#THREE GAMES OF PHOENIX AND MAYA AND THEIR FRIENDSHIP ONLY FOR THEM TO BE AT ODDS IN A TRIAL FOR THE FIRST TIME

[cornertheculprit]

see like what's so so so fucked about bridge to the turnabout is that the final witness on the stand is maya. the final witness on the stand is maya and she is lying through her teeth and she knows it and phoenix knows it and she knows he knows and he knows she knows he knows. this is maya who is so self-sacrificing. who once wrote to phoenix that he should get engarde a guilty verdict even if it meant her life. who once pushed past phoenix and told him to run while she threw herself at von karma for him. for their case. this is maya who mia told to take care of phoenix for her. this is maya who believes in phoenix more than absolutely anyone.

and this is phoenix who has promised maya he would never abandon her. this is phoenix who has told maya to her face that he would never desert her. this is phoenix who once came so so close to pinning corrida's death on adrian andrews just so she would be alive and safe. this is phoenix who admitted that maya was the closest person to him. this is phoenix who mia asked to watch over maya and who responded "of course" with no hesitation. this is phoenix who ran across a burning bridge to try and reach her on the off-chance that she might be in danger.

this is phoenix and maya, the friendship that we've seen develop over the course of three games. and maya is lying on the stand and begging phoenix to please just stop. to please just listen to her. because she knows he knows and phoenix looks at her and goes "...may i?" because he is going to drag the truth into the light like he always does. he knows this. she knows this. in any other situation she would not let him get away with settling for anything less than the truth and so even at the cost of hurting her he will drag the truth out of her. and she believes in him more than anyone and that makes it all worse because she knows he'll do it. that's why she believes in him in the first place. and the thing is? the real kicker of it all? they're doing it for the same reason:

Maya: ...... I knew it... You've figured it out, haven't you, Nick...?

Phoenix: (Maya... I guess you were doing your best to cover for Godot... ...for the same reason, huh?)

even when they were at odds they were still thinking alike. and then it's phoenix begging maya to tell the truth, and this time he says "don't bother trying to hide anything, because i'll know." he knows her like the back of his hand just like she knows him. the same way she knew that he would figure out where she was being held when she was kidnapped: "i thought you'd come. i knew you would." phoenix is urging her in this trial the same way maya urged him by leaving him that note in farewell, my turnabout: speak the truth, even if it hurts you. even if it hurts me. even if it hurts all of us. i believe in your ability to speak the truth. it's "now listen up! you'd better get engarde a guilty sentence, ok!? if you get that creepy slimebag a not guilty, i'll never forgive you, ever!" and it's "...please, maya. testify. [...] i want to hear the truth from your own lips..." it's looking at a person you love, your best friend, the "person closest" to you, your self-proclaimed "big sister", somebody that you'll believe in until the sky falls down, and saying that the truth matters more than anything else. what a FUCKING case man

[oodlyenough]

I haven't bothered with posts about the anime episodes because for the most part they've been like... fine to moderately amusing and there's not really anything to say beyond that. 2x06 Sound the Turnabout Melody (what a title) was uh not like that lmao so

started off strong with that terrible Wright & Co commercial. god bless you Maya.

ever since they introduced the concept of the friendship keychains I've been wondering if Larry still has his or if Larry is a normal person and the keychains are a consequence of Phoenix and Edgeworth specifically being Like That.

I thought s1 really tried to be like "a no homo trio of besties!!!" so I assumed it was likely Larry did. instead not even 3 years later Larry is like "lmao you still have that?" and Phoenix is both embarrassed and defensive which is much better and funnier than I expected from this show lmfao god bless

Larry discovering girls while Phoenix is STILL thinking about Miles and then deciding to dedicate songs on the radio to him fahfkdhlhkhglh .... incredible. showstopping

the dedication just kept going and going, too. i thought it would end with like, 'to signal red from signal blue' but it went on and on. i know she read page one of his ten page letter. didn't even mention the illustrated annexes of red and blue holding hands 😔

edgeworth thanking phoenix aloud and meanwhile phoenix sensing a disturbance in the force and turning around to look ... lmaoooooooo?!?!?... I mean even by the high bar set by their game canon I was pretty stunned

the flipside of all the crazy but believably IC baby narumitsu stuff was I found the Von Karma stuff all kind of weird and not particularly believable/IC

I appreciate the anime making it unambiguous that Edgeworth was raised by MVK, I feel like in the games there's a bit of vagueness for no real reason despite it being the most logical explanation for everything. so that was nice. but:

as hilariously cruel as it is to imagine MVK raising this kid for three years before turfing him to an orphanage, even applying 5d chess psychological torment logic I can't really make sense of that. why would he wait that long lol. why would he have taken miles in to begin with if not part of a long-term scheme.

baby franziska was cute as hell but i think she was too nice. i totally believe she'd be obsessed with her new little brother and want his attention/approval/etc. i ...don't really believe she's emotionally equipped to go about it so sweetly, lol.

miles' prosecutor vs defense ambition arc was convoluted to me, and an example where i feel like the games already gave us reason enough for the switch (the idea that greg's murderer got away + mvk's influence) without the anime now presenting something that makes less sense. (i'm still playing AAI but i sense i'll have similar criticisms of it, as in, "you're offering me a new explanation that makes less sense than the original". a common issue for prequel media.)

the cravat-giving scene felt like it was presented very earnestly despite being objectively kind of creepy given, you know, everything.

dog person miles edgeworth REAL

why'd they name that puppy napalm 😭😭😭😭

oh most importantly THE EPISODE TAG?? LMAO? edgeworth giving them the only like on their commercial why can't i find a clip or gifset of it the people need to know NEVERMIND @camalyng has bravely answered the call with a gifset

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Counterpoint to the Iris propaganda: FranMaya is the wlw Ace Attorney's fandom attempt to have a wlw ship despite most of the games not really letting female characters have a ton of interactions with each other outside of blood relatives. I love and respect FranMaya devoted FranMaya shippers, but you have to realize these people are so far out of the reach of Yaoi that they almost don't count here. Also should be noted that Phoenix and Maya's friendship is the most important relationship of the main trilogy. Like Edgeworth is only in like three cases in the second two games while Maya and Phoenix spend the entire trilogy risking their lives for each other. Half the time Edgeworth shows up after the first game it's because Phoenix is doing something risky to try to save Maya. They're constantly interacting and their dynamic was so strong that most of the games after this essentially have a very Maya-esque character to fill the roll of assistant because she did it so well.

Despite this, there are 13x more Wrightworth fanfics on AO3 than fanfics that tagged Phoenix & Maya as a relationship (platonic). And going back to FranMaya from earlier, there are actually almost twice as many FranMaya fics as there are fics that tag Phoenix & Maya as an important relationship, despite Phoenix & Maya essentially spending years together! Maya in canon has been kidnapped twice because people know she's so important to Phoenix that he'll do almost anything they want if they have her hostage! The storyline around Phoenix, Maya, and Maya's dead sister Mia is what drives the trilogy! No offense to Iris fans, but Iris appears in one case while Maya is the second main character of the entire trilogy. People shouldn't be so biased against Iris's character just because the writers set her up as a love interest, but she's also a character who has never appeared in canon since then. Maya was a huge part of the 6th game in the series and was the only Ace Attorney character besides Phoenix to show up in the Professor Layton crossover game, with both games heavily emphasizing how important her friendship with Phoenix is to both of them, yet this relationship is tossed aside in fandom to focus on romance instead.

Whoooo Maya

[scalproie]

For the character ask game: Dante and Miles Edgeworth (possibly without spoilers for anything past the first aa game? if thats possible?)

Dante!

favorite thing about them: He's so iconic, I honestly think he's one of the white-haired cool guys blueprint, I like that he's sort of a kind but not nice guy, and a lot of his depths are even more hidden than his brother and nephew, he might be even more complex than both of them and hide it very well under his wacky woohoo persona. Also he is literally oozing style. His jackets are cool. I am looking so respectfully at his DT and SDT form.

least favorite thing about them: not really his fault but even tho he was in literally every games and even had an anime, I wish we had more focus on HIM as a character and development beyond surface level, or at all (granted I might be wrong because I tend to focus more on the blue side of the family so if Im dead wrong feel free to yell at me), because to me he feels like he just get dragged into whatever and we dont really see how HE feels about it, or at least its not intended.

favorite line: "It's not about loss... strength is a choice. Fighting like hell to protect what's important." AND I LOVE IT BECAUSE IT'S THE DANTE VERSION OF "might controls everything, and without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself." AND 1) DMC3 IMPACTED HIM, MAN, AND 2) IT TELLS YOU ABOUT THE BROTHERS AND WHAT THEY STAND FOR

brOTP: oh Lady and Trish, no contest, not only are the top three demon hunters besties but they have that forged in fire friendship, and they are MEAN to each other but you know they have each other's back when shit gets real. they also have that "we are effortlessly better than you" vibe when they're hanging out so. Oh and also in dmc4 its the game's darkest hour and he and Trish are legit just going "Damn that's crazy" and cracking jokes meanwhile Credo is literally dying next to them. I thought it was funny in insight

OTP: now I like to think of Dante being in the "He's bi but nobody wants him" category, but I don't even think he's looking for a relationship, desides, there's only like two characters that could be considered for a ship with Dante and I think putting them in a ship with him would take away from both them AND Dante. So i stay true to my "romance is a pretty foreign thing in dmc save for maybe two ships, and one of them isnt even around anymore"

nOTP: literally more than half the cast is off limits, either because they're literally related, because the age gap is too wide for my liking, or because you don't get with someone who is a literal demonic clone of your dead mom

random headcanon: Dante doesnt like when people are more of a wise guy than he is because his wise guy is a defense mecanism he carefully crafted and he also practice lines that sounds cool in his free time just to drop them when it feels like the coolest moment to do so, so when people who are not him are cracking jokes it pisses him off because now he both has competition and also has to improvise to maintain his wacky woohoo persona.

unpopular opinion: I have a lote/hate relationship with his hairstyle in dmc5 😔 literally everything else about him is perfect but I do wish he had a different hairstyle. Like SURE he cant rock the emo bangs at forty but centre parting king?

song i associate with them: you get four! Two Birds - Regina Spektor (could also fit Vergil as well!), Tribute - Tenacious D, Role Model - Phoenix, AND OKAY LYRICALLY IT BARELY FIT HIM BUT Smooth Operator - Sade

favorite picture of them: ft. dumbass brother

Edgeworth (and i gotta reveal myself as an ace attorney fake fan 😔 (for now))

favorite thing about them: haha tragic rival character whom you have to save at one point go brrrrr

least favorite thing about them: im afraid I dont know anything beyond surface level to really dislike something about this man

favorite line: predictable but THEM UNNECESSARY FEELINGS

brOTP: with Mr. Gumshoe 😌 and Maya too I feel they have the potential to be funny I hope they interact a lot

OTP: I mean Phoenix is right there

nOTP: mmmmmh the obvious ones of course but other than that I straight up havent seen any ship for Miles other than with Phoenix so I dont even know???

random headcanon: I DONT KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THIS MAN (but I will) TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING IM SORRY

unpopular opinion: SAME AS ABOVE tho I will say he looks better with glasses. might not even be an unpopular opinion idk.

song i associate with them: A Sadness Runs Through Him - The Hoosiers

favorite picture of them: that one pic of him and Phoenix in She-Hulk's ending in umvc3

[inspector-montoya-fox]

let’s talk about the criminal mistreatment of Athena Cykes

Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies isn’t really big on women. They’re either dead, fully motivated by self-interest, or on the wrong side of the law. And in the wacky world of Ace Attorney, the game seriously lacks in original wacky female characters. And then there’s Athena Cykes; Phoenix’s new, cute! protégé with a brand new skill for some fresh gameplay and a seriously messed up backstory to captivate the player. Here’s the problem: that pretty much sums up Apollo’s character and reason for being introduced literally one game prior. So why introduce this new character when she wasn’t even needed?

