#just skip to the feenie sweater part honestly that's the funniest part of this musical
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Phoenix Wright: The Truth Reborn: Oh No Weâre Doing This Again
hi.
Nearly two months ago, I wrote an essay summarizing and making very wild conclusions about the second Takarazuka Musical. I did this about two and a half years after watching the first Takarazuka musical. As such I did not have the full context for many things from the musical and was relying mostly on my memory, which blocked many things from this musical for my own safety. However, just this week, I decided to rewatch it, because I enjoy tormenting myself. I said I wouldnât write anything on it. Here I am writing something on it.
Hereâs the youtube thumbnail so that you know what youâre getting yourself into. And here, of course, is the link. This is the HD version which may be slightly more pleasant to watch. Maybe.
It was not quite as cringe in a funny way as the second musical to me, and therefore this essay may be less funny, but I feel like Iâm doing a disservice to people by providing a summary of the second musical while completely neglecting the first. Quite possibly doing this is even more of a disservice. I just eagerly await the day that the third musical is translated because *that* will be the day that I finally shuffle off this mortal coil. Either way, I want to write this stuff down so that I never have to watch the musical again out of curiosity.
The following essay will contain major spoilers for both the first and second Phoenix Wright Takarazuka musicals, as I will be using many points from this musical to argue my thesis of the second musical. ... like you were going to watch them anyways.Â
This one broke 8k. Iâm dead inside.
Introducing The Director
Again another disclaimer that I donât have anything against the actresses or the theatre troupe. I DO have something against Suzuki Kei, who I recently learned is the writer and director of all three of the Ace Attorney Takarazuka musicals, and is quite possibly my mortal nemesis.
This man is the one who brought this monstrosity into the world.
This man, allegedly, cleared the first four ace attorney games *seven times* before sitting down to write these musicals. He played these goddamn games seven times and did not take in a single word. The man clicked through them mindlessly while watching a badly written legal romance drama in the background and got them completely confused. I genuinely have no idea how this man could have played these games more times than even me and yet managed to get so many characters (MAYA!!!!) completely and utterly wrong. This haunts me every day, truly.
This man played Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations, and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney seven times. SEVEN TIMES EACH!! and was told to create a musical based on the series. He played these games seven times each and you know what he said?? You know what he said?? âThis sucks, Iâm getting rid of all of Phoenixâs backstory, butchering half the characters, and writing Phoenix/Lana fanfiction, but also rewriting all of Lanaâs backstory so that she was Phoenixâs childhood friend, and you know what, Iâm changing her name for good measure.â
I think this man played the games seven times each and then hated it so much and was so sick of it he tried to write something that destroyed as much of the series as possible while still being vaguely recognizable. And then somehow it became a massive hit because people like me see this and go âwhat the actual hellâ and watch it, or people who havenât played the games see this and go âwow what a great musical!â and then he wrote TWO MORE, destroying EVEN MORE every time in his wake, until finally, finally, he stopped after making Edgeworth straight and time traveling into the past to face off against a corrupt Gregory. I guess that was the last straw.
I have to issue a disclaimer here that for legal reasons this is a joke. I donât actually hate this man and would not punch him in the face if I met him because that would be rude, and he is entitled to his wrong interpretation of the games. I donât know what his thought process was. But allegedly he did play the games seven times according to the wiki. This whole essay here is satire and not slander and I donât want to offend this guy if he somehow stumbles across my nonsense tumblr post. At the same time: Suzuki Kei blink twice if you need help.
Anyways half the reason that Iâm making this essay is because I want to share my fake ao3 page for this musical. The other half will become apparent later.
Sorry if thatâs illegible because of tumblr quality itâs not really important. All you really need to know is that itâs a fake ao3 screenshot for the musical. Also in the authorâs note I said he played the games four times but it was actually seven I just remembered wrong because I didnât want to believe it.
at this point you may be like âGrace shut up and get to the actual musicalâ and okay, fine, letâs start this nonsense. Also note that I may be referencing things from my essay on the second musical very frequently; Iâm not going to force you to go read that though because the fact that youâre reading this is enough of a torment already.
The Musical Begins
Unlike the second musical, this one opens with some narration from Phoenix.
Transcript:
Phoenix: Iâm reviewing a particular case at the moment. To me, this case... is one Iâll never forget.
Immediately I think this is important because it establishes that this whole musical takes place in a flashback that Phoenix is reflecting on. Why is this important? Because we know, by the time of the second musical which takes place three years later, Leona is dead.
Knowing that Leona is inherently doomed to die of her Sad Woman Disease paints this whole musical in a different light. Itâs not Phoenix reflecting on how he got back together with his lover; itâs Phoenix dwelling on their past together, and the opportunities they had, before her life was so cruelly and inexplicably taken away. We donât know if Phoenixâs reminiscing takes place before or after Leonaâs death... but I wouldnât be surprised if it was after.
