#phoenix wright the truth reborn 2

[bioh4ck]

Fujisaki Eri as Franziska von Karma and Sumireno Rei as Maya Fey in Gyakuten Saiban 2: The Truth Reborn, Again...

[rivalsforlife]

Upcoming Takarazuka/Great Ace Attorney Musical

Takarazuka Revue, a long-standing all-female theater troupe in Japan, was the first to do an adaptation of Ace Attorney in 2009, with their two musicals Ace Attorney: The Truth Reborn (a musical loosely based on Rise from the Ashes) and Ace Attorney 2: The Truth Reborn Again (a musical loosely based on Farewell my Turnabout). This was followed in 2013 by a Miles Edgeworth-centric musical involving time travel.

Now, ten years since Takarazuka’s last attempt to bring Ace Attorney to musical life, they’re returning with a fourth musical (link goes to official Capcom announcement in Japanese), this time based off of the Great Ace Attorney games.

Like the previous three musicals, this will be performed by Takarazuka’s Cosmos Troupe. It will also be directed by Suzuki Kei, who directed the other three Ace Attorney musicals. According to the official Takarazuka page, as of right now, they plan two runs in July and August 2023:

July 19th - July 26th 2023 at the Umeda Arts Theater in Osaka, Japan

August 1st - August 8th 2023 at the KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theater in Yokohama, Japan

So far, cast lists have not been announced, except that the actress Rukaze Hikaru will be playing the lead role of Ryunosuke Naruhodo, and judging by the synopsis, Susato Mikotoba and Herlock Sholmes will also be present.

A (google translated) synopsis from the Takarazuka page (with minor modifications + square bracket notes for clarity):

A stage adaptation of the blockbuster "Great Gyakuten Saiban" [Great Ace Attorney] featuring Ryunosuke Naruhodo, the ancestor of Ryuichi Naruhodo [Phoenix Wright]! Set in a courtroom, the game "Gyakuten Saiban" is a popular series that has sold more than 9.8 million copies in total. The unique characters and intricately crafted storylines have garnered tremendous support, and have been mixed in media such as movies and TV animations, not limited to games. In the Takarazuka Revue, after its first performance in Sora [Cosmos] Troupe in 2009, "Ace Attorney 2" was performed in the same year, and "Ace Attorney 3" was performed in 2013, both of which were very popular works. Ryunosuke Naruhodo, a college student who aspires to become a lawyer, goes from the Empire of Japan in the Meiji era to study abroad in the British Empire with the World Exposition just around the corner, in order to learn about the latest judicial system. Ryunosuke, who is involved in one difficult case after another, stands up for his client with judicial assistant Susato, but the great detective of the century, Sherlock Holmes, appears... From the famous line "There is an objection!"

From this synopsis, there is little information on what specific cases may be loosely adapted, or what other similarities the musical may share with the games. 

To clarify for English-speaking AA fans, as I understand it, Takarazuka does not translate their plays, so any fans who are interested will have to either wait for fan subtitles or find a way to watch a recording (possibly dvd release, if they’ll do that for this one) without them.

I’ll try to update this post as new information is released. Please let me know if there is anything that I missed or is incorrect that you would like me to add.

[rigelmejo]

Jim Steinman - ダンス・オブ・ヴァンパイア ACT 1 (2006 Original Japan Cast) https://youtu.be/z5k7TGj_etU

Jim Steinman - ダンス・オブ・ヴァンパイア ACT 2 (2006 Original Japan Cast) https://youtu.be/YVfH9wBUCM4

takarazuka  Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: "The Truth Reborn" the Musical (w/English Subtitles) https://youtu.be/JW_QJgiCMTI

Dracula Japanese musical, chinese and japanese dual subtitles https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Ni4y1T7tL?share_source=copy_web

[birdboyjustice]

ACE ATTORNEY MASTERPOST - UPDATED 04/09/2017

Strap in everyone, this is 16 years worth of content. Disclaimer: may contain minor spoilers and Opinions™. Also, I tried my best, but this still isn’t a conclusive list. If you have any additions/corrections, please let me know! (under the cut for length so mobile users need to click through)

Contents:

Main series games (including availability)

Spin-off games (including where you can access)

Other official media (including stage plays + links)

Notable fan media (musicals + Youtube)

 MAIN SERIES

First things first, the core six games (release dates are of western release) :

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (2005 [DS])

The game that started it all. This game deals with Phoenix’s first cases as a lawyer, and has a really solid internal arc that has appeared in so much other media now that I don’t appreciate it as much as I probably should anymore. Edgeworth is main prosecutor. Five cases. Available on DS, 3DS eShop, Wiiware, and iOS.

 PWAA: Justice for All (2007 [DS]) 

The second game carries on character development and gives more background on the Fey clan, introducing the concept of Psyche-Locks. The last case of this game is my favourite in the series because I live for the #drama. Franziska is main prosecutor. Four cases. Available on DS, 3DS eShop, Wiiware, and iOS.

PWAA: Trials and Tribulations (2007 [DS])

This game finishes off the initial trilogy of games. Includes flashbacks where you play as Phoenix’s mentor Mia when she was a rookie, so you get to see young Phoenix. The last case of this one is another one which completely owns me. This game gets kinda fucked up. Godot is main prosecutor. Five cases. Available on DS, 3DS eShop, Wiiware, and iOS.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (2008)

Takes place 7 years after the previous game, focusing on new lawyer Apollo after Phoenix was disbarred. Introduces the ‘Perceive’ feature that lets you see people’s tells when they are lying. This is like…… a really good game, you guys. Separate from the original series, could be played as a standalone easily enough. Klavier is main prosecutor. Four cases. Available on DS, iOS, and Android.

PWAA: Dual Destinies (2013)

Phoenix Is Back. This game features anime cutscenes and voice acting, which was Very Exciting at the time and Sam Riegal is there. Introduces Athena and her ~mood matrix~ which lets you work out the truth from people’s emotions. Mixed opinions these days but most people are fucked up about the Phantom. Blackquill is the main prosecutor. Five cases + DLC. Available on 3DS eShop and iOS.

PWAA: Spirit of Justice (2016)

This game is mainly set in a separate kingdom and the revolution of that legal system. Adds a new branch to the Kurain mythos linked to the Fey clan that doesn’t make loads of sense but I loved the game so whatever. Introduces seances so you can see the victim’s final moments. Nahyuta is the main prosecutor. Five cases + DLC. Available on 3DS eShop.

SPIN OFF GAMES 

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (2010)

This game series focuses on the investigation part rather than the court part, and you can run around the map which is pretty cool. You play as Edgeworth as more bad things happen to him and you get to see some more of the prosecutors and police. Origin of Deid Mann. Five cases. Available on DS.

Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutor’s Path

The sequel is arguably better than the original and there’s flashbacks to Edgeworth’s dad which is heartbreaking. It’s not released in the west, but instructions and links to play it in English with an emulator can be found here.

Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (2014)

This crossover features elements from both games, so you solve puzzles and do court cases. Also it’s medieval and there’s magic. It’s another one with cutscenes and voice acting, which is great but also TRAUMATISING. Barnham is main prosecutor. 12 cases + DLC. Available on DS.

Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Bōken

The DGS games follow Phoenix’s ancestor in 1800s Japan, though it is partially set in Victorian steampunk London with Sherlock Holmes. It’s really, really good. Another one not released in the west, but you can watch the entire thing subbed here.

Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2: Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Kakugo 

This one has only recently been released in Japan and so is not subbed in full yet, and can only be played on a Japanese 3DS. Looks good though. The subbed trailer is here.

