Ace Attorney

Ace Attorney (Gyakuten Saiban: Sono “Shinjitsu”, Igi Ari!)

Written by Reece Dos-Santos (@Sabrewoif)

Often game adaptations are really hit or miss. They either get everything right for a pleasant experience for both newcomers and fans of the series, or they screw everything up leaving newcomers bemused and fans of the series furious. The Ace Attorney anime tried its best and for the most part, it was okay.

It starts off with the first case of the game: Phoenix, or Ryuuichi in this case since the anime uses the Japanese names, kicks off his career defending his long-time friend Masashi (Larry) with help from his mentor and boss Chihiro (Mia). After a shaky first trial he eventually proves the innocence of his friend and goes home only to discover his boss has been murdered that very evening, with her sister as the prime suspect. Ryuuichi’s tale of cases continues on with each case becoming more entangled in subplot and complexity than the rest. He and his mentor’s sister Mayoi build up the reputation of the law office left behind by Chihiro while having idle fun in between.

As the story progresses Ryuuichi is also tasked with saving his former friend turned rival Reiji (Miles), who prosecutes under the guidance of the ruthless undefeated prosecutor Gou (Manfred), after he ends up entangled in a convoluted machination spanning 15 years, another court case, cross examining animals, various deaths of people involved including Reiji’s father and the eventual arrest of Reiji who’s suspected of killing another man involved.

The Ace Attorney anime starts off rather strong, one thing I was pleasantly surprised about was how faithful it was the first game. Barring one or two more sinister actions from some of the villains that was unfortunately omitted, the anime remains insanely faithful to the first game and it was really nice to see.

Where it lets itself down however is its execution of the second game’s content which immediately followed the conclusion of the first game. The anime chose to completely ignore one huge aspect of the investigation processes within that game: the spiritually charged Magatama that Ryuuichi is supposed to receive from Harumi (Pearl). On top of this, they also don’t deliver the final case of the game in as much detail as they could have, you don’t feel nearly as much tension or anguish from the execution of this case as you do in the games. Because of the lack of Ryuuichi’s magatama for example and how they paced the case, you don’t get to see Ryuuichi slowly whittle down Shingo (Matt)’s fake persona and ‘psyche-locks’ (spiritual manifestation of a person’s desire to hide something) until he eventually reveals his true side and his plans.

Still, as far as adaptations from games go the anime wasn’t bad. It definitely could have been far better but it wasn’t bad and that’s fine.

Music:  8/10 – The opening and ending themes were actually really cool to listen to, the energy of the show was also captured pretty well by the music. Some character themes were altered slightly and some didn’t match up as well as they did in the game’s soundtrack. But overall music was a good factor.

Visuals: 9/10 – The visuals were actually rather pleasant also, the big dramatic pointing moments were a nice touch that was fun to see animated. The animation style was rather bright and vibrant, all characters faithfully resembled their game counterparts and this included all of their individual character quirks. I’ll give it to the Ace Attorney anime, it was nice to look at.

Story: 6/10 – The fact that the first game was so faithfully followed is what rescues score here but completely throwing away the implication of a key part of the games is rather lazy from the people in charge of the anime. It wouldn’t have taken too long to implement and would have helped bits in the game game’s canon feel more faithful to the game’s source material. I do have to commend them for skipping the first case in the second game’s material however, that case serves as nothing but a tutorial for new players and players who’ve been away from the series to catch up with the way to play the game and therefore didn’t hold much story weight. Implementing that case would have wasted time that would have taken away from the implementation of the last case. Interestingly despite having 4 episodes dedicated to it, which was enough time, the last case still failed to grip me the way it did in the games. Somehow there were still bits and pieces of the plot that could have been executed better in order to make the whole situation feel like more of a tense threat.

Characters: 6/10 – The characters were portrayed okay for the most part, unfortunately we didn’t get nearly as much snarky attitude and personality from Ryuuichi. He and Mayoi felt so much more tame than they are in the games where their banter ranges from smart to funny to petty, sometimes all three at once. Their dynamic wasn’t as explored so you didn’t really feel enough of a connection when she was kidnapped, nor did we get enough of a faithful reaction from Ryuuichi throughout the case, who visibly breaks down a number of times. Some characters like Masashi were portrayed rather well however, in fact a good couple of the supporting characters got rather okay portrayals as their quirks were rather straight forward. The anime only really let itself down in its depth in exploring the more prominent characters.

Ending satisfaction: 6/10 – The ending followed near enough as well as it was supposed to in the games, while bits and pieces were changed or not explored in the same depth, the main script remained near enough the same. Just not as satisfying, when Shingo breaks down at the end and when Mayoi is reported as safe, you don’t feel enough of a how Ryuuichi and Shingo really feel at those moments. It’s the same but not the same if you get where I’m going.

Final score: 7/10