Board 8 > Wifebolo plays Ace Attorney Trilogy [progressive spoilers]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Hi there! I'm new to this franchise. I just finished Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney on my DS Lite, and I'm looking forward to playing through the rest of the OG trilogy on the 3DS. I'm happy to discuss this first game, but if we could keep future spoilers to a low roar, that'd be S U P E R.

I suspect y'all want case rankings, so here goes. For me it's 4, 5, 2, 3, 1. Spoiler free writeup follows:

Case 4 - Turnabout Goodbyes had lots of history, very cool twists and turns, and I find Gregory Edgeworth to be quite handsome.
Case 5 - Rise from the Ashes was very long and also twisty, sometimes in ways that didn't make sense to me. But a lot of the trucking around, talking to more characters and gathering 30 pieces of evidence was very exciting.
Case 2 - Turnabout Sisters was shocking. Not only did it eliminate some plot armor, but it delves into corruption and protection schemes. Money talks, man.
Case 3 - Turnabout Samurai was fun, but not as engaging as some of the other cases. I found myself wandering around without much concrete to go on for much of this case. I did like the psychological aspects of this case's resolution, though!
Case 1 - The First Turnabout is very nostalgic, as it's the first case you play, and it's a little bit of a tutorial fight:
[credit:hiimdaisy's Persona4 comic]
You gain valuable insight into how court proceedings work, what to look for, and how witnesses react, especially when the truth begins to surface.

And a great AA lesson, "If something smells..."

PS: Detective Gumshoe makes me smile.

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Count me in for any AA playthrough topic

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tag

can't get my gf into it - she played through 1-2 but has been entirely sucked into animal crossing since then
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Tag that!

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SeabassDebeste posted...

tag

can't get my gf into it - she played through 1-2 but has been entirely sucked into animal crossing since then

My fiancee caught me in the middle of the final trial day of 2-4 the other day and got sucked into it. She watched me play 3-1 afterwards and enjoyed figuring it out as we went along. I let her play through 1-1 on her own as well, and she liked it. I might try to let her play some more at some point once I finish my own replay.
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tag

love to see first time playthroughs of the best series

Whats your favorite song from the first game?

I'm always on board for another AA playthrough topic!

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Tag

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colliding posted...

Whats your favorite song from the first game?

Fave track: "Logic and Trick" creepy and wonderful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0muwEn_FQYE
Honorable Mentions:

• "Pressing Pursuit ~ Cornered" inspiring!!
• "Keisuke Itonokogiri ~ Detective Itonoko" Gumshoe's theme has a determined but relaxing quality to it.
• "Happy People" is very happy! This won out over "Akane Houzuki ~ Turnabout Sisters Theme 2005"
• "Taiho-kun ~ I Want to Protect You" BLUE BADGER THEME :D;; This was supposed to be unsettling, but I found it adorable.

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We watched episodes 1-12 of the anime from 2016 on crunchyroll. It was really enjoyable, there was an effort in the animation to create something more fun to watch than just a room full of people talking and pointing at each other. Several characters are physically 'blown back' by the evidence being presented and the righteous truth of the objections!
The show demonstrated both the serious nature and the humorous asides that we've come to know and love from the franchise.

Started Justice for All [hereafter referred to as JFA] yesterday, and finished 2-1 The Lost Turnabout today.

I'll start off with some writeups of the cases from the first game and then continue posting progress from JFA.

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A couple pieces of trivia before we start out:

• One of my favorite manga artists, or Suekane Kumiko, did the character design on almost all major characters in this first game. Her Phoenix Wright illustrations are top notch, look them up sometime if you have the chance. You won't regret it. [for ease of Googling: Suekane Kumiko Phoenix Wright ]
• The original Japanese title of the franchise is [pronounced: Gyakuten Saiban], which literally means "Turnabout Trial". This really helped clear up the seemingly weird obsession nearly all these case titles have with the word 'turnabout'.

Ill take these cases in order, just because its the most logical thing to do. And I did say progressive spoilers, did I not? Just reiterating that, in case someone missed it.

