FIF#8-Ace Attorney

Phoenix Wright has been waiting for this his whole life: the day he becomes an attorney in the courtroom.  Under the tutelage of his mentor, the beautiful Mia Fey, Phoenix has come a long way and is ready to stand side by side with Mia.  But when a terrible tragedy overshadows his first victory, Phoenix is on his own in a world that seeks to swallow him whole.  That isn’t going to stop him from doing his job.  People need defending and criminals must be brought to justice.  This is Phoenix Wright’s thing.  And he’s gonna prove he’s the best damn ace attorney there is.

Ace Attorney has been on for a couple of episodes now and I’ve been wanting to give it a watch since it was announced.  For those who don’t know, Ace Attorney is based on the video game of the same name, featuring court room mysteries that you can navigate and work out like a real case.  The game itself already looked Anime enough in its design (but then again a lot of games from Japan look Anime in many respects).  So an actual TV adaptation is kind of a no brainer, especially after we got a live action movie from Takahashi Miike a couple years back.  So after such a wait, how was the series debut?

It was fine for what it was.  This is probably as close to an exact replica of a video game to Anime adaptation as you’re going to get.  The characters look ripped directly from the tiny Nintendo DS or Mobile Screens you play the games on depending.  Really, I don’t think there was any other way for the series to proceed animation wise.  Even the courtroom and office settings are dead ringers for the video game.  In short, those who love the video game franchise will feel right at home instantly.  Though that does lead me to maybe my biggest gripe…

The series is a bit tooooo faithful to the game.  Apparently this series will be based on the first two entries of the franchise, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney-Justice For All.  And after the first episode I was sure they meant that literally.  The first case is beat for beat the first case of the game and as I expected later, the second case had the same treatment.  In my opinion, this kind of takes away from any real excitement or expectations if youre a fan.  For non fans, some of the twists, especially the one that opens episode 2 will be huge.  Otherwise, you know it’s coming much like the first couple seasons of Game of Thrones when knowing what happened in the books put you at an advantage.  Even more so, the way the series is drawn from the interrogation of witnesses to the mannerisms behind the stands, it’s ALL from the game.  It almost pains me to say that watching Ace Attorney might as well be a giant cheat guide to the video games and vice versa. 

HOWEVER, a good friend of mine who got me into the game assured me that the best cases do come after the first two that I played (I only played a demo on my phone really).  So for me, I have plenty to look forward to (I do trust this friend a lot so Im willing to move forward).  For fans of the series already, I’m curious what the consensus will be.  Will everyone embrace it’s faithfulness to the games that inspired it or will it backfire on them for offering very little that’s new.  For those curious, yes there are some flashbacks to Phoenix’s childhood but they’re very few and far between the main story…

I’m harping a little bit…not a little bit, a lot.  But with Durarara X2 finished and Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans not returning til fall, I’m willing to add Ace Attorney to my list of recent, must watch Anime along with the third season of Sailor Moon Crystal (might do the next FiF on that next week).  If anything, it was pretty fun to finally see and full Anime cinematic of Phoenix screaming his trademark “OBJECTION!!!” at a witness.  Let’s see where things go from here.