Farewell, My Turnabout Day Two Trial

CONTENT WARNING

This article contains discussion of mental health, suicide, and suicidal ideation. If you'd like to avoid such topics, I'd recommend skipping this case both in playing the series and reading Wright Wednesday.

Hallo, alle mitenander, and welcome back to Wright Wednesday! This is the weekly series where we recap, analyze, and review the cases of the Ace Attorney franchise. My name is Roy, and I think some people in the series could have a better understanding of mental health.

My name is Sam, and I think some people in this series could pay closer attention to vital evidence that witnesses literally wave in their faces for the whole trial. 

Today we're on the first court day of Farewell, my Turnabout, the final case of the second Phoenix Wright game. Before the trial starts, Matt Engarde seems more worried about the scandal than the prospect of his guilt, and Shelly de Killer calls saying he left Phoenix a present. When court actually begins, von Karma isn’t there. Because she’s been shot. She’s alright, but unable to appear in court. Mia, still channeling through Pearl, suspects this is the present de Killer mentioned. But considering Miles Edgeworth shows up to take her place, it hardly seems a significant advantage for Phoenix. Edgeworth says he finally found the answer to the question he struggled with this past year, and by the end of this trial, Phoenix will know it too.

Based on how the rules seem to work in Ace Attorney's universe, the prosecution would have automatically lost if a replacement prosecutor wasn't quickly found, so it was a bit of a present.

Gumshoe testifies to the fact of the case. Juan Corrida was found dead in his hotel room after the award ceremony, his room a mess and a knife in his chest. They were suspicious of the empty guitar case, but later found that the only fingerprints on the case were the victim’s, and the guitar was left at the studio before this even happened. So they decided the empty case was irrelevant. The murder supposedly took place during a thirty minute break period in the ceremony, since Corrida was onstage for the first part. The body was found by Julian Andrews, Engarde’s manager. Additionally, the knife was stuck into him intentionally after his death; the actual cause of death was strangulation by a bandanna wrapped around his neck. 

Matt Engarde was arrested as the primary suspect because he and Corrida had an intense rivalry, giving motive. Oh and also a bloody button from Corrida’s Jammin’ Ninja costume was found caught in Engarde’s clothing, and his fingerprints were on the knife.

It is weird that they keep going over "there was almost too much evidence" pointing to Engarde, to make it seem like it has to be cover-up, but two pieces of evidence doesn't feel like "too much", at least to me.

Unfortunately for Gumshoe, the conclusion that the knife was purchased before the murder is easily disproven by the name “Gatewater” etched into the handle. It was obviously from the hotel. But Edgeworth is on top of it, pointing out that the unfinished meal in the victim’s room still has the knife among its utensils, while a knife is missing from the table in Engarde’s room, indicating that Engarde brought this knife into Corrida’s room with him. 

The Judge gives Phoenix one chance to produce compelling evidence against the picture this paints, and he Presents the wine glass that was sitting unmolested on the desk at the otherwise messy crime scene. But since it’s easily plausible that Andrews could have set the glass there when she found the body, but in a rare move, Phoenix puts the burden of proof on Edgeworth instead of having it thrust upon him.

But of course, Edgeworth is prepared; the glass has Andrews’ fingerprints on it. This satisfies the Judge, but rather than take the win, Edgeworth insists that his next witness take the stand: Wendy Oldbag. Still with that fantastic animation where the astronaut helmet clouds up with each breath. She is still enamored with Edgeworth, and he is very unpleasantly surprised to see her.

His line when she arrives, calling her the "Wicked Witch of the Witness Stand", is pretty great.

Unfortunately, rather than melting, she testifies that she saw Engarde walk out of Corrida’s room after the time of the murder, but when Pressed she says he was wearing the jacket we’ve seen him in. But the bloody button was found caught in his Nickel Samurai outfit, indicating he was wearing that instead of the jacket at the time of the murder. What’s more, the costume has gloves, which effectively establishes that the knife could not have been wielded by Engarde since it has his fingerprints all over it; Phoenix asserts that it was planted to frame him.

