#first Franziska of the year many more to come

[eighteenthofoctober]

Starting this year's art journey strong with this diva!!

My traditional skills are getting rusty but we'll get em back

Asks are opennn you can request characters or AUs or anything (appropriate that is!!)

[musashi]

aai2's english translation has done an amazing thing in furthering franziska's juvenile tendency to address people she's close with like she's a child.

here are some facts about franziska:

she addresses nearly every single person she meets aggressively formally and professionally. firstname lastname. sometimes, mr. or ms. firstname lastname. other characters point this out. it's weird, clunky, and a quirk specific to her.

franziska is obsessed with appearing more grown up and professional than she is.

despite her dedication to this facade, she cannot break the INCREDIBLY JUVENILE habit of calling her murderous, long-dead father "papa."

(it pisses me off when people erase this about her. she only ever calls him "my father," twice in canon. he is almost ALWAYS "papa")

to the contrary, franziska does not seem ashamed/embarrassed about this tendency at all, even though she seems very embarrassed about other childlike things she thinks/feels/does.

until aai2 this was exclusive to manfred... but it is now canon that she does it to anyone she considers family, or close to family.

in the fan translation, blaise teases her about being a little girl and calling him "unky boo boo" once upon a time. in the official translation, franziska still calls him uncle in the present day. her first inclination is to call him uncle winner, wholly informal, absolute (pun) whiplash.

okay, cute, but probably not worth noting... AND THEN SHE'S OUT HERE CALLING HILDA "GRAMMA" AS WELL. one thing about me is that when i was TODAY i learned about her having some optional dialogue that alludes to the two of them knowing each other.

(i could go ON about how manfred must have loved her so much more than we see in canon--how often did she insist upon coming along with hm? how often did he find himself unable to say no to her big sparkling eyes? hilda does not say "that's franziska" hilda says "that's von karma's little girl!" which means hilda knows her through manfred. every single person who spent any amount of time around manfred von karma in his heyday knows franziska, which means that she was following her papa around like a little duckling, and he loved her enough to make space for her at his back)

my fave thing they do with franziska is the little hints that her facade is just that. too many of them spoil the subtlety, of course, but they are there--the flavour text about her shaking and looking scared the two times she's a victim of gun violence and thinks no one's looking. the hints here and there that she has a terrible sweet tooth she's trying to control. the meltdown at the end of JFA. and "papa." these are all little ways that the writing nudges us and says franziska is a professional, but she's also quite young, and never really let herself be a kid. she does a great job at hiding most of it, but these little tendencies leak out here and there.

by giving her two more people in life she does this to, it's no longer just that papa is Special Enough that he gets the same treatment from a 3 year old franziska as a 30 year old franziska. no, she does that to everyone she grew up looking up to, any odd work friend that manfred brought around or let her pester.

adorable. absolutely adorable.

[rivalsforlife]

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Interview Highlight

This is coming a little late - on September 1st, just before the release of the AAI collection, there was an interview on Netlab with Tatsuro Iwamoto (character designer), Kenichi Hashimoto (named in this article as the producer of the AA series overall), and Shunsuke Nishida (producer of the AAIC collection) about the games. It's a long interview with a lot of interesting elements including the reactions to the announcement, a brief mention of the consideration of changing some moments for modern times (example given is the LGBTQ content in the 456 collection - I believe referring to some events in DD, but no specifics), details into the process of upgrading the character minisprites, the staff's favorite characters and cases, why Franziska is 13 in the key art, and other fun details. The part I want to highlight here is what they say about upcoming merch and the future of the ace attorney series.

This small segment of the interview had one part previously translated by nintendoeverything, but there are some little details that I noticed in the full interview that were incorrect so I'm posting this here. But please note that I'm doing this primarily with auto-translate with tiny corrections on the tiny bits of AA-related words in Japanese that I know, which isn't much, so there are likely still inaccuracies in this. Please don't hesitate to correct me if you spot any!

--The " Ace Attorney Series" merchandise has been very popular, including the "Ace Attorney Investigations Lottery" held on Capkuji Online. What do you think about fans purchasing merchandise? Hashimoto : As for merchandise, I have the impression that it sells out across the board for the past few years. The "Ace Attorney" series merchandise is basically sold out on the first day, and it's the same for the "Ace Attorney Investigations" series. This year is the 15th anniversary of the "Ace Attorney Investigations" series, and I've been talking to the store staff about "putting out a lot of Ace Attorney Investigations-related merchandise". There are things that we haven't been able to put out before because it's the 15th anniversary, so this year, the "Ace Attorney Investigations" series is especially hot. There are still some goods that haven't been released, so please look forward to them.

Since there hasn't been much AAI merchandise since around the time of the original release of AAI, I'm super looking forward to seeing what they'll put out. The Capkuji Online lottery they speak of is the one that had the giant tsum of Edgeworth, and I really hope they someday will make that available for general purchase.

--Many fans are hoping that purchasing merchandise will lead to new releases, but is that actually the case? Hashimoto: That's true. The fact that we have such passionate players' support is something that the entire company, including the management, can recognize, even more than just us developers, so it's very important. Of course, the sales of merchandise itself do not cover the development costs of new titles, but it does lead to discussions about how to develop the game in the future if it's that popular, so the fact that people are purchasing merchandise is a very important indicator.

AA merchandise does seem to be doing very well.

--Since this is a work with many overseas fans, we asked overseas users, "What would you like to tell the developers? What would you like them to hear?" Particularly impressive was the feedback from users living in independent language regions, who were pleased with the multilingual support for "Ace Attorney Investigations 1 & 2 Collection," following "Ace Attorney Apollo Justice Trilogy." In the midst of all this, the one thing that has been attracting attention is the future development of the "Ace Attorney Investigations Series." What are your thoughts on this? Hashimoto : We will not stop the "Ace Attorney Investigations Series" content. Of course, we want to develop it in various ways, including other media types. I think there will be something to tell you when it is time to make an announcement, but at the moment I can't say anything.

This part is what was translated in the interview I linked, but it misses a few key distinctions: One is the specification of "Ace Attorney Investigations" over "Ace Attorney". (Or "Gyakuten Kenji" vs "Gyakuten Saiban", if that makes things clearer.) So that makes me think that this isn't referring to an AA7 or Apollo Justice anime, but something specific to the AAI games -- whether that's an anime adaptation, maybe another stage play, or possibly in the future...... aai3.

Another note is what the translated interview calls "mixed media", which comes from "メディアミックス" (literally "media mix"). "Mixed media" in English, to my knowledge, generally refers to a single piece of art which is made up of different forms, which is not what they're talking about here. The Japanese term used here appears to mean more of a "multimedia franchise" - extending the series beyond just games, to other forms that will bring in a wider audience - which makes me think they have something in the works that's not a new game, but something in a different form related to AAI. So I'm curious about what they have planned, whether it would be an adaptation of the existing games or original work with the same characters like my favorite stage play Turnabout Teleportation.

And on the topic of stage plays...

--While there are many die-hard fans of the plays, unfortunately the performance of " Ace Attorney: Turnabout Parallel World " has been postponed. Will we ever get to see lawyer Miles Edgeworth, the perfect idol Franziska von Karma, and the number one host Larry Butz? Also, is there any possibility of a novelization? Iwamoto : (Whispering) Please say it. Please say it more (laughs). Hashimoto : Due to the schedules of the cast, it may be difficult to do it in exactly the same format, but I personally would like to see it. I'm always thinking about how I want to do it and make it happen.

Turnabout Parallel World was a stage play intended for 2020 that got postponed for obvious reasons... and then rescheduled for 2021, where it was postponed again for the same obvious reasons. It hasn't been officially cancelled and we haven't heard anything about it since then, and to my knowledge this is the first acknowledgement of it since then. It does sound like they want to include it in some way.

Novelizations of new AA stories aren't a new concept, but have typically been Japan-only and not gained much traction in the English-speaking fandom.

