#aa meta

[inbarfink]

Honestly, the whole ‘Germarica’ thing is a really underappreciated bit of hilarity from Ace Attorney and its localization. Like, I don’t know what’s funnier, the fact that the original Japanese version explained pretty much any Ludicrously Young Legal Professional in the series as “Well, they studied in America, and they do say America is ‘the Land of the Free’ so repeatedly assaulting people with whips and letting Literal Babies prosecute trials is just 100% okay over there!” - or the fact that the American Localizers saw that and were like "....Well… obviously we’re going to have to change that in our version” and then decided the most suitable replacement was Germany. 

#ace attorney #aa #pwaa #translation #phoenix wright ace attorney #gyakuten saiban #aa memes #aa posting #aa meta #ace attorney textposts

[lyxthen]

My personal headcanon for Phoenix's family and backstory is that he was always in foster care. Not only does it explain why his parents are never mentioned (didn't meet them) but it also gives him a very strong motivation to adopt Trucy when the time comes. It also might explain his tendency to latch onto people, not knowing if they will dissappear from his life. I am not a foster child, so feel free to correct me, but I have heard it can be really harsh for a kid to go through the system, passed around different families when they are "too old" to get adopted. He always talk about helping those in need and those that have no one on their side, but I don't think it was just about the class trial. I think maybe he genuinely didn't have anyone to turn to as a kid, which makes Miles' gesture of defending him all the more meaningful. Also why he is so hurt that he faked his death and left.

But then, as an adult he still managed to form an extensive found family that loves him so much and who he loves so much. He met people that will always be there for him even when he tries to turn them down. And he's not alone.

Do you know where I'm going with this? Do you understand my vision?

#phoenix wright #ace attorney #phoenix wright ace attorney #aa #aa meta

[your-local-granny]

i know there's many interpretations of klapollo and they're all valid or whatever all are welcome to dine at the lords table ect ect but to ME. it is integral that:

a) apollo doesn't give a single shit that klavier is famous and

b) that apollo isn't insecure abt his looks

because if you don't have that then it's just a 1directioner insert fic which. I can accept but it's hard for me to return to those grade school recess conversations in full sincerity. and if you DO have those things then klapollo is the greatest modern successor to roger and jessica rabbit

#i don't mean that he doesnt think klavier is hot. OBVIOUSLY he does thats canon #but he cant be intimidated by the gavineers fame and/ or actively disparaging his own looks bc thats just sad imo #that corviiids tweet about 'im sure the red carpet will think ur JC pennys suit is as charming as i think it is' 'no i know that' #THATS THE DYNAMIC OKAY #sorry i feel like im huffing carbon monoxide rn #okay anywyas #klapollo #aa #aa meta #aj #klapollogies #portal of rambling

[mutxnts]

everyone likes to make fun of miles for referring to phoenix as “that man” during the investigations games but lets not forget that phoenix basically did the same thing during jfa lol he literally refused to speak his name or talk about him with anyone

#ace attorney #wrightworth #narumitsu #miles edgeworth #phoenix wright #aa meta #meta #?? sure why not #ash posts

[maybepolly]

drowning in phoenix and apollo's relationship because it's not easy it's not easy at all but i know apollo is there waiting for the grand gesture and he knows it's not coming he will never admit he wants it but god. he Knows he's somewhat important to phoenix but how much?? is phoenix willing to truly put himself in danger to save apollo? is apollo willing to let him?? or is it going to be yet another step in the cycle of sacrificing for something neither of them truly believe in????