If any of this is feeling familiar, don't worry, that is pretty clearly on-purpose.

When questioned, Oldbag says she wasn’t waiting around for the Nickel Samurai, and Phoenix guesses she was actually waiting for Adrian Andrews due to the rumors about her and Corrida. In response, she testifies about the rumor that Engarde sent Andrews to get close to Corrida, forcing us to dispel this rumor so we can get back to the actual facts of the case. To that end, Phoenix asks Oldbag how she came across that information, and accuses her of stealing Lotta Hart’s missing camera, since the case had this theory inside it. Oldbag outs herself in frustration, and the Judge orders the camera’s photos to be examined. Only one is relevant; a photo of the Nickel Samurai exiting Corrida’s room.

Once again, Wendy Oldbag saw someone in a Samurai costume and assumed the person inside was the actor playing the character.

Never let it be said that Wendy Oldbag can easily separate fact from fiction. Despite the face being covered by the mask, Engarde has testified that he was in his costume at the time of the murder, so this seems pretty definitive. But given a single chance to debunk it, Phoenix points out that the pants are too long for the wearer in the picture, indicating it’s someone shorter than Engarde himself. 

Edgeworth admits that Phoenix has proven this person cannot be Matt Engarde. So he asks who it actually is, and Phoenix says it’s Andrews. She’s shorter than the victim, had dinner with him that night, and was able to move freely in and out of his room. So Phoenix moves to indict her for framing Engarde. This means the trial will go on another day, however, which puts Maya in danger, so Phoenix tries to rush it into today. It’s Edgeworth who ultimately convinces the Judge to keep going; turns out he expected this could happen, and has Andrews ready to go after a ten minute recess.

This whole time, Mia is pretty confused about Edgeworth's demeanor, in a way we haven't seen before.

He certainly does seem a bit different from before; calm even in the face of opposition, but there's less haughtiness to it and more...peace, maybe? We'll be talking about it later for sure.

During the recess, Phoenix tells Engarde that he's confident Adrian Andrews is the real killer. Engarde finds it hard to believe, but Phoenix lays out exactly how she has the motive and the means to do it. Mia just pokes one issue in the theory: Edgeworth was the one who told Phoenix about the suicide of Celeste Inpax and the effect it had on Adrian Andrews. Their case is almost entirely built on evidence from him. Mia takes this as Edgeworth being in-control of the case still, something they need to take away from him.

Once court reconvenes, Edgeworth calls Adrian to the stand. After giving her occupation to the court, she has one thing she wants to make clear before giving her testimony: the matter speculated on in tabloids between her and the victim was entirely personal and of no relevance to the case, and she makes clear to start off saying she didn't kill Juan Corrida, even if Phoenix will claim she did.

Edgeworth's behavior in this case is definitely my favorite element of this segment so far, and I look forward to digging further into it in future segments.

Andrew's testimony is pretty simple: she went to get Matt for the post-ceremony stage show, then did the same for Juan. She was shocked to see the dead body, then poured herself the juice in the wine glass to try and steady herself. There's not a lot of meat to it, and before cross-examination starts, Mia tells Phoenix that this will be tough, because Adrian is so cool and intelligent, the only way to beat her is to "...avoid head-on confrontations. You should disrupt her pace."

Pressing her regarding how dazed she was has her slip up and mention a mistake she made. Pressing further there has her reveal that the broken vase was her fault, she accidentally knocked it over onto the guitar case. That's the clear contradiction: she claims to have not touched anything else, but the guitar case was only wet on the outside, but was open. If things happen as she said, the vase would have fallen into the case, not on the top of it.

Cross-examining Adrian is somewhat uncomfortable, and I'm sure it's partially intentional, but...yeah.

Now, this contradiction is solved pretty easily, she just must have opened the guitar case. It was closed at the time, the vase fell on it, then she opened it. Only problem there is that she claimed not to have touched anything else. Edgeworth starts getting annoyed, since he'd written off the guitar case as a false lead, but Phoenix pursues anyway. There are no prints on the guitar case from her, but she claims to have worn gloves that night. But we just talked about her prints being on the wine glass, creating a new contradiction.

