it bears pointing out.

Takaburu Kimochi

This is a perfect example of what I am talking about. The track begins with a staccato monotone riff on the violins that is very tense and suspenseful, but by about 1:30 it develops into something exultant, with horns and harp sweeps.

Himeta Omoi

Here the emotional conversion is from sadness to happiness. It is like “hearing” tears turn into a radiant smile. The track starts off with a legato melody on the strings punctuated by “echoes” on piano then bells that almost seem to be the tear drops falling. The theme is then sensitively developed, until about 1:30 when a cymbal wash introduces a brass re-interpretation of the theme in a much more positive light.

“Chihayafuru” Main Theme

This one doesn’t quite follow the same structure, because it goes back and forth between a hesitant, introverted motif, and a soaring treatment of the full theme. It does demonstrate the basic idea of starting with one emotional idea and unexpectedly converting it to another to generate an even stronger impact than the second section could have on its own. Besides, its a beautiful piece, so listen and enjoy.

Omowanu Tenkai

This last track doesn’t quite fit the thesis I was building above, but it is a great track. The instrumentation is mostly percussive (especially in the beginning) and it is highly syncopated at times, which gives it a somewhat tense mood to start off with, but it develops into a great groove in the latter half, and ends up recalling some of the triumphal aspects of the Main Theme at the very end.

All in all this is a great album. I hope you enjoyed what you heard here, and that you rush off to get a copy of your own.

Formal wear for pirates in mourning.

Bodacious Space Pirates (Mouretsu Pirates) was the series I was most looking forward to of the new shows to air in Winter 2012. I am very pleased to see that it has met my expectations. This show has done several things right so far. First, the setting is very interesting; it has the feel of being an advanced space-faring society without being unintelligible, full of magical pseudo-science, or cold. Second, the story, so far, has been far from predictable. And finally, though the cast does feature a lot of female characters, and thus some portions of the show could be categorized as moe, this is not a fan-service show. I’ll discuss these topics more below the jump.

Marika Katou, heir to the captaincy of the space pirate ship, Bentenmaru.

Our story takes place in a future when humanity has settled multiple worlds. In this future society, a relatively normal high school girl, named Marika, finds out that her parents were actually space pirates. In fact they were “legal pirates”, often known as privateers or corsairs. Essentially the planet she lives on (Sea of Morningstar) authorized the space ship Bentenmaru to attack other space ships as a means of supplementing its war efforts in a fight for independence. Though the war is long over, the “Letter of Marque” that confers privateer status to the Bentenmaru is still valid, as long as the captain is a direct descendant of the original captain.

That awkward moment when you find an old photo of your mother from her space piracy days.

So part of what makes the setting credible is the way they explained the concept of legal piracy. Another is the way that advanced technology is worked into their everyday lives. Display and input systems are advanced, but not utterly magical. Unlike some shows, society still seems warm and welcoming, whereas unlike other shows, technology has impacted how people get around, and gain access to buildings. To me Bodacious Space Pirates strikes a good balance between a thoughtful consideration of what a society with advanced technology would look like, without either getting completely fanciful, or losing sight of something enduring in the way humans prefer to live.

Odette II, the practice ship of the Hakuhou Girls Academy Space Yacht Club.

Speaking of the technology, the space ships all look pretty good. The approach is surprisingly “hard SF”. There is discussion of the way EV suits handle safety protocols, and a lot of time is spent covering inspections of the ship, and various basic routines, such as pre-flight checks, and raising of the solar sails after disembarking.

And this brings me to my second point. The storyline has gone in an unexpected direction. I think, when I heard about the show, I assumed we would have a single episode in which the background was provided, and then we would jump straight into life aboard the pirate vessal Bentenmaru. Instead Marika is (quite reasonably) reserving judgement on whether she should become a space pirate. Although various shady characters have an interest in Marika, now that she is set to inherit a pirate ship, Marika is engaged in club activities. She is a member of her high school’s Space Yacht club. Thus her first time going into outer space is as a member of the crew of the Odette II.

