Board 8 > Anagram Aces Ace Attorney Topic 5: Ghost of Morality (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yes, it's time for the final AA game: Spirit of Justice. I've been told this is a bad game, but dammit, I'm playing it anyway, because I just played RE2R and RE4 again, and I don't feel like doing Claire B yet because I can only handle so much spookiness at once and I actually don't like Mercenaries in RE4. Are you ready for me to play the game and make a bunch of predictions about who the real killers are, only to be immediately proven wrong and have everyone laugh at me? Because I sure am.

Things I know going in:

• Maya shows up.
• Apollo's backstory comes into play.
• The main prosecutor is a magical gray-haired Indian Hindu-looking guy who has magical beads? I've seen pictures of him posted in AA-related threads, and this is the last game, so he has to show up now.
• At some point, two characters switch places, and one of them has a name that starts with A.

Things I don't know going in that I should:

• When do I play the DLC episode? Last time, I played it after the main game, which I apparently was not supposed to do.

Starting the game now.

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Anagram posted...

I've been told this is a bad game

by who? from what I can tell most of B8 likes it!

absolutely play the DLC case last

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Anagram posted...

I've been told this is a bad game

Revoke their AA fandom membership card.

This game is my favorite second only to AA3.

It's not as consistently good at AA5 imo. Some cases are meh.

But it makes up by having two absolutely legendary cases (3 and 5).

Enjoy the ride.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

This game is my favorite second only to AA3.

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Well, maybe they were referring solely to the DLC case.

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Episode 6-1

• Ah, the Kingdom of Khura'in. Is this... supposed to just be like a Bhutan or Nepal-type place? Because I'm fine with that, I just can't think of any other games with that setting.
• Ah, the famous green-eyed children of the Far East. And don't be like that, the game went out of its way to say this is in "the Far East." When you do that, you surrender your right to not have green-eyed children stand out. I don't make the rules.
• We open up with a monk guy killing a dude in a black void and telling the audience directly (since no one else is there) that he'll frame a child for it. Phew! I'd hate to have any mystery in this mystery game.
• "Wow! An ox right in the middle of the street! I have to get a picture of that!" If I didn't know Phoenix was really Japanese, I'd say he was the whitest tourist ever.
• Game, I'm officially banning you from having any more names like "Ahlbi Ur'gaid" from this point on. I expect everyone to be named Sam or Alice, things like that.
• I do however approve of "Tehm'pul Temple."
• I, uh... I don't know if you can really "celebrate" training to be an "ascetic," Phoenix. Do you know what that word even means?
• "I read that the people of this country are all adherents of Khura'inism." I was going to make a joke about a country that bans all other religions, but I couldn't figure out how to do it in a way that didn't sound like I was making a joke about a specific real world country, so I just gave up.
• I like how everyone in this anime cutscene is dressed very Spartanly, with just a single cloth and very monk-y, and then the priestesses is in like a pink whatever and has a transparent cloth and a crown. I can obviously tell she's going to be important, probably a princess or high priestess or whatever, but still.
• While she dances, cops break into the temple and arrest Ahlbi.
• I have to say, I do appreciate how the court lobby is like the LA court lobby, except with a gong, a sacred scroll, some candles, and a fishbowl on a pillow. A second later in the courtroom itself, it's the same thing, and we get an Asiany font with the GUILTY . If this game wasn't made by actual Asian people, I'd say was going a little heavy on the Asian stereotypes.
• So Ahlbi was already declared guilty after a seance, I guess.
• I don't know why "Your Magistry" made me laugh.
• I don't know, I feel like a country not having lawyers would be famous, if only among lawyers who are personally friends with multiple spirit mediums, which I admit is a small demographic.
• I know that courtrooms in these games basically do not have rules, but for some reason my first thought was "I wonder how difficult it is to get Californian-Khurai'inese reciprocity for attorneys?"
• "I have more than ten years of experience!" That isn't even technically true, Phoenix, unless you're talking about non-lawyer experience, you liar.
• I approve of Paht Rohl, but it should have just been Patrick Roll. I guess that's not foreign enough, but still, make it Paat Ruul.
• Phoenix, look. Look. I mean, come on. You no longer have the right to be skeptical about souls and spirit mediums and stuff. I'm just saying.
• "I guess there are national treasures that are off-limits to the public back home, too." A phrase that makes more sense if Phoenix is Japanese than American, sadly.
• Man, we're getting more lawyer hate here than we did in an entire game about the "Dark Age of the Law."
• Last game, I complained about the re-recorded objection lines being worse than the originals. This is apparently also true for Payne, who's longer screechy. Too bad.
• Ahhh voice acting
• By the way, I knew in one second that the country would punish lawyers along with criminals, because that's the only "crazy foreign" way you can play hatred of lawyers, just like that one Justice League episode where the Flash becomes a lawyer to buy time for... whoever it was. Green Lantern? Hawkgirl? I dunno.
• "Pees'lubn Andistan'dihn" is an A+ name, I have to admit.
• "In an old building like that, I guess the walls would be pretty thin." Phoenix, this building is a giant stone temple, shut up.
• I like how he plays his dahmalan poorly when he's nervous.
• Woah, getting the "character who acts nice and then reveals s/he's evil and takes on a different form" out of the way a little early, aren't you, game?
• Holy crap, I'm shocked that he has a deeper voice tick than other characters, has this ever happened before? I thought there was just a male and female one.
• Oh man, royalty-free genericized We Will Rock You audience stomping, I love it.
• "Brain, don't fail me now."
• Look, I guess I have to be the one to question where you could even sell an ancient sacred magical treasure. I don't think a pawn shop would accept it.