Case 1-1 - The First Turnabout
https://i.imgur.com/huZ6R9W.jpg
We meet Larry Butz, and are told by our main character Phoenix Wright that when something smells its usually the Butz. Apparently in Japanese the name pun is I already knew it, with certainty - and when Larrys involved, you pretty much know it. Poor Larry was dating a pretty model, and we came to find that a bungled burglar killed her when she came home from travelling overseas. Sadly, she was killed with blunt force trauma by Larrys gift to her - a speaking clock shaped like Rodins The Thinker sculpture. Despite his rep as something of a hamfisted fellow, its a very well-made object.

Phoenix Wright stands by his old school chum by figuring out that Frank Sahwit, the witness giving testimony, is actually our larcenous murderer. He tries to pin the crime on the hapless Larry Butz, and is foiled by time zone differences. Weve all been there, right? #relatable

Culprit: Frank Sahwit is memorable as the first witness sprite you see go through a series of increasingly grotesque transformations, as the truth is uncovered by titular defense lawyer Mr Wright.

Overall: This was my least favorite of the AA1 cases. Although it holds a nostalgic spot as the first case you win, its easily supplanted by more challenging cases later on in the game.


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https://i.imgur.com/EZS4Q2j.gif

BLUE BADGER REPRESENT

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Llarian posted...

A couple pieces of trivia before we start out:
* One of my favorite manga artists, or Suekane Kumiko, did the character design on almost all major characters in this first game. Her Phoenix Wright illustrations are top notch, look them up sometime if you have the chance. You won't regret it. [for ease of Googling: Suekane Kumiko Phoenix Wright ]
* The original Japanese title of the franchise is [pronounced: Gyakuten Saiban], which literally means "Turnabout Trial". This really helped clear up the seemingly weird obsession nearly all these case titles have with the word 'turnabout'.
Ill take these cases in order, just because its the most logical thing to do. And I did say progressive spoilers, did I not? Just reiterating that, in case someone missed it.

Case 1-1 - The First Turnabout
https://i.imgur.com/huZ6R9W.jpg
We meet Larry Butz, and are told by our main character Phoenix Wright that when something smells its usually the Butz. Apparently in Japanese the name pun is I already knew it, with certainty - and when Larrys involved, you pretty much know it. Poor Larry was dating a pretty model, and we came to find that a bungled burglar killed her when she came home from travelling overseas. Sadly, she was killed with blunt force trauma by Larrys gift to her - a speaking clock shaped like Rodins The Thinker sculpture. Despite his rep as something of a hamfisted fellow, its a very well-made object.

Phoenix Wright stands by his old school chum by figuring out that Frank Sahwit, the witness giving testimony, is actually our larcenous murderer. He tries to pin the crime on the hapless Larry Butz, and is foiled by time zone differences. Weve all been there, right? #relatable

Culprit: Frank Sahwit is memorable as the first witness sprite you see go through a series of increasingly grotesque transformations, as the truth is uncovered by titular defense lawyer Mr Wright.

Overall: This was my least favorite of the AA1 cases. Although it holds a nostalgic spot as the first case you win, its easily supplanted by more challenging cases later on in the game.

Yeah, I have to agree on ranking. Although the fact that I think its also an excellently concise snippet of what makes the series great and a pretty fun case anyway is just a testament to how great the first game was.

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NFUN posted...

https://i.imgur.com/EZS4Q2j.gif

BLUE BADGER REPRESENT

QFT, you are a gentleman and a scholar.

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Trivia:

• Ben Judd plays the voice role of Phoenix Wright in this and 3 other games in the franchise [JFA, TnT, and Apollo Justice 2008] - he is fluent in Japanese, and is notable as Capcoms first non-Japanese producer. He has worked on translating and localizing games such as Resident Evil: Outbreak, God Hand, and Onimusha 3.
• Takumi Shu , creator of the Ace Attorney franchise and game developer/director for Capcom, plays the voice role of Phoenix Wright in Japanese in this and 3 other games in the franchise [JFA, TnT, and Apollo Justice 2008].