As the initial voyage gets underway, a malfunction in the mast deployment sequence results in a trip outside the ship to fix the problem.

Bodacious Space Pirates is full of girls … girls in high school uniforms, girls in maid uniforms, and girls in skintight space suits. It is not, however, full of fan service. This might be surprising to some, as the name is really quite silly, and the scenario can seem tailor-made to focus on moe antics and mini-skirts. Now I want to be careful to avoid making it sound like there are no moe antics and no zettai ryouiki. I guess you could say the show is mildly risqué at times, but it is certainly tame in contrast to many shows out there.

Chiaki Kurihara, a mysterious transfer student.

Lilica Katou, Marika's mom.

Misa Grandwood (left) and Kane MacDougall (right), pirates of the Bentenmaru.

I haven’t said much about the characters, but we actually have been introduced to a lot of them already, and even more are featured in the OP. I guess the most important point is that Marika is fairly likable. She isn’t a know-it-all, but she is decisive, which is a good thing in a ship’s captain, and also in a main character. Marika’s mom is pretty cool. She clearly wants what is best for her daughter, including giving her the opportunity to make her own decisions. Chiaki is a bit of a tsundere, but she seems to have an appreciation of Marika’s better qualities. Misa and Kane are also quite likable. They clearly are trying to stay close to Marika to observe and protect her, and hope that she will agree to become the Bentenmaru’s captain.

Titlecard

The series has gotten off to a good start. I think the story is moving in an interesting, and unexpected direction. The artwork and animation is pretty good. The background music has had a couple of interesting tracks including something that sounded like a reel, which carries a pirate story feel. I’m certainly planning to watch this show to the end.

Aizawa brothers Suguru and Kakeru. Both are on the Soccer team, but in different ways.

This article gives my first impression of Knight in the Area (Area no Kishi) based on episodes 1 through 3. The story is about a boy who is overshadowed by his brother, the Soccer team’s ace. Due to circumstances he is forced to step up and become a great player. Now some people dislike sports shows in general; this show is about Soccer (aka Football), so I don’t expect it to appeal to everybody. I also have one major concern about the source material.

To get to the point, this show hasn’t proven itself yet, although I think it is possible that it will turn out to be a decent watch for some viewers. Despite it’s flaws, Knight in the Area is an interesting show, and I am interested in seeing what Tadashi Agi has in store for us. I’m not a huge sports fan, but I’m not a huge war fan either, and I’ll watch shows about soldiers. The big question is, will this show have a compelling story to tell?

A strange encounter in the park at night.

My biggest concern for this show is that the author of the manga upon which it is based is Tadashi Agi (writing under the pen-name Hiroaki Igano). Agi wrote the mangas for two other series that I have reviewed: The Case files of Young Kindaichi and Detective Academy Q. Both of those shows were Mysteries, not Sports genre. There is something I noticed when watching those two shows; both shows rely on character concepts, rather than developing complex and interesting characters. This really isn’t a serious flaw in a Mystery, since the focus in a Mystery is the plot, or more specifically the process of revealing the secrets behind the mystery. Knight in the Area has the same feeling; the characters aren’t deep and interesting in themselves, but rather are character concepts that are subordinate to the plot of the story. In other words, if the plot of the story turns out to be wonderful, this won’t be much of a problem.

An event beyond their control.

Now the thing about plot is that it isn’t just events, it is a collection of events that add up to something meaningful. And that is the good side of a story written by Tadashi Agi. There is a story. This isn’t random school life hijinx. Events aren’t put in to make things seem exciting — they have meaning in the context of the story that is being told. Of course the thing with a true story-based show is that you have to see how the story turns out before judging it. For this reason I can’t say definitively how I feel about this show.

This show isn't quite as emo as this screen cap makes it look.

In addition to the characterization, I would say weaknesses of this show include the quality of the artwork. That isn’t to say it is terrible, but it can’t credibly be termed anything better than average. Now to the producer’s credit, the animation of some of the gameplay scenes has been pretty good. There has been very little actual gameplay depicted so far (given that this is a soccer show), but in addition to a few scenes of real gameplay (some in flashback), there have been some interesting scenes of Kakeru playing soccer at night with a mysterious person who wears an alien mask. This is an important and tricky thing to handle well. A number of scenes ambitiously attempted to animate tricky footwork, instead of simply showing long passes and people running.

