#i fucking hate clay terran

[squarerooto]

clay terran is not an underappreciated character. he barely qualifies as a character in the first place. he exists solely to die. he is nothing but a piece of attractive white bread. you guys will fawn over a rock if it was male. you'd rather draw fanart or write fics or make an entire fucking zine about this one throwaway character than we never got to meet when he was alive than appreciate any of the other actually underappreciated female characters in the franchise.

[grassiestars]

⚖️🚀

[happypartytrain]

i wholeheartedly believe clay terran was the funniest (and most frustrating) motherfucker to ever grace planet earth

- would always jailbreak new phones immediately & constantly had his location set to antarctica. this made it impossible to locate him

- sometimes screamed after he popped his neck and then pretended nothing happened (in public)

- found a bottle of ketchup in his grandma’s pantry that expired in 1999. proceeded to steal it and kept it at home in his shower to confuse any guests. he only had like 1 friend & apollo can’t really do anything but wonder about it now (“he was probably fucking with me, but it slowly started getting more empty….”)

— btw, when apollo went to clean out his apartment after everything happened, the bottle was gone. yuri cosmos later found it in clay’s HAT-2 belongings. he was 100% going to target starbuck with this in space.

- had a phase where he would only use microsoft bing & said “binging it” instead of “googling it”

- he had a bit of an irrational stapler fear because he got himself once, so until he got over it he’d MAKE APOLLO STAPLE THINGS FOR HIM. this included his GYAXA application.

— he got over it one day, but he kind of started punching staplers to get the job done. clay was ballsy and would jump fences & stage sabotages but he would get nervous around staplers. (“IT’S TOO CLOSE!” grown ass man)

- was very conventionally attractive & overall kind. so “how are you still single?” was a common question at bars until clay started ranting (unprompted) about how much he hated the voice they use at crosswalks or some shit (“oh. that’s why.”)

- never really cared about winning in multiplayer games or anything. he just really really wanted to make sure a person of his choosing lost. cosmos picked the right guy for the job — sabotage was in his blood since day 1 when he was steering himself and apollo off the rails in that mario party minecart race

— btw he mained donkey kong in mario party. if you stole donkey kong from him you would be losing that game hell or high waters. he is stealing ALL YOUR STARS

- did his taxes on the last possible day (that, or apollo would do them for him because as much as he loved the guy, he really didn’t have high faith he’d get around to it. he…………. also probably did wright’s taxes while he was in the beanix phase. ….and athena’s because she didn’t know how. oh, someone please save apollo.)

[mio-nika]

Out of everything I hate in Dual Destinies. And by everything I mean almost every part of the game. I hate the Clay Terran inclusion the most. And not because I hate the kid.

It's just such a shitty plot move. They added him just to create drama with Apollo. Like. It's the only reason why he exists. He has no backstory. No character. He just THE GUY WHO DIED SO APOLLO CAN FEEL SAD AND DOUBTFUL NOW.

They done Clay dirty. They done Apollo dirty. It's like half of the game is written by monkeys.

----

Dual destinies is like:

We created fucking templates so you can project your original characters on them! They have almost no personality or story, so have fun. Also two of the have the same design. And the contradicting stories. So you can have a worst holywars in the fandom <3

And the templates are like

- happy dog

- starkid

- the horrors

[berryhotel]

4 and 49?

HII TY!!

4. Favourite Witness?

OOO i have so many... i think it has to be tied though between april may and wocky kitaki!

49. Victim you would’ve liked to see more of? (Not e.g. victim of the second case of the first game. A victim we haven’t seen basically anything of!)

(major AA5 and AA6 spoilers) clay terran and jove justice 😞 i fucking hate capcom for REAL!!!

[spiralstain]

.

[4ragon]

I'm not the original anonymous but I would extremely want to see that essay about Apollo's trust issues.

Also since I just finished Spirit of Justice, do you think Lamiroir ever told Trucy/Apollo about her and if so what would be their reactions?

Let’s see if I can write this up without crying again like I did on twitter.

So a while ago a friend of mine asked me why I liked Apollo, and I really couldn’t put my finger on it. I knew he was my favorite, but unlike Simon Blackquill, I hadn’t done that deep dive into figuring out why. I’d always just sort of loved him, and was never able to pinpoint the part that made me care about him so much. It drove me crazy, too, I love rambling about characters that I love, and I love writing from Apollo’s perspective more than anything. So why did I love him? Why did I care about him?

Well. I figured it out. I figured out my answer.

I think there are two things that characterize Apollo more than anything. One: He has trust issues. He genuinely believes that the people around him don’t give a shit about him. Especially after being betrayed multiple times in that first trial, he truly and deeply believes that the people around him are only trying to hurt him and is too scared to really believe that they care about him.

And two: He cares so much about the people around him that he constantly helps them anyway.

So like. And I won’t tag her because I don’t think she’d appreciate it, but I was watching the laquilasse AA4 stream last night, and the entire opening of Turnabout Corner is so striking to me, especially right after the end of Turnabout Trump. At the end of Turnabout Trump, Apollo’s trust and belief in Phoenix is finally and thoroughly shattered, and Apollo lashes out, punching Phoenix in the face. And for good reason! That was a huge breach of trust! Apollo literally did the exact thing that got Phoenix disbarred, namely present evidence that wasn’t real. Sure, they never exactly claimed it was the real deal, but Apollo didn’t even know it was faked, he just trusted Phoenix and this new piece of evidence and it almost fucked him over. It did sort of fuck him over, he did lose his job and his Mentor.

And then, Phoenix calls him and says that they’re in trouble, and Apollo doesn’t even question it, of course he shows up to help.

Like. You can feel how much he mistrusts Trucy on their first meeting, in everything he does and says. Especially when Trucy and Phoenix are in the same room, he’s actively thinking about how he doesn’t ‘buy their act’ when Phoenix is calling Trucy daughter-ly nicknames. And then, in a way, he’s kind of right? They guilt him into essentially being their errand boy, and I feel like they’re constantly and loudly using him throughout so much of the game.

And Apollo was there anyway. Apollo doesn’t even trust them and he’s still there the first instant Phoenix says he needs his help.