OTHER OFFICIAL MEDIA

Kodansha Comics Manga

I don’t know loads about this series but the one I read had a giant spider mutant in so. Phoenix and Maya are the protagonists. There are 15 overall, and you can get them through Amazon.

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (manga) 

This manga series is based on the AAI games but there’s a lot more to it. The protagonists are Edgeworth and Gumshoe. There are 25 overall, again I think they can all be found on Amazon.

Ace Attorney (Film) 2012

This live-action film features cases 1, 2, and 4 from the first game. It’s got a great cast and some real tongue-in-cheek humour about how ridiculous the game is. It’s also just really cute in the way they show the characters and relationships and stuff, I would definitely recommend. You can watch it subbed here.

Anime 2016

There’s currently only one season of the anime, covering the first two games and including a couple of extra bits, like more detail on Larry, Miles, and Phoenix as kids. I’m not a massive fan of the art style and find the writing a bit dull, but the story is obviously good, the OP is a Jam, there’s good voice acting and it’s cool that it exists. You can watch the whole season for free on crunchyroll here, which I assume is legally supporting it also.

Turnabout Spotlight/Farewell, My Turnabout

It’s hard to tell, but these seem to be official stage plays. The former is a new story, whereas the latter is a dramatisation of the final case from the second game. They can be downloaded in Japanese here, though I’m not aware of any full subs available sadly.

The Truth Reborn: Musical

Capcom teamed up with Takarazuka Revue to make this all-female musical. It’s really good. It’s based on the fifth case of the first game but altered so Phoenix is more in the middle of it. It is all in Japanese, but the music is good, and it’s all very professional. You can watch it subbed here. Its success led to two more musicals, though I can’t find the second one anywhere and the third one (you can watch here) hasn’t been subbed yet.

Special Edition CD Dramas

These Japanese stories are companions to the games. Translations can be found here. [Note - the linked blog translates many other AA-related media]

NOTABLE FAN MEDIA

There’s loads of great fanworks in this fandom so this is by no means a comprehensive list, but it’ll get you started.

Turnabout Musical

Honestly? If you like Ace Attorney and you have any interest at all in musicals, you need this in your life. It’s incredible. This fan musical covers the first four cases of the first game. The songs are amazing and sample relevant music from the games, and the characterisation and interpretation of relationships is on point, in my opinion. There’s some great counterpoint too. You can watch a live production of the musical here (where the third case was cut for time), and download the full soundtrack here. The team(?) are also currently working on an Apollo Justice Musical, and you can follow their progress here.

Phoenix Wright: The Musical

This one is more of a parody, with some dumb jokes and silly costumes. Maya is arrested for murdering Larry. There aren’t a lot of actual songs, but the ones that exist are pretty good (especially Franziska’s, and, weirdly, Payne’s). You can watch it here. 

Youtube: Boot to the Head

Listen. I wasn’t gonna not include this. The MOST iconic ace attorney meme, audio from a comedy sketch put to sprites. Link.

Youtube: Gay or European?

This one uses the audio from a Legally Blonde song to be about Klavier Gavin and it is canon. Link.

Youtube: Bohemian Rhapsody

This is a slightly less well-known video but it makes me emotional and I still think of it every time I hear Bohemian Rhapsody so yknow. Link.

Like I say, please message me if you have any additions or corrections!

[entergamingxp]

Vote for Readers Choice & GOTY Nominations

December 16, 2019 9:16 AM EST

DualShockers’ Game of the Year 2019 is upon us. Check our nominations and vote for your favorite games in 2019.

Welcome back, everyone! This is resident DualShockers Editor-in-Chief, Lou Contaldi, and it is time for the annual bloodbath… err– celebrating the best and the brightest of gaming in 2019!

While it is tradition to hold a separate poll for Readers’ Choice for both Game of the Year 2019 and Most Anticipated Game of 2020, we are spicing things up with a few new ways this year: announcing our nominations for each category and giving you a way to participate in the DS staff polls.

Vote for Readers’ Choice 2019 Awards:

Without question, our community is the best part of DualShockers, so we (and the developers and publishers we chat to) know that the Reader’s Choice Award is one of the best annual honors to win. And, as always we are looking for your help in making that selection in one of gaming’s busiest years.

You’re given the ability to change your vote at any time before the cutoff time, which will be December 22nd, at 11:59:59 PM Pacific Time. People change their mind all the time, so we don’t see a reason why you wouldn’t be able to change your vote here.

Below, you’ll find a form to vote for your favorite game (you can find it here if you are on mobile). In order to limit spam and vote manipulation, you’ll be asked to log in to a google account if you aren’t already. If you don’t have one, making it is pretty easy and very quick.

In order to be eligible for Game of the Year, a game needs to have been released for the first time (unless it’s a remaster/remake) between December 10th, 2018 and December 15th, 2019. Expansions are not eligible. Early Access games that have moved out of early access this year (for instance Dead Cells) are considered 2019 releases.

While we love Japanese games, only releases in the West are eligible (to avoid games appearing for two years in a row). For instance. it wouldn’t make sense to ask you to vote for Persona 5: The Royal as Game of The Year, since most of you will play the Western version (Persona 5: Royal) in 2020. You’ll be able to vote for it in our Most Anticipated Game of 2020 – Reader’s Choice Award.

Asian market releases in English have been included where appropriate in case a western release is confirmed as not happening, or extremely unlikely.

As you’ll probably notice, the list is very long — though sorted alphabetically. While other outlets give you a narrowed down list for Game of the Year, we think it is better that all voices get heard — even niche games that may be ignored. If you notice a game is missing that you wanted to vote on, go ahead and let us know in the comment section and we will add it on.

You’ll also notice that there are plenty of games that didn’t review very well on the list. It’s not our place to tell you what you should or shouldn’t like. Yet, we apologize if we missed or forgot games that you might love. After all, we’re only human.

So, what are you waiting for? Get voting, and feel free to let us know your favorites in the comments:

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DualShockers 2019 GotY Award Nominations and Vote

Now here comes the new part: not only will we be sharing our nominees for each category ahead of the vote, we want you all to be part of the decision-making.

Following a multi-week process of narrowing down on our nomination pool with both the DualShockers Staff and our Discord community, we have a tighter list of the games we are voting for in each category. Starting today, we will be tallying votes from both Staff and the Community. Each DualShockers Staff member will have one vote; comparatively, the Community will get a 10% stake in the final totals (at 3 points) for all of their leading contenders. No game will win without a clear majority (50.1%).

Voting cut-off for this initial vote is Wednesday, December 18 at 11:59:59 PM Pacific. In the instance that there is no clear majority (which will most certainly be the case), there will be a series of run-off elections happening exclusively on the DualShockers Discord! You can join those conversations by heading here: https://discord.gg/uKFUAxp

DualShockers Game of the Year

Apex Legends

Astral Chain

Control

Death Stranding

Devil May Cry 5

Disco Elysium

Fire Emblem Three Houses

Judgment

Resident Evil 2

Sayonara Wild Hearts

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

The Outer Worlds

The Walking Dead: The Final Season

Most Anticipated Game of 2020

Cyberpunk 2077

Doom Eternal

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Halo Infinite

The Last of Us: Part II

Hardware of the Year

Google Stadia

Nintendo Switch Lite

Razer Blade 15

Xbox Elite Controller 2

Indie Game of the Year

Disco Elysium

Gris

Katana Zero

Outer Wilds

Sayonara Wild Hearts

Untitled Goose Game

Best Developer

Capcom (Devil May Cry 5, Onimusha: Warlords, Resident Evil 2, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations)