Case 1-2 - Turnabout Sisters
https://i.imgur.com/lRNQ8nr.jpg
B-But they were gonna go out to dinner! Mia makes plans to take Phoenix out to dinner to meet her little sister Maya once the latter comes into town...and sure enough, she gets the axe. Or in this case, The Thinker clock... again. Larry had given her the other, non-murder-weapon version of the matching clock set, only for history to repeat itself. Mia empties the clock, slips important evidence inside, and asks her sister Maya to hold on to it for her when shes in town. Then a mysterious assailant cracks her over the head with it and cuts her illustrious law career short.
Rose-tinted cutie April May and her jewelry-encrusted boss Redd White do their very best as witnesses to pin blame for Mias murder on Maya, and even Phoenix himself! Eventually, Redd White finds it is a tangled web we weave. His increasingly inaccurate lies, as well as Mias careful research into his large-scale blackmail scheme, become his very satisfying undoing.

Culprit: Redd White really stands out - everything from the color of his outfit, his shimmering jewelry and accessories, the bizarre color of his hair, and his odd manner of speaking all set him apart. He was overly confident the entire time, which was unnerving. I was especially nervous about Phoenixs meeting in his office.

Overall: A wild ride from start to finish - I liked this case better than some, but not as well as others. I really enjoyed the fact that attention to detail wins the day. Redd Whites gemstone buttons? Super expensive. Meeting Maya and finding she can channel Mias spirit to help you out? Priceless.

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I also thought 1-2 had a satisfying resolution... at first

the more you play the series the more you'll probably look at the ending of 1-2 as a wasted opportunity

Make Bluecorp great again.

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Trivia:

• Both the Steel Samurai and the fan merch hats shown in this episode feature a shaved pate and a bizarre vertical chonmage , or topknot, typical of samurai from the Edo period [beginning of the 17th century and ending in 1868, a few years after the American Civil War]

Case 1-3 - Turnabout Samurai
https://i.imgur.com/4Bgwt1j.jpg
Maya is a superfan of Steel Samurai, a tokusatsu TV show for little kids. Phoenix cant see the appeal. After murder most foul turns up on the set, however, it looks like the end for our spirit mediums favorite serial. Not on this Feys watch! Maya ropes Phoenix into representing Will Powers, the actor who plays the Steel Samurai, in defense against the charge that he murdered co-star Jack Hammer, who plays the Steel Samurais mortal foe, the Evil Magistrate.
We eventually find out that it was Dee Vasquez holding Jack Hammer under her thumb due to a scandalous, deadly accident [poked in the chest by a wrought iron fence] that he was involved in and helped cover up. Jack had dressed up as the Steel Samurai, gone to the trailer to attack, and the same deadly accident took him out. Unable to cover it up herself, Ms. Vasquez enlisted the help of her producer.

Culprit: Director Dee Vasquez, with a little help from producer Sal Manella. Moved and redressed the body, made it look like the Will Powers as the Steel Samurai killed Jack Hammer as the Evil Magistrate.

Overall: Better than 1-1, not quite as good as 1-2.

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Trivia:

• Polly the Parrot [or Sayuri ] is designed as a combination of scarlet macaw and cockatoo, clearly not intending to be either of these species specifically. Scarlet macaws and cockatoos can both replicate speech that is heard often.

Case 1-4 - Turnabout Goodbyes
https://i.imgur.com/IJeXBUg.jpg
Miles Edgeworth, a boy full of trauma, becomes an adult prosecution lawyer, also full of trauma. But now we tacked on a murder charge for good measure. This courtroom turned personal drama had quite a few twists and turns. At several points, mainly when we were cross-examining the talking parrot, and when Miles tries to confess to killing his own father, I was audibly sighing and repeating Bruh at my DS Lite.

Bruh. Bruh. Bruh.

Tom was starting to wonder if Id lost my marbles.

Miles is accused of killing a defense lawyer while the two were out on a boat in the middle of the night. This defense lawyer had represented the defendant charged with killing Miles's father many years ago.

When Miles was 8 years old, he was stuck in a broken elevator with his dad, defense attorney Gregory Edgeworth, and a bailiff, Yogi. The 3 were suffering from a lack of oxygen in the elevator car, and a plea of insanity was used to absolve the bailiff of supposedly murdering Gregory Edgeworth. Miles recalls reaching for, and dropping, the bailiffs pistol that was in the elevator, but nothing else sticks in his mind. In reality, Manfred von Karma, lauded prosecutor, took the accidental bullet in the arm when the pistol dropped. The elevator doors partially opened, and, finding everyone inside unconscious, Karma took advantage of the situation and killed his rival, Gregory.