Like you can loudly do and say whatever you want and crush his dreams and betray his trust, and despite everything, there’s always that part of Apollo that desperately needs to help anyone who asks him. He can’t even bring himself to trust them, and he’s still crawling back the moment someone needs him, ready to let them disappoint him over again.

Like this struck me about Apollo from the moment I played AA4, but he’s so lonely? And desperate for connection? He cares so much about a world that has always and consistently never cared about him, and he just keeps caring and keeps caring even as that starry-eyed naivete is ripped away. And I feel like he just wants someone to care about him back, but never really able to believe that they do, because they never really seem to, because every time he allows himself to trust it’s just thrown back in his face so horribly.

Here’s an interesting thing I noticed: in Turnabout Trump, there’s a really interesting line. Phoenix has accused Kristoph of being the murderer, the extra person in the room. Kristoph takes the stand and claims to have witnessed the moment Phoenix committed the murder. And this exchange happens:

Apollo: There must have been someone else there at the moment of the crime!

Kristoph: Justice... I just said I saw no one. Not a soul.

Apollo: B-But, that goes against what Mr. Wright said!

Kristoph: Ah yes, this mysterious "fourth person"... ...who would conveniently be the "real killer", I suppose.

And this is well past the point where Phoenix has accused Kristoph of being that person. There’s no possibility at this point that they’re both innocent, it’s either one or the other. And Apollo is still so desperately trying to find a way for them both to be innocent, basically saying, “Just give me a fourth person and I’ll believe you.” And then Kristoph turned out to be a monster, and then Phoenix turned out to have betrayed Apollo from the start, and as far as Apollo is ever aware, none of the care from either of these men was ever real. He trusted, and he suffered the consequences.

But again. He’s still there. Someone pointed out a while ago, but Apollo stays. Apollo shows up to the Wright Talent Agency under false pretenses, and he complains and hems and haws, and he still stays. Why?

Phoenix and Trucy loudly manipulate him into working their case. They’re perfectly happy to flaunt that they’re basically tricking him. And he stays. Why?

Because Apollo can’t trust them, but he wants to so fucking bad. He doesn’t even seem to like Phoenix that much, but he wants that connection so fucking bad. He cares about them so much and he doesn’t believe for a second that they extend that feeling back at him, and he’s compelled to stay anyway.

He knows Trucy is practically using him, and he’s a sobbing mess when he thinks she was kidnapped for a few minutes. He’s cynical and mean and it’s all just to cover up the fact that he loves all these people around him with all his heart and they never once pay it back. And he comes back anyway. He’s like a fucking loyal dog that is never given enough affection and so he’s constantly trying harder and harder to earn that love while never believing he’ll ever really get it.

(Shit nope crying again)

It’s just so sad. And this is all without adding anything from the 3D games. The 3D games do build on this theme in one way or another, but from the get go, this is who Apollo is. A caring young man who is constantly punished for caring and yet can’t stop caring anyway.

We see it again in the 3D games. And I think part of why I don’t enjoy DD as much as SoJ is that DD doesn’t capture this mistrust the same way. It’s so surface level, that sense of betrayal and mistrust and anger he gets consumed by in that final case. And the worst part is it doesn’t have to be! There’s already that foundation! Apollo has been hurt already a million times. The only person he’s ever been able to trust, the only lifeline that’s kept him above water since he was a child, was Clay Terran, and now that was taken from him because he DARED to trust someone new. That’s so fucking compelling! But we never get that! We never get to see how Apollo is feeling. We get that he’s convinced Athena did the murder, but never really get into the Why, into the What This Means for Apollo.

It’s a bit better in SoJ. We see how far he’s come in terms of trusting people when he trusts in Trucy wholly and immediately in case two. And then, conversely, we see his mistrust and hurt when they introduce Dhurke into the mix. Apollo refuses point blank to believe that Dhurke had come to visit him, that Dhurke cared about him. Apollo demands to know why Dhurke was there, what Dhurke wanted, how Dhurke was going to use him. He’s been able to slowly start building that trust with people like Trucy, but he still cannot let himself trust again when Dhurke had already betrayed that trust.

I said it before, but as much as I hate the slapdash ways in which Capcom keeps throwing backstory at this boy, I love what the backstories are, because they build on this angry, cynical, lonely young man I care about so much. He’s been hurt and abandoned and used and betrayed since he was young, and being good never truly paid off for so long, but he kept doing it, he kept being good, he kept caring about people because he couldn’t help it, and kept hoping that maybe they could care back. And eventually I think it does start paying off for him. People do start caring about him. And I feel like it takes until around SoJ for him to start really believing that the people around him might care about him too.

Also congrats on finishing SoJ! Since there’s a very good chance that they might be announcing AA7 soon, I...hope? fear? expect? that they’ll touch on this then. However, I also worry that they’re going to botch it up so hard.

I know what I want to happen. I want Trucy to be angry. I want her to be angry at Lamiroir and Phoenix. She is constantly putting on a mask to try to make the people she loves happy, and I feel like this is a reasonable breaking point. After all, this is kind of the one thing that Phoenix hasn’t been honest with her about. She had a brother right there, and knew the whole time?! She had a mother there the whole time?! And no one bothered to tell her?! I think she’d be heartbroken, and I think she deserves to be angry. She’s been through so much, and they never give her time to really grieve or be upset.

I think Apollo would be ecstatic and angry at the same time. All he’s ever wanted was family, and now he does! He already loved Trucy, and thought Lamiroir was amazing, so I think he would be so happy to have that family back in his life. On the flip side, I do think he’d be angry at Phoenix, particularly for keeping it to himself before Lamiroir came into the picture, but I think if they talked it out, Apollo would come around to it and be able to forgive Phoenix.

[queenlua]

Ace Attorney case tier list

so, in the past year, i finished replaying games 1 through 5 for the first time in forever, and also played game 6 for the first time ever

so here’s where i ruthlessly rank each of the cases based on that most scientific metric of all, My Opinions:

OPENING CASES

S-tier: Turnabout Trump (4-1).  I already knew this case, and I still gasped with surprise when Phoenix showed up, and when Kristoph showed his true colors, and when Apollo realized OH SHIT OH FUCK I REALLY AM ACCUSING MY BOSS OF MURDER HUH... what a wonderful, splashy, shockingly concise case to open up the post-O.G. trilogy world.  Marvelous.