#listen i am agony i need apollo to have ONE good influence in his life and by god i know phoenix wright isnt it #but i want him to be so so badly it would finish their narrative from aa4 full circle just #understanding the impact we have on other people even when we truly have the best of intentions #and how a stranger we hurt becomes a family we can never atone for?????? DO YOU FEEL MY PAIN #apollo justice #phoenix wright #ace attorney #aa meta

[jaggedwolf]

ok like, aa5 is not a Good TM game (it's possibly the worst structured aa game I've played so far, ignoring whatever the fuck the crossover was!) but i keep thinking about athena and simon and pondering whether they're my favorite protagonist-prosecutor dynamic since phoenix and edgeworth. bc it's like.

you're seventeen years old. you walk into your mentor's lab and find her bloody corpse on the robot disassembly setup, her equally bloody kid daughter next to her saying she tried to fix her mom and you just. you can't let this kid go to prison. so you frame yourself and smuggle her out and probably clean all the blood off of her. you don't say a word in your defense, even when it means you're going to death row, even when your older sister begs you to. you spend the next seven years in a cell realizing there's a real killer and trying and failing to find them.

you're eleven years old. your mother is murdered and everyone's convinced her student did it but you know he didn't, you know, but no one listens to you because you're a kid who doesn't remember anything and can't explain the emotions you're hearing (your mother would've been able to). his older sister who loved your mom, the adult closest to her - turns out she hates you, she thinks of you as a spoiled brat who did your own mom in and doomed her brother. you spend the next seven years speedrunning your adolescence to become a lawyer, because that's the only way to save this guy you know didn't hurt anyone.

obsessed with this.

I think what gets me is that this is not a Phoenix and Edgeworth situation. At no point are we told that Athena and Simon were close before the incident, and in fact I prefer the reading that they weren't. Obviously there is a baseline politeness, given Metis, but one was a withdrawn and often overwhelmed preteen and the other a bright older teenager at the beginning of his career.

It's that, when it all goes down, they both look at each other and go, I can't let this person take the blame, it's not fair. And this is key: During those seven years, they have no idea that's what the other person is thinking!

#it's not solely about a prior emotional connection it's just this commitment they cannot avoid making #i think it would be extra fun if kid athena actually liked aura more than simon #before the incident #aa5 #ace attorney #athena cykes #simon blackquill #athena and simon #you intelligent: this is merely a retread combo wombo of dl6 and sl9 #me easily manipulated: i don't care it worked on me #athena can have a combo of nick's and edgeworth's dramatics it's fine you know #jaggedwolf rambles #aa meta #yes this is how i burst back onto tumblr with feelings about stupid secretive lawyers #mine

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Hot take: The courtroom antics and shenanigans that “Ace Attorney” is known for would be better suited for civil law and family court rather than murder cases.

(Speaking as someone who is currently working in family law and has experience in civil law. I feel like I’ve worked on multiple cases that have as much melodrama as an Ace Attorney case)

#ace attorney posting #ace attorney #capcom #ace attorney phoenix wright #phoenix wright ace attorney #apollo justice #apollo justice ace attorney #aa #aa posting #ace attorney meta #aa meta #gaming #video game #video games #lawyer #law school

[seratlantisite]

December 24, 2000: Jeff Master arrest / IS-7 case

Spring 2001: Phoenix accused of theft, he Larry and Miles become friends

April 2001: they begin fourth grade together

December 28, 2001: Gregory Edgeworth death / DL-6

japanese school years start in april and end in march. my headcanon was that they met at the start of grade four but they actually gave us the date! ish! they had nine months of being kids together and im TT_TT

#they had spring summer AND fall vacation to be friends uehhehuehe #ignore the arms in the corner i got this off a livestream jfdksl #or check out veggiebltail on twitch i guess im not your mom #ace attorney #aa meta #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #says Ser

[notmoreflippingelves]

Personally I feel Kristoph just regrets having killed Zak so suddenly on an impulse. Reminder that the locks appeared when asked why he killed Zak specifically. He hated him for turning him down and probably never saw himself capable of murder. Once he killed him he probably felt glad he got revenge and didn't get exposed, but then had that sudden clarity of "oh shit, I actually killed someone", which combined with his paranoia, stressed him out immensely. He tragically traumatized himself.