Phoenix, still in the present, starts to sing. âA wave appears on the horizon like a mirage, it trembles, then vanishes. Your voice, carried upon the waves, fades upon the shore, erasing the splendor of the past.â
This line actually shows up in the second musical, sung by Lucia about her imprisoned fiance quite possibly. Itâs kind of hard to tell what the meaning of these songs even are. Theyâre too abstract for me I think. But this line appears very frequently in the first musical when Phoenix is thinking about Leona.
Then we enter the flashback time.
Phoenix inexplicably yells at a newspaper saleswoman. This is not relevant to anything whatsoever. Then Larry barges in to the office, looking for Maya. Phoenix describes him as âA real trouble maker, but you just canât hate the guyâ, the latter part of which I think many people would disagree with.Â
Well, afterwards, Maya comes in. Phoenix describes her like this while making exaggerated âcan you believe this shitâ gestures.
Transcript:
Phoenix: Sheâs as ditzy as they come. Oh, and about the outfit... Apparently she comes from a family of spirit mediums. Try not to make fun of her, okay?
Suzuki Kei personally has it out for Maya and I can never forgive him for it. Maya in these musicals is here for pure comedic relief but itâs not even comedic because I just get so angry. How can you play the trilogy seven times and think this about her?? The girl who figured out DL-6?? The girl who told Phoenix to sacrifice her life in order to find the truth?? The girl who put on a brave smile in order to try and cheer up her younger cousin even after she saw her own mother murdered right in front of her eyes?? That Maya Fey?? Ditzy as they come??????
Ugh. Moving on.
Maya and Larry run off, leaving Phoenix to watch the American Broadcast.
Important things to note here are the Godot mug, the little line up of what I think are the messed up little ace attorney figurines beneath the screen, and the fact that while this broadcast is supposedly from and to America the screen is actually not at all showing America. Like literally almost everywhere in the world except North and South America.
The broadcast says that Leona Clyde, age 24, was arrested for murdering the senator Robert Cole! Leona Clyde -- thatâs Phoenixâs ex-girlfriend! He runs off to the detention center.
She is not happy to see him.
Leona: Mr. Wright... Iâm not the woman you once knew.
Letâs Play A Matching Game
Sorry for the abundance of screenshots that are going to be throughout this section. Phoenix convinces Leona to let him defend her. Some of the conversation seems... familiar.
Leona: No one would defend someone who admits to killing a senator. Iâm waiting for a court-appointed attorney.
Edgeworth: Every defense attorney Iâve talked to has turned me down.
Phoenix: In that case, let me defend you.
Game Phoenix: Let me defend you.
Leona: Donât be ridiculous!
Edgeworth: Donât be ridiculous.
Phoenix: Iâll never accept that youâre a murderer. Let me prove your innocence!
Game Phoenix: Huh? Isnât it obvious? Iâm going to prove that Miles Edgeworth is innocent.
Leona: Iâve already confessed my guilt.
Gumshoe: He confessed that he did it! In court!
Leona: Itâs foolish to think you can win this case.
Edgeworth: My case is near hopeless, Wright.
Leona: (in response to phoenix offering to defend her) No you wonât! Donât ever come here again.
Edgeworth: Look, just go away, and leave me alone!
Phoenix: You of all people should know. Once I decide to do something, I see it through to the end.
Edgeworth: Once you start on something, you always see it through, donât you?
Leona: I never thought that youâd be representing me.
Phoenix: Ah, who could have guessed this day would come?
Edgeworth: Not me.
Phoenix: You believed in me. You saved me. And this time, I swear... I swear Iâll save you!
Game Phoenix: Edgeworth believed in me, and I believe in him. Iâm the only one who knows the real Edgeworth. Iâm the only one who can help him.
I couldâve done a few more, but tumblr is already threatening to murder my laptop.
So long story short, Phoenix manages to convince his lover to let him be the defense on the case. Then immediately after swearing to save Leona, he starts singing a song, which Iâm not screencapping because this is enough:
âAs long as there are people in this world, thereâs only one path I will follow! As long as there is love in this world, thereâs only one path I will believe in!â
Edgeworth sings this in the second musical after saying that he returned to California because of Phoenix. Phoenix sings it now after swearing to defend Leona. You draw your own conclusions.
And then we finally get the opening credits. Eleven minutes in.
Just Pretend This Is Narumitsu Fanfiction
Following the credits, we see a beautiful beach. Couples (exclusively heterosexual, of course,) dance and embrace in the background for some time, before revealing Phoenix and Leona, in the Even Further Past, before the LSATs or whatever the ace attorney universeâs excuse for law school exams are.
Phoenix establishes his absolute hatred of change, an important characterization moment.
Phoenix: The view here never changes, huh?
Phoenix reminisces on when they were kids. Leonaâs parents were both lawyers (theyâre both lawyers) and sometimes they would be like lawyers with her when she was a kid. This inspired her to also become a lawyer after their tragic death of Sickness. They never specify what the sickness is that caused two people who must be relatively young to die while Leona was in her early twenties at the latest. It may be whatever sickness claimed Leonaâs life later. Sad Woman Disease. (Sad Man Disease for her father, I guess?)
Phoenix also talks about why heâs becoming a lawyer.
Phoenix: Watching you chase your dream inspired me to become a lawyer too.