(major spoilers ahead)

Let’s start by pointing out that, throughout Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice, Athena only handles one case on her own. And that case (Turnabout Storyteller) is a mess, imo. We don’t get to investigate as Athena, her skills as a rookie attorney are being constantly diminished by everyone, even her client, and she relies on Blackquill to bail her out when shit hits the fan. In the original trilogy, Maya also helped out Phoenix when in need, but Phoenix was literally the main playable character, having enough cases to redeem himself after stumbling once or twice. Athena is given only one chance throughout the span of two games.

If Athena was the only new character, tackling only one case on her own would be more acceptable because, with the absence of Maya, she’d play the pivotal role of Phoenix’s assistant, aiding him. And that would actually be ideal. Imagine Athena being introduced in Dual Destinies as Phoenix’s assistant, investigating with him and providing advice during the trials. The game would wrap up nicely by having us explore the Space Centre and have her backstory unravel. That’s basically the first game’s premise: Maya is introduced in Turnabout Sisters and by Turnabout Goodbyes we explore part of her backstory (mainly Misty Fey going MIA) via Edgeworth’s trials.

What really screws up Athena’s chances of succeeding as a new character, are the other new characters, Apollo Justice and Trucy Wright. Apollo Justice was literally supposed to be a reset for the franchise. Bridge to Turnabout wrapped up all the story arcs of the trilogy in such a masterful way that there wasn’t anything more for Phoenix and Maya to do. The 7 year time jump and the introduction of Apollo were supposed to kick off a new trilogy and showcase a new era of the law, a time in which the system started failing, despite the fact that it was already messed up. I go into detail about why Apollo Justice failed in this essay no one bothered to read (yea i’m bitter, bitch) but basically, to sum up, Capcom didn’t have the balls to strip the series of its main character and due to backlash, brought him back one game after.

I 100% believe that Dual Destinies tries its hardest to be what fans wanted Apollo Justice to be. As a result, it has too much on its plate. Giving Apollo a new backstory, portraying Phoenix’s return as an attorney, trying desperately to sell the Dark Age of the Law and repeating ‘the end justifies the means’ about a million times, delivering interesting cases with interesting witnesses (at which it fails miserably, imo), all the while introducing Athena and exploring her backstory, which includes the new prosecutor and new detective, whose final twist, although unexpected, doesn’t save the game. That’s a lot, like too, too much.

What was the reason for Athena’s introduction? As I mentioned above, Apollo was literally introduced one game prior to Dual Destinies, providing the writers with countless opportunities for interesting storylines. What we got instead were interesting storylines which were never to be revisited again, e.g. Apollo and Trucy being Thalassa Gramarye’s children, and the jury system. What the fuck. Instead of progressing Apollo’s saga as a rookie attorney taken under Phoenix’s wing, he gets sidetracked for the sake of Athena, but as we soon find out, that isn’t even the case. Actually, Apollo as a new protagonist gets sacrificed for the sake of Athena, and in turn, Athena gets sacrificed for the sake of Apollo being a sidekick. Again, what the fuck.

After Apollo Justice, the games try and fail to course-correct Apollo’s character. Dual Destinies tries to shoehorn Apollo and Athena’s backstories into two cases (The Cosmic Turnabout and Turnabout for Tomorrow), while wasting such an opportunity with its first three cases (no, Turnabout Academy’s rushed exposition on Athena and Juniper’s friendship doesn’t count). And I’m being blatantly honest when I say that I literally couldn’t give less of a shit about Clay Terran and dArK Apollo with a bandage over his eye. I literally don’t care because the game doesn’t do the work in order for me to care. It just dumps a bunch of new info on Apollo and Clay’s friendship at the beginning of a trial for which there isn’t even an investigation. That’s just lazy. Instead, I’m much more interested as to why the robots at the Space Centre recognize Athena.

Athena’s backstory, although redundant and painfully familiar, is pretty interesting. Why is it redundant and painfully familiar? Because Maya Fey also lost her mother due to an incident with an upcoming prosecutor and eventually was misled into thinking she was the culprit, the truth being revealed by Phoenix at the end. Despite the similarity, the details surrounding Metis Cykes’s murder are so captivating. Aura Blackquill is introduced, a mysteriously sexy tech gyal whose dialogue on Metis seems to suggest that they were romantically involved, Blackquill’s imprisonment is explained, there’s hostages involved, and the Phantom is revealed. Turnabout for Tomorrow isn’t my favorite case but in terms of setting up Athena’s backstory, it does everything right.

I honestly love Athena. I love that we have another female attorney alongside Mia and Calisto Yew. I love that she introduces psychology into the trials. I love her yellow suit and her narration, and her moon earrings and relentlessly joyful attitude. She’s such a joy to have around. That’s why I hate how Dual Destinies handles her character, having Apollo ask her questions on who she is and what she does during The Monstrous Turnabout’s investigation and waiting until Turnabout for Tomorrow to continue her exposition. Instead, Apollo gets most of the attention. If Capcom wanted games 4-6 to be Apollo’s trilogy, they should’ve done that. Not dilute Apollo Justice by including hobo Phoenix, not introduce Athena and have Phoenix return in Dual Destinies, not do anything they did with Spirit of Justice. I really wanted Dual Destinies to be Athena’s game.

Spirit of Justice handles Athena even worse than Dual Destinies. She is quite literally reduced to a side character and, even though we get to play her first solo case, her character gets absolutely zero development. Whereas Phoenix is reunited with Maya and resets the law in a foreign country via a revolution in which Apollo is caught in the centre of, Athena babysits Trucy (another female character who is given nothing to do). Also, Athena being sidetracked, getting turned from a new attorney to just a character without a purpose becomes so obvious when she’s literally rendered obsolete once Maya returns in Turnabout Time Traveler, during which she becomes Trucy’s lab rat... ???

I literally feel bad for Athena because she was created unreasonably but created with care nonetheless. Dual Destinies tackles too many story arcs and themes all at once, and if the writers removed some of them to focus more on Athena instead, she could have been the next Franziska: a young lawyer with drive who rises to the ranks of the best but not without her flaws. But, um, we got an Apollo Justice Lite, instead.

[iturbide]

If you don't mind multiples can I please ask for Brady and Phoenix Wright? And if I recall you have not played much Binding Blade, but if you feel comfortable enough with the character to answer, Idunn please?

Of course I don’t mind multiples also excellent choices

How do I feel about this character? 

BABY BOY.  I love Brady so much with his scary face and intimidating scar as the rough exterior over an incredibly soft heart and boundless compassion.  I love how gentle and kindhearted he is, I love how he talks like an absolute gangster but wants to use the violin to express how he really feels, and I love that he gets teary over the small miracles in the world like flowers growing in difficult places.  He’s a delight and deserves to be popular with the ladies.

Who do I ship this character with romantically? 

Nobody, really!  I don’t have any real romantic ships for the second gen Awakening characters -- usually I joke that I ship them with happiness, because it’s what they deserve after everything they’ve suffered through.  Just so long as he’s in good company with people who appreciate him for who he is, I’m happy for him.

Who is my brOTP for this character? 

OWAIN.  But honestly Owain is my answer for any and all second gen brOTPs because Owain is great.  The fact that he appreciates Brady as he ought is just icing on the cake.  I also really love him and Yarne, especially for him actually helping the scaredy bun to toughen up (and undoubtedly offering healing support so that Yarne doesn’t go extinct).

What’s my Unpopular Opinion™ about this character? 

Brady is underappreciated and it’s a crime.  He’s so good but he’s one of those characters that gets passed over for kids like Inigo (who has predatory tendencies and is also a huge jerk in multiple supports) and Severa (who is manipulative bordering on abusive and also a huge jerk in most of her supports).  I legitimately do not understand why people don’t appreciated the soft-hearted gangster so I will instead love him that much more because they won’t (which is why I got him to +10 in Heroes).

What’s one thing I wish would have happened with this character in canon? 

I really, really wish that he’d gotten a chance to play his violin for his mother in their support chain.  I know that in his chain with his father she tricks him into playing it, but I really think it would have been incredibly poignant if Brady had traded all those attempts at learning Maribelle’s hoity-toity speech and just played from the heart, something so profoundly touching that she came to realize it’s not the words that are important.  Yes, their supports are funny, but...I really would have liked something more heartwarming for them.

How do I feel about this character?

I love Phoenix Wright so much.  I love his snark, I love his improv, I love how he literally rolls with everything no matter how ridiculous even if he does kick himself mentally when he does.  The man interrogated a parrot on the stand, literally what is there not to love about him.

Who do I ship this character with romantically?

Miles Edgeworth.  That’s honestly it.  I do see him as bi and I do think that he loved Iris while she was pretending to be Dahlia, but that was a long time ago and they’ve both grown as people to the point where they can (and I think should) remain friends, just not romantic partners.  I have a major soft spot for him and Edgeworth though, it’s my hands-down favorite ship in the entire franchise (even though I put them through the wringer in fic).

Who is my brOTP for this character?

Does Maya count?  Because I absolutely see him and Maya being like siblings, with Phoenix as the long-suffering older brother and Maya as the occasionally obnoxious younger sister.  I can’t see their love for each other as anything other than familial, so them as a brOTP just makes sense to me.  Iris, too, if we want to get technical: their romance ended, but I like the idea of them being able to maintain a friendship.

What’s my Unpopular Opinion™ about this character?

He’s more of a realist than people give him credit for.  Fandom loves to joke about Phoenix being dumb or unobservant, but while he certainly can (and does) leap before he looks, he’s smart and his incredibly wry internal monologue heavily implies to me that he’s most often rolling with the punches rather than blundering blindly into them and reeling into success through luck alone.  He’s pretty savvy in my view, and it irritates me that fandom likes to play him as the eternal butt of the joke (since they also like to forget Larry exists -- apparently Phoenix is the one they substitute in for him).

What’s one thing I wish would have happened with this character in canon?