Mia wonders if, since it seems Adrian opened the case, it really was empty at the time. Sure, the bright red guitar was at the studio, but it could have held something else. Like what? Like, perhaps, a second Nickel Samurai costume, one that Adrian Andrews wore, as seen in the photo. Why would it be there? Because there was a press conference scheduled, one where the Nickel Samurai would 'confess' something. Juan Corrida had this suit in his guitar case so he could pretend to be the Nickel Samurai and give the conference, spreading bad information pretending to be Matt.

Her dual loyalties here are interesting, but I'm pretty sure they all relate back to some details that have been hinted at but not fully fleshed out. It will make sense later.

Adrian actually confirms Phoenix's story, saying that Juan had somehow gotten his hands on a secret so powerful that, if exposed to the public, it would destroy Matt's acting career forever. Considering what we've seen some actors get away with in real life, I doubt that statement, but whatever.

I'm sure the Phoenix Wright universe is more than ready for its own #MeToo, but yeah not today probably.

She claims not to know what the secret actually was, but then also says her lies so far were to protect Matt, and then gives a testimony...that just explains her new version of events, with no actual substantive things she did to protect Matt. Like, sure the revelation of the press conference adds more motive to Matt, but no one was worried about that before, the two hated each other anyway. The secret here to Press her regarding the evidence that points to Matt. Phoenix points out that the knife is actually pretty lame evidence, since Juan was stabbed after dying, and it looks more like framing evidence. She revises her testimony to focus on the button and why it's suspicious.

I really enjoy this segment from a gameplay perspective; there's a clearly unfolding narrative that prompts the player toward each contradiction without making it exceedingly obvious. I appreciate Phoenix Wright segments that don't make me look up a walkthrough.

Now, Adrian claims that the button was ripped off during the struggle with the killer, where it then got caught in the hakama. But Phoenix points out the absurdity of that: the victim died from strangulation, and only bled after being stabbed, post-death. Since the button is covered in blood, it had to have been removed after being stabbed. But why would the killer just remove it after the murder? To frame Matt, obviously. Who is that real killer? Adrian Andrews. Edgeworth resists the idea, but Phoenix points out how all the evidence that is supposed to indict Matt actually points even better to her.

Which puts us right back in, "Yes, that's the only explanation that makes any sense, but if you don't have definitive proof we'll convict the guy anyway" Land, a favorite of the Phoenix Wright series.

Well, sort of. Edgeworth brings up the issue of the fingerprints being in the wine glass, but not the guitar case, but Phoenix shows that's explained by his theory: she didn't want to leave any prints on the case, so she used something to open it, but purposefully left them on the wine glass to fit her cover story. With all of this set up, Adrian looks really defeated...only to say she refuses to testify. After all, people have the right to refuse to do so if the testimony would incriminate them in a crime. Phoenix wonders where she got the idea, only to remember the conversation he partially overheard between Adrian and von Karma the day before, assuming the prosecutor planted this idea in her head as a method of last resort.

I love that even when she's not in court, von Karma is convincing witnesses to be uncooperative.

It is one of her specialties. What you said before kind of comes into play. After all, Phoenix has made a theory, but failed to prove it. They don't say that means that Engarde's Guilty, just that they'll need another day before coming back to the issue. But once again, that's something Phoenix cannot take, as he only has one day to win. He tries arguing for more, but there doesn't seem to be anywhere for the court to go. Even Edgeworth is telling Phoenix to enjoy the extra day, but when Phoenix comes close to mentioning Maya's kidnapping, Edgeworth seems to notice something is up and brings up a way to continue: Adrian Andrews can refuse to testify about things that might incriminate her, but they can still make her testify things that wouldn't be able to do so.

This act on Edgeworth's part is a good indicator of what's going on with him. At least I think so, I haven't played this one in a while. But it's a good moment, in any case.

Well, I will say it isn't really an act, he's got no clue anything is going on with Maya, since Phoenix has refused to tell him anything.