Zak's murder has always screamed unplanned, desperate "crime of passion" to me, given how dramatically different to the other murder we know Kristoph committed (and set in motion 7 years earlier). Criminology-wise, it's already very unusual for a criminal to change their modus operandi so dramatically without a good reason. And it becomes immediately more striking when we look at the weapons: blunt object in Zak's case vs. poison for the Mishams'.

Poison has long held the stereotype of being a "woman's weapon" rather than a man's. Which yeah, it is a pretty unnecessarily gendered and heteronormative way to look at it. But like what the stereotype is actually saying by this is that poison--regardless of the gender(s) of the person using it--is almost always the method preferred by people who would prefer not to use psychical forms of violence even once they have determined that they "need" to enact violent ends.

These sorts of killers may lack the physical strength or athletic skill to wield a gun/sword/bat/spear,/blunt instrument, they may not be able to summon the adequate aggression to do so, they may want to avoid a bigger "mess" w/ more pieces of evidence, or they may just lack the "sadistic urge" to directly use their hands to enact another's pain. All of the above seem that they could apply to Kristoph given what we know of him.

Even though he has determined that he's going to go through with the murder plot, Kristoph vastly prefers a more detached, less messy, and (in his mind) quicker and less cruel method. Because his heart may not really be in it in the long run. Like do you really think he'd want to get actual blood on his pretty little nails if he didn't have to? He's not killing for the fun of it like some of the other AA killers; he's killing because he's convinced himself he has to.

(Unlike a lot of other fans, I tend to hc that Zak and Drew were actually the *only* deaths that Kristoph was responsible for. Because I maintain that that there was something much more specific and important about the Gramarye case to Kris than simply "wah, I was fired from my first big case and now I'm gonna be petty af about it." No like, this case in particular--besides just "an important case that could make my career"-- was personal to Kris for reasons we may never know).

Even though he knew that this could very well come back to bite him in the derriere, Kristoph was probably secretly relieved that the poison didn't work right away for the Mishams--or that if it had worked, he wouldn't have to find out about it. Out of sight, out of mind and he wouldn't have to face his conscience. And in the worst case scenario, the murder plan was still in place should Kristoph need to enact it later. (Which he did by writing to Drew *during* (and not before) Kristoph's incarceration following Zak's murder.)

So with all that in mind, Kristoph's murder of Zak just seems more and more of a desperate, impulsive act. It's not his style at all, and yet he did it. He saw Zak, realized he was at risk, and panicked.

And yeah, I would imagine that even if we assume he had no regrets/second thoughts about Drew Misham's murder, Zak's murder would psychologically feel really really different to Kris. And I imagine that it could potentially prove even more psychologically damaging to him.

Because braining "Shadi Smith" with a grape juice bottle is an act that is sudden, violent, impulsive and totally out-of-character for Kristoph Gavin--coolest defense in the West ,whose intellect is his weapon of choice and who prefers to keep his pretty nails (if not his soul) clean.

#kristoph gavin #ace attorney #this ask has been in half-written and unanswered in my drafts for over a year #but given my sudden desire to word vomit re: omitb and elena of avalor earlier this week #i guess i'm in the right headspace for meta #shu takumi; show me the forbidden gavin backstory please and thank you #aa meta #ace attorney meta

[vickyvicarious]

I feel Phoenix Wright is among the characters who are like,

"If I didn't have constant anxiety, it'd be over for you."

He already seems impossible from the outside in canon when he's often a nervous wreck. Imagine if that anxiety wasn't there.

Take a look at these three sprites for a second. (It takes a little while, but I promise you'll see the relevance.) They're the confident/smiling forward facing for each person. And... there's some interesting similarities, yes? AJ-era Phoenix's sprite is pretty close to being a perfect mix of Godot and Mia's. His hands in his pockets, midway between Mia's crossed arms and Godot's hands on hips. They're all angling their bodies slightly to the side in the same direction. Mia's head is tilted the opposite way and forward a little; Godot's in line with his shoulders and back; Phoenix is in line with his shoulders but closer to Mia's angle. Heck, even color wise - it's definitely more of a stretch but Phoenix has on a dark jacket and necklace like Mia, but his hat is closer in color to Godot's shirt, and it is also noticeable/bright headwear like the mask.