Finally, Hashimoto's comments to close out the interview:

Hashimoto: As I mentioned at the beginning, I thought it was important to have people play existing content on the current platform, and with the release of "Ace Attorney Investigations 1 & 2 Collection," we're finally ready. I want to deliver it to people who don't know about the "Ace Attorney Series" or haven't touched it, including people in countries with additional languages, as well as in Japan. As I mentioned earlier, we will not stop the "Ace Attorney Series" after that, and it will continue to the 25th and 30th anniversaries. We would like to continue preparing for new developments and expand the series.

The use of "Ace Attorney Series" here doesn't make a distinction between mainline or investigations (just "Gyakuten series"). So while there's definitely something in the works for AAI, there's probably something for mainline as well.

The 25th anniversary is coming up fairly soon in 2026, with the 30th anniversary in 2031. This is not nearly as far away as it feels like it should be. Judging by this interview and similar ones over the last year, it feels more and more likely that we will be getting new ace attorney content in one form or another in the next couple of years at least.

Of note to the Athena fans, the interview also contains this comment from Hashimoto, when talking about favorite characters in AAIC and the series overall:

Throughout the series, I've always liked Athena (Cykes). I've always thought to myself, "I wonder if there's something Athena can do as the main character?" (laughs).

It's not the most serious statement or necessarily a promise, but maybe the tiniest nugget of hope for Athena fans.

Anyways, those are the highlights of the interview from me - again please correct me if there's anything that needs correcting. I highly encourage people to check out the full interview since it has lots of interesting stuff, and hopefully there will be a properly translated version of it out someday!

[vikkirosko]

Hello! Can I request Miles, Phoenix, Franziska, Manfred, the Judge and Dick with a female anarchist child reader?

Reader is a homeless 12 years old who lived all her life in the street. She was raised by other homeless and even got an education from them.

Reader is street smart and smart in general, she's nice to old people and poor/homeless people but is an anarchist in heart and hate all that touch the legal/financial system.

She's a little delinquent too, making illegal street art, steeling things (food, clothes, nice little things for her and the other homeless) and regularly messing with the police forces for fun. She was arrested many times, but never got judged since she's only 12.

Things are that reader is a key witness in a murder case. Her testimony is very important for the trial. The only problem is... she refuse to say the truth or even testify correctly. Taunting the lawyer, prosecutor, police forces and even the judge for their inefficiency.

The truth is, she hate how "the normal society" view her and the other homeless/delinquents and how they treated them. So why helping those who rejected her and her people.

How they convinced her to be at their side is up to you.

Thanks!

Platonic headcanons Little Anarchist

⚖️ Phoenix Wright x child fem!Reader 🚲

Phoenix was not very good at communicating with children. That's why when you met him, he didn't know what to do. You were a homeless girl who turned out to be a witness in a murder case. You saw with your own eyes everything that happened and it would seem that you should have told the police, the prosecutor, or at least him, the lawyer, about everything, but it was not so. He realized this when your testimony, which he received from the police report, was radically different from what you told him

He tried to find out from you about it, but pretty quickly he found out that you were openly mocking him. At first you didn't talk about yourself and didn't answer the question why you refuse to cooperate, but your patience quickly ran out. You shouted loudly that you would not help the system that rejected you and your family. As it turned out, you were homeless and considered other homeless people as your family. It was unknown where your blood relatives were, but you clearly didn't want to help people connected with the law. You were wary of everyone, even Maya, but you usually didn't express any obvious negativity towards her. However, Phoenix understood that without your help, the real criminal would remain unpunished

After the first day of the meeting, he decided to try to talk to you again. At first you didn't want to talk to him. You just wanted to spend time with your family. However, when Phoenix said that the killer could kill you or someone from your family because you were a witness, you were visibly worried. You and Phoenix talked for a long time, after which you were able to come to an agreement. You didn't want people close to you to suffer, so you agreed to tell the court about what you actually saw

Even after the case was closed and the criminal was in prison, Phoenix continued to communicate with you. He and Maya visited you, brought various things and helped you and your family. They understood that you didn't become homeless because you wanted to, but you were a smart girl who could have a bright future and if you had agreed, Phoenix would have tried to help you get into school or improve your life in other ways

⚖️ Miles Edgeworth x child fem!Reader 🚘

Edgeworth is sometimes seen at the police station. He didn't understand who you were, sure that you were a bully or just a kid who often ran away from home. However, when you were the only witness to the murder, he found out that your situation was much more complicated than he could have imagined. You didn't have a home, your family were homeless people with whom you lived and you hated the police and the entire judicial system as a whole and he couldn't get honest testimony from you

Several times he tried to talk to you himself. Each time your testimony differed from the previous ones and it was not clear if there was any truth in what you said. He tried to stay calm, but you did everything to make him lose his temper. Sometimes it even seemed to him that you didn't really see anything but were lying to annoy the police. However, when he went to look for you after the first day of the court session, he found out that you really saw something. This was confirmed by other homeless people with whom you lived

They told him that on the day of the murder you were in the next building where the murder happened. You ran to them scared, but despite that you didn't tell them about what happened. It was thanks to one of the homeless people that the police found out that you were a witness to a murder that happened. When Edgeworth told you what he found out, you looked annoyed. You didn't want your family members involved in this, but Miles told you that your family's safety depends on you. He was sure that the killer would try to get rid of the witness who knew the truth if he was free, which means you and your family would be in danger. His words had an impact on you

You couldn't keep hiding the truth when the lives of your family members were at risk. That's why you were honest about what happened at the trial. You breathed a sigh of relief when the killer was found guilty. Every time Edgeworth saw you at the police station, he turned a blind eye to some of your misdeeds and helped you to the best of his ability. He gave you money and tried to help you and your family start living better. It was the least he could do

⚖️ Franziska von Karma x child fem!Reader ⚜️

Franziska didn't have much patience, so when she found out that a police detective couldn't get testimony from a key witness in a murder case. She got angry because of this and she went to conduct the interrogation herself, but when she saw the witness, her resolve weakened for a few moments. That witness was you. You were a twelve-year-old girl in old, many times darned clothes and with a look full of contempt and irritation, and even the formidable appearance of the prosecutor did not cause you fear and did not destroy your determination not to tell the truth

She tried several times to get the information she needed from you, but you didn't tell the truth. You've changed your testimony a lot of times, confusing the investigation. At first Franziska assumed that you were connected with the suspect, but she learned from the detective that you were a frequent guest at the police station. You were caught stealing and painting on the walls of various buildings. You were homeless and lived with other homeless people. You were caring towards those whom you considered members of your family, but you were distrustful of the police and everyone connected with the judicial system. Franziska felt it for herself when her patience came to an end. She started shouting at you, but you responded by shouting too, although even grown men were lost when she was angry

She spent a long time trying to find out from you what she needed. For all the time that the investigation was conducted, she managed to get attached to you and find out your story. She found out that your parents abandoned you and the tramps took you in. They took care of you and you took care of them in return. You were angry that others turned away from you, your family and other people who found themselves in a difficult situation. That's why you didn't want to help the police. Franziska talked to you for a long time. She was able to convince you that the system was really not always fair, but deceiving the police you will not do better and the criminal will be released. It was able to convince you to tell the truth

After the criminal was found guilty, Franziska decided that you could grow into a decent person, so she decided to take care of you herself. She gradually gained your trust and intended to take you with her to Germany so that you could grow into a person who could change the system and make sure that the people you considered your family and similar people could live much better than you and your loved ones lived

⚖️ Manfred von Karma x child fem!Reader 🔫

Manfred von Karma was not the most patient person. For the sake of closing the case, he was ready to go to great lengths. Therefore, when he found out that the investigation was not progressing due to the fact that the witness was constantly changing his testimony, he felt annoyed. He couldn't let this ruin his perfect string of victories, so he decided to take up the witness interrogation himself. However, he did not expect that this witness would be a twelve-year-old girl. It was you. A homeless girl who saw a murder, but lied to the police about what she saw