Aliens know how to play soccer, because they have been watching our broadcasts of the World Cup for years.

There is another positive aspect to having Tadashi Agi behind the story, and it intersects with the way that soccer is depicted in this show. Agi is a clever, thoughtful writer. This comes through in Knight in the Area with the central problem in the game that must be solved. The name Knight in the Area, refers to a striker, a forward player who manages to get into the penalty area (the area around the opposing team’s goal) to score. Suguru, Kakeru’s brother, is hailed as a great conductor. He stands in the mid-field and orchestrates plays, by conveying the ball to one of the forwards. But Suguru stresses that his role is meaningless if there is no knight capable of receiving his passes in the penalty area.

The second episode has the most detailed gameplay of the first three episodes, and instead of focusing on the score, it views the events through the lens of this forward pass. In fact the actual goal that won the game, not only isn’t shown, it is downplayed in post-game chatter. The significant moments are the almost impossible passes that Suguru makes to his brother. Despite never scoring, Kakeru is credited by the opposing team’s defense as having ground it down by playing so aggressively that their failure after Kakeru’s retirement from the field was already inevitable. And despite that, Kakeru is denied a spot on the team, because his failure to score will have a demoralizing psychological effect on the other members.

You gotta have heart.

Now I come to the elephant in the room. I don’t have a way on this blog to sensitively handle SPOILERS, so those who don’t want to know what happens in the first three episodes STOP READING NOW.

Kakeru just doesn’t seem to have the “heart” to compete. That all changes when a traffic accident leaves Suguru dead and Kakeru gets a heart transplant. Frankly I find the details of that twist a bit silly. I think Kakeru might have re-evaluated his life and attitude after the accident and could have had a “change of heart” without LITERALLY swapping his heart out. After the transplant some silly things happened. Honestly, heart transplants don’t cause personality changes. For me, this goes back to my earlier concern about Tadashi Agi, and characterization. Personally I think a reality-based (if melodramatic) change in Kakeru would have been favorable to this magical heart business. It is too early to tell if this will continue to be played up as much as it is. I hope it fades a bit into the background.

The glory of ancient Rome is only part of the story.

Thermae Romae is already half over. This review is based on viewing the first three episodes. Behold the story of Lucius, a Roman architect, who finds inspiration in the most unusual of ways: via a hot tub time machine. This short series is entertaining in a low-key way. For the most part the humor is found in looking at ordinary Japanese customs from the perspective of a stranger.

Before I go any further, I wanted to hook you up with the ED, which is performed by Chatmonchy. It is a fun song, so feel free to play it while you read about the series.

The architect Lucius Modestus tries to relax in a public bath.

The main character is an arrogant Roman architect. His ideas for public bath houses (thermae) are rejected, however, because his thinking is too traditional. The show essentially follows him as he relaxes in a bath and gets inspired by a journey he takes to an advanced civilization populated by a “flat-faced” tribe. Lucius himself is barely likable in that he starts by believing that Rome is the most advanced civilization possible. He does, however, come to appreciate the “genius” of the Japanese, in the advances they have made in bathing culture.

Inconsistent artwork.

It is important to note that this is a Flash-based animation. In fact, I feel like saying “animation” because the images jerk about, but no effort is made towards making the movement smooth or natural. The artwork, on the other hand, is a curious mixture of interesting and horrible. Most of the characters are older men, and a surprising variety of character designs is present. The main characters in an episode are generally handled nicely, but some background characters are bizarre or poorly drawn or both. I don’t understand the inconsistency in styles at all. This is the weakest aspect of the show.

In-joke. Hiroshi Abe is seen in the poster use behind them ... the poster for the movie version of Thermae Romae.