A-tier: Turnabout Memories (3-1).  Seeing Mia Fey (finally!) in action is a long-awaited delight; seeing Phoenix being a total dumbass was an unexpected-yet-perfect and fitting delight.

B-tier: The First Turnabout (1-1).  Solid lil’ case with some conventional-but-well-executed humor.  I’ve got a soft spot for Larry Butz.

C-tier: The Lost Turnabout (2-1), The Foreign Turnabout (6-1).  The former’s fine but a little forgettable; the latter has some fun gags (Payne’s ridiculous new outfit, dude absolutely shredding on the mandolin, etc) but is marred by how uh... kinda silly the game’s core conceit is, lol

E-tier: Turnabout Countdown (5-1).  The context surrounding this introduction is just sloppy (badly handled in media res + let’s lowkey retcon game 4 isn’t a great setup), and also the case itself is just. irksome. ted tonate is just fundamentally irritating to look at

FINALE CASES

S-tier: Bridge to the Turnabout (3-5), Turnabout Goodbyes (1-4).  No explanation needed.  God they fuck so hard

A-tier: The Cosmic Turnabout + Turnabout for Tomorrow (5-4 + 5-5), Turnabout Succession (4-4).

The former two cases are what makes AA5 worth it, and they make for a tremendously fun ride.  It fumbles the execution in some notable ways (Apollo’s sudden j’accuse moment feels a little forced/awkward/inadequately foreshadowed, and damn it sure would’ve been nice to know Clay Terran at all before he died, and also The Phantom’s final meltdown could’ve used a bit more emotional heft)... but okay let’s be real, I’m here for Simon Blackquill, and this case gives me so much of him so who gives a shit.  (And Aura!  Condescending obnoxious engineering queen!  I love her!)  

As for Turnabout Succession... while I earnestly wish the game had explored more of Klavier’s feelings about this whole setup, and some more emotional beats for Apollo, the case still makes for such a satisfyingly twisty and fun investigation overall (the poison stamp! what a ridiculous murder method! I love it!) that it’s a more-than-worthy finale.

B-tier: Turnabout Revolution (6-5), Farewell, My Turnabout (2-4).

The former does some cool stuff—I particularly like the opening half, where Apollo’s being real snippy and coping with Frankly Bizarre Dad Feelings, and giving Apollo a chance to finally throw down against Phoenix is a blast.  The latter half of the case starts feeling a little... ridiculous? cramped? idk? like, they didn’t do nearly enough foreshadowing about Nahyuta’s whole deal for me to care about his drama, this justice system is so obviously silly and the manner in which the revolution is playing out strains my already-suspended-sky-high disbelief... fun, and flashy, but more noise than signal in the last part, I guess.

As for Farewell, My Turnabout: of course I love Edgeworth rolling back into court goin’ through SOME kind of bizarre emotional arc of Hey I’m Totally Healed Now and obnoxiously preaching about Truth TM.  And it’s cool that the game set up a case where you want to lose.  But the net result is a bit strange tonally—it’s trying set up some kind of message about It’s Not Just About Winning, It’s About Pursuing The Truth, but it feels really muddled when that’s combined with Okay But Maya’s Literally Being Held Hostage Like Right Now, Surely A Reasonable Justice System Has A Process For Dealing With This Obviously Complicated Situation, Right?

but also Franziska takes a fucking bullet (how did I forget about that) and then gets to roll in like Ms. Save The Day so, really, lots of good shit here

FILLER CASES

S-tier: Reunion, and Turnabout (2-2), Turnabout Beginnings (3-4).  Look, the first one gives me all the Fey family drama a girl could ask for, and the latter gives me young Edgeworth being a total shit in an obnoxiously shimmery outfit.  The whole enchilada is here

A+ tier: The Magical Turnabout (6-2).  DELIGHTFUL!  MAGICIAN!  SHENANIGANS!  Like you get to guess the trick behind a magic act as part of the case, how fucking fun is that, and also the Apollo & Athena duo’s chemistry is perfect, the villain is a FANTASTIC bastard, and even the bit characters you meet during the investigation are total delights... Probably the best “standalone” case in the series, in that it doesn’t rely on any emotional connections to previous cases (unlike 2-2 and 3-4) to still totally and completely rule.

A tier: Turnabout Samurai (1-3), Turnabout Reclaimed (5-DLC).

For Turnabout Samurai, I remembered before this replay how delightful the TV SHOW STUDIO investigation and actor-fandom stuff was; I had TOTALLY forgotten Vasquez calling in her mob connections to try and wreck you.  What a fantastic villain; what a fun case.

Turnabout Reclaimed is just good solid goofy nonsense.  Probably receives a boost for me in particular because, yeah, Simon Blackquill.  But then again who isn’t giving cases a boost on that account; they are MISSING OUT

B tier: The Stolen Turnabout (3-2).  Ron and Desirée are so great sighs into hands

C tier: Listing roughly in order of preference: Turnabout Academy (5-3), Turnabout Serenade (4-3), Turnabout Sisters (1-2), Recipe for a Turnabout (3-3), Rite of the Turnabout (6-3), Rise from the Ashes (1-5).

Four of these (5-3, 4-3, 1-2, 3-3) are perfectly solid cases; I just don’t love them quite as much as “thievery hijinks” or “Hollywood hijinks” or other such particularly delightful flavors.  Everyone has a favorite flavor of Jolly Rancher and all that.

Rite of the Turnabout is interesting and connected with the larger themes of the game in a cool way, and makes good use of the divination mechanic.  However, the last bit gets twisty enough to actually be kind of confusing, and said larger themes of the game are... kinda hard for me to take seriously... which, yeah, leads to it feeling a little stilted when it really should be singing.

