Okay, who again said that this was a silly show that shouldn’t be taken seriously? I mean, whoa: this episode yet again delved into the past of Rook and Kaitou and developed the two of them even more. And in contrast to the larger parts of this series, this is some pretty heavy handed stuff. I really did not expect there to be so much psychological abuse in this series.
I mean, first there was Rook, who was used as some kind of test tube child, being confined in a freaking prison of all things. And now his grown version is trying to break Daimon Kaitou down psychologically in an attempt to make him even stronger. And heck, ever since Rook appeared, there has not been one wasted episode: every episode after that made leaps in terms of character development. The random stories of the first half did their job of building up the world, concepts and characters in this series, and right now the creators finally can start to play with them. I like this formula a lot, because even though it takes a while to get going, it’s varied, and a great way to flesh out the characters by showing them in different situations.
Also surprising is how this episode went further with Ana’s themes of Kaitou being the sun and Rook being the moon.Heck, there were a ton of moon themes in the puzzle in this episode,but what was also interesting was how they linked things to Great Henge. I mean, the concept of it being a literal puzzle like in this episode was of course a bit stupid, but Stonehenge in a way also is just like a big unintentional puzzle. It also serves as a great symbol of the sun.
The one thing I am not sure of is why the creators found it a good idea to just randomly destroy “Greathenge”… after the entire puzzle had already been solved. It made for a bit of a weird appearance by Cubic and Gammon, followed by a bit of a strange sequence in which nobody really found it sad that suddenly a millennia-old artifact got destroyed…Or did the creators need a way to get rid of that stupid robot of Cubic?
Rating: ** (Excellent)
“Okay, who again said that this was a silly show that shouldn’t be taken seriously?” – I did! 😀 And I still think it’s not supposed to be taken particularly seriously, in fact, the show does a very good job at balancing humor and darkness, keeping things from becoming too angsty or dreary. After all, it’s still a kids’ show. But true, it’s gotten much darker and more serious than it used to be, and it doesn’t feel unnatural. This show has some very good writing and pacing.
But I think it’s the characters where this series really shines. They’re so endearing. Kaito’s little harem is has to be my favorite cast of characters from the 2011 fall season.
The show really has grown into something very very fun! I remember struggling to watch the first couple of episodes and losing interest. Now Phi Brain is a show I’m always looking forward to every week! What crazy puzzle will we have this time xD