Nintendo (New Super Mario. U Deluxe, Nintendo Labo – Toy-Con 04: VR Kit, Ring Fit Adventure, Super Mario Maker 2)

Respawn Entertainment (Apex Legends, Star Wars: Fallen Order)

Still Not Bitten (The Walking Dead: The Final Season)

ZA/UM (Disco Elysium)

Best Publisher

Annapurna Interactive (Outer Wilds, Journey, Telling Lies, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Wattam)

Capcom (Devil May Cry 5, Onimusha: Warlords, Resident Evil 2, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations)

Devolver Digital (Serious Sam Classics, Heave Ho, Metal Wolf Chaos, Gorn, My Friend Pedro, Devolver Bootleg, Gato Roboto, Obervation, Katana Zero, Weedcraft Inc., Ape Out, Pikuniku)

Nintendo (Astral Chain, BoxBoy! + BoxGirl!, Daemon X Machina, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 2020, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, NSMBU Deluxe, Labo VR Kit, Ring Fit Adventure, The Stretchers, Super Kirby Clash, Super Mario Maker 2, Tetris 99, Yoshi’s Crafted World)

Sega (Football Manager, SolSeraph, Citizens of Space, Total War: THREE KINGDOMS, Team Sonic racing, Yakuza Kiwami 2, Love Thyself – A Horatio Stari, Yakuza Kiwami, Catherine Classic , Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Catherine Full Body, Judgement)

Best in Big Categories

Best First-Party Game

Dreams

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Gears 5

Super Mario Maker 2

Best PS4 Game

Concrete Genie

Days Gone

Death Stranding

Judgment

Best Xbox One Game

A Plague Tale: Innocence

Crackdown 3

Gears 5

The Outer Worlds

Best Nintendo Switch Game

Astral Chain

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Luigi’s Mansion 3

Pokemon Sword and Shield

Best PC Game

Apex Legends

Disco Elysium

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

The Outer Worlds

Best Mobile Game

Call of Duty: Mobile

Pokemon Masters

Sayonara Wild Hearts

What The Golf!?

Best in Genre

Best Action-Adventure Game

Astral Chain

Control

Death Stranding

Devil May Cry 5

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Best Battle Royale Game:

Apex Legends

Ghost Recon Breakpoint: Mercenaries

Mordhau

Planetside Arena

Tetris 99

Best Competitive Game

Apex Legends

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled

Modern Warfare

Mortal Kombat 11

Tetris 99

Best Co-op Game

Borderlands 3

Gears 5

Luigi’s Mansion 3

The Division 2

World War Z

Best DLC or Expansion

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

Monster Hunter World – Iceborne

Mortal Kombat 11 Kombat Pass

Best Family Game

Jackbox Party 6

Luigi’s Mansion 3

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3

Super Mario Maker 2

Untitled Goose Game

Best Fighting Game

Dead or Alive 6

Mortal Kombat 11

Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid

Samurai Shodown

Best Horror Game

Blair Witch

Gylt

Resident Evil 2

The Sinking City

Best Interactive Story Game

Afterparty

Erica

Life is Strange 2

The Walking Dead: The Final Season 

Best Metroidvania

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Control

Indivisible

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Best Multiplayer Game

Apex Legends

Gears 5

Modern Warfare

Tetris 99

Best Platformer

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Indivisible

Super Mario Maker 2

Trials Rising

Best Puzzle Game

Baba is You

Catherine: Full Body

Tetris 99

Untitled Goose Game

Best Racing Game

Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled

Dirt Rally 2.0

GRID

Team Sonic Racing

Best Remake or Remaster

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition

Resident Evil 2

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

World of Warcraft Classic

Best Role-Playing Game

Disco Elysium

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Kingdom Hearts III

The Outer Worlds

Best Shooter

Apex Legends

Borderlands 3

Call of Duty Modern Warfare

Gears 5

Metro Exodus

Best Sports Game

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020

MLB The Show 19

NBA 2K20

NHL 20

Best Strategy Game

Civilization VI

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Slay the Spire

Wargroove

Best Virtual Reality Game

Asgard’s Wrath

Beat Saber

Blood & Truth

Falcon Age

Trover Saves the Universe

Technical Awards

Best Art Direction

Control

Death Stranding

Gris

Kingdom Hearts III

Sayonara Wild Hearts

Best Audio Design

Ape Out

Call of Duty Modern Warfare

Death Stranding

Sayonara Wild Hearts

Best Character

Casper Darling – Control

Clementine – The Walking Dead: The Final Season

Gooigi – Luigi’s Mansion 3

Mr X – Resident Evil 2

Parvati – The Outer Worlds

Best Graphics

Astral Chain

Death Stranding

Devil May Cry 5

Gears 5

Resident Evil 2

Best Narrative

Control

Death Stranding

Disco Elysium

Judgment

The Outer Worlds

The Walking Dead: The Final Season

Best Open World

Death Stranding

Greedfall

Judgment

Shenmue 3

The Outer Worlds

Best Ongoing Game

Destiny 2

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

Fortnite

Monster Hunter World

Rocket League

Best Performance

Ashly Burch as Parvarti – The Outer Worlds

Jolene Andersen – Ada Wong – Resident Evil 2 Remake

Mads Mikkelson as Cliff – Death Stranding

Melissa Hutchison as Clementine – The Walking Dead: The Final Season

Tommie Earl Jenkins as Die-Hardman – Death Stranding

Best Soundtrack

Death Stranding

Devil May Cry V

Kingdom Hearts III

Pokemon Sword and Shield

Sayonara Wild Hearts

Loading…

December 16, 2019 9:16 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/vote-for-readers-choice-goty-nominations/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vote-for-readers-choice-goty-nominations

[bioh4ck]

Fujisaki Eri as Franziska von Karma in Gyakuten Saiban 2: The Truth Reborn, Again...

[bioh4ck]

Franziska was at her lowest... arm injured and gf kidnapped. Her perfect record in shambles. She came on this bitch mad as hell!!!

[rivalsforlife]

Phoenix Wright: The Truth Reborn Again: A Distracted and Agonized Review

Picture this:

You are me. You love Ace Attorney. You have consumed every piece of Ace Attorney material you could get your little hands on, including content exclusively in Japanese that you don’t understand. New Year’s Eve two years ago, you watched the first Takarazuka Musical in horror, baffled at the characterizations and plotline. The other musicals seem just as bad, if not worse. You want, so desperately, to understand what is going on with them.

Fast forward to two and a half years later. You’re having a rather crappy time. You need something to distract you, say, rewatching an actually well-characterized and delightful Investigations stage play. While you search for it, you notice something odd. You notice.... this.

That’s right. As of two weeks ago, one of the original fansubbers of the first musical has gone on to remaster the first and subtitle the second. They plan to have the third done sometime this summer.

The long lost land of Ace Attorney Takarazuka Musicals will soon be available to the English-speaking world.

I dropped everything I was doing to watch the entire thing. As it was rather late in the night when I started, I planned to not liveblog, not wanting to use too much time taking screenshots and formulating opinions, since I’d already be watching late into the night. Turns out, I liveblogged half of it in a discord channel anyways. I screamed “NO!!! NO!!!!!!” into my hands. I covered my face with my arms. I writhed in pain. I laughed. I wept. I questioned how someone who allegedly played the games could write this. I questioned the universe for bringing this into the world. I questioned myself for still watching.

Mostly for my own sake, I want to write down my thoughts of the musical to look back on it later. You are welcome to read if you do not want to put yourself through this musical yourself. I’ll summarize my experience. It is a wild one. It ended up being nearly eight thousand words long; prepare yourselves accordingly.

