Phi Brain: Puzzle of God (Season 1: Collection 1) [Blu-ray]

OMG, I love animes that revolve around puzzles! My daughter and I both really enjoy this one and we can't wait for the next collection to be released.

its came in good condition with no problem it is an excellent anime and it was amazing to watch and see

Grandson was happy!

From Hajime Yatate, creator of "After War Gundam X", "Armored Trooper Votoms", "Battle Spirits", "Big O", "Cowboy Bebop", "Infinite Ryvius" and many other well-known anime series comes the concept of a world that revolves around puzzles."Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God" is a 25-episode anime series produced by Sunrise and aired in Japan on NHK Educational TV from October 2011 to September 2012. And a third season that is set to air this year in Japan.The anime series is directed by Junichi Sato ("Kaleido Star", "Princess Tutu", "Sailor Moon", "Sailor Moon R"), series composition by Mayori Sekijima ("Angel Sanctuary", "Clamp School", "Megami Paradise", "Tekkaman Blade", "Tenchi in Tokyo", "Zillion"), music by Akio Izutsu and character design by Youhei Sasaki ("Fafner", "Case Closed", "Shakugan no Shana III").The anime series has led to a manga serialization on Kadokawa Shoten's "Newtype Ace" and also a release of a Sony PSP video game.And now "Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God: Season 1, Collection 1" (featuring the first 13 episodes) was released on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks."Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God" is set during a time where puzzles are the way of the land. For high school freshman, Kaito Daimon, solving puzzles is what he is great at but what is his drive?Having lost his parents who died trying to solve a deadly puzzle, long ago he and his good friend Rook were raised as children by an unknown traveler, who taught him the importance of solving puzzles.And to this day, as a teenager, Kaito has made it a mission to solve all puzzles but most importantly not wanting for anyone to get hurt by puzzles.But there is a mysterious organization that creates deadly puzzles and many have lost their lives to it. Known as the P.O.G. (Puzzle of God), Kaito has made it a mission to defeat all puzzles, especially those coming from the P.O.G.One day, while he and his friend Nonoha were trying to solve a puzzle, an Orpheus armband attaches to his arm. The Orpheus helps Kaito see through puzzles and helps him defeat them, but will he and his friends be ready to take on the deadly P.O.G. puzzles?VIDEO:"Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God" is rather interesting because for an anime coming from Sunrise, you expect to see animation and character design that is exceptional. With that being said, this is an anime series that is not aired on the major television networks in Japan. In fact, it's aired on NHK's Educational channel and so, it's gets a different treatment with many people contributing to the series, including Green who does the art backgrounds. With that being said, the 3D use of the backgrounds are good, character designs are well-shaded but facial character designs are much simpler compared to other Sunrise animated TV series.AUDIO:"Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God" is presented in Japanese and English DTS-HD MA 2.0. Dialogue is clear on both soundtracks and the dynamic range is good for stereo. But I found myself adjusting the audio settings on my receiver to have a more immersive soundscape.SPECIAL FEATURES:"Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God" comes with the clean opening and ending sequence.JUDGMENT CALL:While "Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God" is considered an educational anime series, I absolutely enjoyed its storyline because I love to partake in puzzles and solving them.It has always been said that the more you use your brain, the better things are when you get older. And for me and my wife, we both partake in advanced puzzles because we have loved ones who have Alzheimer's Disease. So knowing this, we have constantly used puzzles as a way to keep our brains active.And so, the whole concept of an anime series about puzzle solving is rather fascinating but not surprising, considering that a lot of Japanese video games incorporate puzzles. May it be the "Professor Layton" video games to the "Brain Age" games that are released, Japan has always been a big proponent of puzzle games because of research showing that puzzle solving is good for the brain.With NHK being a government owned network, what best to get the message across than through an anime release about puzzles and puzzle solving.In each episode, we see how the main protagonist Kaitou gets involved with challenging puzzles, but how he is able to solve them. The series goes into the process of how Kaitou thinks, the different moves he can make, but one is correct.I know, some of you may be reading this and are thinking that the concept must be boring, but fortunately what makes "Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God" work is its characters and their mysterious background. Kaitou is a protagonist who solves puzzles, but when most people are thinking that he does it because he loves doing it, the truth is that he does it because his parents died by trying to solve a deadly puzzle and the man that mentored him told him that he must solve puzzles and one day, they will be reunited.Add a couple of intriguing characters as the tsundere Nanoha, the effeminate Ana, the cocky Gammon and the robot building Cubik, to see these very different characters work together to take on the various puzzles by the antagonist group Puzzle of God (POG) is rather fascinating and fun to watch.Sure, "Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God" may not have the glitz or the detail of other Sunrise animated releases but this is a special series that airs on NHK's education channel and while it's an educational anime series in one sense, it also has its share of action and violence as well. So, this is not PBS, for children-type of anime.As for the Blu-ray release, while the series does look good in HD, once again, it's not the most-detailed anime from Sunrise and its lossless soundtrack is in stereo. Special features are primarily the opening and closing theme and Sentai Filmworks trailers.Overall, "Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God" may not be the best looking anime on Blu-ray but its unique storyline about puzzle solving is rather fascinating, entertaining and its characters are enjoyable to watch. I'm definitely looking forward to season 2. Recommended!

Puzzles are only fun when you attempt to solve them yourself rather than watching them being solved. That is the weakest point of this show. Puzzles don't lend themselves to dialogue and animation so the creators of this show must be congratulated on making this show entertaining to watch despite that handicap. There are enough action sequences and interaction between the characters (mostly comedy) to keep the viewer interested in what is going on. Only a minority of time is spent actually thinking about how to solve the puzzle. Don't approach this show too seriously and just accept the outlandish conspiracy it wants us to believe - that there is a secret global conspiracy around puzzles! I liked this series and will watch the next part and even Season 2.You have to hand it to animé for the sheer boldness with which it defies conventions and makes the most imaginative stories out of very mundane concepts.I suggest that to truly appreciate this show and to get more fun out of it, pause the video and try to solve the puzzles yourself before the hero solves them.My favourite quote of the series: "I'll puzzle your face!"

It is good. The dubs are good as well. The subs are also very good. It is hard to decide between the dubs and subs. The story is wonderful and the blue ray is crystal clear and clean. It is very easy to watch. I don't like that the storyline has been split in to two blue rays that have to be bought separately.

画質は特に気になる点などありませんでした。字幕表示も再生機の設定で消すことができます。毎話終りに海外向けのスタッフロールが流れますが、北米版にはつきものなのでしょうか？