So, itâs not âmy childhood friend looked sad in a newspaperâ because I guess that makes no sense or is too gay or something. But this is another important piece of Phoenix characterization. His entire life so far has been focused around Leona. Theyâve been friends since they were kids, and then Phoenix decided to become a lawyer solely because Leona was becoming a lawyer. Not even to try and get back into contact with her after she moved away or anything; just because heâs so obsessed with her that he wants to have the same career as her, then they can run a Mom & Pop Law Firm or something, years in the future, after years of happy marriage and a few children or like whatever the hell.
Well, thereâs a few steps theyâll need to get to that. At this point Phoenix still hasnât confessed his feelings for Leona. He does so here, on this beach.
Leona tries to protest.
Leona: But Iâm pushy, selfish, and only care about my goals... Youâd get fed up with me.
Phoenix: Thatâs what Iâve always admired about you. Thatâs who Iâve been chasing all these years. Thatâs the only person... I love.
Sooo, Phoenix, your type is pushy selfish people who only care about their goals...? In the first, older lower-quality video translation it was âonly care about my workâ, too. Hm. Things to think about.
They sing a little duet together. Then we go back to present-day of whatâs technically still a flashback. Whatever. Murder is happening.
Back To The Murder
So some plot things to establish: Leona is the legal counsel of Governor Miller, who is running for president in the AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. After the flashback so that Phoenix has some time to change clothes, they show an interview of him talking about the murder.
Governor Miller: I vow to forge a peaceful country with my own two hands, and to prepare myself for whatever may lie ahead.
Reporters: Through thick and thin, heâs a friend of the people!
The Takarazuka musicals are not very good at hiding their killers.
Phoenix: Oh yeah... Itâs almost time for the presidential election, isnât it?
NEVER FORGET, WRIGHT. THIS IS AMERICA. LAND OF THE FREE! god what even was that line.
Anyways, we meet Gumshoe, who is incompetent once again. Maya runs around the crime scene, picks up the murder weapon, puts her fingerprints all over everything, moves things around, all while Phoenix is like âlol get a load of the worldâs stupidest girlâ or whatever. But who cares about that.
Itâs time to get to the only valid part of this musical.
Edgeworthâs Gay Little Villain Solo
You may have seen this one before.
Edgeworth arrives, but not really. Itâs like Phoenix heard Edgeworth was prosecuting and immediately entered a dream-like state, where Edgeworth is heralded by the sound of trumpets in Great Revival. Heâs played by a different actress than in the other two musicals, since I think she retired in between the six or so months from this musical to the second. She still plays the role well, though, or as well as can be when youâre written in an ace attorney Takarazuka musical.
Shrouded in scarlet solitude... itâs Edgeworth.
Yes, those are six Edgeworths. Yes, they pick Phoenix up and carry him around and dance with him. Yes, it was probably not meant to be at all homoerotic.
He sings a song thatâs called âMy ruleâ. I only figured this out later, but itâs loosely based on a âcatchphraseâ of his in the Japanese version - in game 1 he says something along the lines of âAll I can do is get every defendant declared guilty! So I make that my policy.â In DD in his dramatic anime introduction before the trial, he says âI intend to question the defendant with all I have. For that is a part of my creed.â âSo I make that my policyâ and âFor that is a part of my creedâ, to my understanding, are both translated from the same line, which I think is like, âsore ga watashi no ruruâ, âThat is my rule.â (If Iâm wrong, please correct me.) In this song he sings about how heâll reduce all criminals to ash and such, basically talks about his game 1 prosecuting strategy as âmy ruleâ.Â
Itâs very fun and probably if you want to only watch one number of this musical, it can be this one. It starts about 26:10 in the video I linked.
Once the musical number is done, Phoenix and Edgeworth stare at each other, and the background fades into the courtroom, so court begins. I feel like I should note that Phoenix has not picked up any evidence or talked to any witnesses in this investigation except for Gumshoe, since Maya just moved some things around and then Phoenix had some weird fever dream about Edgeworth which presumably took up the rest of the day.
The Trial, Day 1
Edgeworth: Consider it a prelude to the poignant Greek tragedy thatâs about to unfold.
Maya: The real tragedyâs your pompous attitude!
Those are the only screenshots I took of this trial day. Hereâs a summary, though:
The trial starts off with Leona confessing, Phoenix says âno I think sheâs innocentâ, and since ace attorney doesnât care about the defendantâs wishes heâs allowed to proceed. For some reason Leona lets him do this without complaint.Â
Gumshoe is the first witness, he claims to have caught Leona red-handed at the scene of the crime, standing over the corpse. Phoenix tries to claim that since Gumshoe didnât see Leona committing the crime, he didnât actually catch her red-handed, to which Edgeworth responds âWhat do you think being caught red-handed means?âÂ
Once Gumshoe is dismissed, Lotta takes the stand. She has a photo of the actual moment of the crime, where Leona is holding a knife in the air in front of the victim.Â
The Takarazuka musicals like to do this thing where the image is blurry and zoomed out, but then Phoenix will go âIâVE NOTICED A CONTRADICTIONâ and it zooms in really far as the resolution increases drastically in order to show you the contradiction that is impossible to spot for yourself, because they donât want people figuring out the mystery in this musical based off of a video game where you have to solve the mystery yourself. Anyways Phoenix zooms in on this photo and sees that thereâs blood on Leonaâs hand, presumably before she stabbed the victim. How did it get there?
