#you handed apollo forged evidence phoenix

[jaydovekj]

my favorite ace attorney characters and what I head canon their middle names to be

apollo - jovie. his mom got to pick his first name.... and jove picked his middle name.

kristoph - mortium. I rlly like the sound of it and also it has the root word "mort" which means death in latin and... yeah. ium indicates a metallic element and like. blood tastes like copper, no? idk but its mainly about the "mort" root part. sounds classy and a little bit pretentious, like kristoph

klavier - audium. its a theater name, yes. "aud" is a latin root word that means "to hear" or "to listen." he's musical, duh, but also I think it fits his character well. in aa4, really, that's what he does: listen. he listens to and trusts kristoph wholly in the beginning. also, literally, they listened to lamirior's song ike a million times and they listened (before the trial) to guilty love to figure out where the missed cut was. the name sounds like autumn. I think klavier is an autumn child. it also matches kristoph's middle name. they're doomed siblings, entwined fates, etcetera blah blah. that now post I need to dig up about aa4 being about what you hear instead of what you see lamiroir being blind and only able to hear what happened in turnabout serenade, apollo's loud ass voice, klavier's whole rock band thing, phoenix speaking up about kristoph n stuff, and just that resent theme. you can't trust what you see [ ex. forged evidence ] in favor of what you hear [ ex. witness testimony and such ]. idk I feel like it fits. this was a bit ramble and tbh I made it up last minute but now I like it enough to use it

trucy - aiko. japanese name. means love child, apparently, based on my sources (Japanese girl baby name website). anyways trucy is a child born of love. her first parents did love her, truly. her dad wore a necklace with a. picture of her all those years after leaving. her mother..... uh, no comment im pretty sure lamiroir does love her kids but she just. can't deal w/ them rn. (pretty shitty she's waited so long if you ask me but hey, I'd probably need a bit after getting all those memories back too. again, no comment.)anyways, despite her dad straight up LEAVING and stuff, he does love her. he left her in good hands--with phoenix wright. now here's where I really mean this name is important. the father-daughter bond between trucy and phoenix is, I think , unrivaled. allow me to explain. phoenix took her in and, clearly, at first, he was nervous. he thought it was a temporary arrangement. replay aa4, you'll see. I just can't find the screenshots rn. you can see how deeply he began to care for her though and it literally melted my heart. she accepted him as her dad, too. and they stuck with each other all that time. they're the father-daughter duo and you can't convince me otherwise. I love thinking about the wright family.

if I come up with more, ill prolly reblog with them

[pennamepersona]

really can't say enough how much it hurts to see phoenix as such an asshole from apollo's pov...i see him he's right there but i still miss him y'know?

[trlvsn]

this long ass trainwreck of a post is about two types of cards and two types of hands in apollo justice: ace attorney. also about beanix. like, a lot. i got carried away.

i have already written a post about phoenix wright in turnabout trump and his decision to make apollo present forged evidence, but i will repeat myself a little for the sake of making sense. before, i have stated three definite motivations for his behavior: teaching apollo to never make the mistake of blind trust ever again, making sure that he wins the case and completely cutting himself off from the law, submitting to the image of himself that others see. "maybe i did, maybe i didn't, but who cares anymore" - phoenix wright, 2019, dear genties and ladymen of the court. but anyway, as fascinating as his character is in aa4, the only way to really understand it is to focus on the bigger picture. phoenix wright has been collecting evidence for seven long years, working on the jurist system, playing the piano, looking in the mirror and seeing the cracks from the big big punch the system landed on him. phoenix wright might still remember how to be a lawyer, but he is no longer part of the current system, in fact, he refuses to be. he frequently says he "quit law", meaning him not going back or trying to was somewhat of a conscious choice. bringing me to my second point and fourth reason of him forging evidence: the rules don't matter to him anymore, because these rules are not the ones he agrees with. he is no longer playing by them.

once you understand that, the point of view shifts. his actions are only wrong from a legal standpoint (aside, of course, from betraying apollo's trust, not excusing that but also not really talking about that right now), he is acting as a man, not a lawyer. look at the forged evidence morally: did it do harm? we know the man who he was trying to frame with the evidence is guilty (kristoph), we know he knows and we know he knows what will happen. what happens is: with the price of a small lie, a bigger truth gets revealed, and millions of other wrongs that the system created break. this action has led to good consequences and was done with good intentions (well, i assume), meaning it was, objectively, good, righteous. it's just that the law is righteous no more.

furthermore, when you look at phoenix's actions overall, we understand that the fire burning inside him has not changed. he is fighting for a better system, one that will never leave an innocent alone and abandoned, as now there are 12 jurists and any of them could be on that person's side, not based on their position or job, but based on reason and common sense. see me making the word job bold? that's for a reason, i will talk about the significance of jobs later. anyway, phoenix's seriousness about the whole thing is really well-demonstrated by sprite.

now. you might notice klavier and kristoph here. that's because, as noted by countless other ace attorney fans, phoenix's expression mirrors theirs. if it was just kristoph's, this expression of phoenix's would frankly concern me: a parallel with an "evil" character is not exactly a good sign. however, this expression gains a new meaning with klavier having it: aside from indicating that phoenix wright remains a sponge that adopts people's mannerism, he is experiencing a similar mindset to the gavin brothers: perfectionism. not in the von karma way, though, a different kind. this perfectionism means "i have poured my heart and soul into this concert/murder/jurist system and everything has to go right. for the love of god". it means phoenix's heart is in it. it means the mask falls.

the make falls, and yet phoenix wright remains in his hoodie and beanie. the mask falls, and yet, by the end of turnabout succession, he says he might learn how to play piano, or, maybe, perhaps, someday, pass the bar exam. weird, isn't it? the system is fresh and just, his honor is restored, but he is embracing the freedom of choice and a chance at authenticity instead of deciding what that authenticity will be for him right away. that, at least to me, is because phoenix wright is no longer defined by his occupation, and neither are any of the characters, really. here is where i come back to the job thing.