Rise from the Ashes landed awkwardly for me.  I know it was added well after the first game’s release, and it does a good job of continuing some of the cool stuff from that game—it’s neat, in isolation, to see Phoenix and Edgeworth working together (while still sniping at each other!), and some of the DS-specific mechanics are neat.  However, I just didn’t feel like I learned quite enough about Ema and Lana to care about them like I should, and retconning “(almost certainly true) rumors that Edgeworth was involved in Shady Shit TM” into “actually Edgeworth was totally ignorant of Shady Shit TM, like at worst his crime was willful ignorance / incuriosity, he was just been manipulated by the Police Chief”... makes Edgeworth less interesting to me!  Like, it’s cool to see Edgeworth caught off-guard and under pressure, but I wish the circumstances had been different?  Also Gant’s theme song is annoying as shit, which is petty but hey this is my blog post so

D tier: Turnabout Storyteller (6-4), Turnabout Corner (4-2), Turnabout Big Top (2-3), The Monstrous Turnabout (5-2).

Turnabout Storyteller has some fun gags with My Dude Simon and also Taka, but was heavily marred by Everyone Talking Down To Athena The Entire Fucking Case Oh My God Can You All Just Shut Up.

Turnabout Corner has... lots of fun elements but... look the fucking stolen-panties setup just grates ok

I don’t think I hate Turnabout Big Top the way most people seem to, but I did find the final murder setup more annoying that I remembered this playthrough—bro you were really sure the dude was going to conveniently stand right there and the heavy statue was definitely going to strike a killing blow and not just give the guy a concussion?  ok lol

The Monstrous Turnabout suffers mostly from poor puzzle/investigation design, being too hand-hold-y, and also having a core gimmick/setting that just wasn’t really my thing.  Alas!

[eggsmuses-a]

uHHHHH FUCK IT *slams desk* Your lawyer blorbos. Hand em over. Asgshshs (Ace Attorney, or alternatively Danganronpa if you'd prefer!)

send me a fandom for my blorbos etc ! / accepting

BOTH BOTH IS GOOD

blorbo : for aa its gotta be apollo NO DOUBTS ABOUT IT . i love him hes me but . lawyer and hes never not been my aa blorbo SJGSGS but close behind him is trucy because GRAMARYE SIBS !!! literally the best javsjagav but i love the entirety of the waa with my whole heart

for danganronpa no doubt about it its shuichi . hes always been my favourite and thats not changing anytime soon i just wish i had the muse to keep writing on @/dctccted right now D:

scrunkly : if trucy does not get to be no 1 blorbo she will rule as THE scrunkly . i think about her a lot . i want to bite zak and so does she

for dr its much harder to decide ... probably jataro ! ive always had a soft spot for him specifically and though i love the woh hes probably got the least troublesome issues than the others that i cant handle ( looking at you kotoko ) hes always been my kid and i want the absolute best for him ... i have so many headcanons for him most of which are based on crack things from disc rps but god ! hes so sweet ! have i ever mentioned how i think jataro sees shuichi as a father figure ??? and shuichi gladly takes that role just to prove hes better than his parents KGANAVAV

scrimblo bimblo : I THINK THAT AURA DESERVES MORE LOVE SHES JUST SO GAY AND TRAGIC SHES PROBABLY TIED VERY CLOSELY FOR POOR LITTLE MEOW MEOW

AND FOR DR ?? HARD CHOICE BETWEEN RYOKO AND YUI BC NOVEL CHARACTERS MY FRICKIN BELOVED !! THEY NEED LOVE AND THERAPY PLS

glup shitto : this is probably really hard for aa to choose but at the same time so easy .... clay terran . clay deserved so much more and i have such STRONG feelings about him and the fact his name is like ?? literally hinting he’d never get to go to space bc irony haha funny ( fuck you btw capcom ) AND LIKE APOLLO IS SO TRAUMATISED AND IT ALL STARTED HERE WITH HIS BEST FRIEND YKNOW ??? LIKE OBVIOUSLY NOT CHRONOLOGICALLY CLAY DIES BEFORE EVERYTHING BUT OHHH MY GOD IMAGINE YOUR ONLY FRIEND DYING ???? AJAGJAGSHS ????

for dr it’s actually hilarious kagsjaga the concept art for udg had swole monokuma . i made swole monokuma my entire personality for a solid month or two because it was EVERYWHERE its hilarious LMAO

poor little meow meow : EDGEWORTH !! EDGEY !!! this man can fit so much angst and unnecessary feelings it is not funny i literally will NOT shut up about him if you get me started . tied behind edgeworth is definitely apollo tho since i love my red men who are sad KSGHSVS and mia . god mia :(

sayaka !! she gets so much trash from everyone for fending herself ?? like yeah she shouldnt have attempted to kill leon but cmon man she didnt want to die out . do you know how hard it is to grow into an idol in japan ???? to make a name for yourself ESPECIALLY at that age ???? cmon man

horse plinko : i hate to say it but apollo ...... but if i had to choose someone i hate ????? both the paynes AND ALSO hickfield and brushel . and aristotle . hate these guys

for dr its definitely nagito , byakuya and kokichi because antags who i hate a love - hate relationship with . assholes . the lot of them LMAO

eeby deeby : literally everyone except apollo who i just mentioned but im willing to be more lenient with byakuya kokichi and nagito . ill send junko instead

[rootbeerfloats]

guys i am goingto be honest i still dont understand why people hate clay terran so much 😭 like not caring about him i can understand i dont care abt him either given the fact that the first time you see him is just him being fucking dead and basically nothing else but ive seen people who viscerally hate him and im always like HUH? hes just some guy 💀

[matsuropalette]

*leans into mic* I don't hate Clay Terran *fucking sprints away before I am killed*

*aiming a gun* start zigzagging, lampliker

[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.

[hopeisour4letteredword]

believe in me (who believes in you)

Summary: “You just said you couldn’t promise not to die.” “Ema was the one who brought up dying,” Apollo says. “I’m not dying. It’s just a cold. I’m fine.” Klavier tries to think of a line of attack that isn’t just telling Apollo he’s wrong, actually.

read it here on AO3 if you prefer.

Klavier needs to get this defense attorney off his crime scene. He understands, vaguely, that this is how most of his fellow prosecutors feel about the presence of any defense attorney on their crime scenes at any time. For him, though, it’s a special occasion.