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Tagging this with the force of a thousand suns

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I'm also in the boat of "I can't believe someone told you AA6 is a bad game"

it is the only AA game that recaptured the magic of the original trilogy, for me

Anagram posted...

Game, I'm officially banning you from having any more names like "Ahlbi Ur'gaid" from this point on. I expect everyone to be named Sam or Alice, things like that.

when your puns are below even anagram's standards

The time gap between PW1 and SOJ is 11 years, so Phoenix is technically correct!

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• I knew the murder weapon was the instrument as soon as I saw it, I should've written that down, though.
• I only just realized that either everyone speaks English or Phoenix speaks Khurain'ese. But I've watched every episode of Stargate, in which literally every alien race speaks English except one, but a major plot point in the first movie was needing someone who can speak Ancient Egyptian, so I'll let this slide.
• I'd just like to say that this is another 4-3 situation where they establish early on that the defendant's height means he would need to stand on an elevated surface to smash the victim's head, but then they just ignore that when the plot needs to continue and you're not allowed to point that out.
• "The Kingdom of Khurain isn't some fantasy funland!" Five minutes later: *Magical butterflies swirl out of the floor to proclaim a child's innocence*
• I meant to say this earlier, but I am incredibly suspicious that one of those guards has a model. I'm calling it: he's the villain of a later case, and they wanted to introduce him here. In fact, writing this part later after the ending cutscene, I saw there's like an assassin or whatever who works for the rebellion leader or whatever, he's probably the guard.
• I mean, look, I accept that magically summoning the memories of the dead would make it super easy to resolve most murder trials, but surely you still need lawyers in other trials, right? Like, whose memories are you summoning to prove museum artwork was really stolen by the defendant? And has no one ever been killed by surprise before? Like, just coming up behind you and smashing your head while you're looking at something else, so there are no clues in your memories? I realize these questions don't matter in the context of a silly lawyer game, but dammit, I'm asking them anyway.

Episode 6-2

• The opening cutscene for the next episode started without giving me a chance not to watch it, so I'll just post this as well: what is with Japan and Alice in Wonderland? I'm serious, it shows up in Japanese stuff non-stop.

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Paratroopa1 posted...

when your puns are below even anagram's standards

Eye Solo the space cyclops is a quality pun and you know it.

Leonhart4 posted...

The time gap between PW1 and SOJ is 11 years, so Phoenix is technically correct!

You know perfectly well I meant his time as a lawyer.

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Anagram posted...

And has no one ever been killed by surprise before? Like, just coming up behind you and smashing your head while you're looking at something else, so there are no clues in your memories? I realize these questions don't matter in the context of a silly lawyer game, but dammit, I'm asking them anyway.

I mean I think the game hammers really hard the idea that seances alone can't make perfect veredicts, and lawyers are necessary. You are the one who has to show that in practice!

Anagram posted...

The opening cutscene for the next episode started without giving me a chance not to watch it, so I'll just post this as well: what is with Japan and Alice in Wonderland? I'm serious, it shows up in Japanese stuff non-stop.

I've seen someone say Mario eating mushrooms to change size is a reference to it, too. Not sure if that's official.