You didn't care about what the prosecutor was trying to find out from you. You continued to hide the truth, ignoring all his discontent. You weren't going to tell him what really happened. He even started to put pressure on you, but you weren't afraid of his threats. You knew he couldn't put you in jail, so you weren't afraid of him. Even when you were told who exactly he was, you did not change your position, continuing to change your testimony every time

He had to resort to threats. You didn't care what happened to you, but when he started threatening that people close to you would be in an even more difficult situation. You couldn't let that happen, so you had to tell him the truth. You weren't sure if he needed the truth or if he just wanted to hear from you what he needed. You were angry and left after the court hearing, not wanting to see him ever again in your life

Your opinion about the judicial system has only strengthened. You understood that no one would believe you if you said that the prosecutor threatened you, so you were forced to remain silent. You just hoped that Manfred von Karma wouldn't ruin the lives of your family members after closing the case

🚔 Dick Gumshoe x child fem!Reader 🐶

You and Detective Gumshoe met before the murder took place. You were brought to the police station several times when you were caught stealing or painting on the walls of city buildings. He didn't understand why you did it every time, but he couldn't hold you accountable for your actions anyway, so he tried to appeal to your conscience, but you didn't listen to him. When you were brought to the station as a witness, he knew your story and the last thing he wanted was for you to get involved in this case

He took over your interrogation, trying to soften it for you, but you were silent, did not tell him about what really happened. All he knew for sure was that you were a witness to a murder. This worried the detective. He knew that you were a smart and kind child, but sometimes you could be rude because you didn't trust the police and everyone connected with the judicial system. He tried to take care of you as much as he could. I brought you a snack and didn't let others be rude to you, but you kept silent

Gumshoe talked to you for a long time, trying to convince you to help. If it was someone else, you would never have told the truth, but the detective helped you for a long time. He treated you to delicious food, bought groceries and necessary things for your family and helped you in any way he could. He was the only cop who cared about you. That's the only reason you told him the truth, knowing that it was important to him and that he would not deceive you

Even after the case was closed, he continued to take care of you. He didn't know how hard your life was, but he didn't want it to be even harder for you to live than it is now. Sometimes you forgot that you should be mad at him. Sometimes you thought that if there were more police officers like him, then maybe it would be much easier for you and your family to live

👨‍⚖️ Judge x child fem!Reader ⚖️

It was not the first time the judge saw how children became witnesses at meetings. In all the years that he worked in court, he saw a lot of strange things, so he was not surprised when a twelve-year-old girl acted as a witness in a murder case. You didn't look scared, on the contrary, you were annoyed and didn't hide it. However, he quickly realized that it would be a very long court session, because when you were asked to repeat your testimony, you told a completely different story

You didn't tell them what really happened. Because of this, the court session was greatly delayed. When the court session was postponed to the next day, he met you in the corridor. He saw you trying to steal some food from the cafeteria. He didn't expect this, but instead of calling security or somehow interfering with you, he paid for a full meal and treated you to it. All the time that you ate with him at the same table, you did not stop looking at him suspiciously from time to time

During lunch, Judge tried to talk to you. At first you were in no hurry to talk, but then you told me why you didn't tell the truth. He was surprised when he found out that you were homeless. He didn't know how to help you, but he tried to at least make sure that you would leave well-fed and you wouldn't have to steal food for at least some time, which is why he gave you money so that you could buy food and things that you and your family needed. You were surprised by his action and looked at him with the same suspicion, but the next day you did something that surprised Judge. You told the truth about what you saw

When the court session ended, you told Judge that the only reason why you did it was because he helped you. You were grateful to him for helping you yesterday, but you're not used to being beholden to someone, so you decided to help as best you could. Judge hoped that over time your life would become better than it was at the moment and was ready to try to help you if you turned to him for help

[contritecactite]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love ❤

Thank you for the ask, Quoth! I think you'd be pleased to know that I had trouble narrowing things down (they're all my favorites today), but I got there eventually.

1. Promised Me a Feeling

Ace Attorney, T, 2.8k, klapollo

Post-AA4, Edgeworth accidentally invites himself to dinner with Klavier and Apollo. It's painfully awkward, but it helps him find the courage to take the next step.

I took a huge internet break years ago (my own 7yg hehe) and only returned to fandom in 2021. "Promised Me a Feeling" was the first time I felt genuinely confident in my writing again, so it holds a special place in my heart.

2. Third Time Charmed

Ace Attorney, G, 3k, Maya

Maya visits the building for the "first time" three separate times. Whether it's housing Fey & Co. Law Offices, Wright & Co. Law Offices, or the Wright Anything Agency, it always manages to be just the opposite of what she's come to expect.

In a lot of ways, this was a celebration of being part of a fandom in which I'm "allowed" to enjoy female characters and to place value on non-romantic relationships. Those were two quick ways out the door in my 2008-2012 spaces.

3. And a Borrowed Car

Good Omens, T, 3.6k, A/C (ambiguous)

Aziraphale falls asleep in the stolen Jeep, Crowley remembers that his flat could use some cleaning, and they end up sharing a very nice room somewhere and talking about things they've lost and time they've wasted. It turns out all right in the end.

An attempt to integrate some details from s1&2 into book canon. Casual intimacy, only one bed (because it's what they wanted), soft with an aroma of their inherent angst. Feels like some of my best characterization, but I could be wrong.

4. Anthems of Joy

Ace Attorney, T, 17k, FranMaya

When Maya and Franziska's intention to get married is made public, they get railroaded into using their wedding to generate good press for the district prosecutors' office. Over the next few months, Franziska finds that her relationship with Maya isn't the only one that gets strengthened in the pursuit of happiness. Also, I wrote what feels like half a Sesame Street episode for this. You're welcome/I'm sorry.

A weirdly personal fic that was a long time in the making. I don't know what I can say about it concisely except that I hope someday I can let go of as many hangups as Franziska.

5. Competitive Inhibition

Good Omens, M, 15k, A/C through the ages

In biochemistry: a phenomenon in which a molecule is blocked from binding to an enzyme by another molecule with a similar structure—like a demon preventing an angel from binding completely to Heaven or, more to the point, doubt and fear keeping an angel from wholly welcoming a bond with a demon. Or: The ups and downs of sharing 6000 years of life on Earth with an angel who wants desperately to be doing Good.

Written for a gift exchange, this ended up being a long series of vignettes that alternate between good times and bad times (with a hopeful ending). I even did some (very) cursory historical research! I'm very proud of it despite it apparently not having very broad appeal.

[faerieyuri]

22 - maya. 23

22. Give us a headcanon for [Maya]

My headcanons are fleeting and ever-changing like the wind, but I'll share one that consistently takes up brain space.

I think a lot about trans girl Maya and what implications it would have for the gender politics of Kurain Village. Not that the canon text of AA gives trans people much consideration, or gay people for that matter, but I like to think about it and want to explore it more in fic.

Like, was Maya treated poorly until she came out as a girl? What sort of guilt--or even impostor syndrome ("Am I really a girl or did I just want to keep the support of my family")--would come with knowing she would have been all but exiled if she hadn't come out? Also, what does it imply about the nature of channeling if the power is gender-specific and trans-inclusive?

I have a fic planned but not yet written where transfem Maya kindles a friendship with transfem Miles -- initially over fandom, but also supporting Miles through her own transition, with some shared angst and bonding after Phoenix retreats into his 7YG self-destructive depression hole.

23. Has your favourite character/ship changed over time?

YES OH GOD. I joined the fandom 2 years ago as a Solid Wrightworth Only Girlie....sorry to everyone who subscribed to my ao3 over that, because in the course of hearing from many cool people gush about many other ships, I have become the multishipping joker. It's actually a huge problem for me to find fandom spaces I feel comfortable in, because I can't stand interacting with people who can't see beyond their OTP into other possibilities. I was lucky enough to have the first server I joined be one where people are really supportive of each other's headcanons, so I guess it opened up Pandora's box for me.