Apollo sneezes.

“Herr Forehead—“

“No,” Apollo snaps.

“I was just going to offer you a handkerchief,” Klavier says.

Apollo squints at him like he thinks maybe Klavier is lying. He’s not—although he was going to follow the handkerchief offer up with one for a ride home, off the crime scene, to someplace warm and safe where he can rest.

“Please don’t die,” Ema says. “We already have enough dead bodies to deal with.”

“I can’t promise anything,” Apollo says. He scrunches his face up like he might sneeze again, but only sniffles miserably.

Klavier passes him the handkerchief.

“Thanks,” Apollo mumbles.

Klavier wavers for a moment, then decides that getting into arguments with Apollo is literally his job, and says, “I really think you should go home.”

Apollo scowls, and opens his mouth.

“You just said you couldn’t promise not to die.”

“Ema was the one who brought up dying,” Apollo says. “I’m not dying. It’s just a cold. I’m fine.”

Klavier tries to think of a line of attack that isn’t just telling Apollo he’s wrong, actually.

“Are you though?” Ema says. “Because you’ve been sneezing nonstop since you got here, and you kind of look like death, and I’ve been thinking about making the fop take your temperature.”

“Why me?” Klavier demands, sidetracked. “You’re the one with the thermometers.”

“If I try to take his temperature he’ll just tell me to go to hell,” Ema says, which is probably true.

“You think I wouldn’t tell Prosecutor Gavin to go to hell?” Apollo says, indignantly.

“I’m not gonna touch that one,” Ema says.

“Well, I would,” Apollo tells Klavier. Klavier tries his very best to look like he believes that. “I would! And nobody is taking my temperature. There’s nothing wrong with my temperature.”

Ema says, “If there’s nothing wrong with your temperature, then you shouldn’t have a problem with us taking it.”

“Don’t you try to bully me with logic!”

“Herr Forehead, I assure you, nobody was under the delusion that logic and reasoning were the best way to change your mind.”

Apollo gives him an outraged look for that one, and Klavier might fear retaliation if he hadn’t spent the last half-hour listening to Apollo’s struggling respiratory system. His favorite defense attorney is in no shape to pick fights. Which is exactly why he needs to go home. Instead, in complete disregard of the conversation, Apollo turns heel and goes back to snooping around the crime scene.

“He’s going to contaminate everything,” Ema says, sorrowfully.

“You’re all heart,” Klavier tells her. He slides his phone out of his pocket and opens his message thread with the chief prosecutor.

Klavier looks up from his phone.

“You let me poke around bloodstains and splatters all the time,” Apollo is saying.

“Yeah, when you aren’t sneezing in them,” Ema says. “What if your germs screw up our blood tests?”

“Herr Forehead,” Klavier calls. Apollo makes an inquiring sound without looking towards him. “The Chief Prosecutor has offered to find another defense attorney for the case.”

Apollo turns then, and Klavier almost winces at his expression. He looks—betrayed, wounded, gutted, any or all of the above.

“You don’t want me on the case?”

“I always want you on my cases,” Klavier says, carefully. “But right now I’m worried about your health.”

“I told you, I’m fine!” Apollo shouts, and immediately pays for it with a coughing fit. Klavier crosses to his side and puts a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I don’t—hrgh—I don’t need to go home.”

“You’re freaking the fop out,” Ema says. “How’s he supposed to help you find the truth if he’s distracted by babysitting you?”

“That won’t be a problem,” Apollo grits out, “Because I don’t need babysitting.”

“I know you can take care of yourself, mausi, but—“

Ema is giving him a scandalized look already—he didn’t mean to use the endearment, it honestly just slipped out, it would be weirder to stop and retract it at this point—but it doesn’t matter, because somewhere behind Klavier, someone hollers at a volume fit to rival Apollo’s Chords of Steel,

“APOLLO FUCKING JUSTICE!”

“Oh shit,” Apollo fucking Justice says.

“I swear,” the voice continues, as Klavier and Ema turn to stare in bewilderment. A young man is stalking towards them. Klavier feels like he’s seen him somewhere before, but he’s not sure where. “To fucking GOD, I can’t leave you alone for FIVE MINUTES—“

“How did you even find me?” Apollo interrupts.

“I used the Find My Phone app for your phone,” the stranger says.

“I gave you access to that for EMERGENCIES!”

“This is an emergency!”

“For life-or-death emergencies!”

“This is—“

“Oh, no it isn’t, don’t even try—“

“I’m allowed to worry,” the stranger says, “When my BEST FRIEND in the WHOLE WORLD—“

“We are in front of my COLLEAGUES—“

“—Just, like, disappears the second I take my eyes off him even though I KNOW he’s sick and stupidly self-sacrificing—“

“I am NOT THAT—“

“Oh, hey,” he says, turning to Klavier and Ema. “Prosecutor Gavin and Detective Skye, right? I totally forgot, we haven’t actually met, have we? Apollo’s talked about you guys so much, I feel like I already know you—“

“CLAY,” Apollo yells, and then sneezes violently.

“I’m Clay Terran,” Clay continues, cheerfully. He sticks a hand out to Klavier. “And I’m here to take this dumbass off your hands.”

Klavier feels the beginnings of a smile overtake him as he shakes Clay’s hand. That’s why he looked familiar; Apollo has shown him pictures. “I hope one or two of the things you heard was good.”

“Oh, overwhelmingly net positive.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Apollo says, hoarsely, as Clay shakes Ema’s hand.

“Sunshine, you sound like you have asthma right now, you aren’t killing anyone.”

Apollo gives him a dark look.

“Come on, man. We can go visit my dad and get him to feed us or something. Get you some warm food and drink, and cold medicine—“

“I don’t need cold medicine,” Apollo says, “And I’m not leaving this crime scene unless Kl—Prosecutor Gavin says he doesn’t trust the case with me anymore.”

No pressure or anything. Ema slides Klavier a sympathetic grimace.

Clay says, “Remember that time I got the death flu and I was convinced I was gonna be taken off the mission if I took a sick day and you told me I wasn’t Ken fucking Mattingly?”

“Yes,” Apollo says, with obvious reluctance.