• Overall, I enjoyed this case. It relies a little heavily on Khurain being a wacky foreign culture, but with that crutch, it still pulls off some decent humor and excitement. I would say this is the strongest opening case after 3-1 and 4-1 (keeping in mind that 4-1 is literally the only good case of its game).
• This case also shirks tradition by not having a teenage girl sidekick. Counting Pearl and Mia as teenage girl sidekicks, the only case I can think of without one is E-1, and even then, you have a 20-something girl sidekick. Here, the teenage girl is the enemy, which I appreciate, because I'm a teacher, and teenagers are indeed the enemy.

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Rayfa is incredible.

Anagram posted...

The Kingdom of Khurain isn't some fantasy funland!" Five minutes later: *Magical butterflies swirl out of the floor to proclaim a child's innocence*

They meant to say it's a fantasy dystopia instead of a funland lol

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Anagram posted...

You know perfectly well I meant his time as a lawyer.

Yes, but Phoenix is bluffing on purpose!

And 1-1, 3-1, and 3-4 don't have teen girl sidekicks!

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Leonhart4 posted...

Yes, but Phoenix is bluffing on purpose!

And 1-1, 3-1, and 3-4 don't have teen girl sidekicks!

I said I was counting Mia as a teenage girl sidekick, but I actually did forget about Mia's cases. Although, again, the villain in her cases was also a teenage girl, so the pattern holds.

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Dahlia is technically not a teenager!

And Mia is older than Phoenix, so you can't use her as a loophole!

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Anagram posted...

Game, I'm officially banning you from having any more names like "Ahlbi Ur'gaid" from this point on. I expect everyone to be named Sam or Alice, things like that.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

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LeonhartFour posted...

Dahlia is technically not a teenager!

And Mia is older than Phoenix, so you can't use her as a loophole!

Dammit

Fine, I concede on Mia.

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Anagram posted...

Game, I'm officially banning you from having any more names like "Ahlbi Ur'gaid" from this point on. I expect everyone to be named Sam or Alice, things like that.

I have some bad new for you...!

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The first half of the case was slow, but Metal Jesus was a fun villain

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Oh man, I just thought of a great villain: a witness evil twin brother named Samuel Guy.

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• I accidentally refreshed while typing stuff, so I lost my reactions to the first 5~ minutes of 6-2. I remember saying something about Trucy's magic panties.
• Calling it now: Reus is the victim, Bonny is the killer's minion April May-style. I know this because the game drew attention to Reus but didn't show him with a model, which puts him in prime victim territory.
• One of the weirdest differences between the real world and the Phoenix Wright world is anyone caring about stage magic. Like, this was a thing in prior games, too, like people caring enough to watch stage magic on TV. I know that's a weird thing to point out, but give me a break, 4-3 is built around the idea that everyone on Earth except Apollo cares about the sanctity of keeping magician tricks secret.
• Reus is pronounced "Ree-is?" I thought it was "Ruse!" Like an illusionist pun! What a missed opportunity.
• Athena just stabbed a prop coffin, guessing Reus is in it and that's how she'll be accused of murder.
• Hahaha I knew it.
• I refuse to believe Apollo could have entered this theater without walking to a location that reveals the cube isn't a cube.
• Just once, I want a game or movie where the characters watch the news and it's an unrelated story that would be logical to talk about in-world but has nothing to do with the plot.
• Man, this camerawork is atrocious, the cameraman needs to be fired. There are way too many closeups of the teenage girls and no wide shots to let us know what's going on.
• So this officially means Pearl is the only teenage girl sidekick who hasn't been accused of a crime, right? I guess there's always AA7.
• "Magical Girl Trucy Wright." True story: when I was like eighteen, my weeaboo friend David was trying to get me to watch some anime about a teenage girl magician, and I was like "so she's a magical girl," and he went off on a huge thing about how that label only applies to a specific type of character, and it no more applies to his anime than it does to Hermione from Harry Potter.
• "It's a Gramarye motto that my daddy used to say before he passed away. It's one of the few precious memories I have of him." Well, I guess that's better than the memory of the time he tried to frame your adopted father for cheating in a poker game for literally no reason, failed, and responded by drunkenly beating up a waitress.
• The game asks me to present evidence to Trucy when there are literally only two pieces of evidence in the court file. This'll be a tough one for sure.
• Why would there even be a real sword involved here at all? Why not just use the rubber sword all the time? There had better be an actual reason given later, dammit.
• "She's still just a kid, after all." Literally one year younger than Athena was last game.
• I hope it's just a huge coincidence that Phoenix has an adventure in Khura'in at the same moment a Khura'inese prosecutor has an adventure in LA.
• I mean, I have to assume Khura'inese prosecutorial methods are completely incompatible with the American legal system from what we saw, but okay.
• The murderer has a very high chance of being Retinz just because Apollo established that the framer has to be someone at the show, and the game made a point of showing how Retinz reached the theater only after the show was cancelled, so that can easily come up later. Although, really, we all know that every case has around two suspects, and this one has more of a murdery face than the bunny girl.
• It took me absolutely forever to find the fingerprints on the coffin.