To be honest...I kind of wish the events leading into AA4 had never happened.  That timeline legitimately breaks my heart because I love Phoenix, and seeing him so broken -- even if it is in part an act to trick the one who set it all in motion -- is more than I can bear.  I really wish we could have just gone forward with Phoenix staying a defense attorney and succeeding, bringing Apollo on as a successor and teaching him in much the same way he learned from Mia, rather than piling yet more trauma onto a man who has never deserved it and who has already lived through too much of it after three games.  

And while it’s true that I haven’t played Binding Blade, I do still love Idunn in Heroes, so:

How do I feel about this character?

This sweet child did not deserve this and I am going to protect her at all costs.  Similar to Grima in how she suffered at the hands of others, only her abuse came from dragonkind first before humans sealed her and Zephiel turned her into a weapon to achieve his own ambitions -- only heartbreakingly they stripped her of her very soul, making her a shell of her true self.  So I love her, I want her to be safe and cherished, and I want to see her recover from all she’s gone through.

Who do I ship this character with romantically?

boy I’ve said this a lot tonight but no ships!  Idunn...well, first off she’s still trying to recover her personal autonomy, and second of all she got sealed very young and so has a lot of growing to do mentally once she does.  She’s not really a character I’m comfortable shipping at all until she’s gone through a significant amount of therapy, and since that needs to come first and foremost rather than setting some romance as an end goal (which would be creepy), I’m just not even thinking about it.

Who is my brOTP for this character?

FAE-FAE.  BEST TINY BABY SISTER A DRAGON COULD ASK FOR.  Fae seems like the perfect dragon sibling and I love the idea of them having a sweet sibling bond where "big” sister Fae is taking the lead while "little” sister Idunn follows her lead and learns from her.  Also the Grimas, as both guardian figures and fellow victims of heavy-handed cruelty; having their grounding influence for stability, especially when she slips in her recovery, would be very important, and the more of herself she gets back the more I think she would appreciate that unspoken concern.

What’s my Unpopular Opinion™ about this character?

are there any popular opinions about Idunn out there?  I don’t see her too much sadly but I’ll just go out on a limb and say that she enjoys flowers and all things colorful and still struggles with doing things on her own unless someone asks her to directly; deep down, she also really likes being taken care of, told stories, and taught new things like making simple crafts and flower crowns, because none of it is a real responsibility falling to her that she has to see through.  It’s just a quiet kind of relief that comes with such low-stakes activities.

What’s one thing I wish would have happened with this character in canon?

Probably the big thing is I wish canon would have given us more of a resolution for her.  You only have a chance to save her in what amounts to a secret ending in Binding Blade, and her fate remains pretty heavily in question from what I understand?  I wish canon had given us more.  Tell us if she recovered, and what she was like if she did.  Tell us what she ended up doing, whether she stayed with Fae in her village or left it at some point, or if they eventually left to travel the world together when Idunn started doing better.  Basically tell me that my dragon daughter ended up happy.

Give Me a Character

[youngbounty]

Five Reasons I Won’t Watch the Anime, But Will Watch the Movie

I don't have many good things to say about the Ace Attorney anime and have my reasons for why I refuse to watch it. Admittedly, I have watched a few clips here and there to see how its version of some, if not many, of my favorite scenes from the game compare. As expected, it continually disappoints. Had it been just Manfred Von Karma adopting Miles Edgeworth that I hated from the anime, I would've watched it regardless. Even during the days I was into Yu-Gi-Oh, I was still willing to watch the worst season of that show, Capsule Monsters, because it still felt like Yu-Gi-Oh no matter how poorly done it was. The same can be said for Ace Attorney. If it feels like Ace Attorney, I will watch it regardless.

The Ace Attorney anime did not give me the same type of excitement the game had. Much to my amazement, much of the reasons why I absolutely refuse to watch the anime version of Ace Attorney is the opposite reasons why I am more than excited to watch the live action movie adaptation. Even when watching some of the spoiler clips of the live action movie, including some of the changes made, gives me the joy and excitement I never got when watching the Ace Attorney anime. To understand this, I will give you my list of reasons for why I refuse to watch the Ace Attorney anime and how the live action Ace Attorney movie differs from those reasons.

Changes From the Game

In any medium, changes are necessary in order to fit the medium. The Danganronpa anime, for instance, makes certain necessary changes during the day breaks. Instead of seeing Makoto meeting with each character and being given their underwear, after unlocking five or three friendship events, it mostly cuts to important scenes. Of course, this does mean sacrificing what bond he's made to the other characters, but that sacrifice is necessary in order to keep the story going. Some scenes from the game are cut from the anime for timing purposes. The Ace Attorney anime doesn't do either of those things.

I have complained about the anime's change in having Miles Edgeworth be the adopted son of Manfred Von Karma, but that's just the tip of the ice berg of changes done in the anime. Other changes I've also seen will go from giving Miles a dog named Missile – who was actually Dick Gumshoe's dog in the game, to having Maya gain the bullet from Gregory by stealing it from Von Karma's office – because that is totally not illegal or destroys the sacrifice she made to gain that bullet in the game, to making Celeste Inpax Adrian's older sister – yeah, because that doesn't destroy the symbolism of Miles Edgeworth's suffering, to the biggest disappointment of no psyche-locks, aside from that tease in Farewell my Turnabout that felt like the creator was sticking their tongue at us. There are more stupid changes, besides these, but I'd rather not list them all.

There were changes in the anime that I did like, but they were mostly additions that broadened the story and most of it was from the first season. Come to find out, the first season of the anime was done by a different studio, while the second season changed studios. It's pretty clear that the first season at least was putting love and care into the show, whereas the second season felt more like a lazy cash grab with no real potential. I'm not asking for an anime adaptation of Ace Attorney to be by the books, but I am asking for heart and the anime didn't feel like there was any heart. I felt more love for the show in Yu-Gi-Oh Capsule Monsters and even The Last Airbender live action movie than I did with the Ace Attorney anime. Not to say there wasn't anyone working on the anime that weren't Ace Attorney fans, but the ones that did work their best were not the ones in charge of orchestrating the project. I will say the voice actors and those in charge of the music did put their heart into it.

The live movie adaptation of Phoenix Wright do have changes from the game, but unlike the anime adaptation, these changes do feel like necessary changes in comparison. One of the major changes in the live action movie is the setting of DL-6, which is the Evidence Room and not the elevator. Because the film was low budget, it's understandable why they may've had to change the setting. Also, it would be hard to film in a closed space. While Miles passing out makes little sense in the movie, it also can be left up for interpretation such as maybe the shock of thinking he shot his father by accident. Another change was having Gregory wear his trench coat from Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2, which I find to be an excellent Easter egg. Another change was how Phoenix Wright obtained the bullet shot in Gregory Edgeworth, that being from inside The Thinker clock/statue. While it belittled Maya's sacrifice in the anime, in this one, it creates a connection between Maya's and Edgeworth's trial that is necessary for the film adaptation. A film cannot work in the same way as a game, since a movie needs to follow a single plot line. It also doesn't sacrifice Maya's sacrifice, since the tasing scene is still in the film, but at a different location with different circumstances.

Not to say the film won't have any flaws, but it's clear there was more heart put into it based on the changes. It never tries to change the relationships between the characters from the game, make characters do things they normally wouldn't do in the game or give things that originally belonged to another character. The live action movie kept to the game as much as it could. Because of how much heart was put into the live action movie, I had thought it was a fan movie at first. Heck, there are scenes where we see Edgeworth stand from the Defendant's Bench to defend himself. Sure, the anime had that too, but not until the very end. Even then, it wasn't as good as the  live action movie, where Edgeworth is heavily involved and not just sitting in his bench twiddling his thumbs, while Phoenix is cross-examining a bird. Not to say the game had Edgeworth do anything until the end, but there weren't enough graphics to see him respond to anything. Anyone that does an anime or movie adaptation is expected to show more than what the game provides. When you compare the responses from the characters in the anime and the movie, it's clear the movie shows much more responses from the defendant and the entire gallery, while the anime does not.

As I said, changes are sometimes necessary when doing adaptations to other mediums and the movie's changes feel much more necessary, while the anime's changes feel aggrivating.

Semi Futuristic, Conducting Trials and Presenting Evidence

The anime adaptation has a very lazy way of showing us that Phoenix Wright takes place in a semi futuristic world with 2000's technology. It does this by... showing us technology we already have in this day and age? Imagine if someone were to make a Back to the Future reboot where Marty McFly goes to 2015 and instead of seeing a Utopian future full of jaw dropping technology and hover boards, we get technology we use today. Sounds kinda boring, doesn't it? Well, that's what the Ace Attorney anime feels like.

There's nothing amazing or uniquely different about the Ace Attorney anime that catches the viewer's eye. What I liked about the game was that it introduced us to certain kinds of tech that were amazing and made us feel we were in another world. We were introduced to new ways of development and magic. Fingerprint analysis could be used by common people, you could analyze pieces of evidence without touching it, you can record data in a court record before the police arrive and, because magic also exists in this world, people treated it as something that commonly happened. In the anime, we get to see screenshots of evidence on TV, have Phoenix handling evidence even though he's not allowed to do that and watching a not Utopian future that feels too much like the real world today. Yay.

The Ace Attorney live action movie not only makes it known that this is a semi futuristic world, but shows it to us. You have evidence in holographic screens the Defense or Prosecution can pull up and push to the person they're showing it to. When the Defense wins, holographic confetti is released toward the gallery, which I find much more satisfying than Gumshoe throwing it. This makes it to where the Defense doesn't have to handle evidence and present it much more efficiently. Because trials are expected to last no more than three days, you really feel the pressure from Phoenix Wright. It feels like something that exists only in this world and not ours.

What the live action movie did was something asked and expected by the fans. They want Ace Attorney to feel like a semi futuristic world. They want the trials to feel pleasant to look at. The anime did do a good job with adding some wind effects to the objections, but that was the only cool thing done. There wasn't anything fresh and new beyond that. Also, no psyche-locks, which I felt was one of the biggest disappointments. It felt like a missed opportunity with what the anime could do with the animation in using the magatama to break the psyche-locks. Well... that and showing Phoenix throwing his phone to Edgeworth in Farewell my Turnabout in animation. Co'mon, am I the only one that wants to see the epic phone throw in animation!?

Pet peeves aside, with what I've seen the live action movie provide with presenting evidence, I am looking forward to seeing what else they bring to the table. Perhaps hinting the magatama?

Easter Eggs

The anime showing Easter eggs or not is irrelevant, because I see non. I asked someone, who had only seen the Ace Attorney anime if Gregory is ever seen with Raymond Shields or have any discussions about IS-7. The answer was no. We get nothing out of IS-7.

The live action movie gives us Gregory with his trench coat he used when investigating IS-7. It gives us Apollo Justice's Objection song that is used at the end of Phoenix's Objection song. The movie ends with Farewell my Turnabout, letting us know it's not expecting a sequel, but tells us that Phoenix Wright does not end with Turnabout Goodbyes either. The live action movie makes it clear there is no sequel, but shows us there is more to look forward to. This is something I never got from the anime.