Sorry yes, not act like "putting on an act," act like "a thing he did."

Well, the act works, because Adrian can't think of a way around his logic. Edgeworth wants to hear more about why she poured the tomato juice after entering, since there's no way that could ever incriminate her. Adrian does so, and actually reveals that the juice wasn't for her, but for Juan, because she didn't immediately know he was dead, just assuming he was asleep. The evidence to present there is pretty simple: the crime scene photo. One would not normally accept a man stabbed through the chest by a knife was just sleeping.

I'll admit, I presented the knife first, and I do think that should have worked. But you know. That's fine.

I see where you were going, but I do think the crime scene photo makes more sense. With this lie exposed, those whole court is against Adrian Andrews, the Judge completely convinced Matt is innocent. When Adrian tries to object, saying that Matt really is Guilty, Phoenix pushes back, pointing out all her deceptions, to which all she can say is that she won't testify. It's looking like Phoenix is going to get his Not Guilty verdict, though he's a bit perturbed that Adrian isn't confessing to the crime. After all, in every previous case, the killer always admits what they did when they're beaten.

It's definitely not working like he's come to expect it should.

Of course, it's too soon for the trial to end. Edgeworth Objects, and asks Phoenix to really think this over: does he really think Adrian Andrews is the real killer? You get the option to call for a verdict or ask that Adrian testify again, but the case continues with either answer. Since the witness is refusing to testify about anything that could save her, no matter how clear it is that doing so will ensure Matt is given a Not Guilty verdict, Edgeworth decides to pull out the big guns, and begins to talk about the suicide of Celeste Inpax, and how it affected Adrian Andrews. She asks him to stop, starting to say she'd rather kill herself than let that come to light, but Edgeworth says he does not care in the slightest. If he has to pull the truth from her dying breath, he will.

He's...not that I expect Edgeworth to coddle anyone, but like, yeesh.

There is a difference between not coddling people and telling a suicide survivor you're okay with them trying again and succeeding. We are for sure coming back to this later. It does work, unfortunately, and Adrian confesses to her crime. Which isn't murder. When she first arrived at the crime scene, she really did think he wasn't dead, that wasn't a lie. The knife wasn't in his chest at the time. She knew right away Matt had done the deed, but thought he'd escape punishment for it. She went back to Matt's room, took the knife he'd used to eat dinner, and stabbed the corpse with it. Then, she took the button and planted it in Matt's hakama. But by that time, there were people in the hallway, so she wore the Nickel Samurai costume to move without looking too suspicious.

Definitely not what Phoenix had been expecting to hear, and kind of troubling on a number of levels.

Absolutely. Phoenix Presses the whole thing, looking for anything to call her on, but there's nothing. The most relevant thing to learn there is that she did this because she was so scared Matt could avoid his guilt because he'd done something like it in the past. But there's nothing else to do, there will have to be more investigation. Phoenix objects, trying to stall the trial for longer, but it's no use. The Judge is done with Phoenix's rudeness, and Edgeworth has no grounds to keep the trial going. The gavel falls, and the day of trial ends with Phoenix's head in his hands, terrified of what will happen to Maya now.

Even though the Judge has left the courtroom, Phoenix, Mia, Edgeworth, and Adrian remain. Phoenix is busy freaking out, but Edgeworth decides to ask Adrian something, off the record: what is that card she keeps playing with? She says she'd forgotten when Phoenix had asked the same thing the day before, but she has remembered: it was at the scene of the crime, near the body. In her confusion, she'd pocketed it and forgotten. Phoenix kind of rolls his eyes at her doing that, but Edgeworth freaks out. He takes a closer look at the card and lays into Adrian, hard. He makes it clear that what she has done is a serious offense, but neither she nor Phoenix know why. That, like so much else, will be revealed...next time.

That's it for the recap, which means it's time to start the analysis. Oh master of video game literary analysis, point us in the way you'd like to go.