Also, I started off a classic Edgeworth fan with a hint of Adrian Andrews, and now I am a stalwart Franziska defender, Maya champion and unhinged Kristoph lover. (Still love Adrian though!) Taken together......I dunno what that says about me.

--

Source game here!

[beevean]

🔥 for anything TGAA related, be it shipping, fandom, or storywise or whatever tickles your fancy!

Oh boy :P

Well, I mentioned many times that I dislike reducing Ryuu to an uke babyboy, when my man is ferocious and an enemy of the state. This is especially bad when he's shipped with Asougi and Barok. My friends, those two would crumble like sandcastles compared to Ryuu. Ryuu is the seme of the love triangle :P

I don't like Iris. I really don't. But not because she's annoying or a bad character, so I struggle to explain why. My issue is that her status as an improbably genius is taken too seriously, and it's too straightforward. Yes I know that this is the franchise where minors can become lawyers, but that usually comes with a consequence! Franziska is probably the best deconstruction of the teen genius trope of the series, and back then it wasn't even a trope! I wish Iris suffered more consequences of being the "adult" of the house. (also minor but her theme is like a cheesegrater on the ears, I have to mute the game when it plays :( )

While GAA2 is a fantastic game, I wish it kept GAA1's direction when it comes to treating the political themes. It's weird how the first game puts a lot of emphasis on the abuse of power of the British Empire and its systemic xenophobia, only for the second game to reduce the whole conflict to a classic AA villain. Related to this: I still believe Barok's racism and his arc of overcoming it makes sense, but instead of simply saying "japanese killed brother, now i am racist", his story should have been "I never met a Japanese person before and the first one I ever met killed my brother, everyone around me has told me since childhood that Japanese people are untrustworthy and cruel and I couldn't help getting convinced of this during my 5-year isolation". See, it doesn't sound so simplistic anymore, and it would have kept the idea that Barok grew up with toxic ideals as a British nobleman, incarnating both the worst and the best traits of the empire.

and uhhhhhh benbaro deserves more love. they cute. there

klimtex also deserves more love because i'm a sucker for their master/dog dynamic lol. i don't even know if the ship has an official name, couldn't find a thing on pixiv :<

[characteroulette]

A study on prosecutors -- (previous) (next)

Let's get into the weeds of the Investigations games.

Judging any of the prosecutors in the Investigations games, Edgeworth included, is a difficult thing to do. We're not privy to their style of prosecuting, after all, since the whole game takes place outside of any trials. I guess this shows how much stock I take from said trials, but it is a core mechanic to the Ace Attorney series, so I feel justified on that one. Judging a prosecutor from half of the usual info makes things a bit of a harder sell to me, they really missed an opportunity to get us into the courtroom properly.

But I digress. Let's go down the list.

First off, Jacques Portsman. He's a first case villain for sure, as we know he committed the crime and his over the top performance is really grating. I kinda never believed him when he claimed to be a prodigy or some up and coming star because of that, though. Like, sir, you're a first case murderer. You're not that hard to crack, especially as the game has to tutorialise everything for us.

His being pretty awful is kinda the point, however. Here is one of many prosecutors whom Edgeworth has to work alongside in the office. He's as corrupt and ruthless as anyone else, he's another in the many who believe that winning and making a name for themselves is all that matters in the world of the law. He's a symptom of the way the law operates in this world, far from the cause. That's at least one fascinating aspect to him.

It's yet another show of how Manfred could have gotten away with his forty year streak without anyone so much as batting an eye at it.

Speaking of, let's dig into Manfred a bit deeper, seeing as he's the only other prosecutor we really meet in the first game. (Faraday gets like one line before he dies, so I can't really count him.) He's acting Edgeworth's superior here, no matter how much Edgeworth refers to him as his mentor. This is a disconnect that always struck me about what we get to see of their interactions; Edgeworth really does respect Manfred from the bottom of his heart. He sees Manfred as someone who helped him find structure and strength in his life after what happened to his father. But Manfred doesn't return that respect at all. Really, a lot of how Manfred speaks to Edgeworth here reads as condescending, and that's before he goes off about how worthless Edgeworth is. His promise of an hour of recess is also one that stood out to me; he expects Edgeworth to partake in some of the dirtier tactics that he (and Franziska) might. He's leaving that option open for Edgeworth to do whatever necessary to get his guilty verdict, to prove himself a perfect von Karma. It doesn't end up happening because we have to preserve continuity -- I mean, the trial gets cancelled due to murder shenanigans, but it's a detail that's always stood out to me.

We get a lot more intriguing a look into Manfred's character in the second Investigations game. He adores his wife to the point of proclaiming her the best chef in the world. That's weirdly humanising for him!! And he loves his daughter, too, even if he's not very good at showing it. He may be a wicked man, but it wasn't actually by his own hand that he had to tamper with evidence. Hell, maybe that's why Gregory was able to call him out. (He forged a WHOLE BODY and that'll forever be hilarious to me.) (Well, an autopsy report. Same difference.) What I would GIVE to be able to see the actual trials between Gregory and Manfred, with Gregory struggling to find any hold and Manfred acting composed while also hoping his evidence doesn't get called out. It had to be one hell of a battle, Gregory isn't one to go down without a fight.

Anyway, Byrne Faraday. I figure I might give a bit of a thought on him from what we can extrapolate.

Kay loved him dearly and he was definitely doing his best by her. That promise notebook they had between them is so sweet, the man was trying his best to be a good dad. He had some level of corruption, though, considering he was one foot to the Yatagarasu. Sure, it was more for justice than our usual prosecutor fare, but he was still cheating to get guilty verdicts. Even if his corruption swung the other way than where we're used to seeing, it shows he was willing to get his hands dirty for his justice. It shows his lack of faith in the legal system he was a part of, another symptom to this dark age. (As an aside, these two games are the true lead-in to Dual Destinies. Not Apollo Justice. You want the themes and points of DD to ring stronger or truer at all? Play the Investigations games before going into DD, it'll all make more sense that way. Or, as much sense as it can make.)

It is fun seeing how much they have to strain to get us to like Faraday, though. At least, I feel he's supposed to be likeable, since they focus on him being a good dad and not the fact that he was working behind the scenes to help rig his trials. A perfect contrast to Manfred, whom the games don't even try to make likeable since we all know what becomes of him in the end. And yet they put in just enough to get you to see him as less a monster than you might have. (The Inga solution! It works on me every time!!)

Also funny that there are only two new prosecutors introduced in the first Investigations game and they're both basically bit parts. Because then we get into the second game and meet our more traditional opposing prosecutor, Sebastian Debeste.

Ahh, Yumihiko Ichiyanagi. A mess of a child. Starts out pompous and believing he's always right because that's what everyone around him is forced to say to him. He's a nepotism baby, his dad's the Chief of the Prosecutorial Investigation Committee, after all. He's a brat and a pest and he's also so stupid you find yourself wondering how the hell he managed to get his badge in the first place.

Well, this is a world of dumbasses, you suppose. How else could simple logic be a superpower? You move on and concern yourself more with whom you suspect to be the true villain pulling the strings here, Justine Courtney.

Her subtle pushes and buttering Sebastian up are near sinister. It's like she's using him as a mouthpiece at times, a way to get her own goals and work done here. She wants to seemingly destroy Edgeworth, nearly singularly focuses on this goal at times, and you can't help but find pity for Sebastian being caught up in her scheme. He's seventeen and it shows far more on him than it does on Klavier or Franziska. He's floundering while everyone simply congratulates him on a job while done, unable to save him from those depths, that darkness.

What is the point of using this boy as a smokescreen, you wonder. How can parading him around be worth any of his foolishness?