Edgeworth suggests the victim was stabbed multiple times. Phoenix says the autopsy report contradicts that. Edgeworth, uncharacteristically, does not update it to suit his argument.Â
Phoenix concludes that this photo is not showing the moment Leona stabbed the victim, but the moment Leona removed the knife! ... Which somehow casts doubt on her having been the one to stab the victim. Because as everyone knows, anyone wanting to kill someone would never remove a knife, itâs not like theyâd bleed out faster that way, or anything.
And this whole contradiction is confusing because presumably if the victim was stabbed and then the knife was removed, theyâd know that happened, because then the knife would not be found stuck in the victimâs body, since the victim was only stabbed once. So this shouldnât be news to the prosecution that someone removed the knife after stabbing. But the investigation was headed by the most incompetent version of Gumshoe ever, so. sure. I guess no one knew.
That at least manages to extend the trial another day.
This Totally Has To Be Illegal
After the trial, Phoenix goes to talk to Governor Miller, aka Mr. Totally The Real Killer. Phoenix asks him why he decided to hire Leona as his legal advisor.
Basically, itâs because her parents were both renowned lawyers. Her father was a Chief Prosecutor, and her mother was a defense attorney. ... a prosecutor and a defense attorney couple... who does that remind us of...
Phoenix points out that just because her parents were good lawyers, it doesnât mean sheâd necessarily be one. Miller says that, sure, but she is actually really talented, and her law school marks were spectacular. Phoenix says âWHY WERE YOU LOOKING AT HER LAW SCHOOL MARKSâ, like itâs somehow? suspicious? for a government official hiring legal counsel to look at their law school marks?
Apparently it IS suspicious because Governor Miller freaks out and asks if this is an interrogation. Before Phoenix can press much further, he gets a phone call, and leaves Phoenix alone in a big room.
So naturally Phoenix behaves like a fully grown adult running a law firm.
If all he did was sit in the chair, lift up a desk lamp, and poke his finger on a pen, thatâs one thing. But then he leans over, OPENS THE GOVERNORâS DESK DRAWER, and finds a knife thatâs just sitting there casually. It looks like a butter knife. Itâs not anything major. Maybe the dude just wanted to butter his toast?
I mean I know Phoenix will dig around in stuff whenever in the games, but he has no reason to suspect Governor Miller at all, much less dig through his drawer probably full of confidential government documents to lift up a knife that he thinks is suspicious. Itâs not even covered in blood or anything?
Naturally Governor Millerâs assistant comes in just then, and Phoenix puts the knife. in his breast pocket.Â
bud. It may look like a butter knife, but putting knives up against your chest is not a great idea. Much less stealing a knife from a governor?Â
Well, in his panic, he accidentally knocks over a bunch of books on the desk. The governorâs assistant helps him pick them up, and they find a photo. Look a little familiar?
The photo has the assistant, the victim Robert Cole, Governor Miller, and the victimâs brother who died in an incident two years ago. Heâs the âNeil Marshallâ of this musical, and he died in what was essentially the SL-9 incident. Same general premise, except it occurred in the courthouse, and the names are different.
AND FINALLY WE REACH THE END OF ACT 1. They do a musical number here which is a weird sort of mashup of the main opening credits song, Edgeworthâs Villain Solo, and the love duet between Phoenix and Leona. They are all such different songs that it sounds a little weird.
ACT 2, FINALLY
The act begins on a sour note with Maya playing with the knife and showing off her characterization, which is one of the most infuriating Maya characterizations youâll sometimes see around the fandom by people who donât like Maya.
Maya: Let me whip up my special spirit channeler hamburgers!
sigh.
But then weâre saved (?) by the arrival of EDGEWORTH, who is presumably just here to chat. He asks Phoenix if heâs defending Leona in hopes of winning her back, then says to keep out of it, since itâs a very important case and he canât understand the gravity of it.
Then Phoenix says this.
Phoenix: Would you be saying that if you were the one on trial? The defendant is in a dark prison, reaching out for hope... Can you imagine the loneliness and sorrow of being ostracized?
CAN YOU IMAGINE IT, EDGEWORTH? CAN YOU IMAGINE IF YOU WERE ON TRIAL AND I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO WOULD DEFEND YOU AND BELIEVED IN YOUR INNOCENCE??
Edgeworth responds to this by essentially rehashing his speech in Turnabout Sisters about how he needs to find all defendants guilty because he canât guarantee their innocence and all that. Maya gets upset and leaves so that Phoenix and Edgeworth can talk about their childhood in private.
Phoenix once again complains about how people change since nine years old.
Phoenix then says that he has something Edgeworth doesnât: the POWER TO BELIEVE! Then Maya comes in and tries to spike Edgeworthâs coffee, so he leaves.