Well, one of the things that stands out most to me about this segment is that it feels like the first time Phoenix's flailing hasn't actually led him closer to a just outcome. And there's a lot more to talk about on that front as the case goes on, but even at this point it feels like he hasn't really gotten any closer to the truth. And not in a bad filler case sort of way, where the whole first court segment was a wild goose chase; this segment does further the story. It's a more pointed lack of motion; a feeling that Phoenix is doing everything right, everything that's previously gotten him his victories... but for some reason, that hasn't gotten him closer to what actually happened, and has even resulted in the harassment of a severely troubled person. It's a strange feeling kind of foreign to the series at this point.

It is, and it emphasizes the game's overall point about moral grayness. Phoenix sees himself as a heroic, good person, but this is the first time he's really had to confront that his way of doing things can be just as harmful as a prosecutor's. Adrian Andrews is not completely innocent, but she definitely doesn't deserve the mental anguish Phoenix puts her through. He's not ignorant to that, but his faith, usually a good thing, is pushing those thoughts aside so he can focus on getting the Not Guilty, saving his client, and Maya in the process. There's more in that direction to come later on.

It's definitely an interesting scenario that somehow manages to even further intensify his blind faith. Usually it's based mostly (if not solely) in his idealism, but this case adds an element of desperation. It's not just that he believes it should work, it literally has to work or Maya is dead. His desperate blind flailing is even more careless and obstinate than usual, in a scenario where it really shouldn't be. He's being pushed to his limits, and trusting that his faith in his client will get him through.

Speaking of, let's talk a little bit about Mia, who gave him that ideal in the first place. She's there the entire time, thanks to Pearl channeling her. Let's ignore how kind of gross that is to focus on something else: the beginning of a bit of a conflict between her and Phoenix. Maybe that's too strong a word, but this is my first time noticing this interesting thing in this case. Phoenix is clearly still upset with Edgeworth, and otherwise seems throughout this game to have reverted to something like Mia's stance on prosecutors: they're in the way of saving your client, and not to be trusted. But Edgeworth assists Phoenix a lot in this trial segment, and that throws Phoenix, making him question what's going on. Mia clearly sees him differently, always framing Edgeworth's odd actions as being sub-optimal for him, and thinking he has to have something up his sleeve, that he's still in control of the trial. She's still looking at the trial as a zero-sum game between defense and prosecutor, something Phoenix is starting to see past.

That was an interesting element of it all. Any time Edgeworth acted against his theoretical interests as the prosecutor, Mia assumed he must have something up his sleeve. It must be to his advantage somehow. And in all fairness, that's generally how he operated in the previous game, so I can understand the assumption, but it does seem like there's more going on here, and she isn't really catching that. Or perhaps just doesn't think it's a likely interpretation of his actions.

Light spoilers for the next game, but we know Edgeworth and Mia faced each other for their first trial, which ended badly for both. Perhaps that's the most she ever saw of Edgeworth, and it is still framing the way she sees him? Also, she wasn't around for Turnabout Goodbyes or Rise from the Ashes last game, so she hasn't that softer side Phoenix has.

It makes sense that she would expect Edgworth to act as he always does. For that matter this game was made before Rise from the Ashes, so originally this would have been the first time we saw Edgeworth as a prosecutor since Turnabout Samurai, so it makes sense for the theoretical player to expect it as well.

Speaking of Edgeworth, we definitely get to see how much he's changed. On the one hand, he's just as fierce in court as before, just as condescendingly intelligent, and just as good at giving counterpoints for Phoenix's reasoning. The big change, on the other hand, comes with his goal. Even if Phoenix and Mia are still having issues puzzling it out, it's clear Edgeworth's goal isn't to just win. He had numerous chances to do so, but instead continued the trial. Franziska has done that before, but always in the name of proving how perfect her case is. Edgeworth is seeming to do that with the goal of understanding what happened better. There have been hints here and there of what his real goal is now, but he won't exposit it fully until later on.

We don't actually have his motivation at this point, and I don't remember the details well, but it seems fairly clear to me that he's using his role as Phoenix's opponent to figure out the truth, rather than necessarily trying to win. Though I may just be saying that because I played Rise from the Ashes. And the other games.