a wise tumblr user out there somewhere once said aa2 is about identity, and i completely agree. in the introductory case, phoenix loses his memories and regains his sense of self by, essentially, doing his job, remembering why and how he does it. and, like phoenix, aa4 is much more mature in the subject of identity. (not calling aa2 an immature game, just pointing out the development of identity as a concept). phoenix wright is a piano player slash poker champion, and yet he brings the truth to light and turns the system upside down. klavier gavin is balancing being a rockstar and a prosecutor; despite being a singer, he is factually serious and determined in court, despite being a prosecutor, he sings for thousands and is the most glimmerous of fops. ema skye - and boy will i say a lot about her in a separate post someday - is a detective, and yet she keeps her soul alive with luminol and fingerprint powder, using forensics despite not being a forensic scientist. apollo justice is a successful attorney, and yet he presents forged evidence in his first trial, and, while it wasn't his choice to do so, he also doesn't make the choice to go ruin his career and reveal the truth of the evidence, does he?

point is, the characters make choices, no longer identifying themselves solely with their jobs. they do what they do, and what they are is what they put out into the world. while aa2 is about identity, aa4 is about actions, making a change. no longer is it acceptable to stand by and observe - you either build a new system brick by brick and break the old one with your bare fists, or you're a victim slash pawn of it. or you're kristoph gavin and those like him - the one who the old system relies on, and the one who relies on the old system.

either way, the matter of actions, well, mattering, is really well-demonstrated by the importance of hands in aj:aa. i already talked about hands for a bit in this post, reblogged from @/phantommarigold. what inspired this line of thought was phoenix's tendency to hide his hands in almost every sprite of his, except for the objection one (which is stated was for the reason of hiding his true intentions, aka his "hand" as in hand of cards). the other reason, however, was the significance of hands in aa4 overall. kristoph gavin's hand has a devilish scar on it, showing his true identity and being a tell of his; apollo's perceptive powers are enhanced by the bracelet on his hand, which he so impolitely points at other objection-style, and so does phoenix in turnabout trump. klavier is a guitarist, so hands are quite literally an important part of his; but they are also very detailed in general, drawn with rings and great detail. in moments of weakness and confusion, he uses his hands to cover his ears, subconsciously desiring to ignore the truth (but choosing not to, of course. eh, that's for another post). machi tobaye holds lamoir by her hand at all times in order to guide her. things such as letters, written diaries, handwriting and fingerprints play a crucial part in multiple cases. i am confident that if i tried hard enough, i would find even more examples. point is: hands are important. hands symbolize action, creation and ruin, hands are our instrument, which we use to leave an imprint on the world. again, choices and actions.

but let's go back a bit. this will be a little niche, and yet i am compelled to point out the possibly unintentional tarot symbolism in character design. kristoph gavin has a devil on his hand, and frankly, that is very fitting for a name of the fifteenth major arcana. the devil traps, conceals the truth and holds immense power, which is essentially what kristoph does. the card is also associated with manipulation, which is also undeniably what he does to klavier at the very least. the card suits him, frankly even more than the descriptions of the devil as a mythical being.

before i point out the most obvious tarot reference, bear with me while i talk about the more far-fetched ones. first and foremost, trucy wright as the magician, the first arcana: someone who holds all the tools (the necessary (and forged) evidence, two times throughout her life) but isn't exactly at a point of bringing them into full action, someone who motivates and powers (her being phoenix's light), and, well, literally a magician. apollo justice as the sun - named after the greek god of the sun, bringing light and joy into life (by assisting with the downfall of the dark age) and possibly being childish (the naive behavior of accepting forged evidence in turnabout trump). are my descriptions of the cards fully accurate? no, give me a break, divination may be in my blood but it's not in my brain. anyways, lamoir as the star - constellations on her clothes, divine-looking, and the seventeenth arcana, following the tower - a symbol of a wreck, a disaster, a change (losing memories, in her case, and ... well, being shot does resemble the lighting that strikes the tower). this might seem insignificant for those not familiar with tarot, but the major arcana are famous for telling a story of life if put in the correct order, so it made sense to me.

now, the most important tarot reference of all is the one at the start of case 2. take a look at the transcript/description of the intro from ace attorney wiki:

Intro

The camera slowly zooms away from a wheel that is turning.

As long as we draw breath, the Wheel of Fate turns...

There are brief scenes of Phoenix Wright about to get hit by a car, Trucy Wright chasing someone, and a man playing on his harmonica. Afterward, it is shown that the wheel is part of a stand being pulled by a man late in the rainy evening. Everything except the wheels is silhouetted in darkness.

Spinning big crimes and little crimes together.

The man suddenly stops.

And when the Wheel stops...

The camera pans to another man blocking the stand-puller's way. As the camera begins to zoom away, there is a flash from a gunshot. The camera accelerates, showing part of a park before obscuring the scene behind some city towers.

You die.

the wheel of fortune is the tenth major arcana, and it's meaning is quite obvious.

fate is an uncontrollable force, one that is the most powerful in the universe as it is the universe itself. in this case, it spins a complicated tale, connecting small and big crimes, unintended consequences and failed plans.

in the end, what's done is done, no matter what you originally intended. you may not have wanted to present forged evidence, but you did. you may not have wanted this job, but you have it. you may not have known and you may not have seen, but now you do, and what you do next is what matters.

so you better be careful. tomorrow is a new day no matter what happens; time is inevitable, and so is change, but if you get your hands dirty and play your cards right, then, perhaps, the sun will shine on that day and the day after that.

[alumi-san]

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney but with Wrighworth fam part 1.

(Think of it also as an AJ rewrite)

Turnabout Trump

It goes the same with the exception that Apollo knows Trucy and is even more confused about the card.

Then Kristoph's defeat happens.

K: So that's how you pay me, Apollo? After all, I did to you? Took you as my apprentice, taught you everything about law, and helped you become a lawyer. And I did it despite your-

He shuts looking at Apollo and then at Phoenix. He finally realized.

K: *laugh* Of course! How I didn't realize it?! You are his son after all!

The court is in shock "Phoenix Wright has a child?!" "No way!" "Don't they have only 11 years difference?!"

J: *hits the desk with his hammer* Order! Order! Mr. Justice, what's Mr. Gavin saying is true?

A: ... it's not important right now you're honor but yes. Phoenix Wright is my adopted father!

After some pause. Phoenix gets a not-guilty verdict and Kristoph is sent to jail.

Then Apollo and Phoenix's conversation starts playing

P: Well done Apollo! You played well. Congratulations with winning your first case!

A: ...

P: Is everything alright kid?

A: Did you plan it? I thought we'd work on this together...

P: Of course, I didn't! Kristoph killing Shadi Enigmar got me off guard but it was finally a perfect opportunity to strike him down!