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Anagram posted...

Reus is pronounced "Ree-is?" I thought it was "Ruse!" Like an illusionist pun! What a missed opportunity.

Mr. Reus is a pun!

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Anagram posted...

Reus is pronounced "Ree-is?" I thought it was "Ruse!" Like an illusionist pun! What a missed opportunity.

you should think on this one a bit longer

Also, remember that Mr is short for Mister. So think of it as Mister Reus.

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Fingerprinting in SoJ sucks

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Anagram posted...

Why would there even be a real sword involved here at all? Why not just use the rubber sword all the time?

Did you see the way she was waving that thing around before stabbing it into the coffin? Good luck getting a rubber sword to stay straight.

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I just started ace Attorney 1 on Monday for the first time

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Uh...... do not read this topic then. We're going to be discussing spoilers for the game he's playing and everything he's played up until now extensively.

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I won't not have I

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LordoftheMorons posted...

Mr. Reus is a pun!

Paratroopa1 posted...

you should think on this one a bit longer

_SecretSquirrel posted...

Also, remember that Mr is short for Mister. So think of it as Mister Reus.

Well, that's embarrassing.

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• Two perceptions in one day? I wonder if this is the only Apollo case, and they're getting them out of the way as fast as they can.
• This is random, but it's been eleven years since the first game, right? Why has Cody Hackins never returned? He'd be the perfect age to get wrapped up in another wacky case, and you could do a thing where he acts like he's too adult to like the Silver Samurai but you have to prove he still does, etc.
• "This is an official contract. See for yourselves! You're lawyers, after all. You should know one when you see one, right?" Dude, as far as I know, the only time in history a lawyer has done anything not related to a murder is when Phoenix had to defend a thief who was brought up on murder charges immediately after being declared innocent.
• What a surprise, Bonny and Retinz are evil. You know, you'd think Apollo's lie detection or Athena's emotional detection powers would have already come in handy with her. And don't say that he did detect a lie from her earlier, you know what I mean.
• You know, I was going to type how I wished we could just once have a bunch of suspicious people throughout the trial, then the killer is someone who shows up at the last minute, but I realized that I got that in 2-3 and it sucked, so never mind.
• "It's on a disc in my back pocket, go ahead and fish it out." Sir, that is sexual harassment.
• "I've always wanted to give gambling a try!" Whether Athena lives in Tokyo or LA, that statement doesn't make sense. Unless pachinko parlors require you to be 21? I actually have no idea.
• I have never once in my life seen a clipboard that is also a folder. Is this a thing in Japan? Is this a thing in America, and I'm just the only one?
• I refuse to believe random people care enough about this murder trial to break the window of the law firm defending the accused. Actually, that raises an interesting question: what is the highest profile case Phoenix has ever taken on? Is it... Is it Matt Engarde?
• And we get an anime cutscene of Sahdmadi hanging out with animals. Why is hanging out with animals even shorthand for "enlightened" or whatever? Like, come on, what do animals know?

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Debating on whether or not to do the trial today. I know it'll be long.

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In the context of the series, I'd wager the cases Phoenix would be most famous for would be 1-3 and 1-4, considering he lost 2-4.

(Or 2-2 and 2-3 if you believe Franziska lawl)

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Leonhart4 posted...

In the context of the series, I'd wager the cases Phoenix would be most famous for would be 1-3 and 1-4, considering he lost 2-4.

(Or 2-2 and 2-3 if you believe Franziska lawl)

I would actually think some of Phoenix's more recent work would be very big headlines. A trial run of a Jurist system would certainly be national news, though Phoenix may have been in the shadows of that experiment.