That is the case, and he does use the word "truth" three times, each in key scenes, so they are highlighting it. But something less people take note of is how, even if Edgeworth has a nobler goal now, he's still not quite a nice person. Not only are some of his quips to Phoenix just mean as hell, but the way he treats Adrian Andrews, during the trial and after it, are both honestly deplorable. He's motivated by positive things, but that still is causing him to be, frankly, verbally abusive to others. I don't think I can overstate how wrong what he said to Adrian was.

Still, it isn't without purpose. Edgeworth has always been a fairly mean person. We talked a lot during the first game how, even at his best, Edgeworth was a sympathetic person, but never really a nice one. The series creator was aiming for him to be unlikable, but interesting. He was just too charismatic though, and as it turns out being an asshole doesn't really stop fans from loving a character. Fans are always willing to sand down Edgeworth's sharper edges, but I appreciate that, even when he's turned from the Dark Side, he still comes off as that same brusque, prickly guy.

I agree that generally speaking it still works as characterization. He won't become a nice person just because he's discovered a better motivation. It just seemed a little extreme and uncharacteristic for him to tell Andrews that he didn't care if she killed herself. And a far more minor example, but affirming von Karma's decision to fire Gumshoe to his face seemed similarly out of character; he always regarded Gumshoe as a buffoon, but there was a degree of camaraderie in the first one that doesn't fit that scene. Overall, yeah I get it, Edgeworth is doing the right thing now but he's still an asshole. But I do think it went overboard a bit driving that last bit home.

Regarding his treatment of Adrian Andrews, it's definitely far, but I do feel it's in-character. In some ways, his newfound ideals are pushing his callousness even farther, because he believes it's for a just cause. With Gumshoe, I can agree that it feels weird to see him treat the detective, or ex-detective, that way, but I would also say it's consistent. Not necessarily with the previous game, but from here on out. While Edgeworth and Gumshoe had some good moments in the first game, and they'll have more together over the games, on the whole it seems very much like the prosecutor is far less emotionally attached to Gumshoe than vice versa. I do think he likes Gumshoe, but he's also willing to leave him out to dry when he's in trouble, more often than not.

True, Gumshoe holds more love for Edgeworth than vice versa, and always has. Just, yeah, it seems like a lot. Especially the Andrews stuff. But I guess we'll see how things go!

Speaking of Adrian Andrews...ugh. Why don't you start off talking about her, because what I have to say isn't super nice, and I want to get pleasant stuff out in front of it first if possible.

Well...I mean I don't have much positive to say either? I want to like her, I really do, and her struggles are intense enough that I don't want to discount them or take them too lightly, but I don't feel like the game is handling them well at all.

*sigh* Okay, I'll go right into my main problem, which continues out of last week's issues I had with her: character shilling. There is this thing out there, called "Show, Don't Tell". It's not a hard and fast rule by any means, but generally it's better for the audience to see something in action rather than be told it's a thing, especially regarding character traits. Mia and Phoenix spend the entire back half of the segment talking about how intelligent, how cold, how gosh darn cool Adrian Andrews is, how they'll really have to do something new and different to get around her defenses...which is not supported in the text at all. This feels like "The Outrageous Okana" from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Do not tell me what a character should be like, show me that in action! Adrian is not a difficult witness, her testimonies are fairly easy! She constantly makes mistakes, and her fumbling actually makes her come across as more unintelligent. I'm not saying she is, but it doesn't read well for the game to hype this woman up as a genius and then have her fumble around her entire time in court. I like her character fine, but this segment was not kind to her at all.

That's definitely true. Her demeanor fits everyone's descriptions of her, but she hardly has everything together in court, even before Phoenix breaks her account apart.

See, that's the thing. Sure, she kind of appears cool and smart...but that's just a base-level reading, and one they already know is false because of her "co-dependency" that they learned about the day before. Usually, when a big witness hits the stand, they focus on their hidden layers for advice. Imagine if, when Yanni Yogi took the stand, Mia showed up to blather on and on about how he sure was a cooky old man. It isn't helpful, and it makes the narrative feel weaker.