Then we meet Blaise and realise, oh. He really was just a pawn in the grander scheme. He was a way to get closer to the true villain. He was merely getting in the way, being a foolish and stupid child, of everyone's true goals.

Franziska whips him and he doesn't even protest. He shouts out in pain like everyone else, but he never once tells her to stop. He just takes it, doesn't think of his usual profession of being the best.

He just takes it.

From that small detail alone, I couldn't help but immediately worry for him.

Justine shows her hand at last. Even if she had come to care for Sebastian, she's out to strike Blaise down no matter what. Blaise is the one behind that one strike against Manfred's reputation, he's behind this whole smuggling ring, he's everyone's antagonist as we all converge on this one point. Sebastian tries to stick up for his father, but even that lends to our favour. He gets in the way once more, he slips up just enough to give us what we need, and his father reveals to him in the cruellest possible way that everything he thought he's accomplished has been a total lie. He couldn't even be a worthy pawn to his father. He's a failure, through and through.

And Edgeworth gets to be the one to help him stand back up on his own two feet.

I cannot stress enough just how excellent an idea it was to have our final logic chess game be against Sebastian. How we have to use it more as a way to break through all that despair and anguish instead of for our own gain. Edgeworth being able to be a voice of strength for Sebastian, being able to offer this boy you thought your enemy for most of the game a spot of hope, is so good. It's exactly taking the lessons behind what made Edgeworth himself so good in the first game, at least in my opinion.

And we get to see bits of an actual trial!! We get to play assistant as Sebastian stands up to his father in one of the most hype scenes ever!! I'm so proud of this fail boy who came such a long way. A crybaby who, with the help of those actually willing to back him up and show him the right way instead of propping him up with false praise, is able to stand his ground and prove his father the villain he is.

He breaks that chain of legacy tying so many of our Ace Attorney characters down. Holy shit we were robbed this game, actually, huge shout out to the translation team who allowed us all to experience this cathartic moment.

[kyndaris]

Overruled!

One of my white whales in gaming was Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutor's Gambit. Much like The Great Ace Attorney duology, for many years after it was released, there was no localisation. Some attributed it to the fact that the first Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth sold poorly. Others said it was due to the difficulties of translating the subject matter for a Western audience. Despite this, there was a fan translation of the game. One that was painstakingly cobbled together by those in the fandom.

While I never did play through the fan translated version (it involved far too much shady downloading of online ROMs), I did watch snippets of a playthrough.

Alas, watching a game isn't the same as playing it. At least, when it comes to me.

The joy I would have normally derived from playing through an Ace Attorney game simply wasn't there for me. Besides, I had so many other games I needed to get through. And, upon stumbling upon the Danganronpa series, I could have fun with solving murders in an entirely new setting! More than that, I could also be involved in hackney-styled trials, and where, after a case is solved, the punishment for said crime is DEATH! All in gory pink blood.

My love affair, of course, with the Danganronpa series will have to wait, however, for another post (when I play and finish Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. I will get there! Eventually!).

So, imagine my surprise that shortly upon releasing the Apollo Justice trilogy, CAPCOM announced the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection for release in 2024!

Although, I suppose I should not have been surprised. They DID release the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles only a few years back despite the fact many feared it would never come to the West.

It was with glee that I grabbed hold of the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection that I set about playing through it. I may have been behind on 2023 and 2024 game releases but Miles Edgeworth standalone games were a top priority! And even though I'd already played the first game in the collection, I would gladly do it again (Turnabout Ablaze notwithstanding)!

After all, given how I write up game impressions on the internet, it doesn't seem like proper journalism if I only play only one of the games.

The Ace Attorney Investigations games, as previously stated, stars Miles Edgeworth as the playable character. The first game sees the star prosecutor of Japanifornia getting involved in numerous murder cases in quick succession. The poor man is even knocked out a few times too. He's even falsely accused. Despite this, our favourite cravat-wearing-British-accented (and possibly gay or aroace) rival remains cool and calm in the face of danger (the only instance being when he was tied up during the kidnapping incident at Gatewater Land).

Many of the cases in the first game are quite quick, taking only a few hours to get through. And while each murder case Miles tangles with are intriguing in their own right (with some fairly strong writing in terms of characters and the build-up of deducing the murderer), there is also an overarching narrative of an international smuggling ring. One that Interpol is trying to track down, and which the whip-happy Franziska von Karma has been assigned (I honestly forget she's only 19 sometimes).

Speaking of which, I do like how Investigations provides some deeper insight in Franziska. As with many of the characters in the franchise, she has daddy issues. Something which is pointed out in Investigations 2 (honestly, the whole game that is Prosecutor's Gambit should be called Daddy Issues).

In the end, Miles, in the four days from his return trip overseas (which is a little absurd given the timeframe) manages to uncover the mastermind behind the smuggling ring. He also solves four murders, reunite with a young girl who used his cravat as a tissue seven years ago, and attend a Steel Samurai show at a foreign embassy!

Talk about a whirlwind number of days!

Of course, one does not simply talk about Investigations without complaining about the last episode: Turnabout Ablaze. Back in my younger days, playing it on the Nintendo DS, I remember being frustrated at how long this last case felt. Especially when Miles is able to quickly deduce Alba's involvement. But due to his status as ambassador and the rules around extraterritoriality, Miles and the team were hard-placed to have the ex-general arrested.

And I wasn't the only one! After discussing it with bleachpanda, even she had grown tired of the endless back and forth between Ambassador Alba and Miles. All the 'Hold It's' and interruptions from every single side character just to nail the man.

Still, I like to think it was all worth it in the end.

That said, I'm surprised people weren't arrested more and evidence scrounged up later. Especially in instances where there was sufficient suspicion cast on the likes of many of the murderers in the second game.

In contrast with the first Investigations, Prosecutor's Gambit was a much more personal case. No longer were Miles and the gang dealing with an international smuggling ring run by a foreign ambassador. True, there was Kay Faraday's backstory and trauma to dig through in the first game, but Prosecutor's Gambit also added further depth to Miles and his quest for the truth. The themes in Prosecutor's Gambit were far more complex and I loved the new additions to the cast including Judge Verity Gavelle and rookie prosecutor Eustace Winner.

What's more, Prosecutor's Gambit also showcased off the man Gregory Edgeworth was before his untimely death in the DL-6 incident.

Ever since the first game, we knew Miles had initially wanted to be a defence attorney, like his father before him. It was not until Gregory was killed in an elevator that he chose to become a prosecutor.

But who was Gregory Edgeworth?

Prosecutor's Gambit was able to showcase this and more as it delved into the final case Gregory was involved in before his untimely death. In so doing, it helped paint in the rough edges of who this pivotal figure was, the beliefs he carried, and how his legacy was continued by his son.

Gregory's relationship with Miles stood in stark contrast with that of Eustace and Excelsius. While a young Miles was never seen in the third case of the game, Gregory's thoughts were never far on his son (although, one did have to wonder who was looking after Miles while Gregory was investigating. Do NONE of these characters have loving mothers? I mean, who even knows what Phoenix's parents are like). Eustace, on the other hand, is considered an utter and complete failure by Excelsius, a controlling and abusive individual who has risen to the position of Chairman of the Committee for Prosecutorial Excellence.

It is shown in the game that Excelsius will do anything: manipulate evidence, 'disappear' inconvenient witnesses and people, and take advantage of the law simply to get ahead. His is the quintessential lawful evil.

When he is taken down in the fourth case of the game, before Eustace lands the finishing blow to him in the last case, it is oh so satisfying! Especially because it shows Eustace's own growth and ability to finally step out of his father's shadow and be his own person. More importantly, taking out Excelsius is like extracting the cancerous corruption sitting in the heart of the legal system.

However, despite the menacing nature of Excelsius, he is not the mastermind of the game. No. Rather that is Simeon Saint: victim and criminal in equal measure.

And this is why I like Prosecutor's Gambit so much.