A: What about that card then?

P: ...

A: Dad? Where did Trucy get it?

P: ...

A: No... you didn't-

P: It was the only way!

A: Presenting a piece of forged evidence is a crime!

P: I know!

A: I could've lost my career! Did you think about it?! Did-... Did Trucy know?

P: ...

A: Oh my god, you brought her into this, too...

P: I told you Apollo I would do anything to get Kristoph to justice. Even if that means get my hands dirty!

Then the punch happens.

P: ...

A: You used us... just like he did...

P: I'm sorry.

A: I'm not staying at home today. Tell Trucy I'll be fine.

After that, he tries to leave wiping his tears off.

P: One more thing.

Apollo stops.

P: Try yelling, "Take that!" next time. I find it packs a little more punch.

Both of them left in different directions.

Then Apollo's monolog happens. Which ends with - "Did these 7 years change him that much? Is he still Phoenix Wright? Or Kristoph Gavin 2.0... Either way, I need to stop this! If not for him, then for Trucy!"

End of the chapter.

[prezaki]

Trucy doesn't smile when she gives Apollo the forged card or Phoenix's message about it. The first smile she breaks into is here, when she discloses her identity.

The last time she handed her father's lawyer evidence, her father disappeared from her life forever. She's repeating the same cycle again, she must be afraid.

But you know...

There certainly is a line of thought passed down through these games that says to smile when you feel your absolute lowest.

It's so insane how Mia adopts Diego's motto after the pain of losing him, then Phoenix adopts Mia's motto after the pain of losing her, and then it winds up with Trucy through having Phoenix as a dad.

These people are speedrunning inter-generational trauma within largely the same age bracket!! I LOVE IT!!!

[ezool]

[ace attorney 4 talk]

you know, in the final case, with the Mason System investigation segment, the player (as a jurer playing a simulation to jump between the two ends of the 7 year gap) is collecting bits of testimony from the witnesses and collecting evidence (the forged diary page from 7 years prior, and the replica yellow envelop of the one found in current day Kristoph's jail cell).

meaning when you return to court as Apollo, he was given these two pieces of evidence. but then how did he get the verbal information that connected the evidence to the current case of Misham's murder? how could he have known Kristoph had the same nail polish as Vera, or that a yellow envelop given to him was found in Kristoph's cell?

maybe Phoenix really did just hand the evidence to him along with the information, but i feel like with Apollo's distrust of him as a lawyer (the first case setting this up, of accepting forged evidence from a stranger) Apollo wouldn't have accepted it.

which is why, in my heart of hearts, while Vera was recovering and there was a recess in court, Apollo went through the Mason System himself, collecting all the info and context he needed to figure out who poisoned Vera (and Misham).

which is ALSO why i like to believe that Apollo is well aware of his relation with Trucy, since all of that was revealed in the M.S., just like how Lamiroir remembered her past as Thalassa Gramarye.

i know that nothing in AA5/6 support the idea that Apollo is aware of his relation with Trucy, but those games were also written by a completely different team of writers soooo my theory still stands lol

[box-dwelling]

So I can't animate or draw well enough to do this but I do think the world needs a Krisnix No children animatic. So a breakdown/story board plan and idk maybe I'll make it as practice for some of the comic stuff I want to do.

I hope that our few remaining friends give up on trying to save us: Edgeworth and Maya desperately trying to contact Phoenix who is ignoring their calls. Maybe including Edgeworth insisting that Phoenix would never forge evidence to lead into the next line

I hope we come up with a fail safe plot to piss of the dumb few that forgave us: Phoenix forging the ace and then a reference to SL9 dagger to hammer home what that would mean to Edgeworth

I hope the fences we mended: Kristoph being the only vote in favour of him

Fall down beneath their own weight: Kristoph doing the small manipulative smile with the diary page in the background

And I hope we hang on past the last exit: Phoenix meeting Trucy

I hope it's already too late: Kristoph watching Phoenix losing the badge

I hope the junk yard a few block from here some day burns down: the courtroom burning

And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away and I never come back to this town again: Phoenix going to Europe with Edgeworth

In my life: warmer colours come in as we get a little close up of Edgeworth seeing Phoenix and smiling

I hope I lie: warm colours gone Kristophs black psyche locks

And tell everyone you were a good wife: Phoenix telling Edgeworth about Kristoph while smiling. Colours are muted but still brighter than the rest

And I hope you die: back to black. them dining. Kristoph speaking

I hope we both die: same but Phoenix speaking

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow: Kristoph killing Zak (not the best line for but idk what else to put and this works for the general narrative flow)

I hope it bleeds all day long: Phoenix in the detention center

Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises: trucy, with Apollo entering in the background

We're pretty sure they're all wrong: Phoenix getting decked by Apollo

I hope it stays dark for ever: Kristoph in his cell, wanting to keep what he did in the dark

I hope the worst isn't over: Phoenix post turnabout trump working on Mason

And I hope you blink before I do: spilt screen of Kristoph reading in his cell and Phoenix working on Mason

And I hope I never get sober: Grape juice on the desk beside Phoenix's computer

And I hope when you think of me years down the line: Phoenix in his new suit with the full WAA found family.

you can't find one good thing to say: Athena finds the nail polish bottle, Phoenix scowls while Klavier gets a hug from Apollo and Trucy looks forelorn

And I'd hope that I ever found the strength to walk out you'd stay the hell out of my way: Phoenix getting his badge back

I am drowning, there is no sign of land, You are coming down with me, Hand in unloveable hand, And I hope you die: Kristoph screaming this as he has his breakdown

I hope we both die: Phoenix putting away the hoodie and putting the beanie on the shelf and pouring the grape juice down the sink. Symbolically killing that version of himself

Writing this out I do really want to do it but if anyone else beats me to it, I'd love to see it because I am Bad at Art and while this could be fun practice seeing someone more skilled make this would be awesome too, though I'd appreciate being tagged so I can see it

[perplexingly]

I have an idea for a lyrics-based Ace Attorney comic, but the song is in Polish so not sure whether to go through with it 💦 but I sketched it, and wrote english translation under the cut (as well as short descriptions cuz my sketches are atrocious). Also, spoilers for Dual Destinies

(Zak Gramarye’s trial, in court): Where will we go during such a storm || When clouds are gathering over us

(Little Trucy taking forged evidence): After all we all follow

(Kritoph’s panel): Wherever some fool leads us

(Phoenix taking his badge off): And where the hell has || “good morning” and “thank you” gone?