True. She should come across fine without all the talking about how she acts. Mostly, I still just don't like the approach they decided to take with this character. There's a lot of heavy, intense stuff here, from multiple suicides (or attempts, at least) to mental illness, and it honestly doesn't feel to me like the game is approaching these subjects with much care. More like it's just using them to make an interesting mystery. And I still think it kind of sucks that we finally get a confident woman who isn't a murderer or a victim, and she's secretly so compulsively dependent on others that she can't even function on her own. Not a good look for a series that's already got some problems with how it portrays women.

I don't know if I totally agree there. On the feminism angle, yeah, her character could be a lot more independent, and the series needs someone like that. But I feel like that does miss some aspects of who she is. When we get to see the real Adrian Andrews, she is definitely a nervous, anxious person, one with a mental disorder she's struggling with. While her method of coping, of emulating someone else's behavior as if it was her own, isn't necessarily the most healthy thing in the world, I do think it's significant that, up to this point, she has gone years now as an independent person, despite her mental health struggles. With the assistance of therapy, she's living her own life without the need to depend on anyone. Of course, she slips up, and ends up using Franziska as someone to depend on in a bad time, but she's also under a lot of stress right now, and one relapse doesn't discount everything else.

I understand wanting her to be more awesome and confident, but that ultimately isn't the kind of character they're going for. That said, I am 100% docking them points for how Edgeworth talks to her. She is someone with major self-confidence issues, and portraying her as pitiful and having a character call her such while saying he doesn't care if she commits suicide is not cool in the slightest. I guess what I'm saying is that, from the mental health aspect, I would still say this case, and this character, is so far better than 95% of media being made in the last thirty years, but it still has a lot of room to improve.

That's fair. I definitely see where you're coming from on that, and I think we talked about this last time too. I know they're not going for a confident character, it just doesn't come across as good optics to me when most of the women in the series are evil, demure, or sexy, then a confident, non-sexualized woman comes around and it's like "PSYCH she has crippling dependency issues".

But yes, the fact that she's been dealing with them is good, it just...doesn't come across to me in the game, honestly? I think it's because it consistently treats her dependency as a "gotcha." Pretty much every time it comes up, it's to undermine her as a person or a witness. It never feels to me like this is a struggle that she's dealing with and working on, and I never get the feeling that she's been bravely working through it, because the game only ever feels like bringing it up to point out how weak and undependable she is. 

Okay now that I've written it out, I realized that's why this doesn't work for me: Phoenix Wright characters, especially witnesses, often have at least one element of their personality or past that, when revealed, explains why they're not actually a good witness (or generally a good person). It throws their character into question so we have reason to doubt their truthfulness and motivations. Lotta with the tabloid journalism, Oldbag with her crushes and vendettas, April May with her ties to BlueCorp, Angel Starr and her prejudice against prosecutors...it's a gotcha. A reveal meant to undermine their integrity and truthfulness. 

I appreciate your perspective on Andrews as a portrayal of mental illness, but I honestly never felt like the game was really trying to do that. It comes across to me like it's just using her mental illness as a gotcha, as the horrible secret that reveals why she's unfit for the witness stand. And that really, really doesn't sit well with me.

I can see why you'd take it as that, but I also very much don't agree. Adrian makes it clear that she herself is trying to hide that part of herself, but it isn't actually brought out in the open in court, it's the threat of it that makes her admit her crime. Not only that, moreso than other witnesses you've mentioned, in the end what she's said isn't disproved or treated as if she's been a 'bad witness'. She admits to framing Matt, but other than that her testimony holds. This isn't 'she's dumb and mistakes one thing for another' or 'she's been lying about everything she claims to have seen', she's been lying to protect herself from her own crime, but even after that's been revealed, Adrian insists that she's in the right anyway, that her crime was justified, and that she isn't a murderer. The court day ends because Phoenix can't prove anything else, and while there is a lot of bad words thrown Adrian's way, I would not agree in the slightest that the case treats her like Wendy Oldbag, Lotta Hart, or Angel Starr.