“You’re not Ken fucking Mattingly, Apollo.”

“Someone else taking his job because he was sick is literally exactly what happened to Ken Mattingly,” Apollo says.

“Who the hell is Ken Mattingly?” Ema ask Klavier, under her breath. Klavier shrugs helplessly. He has no clue.

“This is a court case, not a fucking space mission,” Clay says. “There will be other cases. Dude, please. Come get some dinner with me and go home and sleep. I don’t wanna watch you burn yourself out.”

Apollo opens his mouth, brows furrowed dangerously. Klavier knows that look almost intimately. It’s the one he gets from across the courtroom when Herr Forehead is about to pick a fight. It’s the look that precedes the yelling. Clay visibly braces himself, jaw clenched and chin tilted upwards. Klavier feels Ema tense at his shoulder, and he can’t help wincing preemptively either—except that suddenly, Apollo deflates, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose like he has a headache.

He probably does.

“Okay,” he says. “Back up. Let’s pretend we did the whole shouting deal, we both said things we regret, it was really bad, et cetera, et cetera. Can we agree to move past that?”

“Sure,” Clay says, amiably, relaxing a little.

“You didn’t come here to out-stubborn me,” Apollo says. He’s staring at Clay like a witness on the stand. “We’re both stubborn dipshits, you wouldn’t play that game. Or at least you wouldn’t count on it. So what’s your last resort? What’s your trump card, Clay?”

“You’re my best friend and I love you and don’t want you to die,” Clay says, without hesitation. Apollo looks unimpressed, but before he can say anything, Clay adds, “Also, I already told my dad you’re coming to dinner tonight. He’s making soup because he’s worried about you.”

“You told your dad?!”

Clay shrugs, but his expression radiates smug satisfaction.

“You goddamned snitch!”

“I can only imagine how worried he would be if I had to call him back to say you’re actually taking a case right now,” Clay says. With difficulty, he schools his face back to disarming innocence. “Working so hard when you have a fever, out on a crime scene late on a chilly night…”

“It’s not even cold out. You’re the worst,” Apollo says, sullenly. There’s a defeated slump to his shoulders now. “I hate you.”

Clay grins. “I love you, too, man.”

“Who’s taking my case?” Apollo demands, abruptly turning back to Klavier. Klavier and Ema have been watching the entire exchange like a tennis volley, and both jump a little when Apollo whirls on them.

“Oh, hold on—“ Klavier pulls his phone back out of his pocket and thumbs back to the thread with the Chief Prosecutor. Fortunately, the good Chief has taken the radio silence appropriately and kept him updated on finding a new defense attorney. “Ah, someone called Raymond Shields.”

“I know that guy,” Ema says. Apollo’s expression shifts from sullen to hopeful. “He’s—well, I was gonna say he was weird, but in the grand scheme of people we know he’s not that bad. And he’s got the whole believe in your client thing down. He’ll get the job done.”

“See?” Clay says.

“I’m not speaking to you,” Apollo says, stubbornly not looking back at him. He stays focused on Klavier and Ema. “You’ll take care of it, right? Klavier?”

“Ja, of course,” Klavier says. “We’ll find the truth.”

“Science never lies,” Ema adds. Apollo looks dubious about this, but has the good grace not to say anything. He must really be sick.

“I’m trusting you, okay?”

“I know,” Klavier says. And he does know, although something warm settles in his stomach to hear Apollo confirm it out loud. “Don’t you worry, schatzi. Have I ever let you down before?”

“No,” Apollo grumbles.

“SEE?” Clay says, louder this time.

Apollo spares him a glare, then asks Klavier, “D’you want the easy court victory when I murder him? I’m planning to take credit for it.”

“You’ll have to fight Ms. Blackquill for the privilege of killing me,” Clay retorts.

“No murders,” Klavier tells Apollo. Apollo makes a face at him, but doesn’t resist when Clay steps in close enough to loop a hand around his elbow and start dragging him away from the crime scene. “Get some rest! Relax!”

“Don’t forget, the truth—“

“Yeah, yeah,” Ema says. “We know! Go home already!”

Apollo, evidently committed to the idea of being off the clock, flips her the bird. She sticks her tongue out at him in return.

“Only professionals here,” Klavier says, amused. Clay escorts Apollo across the park to a parked car, and bundles him into the passenger seat before ducking back over to the driver’s side. Klavier and Ema watch in silence as they drive off.

“Thank God,” Ema finally says. “I thought I was gonna have to spend an entire case watching you make sad concerned puppy eyes at him.”

“Hey,” Klavier says.

“Don’t you ‘hey’ me. Mausi? Schatzi?”

Klavier Gavin doesn’t blush. If there’s any heat in his cheeks right now, surely it’s just because it is actually a bit chilly out. “Force of habit.”

“Force of pining, more like,” Ema says, because she’s ruthless and Klavier probably shouldn’t have spent so much time teasing her about her girlfriend. “Keep me updated, will you? I’m sure he’ll text you about how annoyed he is to be at home watching movies and taking naps or whatever.”

“I will,” Klavier says. Ema cares, too, in her own way.

“Now let’s show Mr. Shields how it’s done,” Ema says.

“Oh, let’s.”

And they do.

[isclayterrandeadtoday]

i will tolerate any treatment. like i game alone sometimes, and i'll put up with anything. i'll buy a copy of some garbage game- you know, i don't wanna name an actual game so let's just make one up; let's call it "dual destinies."

so i'll buy a copy of "dual destinies" and i'll show up at turnabout countdown and i'll go, "can i see clay terran now, please?" and they go. “no. he only appears in the fourth turnabout of the game" and i go, "okaaay!" and then i play the first three turnabouts.

and then i finish them and i go, "any updates?" and they go "yeah, we killed off clay while you were playing the first three turnabouts. because we hate you. now take this flashback that makes you cry, go fetch!" and i go "okaaay!" and i go over to the flashback and go, "can i have some real characterization for clay, please?" and they go "NO!" and i go "okaaay!“ and they go, "clay terran is dead, isn’t he?” and i go "nooo," and they go "SAY IT!" and i go “clay terran is dead."

and then i go over to the capcom help desk, which is an oxymoron, and i go, "can clay please just be in a coma?" and they go "no! in fact, we’re gonna pretend he never existed and apollo’s just over his death now! and you’re gonna be trying to fill that void for thirty years!" and i go "why are you doing this to me?!"

and they go, "because we’re dual destinies, and life is a fucking nightmare!"