(Phoenix in Borsh Bowl): World’s ruffians gather here || And there’s undercooked porridge

(Trucy and Phoenix in a plane): Come sit down with me on the sidewalk || And count the holes in my sweater

(Edgeworth and Trucy meet): Open a bottle full of adventure

(Edgeworth putting his hand close to Phoenix’s on the luggage handle): And awaken my benumbed shivers

(Kristoph proven guilty): Let’s have a ball better than any

(Phoenix putting his badge back on): Let’s have a grand ball

(Apollo and Athena after proving Athena not guilty): Let all be well || Let there be no sorrow

(Edgeworth, Trucy, Phoenix, Pearls and Maya having dinner together): Let life not be a punishment, just hand me a guitar || I still remember the chords of old songs well

(Edgeworth looking): In your eyes I can still see

(Phoenix looking back): An ember of courage and hope

(Flashback of the moments when they were at their lowest): Even though so many looked into them || But saw nothing

Btw the song is “Balanga” by Koniec Świata

[somebody-in-this-world-who-lives]

Yall I am in the middle of a Ace Attorney hyperfixation and I just finished Turnabout for Tomorrow (fantastic closer holly shit) so let's talk a bit!!

I desperately wanna talk about the dark age of the law

First thoughts! I dont know how well the series will stick the landing with SoJ, but after some thought Im pretty happy with how it connects with Apollo Justice and continues the world the series set up in this regard.

Style aside, in world it makes so much sense why the public slowly lost faith in the legal system with all the acidents in the trilogy (I'm specially looking at Rise from the Ashes as the case thats meant to transition us and set up to AJ) and AJ where people connected to the legal system show to have their hands dirty (in AJ I can remember the chief of justice, detective sharkboy himself, ...Kristoff - and he was a member of the bar as well ouch...). There is no category of person involved in the legal system we didn't have arested at some poin

The one the game explicit calls out too with Phoenix! Like urg we saw the man had buit such as reputation for himself over the years Apollo was still starry-eyed meating him (we also see that in Trials and Tribulations with the start of Recipe and Phoenix helping spirit mediums slowly regain credibility in teh eyes of the public), I can't imagine how much of a public scandal it was when people recived the news they couldn't trust him and all the results he' had got over the years.

I also think being on a verge of a legal collapse also retroactively explains AJs much darker tone where even the defendents Apollo had were all guilty of some crime. Im still not sure about the implementation of the dark age in game (it can be a bit comedic how they keep mentioning it by its full Dark Age Of The LawTM title), but I can't deny all the building blocks are there in a way that it feels like the natural progression of the world, specially after the way things ended in turnabout succession.

I also like Simon's trial as a straw that breaks the camel's back situation. We have policeman, bailiffs, detectives, defense attorneys, prosecutors, the people at the very top of the judicial system (I believe we are only missing a judge criminal moment lmaooo One day! Unless that's in Investigations lol) and then this guy apparently just straight up cold blooded killed someone, no tragic backstory like Godot, no apparent motive just kills someone and sets bombs off??? Fucking crazy stuff, I kinda love it.

Last thoughts on the dark age and how it connects with AJ, but I can see how addressing this plot here could work as a soft reboot for the series in the future, like I've seen people claiming the game is meant to be! A big part of AJ as a game is showing how ineffective the legal system can be with its rules (we had to use forged evidence to trick Kristoff in case 1, I dont remember how we got Alita (that had so many parts to make it work whichis the premise of that case), but Daryan had to be threatened with his accomplice, and Kristoff wouldn't be convicted again if Phoenix didn't orchestrate a jury because we never had one piece of truly decisive evidence in any of these cases) I feel like bringing all the darkness we uncovered -pun intended- and resolving it can be used in the future to bring back a lighter tone without all the baggage. We will see!!

I'm curious if the DLC case will give me more to think about but these are my thoughts on how the Dark age TM is set up before Dual Destinies. Hope you guys like the analysis I get very enthusiastic for themes :)

[characteroulette]

Apollo Justice is such a game.

Welcome to a seven year time gap!! Your client is actually disgraced (disgraced???) former Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright!! Your tutorial mentor man is a condescending bitch!! Apollo has zero control over any of the proceedings and in the end has to present falsified evidence to prove his mentor was the true murderer for reasons that won't become apparent until much, much later!!!

wanted to think more about what the fuck just happened?? Too bad!! Time for shenanigans to ensue in proper Ace Attorney fashion!!

Here's your assistant, the girl who gave you that forged evidence!! She's Phoenix Wright's daughter. Adopted. Here's a mystery man who looks nearly exactly like the man you just sent to prison for murder!!! Also Ema is back and she's PISSED! Klavier gets a proper intro and he's bitter as fuck!! Time to present panties twice in a row and turn this courthouse into a circus!! Your assistant holds herself at ransom just to explain the main mechanic of the game to you, despite having done this mechanic in the previous case. Your client is a lil punk and his fianceé is actually both way worse and more sympathetic than you first thought!! Hope you enjoyed having your hand held during the second trial day by this Klavier guy it will happen again.

Also, Klavier sent you tickets to his concert. Which Apollo had to pay for. What a weird series of events to get us to this concert. Lamiroir sure is pretty I hope nothing happens later to ruin her character!! Despite the murder weapon being a hand canon and the victim being a man who looks like a brick house, everyone stalwartly believes a tiny 14-year-old child performed this crime without so much as an injury to his name. Apollo watches a man die and is haunted by his final words. Surprise Lamiroir is acrually blind and accused the penis hair shark man to be the actual killer!! He hated your guts from moment one for some reason well now you know it's because he was the villain here. Have fun watching Klavier get lit on fire again and again at least 7 times. The most convoluted and unsatisfying breakdown and way to acquit your client yet.

Well, whatever. Final cases are supposed to be the best!! This Mason system seems weird but surely it has to explain some things. Phoenix Wright is our main narrator and all. Apollo actually gets his shit together enough to understand something is weird about all of this but he's got no other choice than to charge into it all headfirst. The most horrifying Ace Attorney character design with the most annoying tell to spot. Klavier fucking loses it and wuh-oh seven years ago time. Explain yourself, Phoenix Wright.