The Class Trial
Phoenix explains a bit about Edgeworth and his backstory to Maya. Namely, the class trial. Phoenix was accused of stealing lunch money, Edgeworth stood up for him, but instead of Larry, Leona stood up for him. I guess Suzuki Kei thought âoh the class trial, if Leona stood up for him, it would be so romantic, because sheâs a woman, and heâs a manâ, or something like that.Â
Edgeworth wanted to become a Great Lawyer Like His Father! But then he turned cold as ice.
Phoenix: His father got too deeply involved in a case... and paid for it with his life. Edgeworth saw him murdered. He was never the same again. I bet he couldnât forgive the criminal.
Yeah I bet he couldnât ever forgive the person he thought killed his father all these years, Phoenix. I bet he really hates that person, Phoenix. I bet he has nightmares about that person killing his father or something, Phoenix.
Phoenix: He vanished, then returned without his mercy or compassion. He had become a monster. When he lost his father, he also lost the ability to believe in others.
So like... one of the most chilling things about this musical is that they never actually solve DL-6. This probably roughly takes place 15 years after DL-6, since they were about the same age when the class trial started, and at least Leona is 24 now. The next musical takes place three years from now, and in it, Edgeworth refers to von Karma as his mentor, implying heâs still around and doing things.
So, in addition to everything else going wrong with this musical, DL-6 still happens, but von Karma never frames Edgeworth for it fifteen years later. The statute of limitations runs out, and von Karma forever gets away with his crime. And Edgeworth has no idea.
What changes did they make to DL-6, though, you may ask? Iâm desperate to know as well. In the third musical, which Iâve watched because I hate myself but am unable to fully understand because I donât know much Japanese, there is a scene where Miles flashbacks to DL-6. Itâs abstract, but he makes gun-throwing motions at Gregory, followed by a gunshot sound.
Therefore, in this musicalâs internal canon, either Miles Edgeworth shot his father, or he believes he did for the rest of his life.
... moving on.
Phoenix: But he still has his humanity. Itâs still there, deep down inside!
At least, if nothing else, Phoenix still believes in him. Even this Takarazuka Musical couldnât touch that.
The Feenie Sweater
Right after this, Larry barges in, and Phoenix leaves him alone with Maya. The musical tries teasing Larry/Maya, but fortunately, Mayaâs having none of it.
Maya: Youâre barking up the wrong tree.
Props to this musical for not being as bad as it could have been.
After this, the two sit down on the couch, and Maya asks for more gossip on Phoenix and Leona. Larry launches into a story, which turns into a flashback that ends up being narrated by Phoenix halfway through. This oneâs about Phoenix and Leonaâs relationship.
This is an interesting line in here, âIâll guide you to the futureâ, for it loosely referencing the sort of love ballad Phoenix sings with Lucia in the second musical which is about âIâll take you to that radiant futureâ, and he later sings to the memory of Leona right around the time of his big spiral into despair.
Iâm sorry if you havenât read my other essay and just said âwait whatâ to what I just typed.
Leona was getting ready to move to New York to defend the weak âin the big cityâ. This is rather strange wording because it implies that California does not in fact have a big city. She says some things in her conversation with Phoenix that probably plant some of his later issues.
Leona: This is the first time weâll be apart since we were kids.
Leona: We promised weâd always be together.
Leona: Iâll be waiting. Waiting for you to come to me.
Haha. Sure would be a shame... if something were to happen... and they wouldnât be able to be together anymore...
So some dancers wearing black come in and take off their outer jackets, to symbolize the passage of time. They circle around Phoenix and Leona. In this, you can just barely see, Phoenix is wearing a pink sweater beneath his jacket.
âOh,â I think to myself, âIs that the Feenie sweater? Are they including it here as a reference to the games?â
Then the dancers keep moving.
THAT IS NOT THE FEENIE SWEATER. That is a pink sweater with a sexily drawn woman on it.
This is the other half of the reason why I decided to go through with making this essay.Â
This is so incredibly funny to me. Suzuki Kei Who Has Played The Games Seven Times has seen the hand-knit bright pink sweater with a giant red heart on it seven times. The sweater Iris, Phoenixâs girlfriend, lovingly knit for him that he wears all the time even though it is one of the tackiest, cheesiest items of clothing to ever exist. And so, when the costume designers were designing the clothes for College Phoenix Wright, they asked themselves: âShould we include the Feenie sweater?â
and âNO,â someone must have shouted, âNO, we can NOT include the Feenie sweater, it is PINK and it has a HEART on it and itâs TOO GIRLY. Phoenix Wright is a MANLY MAN. He would not EVER wear something PINK with a HEART on it.â
âBUT,â someone else said, âitâs a REFERENCE to the original games, where he DID wear a pink sweater with a heart on it! We MUST include it to pander to the fans!â
âWAIT,â a third person interjected. âI have a BRILLIANT IDEA. We can keep the pink... But to make it VERY CLEAR he is a heterosexual, masculine male... we put a sexy woman on it.â
And Person Three Got A Raise.