Gregory Edgeworth was a very handsome man - I suspect a certain Mr Pecks role in To Kill A Mockingbird had something to do with naming him.

Karma then proceeds to track down this bailiff, whose life has gone seriously down the tubes [including losing his fiance to suicide over the shame of having a husband on trial for murder and the insanity plea on top of it], and convinces him to participate in this plot. Not only does Yogi the ex-bailiff get to kill the defense lawyer who ruined his life in the first place, but Karma almost got away with his revenge plot.

Culprit: Manfred von Karma. In a number of ways, truly the worst dude. Also, super creepy that someone who killed your father could then take you under their wing and practically raise you. And that obsession with perfection? No bueno, friends.

Overall: This was stunning storytelling, I loved the way all the loose ends came together. Thankfully, more and more modern firearms have a few different drop safeties to prevent accidental firing.

Dont forget DL-6.


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new cases soon?
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1-3 is often maligned but honestly the twist in this case basically sets the tone for the series as a whole

Just seeing this topic. I happen to also be playing through the original trilogy, but I'm in the third game right now.

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colliding posted...

1-3 is often maligned but honestly the twist in this case basically sets the tone for the series as a whole

1-3 is a legit top ten case for me. The twist at the end of day 2 is when I fell in love with the game.

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1-3 was the point where I broke down and used a guide because I couldn't figure out where to go during the investigations. It was just run back and forth across the entire studio 20 times until the game decides you've triggered the next event in the sequence.

A shame, too, because once we broke that dam, it was hard to make myself not use a guide for everything else.

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I tend to remember a case based on the highs rather than the lows, so 1-3 is also very highly regarded by me. Just out of the top 10 for me. Cody's breakdown in day 2, Gumshoe rescuing you from the mafia, Edgeworth coming in clutch against Vasquez, there's a ton to love in that case.

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investigating with maya for the first time is also great
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SeabassDebeste posted...

investigating with maya for the first time is also great

What's the difference? Stop judging things based on narrow-minded cultural assumptions.

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azuarc posted...

What's the difference? Stop judging things based on narrow-minded cultural assumptions.

This guy is out there!
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SeabassDebeste posted...

new cases soon?

Yes, Rise from the Ashes is a little intimidating to write up. I hope I'll be able to put finishing touches on it tomorrow.

As far as playing through JFA, 2-1 was fairly straightforward, I'm in the midst of the mysterious 2-2 case.

Good discussion happening here, I see. Keep it up, y'all.

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Not gonna lie to you guys - I messed up at the end of Turnabout Goodbyes. Maya is feeling useless because of her powers waning. You know how youre supposed to show Maya the bullet evidence she procured which helped solve the last case? I couldnt recall what to show her, so instead I showed her the photo of Misty Fey before she got on the train back to Kurain Village.

Youre not useless. See? Heres a picture of your missing-likely-dead mom. Have a safe trip! Enjoy waterfall training!

Im a big jerk. Sorry, Maya.

Trivia:

• Damon Gant was one of character designer Kazuya Nuris favorite characters. Damons general feel was to be that of Zeus, from his lightning bolt shaped hair to his electrocuted sprite as the truth surfaces.
• The American team is responsible for this case even existing. It is not found on the original Japanese copy of the game, is almost interminably long, and brings in new features like fingerprinting that the American team insisted on adding.

Case 1-5 - Rise from the Ashes
https://i.imgur.com/enQDYQe.jpg
Shockingly, the Chief Prosecutor Lana Skye is charged with murder most foul, and we have to help her, with the help of chief prosecutors cute little sister, Not-Maya. I mean Ema Skye. A deceased Detective Bruce Goodman had been found in the trunk of prosecutor Edgeworths zippy red car, and witness Angel Starr insists that she saw Lana do it.

This case features a wide variety of colorful characters, including rootin tootin cowhand police officer Jake Marshall, lovely yet intimidating lunch saleslady and ex-detective Angel Starr, and forcefully friendly Police Chief Damon Gant.

Police Chief and Chief Prosecutor have instead been collaborating to cover up the true end to the SL-9 incident. Known as the Joe Darke Killings, Mr Darke was a spree killer who had murdered a string of 5 people, each who had been witness to one of the prior murders in some way. Not even a kid walking around the neighborhood or a jogger out for some end-of-life exercise was safe! Darke turned himself in to the authorities.