Upstart Klavier!! Zak spouting ominous bullshit that makes you realise he was planning to run no matter what!! BABY TRUCY!!! The last time we'll ever see Gumshoe in a mainline game... And, of course, as if you didn't already feel cornered by this game's lack of agency, it makes you present the forged evidence yourself. You helped get Phoenix disbarred. You had no other choice but to do so.

Anyway really fucking annoying investigation time!! Have fun figuring out which very specific order in which to do these snapshots!! Apollo and Trucy are siblings??? Whaaaaat?? BLACK PSYCHELOCKS??? What does it mean??? Phoenix has fully taken over the case it is no longer Apollo's show.

Back to the trial, your client could die but more importantly, Kristoph is back, baby!!! We're never going to learn what those psychelocks meant, you have to first stare at the scar on his hand making a face lol. Misham said he never met his client but Vera obviously met Kristoph in person so Drew either left her in a room with a questionable adult alone or was straight up lying on the stand about that. I mean Zak had the evidence that could clear his name in his pocket the whole time and chose to fucking dip instead of clearing himself of a murder charge so like same hat, but I digress. Klavier is having a TIME, Apollo doesn't get to say a damn thing as we close on the court, and wheeee that's it that's the game!! You get to choose the Not Guilty verdict yourself don't you just feel so included???

I want to make it clear that I love this game dearly, but woof it is. Such a ride.

[tobiasdrake]

Ace Attorney 4-4 - Turnabout Succession, Investigation 1

The grand finale to Apollo Justice begins with a surprisingly scrutable case.

Turnabout Serenade did a lot of hinting at Phoenix's secret mission. With the start of Turnabout Succession, it's finally time to find out what he's been doing all this time.

Phoenix has been away working on revamping the entire court system of Ace Attorney. Moving away from the methodology that the franchise has always operated under and reinventing the mechanism by which innocence or guilt is judged.

Stretches credibility that he, a disgraced former attorney who was disbarred for forging evidence, would have the political capital to accomplish something like this. This would make more sense at the height of his career. But with friends like Edgeworth in his corner, it's at least somewhat believable that he might be able to do this.

For the purpose of his demonstration, Phoenix has picked out a nice open-shut murder case for us to lose in court tomorrow. THANKS. But, to make sure we aren't resting on our laurels, our Obviously Guilty client will be receiving a real sentence based on the verdict of this test.

Phoenix is seemingly setting Apollo up to fail, and the cost of that failure will be someone's life. Great. Appreciate that. THANKS.

This is, however, the same man who orchestrated for the killer in 4-1 to be his defense attorney. Papa Beanie Phoenix knows exactly what he's doing, every step of the way. In 4-1, a critical piece of evidence relied on how the court interpreted the amount of poker chips Phoenix had in play. But this time, he really is going all in. This one's for every chip on the table.

So. Let's talk about the facts of the case Phoenix seemingly set us up to lose.

...I mean. Two out of three poisoners in this franchise were men, Ema. And the third also used a knife and a live wire to kill people too. So. Maybe cool it with the Women Be Poisoning.

I don't have any numbers on what the most common methods of murder in Japan are. Ema might be right here. But the idea that women favor poison above all other methods is common in pop culture, as it plays into the idea that women are weaker and need more insidious advantages to have a chance against powerful men.

I can say that in the U.S., according to the FBI's homicide reports, women are statistically far more likely to shoot someone with a gun or stab them with a knife than to poison. Though the number of male killers outnumbers female killers by an order of magnitude, the proportions for what weapons women use maps pretty closely onto the proportions for men.

Getting stabbed still sucks even if it was a woman who stabbed you. A knife is no less sharp in a woman's hands. But maybe it's different in Japan, IDK. Different cultural values and gender norms.

Ema's unnecessary sexism aside, she provides us with our initial understanding of the case at hand.

Drew Misham was a reclusive hermit. He lived here in this studio and didn't leave the house for anything - Communicating with the outside world solely by paper mail as he carried out his... um... particular line of work.

No, not that one.

There it is. Harkening back to our brief stint as a mob lawyer, Drew Misham was is another victim whose dangerous line of work seems to have caught up with him. Drew's been running a successful and lucrative business doing forgeries for a long time now.

So the obvious conclusion to draw would be that his line of work finally caught up to him. The same thing that happened to Dr. Malpractice. At least, that's one explanation, but the facts of the case paint a much simpler picture.

This is what Phoenix was talking about when he said this was an open-shut case with an obviously guilty defendant. Drew lived in this enclosed space with his daughter Vera. No one else in the entire world had access to him, except by mail. One day he dropped dead. Not a wide list of suspects for that, is there?

So, obviously, she poisoned his coffee. Open-shut case. If two people are in a situation together and then one dies of a gunshot and the other owns a gun then it's not hard to piece together what happened there. Who else in the entire universe could have killed him?

Well, except for the lack of poison in the coffee. That's a bit glaring.

It's kind of hard to poison someone's drink without leaving any poison in the drink. This is, of course, such a gigantic oversight for the prosecution to make that it can't possibly be that simple, right?

Yeah. No. Vera's not getting off that easy. Though the coffee is inexplicably clean, there's still clear traces of poison on that cup all the same. There is no doubt that this is the murder weapon.

Well, that or whatever was in this teeny tiny little frame.

It's surprising how on-the-nose this little frame is. It's called out with a bright neon glow. There's deadly atroquinine in that there picture frame. As clues go, this is obviously meaningful in an obvious way - Well, if you can figure out what was in the frame, anyway. My first time through, my dumb ass was sitting here like, "...a very small photo? Why?"

Nonetheless, what's interesting here is that this mystery is... surprisingly straightforward, in a sense. But the pieces are there. Eagle-eyed mystery solvers may already have pieced together what happened to Drew Misham.

There's enough evidence here at the scene of the crime to make a deduction for how Drew ended up poisoned in an enclosed space with only his daughter for company. There isn't enough to prove it or who did it or why, but the puzzle pieces for what happened are here and can be assembled.

It's a stark difference from 4-2 and 4-3, which take a lot of effort to assemble a basic picture of what the case looks like. As is often the case with grand finales, there are going to be a lot of moving parts here. But for the question of what killed Drew Misham, the answer is right here in plain sight for players to find.

Drew's art studio is the only physical location to inspect for this investigation. Again: Fairly open-shut. One location, clear evidence, obvious culprit, Guilty. As long as we're resigned to lose, Vera can be in and out of the courtroom in five minutes.