Thank god weâre finally halfway done this musical.
We Just Have To Go On With Our Lives Now
Thereâs plot or something happening. Leona breaks up with Phoenix inexplicably over the phone. Probably because of that freaking sweater. Imagine wearing that. God.
Eventually we go back to Phoenix talking to Leona, and he asks about the Jack Lyon case, which is the rip-off version of the Joe Darke case. Leona is pretty cagey about it, but Phoenix proves that she was there in the gallery that day. Leona refuses to answer, claims again that she killed the victim in her case, and leaves.
This makes Phoenix sad, so he starts singing.
Phoenix: I want to bring you back! I believe in you.
If this sounds familiar, itâs the part where I started absolutely losing my mind in the second musical because this line had never shown up before then, Iâd forgotten it was in this musical, and Phoenix was screaming it alone in a red room, so I thought he was like desperately resorting to a necromancy ritual in hopes of bringing Leona back to life.
Instead, this line actually has CONTEXT, though it does just end up enforcing my theory. This is Phoenix mourning what he used to have with Leona, wanting to bring the âold herâ back, because heâs devastated that people sometimes change. There are several flashbacks of their college days where heâs wearing his Sexy Woman Sweater. He does succeed in winning her back at the end of this musical. Before she dies, of course.
Phoenix in musical 2 still believes that he can bring back what he used to have with Leona... even beyond death. Thatâs something affirmed by this musical. Iâm very grateful to it for somehow managing to enforce my nonsensical theory.
Doctor Ema
After this, Phoenix returns to his office, and meets with someone new.
Thatâs right! Only now, halfway through the musical, do we actually get to meet the Ema-equivalent to Leonaâs Lana-equivalent. Her name is Monica Clyde. She has little rainbow heart stickers on her briefcase, which is the closest thing this musical has to acknowledging that gay people exist.
But what does this little briefcase contain, you may ask? Scientific investigation tools? No.
A full surgical toolset. Because you never know when someoneâll get sick, or when someone will need an entire operation in front of you. I guess.
So yes, Monica Clyde is not a forensic scientist in training, but a doctor! She decided to become a doctor because of her parents, who passed away of The Sickness, and so became a doctor in order to save lives like theirs.
Once more this has much darker and deeper implications than the musical is even aware of, because Monica is so anxious about treating sick people that she carries a full surgical toolset around with her at all times, scared to lose someone like she lost her parents... and then sometime in the next three years, Leona, her big sister, is going to die.
Of what? The strange Sickness that claimed her parents? A car accident? A botched spur-of-the-moment surgery? Whatever it is, Monica was unable to save her, even when sheâd been training her entire life for it.
Monica is not mentioned at all throughout the second musical. Itâs as if she does not exist.
Because unlike Ema of Rise From The Ashes, Monica is not at the heart of this story. She is, primarily, a plot device here to make Leona not trust Phoenix so that he can angst about their relationship.Â
What a mess this world is.
The Trial, Part 2
Rather than try to prove Leonaâs innocence, Phoenix wants to link the current case to not-SL-9, the Jack Lyon case. He does this by showing this picture.
Senator Cole, the victim, is in this picture. His younger brother whose name Iâve forgotten, the victim of not-SL-9, is also in this picture. They are brothers. It is apparently novel that they are in the same picture, and somehow makes their cases linked.
As well, Governor Miller is in the picture. I guess you could say like... Governor Millerâs legal counsel is the defendant, so thatâs another link? Even though the Governor would presumably know a Senator, so this isnât an unusual group. Right now Phoenix has absolutely nothing to prove that these two cases are linked other than âhey, these two victims are brothersâ, but apparently it works. So they spend a lot of time talking about not-SL-9, since Leona has confessed to the murder on day 1 and there is absolutely nothing indicating that she canât be immediately declared guilty.
They hid the fact that Monica was a hostage in this not-SL-9, meaning that some of the case records were forged. Hereâs Edgeworthâs reaction when this comes out.
Edgeworth: This is an outrage! Iâm the most influential prosecutor in America! Thereâs nothing I donât know!
In RFTA, when Edgeworth learns heâd been using forged evidence to give a man the death penalty, he is devastated, his entire worldview is shaken, he sees himself as a monster who could end up becoming horribly corrupt if he isnât stopped.
Musical Edgeworth goes âI DIDNâT KNOW SOMETHING???â
Itâs certainly strange characterization, but I guess Edgeworth is further behind in his character arc than in RFTA, so... ugh. Fine.Â
Phoenix calls Monica out as a witness to prove she was involved in the case. This causes Leona to panic, and try to dismiss Phoenix as her attorney, like Lana in RFTA, but Edgeworth interjects to call Monica in anyways. He and Phoenix have a little moment.
Edgeworth: You said to believe in others. I suppose Iâll try believing in you. Try to keep up.
Phoenix: Edgeworth!
So Monica comes to the stand to testify. We get to see this picture of Monica being held hostage, and not-Joe-Darkeâs incredible eyeliner.