The anime only tells the story it wants to tell us and no more. Many people ask for an anime adaptation of Apollo Justice, but I don't want there to be one. There was a huge split in the game, so in order to do an anime adaptation, that would mean the creators will have to put love and heart into it. Unfortunately, I never got that from the anime. Not even a hint of what's to come or even the events of Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies or Spirit of Justice.

You want to talk about change, how about instead of Miles Edgeworth being adopted by Manfred Von Karma, he's adopted by Raymond Shields? Then, when Miles gets older, he leaves to work for Manfred Von Karma and we get a heartbreaking scene of Miles saying hurtful words to Raymond Shields. Heck, how about instead of Phoenix giving Miles a dog named Missile, it's named Pess. Not only would it be showing love for the show, but acknowledging the creator's idea for the character. Another change fans would love is Miles Edgeworth eating a swiss roll with Gumshoe and Kay in Turnabout Beginnings. Maybe have Phoenix read a Newspaper about Miles Edgeworth revealing the Yatagaratsu to being Calisto Yew.

Again, going back to Yu-Gi-Oh Capsule Monsters, the idea 4Kids came up with was based on a game introduced in the manga. While the monsters were replaced by Dual Monsters, the game play was still the same. It may've been the worst season, but it at least was aware of what the fans wanted and looked forward to. The same can be said for The Last Airbender live action movie. Granted, it sucked and the characters were blander than a cardboard box, but it at least kept story and characters consistent with little to no changes in the flow of the plot and characters. I never got that from the anime.

I will admit, I liked how the creators did base many of the expressions from the sprites, but it felt like that these additions were from a simple google search. You can find sprites of the characters. You can also search on wiki for the summery of the game play and walk through. Again, the first season did feel like they were trying to follow the plot and characters, while giving the fans what they wanted. Though, afterwards, the animation and everything just stood on a straight line instead of improving.

If I had to choose, I will always be thrilled to watch an adaptation that feels like it was made with love and care by fans and for fans.

Cheap and lazy

The anime is lazy with its animation and what they can do with it. There was a clip of when Godot threw his coffee at Phoenix, then we see it magically disappear in the next scene. There were some people that thought I was nitpicking when I complained about it, but it had nothing to do with realism. It was because it was lazy. I would have preferred Phoenix turning the coffee into a rope and whipping Godot than using cheap tricks like that. That's aside from the fact that the animation feels cheap when compared to the game.

I know that with animated series, it is treated differently than a cartoon movie, because it's continual, but that's not an excuse when you consider what the live action movie did on a low budget. Cheap and lazy is different from low budget film. Despite being on low budget, the live action movie worked their hardest to make the movie as exciting as possible. Sure, there were goofy moments, but they were done for comedic effects to distract us from the dark elements. The characters showed much stronger emotions when compared to the anime adaptation.

Now, Maya's character in the film was one thing that felt like a fail and I would agree with that, but the rest of the characters showed such strong emotions that worked naturally off each other. Just from the trailer alone, I could see that the actress that played Maya tried her hardest to put so much emotion into her character that lost her sister and dealt with the hardships of a spirit medium. Phoenix Wright deals with the pressure of being a Defense Attorney and shows the emotions of losing his mentor, then is about to lose his best friend he worked so hard to become a Defense Attorney to save. You see the intense emotion and pressure with being accused of murder by his own mentor he worshiped like a god. Again, there's a reason why I thought this film was fan made.

The intense emotion shown in the live action movie reminded me of a stage play done at an Anime Con on Farewell my Turnabout where Phoenix is talking with Shelly De Killer. There's a moment he has with Edgeworth where he is in tears, because of Maya's situation, then hearing words of wisdom from his friend to not give up. That tugs my heartstrings and just watching the trailer of the live action movie did the same to me. Seeing Phoenix watching the ghost of his former mentor pulled on my heartstrings compared to the anime's version of it. Also, no I did not watch the live action's scene of Maya's ghost before the anime's; it was the other way around. Seeing Phoenix in the live action version looking like he's about to cry and struggling not to is much more heartbreaking than watching the anime's Phoenix on the ground in the middle of the courtroom doing the same thing and looking like a fool.

When you see a low budget movie touching hearts by doing their very best with what they have, it shows they're not just showing cheap tricks. I feel the anime could've done much more instead of using cheap tricks. Going back to my no psyche-locks complaint, when you have a two second scene of psyche-locks breaking in an imagery that shows more dimension than the game, it feels more like a middle finger than an Easter Egg. I don't want to see cheap parlor tricks, I want to see the best freakin' adaptation to a beloved game the world has ever seen.

Love VS Money

As I have stated, I do believe that the Ace Attorney anime was originally planned by those that genuinely loved the game. Many of the ideas placed into it like the Signal Samurai and giving Edgeworth a dog feels like something brought by a genuine fan. Though, at some point, the anime lost its way and it makes me wish it was like the Danganronpa anime and just stuck to one season. That being said, I don't think it was full of people that didn't care about Ace Attorney. There were certainly fans of the game in the development team, but there were those that I suspect cared more for money than love for the franchise.

The live action movie felt like it was done by fans. Even those that didn't know the game seemed excited about working on this project. I'm not going to say that people that work on a good movie adaptation are going to be full of fans, but it needs to be driven by fans. It's not going to feel genuine otherwise. The Ace Attorney anime didn't feel genuine and perhaps it's because Season 2 was done by a different studio.

Think of it this way, what if there was a trailer of a live action adaptation of Yu-Gi-Oh? Wouldn't you want to see holographic images projecting from a duel disk or watching the characters going inside a holographic box that projects different climates or environments with monsters that look realistic and 3D looking? What if instead of that, you got TV screenshots of the play cards and monsters in 2D pixels fighting and defeating each other as if you were at a Yu-Gi-Oh game Anime Con? Wouldn't that be disappointing?

I think you guys get the idea. In any anime adaptation of a game, I expect it to feel like it came straight out of the game itself. That's what the live adaptation of Ace Attorney feels like. It feels like they took the game out of its cartridge and placed it in the real world. Sure, there are changes, but they don't feel like a disappointment or  missed opportunity. The Ace Attorney anime feel like there were too many missed opportunities and changes no one asked for.

In any case, I look forward to watching the live adaptation of Ace Attorney, because it feels genuine, it feels like the kind of movie I looked forward to as a fan. When I finished the trilogy, I remember nagging about how Ace Attorney would be the perfect movie for Hollywood to adapt to live action, because there wouldn't be many scenes to shoot and the only chapter of the game to focus is Turnabout Goodbyes. If they want to go farther, then Turnabout Sisters and Turnabout Goodbyes with the other ones brushed to the side. Apparently, I wasn't the only one asking for this, because the live action movie did exactly that.

If there is any chance to give Ace Attorney another chance for a live action adaptation, I'd like there to be little to no changes and to give something to the fans that they look forward to.

[worldbeyondtheworld]

(No shipping intended.)

Sometimes I have a feeling both Miles and Phoenix still share too much of that mutual admiration to consider each other 'friends'?

Like, they are friends. But even after the disasters that were AA1 and AA2, and then AA3 AND the AAI games, those two. They still wax poetry sometimes about the other. They still put them onto a pedestal.

They know each other, but they don’t really know each other?

To be fair, they barely ever had much time to talk outside of a crisis mode.  On top of that, they regularly step in to help the other.

To summarize:

First game - the undercurrent of MvK and Gant’s influence, Phoenix having to defend his clients who are wrongly accused of murder, the mess of case 1-4. Phoenix needs to save Miles from a false conviction.

Second game / JfA - Miles only appears in the last case where Phoenix is under enormous pressure because Maya was kidnapped as blackmail to get a wrong non-guilty verdict, and he’s still grieving from when Miles vanished. Miles’ involvement helps save the day.

Third game / T&T - Miles appears again in the last case where everything is metaphorically on fire, Maya has vanished, another murder happened and nobody knows who did it, Pearl is gone as well, Phoenix’s old sweetheart is more than she appears, etc. etc. Miles jumps in to defend Iris in Phoenix’s stead because he asked him to.

I’d say all hours of ‘normal’ spending time - no crisis, no murder or other crime left to solve, no sudden leaving - between the two of them would amount to around only two to three days at most.

They need several weeks worth of conversations where they just talk and have time to get to know each properly as the people they are.

Admiration by itself isn’t bad. But several times it was shown they work well together and have shared values, so there are much more things they can build and grow their friendship on. Isn’t it worth it to put effort into a healthy growth? Not to mention just enjoying that they can spend time with each other.

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

I remembered a really goofy AU I dreamed up over the summer and I’m probably not gonna get around to doing all the art I wanted to do for it so let’s just talk about it instead. Let’s just chat about my Ace Attorney/Breath of the Wild AU.

(You all know me. You can’t be surprised by now.)

I have never actually played a Zelda game besides BotW, and I’ve cobbled this all together from only a few vague glances at the wiki. Just like, just work with me, okay.

THE MAIN CAST

Phoenix: a young Rito bard-in-training who leaves his training and the village in a quest to become a warrior and save his childhood friend, who he’s only now discovered did not so much “move away” as he was instead “kidnapped”. (Birdnapped? Hatchling-napped?)

Dahlia: a beautiful young Gerudo con artist who claims to be out traveling Hyrule searching for a husband, but has a tendency to rob men blind and leave them for dead - if she doesn’t leave them actually dead.

Mia: a Gerudo warrior who rescues Phoenix from Dahlia and takes him under her (metaphorical) wing to train him to fight. She’s out traversing the land searching not for a husband, but for her long-lost mother.

Maya: Mia’s sister, a young Gerudo magic-user training to become chief of all the Gerudo - all the ones in her tiny far-from-the-desert village, anyway. She is, how do you say, really fucking bored with it, and craving a life of adventure, she tags along with Phoenix.

Pearl: a very young and powerful Gerudo magic-user, and Maya and Mia’s little cousin. Maya rescues her from her cruel mother and takes her along with her and Phoenix on their world-traveling adventures.

Miles: a Rito warrior and Phoenix’s childhood friend, taken in and trained in the arts of war by his father’s murderer. That truth, when he finds out, shakes him to his core and sends him on a journey of self-discovery.

Franziska: a Hylian soldier, and Miles’ sister. The fact that her father is a cold-blooded murderer upended her life as well, but she loves her “little” bird brother more than her father and she herself has run off trying to track Miles down.

Gumshoe: a Goron traveler sworn to help Miles after Miles saved his life. He’s very friendly to Phoenix, Maya, and Pearl, and Franziska, but wishes they would all get along.

Godot: a Rito warrior forcibly retired and grounded after losing his sight in a fight with Dahlia. He loved Mia and resents Phoenix, thinking she wouldn’t have been killed if she hadn’t taken on dead weight.