Later, he escaped his interrogation room, running into Skye and Gants shared office, and Jake Marshalls elder brother Neil gave chase. Sadly, a series of events led to Damon Gant taking control of the scene, killing Neil and pinning the blame on Ema, thereby roping Lana in to help cover it up. Pinning Neils killing on Joe Darke was relatively easy by withholding evidence and information, and allowing him to be executed.

We then summarily fired or demoted the rest of the SL-9 investigation team, Gant and Skye got promoted, and it was business as usual for a number of years. Bruce Goodman, the last person involved with SL-9 who had continued to work as a detective, addressed the possibility of reopening SL-9 with Gant, and he was killed for it. The body was then planted in Edgeworths car to be transferred to a different location.

Culprit: DAMON GANT. Ugh, corrupt police chiefs. The worst. I felt suspect as soon as he started in with that steamroller of a personality, steering every conversation the way he wanted it to go, even though he made an effort to make it seem friendly. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Overall: This was a fun case to play. I consider it my second favorite from this game, because the sheer quantity of evidence you had to collect and different places you needed to go, people you needed to talk to, plus the legacy of the storyline was very interesting. I really thought Angel Starr's heterochromia/colored contact lens was going to play into it more, but I guess I was wrong. It was fun to spend lots of time talking to Gumshoe, and I do like the Blue Badger and his [creepy?] theme.

Next, we start JFA!

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1-5 is very good I think. A minority of people hate it for being super long, I think, but it never feels boring to me. I think the side characters are all pretty good too. Jake Marshall is great.

I swear the blue badger/vase connection is impossible without a guide though. I swear someone back me up on this.

I love 1-5. I consider it my 3rd favorite case in the series, even above 1-4. I said this in Anagram's topic, but I tend to remember the highs over the lows, and 1-5, for all its boring parts, still has a ton of great moments.

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It takes the first day and a half for 1-5 to really get interesting. Those Angel Starr testimonies in particular are rough. When it's good, it's really good though.

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Man this topic made me remember how much I freaking love
MvK

He is just so damn good

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Man Angel Starr might be my favorite design of AA. She's so cool.

Also I never finished 1-5 since the DS emulator back then couldn't deal with the fingerprint-powder-breathing stuff.

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I also like Dee more than most I think. That lady's just so cool and classy.

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Agree with Leon. Beginning of 1-5 was a big "wtf is going on here and why is this lady obviously lying?"

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1-5 is no longer my favorite case like it used it be, but I still love it (and Gant might still be my favorite AA villain). LIGHTNING GANT is such a great damage animation, too; until I replayed the OT again a year or two ago I had somehow forgotten that it wasn't his breakdown! (Though I'm not sure how the clapping breakdown slipped my mind).

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Gant top tier

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colliding posted...

I swear the blue badger/vase connection is impossible without a guide though. I swear someone back me up on this.

It's a spatial relationships thing. That's one of my strengths, so I had comparatively little trouble with it - but I would not have enjoyed that part if it wasn't. I also spent more time than I should have spinning the vase around in the court record because it was a new function of that case and oooh, shiny.

Raka_Putra posted...

I also like Dee more than most I think. That lady's just so cool and classy.

She's definitely cool, way more emotionally distant than most AA characters I've met so far. I like that her style was colored more earthy rather than the stereotypical black creative wardrobe. Maybe it was supposed to read as black, but her hair is definitely darker and cooler toned than the rest of her outfit. I prefer to think of her getup as dark brown. Very memorable.

LordoftheMorons posted...

LIGHTNING GANT is such a great damage animation, too; until I replayed the OT again a year or two ago I had somehow forgotten that it wasn't his breakdown! (Though I'm not sure how the clapping breakdown slipped my mind).

To be fair, the clapping breakdown is just bigger and more dramatic than his usual weird clapping animation. His personality is so forceful... "HAVE YOU GONE SWIMMING LATELY? WORTHY? WRIGHTO? UDGEY??" So the clapping didn't really read as a breakdown to me at the time. The sweating sprites and lightning animations were very satisfying.