One thing I wondered when I picked this as one of the more intriguing titles of the Winter 2012 anime season was whether the anime would really turn out to be just a commercial for the live action movie. A bit of a flag was raised when the movie poster appeared in episode one, but I think it stands on its own. Although the production values could have been much better (if they hadn’t gone the Flash route), it does have a certain charm. I certainly will continue watching to see more of the strange observations on bathing culture.

You can't beat fruit milk after a hot bath.

As I said, the humor in the series comes from looking at everyday things (for a Japanese audience, at least), but from a stranger’s perspective. Simple things, like fruited milk, become revelations to our ancient Roman perspective character. Novelties that he is eager to bring back to his own time and place.

A good example of a character design that you wouldn't normally see in an anime. If these characters were brought to life on a reasonable budget, this show would have been more interesting.

If you look over all of the screen shots of Lucius, you will notice that he almost always looks EXACTLY the same. This is a perfect example of how lazy the animation studio is. The main character was seen as a vehicle for reducing costs by re-using the same graphic over and over and over again.

Awkward.

So should you watch it? The first thing to consider is that this is actually the running length of a short OVA — I believe there are only 6 episodes that will be broadcast, and two more to be included as specials on the discs. It is not the most hilarious show I have ever seen, but it is amusing. It certainly is unique. It had the potential to be much more, which might be a bit of an unfair critique, since the judgement should be on what it is, not what I feel it should be. I’m happy enough having watched it, but I would not spend money on a disc set. I am interested in checking out the live-action movie to see if the material is handled better. It certainly isn’t a “Must” watch, but I don’t see any reason to “Avoid” it either.

Rook's buried memories are uncovered.

Phi Brain episode 15 is lighter in tone than recent episodes have been. POG is still willing to kill to get Kaito to achieve the Phi Brain in preparation for solving God’s Puzzle, but Ana Gram doesn’t take what others say too seriously. Despite Kaito’s angst over his handling by the person he thought was his friend, Ana manages to keep things amusing.

When friendship goes bad. Kaito Daimon X Rook Banjo Crossfield.

Luke wants Kaito for himself, so he has his subordinates threaten Kaito’s friends to leave him. In Phi Brain this means one thing: Puzzle time is about to begin! Kaito, however, doesn’t want to belong to Luke, and he doesn’t like the way Luke is treating his friends.

This week's Giver. She doesn't get much respect.

This week the POG target is Ana Gram. A puzzle is sent to him to lure him out to the “Great Henge”. This ends up being a frustrating experience for the Giver, as Ana doesn’t bother listening to the instructions and manages to have a grand time anyway.

Ana Gram skipping through Great Henge.

Despite being told that his life is in danger, Ana is carefree. He solves the puzzle without giving it much thought, and is less concerned with the puzzle itself, than the voice of distant memories. It was at this place that Kaito and Luke were forced apart 10 years ago. Ana finds proof that Luke’s intentions at that time were sincere. It was his rough treatment as a prisoner of the POG that has turned him into the Luke of today.

Okabe. Cubic's invention.

Just as Ana solves the puzzle, thus ensuring his safety, Cubic and Gammon arrive with the mistaken assumption that they need to save him. Cubic causes Okabe (I didn’t know he had a name) to transform, and sends him into the Great Henge maze. This causes it to collapse. Fortunately Ana is fine.

Kaito X Rook. Kaito rages that Luke's promises were all lies. A puzzle from the past will shock them both.

Now that Ana has discovered the puzzle that ties them together, what will become of Kaito and Rook? Will Kaito be able to rehabilitate Rook, who was clearly manipulated by years of POG indoctrination?

Next episode looks like it will take place in Venice, and be a Gammon-focused episode. I can’t wait for puzzle time to begin!

These Karuta cards are all I need to see.

In episode 15 of Chihayafuru the national tournament ends. Everyone has an opportunity to witness their own limitations. They may be beaten, but they are not broken.

Chihaya has activated Queen Shinobu's dark powers.

Come forth, Snow-maru, and do my dark bidding!

Wakamiya Shinobu takes a card from Chihaya Ayase. She's smiling, so you know she is having fun.