The law is a necessary aspect of keeping society intact, and the people who comprise it, safe. But the law isn't perfect. People often fall through the gaps. High numbers of indigenous in custody, racial profiling of suspects, etc. Despite our best efforts, injustice remains in our world.

Worse, many people who were wronged, who were abused in the past, end up becoming abusers themselves. Thus, perpetuating an endless cycle of hurt and pain and trauma.

There are innumerous real world comparisons that could take the place of Simeon Saint. Heck, even Miles himself started off as an antagonist wholly focused on obtaining a 'guilty' verdict for any and all suspects regardless if they had committed the crime or not.

It is here where Prosecutor's Gambit shines as it casts a light on how legal systems can fail.

But, most importantly, it also sheds light on those very same servants of the law facing down the contradictions within the law itself and fixing them where possible. Humans err. As laws are written by humans, the next logical conclusion is that the law, too, can err.

By recognising where missteps have been taken, it is up to us, humans, to change the law and have it evolve with us. You see this all the time. Or, at least, you do in Western countries. New legislation is pushed through parliament quite regularly to reflect the changing landscape. Amendments and addendums are also added to clarify parts of legislation that may also be confusing.

Overall, while Ace Attorney Investigations Collection keeps the core gameplay loop very much the same, the few gimmicks that have been added (including Mind Chess and Little Thief simulations) help to bring a unique spin to the formula. As with most visual novels, however, it is the narrative and characters that shine in these games. And shine they did. From old staples like Larry to even new ones like Eustace and Verity.

In fact, I kinda want a new game starring Kay Faraday, if only for the developers to stretch their wings in an entirely new direction. Here's hoping there will be a few more games in the franchise!

And if not Kay, why not Athena? Or maybe a spinoff with Franziska?

As a side note, it felt so weird to have Shaun call Verity his mother given there's only a thirteen year age-gap. I mean, did she adopt him when she was fourteen? WHY DID THEY MAKE VERITY ONLY 26?!

[loregoddess]

14, 15, 25 for the Love your fandom ask

14) the ship that always makes you smile Hmm, for long-running media, probably Midna x Link from LoZ:TP, bc that's basically the oldest ship in my fleet and it still brings me lots of joy. For mid-running media, probably Kay x Franziska for AA (my first rarepair), Rinea x Faye for FE:SoV (rarepair I wasn't expecting to see others ship), and Ashe x Dedue (literally got me to go out of my comfort zone to figure out how to draw cute ship art, when I was really bad and afraid of drawing people interacting). For stuff that I've gotten into over the past year, probably Alear x Pandreo from FE:Engage, and Mineru x Purah from LoZ:TotK (also I'm kinda silly goofy happy about Jin x Xiaoyu finally getting some development in Tekken 8, but that's bc I had to suffer watching it come to fruition over like, 20 years of my life, slowest goddamned slowburn I've ever had to endure).

15) the character that always makes you smile Oh, lots and lots. Long-running media would be Shad LoZ:TP, love that guy, I get excited anytime I see him. For mid-running, Satoru Hosonaga, my beloved from DGS/tGAA, a decent number of FE characters (Kurthnaga, Rhys, Libra, Flora, Lukas, Faye, Dedue, Ashe, and Ferdinand come to mind off the top of my head), most of the FF7 cast but esp. Red XIII/Nanaki. For more recent things, Alear and literally any of the Engage characters actually, the Octo2 crew (and also the Octo1 crew, and a fair amount of NPCs from both games); I also read Dungeon Meshi recently and I gotta say one of the most casts of all time, I haven't settled on favorites yet but damn were there some good characters.

25) a piece of advice for taking care of yourself in fandom spaces Block button is your bestie, don't feel bad for blocking people for any reason whatsoever so that you can peruse the fandom tag in peace. But also, if you find other fans who are making stuff you enjoy, support them by reblogging their art or headcanons or writing or whatever, or even just liking their stuff.

Do what you want to see in your fandom if you have the energy. I like to see people excited about things they love, whether that's a character or a ship or something about the story or their OCs or their own headcanons, like, doesn't even matter if it's not my Thing, I genuinely enjoy seeing people happy and brave enough to share that happiness in the main tag, so I try to also share stuff that brings me joy when I engage with fandom stuff too. Share joy when you can.

This is not to say you should never be negative ever like, you should also give yourself space somewhere to be a petty snob about things that tick you off. You don't have to make it public, but at the very least give yourself an outlet to let the negative move through and out of you. Believe me there are so many things that tick me off so much about either fandom spaces or various media that I could rant about for hours, but I just choose Not To Share It after I've written it out bc writing it often makes me feel better--or I go and find a trusted friend who I can be like, "Hey I gotta vent about something stupid real fast, will you hear me out?"

Lots of things in life are never all positive or negative feelings, but no emotion is inherently good or bad, so it's important to let yourself feel those emotions and let them pass without bottling them up. Otherwise they stagnate or explode, and neither is fun to deal with the aftermath for. But like, it's okay to be pissy about things from time to time.

Have fun, but never feel like you have to engage with a fandom just because you used to be a part of it, or you got into a new thing. I treat fandom like a public park, I can go there when I want to enjoy myself but I can also leave anytime I want. If a bunch of mean people are hanging around the park I know there are other parks, and I can just go to those instead and cultivate my own little garden to make up for the park I won't go to anymore. I might even get to invite some friends to that garden. Honestly, most of the time I'm some weird forest hermit who only comes out sometimes to haunt the park, and I think that's just fine as well. Engage with fandom in a way that makes you comfortable.

[katethevampire]

Ace Attorney au where Mia bought a house before her death that's haunted by all the attorneys besides Phoenix. They all died in mysterious ways. Mia bought the house to try and investigate like she did with Redd White.

After her death Phoenix gets the house (technically Maya inherited it but shhhhh he pays for everything) and they realize, uh oh! There's ghost!

Most of the ghosts died within the last 80 or so years (still working on the dates), all of the ghosts haunting died either in or around the house causing it to have a bit or a reputation... One that Phoenix doesn't know about before agreeing to move in.

Each ghost has their own design related to how they died (and I definitely didn't steal any of them from TBHK /s) Most of them I don't have a cause of death for quite yet so if anyone can give me ideas that'd be great! Also as I haven't finished all the games and just going off of characters I've seen people mention. I'm probably forgetting some characters, if there's a prominent attorney character that I left out then let me know! If I don't add them after than I probably have an idea for them/want them to be alive, really don't like the character (unlikely since I'd REALLY have to hate them), or haven't played their game yet or seen enough to know that they're important (e.i. I know Kalvier is important even if I haven't played his game yet). All of the ? Are things that I need ideas for.

Ghost of | death | who they were/what they did | When they died

Edgeworth | strangulation | a bit past his brat era. | Died maybe a year-6 months before Phoenix became an attorney

Mia | blunt object (same as game) | the same as in the game before her death, the only difference is that she was also trying to solve why so many people, specifically attorneys, had died in that house. | 2016

Apollo | Lost blood circulation | Thinking he was fresh out of law school, just absolute terrible luck, fell down the stairs after seeing Kalvier's ghost | died right before his first trial, some time in the early 2000s (all that voice training for nothing....)

Kalvier | ? | Was a rock star (and prosecutor!) In the 70s or 80s. | After coming back from tour Died from a stalker fan breaking into his house (credit to Tumblr user @cursed-edgeworth the idea!)

Blackquill | Electric Chair | Studying under Metis | late 1960s, executed on false murder charges

Franziska Von Karma | blood loss | went looking for Miles after he was reported dead | She fell into the pool after being shot (maybe by the some person who got to her brother? Both times a strange card was found nearby...) A month before Phoenix became a Lawyer. 2016

Godot/Diego | poisoning | The exact same as the game, except instead of going into a coma Diego died. | Defense Attorney | 2013. When Dahlia poisoned him she used a much slower acting poison, over the course of about a week he got progressively more and more sick, his vision became spotty, coughing up blood, etc. By the end of the week he was dead. (Once again credit to Tumblr user @cursed-edgeworth for giving me the idea!)