Okay. Review Time. I want to establish before we begin that I don’t have anything against the actresses or the theater company. As a musical, I think it was just fine! As an ace attorney thing, it was a disaster. 

First: Some Context

If you haven’t watched the first Takarazuka Musical, I’ll summarize it right now, because if you go into this expecting it to be anything like canon you’ll be in for a nasty surprise. I left the links above, you can watch either the old or remastered one, it’ll probably be about the same. But if you understandably don’t want to watch two hours of a terrible musical I’ll just provide a summary.

Pretty much, erase the entire backstory and canon of ace attorney. Pretend you don’t know anything about this series. Phoenix Wright is a blond American lawyer (yes, ACTUALLY America this time, they use the English names and setting in this musical despite it being performed in Japan in Japanese. No, it is not a translation choice, you can literally hear them say it.) When Phoenix was a child, he was put on a class trial for stealing another student’s lunch money. When the whole class was against him, two students stood up for him! They are: Miles Edgeworth, and Leona Clyde.

... Wait Leona Clyde, you might say, who is THAT? What about Larry? While Larry does appear in the first and third musicals, if I’m recalling correctly, he has no link to the class trial whatsoever. Leona was substituted for Larry in this situation, except she didn’t steal the lunch money. 

Here’s a little graphic they made for her, how cute.

Anyways, after the class trial, Phoenix and Leona become friends. And Edgeworth too I guess. Leona’s parents are both lawyers who fight for the truth! Phoenix and Leona decide to become lawyers together and fight for the truth as well. They start dating at some point into college. Eventually, Leona moves away, which if I recall correctly has something to do with a murder case covered in the first musical that’s like a variation on Rise from the Ashes where Leona is in the Lana role. Phoenix offers to defend her after being separated for a while. She argues she’s changed as a person! Phoenix says he’ll believe in her no matter what. She saved him back in the class trial. Now it’s his turn to save her, even if she’s acting cold and remote and distant.

... If you’re thinking here, “So she’s a mash up of Edgeworth and Lana Skye, but a love interest,” then you’re correct. A lot of the dialogue in the first musical sounded like it came straight from Turnabout Goodbyes. We’ll touch on this more a little later.

Of course at the end Phoenix proves her innocence, and they sing about how much they love each other, and it’s a happily-ever-after type of ending. Phoenix’s entire backstory -- dating Dahila, meeting Mia -- gets erased or altered in some way. While he knows Maya and she’s his assistant, it’s never established how they met or that Mia even exists. (Sidenote: Maya is ruthlessly massacred in both musicals. Her characterization, I mean, though it probably would have been a mercy if she’d been killed so I wouldn’t have to see her like this.) Phoenix, having dated Leona throughout college, probably didn’t date Dahlia/Iris. He became a lawyer essentially for Leona, and maybe Edgeworth too I guess, in the same way that canon Phoenix became a lawyer essentially for Edgeworth, and maybe Larry too I guess. 

So already we’re pretty far off the canon AA script. The characters are nearly incomprehensible. But hey, at least they’re happy.

... For now.

THREE YEARS LATER

The musical starts off with Phoenix singing and dancing around on the beaches of California, something about leading you to your destiny. It’s a cheesy sort of musical song that doesn’t seem to have any relevance to the plot. Just a sort of introduction. This song will come up a couple times later and seems to be the musical’s Main Song. 

Okay, Phoenix, you do you.

He sings and dances a little bit, then returns to his office and falls asleep on the couch in a generally depressed manner before being woken up by his Official Ace Attorney Alarm Clock.

Maya enters, and Phoenix provides some of the background. Basically, three years ago, they lived in New York for some reason, which is where the events of the first musical happened, I guess? Then they moved to California, Phoenix’s hometown. Where in California, you ask? That’s not for you to know.

They introduce Maya’s character here. It’s terrible. Somehow someone looked at Maya Fey and went “this girl has no idea what’s going on ever, totally oblivious to the world around her, generally helpless” and they just go with that. 

She was described as “as ditzy as they come” in the first musical and they have not changed that since. So, Maya’s here, or at least some imitation thereof. She doesn’t have much of a role though, since the musical is focused on Phoenix and his Dramatic Love Story. That’s probably for the best. I can’t bear to see her like this. Rest well, sweet princess.

Now that the intro is out of the way...

Enter: Lucia Aleia

A Beautiful Young Woman comes in. Her name is Lucia Aleia. Her mother has been arrested for murder! She’s smiling though for some reason in this picture because she’s prettier when she smiles, I guess.

And who is her mother, you might ask? This is actually an interesting concept, I think. Lucia’s mother is Phoenix’s former teacher, Rose Aleia. She was the teacher in the fourth grade class trial. She was the one who gave Phoenix his Most Traumatic Incident.

... Also for some reason they put Baby Phoenix in a suit. I don’t know why. Presumably to match with Edgeworth, so he doesn’t look like some nerd who wore a suit to fourth grade? Or they think baby American boys wear suits as uniforms to (presumably) public school?

like okay. that’s sure a choice you made.

Anyways, Oh No, Phoenix’s Teacher Who Traumatized Him Is Being Accused of Murder! Will He Defend Her?

Lucia begs him to do it, saying that her mother is her only family left. Phoenix takes this and draws a parallel to I believe Leona, who I believe said the same thing about her sister, the Ema-equivalent in the RFTA-based case. So Phoenix decides to hear her out. Since, you know, everyone who has only one family member is the same, I suppose.

So he goes to meet his old teacher. Surprisingly, she is wracked with guilt over what she did to Phoenix over fifteen years ago. She hurt an innocent child! She’s a sinner! I mean, from canon, I can’t really say Phoenix’s teacher felt Filled With Guilt or was even a remotely decent person, but, sure. We don’t know much about her, that very well may be true.

Then Phoenix says some of the most bizarre things.

Transcript:

Phoenix: That school trial is what made me become a lawyer! When I was alone without a friend in the world, Leona and Edgeworth stood up for me! And you’re the reason I met them! I have no grudge against you! You’re no sinner. You’re my savior!

Look I. Can accept. Phoenix forgiving his school teacher and deciding to defend her because he wants to defend the innocent. Be the person he needed for himself when he was younger. Show mercy. Stuff like that I can accept from Phoenix Wright.

... But “You’re my savior!” for traumatizing him as a kid because it meant he could meet Leona (and Edgeworth)? A little bit too far imo. 

Anyways, Ms. Aleia agrees to have Phoenix defend her. He takes some time to reminisce about his childhood here in his Childhood Home Of California.

Opening Credits

We are twelve minutes into this musical, which is two hours and eleven minutes long.

Anyways, look at this picture of Edgeworth in his office. They don’t have his Steel Samurai statue and instead have a giant trophy sitting there. Miles Edgeworth, who Hates Trophies And Recognition. In case you weren’t sure just how painfully off they are on their characterizations.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Dick Gumshoe?

Okay so you know in the Sound of Music they have this big musical number with the nuns talking about Maria and how she’s such a problem and all that stuff. Well, consider that, but Ace Attorney, and they’re talking about Gumshoe and how useless he is as a detective. They’re in a church and everything. He gets everything wrong! He’s so enthusiastic about his job but so bad at it! He got demoted and moved from New York to California, which is their explanation for why he’s here. A pretty dramatic move if you ask me.

Gumshoe’s no genius in canon but the way they present him here is honestly quite pathetic. 

Officer (singing): The only thing this guy investigates is how to waste time!

Also they call him “Detective Dick” for some reason. That’s certainly something when you only know words in English and just keep hearing people say “Dick”.

One more thing in the weird name department, the victim is named Marcus Payne. Relation to the Winston and Gaspen Paynes unknown.