-

Also I drew Phoenix

Anyway, so the main plot of this, as you may be able to gather, is that Phoenix, kind gentle and naive, finds out one day that his best friend from childhood actually wasn’t just adopted by a Hylian warrior who found Miles after his father was killed by monsters on the road. No, said Hylian warrior killed Miles’ father, stole Miles - thinking that having a warrior who is loyal to him and able to fly is a good deal - and just fucked off and got away with it all these years. Knowing this, Phoenix bids his home village adieu and sets out to learn to fight and find Miles and kick Manfred’s ass.

The first person that Phoenix meets is Dahlia, and they travel together for some time before she tries to pull her usual “rob him and murder him” modus operandi when dealing with a man, but Mia steps in and saves Phoenix. Phoenix thus ends up tagging along with Mia for a while, learning to fight from her, but she is unfortunately killed on the way back to her home village. Phoenix continues the rest of the way there to bring the news to her sister, and then he gets embroiled in some local Gerudo politics. (Like, local-local, like tiny village in the mountains on the other side of the continent from the desert politics.) 

After this detour, he sets off again with Maya and Pearl in tow, all three of them with a renewed vow to find Miles or die trying. They end up meeting Franziska, who really doesn’t like them, but they learn from her that she’s Miles’ adoptive sister, she and Miles both know the truth of Miles’ father’s death, and Miles ran away first and she’s also looking for him. They don’t stick together, but because they’re both on Miles’ trail, they keep running into each other and butting heads. Gumshoe is also in and out of the picture. 

Anyway eventually they find Miles and form the weirdest mercenary band anyone has ever known: two Rito, two Gerudo, a Hylian, and a Goron. Godot’s just dicking around somewhere in the background this whole time I don’t know when they meet him or where he ends up going.

Also, characters whose places in the story I haven’t thought out yet but I don’t want to not mention them at all, so. 

Kay: Rito

Sebastian: Goron

Lang: Zora

Ray: Rito

Courtney: Hylian

-

Stay tuned (or not) for the next-gen cast.

[rivalsforlife]

16!

16 - If there was anything you could change about the series, what would it be?

ALRIGHT UH (cracks knuckles) LET’S SEE

first - I would make narumitsu canon? undoubtedly? that would be my first priority.

But as for a non-shipping related answer... I think the biggest mistake the series made was to bring back Phoenix as the protagonist in DD. I love Phoenix, I love him as a protagonist so much, but his arc was done at the end of T&T, and maybe extended a bit into AJ because of the whole disbarment thing... but if they were going to disbar Phoenix, do it from Phoenix’s POV (like in aai2) so that we actually see him develop more, instead of what happened in AJ with Phoenix kind of taking over the finale. I mean... if AJ was about Apollo, then it’s not really great for the final case to end with Kristoph screaming about how Phoenix ruined his life. Because it’s /Apollo/’s game, you know, and the major villain should be focused on him more than his mentor? At least in T&T when Dahlia screamed about Mia she wasn’t the final final boss, that was Godot. ... I need to clarify that I have only been through Turnabout Succession once because of the pain it brought me and that was over a year ago, so I’m a little fuzzy on the details and might be wrong about this.

Now, as for Dual Destinies. I wasn’t a big fan of a lot of the things they did in AJ with regards to Phoenix... but I /really/ wasn’t a big fan of them going back on those decisions in DD. The whole Dark Age of the Law is just absurd and underdeveloped on a level that would take me a whole other ask to elaborate on... which is kind of how I feel about DD in general, that it had a lot of potential but the writers didn’t really follow through on that. I really don’t think they should have made Phoenix the main protagonist for DD, not when Apollo only had one game that was already pretty upstaged by Phoenix. And THEN they added in Athena: and while I love Athena a lot, and don’t think she deserves some of the hate she gets, I don’t think it was a good time to bring her in. Dual Destinies, essentially, attempted to:

1- Reintroduce Phoenix as a protagonist and showcase his return to law

2- Develop Apollo further as a protagonist

3- Introduce Athena as a new protagonist and show her start in law

... and as a result never managed to follow through on any of those points, resulting in it feeling kind of half-hearted and wasted for me. And then SOJ kind of cut Athena out but was still torn between Phoenix and Apollo as the central protagonist (and SOJ SHOULD have been an Apollo game, Phoenix’s only role in that game was to hang out with Maya again and even /then/ he barely got to interact with her since she was arrested and kidnapped in the two cases she had a role in... but again my SOJ thoughts are too long for this ask.) 

Once more, I adore Phoenix. He’s probably my favourite of the three protagonists. But his arc has been over for a while now, and he’s just taking up space the writers could use to have Apollo and Athena grow. If I were in charge I would have continued where AJ left off and let Apollo have his own trilogy before introducing Athena. The original trilogy had three games to develop Phoenix, and his friendship with Maya, and his complicated relationship with Edgeworth. Trucy, being the “Maya” of AJ, was shunted to the side in DD and SOJ, and Klavier, the rival of AJ like how Edgeworth was the rival in AA1, didn’t develop any further past AJ. He barely even showed up in DD, while Miles was arguably the focus of the whole emotional arc of JFA! I know some people try to claim 456 as a trilogy but they aren’t cohesive the way the 123 are. They don’t have a defined protagonist with a central arc, or a main assistant or prosecutor, and the games are so disconnected from each other that major plot points influencing the games aren’t even mentioned in later games. (like... the entirety of AJ.) 

Okay so I guess to summarize my thoughts: the new games should have left the trilogy behind. Phoenix should be delegated to a non-dead Mia-type role of offering advice but not in the spotlight anymore. I love Maya, and I love Edgeworth, as anyone who has ever interacted with me knows... but their arcs are finished, too. Sure, have them come in as cameos or have offhand mentions so we know the old gang are all in contact (unlike in AJ where Miles wasn’t mentioned at all and no one knew where he was) but don’t try to dedicate whole games to them if you’re not going to do anything new with them. Like most of SOJ seems to have been created so we could see Maya again, and all she really did was get arrested for murder, get kidnapped, and channel people. We didn’t see her grow as a character. And shake up the dynamics a bit: I think if Apollo had been the one to go to Khura’in in a potential Apollo Justice: Spirit of Justice, it would have been great to see him investigate cases with Maya! If you have all these characters in the same place, the least you could do is not stick to the same dynamics that have already been explored. 

... oh wow that got LONG, I have a lot of opinions on the way the series could have been improved, and could probably go on for hours about this but I’ll spare you. uh, sorry, haha. Thanks for asking, though, I needed to get that off my chest and twitter’s character limit was getting on my nerves haha.

[seasonal-brotp-prompts]

Ghost Trick ;P Or Ace Attorney (Or both, both is good~)

I had to read this several times, go to bed, wake up, and read it again to realize that you were sending this for the ask meme I reblogged X”D I reblog those for you guys to use, but hey, I’ll bite ;) (Under a cut because it’s gonna be LONG)

My favorite parent-child relationship

Hmm... for Ghost Trick I guess I liked the Justice Minister and Amelie! Poor guy goes through so much stress :(

For AA it,, is DEFINITELY Apollo and Phoenix,,, listen Phoenix adopted Trucy and that makes him Apollo’s dad and you cannot tell me otherwise >:((( also Spirit of Justice was my first game so I’m biased

My favorite sibling relationship

There are no blood sibs in GT and I honestly classify most relationships as friendships or something else? But Missile and Sissel are sibling-ish, post-game at least. Missile is the dumb but sweet little brother who Sissel makes fun of but ONLY SISSEL CAN MAKE FUN OF HIM, IF ANYONE ELSE DOES IT THEY DIE AND DON’T GET BROUGHT BACK >:(

And for AA, Trucy and Apollo for sure!! Remember how SoJ was my first game? The scene where Dhurke unknowingly ships Trucy and Apollo, I literally said “huh, they feel more like siblings to me, dunno why tho”however as far as UNhealthy relationships go, I wish Capcom would hint more at Klavier’s presumed dark past with Kristoph because OUCH

My favorite family relationship (other)

SISSEL AND LYNNE SISSEL AND LYNNE SISSEL AND LYNNE, look there are no words in the English language to describe what I think their bond is like, they’re kinda siblings but kinda best friends but kinda partners in crime/crime-busting and I could go on for hours--

With AA, definitely Pearl and Maya’s cousinhood!!! I have a little cousin who reminds me so much of Pearl in how absolutely loving and devoted she is; listen if you don’t have a small child who thinks you’re the coolest person on earth then I pity you because it’s the biggest confidence booster and motivation to be a better person

My favorite friendship between two people

If I can’t do Sissel and Lynne again, I have to give some love to Missile and Kamila. Again, I don’t know if you could call what they have exactly a “friendship?” More of a master-servant relationship? But they are so good... Missile loves his Lady so much...

My favorite AA friendship is a tie between Phoenix & Edgeworth and Klavier & Apollo!! (Basic, I know.) But I honestly see them as such DIFFERENT dynamics so it’s basically impossible to compare the two? I write more for Apollo and Klavier, but that’s because 1) they’re my favs, character-wise and 2) there’s already at least SOME good platonic content for Phoenix and Edgeworth.

My favorite friendship between a group

Oh gosh this one is hard... but I love Sissel, Lynne, and Missile, particularly if/when they’re all dead together. There’s something intimate about a group that can only communicate amongst itself.

THE WRIGHT ANYTHING AGENCY... again, maybe I’m just biased because I played the second trilogy first, but I honestly love the Dual Destinies crew more than any teams in the OG trilogy! However, the dream team of Klavier, Ema, and Apollo will also always hold a special place in my heart ;-; (The WAA is basically the healthy happy family, whereas the dream team is three salty friends just letting themselves be dumb kids amongst a slew of murders and backstory angst)

My favorite mentorship

Cabenala and Lynne!! Cabenala is such a weird uncle type but he’s so good. Of course, there’s also Jowd... gee Lynne why does Tamuki let you have TWO mentors :’)

Apollo and Phoenix again, obviously, but ALSO Edgeworth and Sebastian!! Edgeworth makes fun of Phoenix for adopting all his employees but then turns around and takes Kay, Sebastian, John, and Klavier to Gatewater Land on a “business trip”

someday I will find a mentorship that doesn’t double as a parenthood but that day is not today

My favorite rivalry

ALSO SISSEL AND LYNNE... are you seeing a pattern...But seriously, how did Shu Tamuki fit that many relationships into one pairing, I am shooketh beyond compare... I screamed whenever they’d say stuff like “not a partnership, but let’s agree to ‘use each other’” like that is some BIG TIME SLOW BURN right there

(looks at the main defense attorneys & prosecutors aGAIN) ((sweats)) are you sEEing a pAttErN,,,Okay but for the sake of deviating a little, and also being more accurate to the textbook definition of a “rivalry,” Edgeworth and Lang are FANTASTIC. Lang’s overall distrust of the law, and Edgeworth growing so fully into the path that he’s chosen in life, are both written so excellently that when you throw them at each other the tension is already there like TWO CASES IN.