Moving on ahead, let's talk about the participants in this case's events.

[nokistar]

I keep seeing a bunch of revisionism regarding Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (and it's followups), so let's do a quick review/recap of it and see why the rest of the Apollo Justice Trilogy was spent trying to get rid of Apollo Justice.

This is written by Shu Takumi, who wrote the original trilogy. It was also written with the hand of Capcom on his shoulder, kind of ruining everything.

Originally the game was going to focus on Apollo alone, with no involvement of Phoenix at all. They also wanted specific plot points to be implemented like the jury system in the final trial. They also gave him absolutely no time to actually write anything.

However, this doesn't excuse the game we got from being bad. It just means it didn't have the chance to be good, no matter how hard the creators tried. It's not a reflection of their abilities, it's a reflection of Capcom being terrible.

Plot-wise, Apollo Justice begins with the victorious ending of the original trilogy pretty much instantly being undone and Phoenix being disbarred because everyone in the courtroom is an idiot (a recurring theme with this game, especially in the third case). Phoenix takes evidence from a strange little girl, his defendant runs away in the middle of a trial leaving his daughter behind, nobody looks into the circumstances of the forged evidence presented, and so on.

It feels like an incredibly contrived situation to hoist a new character into the spotlight.

Apollo Justice is a guy. He's supposed to be a more straight-laced version of Phoenix, but that and the rushed writing of the story lead to him just kind of going along with the story while leaving no mark on it of his own. I the original trilogy, Nick and Maya would barge in to confront culprits outside of court, investigate old cases they think are relevant, and just generally being proactive. Apollo and Trucy are just kind of there, but at least Trucy has her magician stuff going on and a fun dynamic with her adoptive father.

Our prosecutor this time around is Klavier Gavin, a rock star. Other games in the series have prosecutors who whip you, attack you with birds, condemn you to hell, drink wine in court... and yet Klavier is somehow the most baffling one of all because his whole gimmick is... he has another demanding job. It has nothing to do with his character journey (it actually causes a plot hole because he shouldn't be prosecuting a case he has a personal stake in, being a possible witness to a murder case that happens at one of his concerts) and just feels like they needed to spice up his character in some way.

So what exactly is his character journey?

Nothing.

Klavier is an antagonist in the strictest terms, as he isn't a bad guy. He's simply opposing you. Even when you're the one who got his brother sentenced to jail. Even when his own brother is on the stand for murder, he keeps a cool, boring head. He has an unwavering sense of justice in his heart.

In other words, he's just there to give you evidence and question prompts. He has no character arc despite how close he is to the plot. He's even the one to go up against Phoenix on the case he got disbarred because plot contrivences.

Speaking of plot contrivances, Apollo and Trucy are half-siblings now. It doesn't affect the story in any way shape or form (other than giving Apollo his awful gameplay gimmick) and is just a last second plot twist for the sake of a last second plot twist.

If I were to be generous, I'd guess future games Takumi planned to write had a larger theme of family and this would impact that. Even in AJ, the theme of family is all throughout it. You have the 'mystery' of Phoenix suddenly having a daughter, you have the second case being about a Yakuza family, you have the Gavins. If the team had the proper time, this could have been important even just thematically.

But as it is, it affects nothing. As it is the game is bad. No amount of what ifs can change that.

And, this is where I really toe the line of being controversial, but I don't think it would have been good even with those what ifs. Why?

Because the Great Ace Attorney duology reran a lot of these problems over the course of two games.

A jury system with no effect on anything. A pointless family relationship reveal. A defense attorney who is pulled along at the whims of his mentor figure. A mountain load of plot contrivences.

So it's no wonder when a new writer came on board afterward, they pivoted so hard away from it.

However, with Dual Destinies, they do follow up on the biggest theme of AJ: the corruption of the justice system. The game is about bringing an end to the Dark Age of the Law. Undoing Phoenix's disbarment, weeding out corruption, focusing on a new generation of attorneys and judges. Even if you think the cases are weak, the thematics are strong. There's a reason why the final trial takes place in a ruined courtroom aside from it being a cool setpiece.

It also introduces Athena Cykes, who is her own character. She has her own motivations, her own way of doing things. She's bold, she can lose her temper. She's a fun character that contrasts Phoenix and was brought into the agency through Phoenix's character motivations.

Apollo, meanwhile, they didn't have anything to work with. A big theme with Apollo as a character is the wild contrivences they have to make to keep him relevant and I think that with the characterization and backstory given to the team by Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, this was all they could do aside from making him Athena's straightman.

This is why they spent Spirit of Justice getting rid of him. If he's got nothing going for him, they might as well write an entirely new backstory just to resolve that hanging plot thread because his backstory has to be something.

I don't want to dislike Apollo, but he wasn't introduced well and that introduction gave him no ground to stand on in future games. He's too straight-laced to work in a cast and world that's always been as vibrant as Ace Attorney's. And most importantly EVERYBODY hated this game when it came out.

That's why Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice, despite their new tone, saved the series after Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. The only reason people are so willing to fight for AJ is because these two did their best to fix what AJ broke.

[trlvsn]

sorry for the overwhelming amount of narumitsu thoughts im having but like. what really really gets me every time is the choosing death and forging the ace parallels because there are so many possibilities. miles edgeworth dies and makes phoenix thing he's exactly what the public viewed his as: a man who's pride got the best of him. phoenix wright forges the ace. what does miles edgeworth think? at first i pictured it as this huge fight with a "it would have been better if you never came back from the dead/stepped foot in court" moment but then i remembered miles already has deeper, less black-and-white knowledge of how the legal system works and how some decisions can be complicated. phoenix, on the other hand?? as justifiable as his motivations for forging the evidence are, he still presents himself as this guy who "maybe did actually forge the page seven years ago, it doesn't matter" and feels somewhat deserving of the public's reaction and apollo's punch. honestly, him forging the ace and telling apollo is a punishment to himself - so i feel like he would tell edgeworth too, as a kind of "you have been so convinced i was this brilliant and wronged guy for all these years, well what do you think of me now" move. i can imagine phoenix confessing the forgery over the phone and hanging up, drawing conclusions before edgeworth even gets to speak. i can imagine him getting hit by the damn car next day after the call. i can imagine miles edgeworth coming into the hospital and feeling a sense of deja vu, but this time, he is the one to pick up the magatama from the stand near the hospital bed and express very clearly he does not give a shit about the forgery but wright you are being an asshole and hiding something and you will let me break the locks that will appear right now. respectfully. god knows phoenix wouldn't talk about the jury system plans otherwise. the parallels man the parallels get me every time

[1960z]

so I think ultimately the issues I have with dual destinies are similar to the issues I had all the way back in case one. there’s a lot of flash and excitement to it, a lot of narrative points that “up the stakes” and create drama, but behind all of that it feels like there’s very little substance to fall back on.