Instead of seeing her mental issues as a gotcha, I'd instead say it's a piece of her motivation, but it's also not the whole piece. This day has made clear there are other reasons we still don't know for what she's been doing, and while I don't think they did a great job of it, I would argue what the case is 'trying' to do is show Adrian Andrews as an intelligent woman hiding a dark secret, and that Phoenix is a real smarty for seeing past her lies and getting to what really happened. Not that she was actually weak or stupid, but that there had to be errors for Phoenix to get past in the cross-examination. It could have been done better, a lot better, but I see what they were going for, unfortunate implications aside.

Well now that we've discussed the important things, let's talk about Oldbag.

...she's also here. Anyway is it review time now?

It isn't, since we have another day of investigation and trial each to talk about, but we can mix some review thoughts with this segment and any miscellaneous analysis as well right now. To start with, I will say that there are a lot of funny things you can easily miss by not choosing wrong answers. Including the revelation that the Judge has a hearing aide, which I did not know before.

Oh? I had no idea. But it might explain some things.

Only other think I can think to cover for today: we've talked about it off and on so far, but this game...I've heard the localization was rushed and I don't know the inside scoop on how true that is. But it feels like it. The writing in this game, dialogue-wise, has been peaks and valleys, when usually I'd say the localization in Ace Attorney is some of the best in the industry. This trial segment in particular had a lot of things that felt like they were trying to be funny and it just...didn't work? Like, not in a 'not funny' way but in a 'I am very confused' way. Like, the thing with the bandanna, and then the Judge thinks it's a banana?  I don't think I've ever seen a single person laugh at that bit, and I've watched half a dozen people play through this case.

I can't say I took notice of that, but also I haven't really taken notice of... anything? Which is abnormal for these games. It does feel like the writing is a little more basic than usual.

That's part of what I mean. The story here is fantastic, but the writing is so often a little bland, it doesn't feel like it's sticking as well as it could be. This is a good case! I like it! But I also feel like some people build it up too much, possibly due to how less good the rest of the game is by comparison.

I'll say that it struck me as one of my favorites when I first played through the series, and I think that the emotional tension is enough to elevate it past the prose itself, but it's definitely got some issues that a closer look makes a lot more noticeable.

One last thing: I want to thank Thomas Game Docs for his video on something fairly relevant to what we've been talking about lately. In "How Phoenix Wright Took Inspiration From YAOI", he talks about how, after the first game came out, the team behind it discovered that a ton of Boy's Love doujinshi (Japanese fanfic but in manga form) had been made of Phoenix and Edgeworth together. They were pretty surprised, but decided that, with the sequel, they wanted to try and appeal to that section of the fanbase. They read a bunch of Yaoi (male-male erotica from Japan, for those not in the know), and tried to tap into that romance angle with Phoenix and Edgeworth's personal issues. Hence why he feels so bitter this whole game. I'm simplifying things a lot, and recommend checking out his video if any of that sounded interesting to you.

Oh. That is absolutely fascinating. It's always fun to see creators leaning into the shipping and erotic fan content.

Funny thing was, the character designer for the first game was already a Yaoi fan, and they asked her after the game came out what she thought. (She didn't work on Justice for All.) Apparently, she thought they'd gotten it wrong. On the one hand, I kind of agree, because Phoenix's attitude throughout this game with Edgeworth has been mostly annoying. On the other hand, well, Google Phoenix/Edgeworth sometime. They're on the most popular slash ships on the internet.

I definitely think it's one of those things that wouldn't work in-universe, but is fun to think about outside of canon. Like Zutara. And there's no harm in giving some fuel to the shippers and fanartists.

...I don't know if I agree on this being similar to Zutara, since even if I don't ship Wrightworth, I at least think it's a decent ship. Anyway, I think that's it for today. Next time, we see the consequences of Phoenix failing to get his Not Guilty verdict. Auf wiedersehen.

I'll refrain from reigniting that particular ship war. Until next time!