My favorite hatred/antipathy

Yomiel is such a cool character and the most scream-worthy villain reveal ever. So I gotta say, probably him and Cabenala, because when *THAT SCENE* happened I thought I’d never breathe again.

SHELLY DE KILLER AND DOGEN... MY WORD... I screamed sO LOUDLY when they faced off because I’d literally just predicted that one of those two characters would die and that scene felt like the nail in the coffin. Lawful evil characters are some of my problematic favorites, so two of them in one game (not to mention you-know-who) was enough to give me a heart attack.

My favorite potential relationship between characters who never talk in canon

I don’t remember if Amelie and Kamila actually do talk in canon...? I think they mention being friends, at least? But in my heart they are already best friends with a rich girl-poor girl dichotomy and they like to play dolls and probably torment their pets with dress-up :’)

Klavier and Blackquill are such a good platonic rarepair, but I’m just happy that I’ve seen platonic content for them at all?? Especially since both characters are such ports in the AA fandom l”D But yeah, I think they’d have a great dynamic. Actually there are a lot of potential Klavier friendships (Athena, Sebastian, Edgeworth as a mentor) that canon will never give us bECAUSE KLAVIER IS CAPCOM’S LEAST FAVORITE CHILD >:”(

[ask-phoenix-and-miles]

RULES (Updated!) - Please read before submitting

Since Tumblr mobile app didn’t let anyone read the page with the rules, I decided to make a post. I also updated it to clarify everything. Now you don’t have excuses, I’ll focus only on the asks that follow the rules and immediately ignore all the rest.

—–

This is an ask blog about Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth.

IS IT A NARUMITSU BLOG?

Basically, yes, but it’s also more than that. I love Phoenix and Miles as characters, and I love the deep bond of friendship and trust they have in canon. In this blog none of the canon events/dialogues (main 6 games + 2 investigations spin-offs) will be ignored, and I won’t consider Phoenix and Miles as a romantic couple in the timeline of the games. So where is the shippy part? Well, since there isn’t canon evidence that the two of them can’t have had hidden feelings for each other or that they won’t date after Spirit of Justice, that’s where I can have fun. :D

Ace Attorney series is vague about many details of the characters’ private life, and that’s where I’ll add my headcanons. If you ask them something about romance, I’ll answer in a way I like, as long as it doesn’t contradict the canon universe.

In a sense, you can consider this a blog where you can help Phoenix and Miles to confess their feelings and have a good romantic relationship!

Anyway, only the posts with hints of romance/physical attraction will be tagged as Narumitsu and Wrightworth. All the other answers can be considered either platonic or shippy, that’s up to your interpretation, like in the games.

—–

ABOUT THE ASKS

There are three kind of asks you can send:

1) A question from you.

2) A question from an Ace Attorney character you’re pretending to be. Please try to keep your role play in character; if the ask is OOC I won’t reply. Remember that most of the characters call Miles “Mr. Edgeworth”, and that includes Trucy (at least for now!), Kay and Maya. Also, please search for your character’s tag on the blog to read all the previous answers involving them. That will help you not to ask something that would create a contradiction!

3) A question from your original character in the AA universe, as long as Phoenix and Miles don’t know them personally. You can’t pretend to be their mother/ex boyfriend/ex client/psychologist, because your headcanons and mine might conflict. You can be a new rookie lawyer, a detective they have never met, a fangirl and so on.

Please don’t push your other non-canon ships into me. I want every fan to feel comfortable here, whatever they ship, as long as they respect my preference for Narumitsu. Of course, you can ask Phoenix and Miles if they have ever dated/liked character X, if they think X and Y are dating or if they’d be okay with a certain relationship, but please don’t send asks like “I saw Franziska and Larry making out yesterday”, because that’s not what this blog is about.

You can ask questions to Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth or both, from any era. Please write in the ask the character and the era (for example: “Dear Edgeworth [DD]”, “Dear kid Phoenix”, “Dear Mr. Edgeworth and Mr. Wright [post-Trilogy], etc.). If you send a single ask to both, they’ll answer together. If you want them to reply without the other around, please send two different asks.

For example: “Mr. Wright and Mr. Edgeworth, who is the hottest lawyer in the city?” → They’ll reply in the same post, so they’ll be aware the other is there too.

“Mr. Wright, who is the hottest lawyer in the city?” → Phoenix will reply without Miles around, so he might answer in a different way. Same for Miles.

—–

I do NOT reply to asks about:

- Rape, child abuse, torture, incest or anything involving explicit violence.

- Explicit NSFW topics. This blog is safe for teenagers, so you can ask a character “are you a virgin?” or something vague like “would you share your bed with X?”, but nothing about the details of their sex life.

- Real politics, wars and conflicts in our world. This blog is about Ace Attorney, I just want to have fun with AA characters. I might reply to questions like “is Brad Pitt handsome?”, but NOT “do you like Trump?” and so on. Questions about Ace Attorney fandom are okay!

- Unnecessary angst. I prefer laughing, to be honest. Angst is fine as long as you’re talking about canon events, like Gregory’s death, but do not send asks like “hey Miles, did you know that Phoenix is dead?” just to make the characters feel bad.

- Anything that makes me uncomfortable for any reason.

—

I am alone running this blog, so if I don’t reply soon, please wait for a few days. I might not answer asks when other fans have just asked the same question or when I don’t understand what you’re trying to say. I’m sorry, I’d like to keep the blog entertaining!

Thank you for reading, I’ll wait for your asks!

[kahran042]

More of my favorite YouTube comments

(in response to Musical Hell's review of Legends of Oz: Dorothy's return) "There's no way you're going to make a rainbow look threatening to anybody but a FOX news anchor." Allow me to offer some counterexamples. Prism Justice, Disgaea 2. Sonic Rainboom, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. All of the light-elemental attack spells in Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. Depending on how you interpret its appearance, Prismatic Spray, Dungeons and Dragons. And many more, I'm sure.

(in response to the educational video Social Acceptability) If I were writing this, it would probably end with Marion, Clara, and Pete starting a revolution and eventually overthrowing the clique, er, "cleek".

(in response to Off Camera Secrets | Pokemon Snap - Boundary Break) I know it's probably a coincidence, but I found it interesting that you said "The Rapidash that GALLOP behind the scenes," since Gallop is Rapidash's Japanese name.

(in response to MasaeAnela's Let's Play of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze) Searching for keys in an underwater maze as a mammal with a limited air supply while awesome music plays. Now, am I talking about Shoal Atoll or practically every level in the Genesis Ecco games? :)

(in response to MasaeAnela's Let's Play of Super Mario World) "Who wants to eat dolphins?" The Vortex Queen, for one.

(in response to Lucahjin's Let's Play of Suikoden II) Random fun fact related to the Jowy gender issue: I actually had a female friend in high school who sort of looked like Jowy.

(in response to SlimKirby's Let's Play of Sonic CD) Sonic: "I'm outta here!" Kids in the background: "YAY!"

(in response to Lucahjin's Let's Play of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All) Other commentator: Is yours and Maya's priorities being similar/the same a good thing, or a bad thing? :) Me: If we knew that, we'd probably know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now.

(in response to Shoot for the NBA! 10 cats obsessed with Basketball) Air Bud...WITH CATS! =^_^=

(in response to SlimKirby's Let's Play of Sonic Adventure DX) It took you two minutes to find One Piece? That's pretty impressive - Luffy and his crew still haven't found it after like 800 episodes. :)

(in response to MasaeAnela's Let's Play of Donkey Kong Country Returns) World 2 boss: We Bare Crabs.

(in response to Eye of Sol's review of Family Guy) "Esoteric"? Sol, Family Guy is not a food. :) Seriously, though, it's nice to see a non-negative review of this show.

(in response to Lucahjin's Let's Play of Suikoden) Say what you will about Tesla's "Albert" disguise, he at least knows not to use his name and portrait in his text box when using it. :)

(in response to Lucahjin's Let's Play of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations) Other commentator: So for those that remember Phoenix being in the hospital earlier on, I think we can conclude that the guy is legit invincible. Chewed and ate glass/metal that had poison kept in it, been punched on two separate occasions by massive dudes, threatened by gangsters, attacked with a 600,000 volt stun-gun, hit over the head with a fire extinguisher, and has now fallen into a river infamous for having bodies that end up in there never turning up. Phoenix is hacking the game so hard it's unreal. Me: And, worst of all...eating Jean Armstrong's cooking!

(in response to Resulka's Let's Play of Ultima VII: Serpent Isle) The fact that Voldin is the senior member of the royal council should be proof enough that the city of Fawn doesn't banish people just for being ugly. :)

(in response to Bobsheaux's review of The Duke) Look on the bright side: at least you aren't a solid gold lion. :)

(in response to Bobsheaux's review of The Duke) Other commentator 1: You know this movie doesn't sound all that enjoyable. Me: That's like saying the Pacific Ocean is moist.

(in response to Failous' review of Beauty and the Beast Bevanfield) So...wait. You don't hate the 17th century, or you don't know why you hate the 17th century? :)

(in response to Failous' review of Cricket on the Hearth) Other commentator: Old Man makes every movie better. Me: Let's agree to disagree.

(in response to Failous' review of Anastasia (Golden Films)) Other commentator: The only credit I give to goldenfilms that they at least know about the tsar tragedy and didn't sugarcoat they're tragic deaths...While those 3 godawful  crappy animated films of titanic took a crap on the tragic deaths of the million of people whom died on the titanic............etc...... Me: How can millions of people have died on a ship with a maximum capacity of 3547?

(in response to BCSBuster's Let's Play of The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time) Maybe it's just me, but those eyespots on the back of Ruto's head are pretty disturbing.

(in response to BCSBuster's Let's Play of The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time) Counterpoint: The Deku Tree is dead, so how's he going to stop you from going inside? :)

(in response to Lewtoons' review of Beauty and the Beast) This is automatically better than Phelous' review on the ground of containing 100% less Phelous.

(in response to Bobsheaux's review of The Swan Princess 5 & 6) Other commentator: Elise should probably be more grateful for her princess title and being adopted by the unrealistically nice royalty, considering she, you know, came from a family of wood cutters? Me: Agreed. After all, Derek and Odette didn't kill her parents and destroy her village, only keeping her alive so that she could tell them where the village's secret treasure was kept.

(in response to MasaeAnela's Let's Play of Katamari Damacy) My personal theory about why people don't notice katamaris is that they generate SEP fields.

(in response to MasaeAnela's Let's Play of Katamari Damacy) What would the "hunk" constellation be, though? I picture it being Hercules or Orion.

(in response to Lucahjin's Let's Play of D*ng*nr*np*) Other commentator: Bacula is the son of Dracula from Phoenix Wright. Explaining why Bacula has the Edgeworth voice. Because Bacula is Edgeworth. Edgeworth is part of the Phoenix Wright trilogy which has three games. Triangles have three sides. Illuminati has a triangle shaped symbol with three sides. Bacula is Illuminati. Me: And my brother is my sister and my sister is my mother and Sakunoshin is my sister and Akai Homura is a woman!