I’ve discussed how I’ve actually quite enjoyed individual cases and that’s still true, but unfortunately I think the game never becomes more than the sum of its parts which sucks because I think the game is kind of has a lot hinging on “the main story” if you will, with case 1, 4 and 5 all being dedicated to a small window of a few days, really building up the importance and intensity of the incident that surrounds it, a continuation of the case that created “the dark age of the law.”

and that’s kind of the main crux of the problem right. the dark age of the law storyline feels like nothing. I hypothesised before I played DD that thinking of it as the second game in a trilogy was unhelpful, because DD wasn’t trying to follow up on anything AJ:AA set up, and now having replayed it, I think it was trying to follow up on what AJ:AA did, I just don’t think it understood what that game was trying to do. apollo justice was about introducing ambiguity into a gameplay loop that had been taken for granted until now. in these games it’s always guaranteed that you have the perfect piece of evidence to find your client innocent and prove that someone else did it. AJ asks the question what if you didn’t have that one piece of evidence and you know your client is innocent and someone else is guilty? how far would you be willing to go? the bloody card in the first case was, at best a questionably manipulative ploy, and at worst, forged evidence and yet without it, kristoph gavin would’ve walked free. so how do you thread the line between making sure the correct ruling is handed down but also knowing what the court finds may not always match up perfectly with the truth? this was supposed to be the logic behind introducing the jurist system

dual destinies isn’t really interested in engaging with any of these questions, nor the previously set up jurist system and instead focuses in on “the dark age of the law,” where due to blackquill as a prosecutor being arrested for murder and phoenix losing his badge has caused people to lose trust in the legal system. this has also apparently caused for some legal professionals to openly advocate for the benefit of more morally ambiguous methods for making cases in court. our protagonists make it their mission to fight this dark age of the law and a lot of that takes the form of… taking issue with the idea that there may be any problems with justice being served by the legal system as long as its “purity” remains in tact, disregarding the questions posed the previous game and reaffirming that the truth can always be found in the confines of the legal system if you work for it enough, which in my opinion, just isn’t as interesting and really flattens what the previous game was trying to say.

I don’t hate this game or anything like that - in fact I quite enjoyed it in a lot of parts. again the individual cases are fun and I genuinely think that athena and blackquill had one of the most interesting protagonist-rival dynamics in a long time up until that point. but again these are all parts that don’t always deliver on a larger whole, and though I did enjoy myself, ultimately I think the experience was brought down a lot by having a bark much bigger than its bite story wise

[heaven-s-black-box]

Deathless- ensemble

Return to File- Event Masterlist

Recovery date: July 17th, 2020

Description: nobody dies AU

Notes: An entry from my 2020 research project into the universe of Ace Attorney. You can find the next entry here.

Word count: 826

Back to directory

“Franziska? Have you se-”

“Did you lose more evidence?”Mia asked, laughing from her desk.

“Wha?! I- no, I just put it down, and it’s not where I left it,” Miles stumbled over his words.

“I have it brother. You left it on my desk when you went to talk to your boyfriend,” Franziska sighed, waving the file around.

“He is not my boyfriend!” Miles yelled. Then the door opened, and everyone turned.

“Hey, is Mr.Edgeworth here right now? Our new guy is here,” Ray said, as he poked his head in.

“Father’s out investigating. What do you mean our new guy?” Franziska asked, frowning at her lack of information.

Ray laughed, before opening the door all the way and walking in. Behind him, was a boy with horns, who looked completely star struck.

“Hey kid, you gonna introduce yourself?”

“Uh, right! Sorry. I’m Apollo Justice and as of today I’ll be a part of this office! It’s a pleasure to meet you all!” The boy yelled, causing everyone to wince.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Miles said, extending his hand. “I’m Miles Edgeworth, this is Mia Fey, and that’s Franziska von Karma. You’ve already met Raymond Sheilds and my father, Gregory Edgeworth, I’m assuming.”

“Yes! Thank you!” Another knock came from the door.

“Hello everyone, look who I fou- Oh Apollo, hello. I wasn’t expecting you till later,” Gregory said, as he entered the office.

“Ah, sorry. I got here a little early and Mr. Shields told me to come up.”

“Hey Mr.Edgeworth, the foods getting cold!” A girl's voice yelled from outside the office. Then two heads popped around the corner. “Hey sis!” The girl yelled.

“Maya, Phoenix. Did you two bring food?” Mia asked, standing up to greet her sister and friend by the door.

“Yes ma’am,” Phoenix said, “We were told you were getting a new member, so we thought a group lunch would be nice.”

“Alright, bring the food over here,” Ray called, from where he had cleared a table. “I wanna get to know Pollo.”

They set up, and passed out drinks and burgers for everyone. Phoenix was introduced to Apollo as Miles’s best friend since grade school, a part time assistant here at the Edgeworth and co. law office, and an aspiring actor. He also found out that Maya was Mia’s sister, and had a tendency to get accused of murder. “You aren’t officially part of this office until you've defended her,” Mia had laughed.

“So how ‘bout you?” Maya asked, around a mouthful of burger. “What’s your story?”

“Ah, it’s kind of long.” 

“We have time,”Maya cut in, and everyone nodded.

 “Well, back when I was younger, I met an amazing defense attorney. He saved me and my dad, actually you might have heard of him. His name is Dhurke Sahdmadhi from the kingdom of Khura’in,” Mia and Maya choked on their drinks. But they didn’t say anything, so he continued. “Anyway we were supposedly dead, so until that was cleared up, we were stuck in Khura’in. When we came back to LA, it turned out my mom had remarried, and had a daughter with her new husband. But, long story short, he was a bit of a dick and she still loved my dad, so they got a divorce and she married my dad again. And that’s it…”

“That sounds like quite the adventure,” Phoenix said, “How old are you again?”