Even though Chihaya fights valiantly, she is just too far behind to do anything but lose badly (25-5). Still it is enough to make Shinobu take notice. She burns her opponent’s name into her memory and hopes for a rematch — so she can crush Chihaya even more soundly.

"White Alice" Shinobu.

I like the “White Alice/Black Alice” thing they have going for Shinobu. Most of the time she is operating in Black Alice mode. She exudes a dark aura, and doesn’t interact pleasantly with the other players unless she is subtly mocking them. But on occasion she slips into White Alice; in particular when discussing cute toy characters like Daddy Bear and Snow-maru.

Taichi Mashima faces off in the B-class final.

Inspired by Chihaya’s determination, even after suffering a serious defeat, Taichi is looking ahead to a match with Arata Wataya. He works his way up to the final round, where the rest of the team watches in horror as the cumulative matches take their toll.

Taichi's loss is a terrible blow to the whole team.

The Karuta club has done a good job by even making it to the national tournament, but they fail to take home a trophy. As dispiriting as their collective losses are. The team goes home committed to the fight. They take up jogging to improve their stamina, and clearly are eager to keep playing.

Meiko Kaji, the eternal outcast.

SOoooo….. I have been watching Winter Season episodes but really haven’t seen anything that was so exciting that I felt I needed to write about it right away. Nothing was anywhere near as awesome as  the supreme outcast, Ms. Meiko Kaji, so I’m linking up some of her videos instead. Heh, heh. I’ll probably have a couple of first impression posts after watching three episodes alá the traditional “taste test”. Until then (or the next episode of Chihayafuru), enjoy some Enka instead.

Meiko Kaji, actress and Enka singer.

Yadokari

Like some of the best Enka, this song is just heartbreaking. Yadokari means hermit crab, and in it, Meiko sings about how her life is like that of a hermit crab after the death of her lover.

Urami Bushi

This one is pretty cool, because it is a great song “Urami Bushi” (My Grudge Blues) with footage from Meiko Kaji’s TV series, Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion. Warning: contains violence. Here is an English translation of the lyrics, btw.

Crimson roses have its sharp thorns.
Don’t wanna hurt you, but have to stab you with my thorn.

Fute Bushi

Unfortunately I couldn’t find a translation of the lyrics for this song. “Fute Bushi” apparently is translated as Sulky Song. It originally appeared on her Poems of the Outcast record (Hajiki Uta). I love the vintage distortion on the guitar.

Bonus Outcasts:

Meiko Kaji as Fang.

Meiko Kaji as Yuki (Lady Snowblood).

Shinobu Wakiyama ~ the Karuta Assassin.

I was already looking forward to this episode because there has been some interesting build up. Chihaya has wanted to be the Queen, the strongest female Karuta player, since she was in grade school. As exciting as some of the team mechanics were, episode 14 of Chihayafuru finally returns us to one-on-one matches, and the ultimate rival appears. I was on edge almost the entire episode, and for the first time (and in the exact right game) a match isn’t concluded before the end of the episode — cliff hanger! In many respects this episode was all about the reigning Queen, so she will be the focus of this post as well.

Karuta matches are selected at the Omi Jingu National Championship.

Left to right: Wakamiya Shinobu, Akihito Sudou, and Chihaya Ayase.

In my opinion, the Queen is an excellent character. They did some build up, so we knew she was good at Karuta, but this episode managed to show a number of contradictory sides of her, which made her intriguing. To start off, we have her formal introduction. Sudou, the captain of the team that represented Tokyo several years in a row is on hand to provide commentary, such as her being the youngest Queen in Karuta history, and that she made A class when she was still in the fourth grade. But her comments about how tough an opponent she will be are then undercut by comments from the crowd, saying that she has the “fashion sense of a rock”. This kind of complex characterization is one of the incredible strengths of Chihayafuru.

Chihaya faces an opponent on the tatami mats.

There are several other examples of this complexity. Chihaya, for example, is a wonderful combination of nobility and goofy dork. Another great example is Taichi, whose failings and strengths are both constantly on display.