(in response to Phoebe Kalinowski's Let's Play of Terranigma) And, of course, part of the path to becoming two-legged was to become a rabbit with the face of a cat.

(in response to Musical Hell's review of Peter Pan Live) I believe in coyotes and time as an abstract.

(in response to Lucahjin's Let's Play of D*ng*nr*np*) Spoiler alert: Rosebud was Charles Foster Kane's sled.

(in response to Lucahjin's Let's Play of D*ng*nr*np*) Other commentator: Aaaaaand Hifumi's dead. Yeah, no big deal. Seriously though, I still can't help but feel bad for the guy. A murder is a murder, after all. And he was a funny dude in his own way, so it's kinda sad because of that, too. Me: I officially lost any sympathy I might have had for him once he started creeping on Alter Ego. Sorry, but that's just how I feel.

(in response to Lucahjin's Let's Play of D*ng*nr*np*) Multiple killings with hammers...it must be Maxwell Edison! I know he used a silver hammer and these ones are wood, but you take what you can get.

(in response to Children's Film Riffs' commentary on Why Did The Bus Stop?) Why did the bus stop? Because it crashed. Why did the bus crash? Because Jimmy was driving. Why couldn't Jimmy drive? Because he didn't have any arms or legs. Why didn't Jimmy have any arms or legs? Because he was a potato.

(in response to Movie Nights' Mary Kate and Ashley Triple Feature #1) Say what you will about this, I do like that one twin's black tank top with the gold dragon or whatever.

(in response to Bobsheaux's review of The Legend of Frosty the Snowman) Karen doesn't need Frosty anymore because right after the first movie, she fell off the roof where Santa left her and died instantly.

(in response to Thomas the Riffed Engine and Friends' review of Fiery Flynn) "It would only make sense for Thomas the Tank Engine to have a fire engine character..." By that logic, it would only make sense for Fireman Sam to have a steam engine character to teach about railway procedure.

(in response to Phoebe Kalinowski's Let's Play of StarTropics, specifically the My Country 'Tis of Thee/God Save the Queen snippet) Let's just split the difference and say that it was the anthem of the Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen. :)

(in response to Bobsheaux's review of The Nutcracker: The Untold Story) In a world of living toys, I'd say that, yeah, toys ARE the worst things you could burn.

(in response to Lucahjin's Let's Play of Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice) Too many glands...so he's the anti-Zucotti Manicotti?

(in response to Phoebe Kalinowski's Let's Play of Equestria Bound) Other commentator: You know, as much as Mother 3 was a good game, I am still completely frustrated by its ending.  Was it a happy ending?  A dark ending?  I still have no idea. Me: It's whatever kind of ending you want it to be. Personally, I like to think of it as a happy ending because Lucas deserves one, dammit.

(in response to Top 10 Worst RPG Dungeons - PlayStation Edition) The Kislev Sewers is, indeed, the pits - literally and figuratively. :)

(in response to Miss Nightmare's review of Gumby: The Movie) I haven't seen the actual movie, but I have seen Bobsheaux's review, and you are right about the song being a total earworm.

(in response to a video of the Ritual of Fire going wrong in Ultima VIII) Other commentator: Lol in Ultima VII I would take items from dungeons and it would be "stealing," guards would come etc lol. I remember in Ultima V the best way to get good items is to steal magic keys from the merchant in Minoc then raid British's basement. I think the only thing bad it does is make the mage in Trinsic not tell you the mantra of Honor. I wish getting rich was that easy in real life! Hey could you do me a quick favor and tell me if you are able to watch my uploads or if they are blocked Me: And, considering that the mantra of Honor never changes... ;)

(in response to Lucahjin's review of D*ng*nr*np* 2) Other commentator: Remember when Lucah was so mad about Mahiru's murder? And really anxious to find the culprit? I guess we know just how much she actually cared for her. Let's not forget in our rush of sympathy that Fuyuhiko murdered a girl while in high school with a baseball bat. And that Peko murdered Mahiru. They might love each other but that does not make them good people. Me: I actually like Peko more because she murdered Mahiru. Good riddance.

(in response to Lucahjin's review of D*ng*nr*np* 2) Let me be frank: I'm mostly just watching these for the executions these days, and that last one was pretty weak. Not exactly heartbreaking, but definitely disappointing.

(in response to the Cinema Snob's Let's Play of Christmas with a Capital C) Personally, I favor Happy Boxing Day Eve. :)

(in response to MihariofMabinogi's Let's Play of Chrono Trigger) I think that those people talking about how Robo speaks were referring to the fact that in the Japanese version, he speaks in kind of a weird mix of hiragana and katakana. The closest English equivalent would probably be having him put emphasis on the wrong syllables.

(in response to Phoebe Kalinowski's Let's Play of Pony Fantasy VI) I like to think that the ghost isn't so much "unwilling" to help after that point as "unable" - the Train's influence prohibits it from proceeding any further without being taken over by its consciousness.

(in response to Treble0096's Let's Play of Mother 3) Another mole cricket fact: They're apparently edible. If nothing else, I saw them listed in an article on strange canned food in Uncle John's Ahh-Inspiring Bathroom Reader.

(in response to Treble0096's Let's Play of Mother 3) Who would make wallpaper look like a filled bookcase? Probably someone pretending to be an intellectual.

(in response to Golden Book Video Killers XXV) The song that you said was about slavery clearly wasn't, because it mentioned Jenny being paid, with the implication that she could be paid more if she worked faster.

(in response to Autumchild's Let's Play of Breath of Fire III) I recently had a dream about using the dolphin's battle form as transportation in another game.

(in response to His Theme from Undertale: The Musical) I'm not normally the type to cry over fictional characters, but this song can come pretty drat close to making me do so.

(in response to SlimKirby's Let's Play of Lemmings) Me: If I'm not mistaken, I think almost every level without a unique tileset gets remixed at least once. SlimKirby: you are mistaken. There are definitely some levels that are unique beyond that classification. Me: That's why I said "almost". :)

(in response to Musical Hell's review of Happily Ever After) "There's only one Shadow Man!" (referring to Dr. Facilier) I'm guessing you've never played Mega Man 3, then?

(in response to Bobsheaux's review of The Swan Princess 2 & 3) Other commentator: I think all of these characters’ mothers were hamsters. Me: But did their fathers smell of elderberries?

(in response to Laws Broken: Dark Knight) Can Batman use self defense? Yes, because he's motherbleeping Batman.

(in response to Lucahjin's Let's Play of Suikoden II) Ah, Coronet. Jowston's leading producer of cheesy educational shorts.

(in response to MasaeAnela's Let's Play of Banjo-Kazooie) Clanker's Cavern is definitely the worst level in the game, but at least that means that it can only get better.

(in response to Top 6 Worst Characters from Good Cartoons) I know it's weird, but there is no South Park season 20. It just goes right from 19 to 21. Kind of like how there's no Leisure Suit Larry 4, I guess.

(in response to Bobsheaux's review of Miracle in Toyland) Other commentator: There is a woman with the word Nazi In her last name? Me: Ironically, Eskenazi is actually a Jewish surname. If you don't believe me, Google it.

(in response to Phoebe Kalinowski's Let's Play of Final Fantasy Tactics) If you're using Brett, better watch out for stray bullets. :)

(in response to The End of Time from Chrono Trigger: The Musical) "Unless time gets very desperate, in which case you could risk it." Anyone else have a feeling that this is foreshadowing?

(in response to the Media Hunters' review of Titanic: The Legend Goes On) Other commentator: The uncut version is somewhat better but that’s not saying much Me: Which is like saying that Death Valley is somewhat cooler than the surface of the sun.

(in response to the Cinema Snob's review of Gotti) Looks more like Ingeni-theta-us to me.

(in response to Phoebe Kalinowski's Let's Play of Illusion of Gaia) You say never to trust a man named Edward, but what about a blue engine named Edward?

As before, they literally are my comments unless specified.

[askaceattorney]

Dear wolfiered23,

I’m glad to hear that this blog was able to enhance your Ace Attorney experience, but, as mentioned before, the Mod isn’t here at the moment to write essays...which is a shame, because I really enjoyed those myself.

If you’ll let me, though, I’ll see if I’m able to write one myself in a manner as similar to his previous ones as I can possibly make it.  I might not be him, but I’ll give it my best shot.

So...Phoenix and Maya.  There’s not a whole lot to say about their relationship in DD, except that it obviously hasn’t changed much.  Even with the sudden drastic change in Phoenix’s life, he and Maya remain as close as ever, even if their communication is mostly done in secret.  Sadly, she had to stay out of the picture for pretty much the entire game, most likely to make room for the new characters and their roles in the story.  But she isn’t entirely left out -- we at least get to see a nostalgic picture of her to throw things back in time for a few seconds.

Sure, it’s not quite the same as seeing her in a new, grown-up, three-dimensional form, but I’d say the game made up for that pretty well by bringing back a different character in an older form -- one whose adorableness rivals Maya’s, both now and back then.

But then...hoo, boy...then comes SoJ, where we (and Phoenix) finally get to see just what she’s been up to for the past few years, and what about her has changed.  Not right away, though -- first we have a few teasing animations of her, then...well, then we give the new characters some time to shine.  But then...

The wait...is over.

So, after Maya finishes messing with Phoenix and they have some time to catch up, the two of them continue right from where they left off.  Maya’s still a sweet, sassy, and sometimes overbearing young woman to Phoenix, and he’s still a brave, heroic dork to her.  But most importantly, they’re still the closest pair of friends in the entire series, and nothing about their time apart has changed that in any way.

That’s very fortunate, by the way, considering everything that happens next -- Maya getting accused of murder AGAIN (two murders this time, in fact), another hostage situation, and a big, hulking legal revolution and all the struggles that come with it.  Some might argue that the first two have been happening so frequently that it’s becoming hard to take them seriously now, and...well, I can’t say I disagree.  However, all three of these events made something very intriguing possible -- a chance for us to see just how strong Phoenix and Maya’s friendship is, and how it made them able to take on even worse situations than they’d faced before.

In the first event, Phoenix comes to Maya’s rescue once again, which isn’t surprising -- in fact, I imagine he would defend her even if they hadn’t met before then.  But then, something unusual happens.  Something that hasn’t happened since Turnabout Goodbyes.

Phoenix Wright strikes out.  Add to that the DC Act and a second murder charge, and you’ve got quite the conundrum.  But even as a “dead lawyer walking”, and even after Maya’s suggestion to let go of the case in hopes that his sentence will be commuted, Phoenix refuses to give up his chance to prove her innocence at least one more time.  In fact, much to the Royal Priestess’s surprise, his and Maya’s friendship and resolve are only strengthened by these unfortunate events -- so much so that the events hardly make any difference to them.