Athena | ? | Studying law, trying to save Blackquil (like the games, only in the 60s) | Late 1960s- earlier 1970s. Was killed by The Phantom as a final loose end to tie.

[fraeuleintaka]

Character Introduction (Investigations 1): Dick Gumshoe

This is the 31st post in the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Countdown: 50 days left until release!

Today's topic: Dick Gumshoe Character Introduction!

Gumshoe has been a staple of the AA series since the very first game and although he has worked together with several prosecutors over the course of the original trilogy it's also been extremely clear that he's extremely close to Miles and somewhat of his personal assistant so it's an absolute must for him to appear in Miles' solo game and fulfill that role.

Similar to Gumshoe's profile description in every single AA game he ever appears in his introduction mentions that he's a detective at the local police precinct and in charge of the initial investigation when there's a murder. While definitely true the latter isn't really the role he fills in Investigations 1 as other, higher authorities are mostly in charge of the investigations (Shi-Long, Shih-na and Franziska) and Gumshoe gets involved for the sole reason that Miles is involved and Gumshoe goes to help him whenever he can.

I really like that he's described as being at his best when he does field work and runs around to gather information. A point is often made throughout the series about how incompetent Gumshoe is (with the salary cutting running gag, for example) and how he's too stupid to come to any correct deductions that aren't completely and blatantly obvious. Some games are worse about this than others and while some consider Investigations 1 to be his all-time low I vehemently disagree. There are jokes made at his expense, as usual, but he also gets some stellar moments to really shine and Investigations 1 (with Investigations 2 continuing it) delves into why Gumshoe is so loyal to Miles and why they are so close. So it perfectly fits that his character introduction focuses on what Gumshoe brings to the table and why Miles would want to have him around for all these years. Miles is the deduction powerhouse so that's not something he needs in a partner but he does need someone who helps him gather all the information in the first place and who he can trust to do the legwork and do it well. Gumshoe may not be the best at connecting pieces or deducing stuff but he does shine in so many other areas and that's what makes him and Miles such a great team.

Continuing from that, the last line of his introduction is something I especially adore, how Gumshoe trusts Miles more than most detectives would trust prosecutors. If that doesn't encapsulate their relationship! Gumshoe has so much trust and faith in Miles, to a degree even Miles sometimes underestimates, and likewise Miles trusts Gumshoe to a degree he trusts nobody else, he might not admit it so directly but you can easily see it in his actions. I love that they put it forward so explicitly!

I also love Gumshoe's full character artwork a lot. It really captures his personality. He smiles but in a somewhat apologetic way as if he wasn't quite sure if he just did something wrong but wants to do his best anyway. He's not just all humble though, he stands tall with his hand in his pocket like an experienced investigator would. He also has the same dramatic wind-blowing effect on his coat that Miles and Kay have. His chosen chibi sprite animation is him saluting which I also really like. With the added details it looks all the more stalwart and attentive!

[ao3feed-narumitsu]

Phoenix Wright: Ace A̶t̶t̶o̶r̶n̶e̶y̶ Art Teacher

read it on the AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/48565747

by PrettyChaiTea

Life takes you to many places, teaches you new things, helps you meet people that you in turn start finding important in your life. Phoenix Wright takes everything that life gives him, and shares the same. When his friend, Mia Fey, offers him a position as an art teacher at her school, Phoenix really learns that it's more than teaching children. And he's always been open to learn.

OR

A teacher au that locked me in a chokehold, and I didn't mind at all.

Words: 5124, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Multi

Characters: Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright, Mitsurugi Reiji | Miles Edgeworth, Ayasato Chihiro | Mia Fey, Ayasato Mayoi | Maya Fey, Houzuki Tomoe | Lana Skye, Houzuki Akane | Ema Skye, Kaminogi Souryuu | Diego Armando, Yahari Masashi | Larry Butz, Itonokogiri Keisuke | Dick Gumshoe, Karuma Mei | Franziska von Karma, Suzuki Mako | Maggey Byrde, other side characters, Original Characters, Other Character Tags to Be Added

Relationships: Mitsurugi Reiji | Miles Edgeworth/Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright, Minor or Background Relationship(s)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Nobody became a lawyer, Phoenix loves art with all his heart, So now everyone is a teacher, Author was actually homeschooled, and knows nothing about school, Author Is Sleep Deprived, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, anyway actual tags, Fluff, Domestic Fluff, 12 years of slow burn, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, And the responsibility is children, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Found Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, all angst, if any - Freeform, revolves around the fool that is Miles Edgeworth, This does start off at the first game timeline, roughly, and then goes further on, so we'll get Trucy and Apollo later, Other Additional Tags to Be Added

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/XHJBlLD This is an automatic feed of all new stories posted to the Miles Edgeworth/Phoenix Wright tag on AO3. Because of that, it is not guaranteed that Miles and Phoenix are the main characters in the story, nor the only ship. Please verify content upon clicking through to AO3.

[smolgirlowo]

Alright it lady who thinks way to much about Ema Skye time.

Okay, first, the MASON System segment is just kind of a mess from a ‘what really happened’ & ‘when did it happen’ perspective. The reveal at the end suggests it’s all footage Nick recorded that was then stitched into an FMV game/trial aid, but the presence of Psyche-locks means the footage has been edited and can’t be fully trusted, and bringing Present evidence to the Past breaks time and reliability of the contents to an even more insane degree, which leaves a lot up in the air.

So, if you interpret the Present scenes (or at least Kristoph’s) to be real footage and the past as merely representations, then the most likely chain of events is Ema 1) came back from Europe, 2) found out Nick was disbarred, 3) came over to talk and/or yell at him, 4) and then she gave Nick the button after he explained (some of) the details of what he was up to.

The major possible issue with this is that Nick has the button in 4-1, but we don’t have a firm date on when Ema came back, and assuming it happened before that case isn’t a big stretch. The minor possible issue is that Ema doesn’t know Trucy exists, but like, Nick & Ema could’ve met she was busy at school or work, and ‘btw I have a daughter now’ is table stakes in a conversation about Nick’s machinations.

If you interpret both the Past and Present sections to be real footage, then you end up needing Nick to have had the button 7 years ago. In this case you get a bunch of possibilities, including: Ema gave Nick that button after 1-5 and it never comes up again until AA4 because that’s the nature of an add on case (see also the fingerprinting powder); Ema gave Nick the button sometime around her visits to California in the investigations games; those buttons are just part of a product line and Nick saw one at a shop one day and bought it because it reminded him of Ema; and anything else you can think of.

Also of note that none of these options are mutually exclusive to the only partially real interpretation. Nick could have had the hidden camera all the way back then and simply not warn it, or the footage was too difficult to work with for the purpose of showing the jury so it was replaced. And in either case, there are dozens of ways to get the camera into Nick’s possession without him and Ema having to be in any form of contact before she came back to California.

No idea what, if any, are actually supposed to be canon through.

Okay, now the fun stuff. The reality is that Kristoph’s is canonically a very famous lawyer with a stupidly famous brother, so there’s just going to be footage of him in court, in advertisements, and in press interviews all over the internet. All Ema has to do is watch that shit for way to many hours and keep practicing her impression, and she can do that mimic after a while. Plus it’s always seemed more like that’s something she does specifically to tease Klavier, and maybe Apollo, than anything to do with Phoenix and Kristoph’s shit.

Personally, I ignore that reasonable idea for one of my personal head canons, which is that Ema is a trans woman, and if she drops her voice training and goes into her masculine range, she just naturally sounds like Kristoph. No preparation, practice, or thought needed; she can just do that voice whenever to fuck with the boys.

The only safe things we really have about the 7 year gap for Ema is that she got at least a bachelor’s degree in a forensic science field, she didn’t come back to California again, and Phoenix never visited her on one of his trips to Europe. I like to assume she got a Masters degree, started making out with Kay, and worked a bunch of cases with Miles and Franziska in an assistant capacity.