Edgeworth’s Gay Little Stroll

Edgeworth: It has been a while, Wright.

IT’S EDGEWORTH TIME. I believe they switched actresses for Edgeworth this time, and she plays Edgeworth in both this and the (ominous voice) third musical. This Edgeworth has a habit of holding one hand in a sort of half-bow thing. Not completely wrong but just enough to seem a little odd. I’m probably spoiled from Takuma Wada, who every five seconds I point at and go “THAT’S A MILES EDGEWORTH THING!!!” whenever he does something. Anyways.

In the first musical, Edgeworth was the only character who was somewhat preserved. So naturally I was interested to see how the second musical handled him.

The answer... very much in love with Phoenix? It won’t be apparent now, but hold that thought.

Edgeworth: Shall we go for a stroll? Only if you wish to, of course.

Edgeworth takes Phoenix out on a lovely stroll to the nearby beach. It is sunset, painting the sky in orange hues, reflecting off the ocean waters. It’s beautiful. Serene. Intimate. Maya has not come with them to give them some privacy. In the background, couples stand next to each other, watching the sunset.

Phoenix: Times change. People change. Edgeworth, staring at him: ... Phoenix: What? Edgeworth: Nothing...

After THAT weirdly charged conversation, Edgeworth explains what he’s doing here. After his crushing defeat in his one trial against Phoenix in the first musical, he’s started doubting himself, wondering about his path. Before, he solely sought a guilty verdict. Now, he’s lost. Sort of similar to JFA but without choosing death and without the context of Turnabout Goodbyes and the good parts of RFTA that the musical left out. So, whatever, for an adaptation’s sake, it’s close enough.

Then Edgeworth, talking about how Phoenix lost his way, breaks the news to the audience: Leona Clyde is dead. She died sometime in between the first musical and this second one. Phoenix has lost his way because of that. How did she die, you ask? ... Who knows. I don’t think they say. Sad Woman Disease or whatever they use to kill off women for man pain. 

And then, Edgeworth says this.

Transcript:

Edgeworth: Though she was a suspect, you kept believing in her. You fought for her. You saved her. You were supposed to wait for her here in California. But to think that all that was waiting for you was her death... Such a cruel fate must have been hard for you to accept.

Phoenix: But I never stopped doing my job!

Edgeworth: You were just chasing Leona’s shadow! Why did you become a lawyer?

Replace the name and pronouns, and who’s saying it, and you have a conversation that could have come straight out of JFA about Edgeworth. Continuing the parallels of “huh they really did just make a female Edgeworth to be Phoenix’s love interest, didn’t they.”

After this, Edgeworth introduces the concept of Franziska. Then this exchange happens, which made me absolutely lose my shit.

Transcript:

Phoenix: 13? How is that even possible?!

Edgeworth: Wright. Never forget. This is America, (dramatic flourish) Land of the Free!

Phoenix: Did they pay you to say that?

We are only twenty-two minutes in to this god-forsaken musical.

The Other Man

Tumblr deleted my draft here so I hope I remember all my jokes.

Anyways, Edgeworth, probably utterly humiliated by what he just said, flees from the scene. This paves the way for Lucia to return. If you forgot who she was, she’s Phoenix’s fourth-grade teacher’s daughter and a Beautiful Young Woman. This is an Ace Attorney Takarazuka Musical. You know where it’s going.

She has a guest with her.

Meet Roland Smith. He’s a nice, polite, cheerful dude. He’s Lucia’s fiance. I know fiance should have an accent on the e but I am too lazy to grab that right now. He’s here because he actually was a witness! He saw Ms. Aleia at the scene of the crime, running to call the doctor, meaning she probably stumbled across the victim and tried to help him! He talks about how he looks up to Phoenix, and how Lucia told him about him, and that he thinks Phoenix is a great person and noble lawyer. What a wonderful witness he is, and such a nice guy, too!

So here’s where my head was at for what was going to happen: 

- This dude is Evil. Capital-E Evil. The Most Evil Guy On The Planet.  - He’s going to be revealed to be Evil and then Lucia will run into Phoenix’s arms. Though he’s still mourning Leona, he will learn to move on and live his happy life with Lucia.

Was I right? Was I wrong? You’ll have to find out... if we ever make it there.

Anyways, Roland also mentions that Lucia wants to be a lawyer. She really admires Phoenix and Leona and wants to be Just Like Them, and Fight For The Truth, and hopefully not die of Sad Woman Disease. Also, both Lucia and Roland call Phoenix “Sensei”, which is cute, and I’m sure there’s no way they could ruin that. It seems like there’s a nice possible mentorship thing going on, I might say, if I didn’t know this was an Ace Attorney Takarazuka Musical.

Roland leaves his fiancee in the general realm of the protagonist, a very bad move on his part. Lucia and Phoenix chat for a bit, mainly about her dreams of becoming a lawyer, and then she leaves. As she does, Phoenix notices that Roland dropped something! It’s a pendant! He gives it to Lucia to return to Roland later. I’m sure this won’t be at all important in this murder mystery and is completely irrelevant.

Phoenix remains on the beach for a while and he thinks about Lucia, and Leona, and notices that they’re similar. I mean, they both have five-letter names that start with L and end with A. Then he starts grieving Leona.

Flashback Phoenix: Don’t die. Please don’t die!

Flashback Leona, dying: I... am so happy... that I met you.

Sad Woman Disease takes the lives of countless underdeveloped female love interests a year. If you or a loved one are at risk of Sad Woman Disease, take measures now. Bad writing is the greatest risk factor.

Phoenix dwells on how much things have Changed. Edgeworth, once a proud prosecutor, has taken a break from his profession. Phoenix himself, once a happy defense lawyer, is lost and intends for this to be his last case. Leona, once a living love interest, is now a dead love interest. 

On that somber (?) note, the trial begins.

The Trial

Trial portions tend not to be as bad, because the musical focuses more on the plot than whatever the hell their interpersonal relationships are.

So, here’s Franziska. As far as this musical goes, I think she was preserved pretty well, all things considered.

I meant to only take one screenshot but got distracted. Lots of her poses are true to the games and it’s beautiful.

So, Franziska wasn’t butchered, that’s nice. There’s a jury which is weird, but they don’t do anything, so it can pass. We can safely move on to a summary of the trial. On account of being less horrible, I won’t go into as much detail, so we can move on since this is getting wayyy longer than it should be.

- The victim, Marcus Payne, was killed in a church. What he was doing there is unknown. Ms. Aleia is accused because she fed him poison called Heart Stopper. - Franziska named “Heart Stopper”, because as you know, prosecutors can name poisons. She seems to be a very literal person. - Ms. Aleia’s claim is that she saw Marcus on the ground begging for help and asked her to give him the medication lying nearby. She did, and he died. She was not aware that it was poison. - Lotta is here, I think I forgot to mention she showed up in the investigation? She’s part-timing as a nun, because that’s a thing you can do. She has pictures! One of “Ms. Aleia” kicking the victim, and one of her escaping. It's pretty hilarious.

Yeah that’s how I look when I’m murdering someone too.

Anywayyyys 

- Phoenix argues that the thing on the floor is a nun’s hood, and therefore, it couldn’t have been Ms. Aleia because she isn’t a nun, and someone ELSE disguised themselves as a nun to kill this poor poor stock photo man. Franziska asks him the favourite question of prosecutors ever, “can you PROOOOOVE IT????” Luckily, Phoenix has a witness! - Roland Smith takes the stand and immediately sounds like the guiltiest man alive.

Transcript:

Roland: I want to build a brighter future for California. Creating comfortable communities brings smiles to people’s faces. I want to make California the sunniest state there is! That’s my mission.