In the second event, Phoenix is, in a similar fashion to Farewell, My Turnabout, conned into acting against his morals to save Maya’s life.  This time around, however, there’s another layer added -- he’s also forced to act against his very own protege, Apollo.  If we were talking about someone else (or the hostage was someone other than Maya), they might have refused to do it, but Phoenix?

It’s both concerning and amazing to see how much stronger a bond he has with Maya than with his fellow attorneys.

And finally, when Khurain’s revolution reaches its peak at the face-off against its Queen, Maya once again watches as Phoenix’s life hangs by a thread.  Unfortunately, we don’t get to see her reaction from the gallery for ourselves, but we do get a pretty vivid description of it from her, as well as from someone sitting close to her.

And if Athena is the only thing holding someone back, you know they mean business.

And let’s not forget the one final adventure the two of them embarked on -- Turnabout Time Traveler!  It could be called a fan service episode for those who missed the fun of seeing a level-headed Attorney and a scatterbrained young spirit medium work together to solve a case, because that’s exactly what it is, and personally, I couldn’t be more thankful to Capcom for creating it!  Even with the theme of a legal revolution in a foreign country removed, it’s just as charming and hilarious as any case I’ve seen in the entire series, old or new.  In fact, unless I’m mistaken, some of Maya’s lines when you ask her questions are exactly the same as the lines she had in the trilogy games, ad verbatim.  But whether or not you’re familiar with their previous adventures, this case did a great job of showing how much fun Phoenix and Maya can be together, no matter what situation they’re in.

So, will the unbreakable bond between these two iconic characters ever go beyond simple friendship?  For now, it seems like that decision is up to our imagination.  Capcom sure isn’t going to tell us anything, unless the wedding was supposed to be some sort of subtle foreshadowing.  (Of course, if that was the case, you’d think she would’ve caught that bouquet...)  But one thing’s for certain at this point in the series -- whether it’s as a couple or a crime-fighting duo, these two make the perfect team.

-The Co-Mod

P.S. Sorry this took me so long.  Essays apparently aren’t as easy as I thought.

[iturbide]

@cianidix replied to your post:

That would-be Ace Attorney fic sounds awesome :o                             

You know, despite the fact that I was mostly a non-presence in the AA fandom back in its heyday, the series is still very near and dear to my heart.  I actually wrote a ton of fic for the series once upon a time (recently I went digging through a lot of it while looking through other old writing; I even posted the old intro to Crime of Passion while I was looking through that stuff -- it’s the last chunk in this particular post), and part of me really does want to go back and pick up some of those old ideas someday -- but this one in particular has a special place in my heart.  When I think about this series and my engagement with it, that’s the fic that always comes immediately to mind, and barring the unexpected I really do think that’ll be my magnum opus for Ace Attorney on the whole.

Of course, there’s no telling when I’m actually going to get it written, or even get it completely planned out -- so there’s no harm in talking about it a little.

To start: it is canon-compliant up through AA3, at which point I just omit the case that would lead to AA4 because Phoenix needs to keep his badge.  He’s a good man and a good defense attorney and I’m not putting him through that if I don’t have to.  So he keeps his career, which is good, and Edgeworth decides to stick around rather than heading off to parts unknown again.

As is expected with an Ace Attorney case, everything is convoluted.  That’s just the Nature of the Series.  And a lot of things hinge on seemingly inconsequential bits and pieces of information -- apparent mistakes or oversights, little things that get overlooked, information that changes context once new evidence comes to light.  But, as is maybe expected of me by this point, character relationships are the backbone of everything, and the relationships here run deep.

I’ve always felt a very strong sibling connection between Nick and Maya.  They banter and biker and tease each other in a way that feels so much like family; there’s a kindness to the fact that even though Maya loses so much over the course of those three games, she still has family in the form of Pearl and Nick.  Despite the fact that she’s going through her Spirit Medium training, I’ve always loved the idea that she wanted to honor her big sister’s memory, too, and applied herself in her spare time to studying for the bar exam so that she could become a defense attorney, too.

Meanwhile, for all that I love Phoenix and Miles as a couple, I can’t help but imagine that things would be...difficult, at first.  Despite his marked improvement over the course of three games, Edgeworth still tends to keep people at arm’s length, avoiding emotional attachments to a fairly significant degree -- let’s not forget, this is the man who feigned his own death and then ran off almost immediately after his return to more parts unknown, returning only when he got word that Phoenix was in dire straits.  He seems to have trouble understanding some of his own emotions (not unreasonable, honestly, given how he was raised), and therefore tries to keep them out of everything he does, personal and professional; not only that, he struggles with a need for control (again, this is very much a product of his upbringing where perfection was a requirement), and doesn’t deal well with losing it.  And all of this plays into his personal life, as much as the professional one: for all that he and Phoenix are spending more time together, in and out of the courtroom, and for all that Phoenix cares deeply about Miles, Edgeworth keeps him emotionally at arm’s length, willing to broach something like friendship but never more.

Phoenix doesn’t deal well with that.  If the games have shown us anything, it’s that Nick holds nothing back when it comes to his heart.  He puts his all into every case, believing with everything he is in his clients’ innocence -- which is why finding that one is truly guilty of the crime they’ve been accused of comes as such a crushing blow.  Even if it was mostly a puppy crush, Phoenix still put his very life on the line to try and keep Dahlia from being charged with murder, and his devastation and heartbreak when he thought that Edgeworth really had died led him to lash out at the man when he found out that it was just a ruse.  Phoenix loves wholeheartedly: he’s just not capable of doing anything less.  It means he has some pretty steep emotional needs, though, and with Edgeworth maintaining that distance...it wears on him.  Badly.

Relationships are not easy things.  They require time, care, understanding, and effort to maintain.  And if only one side is putting in that labor, things are bound to crumble and fail eventually.  And that’s where Crim of Passion starts: with Phoenix reaching the very limits of his ability to endure and starting to fail.  He and Miles routinely face one another in court, and though private matters should stay private, it’s difficult to entirely displace private feelings in public settings.  Things get...tense in court: barbs are cast in the halls outside, implications made toward the prosecution’s ill conduct toward the defense, and low blows dealt against the defense’s capabilities.  The bad feelings linger through the case, simmering away on both sides...and Phoenix realizes that there won’t be reconciliation this time.  He’s too tired of putting in all the work, of always being the one to accept and forgive, and getting nothing back in exchange.

So when Miles calls him to make amends, Phoenix intends to tell him that this is the end.  That he can’t go on this way anymore.

But before he can, someone arrives at the office.  And the last thing Edgeworth hears before the line goes dead are shots fired.

Despite his best efforts, Miles is by no means immune to his emotions.  Without ever meaning to, Phoenix has gotten so much closer to him than he ever intended, slipping past his guard without the prosecutor noticing.  The sound of gunshots sends him racing to the defense attorney’s office, where he finds bullet holes in the window and a blood trail on the floor, ending at the street...but when he calls the police to report a crime, he’s the one taken into custody as a suspect, a decision motivated by the known enmity between prosecution and defense.  So once again, Miles finds himself behind bars -- only this time, Phoenix isn’t there to defend him; and once again, Maya has to confront the death of someone she loves, and her internal conflict as she tries to provide Edgeworth the defense counsel he deserves is enough to tear her apart.

[allydiasciles]

So in honor of finishing the first three games of the Phoenix Wright trilogy, I thought I'd make a post highlighting all of the funniest/best parts of the series so far:

- WHEN GUMSHOE SAVES YOU FROM THE MOB IN 1-3 RT IF YOU CRY EVERY TIME - How the game knows we’ll just show Von Karma the evidence we have on him like the big idiot we are - Maya Fey taking a TASER for you/ how real and raw her fears are that she is not contributing enough, like I cried aGAIN - The fact that Von Karma’s only weakness was his perfection. THAT is how you write a SCARY villain - “Thanks to you I’ve been saddled with unnecessary…. feelings” - Stepladder joke, particularly in 1-5 when it happens with Ema and Phoenix is like deja vu??? - The BLUE BADGER VIDEO I AM STILL SEETHING - In 1-5 when Phoenix will object and then start explaining something and Edgeworth then interrupts to object over you and say exactly what Phoenix was already saying but gets the credit - By the end of this case Gumshoe is literally paying to work as if he was not broke enough - Maya always volunteering for Phoenix to treat everyone to celebratory burgers and he is like WITH WHAT MONEY? - The fact that when Phoenix regains his memory in 2-1 he STILL can’t remember who the heck Winston Paine is - Since Pearl doesn’t understand technology she literally RAN ALL THE WAY TO the court room from Kurain which was like…. TWO HOURS BY BUS, like GIRL - Lotta Hart explaining reckon course to the judge and him being like “oh that makes perfect sense” but when she says “reckgiven” he’s like literally never speak again - “This isn’t the Phoenix Wright wax philosophical power hour” - Franziska getting straight up shot in the shoulder and still being ready to take you out in court - Subsequently, Franziska having no literal idea why Phoenix is carrying tulips at the hospital - The judge playing with the teddy bear jewelry box - Also 2-4 when Edgeworth is like that objection was weakkkk and Phoenix takes it all personally and objects aGAIN but better this time - Cross examining a transistor radio that STILL has a break down sprite, an excellent callback to the infamous parrot - It kills colds good!!!! - Mia hitting Winston Payne with such a sick burn she literally vaporizes his hair - The fact that a contradiction exists in 3-2 because Adrian Andrews fixed the urn CORRECTLY (if mystic Ami was ever in there she sure isn’t now) - How outraged Phoenix is that Furio Tigre’s cardboard badge was enough to convince everyone he was a lawyer - That Maya knows how hot her older sister is and is like let me jet out of here and get sis to charm this weird old guy and Mia actually DOES IT LIKE… - Every second we are gifted with the visual of Diego Armando beside Mia Fey (aka world’s hottest couple) - Phoenix like "Oh Maya could get trapped in the training temple? Time to run across this burning bridge to save her" like friendship GOALS tbh but also you didn't have to go in THAT hard - Edgeworth consistently referring to them as “psycho-locks”, completely dead serious about it - Also the fact that in profiles for 3-5 Edgeworth describes Phoenix as his closest childhood friend but Phoenix’s set of profiles always calls Edgeworth a fearsome rival prosecutor - When the crayon drawing is shown in court and the Canadian Judge and Franziska are just dead set on not acknowledging there is a woman flying in it - Larry Butz and Pearl cooking potatoes at the loser hut like shhh bby Pearl you are better than him - Mia Fey reappearing from the grave to call Dahlia Hawthorne a pathetic loser - In that vein MAYA EXPELLING DAHLIA’S SPIRIT FROM HER BODY HAS ANYONE EVEN EVER DONE THAT??? WHAT KINDA QUEEN - Of course it was coffee that brought Godot out of a literal coma - Franziska agreeing Larry’s pictures of her aren’t bad out of pitty -That last cast photo I just had so many warm fuzzy feelings wow