I also like to think the reason Ema only finds out Nick was disbarred after moving back was due to a comedy of errors on the part of Miles Edgeworth and company. A cavalcade of ‘I thought you told her!’ and the likes.

Hey so what’s the deal with Ema in AA4. Phoenix uses the button she keeps on her lab coat as a recording device so they're definetely in some kind of contact but she also talks about not hearing from him in ages and she knows Kristoph’s voice well enough to do a perfect mimic. What the fuck was she UP to during that 7yg

[borom1r]

ace attorney asks!! (I'm sorry you're having a night,, I hope it doesn't stay that way ❤❤) ummm I would actually love to hear if you have any side/case-specific characters you're fond of and why!! & if you'd like smth more specific, I would love to hear abt either maya + miles bestie-isms or maybe how you think franziska & phoenix's relationship is after he and miles are officially together!!!

I feel like this is sooo obvious but Jake Marshal!! also Ron and Dessie DeLite!

idk that I have a lot of specific Thoughts abt them but they were all rlly standout characters to me

I also enjoyed Hugh and Robin, actually— Robin is so transfem to me. in my heart of hearts she’s trans 💞

there r honestly so many characters I wld love to see Come Back who like, obviously Won’t but still. Godot I am biting u soso much. this is not coherent im sorry but I would rlly truly genuinely love a prequel focusing on Mia n Diego like pleeeeeeease!!! PLEASE!!!!!!! give Mia her own game for realsies it’s what she deserves 😩

+ like OUGH. Maya Miles bestie hours.. I think, particularly early on wrt him n Phoenix reconnecting, he can be.. not more GENUINE per se, but he certainly puts less pressure on himself to try and hit some like. ideal the way he does w Phoenix. and not even necessarily consciously, but like, Maya doesn’t have this idealized childhood savior version of him propped up in her head.

and this is like, Me Projecting bc hey I can do that :3 but I’ve started trying 2 like. give myself more space to actually BE nonverbal when im overstimulated instead of forcing myself to maintain verbal communication— and I think Maya knows sign language from her childhood with Mia (Mia figuring out quickly that it was a good way for them to communicate if/when Maya went non-verbal— and Mia probably being the only person she felt comfortable signing with bc, well, she’s so bubbly and outgoing and really, she can’t POSSIBLY be non-verbal, they all know the moment she TRIES she’ll be talking their ears off!! So Maya forces herself to talk around the adults and signed with Mia).

and her recognizing overstimulation in Miles before he’s even really giving himself the space to recognize it himself— coming over to annoy him because he NEVER visits Phoenix and she gets it but she MISSES him and… stopping when she sees the way his shoulders hunch and his fingers clench around his pen and he’s staring pointedly at the papers on his desk because he’s been TRYING to focus, trying to force himself to function like a NORMAL adult (except not really; he’s aiming for Von Karma standards whether he wants to admit it or not and that’s not exactly normal). Maya gently tapping the desk to get him to look and signing, and the mixture of relief and sheer confusion when he realizes she’s providing accommodations he’d never admit to needing while also having absolutely no idea what she just said.

That first evening passes with Maya signing while speaking softly, and Miles writing his responses on a spare notepad, but slowly he learns more and more from her until he’s practically fluent too— they can spend a whole evening conversing about the chaos of the legal world and the equally chaotic reworks to Steel Samurai lore without ever saying a word out loud, and those are moments Miles always treasures

(and, when Phoenix stops him one night when he’s particularly overstimulated, clumsily signing “it’s okay, Maya’s teaching me” Miles feels so grateful to know her that he could, possibly, cry. He admits to nothing, but he does text her that she’s his favorite person in the world. She quickly responds “we both know that’s actually Nick, but ily2 ^u^” and it’s definitely one of those moments where it hits him that he Has A Family Now, For The First Time In Years)

ALSO Maya feels very much like the kind of person to say “I love you” very liberally. Especially because of how young she lost Mia + feeling like she didn’t let her sister know enough, even if her feelings are complicated. so I’m sure you can imagine the sort of (very hushed) gossip that goes around whenever people catch Maya leaving (Miles giving her a one armed hug and unable to stop himself from smiling a little even as he TRIES to glower intimidatingly at his subordinates while Maya exclaims “okay BYE Mr. Edgeworth LOVE YOU!! Good luck in court, you better come to game night!!!”)

(he does, of course, come to game night)

(Maya has definitely channeled a spirit to win at LEAST twice and they have yet to decide if it counts as cheating or not since technically it’s not looking up an answer!! but also it is kinda looking up an answer.)

+ lastly ok I’ve probs talked abt this before but I do like the idea that they maintain the sort of silly rivalry they start with but more in a “if you turn my brother into even MORE of a fool you WILL face my wrath, Phoenix Wright” “pffft yeah right, Maya will never let you live it down if you break out the whip at dinner on Saturday” “…I will exact my revenge in other, more subtle ways.”

She sends him a Top Ten Scariest Things Caught On Camera compilation at three in the morning one night (thank you different time zones, she loves being in a different time zone) and he texts back “I hate you >:(“ but they are both laughing. There’s no one he would trust to take care of Maya more than her and there’s no one she would trust to care for Miles more than him.

Also I’ve DEF talked abt it from Phoenix’s POV (texting her at night to confirm Maya’s safe when he has nightmares about her being kidnapped/in danger) but Franziska ABSOLUTELY texts him every now and then like “Miles is there?” and Phoenix knows she would never outright admit to either him or Miles how much Miles’ “death” affected her. Asking if he’s there (safe, nearby, a phone call away) is as close they’ll get — Phoenix always responds as soon as he can (“yep, we’re making dinner!” or “he’s at his office, I’ll see him in forty minutes for lunch” or “he and Maya have a coffee date, you can double check with her but I wouldn’t wanna interrupt their Steel Samurai gossip session”)

She doesn’t always respond, but Phoenix gets it, and he’s always happy to let her know— he’s okay just getting a one-word (or sometimes one letter, if it’s super late for her) response about Maya, but he knows she needs more detail to put her mind at ease (Evidence is key, after all; you can’t build a perfect case without all the information) and he’s happy to provide

They definitely all have dinner together once a week (either just the four of them out at a restaurant, or their entire “family” at one of their houses— Miles and Phoenix, Trucy, Maya and Franziska, Klavier and Apollo, Pearl, Kay, Emma, Athena and Juniper, Simon if he’s feeling up to group interactions, Gumshoe and Maggie if they’re in town, even Larry sometimes). It gets hectic and usually they only get EVERYONE together for holidays, but all of them spent so long with nothing, losing everyone they loved, that having such an ABUNDANCE of connection really is something for them to revel in.

[tropicalfreckles]

Oh man I have an Ace Attorney x Lupin III fanfic idea now. I already have the murder victim in mind and the cast (thinking of setting it post game 2 pre game 3 so I have an excuse to add Edgeworth as a the opposing prosecutor) and keeping the cast simple. Just having original characters as props of course (murder victim, 2 or 3 witnesses, the murderer, maybe an accomplice), then Lupin, Jigen, Fujiko, Goemon, Zenigata (maybe yata idk) Phoenix, Maya, Mia (via channeling a few times, she doesn't come in too much), Pearl, Gumshoe, Edgeworth and the Judge (maybe a cameo from franziska, haven't decided yet)

and I might have a mini cameo of my Lupin oc cause I'm self indulgent and this is my fic.

I might draw illustrations sometimes for the chapters. I still have the Kiyoko fic I need to finish too (chapter 3 is a slow process for that) but this has been in my head for a year almost.

I decided to leave out Case Closed from it cause I didn't feel like writing that many characters. Maybe I'll do more 3 way crossover drawings later.

I'll have to replay the ace attorney first trilogy to get in character and get inspiration for punny names.