[healing-hanyou]

Ace Attorney, Danganronpa, Love Live for the ask meme

STRAP YOURSELVES IN, KIDDOS. THIS IS A FUCKING ESSAY RIGHT HERE.

Ace Attorney:

Favorite Male Character: Miles Edgeworth. Shi-Long Lang is great as well. I also have a soft spot for Klavier, Sebastian and Apollo. And, naturally, my space son, Clay Terran.

Favorite Female Character: Kay Faraday!! Props also go to Mia Fey and Trucy Wright, as well as Athena and Jinxie.

Favorite Het Ship: Farabeste (Sebastian/Kay). Cykesquill as well, but I’m very specific about how and when I like it...like, ridiculously specific. Diego/Mia is good as well. For something more ridiculous that I think would be fun, Clay and Athena could have had a great dynamic. Maybe even Clay and Jinxie, if we go out and be totally wild.

Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Klapollo, Langworth, Nahyuta/Simon. Vera/Trucy, lady Cykesquill, Robin/Myriam and Athena/Juniper for the ladies. 

Least Favorite Male Character: how to I condense the list of the bastards? Kristoph is evil, but I cannot deny he had charm as a character - he’s terrifying, but fascinating, so I cannot name him as my least favourite. I think I’ll go with either von Karma or Blaze Debeste. They’re responsible for so much misery, and they don’t have any tragic reasons for being the way they are.

Least Favorite Female Character: Ma//ya Fe//y. I know the reasons people have for liking her, and I can forgive some flaws in writing, but she simply has too many of them. I know she is a courageous girl who ultimately wishes to do good, but the way she acts, especially in the first two games... just make me go ‘hmmmm’. Honestly, my favourite games in the series are those where I don’t get to see her. Young Pearl is also very low down on the list, and she was my least favourite for a long while, but her teenage years made me soften up to her, she’s pretty great in DD.

Least Favorite Het Ship: anything that encourages abuse, like Grant/Lana? Why would you do this? Also, I’m not fond of Athena/Apollo or Juniper/Apollo. Apollo is far too gay in my eyes to ever be together with a girl. Phoenix/Maya is another one I dislike.

Least Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): same rule as above applies. Aside from those, I... don’t have many slash ships I actively dislike, surprisingly? My main one would be Wri//ght//wor//th, since, in my opinion, it’s very overhyped, and I cannot turn around in this fandom without seeing it, but even that is mostly just...annoyance.

Dirty Little Secret: I haven’t forgotten about my dumbass theory. I’m just...really fucking slow.

Headcanon(s): this will need to be answered in its own separate asks. I have headcanons for everyone. For now, though - Jinxie Tenma is a Fey.

Unpopular Opinion(s): I like Gyakuten Kenji far more than the original games. In general, games with a protag that’s not Phoenix and newer games in the series I tend to like more. Not to imply that the original trilogy was bad or anything, but... Edgeworth is far more solid as a protagonist, not only because his side was relatively unexplored, but because his investigation methods were so much more sensible. Phoenix has this ‘wing it’ approach, which works fine, until you see past it. When you see past it, the tension build-up it tries to pull fails massively, and you just get annoyed by Phoenix never thinking ahead for anything, or being oblivious. With Edgeworth, when there are moments of tension, they appear because of something genuinely unexpected, or because Edgeworth made a miscalculation (which allows character growth). Even when Edgeworth has to pull dumb or crazy shit, it feels like it makes sense, because he thinks, even when he panics. Also, Phoenix is tied down by the worst accompanying duo of Maya and Pearl all the time, while Edgeworth acquires an absolutely amazing set of sidekicks (and he not only gets fun new ones, like Kay and Lang, but there’s so much detail in his interactions with Gumshoe, Franziska and Larry as well? It was great to see the Edgeworth/Larry dynamic of the friendship). Plus, I like the Logic Chess things, the soundtrack is my favourite (how exactly COULD you even attempt to top Shi-Long Lang’s theme???), at least if we’re not counting PLvsAA as a part of this universe, and I like the visuals of it much better. In short, everybody should play these fucking games right fucking now, and storm Capcom offices so they actually port GK2 for the Western market.

A lot of the same criteria apply for the newer games, too. While DD was a comeback for Phoenix, it was a game with mixed protagonists, and it was a new Phoenix as well. Apollo probably has my second favourite supporting character crew after Edgeworth, and, at the time, his Perceive mechanic was refreshing to see after being stuck to the same gimmick for 3 games. Same with Athena. She differs dractically from both Phoenix and Apollo, and brings a new mechanic and a new set of associated people. In other words? I’m happy this series is trying new things, and exploring extra protagonists where it can. It has improved a whole bunch as a result.

Danganronpa:

Favorite Male Character: Byakuya Togami, Kiyotaka Ishimaru. Nagisa Shingetsu. Gundham Tanaka, Hajime Hinata, Kuzuryuu Fuyuhiko, Nagito Komaeda. Shuuichi Saihara, Ouma Kokichi, Rantarou Amami.

Favorite Female Character: Aoi Asahina, Celes, Touko Fukawa. Sonia Nevermind, Peko Pekoyama, Akane Owari, Ibuki Mioda. Angie Yonaga, Kirumi Toujou, Maki Harukawa, Tenko Chabashira. 

Favorite Het Ship: Togami/Asahina, Ishimaru/Asahina, Hinata/Ibuki, Tanaka/Pekoyama (I’m especially fond of this one, also titled Soft Animals Edge Duo). Sonia/Kuzuryuu is also great, though that is a platonic ship, as I headcanon Sonia as aro.

Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Naegi/Ishimaru, Naegi/Togami. KomaNaegi is quite pure, but a friend also got me into KomaSouda as a complimentary ship to TanaPeko. A crackship, but still a favourite is Izuru/Ryouta. And, of course, the ultimate fave - Saiouma. (A nice shoutout also goes to Oumota and Amamota). As for the ladies, Kirizono and Celesgiri, and all gay Asahina ships are good, SoniAkane & Pekobuki. In V3, Tenko is mega gay, so there’s a chance for every gay ship, however, my favourite one is Tenko/Maki. If we’re talking non-Tenko ships, Angie/Maki sounds fun.

Least Favorite Male Character: in DR1, surprisingly, none. Well, Hagakure can get on my nerves, but I like just alright all of them. In SDR2, Nidai, in my opinion, didn’t have that great of a development, so I guess him. Though I also have plenty of issues with Souda. In V3, Gon//ta Go//ku//ha//ra.

Least Favorite Female Character: All DR1 girls are good, and even if they aren’t, they’re at least interesting or entertaining. But if I have to pick, Junko, if we’re judging morality. In SDR2, Mi//kan Tsu//mi//ki and Hi//yo//ko Sai//onji,in terms of morality and/or being dicks. In terms of rather poor writing (despite having a good idea), Chi//a//ki Na//na//mi. In V3, H//i//m//i//k//o Y//u//m//e//n//o and K//a//e//d//e A//k//a//m//a//t//s//u. The final one is also my least favourite in the entirety of the series as a whole.

Least Favorite Het Ship: Jun//ko//ma//e//da. In general, any Junko ship is not very good for plenty of reasons. Na//e//gi//ri. In SDR2, Souda/Sonia (she’s clearly not comfortable with him), Nidai/Akane, Hi//na//na//mi.. Not sure if should be mentioned here, but romantic Kuzupeko? Mostly because I cannot picture it as a thing. I do, however, like them platonically, they do care about each other a whole bunch. In V3, Sa//i//ma//tsu (never make me look at it). 

Least Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Chi//hi//mon//do. Even if I do like Mondo okay, it’s not healthy. Ka//mu//ko//ma. Son//dam. Jun//ko//mi//kan? Mahiru/Peko for sure. Kiib//ou//ma, too.

And the one I guarantee I’ll receive anon hate over - Te//n//hi//mi.

Dirty Little Secret: this series somehow manages to combine the good with the ridiculous in such a way that I can accept.

Unpopular Opinion(s): I am the literal embodiment of unpopular opinions in this franchise. I think V3 is the best game of the series, and it had a brilliant twist (both the start one and the final one). I don’t really ship the most popular ships, the obvious exception being Saiouma (and, to an extent, SoniAkane? It’s a popular Akane ship, at least). I think Saihara is a far better protag choice than the other option that was presented, since the story and its structure was made to fit him. I’m the unpopular opinion and rarepair central in this fucking thing. (Please help me.)

Love Live!:

Favorite Male Character: yay for not having prominent males, which means I get to skip 2 more questions here.

Favorite Female Character: In Muse’s, my top 3 is Hanayo, Eli and Maki. In Aquors, my top 3 is You, Kanan and Dia (though Mari and Chika are also very lovable).

Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Makipana! It’s very very cute. I also quite like HonoEli. HonoMaki is also quite nice. In Aquors, YouKanan or DiaKanan. 

Least Favorite Female Character: Not unpopular by any means, but Ni//co Ya//za//wa. In terms of singing voice, Kotori. In Aquors, R//i//k//o S//a//k//u//r//a//u//c//h//i. 

Least Favorite Slash Ship (both M/M and F/F): Ni//co//ma//ki??? I will never understand why people like it. In Aquors, Chi//ka//ri//ko and You//ri//ko. 

Dirty Little Secret: I quite like A-RISE. Every song they’ve ever done is an absolute banger, as the youth says.

Unpopular Opinion(s): would you look at that. Another fandom where I’m the monarch of rarepairs.

[goresplosion]

All but number 3 were completely correct, I feel like it kinda lost steam at the final part and started extremely slow but the second part of the trial was pretty good. A retrospective on the entire game I enjoyed it more than dual destinies at least but it still doesn't hold a candle to the original 4.

Coming into this game I had already heard people complaining about it being imperialist but I didn't really see that? The country had a corrupt government feeding it propaganda and it's not as if the people from the country didn't have their doubts against it, the revolution was led by people of the country or actively involved by people of the country. I might be missing something here I'm not gonna pretend like I'm in the know about how Japanese imperialism is like but I have a feeling most of the english speaking audience of this game isn't either and just got pissed off when Phoenix Wright entered a courtroom to save an 8 year old from being executed and said wow your ways are sort of fucked up. Even though he does change his stance Phoenix has always been a judgemental asshole.

That aside they really dragged him through the mud in this one especially, literally undoing his character development for a situation he has literally been in before that was great, I'm glad they havent made any sequels because they should have just let him rest. Apollo really is the man of many backstories they just shoved it all in there, it didn't really work for me honestly because it was only really addressed at the very last case and it's all involving new characters to this game for the sake of a character arc rather than building on his pre-established lore, it didn't work for Clay Terran and it didn't work for here either. I've said my grievances about Athena, she's barely relevant and I wish she hadn't gotten a case in this one. They really just shoved so many characters into this one but putting Edgeworth in there was the biggest crime to me he didn't need to be there.

I think the strengths in this one were 1. The aesthetics and 2. Any of the supporting cast that was actually given a character arc was pretty charming. Ema was great in this I love what they did with her character, I loved Rayfa a whole lot (plus we share a birthday teehee) and even Sarge who was barely there I was really charmed by and angered that the post credits gave her nothing. Nahyuta was kinda meh to me I either hated nor was particularly interested in him, the 1 time Blackquill showed up he literally stole the fucking show, best character I'm so glad hes just living his life.

Havent played the dlc so I'll see what that's like but overall this game is pretty just mediocre to me it's not too cohesive as a standalone game or part of the ace attorney series

predictions for the final spirit for justice trial:

Amara is Nayna

The baby in the old photo of Amara is Rayfa, Ga'ran isn't actually her mom

Amara as Nayna killed Inga

Ga'ran was the one who committed the arson to usurp Amara

Ga'ran might not be able to channel and be using Amara to channel? Least sure about this