Lots of it is very similar to the actual RFTA, except instead of the victim being stabbed on the knight with the giant knife, heâs instead stabbed with a regular old knife. Leona still refuses to admit to what really happened, until Edgeworth convinces her to believe in Phoenix.
Edgeworth: Your attorney is a runaway train with a one-track mind. Yet he placed all of his faith in you. Believe in him. You owe him that much.
Leona testifies, and says that when she found the victim, he was stabbed with a scalpel.
Here is where things get weird.
Scalpels Canât Kill People
So basically earlier in this trial, they talk about how Leona knew that the knife that stabbed the victim was double-edged despite being buried in his chest. The judge questions if this means Leona killed him, but Phoenix is quick to say no, she was searched when she entered the courthouse and couldnât have concealed a knife.
Yet, Monica was able to bring in her surgical toolkit which contains several sharp knives, scalpels, scissors, etc.
This is the first major contradiction.
Leona continues to say that when she found Monica, and the scalpel stabbed in the victim, she also ran into Governor Miller, who if you havenât been able to tell yet is the Gant-equivalent of this musical. He offered to help her with the cover-up, etc.
The next bit goes a lot like RFTA. Phoenix accuses Governor Miller, who barges in, says Phoenix has the decisive evidence in his pocket. This is the âbutter knifeâ that Phoenix took from his office when he dug around in confidential documents and stole it for no particular reason. It has Monicaâs fingerprints on it! ... And Phoenixâs and Mayaâs too probably because they were handling it without gloves, but they donât mention that part.
Leona cries about how she shouldnât have trusted Phoenix because he was apparently now blaming Monica, Monica looks terrified, she and Leona have some good sister moments but itâs not as good as it could be if the story was actually about Leona and Monica like how RFTA was about Lana and Ema. But Phoenix has the decisive piece of evidence that can turn this around.
It is this:
Phoenix: Scalpels are made for medical incisions, not stabbings. So how did it stab the victim?
...
...
...
... What?
So like. Yes, scalpels are made for medical incisions. Medical incisions often involve cutting through flesh, very easily. As a result, they are sharp. Extremely sharp. As in: their purpose is literally to stab people, very specifically.
Yes, theyâre easier to control, so that surgeons donât regularly stab people how theyâre not supposed to be stabbed, but itâs not like, impossible to stab someone in a killing way with a scalpel? Admittedly, I have never tried to kill someone using a scalpel. And I do not have experience using a scalpel for surgeries because I am not a surgeon. But Iâm pretty sure, if you take a sharp scalpel, and you stab someone in the chest with it with a reasonable amount of force... they die.
Like, is this a particular kind of scalpel that is not very sharp? Is the problem that the blade doesnât match up with the initial wound? But even then, we donât have the original unforged autopsy report or even a picture, so how would Phoenix know what the original wound looked like to say it didnât match up? And even then why wouldnât Phoenix say that instead of SCALPELS CANâT STAB PEOPLE???
This is his decisive contradiction and it makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE TO ME!!!
Well Darn I Guess Scalpels Canât Kill People
This is such a decisive piece of evidence, that scalpels canât kill people, coming from the man who thought âcaught red-handedâ does not involve being caught standing over a corpse with blood on your hands, that it causes Governor Miller to confess.
Unlike Gant, who created the murder with Neil Marshall both to ensure that there was decisive evidence to convict Joe Darke, a serial killer who had not left any decisive evidence behind, and gain control over the prosecutorâs office in order to pull similar stunts to get criminals convicted using false evidence, Governor Miller does not have that as his motive. After all, heâs not a police officer. Instead, he ended up accidentally killing not-Joe-Darke, and then set up the incident in order to get Leona on his side. As her parents were both influential lawyers and very respectable, having her and her parentsâ reputation on his side could help him become President of America Where This Takes Place.
So, letâs just take a moment to run over some of the things that made the original Rise From The Ashes great, in my opinion. Just for fun.
1 - The heart of the story between the Skye sisters. Lana closing off to protect Ema, Ema wanting to get through to her sister and get back to the way things used to be. Phoenix, in this story, is more of a bystander to this plotline rather than in the heart of it himself.
2 - Edgeworthâs Character Development. Basically RFTA creates an interesting transition between Turnabout Goodbyes and JFA. It causes Edgeworth to re-evaluate everything he knows about being a prosecutor. So quickly on the heels of Turnabout Goodbyes, it crushes the last bit of hope in him. It compares him to Gant, who also hates criminals, and forces him to wonder if his hatred of crime will one day lead to him being a criminal himself. Heâs already convicted one person on forged evidence; how many others could there be?
3 - The Ends Justify The Means. ... wait come back, donât leave. What I found neat about this case was also Gantâs motive. At one point he was presumably an honest person who hated crime and wanted to stop criminals. But over time in the police force, he became corrupted. He wanted to have all criminals convicted. So what do you do when you donât have the evidence to convict them? Joe Darke was a serial killer who has killed several people and may have killed more if heâd gone free. The only way to stop and convict him was by using forged evidence. Other criminals could hide evidence to get away with their crimes, so people like Gant would make it up to catch them; but then when do you stop? What happens if thereâs no evidence because someone is truly innocent? When does the line between âthis person is a criminal and I want to stop themâ and âI just want to convict everyone Iâm dealing withâ become blurred? This is also something he shares with Edgeworth and helps to advance his character.