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Trivia:

• According to Sallie Baxendale, clinical neuropsychologist writing for the US National Institutes of Health: In the real world, post-traumatic amnesia is common after a head injury, and deficits in the learning and retention of new information are often seen the early stages of recovery. In the movies, however, head injuries often result in a profound retrograde amnesia with the capacity for new learning left completely intact.

Case 2-1 - The Lost Turnabout
https://i.imgur.com/klaf48o.jpg
In this introductory case, Phoenix Wright gets bonked on the head by a mysterious assailant right before going to court. We meet policewoman Maggey Byrde, and find that her police boyfriend, Dustin, was killed and the murder is being pinned on her! Turns out thats not the case, a rare lucky moment for Maggey.

The same jerk who bonked you on the head prior to the trial is part of a ring of con artists, and he cant see without his glasses. He panicked when he saw Maggey with a police officer in uniform when he was trying to recover his phone from her, knowing his phone is full of phone numbers from other con artists in his ring. In trying to pin the murder on Maggey, he wrote her name in the sand as though Dustin had written it but he couldnt have known how to spell her name properly, whereas Dustin would not spell his girlfriends name incorrectly.

Protip: if you ever see a custom yellow baseball catchers mitt - its probably not a bunch of bananas.

Culprit: KUNIHIKO IKUHARA I mean Richard Wellington. Seriously though, look at this man:
https://i.imgur.com/EzN3MC9.png
A director of some episodes of Sailor Moon and all of Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Hideaki Anno of Evangelion fames BFF. Kaworu is thought to be based on him.

Overall: Meh. Once again, an introductory style case. Maggeys cute and all, but I keep worrying that shes going to give herself head trauma with all those snappy salutes. Im just going to get ahead of myself and say I liked this one the least. Yes, I am done with 2-3, and I still liked it better than this one.

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1-5 is worth it just because of the absolutely adorable picture of Ema and Lana.

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Trivia:

• Historians have not reached a conclusion about the origin of the magatamas shape. Theories include that they represent the shape of: fangs, teeth, fetuses, the soul, the moon or its possible that it is not intended as a representative shape.

Case 2-2 - Reunion, and Turnabout
https://i.imgur.com/oAXGxWM.jpg
Terrible malpractice incident happened prior to this case where 14 people died, and the doctor at the practice is pushing for a confession from beyond the grave! His nurse, Mimi Miney, was overworked and overtired at the time of the patients accidental deaths, as well as the night she died in a recent car wreck. Mimis sister Ini was the only survivor of the wreck. Dr Grey looks to Kurain Village and its famed spirit medium, Mystic Maya, for her assistance in ensuring Mimis spirit fesses up to the malpractice.

The nurses sister, Ini Miney, is hanging around Kurain Village for mysterious reasons - its difficult for our intrepid defense team to dig into the details, as she is such a space cadet.

Plot twist: Mimi Miney is not dead - her sister Ini Miney died in the wreck, and plastic surgery allowed Mimi to take her place! Obviously Maya cant do a channeling on a living person, so Mimi took the opportunity to take her revenge on Dr Grey.

Aunt Morgan Fey and cousin Pearl Fey were introduced in this case. Master Misty Fey, Maya and the late Mias mom, has been gone for many years. In 4 years, her position as the Master would transfer to Mystic Maya through bloodline - if anything were to happen to shame Maya, the position could be up for grabs. Aunt Morgan, a member of the branch family, had an eye on the opportunity for her own daughter, Pearl, to become Master. Morgan then lends a hand in allowing the murder to happen because the suspicion would fall on Mystic Maya.

Culprit: Mimi Miney, assisted by Morgan Fey! Spooky.

Overall: Im not done with JFA quite yet, but Im willing to put this case at the top so far. Learning how Psyche Locks work was awesome, and I felt accomplished breaking each one. When you try to present the Magatama to Detective Gumshoe, instead of revealing anything or having him react, Pearl comments to you that hes such a nice and honest person. Its nice to have one of those around.

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I have big problems with 2-2 but I'll save them for later. The Maya mythology stuff is good but the mechanics of the case are kind of clunky.

Also 2-1 is uggghhhh

I am now tracking this topic.

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hey

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Yeesh, am I avoiding the writeup for 2-3 because it's so unbearably wacky and full of hijinks?

Possibly.

Writeup to post June 1st.

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oh lort 2-3

what a case