Shelf Life

Three's Company

Hyakko doesn't necessarily fall into the “madcap comedy” category, but it strays pretty close. It features four girls—Torako, Tatsuki, Suzume, and Ayumi—who generally get into mischief, mostly because of the hyperactive, always peppy Torako. They attend a sprawling school complex that includes all grades from elementary to high school, and throughout the course of the thirteen episodes, we're introduced to the other students of class 1-6. We watch as the girls try out various athletic clubs, trick each other into eating extra size portion of noodles, punch teachers, and whatever else strikes Torako's fancy. There's a memorable scene in which the girls are asked to sketch each other in art class, and two of them take turns striking suggestive poses. Because this is a screwball comedy, though, it's pretty gauche, and the end result is more awkward and laughable than sexy.

That's not to say that Hyakko doesn't have its drawbacks, though. When I say that there are one or two laughs an episode, I also mean to say that there are dozens more gags per episode that fall flat—at least for me. Some scenes try but fail, others just run on a little too long. An example is the episode where Torako convinces her friends to try out different team sports. We instantly see that she's not going to be taking this seriously, and although this is funny for the first sport or so, it gets old really fast. Another joke that outlasts its welcome is the token aggressive lesbian character—you know, the anime archetype that preys on all the girls around her. Her skeezing might crack a smile the first couple of times, but this, too, wears out pretty quickly. Even Torako herself is a bit like that annoying friend that everyone has who's perpetually too loud, perpetually too obnoxious, and always drinks too much at bars.

All the other aspects of Hyakko—the art, the animation, the music—are pleasant, though nothing to really make a big deal of. The character designs are a little on the ugly side, but it works well in the context of a zany comedy. Nobody's really expecting hot chicks when they watch a show like Hyakko, and so the bulbous eyes and onion-shaped heads are fine.

By far, though, I think the selling point of Hyakko is that it's incredibly easy to just pop in one episode and enjoy it for that one 25-minute stretch. There are zero cliffhangers of any kind (since there's not much narrative to speak of), so you won't get sucked into a spiral, and the episodes are all pretty standalone, so you don't have to worry about accidentally watching it out of order. Yeah, maybe you won't remember who all the people on screen are—the supporting cast is enormous—but everyone is generally modeled after a common archetype, so it's not terribly hard to figure out what's going on. I don't know that I'd have much interest in watching Hyakko again, but I enjoyed it for what it was.[TOP]

Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God is a shonen action show about your typical shonen action hero and his shonen action friends. Except instead of being a super ninja, or transforming into a cyborg, or whatever's the rage these days, protagonist Kaito is really good at puzzles. Yeah, imagine that. The fate of the world rests in the hands of a puzzle enthusiast. And I guess it should, because in this world, there are actually evil puzzle masterminds who spend an insane amount of time, money, and resources on constructing elaborate puzzles, ranging from deathtraps that could blow up entire cities, to, well, other death traps. For instance, Kaito and his buddies could be crushed to death if they don't move their bus out of a sliding block puzzle past enough!!! These crazy evil “Philosopher's Puzzles” are made by members of an organization called P.O.G.—Puzzle of God—because… you know… what else are you going to do with yourself if you have billions of dollars at your disposal, a lot of land, a knack for large-scale construction, you're obsessed with puzzles, and you're a psychotic killer. But that's why we have heroes like Kaito and other puzzle-solving recruits.

Kaito has a huge one-up on all his comrades, though. After solving one particularly gnarly puzzle (I know, I know), he's rewarded with a bracelet called Orpheus, which basically lets him unlock his brain and become a SUPER puzzle solver. I mean, this guy could probably blast through the Saturday New York Times crossword in five minutes. But ridiculousness aside, herein lies one of my biggest beefs with the show, which ties into what I mentioned earlier about those TV specials. Some of the puzzles in Phi Brain are really easy. We could all probably figure out your standard Sudoku or maze, assuming neither are rigged. But sometimes, there are puzzles that aren't so clear, either because we as the viewers aren't given enough time to examine them, or we simply don't get to see the big picture. In these cases, rather than Kaito giving a play-by-play on how he solves them, à la Conan explaining a crime, he just uses Orpheus and suddenly everything is solved.

This is a show about puzzles. Let the viewers see the damned puzzles. Ninety percent of the fun of detective shows is letting viewers see if they can figure out the case alongside the investigator. The same should be true for a show about puzzles. I don't care that, subject matter aside, Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God is just like your average shonen battle-of-the-week show—a show about puzzles should give viewers a fair crack at solving the puzzles first. And that's what we're missing out on by not having those TV specials. Otherwise, watching this show is just frustrating, not to mention the premise is inherently ludicrous.

Given the novelty of this outrageous series, I think Phi Brain is worth watching once. At the very least, I think a few of the episodes are worth watching once. Eventually, as the series progresses, we're privy to some actual character development so that the bad guys are more than just puzzle-loving lunatics, but the first several episodes are mostly just standalones. I guess if you want to see something wildly different, you should check this out.[TOP]