Anyways, three guesses who the murderer is. You’ll only need one.

Oh No Roland’s The Murderer

Roland makes one critical mistake: he tells the court that Ms. Aleia called from her cellphone, when she actually called the doctor from a nearby payphone. After all, cellphones don’t exist here in the 21st century, so it must be a lie. Franziska points out this mistake and tries to use it to discredit his testimony; Phoenix turns that around to say “since he lied he’s THE KILLER” and huh. He’s right. Roland makes an ominous comment about how this isn’t over yet before being led away. Lucia, too, runs off in tears.

Honestly I don’t want to fully rewatch this because this has already taken up so much of my time, and a lot of my memory has been wiped because I had to look at this screenshot.

Maya: This prosecutor’s more toxic than 4chan.

The whole ensemble has a little song that doesn’t seem very relevant to the plot at all, and then that’s the end of act 1! Franziska finally gets to sing, she has a lovely voice, and I will forever be mad that she doesn’t get a villain solo like Edgeworth did in the first one. The misogyny is unreal.

ACT 2

oh god we’re halfway there maybe. 

Once again, Phoenix, lying on the couch depression napping, is awoken to the sounds of his Official Ace Attorney Alarm Clock. I guess he lives in his office now. Maya isn’t there, for some reason, which I’m sure isn’t important to the plot at all in this murder mystery game after the killer last time swore it wasn’t over.

I feel like I forgot to mention this part of the musical is loosely based on Farewell, My Turnabout? Did I forget to mention that?

Ms. Aleia comes in to thank Phoenix for defending her. Lucia bursts in, declares she’s given up being a lawyer, she’s furious at Phoenix for putting Roland in jail and at her mother for not going to jail instead of Roland or something, and runs off in womanly tears. 

Well, whatever, Phoenix was giving up being a lawyer anyway. Just as he decides that, he gets a nice little phone call from someone holding Maya hostage. Oh no! It’s not actually Shelly de Killer, it’s a group of some ominous looking men, asking for Phoenix to defend Roland Smith. But he’s the killer!

Roland claims he did everyone a favor by getting rid of Marcus Payne. He forces Phoenix to defend him if he doesn’t want Maya to die. Phoenix agrees, but he has to tell Edgeworth!

... Who is having a little dramatic moment.

Edgeworth, singing while gesturing broadly: I’ll become one with the wind and water and flow toward the boundless horizon.

Edgeworth cut that out MAYA IS IN DANGER BE DRAMATIC ON YOUR OWN TIME

Well, Edgeworth gives him advice kind of similar to that second investigation day of Farewell, My Turnabout. “You need to decide for yourself what your path will be, and you must do what only you can do”, in essence.

Phoenix: huh. no idea what that means.

So naturally it leads into another dramatic music number which is honestly my favourite one. Finally, I may be... enjoying myself? Guys, there’s a freaking von Karma sibling duet.

Transcript since it’s not clear who’s saying what:

Edgeworth: The road that leads Franziska: The road that leads Edgeworth: Into the distance Franziska: The distance... Both: Is too treacherous for those who cling to memories! Edgeworth: Where lies the key to tomorrow? Franziska: I shall seize it with this very hand! Both: The eternal refrain

Phoenix is not singing, he is just having a good time here, and I respect that for him. The lyrics don’t make any sense as well, but von Karma Sibling Duet makes up for it.

Once they’re done their epic duet and the best part of the musical is over, Phoenix has another Crying About My Love Interest’s Death Moment set to some specific music.

This is extremely relevant for later. I promise.

It’s All Downhill From Here

Lucia has a Sad Singing Moment about how her fiance turned out to be a murderer and is in prison awaiting trial, which, fair. This transitions into Phoenix meeting her on the beach... the same beach that’s been there the whole time I think. Phoenix is in a new outfit to be casual or something.

He monologues a bit about the skies in New York and California, mentions he’ll be defending Roland in court, mentions nothing about Maya being kidnapped and overall does not seem too bothered that she’s been kidnapped.

Then this starts happening.

Phoenix: Such a beautiful name! Your name. “Lucia.”

“It’s five letters long, starts with an L, ends with an A, has two vowels and a consonant in between...”

Phoenix manages to connect this to his current purpose. He talks about how being a lawyer isn’t always about saving people. Sometimes it’s about finding the truth, no matter how painful it is. Even if you have to lose your empty shell of a mockery of a best friend. He just really does not seem to care. Where Farewell, My Turnabout Phoenix was in anguish over what to do, desperate to save his best friend, Takarazuka Musical Phoenix seems to have completely forgotten what happened.

He then starts talking about True Love. Sometimes true love means staying together and supporting each other, even through bad times, he says. This seems like a good sentiment, right? We’ll See About That.

He encourages Lucia to go to the trial tomorrow. She has regrets, not wanting to see her fiance go on trial. Then it just keeps getting worse.

It’s Time... for a love song. It’s a reprise of that song in the beginning that he was singing about while having a dream about Leona or something.

Yes, that is karaoke with a cherry blossom petal effect, why do you ask? This is where I, drowning in denial and gasping for breath, surrender to accepting this is not going to be a sweet mentorship-type relationship.

Lucia, having now completely given up on her fiance, agrees to go to the trial tomorrow. 

The two walk off. And just as they do...

I did not expect what was coming next. 

Edgeworth’s Gay Little Monologue

I may be hyping this up too much so I want to confirm right now that the musicals did not make Edgeworth canonically gay. They actually do the opposite and are the only piece of media where he actually is attracted to a woman (in the third musical, I think.) When I first typed “media” I started somehow typing “murder” which was how I felt when I saw that.

Anyways. Edgeworth walks onto the beach right after Phoenix walks away with Lucia. He stares where they departed and starts monologuing. I believe it has to be seen to be believed.

Transcript:

Edgeworth: Wright. Whenever you decided to do something, you always saw it through to the end. We met again at that trial, in a battle of wills. And before I knew it, even I found myself drawn to you.

Me, the first time watching this: Wowww, that’s kinda... oh well it’s probably just a one time thing. ace attorney does this all the time and it means nothing.

Transcript:

Edgeworth: (soft laughter) ... You taught me how to believe. You showed me the truth reborn. Maybe I came back... because of you.

This was where I started absolutely losing it. I had to pause here for like five minutes to take deep breaths because NO WAY. NO WAY ARE THEY DOING THIS.

Then he starts SINGING. Softly. Tenderly.

Transcript:

Edgeworth: As long as there are people in this world, there’s only one path I will follow. As long as there is love in this world, there’s only one path I will believe in!

It is VERY IMPORTANT that you know. The moment Miles started singing the “As long as there is love in this world” line, the notes of Objection 2001 started playing in the background. You know, the one Phoenix is associated with.

Needless to say... I was in a bad state. Here’s a screenshot of me having a breakdown in discord.

I can’t believe the musicals notorious for being shamefully heterosexual gave me the closest thing to semi-canon one-sided narumitsu we have.

... holy shit I am nearly five thousand words in and we still have a ways to go. Like nearly an hour. We are only one hour and sixteen minutes in to this experience and tumblr is starting to lag. I’ll be a bit more stingy on screencaps from here on.

Basic summary of the relationships: Phoenix is still hung up on his dead girlfriend. Lucia, once attached to her fiance Roland, is starting to fall for Phoenix. Phoenix may love her back but we don’t know yet. Edgeworth is clearly pining for Phoenix but seems to be resigned to the fact it will be one-sided since musical Phoenix is very heterosexual, and instead sings about how much Phoenix changed him mournfully on the beach.

