Ace Attorney

Episode 9

Ace Attorney began as a show prepared to copy every element from its video game inspiration. But nine episodes in, that formula is changing—for good and for bad. This episode was a mixed bag of quality—high quality music, low quality animation, and a reworked plot from the game falling somewhere in between. The result is a so-so episode of Ace Attorney that isn't impressive or awful, just middling.

By now it's apparent that the plot of “Turnabout Goodbyes” has been reordered. This is nothing new. The show has already skimmed previous cases, missing some interviews and cool deductions on Phoenix's part. However, I'm almost totally in favor of these, since the spirit of each case still comes across in the end. Sometimes the pacing is even improved, particularly the order in which we learn about the DL-6 incident. In the game, when we first heard Polly's line, it sounded like a piece of odd gibberish, exactly something a parrot might say. Now that Grossberg has spilled the beans early, however, the phrase has chilling significance. It hasn't just changed the case, it's changed the mood.

However, I'm miffed that we haven't learned about the earthquake plot point of this case, which is key to Edgeworth's character development. Without it, we're missing a discovery about Edgeworth that holds significance for all his friends, and now time is running out for the show to squeeze it in. Please, Ace Attorney, keep every part of the story that tells us more about these precious characters. For example, Maya's courtroom outburst, in which she saves Phoenix but gets herself held in contempt of court, tells us a lot about her loyalty. For example, Lotta's unique way of speaking, which is voice-acted well here. And, of course, Manfred Von Karma's no-holds-barred despotic reign over the courtroom.

Von Karma is a good example of someone from the games that has stayed exactly the same but comes across differently in the show. He's still the same horrible old prosecutor with the same acidic lines, but the simplistic (cheap) animation has given Von Karma a distinctly less threatening and more cartoony look and feel than he has in the game. Animated, we see Von Karma as just one element in the larger courtroom, and his grasp on the case feels more tenuous than before. The constant reuse of animation (the judge hiding behind his gavel twice, Phoenix's twin objections, and later, Lotta's double backtrack) emphasizes this episode's reliance on gags, not courtroom drama, to move the plot forward. After all, we know that Phoenix can figure out anything in a bind—look at how quick he solved the Gourdy mystery. Even with this quick pace, the courtroom segment feels slow because most of us watching have already played the games, and we know Phoenix has the answers.

The real meat of the episode happens after court concludes, and Phoenix and Maya are out at the lake, moving through the scenes only sketched out in the game. From the comedic themes that suit Lotta and Gumshoe to the high-powered Steel Samurai theme, the music is what makes the mood for every lakeside moment, not to mention the inclusion of that parrot's newly decrypted message. If less of the episode had been in the courtroom, this review might be more positive.

Rating: C+

Ace Attorney is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about geek careers at Otaku Journalist