“I’m twenty two, oh and I did work at the Gavin law office before this. That’s abou-”

“Wait! Gavin law office? As in Kristoph Gavin who forged evidence?” Franziska asked in disbelief. She always kept an eye on cases of forged evidence, she never wanted anything like what happened with her father to happen again.

“Uh, ya?”

She pulled him into a hug, “You poor thing.” Apollo looked rightfully confused, as the rest of the office snickered.

“So, any other friends?” Gregory asked.

“Hm, I have a friend from middle school. His name’s Clay Terran, he’s doing astronaut training. He’ll hopefully be joining the HAT-2 mission,” Apollo hummed. He wouldn’t normally talk this much about himself, but he figured it would be best if his boss knows this stuff.

“HAT-2? Oh, do you know Dr. Cykes?” Gregory asked.

“I’ve met her a few times, why?”

“We consult her ever now and then,” Ray said. “Nice lady. I think her daughter is in school to become a defense lawyer, isn’t she?”

Gregory nodded, “I’ve already offered her an internship here if it interested her.”

Maya looked up, and her eyes nearly bulged out of her skull. “Shit! Nick, we need to go or you’ll miss the audition!”

“Huh?” He looked up at the clock, “Shit! Sorry, we have to run, it was nice meeting you Apollo. Bye Miles, Bye everyone!” He yelled as him and Maya ran out the door. It was silent before Franziska spoke up.

“Not your boyfriend huh?”

“Shut up!”

[mandokero-eboy]

Some further Addenda:

In the first game the judge states The Following:

"I have to say, I'm impressed. I don't think I've ever seen someone complete a defense so quickly… …and find the true culprit at the same time!"

Of course, in the rest of the cases of every game finding the true culprit is required to prove the client's innocence. The fact the judge says this has several interpretations:

Usually trials take longer. The first trial of the first game takes place in one day and only two witnesses are called, presumably it took much less than most of the other trials' first days.

It's so incredibly rare for Attorneys to mount successful defenses in this setting that this judge has never issued a Not Guilty verdict in his whole career

The judge is so bad at his job that he doesn't actually remember that finding the true culprit is required.

Some combination of the above: judge is so bad at his job that he's forgot that this is a requirement and he's also forgot the last time he issued a Not Guilty verdict, which is also in part because he rarely ever does it, and a speedy trial usually results in a conviction and not a successful defense.

Fun fact: there was actually some development of the setting in the fourth game where Phoenix spearheads a reform effort of the justice system (while being disbarred) to introduce juries. At some point between that game and the next it was completely abandoned, possibly exactly after the original test trial or possibly during a period that came to be known as the Dark Age of the Law.

About prosecutor behavior specifically, these people are completely deranged. The most normal of them is the first game's prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, whose quirks include being a big fan of a Tokusatsu-coded show for children and being aggressively normal in a cast full of insane people (other than Phoenix, who is normal rather than aggressively normal). Nevertheless, most of the specific examples of prosecutor misconduct other than assaulting the defense, being a Hitman for hire, and (possibly) outright forging evidence apply specifically to him. Hiding evidence and coaching witnesses to not talk about specific things is something he has unambiguously done, however. But again, he's the best of them. Later games give him a redemption arc where he makes his biggest priority to find the truth wherever it leads and such.

Now let's talk about specific prosecutor's crimes

I've only played up to Apollo Justice and a bit of AAI:ME (the game starring Edgeworth where you do crime investigations leading up to arrests which presumably end up with people sent through the kangaroo court system but it's fine because at least Edgeworth tends to be very thorough and put forth honest investigative work).

Edgeworth:

Morally good behavior, but still not what you're supposed to do as a prosecutor: Openly collaborating with the defense to get the defendant acquitted and pin the blame on someone else because you realized your own investigative work was shoddy.

Manfred Von Karma:

Assaulting the defense and his assistant.

Forging evidence

Murdering a guy because guy caused him to get a slap on the wrist for the afforementioned forging of evidence.

Planning the murder of a fourth guy.

Franziska Von Karma:

Assaulting literally everyone with a whip including but not limited to the defense, his assistant, the judge, non-cooperative witnesses, cooperative witnesses, and her own staff.

Stealing evidence right from your hands.

Coaching witnesses to lie and hide evidence.

Conducting multiple searches without a warrant

Godot

Practicing Law under a fake name. (Ok so it's complicated and I'm unsure to what degree the police department or the prosecutor's office knew his backstory but Godot is not his birth name),

Throwing mugs of boiling hot coffee at the defense.

Murder (but he had a good reason)

Klavier Gavin

Unknowingly participating in a plot by his brother Kristoph to get the defense to present forged evidence which Kristoph had prepared and planned to present himself before being fired.

Making cop rock

Punctuating his sentences in court with a long air guitar animation.

Huh actually crazy I think he might be the one prosecutor in this series who is never implied to have intentionally done anything shady. (was also an active participant in taking down Kristoph)

Jacques Portsman

International Smuggling

Murder of his direct subordinate detective in an attempt to cover up the aforementioned smuggling

Sports

Lana Skye

She's the chief Prosecutor until the first game where she is convicted of being an accomplice to a murder.

She did this because she was being blackmailed by the chief of police who had helped her years ago to alter a crime scene in order to protect her sister Ema from a murder charge (Remember how they don't have manslaughter? Yea).

Unnamed "Chief Prosecutor" from Game 1 - Case 2

It's unclear what he did but he was also being blackmailed for having done something shady which lets the culprit in that case decide on a whim he's going to testify against Phoenix Wright.

This causes the entire trial to swap defendants in the middle of it. It isn't a new trial meaning it's still the last day and if Phoenix couldn't prove his innocence he would've been sentenced to death.

Honorable mention goes to Shi-Long Lang, who isn't a prosecutor but an Interpol Agent. He's got a burning hatred of prosecutors that he rationalizes by arguing prosecutors actually aren't trigger happy enough for his liking and that if he does a bad investigation and arrests an innocent person it doesn't matter because he knows the courts will bend over backwards to secure a conviction (as they should). He also argues that actually it's fine to get the first person you can pin the crime on through this kangaroo court ass system because even if that person is innocent of the crime they're being accused of they're probably being duly punished for some other thing they actually did.

Essentially he's the ideal cop for this setting and Edgeworth tells him to chill a lot.

I love the incredibly fair and functional justice system in Ace Attorney