Anyways, the scene cuts to a upbeat piece of people screaming “PHOENIX WRIIIIGHT”, and the trial begins.

The Trial, Part 2

Franziska von Karma has been shot by an unknown gunman, to the surprise of no one who has played Farewell, My Turnabout. Edgeworth takes her place. Edgeworth tells Phoenix, “By the time this trial is over, you will see the answer these past three years have revealed to me”, which is probably that he’s madly in love with him if that song was anything to go by.

Phoenix thinks about what Edgeworth said to him: “You must do what only you can do.” Phoenix thinks that means Lie and say that Roland is completely innocent and he’ll willingly defend him. Edgeworth is... disappointed.

Edgeworth: I shall rain judgment upon you with my own hands!

So. That’s how the trial begins.

A random witness comes in. She’s Marcus Payne’s secretary, who comes in to talk about how he had a heart condition and provides a photo of them hanging out together. You, like me, may think that she is going to be the “Adrian Andrews” of the game and that Phoenix will try and pin the blame on her to buy time. He doesn’t. She literally doesn’t do anything.

Anyways, Marcus Payne has to take a heart medication called “Heartful” every day. “Heartful” was also named by Franziska von Karma, because prosecutors can rename FDA-approved drugs now.

Through this cross-examination, Phoenix proves that actually the witness couldn’t have been poisoned -- he died too quickly for the poison to take effect. He died of natural causes!

...

Huh. But earlier, Roland admitted to killing him? So what’s up with that?

Phoenix wants to object, but he can’t. Maya’s in danger, after all!

So we cut to Maya. She’s rolling on the ground screaming for Nick to save her and being completely useless. My enjoyment of the musical, temporarily raised by Accidentally Gay Miles Edgeworth, drops drastically.

We take a look at who kidnapped Maya.

Rude Beth, Played by Koumi Maito

I nearly screamed “HIS NAME IS RUDE BITCH???” out loud at 11:00 PM.

They do give an interesting bit of information: Roland requested that Maya not be harmed, and that Franziska not be killed. Certainly interesting for someone in the Engarde role. How could that be?

But first they take some time to establish their horribly out of character Maya.

“Maya”: God, I beg you! Please save me! I promise I’ll go to church every Sunday!

I have no idea who this woman is.

Mystery Woman Who Looks Vaguely Like Maya is saved! By Franziska von Karma, Gumshoe, and Lotta, who break in and take down the evil people and run off with Maya, or whoever she is. 

So she’s safe! Good thing her kidnapping actually didn’t matter at all to anything, or else they’d have to notify Phoenix right away, or something.

Lucia’s Big Moment

Back at the trial, since Phoenix proved Marcus Payne died of natural causes, Roland is about to be let free. But then Lucia objects! She talks about how Phoenix taught her want it meant to save someone and love someone. Or something like that. Anyways, she wants to throw Roland under the bus. 

Edgeworth tells Phoenix “Don’t worry about Maya, put your faith in Detective Dick, you know, the guy people sang a song about how useless he was”, and Phoenix just accepts it. The trial proceeds.

Lucia explains that she and Roland had dinner with Marcus and her mother. He had a heart attack there and took his medicine for it, so Roland knew about his heart condition. It seems that somehow Roland instigated a heart attack and then took away his medicine - I was picturing him jumping out from behind a statue in the church and shouting “BOO!”, which would be wild enough to be an ace attorney murder.

Either way, Phoenix points out that he noticed a contradiction! No one else noticed because the photos were distant and grainy, but they zoom in for your convenience. Marcus Payne, who normally wears a pendant... isn’t in his corpse photo! Who took the pendant? If only someone conspicuously dropped it earlier in this musical! If only someone has it!

Here’s (an exaggerated representation of) what happens:

Phoenix deduces: The medicine was in the pendant, and the culprit took it from him, depriving him of his life-saving medication and causing him to die of his heart attack!

Lucia stands there and says nothing.

Phoenix continues: Therefore, the culprit must still have the pendant!

Lucia stands there and says nothing.

Roland says: Haha, I don’t have the pendant! You can search me if you want, I don’t have it!

Lucia stands there and says nothing.

Phoenix, FINALLY, says: Lucia, you have the pendant.

Lucia: oh you mean THAT pendant, the large pendant Roland dropped that belongs to Roland, is the pendant we’re talking about that’s the key piece of the murder?

I mean obviously she couldn’t present it herself. That would mean she has agency, and we can’t have that.

Roland’s Motive

**CW for this section for discussion of suicide and other unpleasant stuff like that.**

Roland breaks down and confesses. He killed Marcus Payne. Then he talks about why.

Here’s what I got wrong: Roland is not Capital E Evil.

When Roland was a kid, he lived with his father, his only family. They were poor, and his father worked as a fisherman. When he got injured, he had to borrow money from a loan shark, Marcus Payne. When he couldn’t pay up, Marcus Payne started harassing Roland’s father.

At one point, Payne attacks Roland’s father, right in front of a young Roland himself. Worn down and ashamed, Roland’s father leaves him at an orphanage and then kills himself.

Roland, upset over the death of his father, vows to get revenge. But then he meets Lucia, who is so wonderful and makes him feel like his life is at peace.

Early on in the trial they thought Ms. Aleia’s motive for killing him regarded a loan to keep a school open. So Marcus Payne met with Ms. Aleia, while Lucia and Roland were there. Roland, not wanting the family of his fiancee to fall to the same man who ruined his father’s life, deprived Marcus of his life-saving medication in the middle of a heart attack, kicked him around a little, and left.

He hadn’t planned for Ms. Aleia to be caught up in the murder, so he tried to lie in order to have her cleared of suspicion, only to end up found out through that. He didn’t want to be arrested for defending his beloved and her family from such a horrible man; he saw Marcus Payne’s death as a benefit to society. And honestly, he was probably right. When Edgeworth does the “why didn’t you go to the police”, Roland explains about how nobody ever helped him or his family, the poor don’t have the luxury of being able to go to school to get big jobs like lawyers and change the world that way, and murdering Marcus was the only way he could protect his new family.

Here, I was thinking: wow, moral complexity? Is this actually turning out to be good?

Phoenix: But you killed someone. That’s EXACTLY what Marcus Payne did to your father.

No, Phoenix. No it’s not.

The Moral Of The Story

Phoenix tells Roland that he shouldn’t have done murder. And WORSE, HE’S the one who CRUSHED Lucia’s DREAMS!

... What?

Remember at the beginning of this act, Lucia, in tears, runs away screaming about how she’s not going to be a lawyer anymore because Phoenix put her fiance in jail? ... That’s Roland’s fault now, I guess.

Phoenix, clearly dealing with his own nonsense poorly, tells Roland that he of all people should not have made Lucia suffer. There is only one person who can truly make her smile, who can truly make her happy, and that is Roland. Phoenix looks like he’s about to cry as he says this, while Lucia looks kinda confused, because, uh... Phoenix is completely speaking for her. This is the beginning of the end.

Well, either way, Phoenix encourages him to try again, and he’s declared guilty, but it’s implied that given the circumstances he’ll be rehabilitated and let out someday. Good for him! At the end, Roland reveals he held on to the pendant instead of throwing it away because it was his father’s, and it was all he had left of him. Throughout this, Edgeworth is holding the pendant, clearly poorly dealing with his own trauma. I expect there to be some sort of sympathetic moment where he returns it to Roland, but he doesn’t. He just kinda holds it and dangles it in front of Roland while he’s led away. Huh.

Then this happens:

Phoenix: Everything’s over... Wait... Maya?!

HE COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT MAYA.