However, Case 1,4, and 5 of DD would definitely be a defining moment in Phoenix's career. An astronaut got murdered. A terroist blew up a courtroom in the middle of a trial. A detective got murdered. A member of the bomb squad was arrested for the detective's murder. A space center and museum was taken hostage by one of its employees. Phoenix's junior lawyer was wrongfully arrested for the detective's murder and the courtroom bombing. Her trial took place in the bombed courtroom. A prosecutor that was previously sentenced to death for a murder related to the case was proven innocent right before his scheduled execution. Lastly, the terrorist responsible for most of the crimes turned out to be another detective who was actually a spy from another country. And was immediately assassinated upon his guilt being established.

Yeah, the media would have a field day with all of that, and Phoenix Wright and his firm would definitely become well known for all of it, especially since it would have been seen as the end of "The Dark Age of the Law," which was apparently a big deal in Japanifornia.

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I dislike the post trilogy games in general, but they have their moments (lots of good music, some funny jokes, bits and pieces of cases that are enjoyable)

I dislike SoJ the most though

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I was referring more to what made him famous from the original trilogy since Apollo states he's at least somewhat famous by then. 5-5 would be a huge deal for him in the new trilogy (as would 6-1!).

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_SecretSquirrel posted...

I would actually think some of Phoenix's more recent work would be very big headlines. A trial run of a Jurist system would certainly be national news, though Phoenix may have been in the shadows of that experiment.

However, Case 1,4, and 5 of DD would definitely be a defining moment in Phoenix's career. An astronaut got murdered. A terroist blew up a courtroom in the middle of a trial. A detective got murdered. A member of the bomb squad was arrested for the detective's murder. A space center and museum was taken hostage by one of its employees. Phoenix's junior lawyer was wrongfully arrested for the detective's murder and the courtroom bombing. Her trial took place in the bombed courtroom. A prosecutor that was previously sentenced to death for a murder related to the case was proven innocent right before his scheduled execution. Lastly, the terrorist responsible for most of the crimes turned out to be another detective who was actually a spy from another country. And was immediately assassinated upon his guilt being established.

Yeah, the media would have a field day with all of that, and Phoenix Wright and his firm would definitely become well known for all of it, especially since it would have been seen as the end of "The Dark Age of the Law," which was apparently a big deal in Japanifornia.

I was thinking of just one singular case, but this is a fair point, everything in AA5 would be headline news except 5-6.

Leonhart4 posted...

In the context of the series, I'd wager the cases Phoenix would be most famous for would be 1-3 and 1-4, considering he lost 2-4.

(Or 2-2 and 2-3 if you believe Franziska lawl)

Does Franziska claim they're famous? I don't remember that, but yeah, she's a dumbass anyway.

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There's an argument for 2-3 depending on just how famous Max actually was.
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5-6 would be newsworthy because he defended an orca!

Franziska claims that her beating Phoenix Wright will make worldwide news because she's that famous.

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Anagram posted...

I was thinking of just one singular case, but this is a fair point, everything in AA5 would be headline news except 5-6.

5-2 kind of depends on how famous L'Belle is. I don't know what kind of fame you actually get for running commercials for a product that doesn't functionally exist, even if he sewed multiple cell phones to his jacket to reject distribution deals faster.

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It's kind of noteworthy that the scales of the series went up kinda dramatically after Takumi stopped being in charge of the series after AJ. Even Edgeworth is busting up global conspiracies and crime rings seemingly on a weekly basis!

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Mewtwo59 posted...

There's an argument for 2-3 depending on just how famous Max actually was.

I interpreted him as being, like, regionally famous. There's a limit to how famous a circus magician can reasonably be.

Leonhart4 posted...

5-6 would be newsworthy because he defended an orca!

Franziska claims that her beating Phoenix Wright will make worldwide news because she's that famous.

I don't believe defending an orca would be that big a deal in the AA universe. It's unusual, but barely moreso than the other stuff he's done.

Leonhart4 posted...

It's kind of noteworthy that the scales of the series went up kinda dramatically after Takumi stopped being in charge of the series after AJ. Even Edgeworth is busting up global conspiracies and crime rings seemingly on a weekly basis!

Everything's gotten crazier over time. The craziest thing to happen in the original trilogy is an evil twin plot.

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Anagram posted...

I interpreted him as being, like, regionally famous. There's a limit to how famous a circus magician can reasonably be.

You know what's really crazy about that case? The most unrealistic aspect about it is that it took place the same year the circuses start closing en masse, and those that remained started dropping a lot of routines relating to exotic animals.

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Yeah, but only Phoenix Wright is defending an orca. It's not like every attorney out there is doing all the stuff he's doing.

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