All three of these things are either lessened or outright ignored in this musical. Leona and Monicaâs story takes a backseat to Phoenix and Leonaâs Love Story, with Monica only showing up halfway through, and mainly as an excuse as to why Leona is withdrawn. Edgeworth doesnât seem to blame himself for the forged evidence he used, and doesnât have a crisis questioning his morality over it. And Governor Millerâs motive is purely power. Unlike Gant, who would have become Chief of Police whether he solved SL-9 or not, Miller needed Leona to win the presidency. And instead of asking her to help him with his campaign like a normal person, he just blackmailed her instead.
... How do you play the games seven times and miss this much?
The Case Finally Ends
god. weâre almost there.
The case ends, Leona is declared not guilty but will still face trial for covering up murders and such. Probably less of a sentence than Lana because she was not involved in ongoing police corruption? Either way sheâs dead in three years, so sheâs got something a bit more concerning coming up.
Sheâs led away. Phoenix sings a bit about Leona before being interrupted by Edgeworth... who has something important to tell him.
Edgeworth: You awakened within me those once-cherished emotions I had discarded. I see visions of a distant, nostalgic past.
So basically this is the unnecessary feelings of the musical. Something along the lines of âseeing you again and fighting for my former ideals is making me question many things about myself.â
How does Phoenix respond?
Phoenix: Edgeworth... Try talking normally for a chance.
Sure, we were all thinking it, but thatâs a little cold, Phoenix.
Edgeworth tries a smooth recovery.
Edgeworth: I donât do... idle chit-chat.
This doesnât accomplish much. So he leaves to allow Leona to visit with Phoenix alone. Heâs got to go change for something more important coming up.
Leona and Phoenix decide that theyâre going to get back together once Leona is done her sentence! They make a promise that is very funny if you know sheâll be dead in three years.
Phoenix: Iâll be waiting. For you.
There are a lot of hugs here, Iâm not screencapping them all. There are also several moments where their faces get very close together and like, their nose brushes the otherâs cheek or something, but they never actually kiss. Is it because the actresses werenât comfortable with it (valid), or they thought kissing would be too much for the musical (sure, whatever), or since both characters are played by women the show staff did not want two women kissing on stage (probably the real answer)? I donât like watching kisses, but I kept bracing myself for one and then it never happened, so.
Phoenix ends the main part of the musical with one last musical number starring my personal favourite piece:
Phoenix: I want to bring you back! I believe in you.
I like to think that at this point, this is present-day Phoenix, after finishing his reminiscing, still desperately wishing he could bring Leona back from death.
But alas, he cannot. And so, after one last daydream of them dancing together on the beaches of California, singing about their love, the musical ends.
Dance Time!
This starts at exactly the two hour mark, if youâre interested in watching what is, once again, one of the only fun parts of this musical.
Seriously, Edgeworthâs actress kills it here, when I first saw this I went âoh, this is why I saw so many people being gay for her on twitter.â
Edgeworthâs song is an encore of âMy Ruleâ, so itâs lots of fun. Afterwards Phoenix gets another fun piece.
Then we get to the love ballad part, which I can probably overanalyze, I feel like I havenât done enough ridiculous over-analyzing in this essay in comparison to the other.
Uhhh so the fog represents how Phoenix feels lost in this world without Leona. You can see it in the second screenshot separating the two of them, representing the barrier of death between the two of them. Idk itâs midnight Iâm getting worn out from having to think about this musical for so long.
But his mourning over Leonaâs death becomes even more apparent in the credits, where Phoenix sings that one line again:
Phoenix: I want to bring you back! I believe in you.
Iâm not fixing that screenshot, I think itâs oddly fitting, in a way. Thatâs me right now.
Then at the very end, he sings this song.
Phoenix: Iâll spend... this eternal life... soaring through... the heavens!
Technically, this refers to his name Phoenix, but letâs dig a little deeper. He spends the rest of his life soaring through the heavens... the heavens that Leona went to after her untimely death, perhaps?
Overall, the musical becomes much more interesting when you just see it as a prequel to the second musical. This musical establishes many core concepts of Phoenixâs character: his refusal to believe in the concept of things changing, for one, and also his extreme dependency on Leona who he was never separated from since they were kids and where he based his entire life around her dreams and ideals. All he can think about is her. And in the end, he promises to wait for her in California.
Yet, to paraphrase Miles Edgeworth, all that is waiting for him is her death. Their dream of opening up a Mom & Pop Law Firm will never come true.
Thanks again for bearing with me even though this wasnât as funny!
#ace attorney#phoenix wright the truth reborn#idk maybe someone wanted to know what the first musical was like without actually watching it?#my essays#my posts#i'm TIRED i'm going to BED goodNIGHT#this is less funny jokes and more actually criticizing the musical#because so much of this is like. wow. you really thought that was a good idea huh#just skip to the feenie sweater part honestly that's the funniest part of this musical
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