She returns safely, there’s a little hug, Gumshoe directly calls her a damsel in distress, I long for death. We are so close to the end. So close. Gumshoe talks about how Edgeworth is so cool and Edgeworth is proud about it instead of his usual “I hate flattery” thing.

Phoenix decides he’s found his purpose again as a lawyer and walks off. There’s the airport scene here, except in a courtroom, with the von Karma siblings. It’s about the same as canon so I won’t go into that.

Following that, we go to a scene with Phoenix and Lucia.

You Think You Know What’s Coming?

They’re on a beach. There’s soft romantic music. Couples stand with their arms around each other in the background. Quietly, close to midnight, I whisper to myself, “Oh, god, please, no.”

Phoenix tells Lucia she reminds him of Leona. They have the same eyes. That’s why he wanted to save her. But she ended up saving him instead; she taught him how to believe again.

... Sounds oddly like a certain someone’s other beach monologue, but I digress.

Lucia, who has been following the musical so far and seen the multiple obvious parallels, finally asks the question in the weirdest way possible.

Lucia: Can I... become Leona?

Phoenix takes this as “Can I become a great female lawyer and someday die of Sad Woman Disease?” No, no, Lucia clarifies: She wants to become his Leona. In other words, his giiiirlfriend.

Her fiance was arrested for murder one day ago. She’s talking about wanting to be his dead girlfriend.

Lucia, hon, this is not the way to do it.

She explains that Phoenix in his big dramatic love song singing taught her what love really was. She loves him! She’s about to say it when --

Phoenix: Don’t say it.

Note the hollow, distant gaze. He says it in the flattest tone of voice.

It’s around here that I realize this musical has been stringing me along a flat love story and is about to turn this entire thing on its head.

Phoenix: Have you already forgotten how to believe? He will definitely return. He will be the same man you once knew. The only one who can believe in him... The only one who can save him... is you.

I think Phoenix forcibly assigned Lucia as something like a manic pixie dream girl? I’m probably using the term wrong but you get the picture. Lucia, It Is Your Job To Save This Traumatized Man At The Expense Of Your Own Desires!

Lucia looks so fucking confused and I don’t blame her. I saw it, Lucia. I saw his hands on your bare shoulders holding you close and singing how he was going to take you to your bright shining future. You have a right to be confused. I’m confused and I absolutely hated this romance plotline!

Phoenix pushes it further and I finally understand what this musical has been planning all along: Phoenix Wright Is About To Snap.

Phoenix: I believed in Leona and waited for her return. People don’t change. I just know it. That’s why people... always return to their true selves sleeping deep within.

Phoenix: You already know... the meaning of true love.

Lucia: ...

SHE LOOKS SO CONFUSED AND SLIGHTLY DISGUSTED and I am transfixed. I am starting to see the beginnings of what this musical is doing. 

Phoenix encourages her to believe in Roland, the fiance she was prepared thirty seconds ago to abandon for Phoenix. He says that is the path to her future.

Phoenix, hands on Lucia’s (now covered) shoulders: Your future is shining bright!

This is the end of the musical. It is the start of Lucia’s Nightmare.

Phoenix Wright’s Spiral Into Despair

Lucia promises to become a lawyer and gets out of there. I can’t blame her. Something’s Up with Phoenix. His fixation on people not changing. Not even their relationships are allowed to change upon the revelation of “you murdered someone”. 

What does it mean? What does it all mean?

Phoenix starts talking to the sky. To Leona.

Phoenix: Leona. Now I finally understand... why I came back home. The power to believe. The truth reborn...!

So he’s talking to Leona, explaining that he found his purpose again. That’s great. That’s nice. That’s --

Phoenix: I’ll be with you now and forever!

UM????

Phoenix: Because Leona... you’ll always be alive... inside my heart!

It’s a nice sentiment, but something is... off. Phoenix starts to sing. It’s the song he sang at the beginning, and sang to Lucia, and now singing it to the memory of Leona.

Phoenix, singing: I’ll take you to that radiant future ...

The lights fade to resounding applause. But It’s Not Over Yet.

Dance Break!

The Takarazuka Musicals have these weird ending dances to character’s songs at the end, where they dress up in these bizarre costumes. It’s... something. I encourage you to watch them for yourselves because they’re uh. Interesting. Here’s a few screenshots:

It’s entertaining, but it distracts from the real issue at hand.

The Spiral Into Despair Continues

At the end of the last dance scene, Phoenix stands alone in a red room. Music starts playing. Remember this scene I said was important a long time ago?

The music that plays to this scene, general Upset Despairing Music, is what’s playing during this. This is context I think you need to fully appreciate this.

Phoenix, alone, starts to sing to the theme of this music, but slower and a little more dramatic.

Phoenix: I want to bring you back! I believe in you.

And then he SCREAMS.

(To be fair, this is musical screaming, it’s more like singing without words. It’s not like a guttural scream, though that would have been infinitely funnier and I never would have recovered from it.)

This is where I doubled over, wheezing, and is still making me laugh so hard to this day, a single day later. Because suddenly? Suddenly I understand everything. I understand what this musical, which was absolutely not trying to tell me this, was trying to tell me.

Phoenix associates his belief in other people with being a lawyer, and to him, being a lawyer is intrinsically tied with Leona. It’s why he’s so determined to save his childhood teacher who, despite traumatizing him as a child, introduced him to the person he was so dependent on. When Leona died, he lost his purpose. He lost his ability to believe. Seeing Lucia, who he projects Leona onto, be in a breaking relationship with Roland reminds him of what he used to have with Leona. That’s why he can’t bear to see them apart. That’s why he’s so adamant that, so long as she believes in him, they can get through any trial. He wants to believe that pure belief and love can keep a couple together through even murder, even death. 

He wants to believe that, if he believes in Leona, he can even bring her back from the dead. He can’t move on from her. That’s why he’ll be with her now and forever. That’s why she’ll always live inside his heart. Because so long as he believes in her, so long as he never moves on, it’ll be like she was still alive, in his eyes.

Takarazuka Musical Phoenix Wright is a deeply broken man. He’s trapped in his own despair and can’t see any way out of it. He has little to no support system: one distant friend pining from afar, another that is an empty shell of what she could have been. He associates Leona with the prime of his life. Without her, he can’t see himself recovering. 

This is the end of the musical, but it is only the beginning of the end for Phoenix Wright. Will he ever be able to move on from Leona? Will his friends notice his sudden unhealthy attitude towards relationships and try to intervene? Will he drive them away, convinced all he needs in this world is Leona, Leona who has taken up so much of his backstory, so many of his canon self’s important relationships, Leona who has taken that chunk of life with him and left him a broken man?

This musical was made in 2009. The third musical in this series does not involve Phoenix at all and chronologically takes place before this musical. I will never have answers. I spent my entire day puzzling over this musical and writing up this piece. I am taking everything wrong away from this musical and wildly misinterpreting everything. This has been such an experience for me in a way not even the first musical was. The first musical was just bad. This one... it was terrible, but in the way that has so much potential, if you divorce it completely from what it is and ask yourself, “but what if?” What if Miles Edgeworth is secretly deeply in love with Phoenix? What if Maya Fey was murdered and replaced with an imposter, an empty shell? What if Lucia and Roland’s relationship is doomed towards disaster? What if Phoenix Wright’s unhealthy fixation on Leona prevents him from living a full, happy life?

I just wrote nearly eight thousand words about a musical I fully expected to despise. In some ways I did. In some ways this will live in my heart forever. Thank you for bearing with me through this terrible, terrible journey. I did not mean for it to go this far.

TL;DR: oh my god this musical sucks in the best way possible