I am a big fan of Capcom's Ace Attorney series. With 6 mainline games, multiple spinoffs ,one crossover, an appearance in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Project X Zone, it is safe to say this series is popular. The Ace Attorney franchise also has various manga, 2 Capcom licensed doujin collections, and now an anime. But then the anime got trashed on and condemned as a bad adaptation. Now I Corey Censoredlastname will defend this animated adaptation of one of my favorite games.
STORY:
The story of the Ace Attorney franchise is really simple at face value, but the cases go into great detail and have lots of amazing plot twists. Due to spoiler reasons, I will refrain from describing cases. The main premise is that Phoenix Wright is a new attorney at law, just having passed his bar exam. He is taken under the wing of defense attorney Mia Fey and she taught Phoenix to think outside the box, not take things at face value, and always believe in your client. The series goes into cross examination of witnesses to point out contradictory statements in their testimonies, Crime scene investigation, hilarious characters, spirit channelling, and defending the innocent. The Ace Attorney series is overall lighthearted, but at times it can get really dark. This anime adapted games 1 and 2.(Oh boy just wait for Farewell My Turnabout the final case in Justice for All and where the anime leaves off, it is my favorite case) 9/10 where the hell are the psyche locks in the anime.
Art:
The art is what really made this anime adaptation not as good as it should be. Characters go off model frequently, some characters dont look right (Larry is a prime suspect), and the CGI is absolute TRESH. The backgrounds do look nice, and the text from the games are translated well, and some of the dramatic effects are amazing. I just wish the art was as good as the sprites, or the cutscenes in Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice which are animated by the same studio how did they screw up this badly wtf.
6/10 its passable, and some things are great.
Sound:
The anime has some amazing sound design. The voice actors are amazing. Kaji Yuki as Phoenix was amazing. Better than those bit crushed GBA samples by a longshot. I am a big fan of his work so hearing him as Phoenix made me overjoyed. Edgeworth has a really good actor also, and Franziska has such a smug actress. The music is amazing too. As you know, the Ace Attorney franchise is well known for it's amazing music. The anime takes the approach to music similar to Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice, as all the music is orchestrated instead of using the GBA or DS ost and calling it a day. Holy shit the 2001 Objection theme never sounded more epic. And the Pursuit Cornered 2001 theme is amazing. Still can't beat the DS version of that song. However it seems that Justice For All's OST is mostly missing. That kinda sucks as I liked that game's OST a bit, and I've heard the orchestral cd arrangements and it sounds amazing, and would sound amazing on TV. So the 2001 themes carry over to the Justice for All adaptation. So no Moderato 2002, or Pursuit Caught. I'll give it an 8 due to the missing music.
Characters:
The Characters are amazing listed below are main characters that do not spoil anything.
Phoenix Wright: Newbie defense attorney who believes in his clients, and is highly intelligent, if a bit silly at times. He gets nervous, and is a friendly man. OBJECTION!!!!!
Mia Fey: Phoenix's mentor. That's really all I can say without spoilers
Larry Butz: Phoenix's best friend from gradeschool. Larry is a goofy and friendly character known to overreact, and has a bad track record of getting dumped. He is unlucky and always ends up in bad situations. If something smells, it's usually the Butz.
Maya Fey: Phoenix's assistant who is a spirit medium in training. She is a comic relief character and is a very lovable person. She also has a bad track record being involved in many murder cases over the years. She loves hamburgers, ramen, and the Steel Samurai. She also seems to have a bit of a crush on "Nick".
Miles Edgeworth: Prosecutor who does almost anything to get a guilty verdict as he hates criminals. However he doesn't resort to any illegal tactics. He is also a really nice guy he just acts like an emo kid on their period. That autopsy report is outdated your honor.
Franziska Von Karma: Tsundere prosecutor who is a really cool character.
Dick Gumshoe, lovable detective who is a bit of a dope. He doesn't make much due to always getting paycuts. He looks up to Edgeworth a lot.
I overall enjoy the anime adaptation. It was a well adapted version of the first two Ace Attorney games for the given episode count. I also like the fanservice of there even being a Phoenix Wright anime. Also here is a note, The bonus 5th case for the DS version of the first game, Case 5:Rise from the Ashes is missing. However I didn't like that case very much as it was really long and boring, but I did like Damon Gant so I am indifferent to it's exclusion. However the first case from Justice for All, "The Lost Turnabout" is missing, and this might pose a problem for the upcoming second season. I might not have liked that case much, but it introduced Maggey Byrd, a character who later reappears in the 3rd game as a waitress in Jean Armstrong's café. Also Richard Wellington had a hilarious breakdown. My enjoyment is an 8/10 but the critical score is a 7/10. It is not as bad as everyone says.
The games are amazing though and way better so you should definitely play those. They are 10/10 material no joke.