Ninja Royalty.

One interesting aspect of the Queen’s character is that, upon first entering the room, she walked straight up to Sudou, a character who said in an earlier episode that he enjoys toying with pretty girls. She then proceeds to compliment the strength of his Karuta, while pointing out that his team lost the regional championship this year. In other words she is incredibly confident, and possibly a little vicious. Then we have this …

Wakamiya Shinobu. She may be a deadly assassin, but obviously she isn't all bad.

In the midst of everything, the two opponents almost bond over their chosen character T-shirts. Chihaya realizes that the Queen is wearing a rare Snow-maru T-shirt. Snow-maru is a character that wears a fez to cover his top braid. ???

Smow-maru shows off his top braid.

But this turns out to be only a momentary diversion in the midst of a heated battle.

Chihaya Ayase battles the Queen, Wakamiya Shinobu, in a Karuta match.

And here we get to another interesting aspect of the Queen, her name and the nature of her Karuta. Shinobu actually means “stealth” in Japanese, and is a form of the word that is often used instead of Ninja (Shinobi). Meanwhile Queen Shinobu’s playing is so fast that it can’t be seen. Chihaya calls it “Silent Karuta”.

The ninja moves in for the kill.

I like the way they dealt with this in the anime. In addition to effective use of changes of tempo (that is the actual card taking is very fast, and then there is a slow motion tumble of the card), the teams adviser and Taichi use a video camera to do slow motion replays to try to figure out what happened after cards are played.

What just happened?

Great expression on the teacher here.

The ninja's arm is moving too fast to be captured by ordinary technology.

This entire match had me bunched up in knots. I kept feeling the tension, and had to keep reminding my body to stop clenching up. What this show needed was a real nail-biter of a game, and this was the perfect opportunity. Chihaya is up against the Queen, and she is losing badly. And to top it all off, we have a cliff-hanger. Is Chihaya going to be able to hold on? We’ll have to tune in next week to find out.

Bonus Ninja Queen:

Queen Shinobu is amused that you are still willing to fight.

Anna Gram comforts Nonoha Itou.

Phi Brain has taken a dark turn. Episode 13 starts with Kaito Daimon hospitalized. As Nonoha, Anna, and Gammon Sakanou anxiously watch over Kaito in the hospital, Cubic Galois is out for revenge.

Kaito's friends watch anxiously as Kaito lies in a hospital bed.

Meanwhile Rook takes a bath.

The issue of whether or not Rook is truly a bad person came up in this episode. The question Nonoha naively asks is, how can someone that Kaito has befriended be a bad person? I say Rook must be a bad person, because only some evil mastermind would have a bathtub in a room with a giant aquarium. Sylvia Stingray (from Bubblegum Crisis) had a giant aquarium that was also a swimming pool, and she was a good genius, but that is hardly the same thing.

Unnamed POG giver.

Cubic Galois, AKA Edison, fights the POG on his own.

Yuno Cubic doesn’t want to share Kaito with Rook. He knows that Kaito is destined to be his friend, so he goes POG hunting. This leads him to an abandoned military base, where he is given a fool’s puzzle, that is, the prize is he gets to keep his own life.

This week's puzzle was pretty interesting. It consists of five interlocked crosses.

Each cross is, itself, an interlocked collection of 12 puzzles. Each side adds up to 10, and the same number cannot be used more than once on a "side".

Needless to say, there is a timer (actually one on each cross), and at the end of each sub-puzzle some tanks advance on the building that Cubic is in. Only by solving the interlocked puzzle can he avoid being blown up. This scene (particularly the first time the tank activates) has another great musical background: a slow and ominous brass piece. I still haven’t seen an announcement about the Phi Brain soundtrack getting released. Now that the second course has begun to air, I hope we see an announcement soon.

They say laughter is the best medicine.

Kaito does come back to consciousness, and his friends try to cheer him up, though it doesn’t work. Unfortunately Cubic is damaged by his puzzling experience.

Bonus:

Don't worry, he gets better.