The reason I bring up these sprites is because... well, in AJ we see Phoenix from the outside for the first time and he really does seem very inscrutable. Knowing him, he's definitely still feeling a lot of anxiety over things, but he doesn't show it and thus we the players don't see it, since he's no longer our POV. I think there are a couple factors at play there as well, because Phoenix certainly seems to have gotten better at hiding his flopsweat moments in that game. You could say there's a certain element of detachment, because despite all his machinations, in the end he isn't a lawyer for any part of that game and so ultimately, the responsibility is no longer his. Maybe that's a factor.

But AJ-era Phoenix (or 'Beanix') keeps coming to mind for me. I realized a few months ago that in that game, his relationship to Kristoph (and the plot itself as well as Apollo) strongly mimics Mia's with Dahlia. However, looking at these sprites got me thinking that he also mimics Godot.

AJ-era Phoenix also returns after a long absence from the legal world, which was forced upon him due to the actions of a poisoner who successfully tricked him (Godot actually got poisoned, Phoenix just disbarred). And when he next shows up in court, he is visibly very different (mask and hair vs. beanie/hoodie). He's also a lot more jaded, and takes an interest in a young new attorney closely linked to the poisoner responsible for his absence. He's secretive, often for what seems like no purpose at all, but has a plan that's only revealed in the final case - which itself was a combination of somewhat longterm planning/buildup, and adapting to unexpected situations right at the last minute. He takes risks and works outside the courtroom/sometimes the law to achieve his goal (the bloody ace isn't exactly the same as stabbing Misty Fey, but, y'know), and in general appears quite different from his past self. However, in the end his goals are very sympathetic, and much more than just simple 'revenge', however morally dubious some of his choices have been.

Obviously, Beanix is not one-to-one with Godot. But I can see a rough sketch of similarities there, and certainly in general attitude/vibe they're more similar than Phoenix and Mia seem to be at that point. Even some of the things Godot says seem like they could be a Beanix quote (this came to mind). I think there's at least enough to go on to say that AJ-era Phoenix is once again a mix of Mia and Godot.

I find this interesting because Phoenix looked up to Mia right from the beginning, and modeled so much of his behavior, strategies, and philosophies after her. And yet, she just as obviously learned a lot from Diego, back when she was the inexperienced new lawyer. The most notable being, of course, the quote passed down to Mia and then Phoenix: "A lawyer only cries when it's all over." (Another Godot quote that seems to apply to Beanix is this one.) And the thing is, Phoenix looks up to Mia so much, and she generally seems pretty knowledgeable and unflappable, but once we get inside her head/play a few cases as her we see she has a lot of nervousness hidden behind her facade, much like Phoenix. Of course, those cases were when she was a rookie attorney, but I think the point stands. Godot also reveals a heck of a lot of issues and self-recrimination later on, but for the most part he's really good at seeming very confident. It's another similarity between all of them.

And yet, Godot's problems are more personal. When it comes to the courtroom, he's actually pretty legitimately confident for the most part. At least, I think so. He loses every case we see him try, but it's not for a lack of ability so much as a lack of care. His strategies are good, if unorthodox for a prosecutor (because he's acting more like a defence attorney). He knows what he's doing in court, and although he definitely gets surprised/owned at times, for the most part he's pretty unflappable and fairly quick to recover. Basically, this meta by @theggning is great and I'm trying to restate it briefly, but go read the whole thing. I also think there's a great argument to be made for Mia being quite similar in court. Less cryptic shenanigans, but the same type of underlying confidence in her abilities/craft to back up her determination to protect her clients. Unfortunately, we've never seen her in a case outside of her rookie ones/being a ghost during brief points in Phoenix's trials, so I can't point to specifics as much.

ALL OF THIS TO SAY... as soon as I read your ask, I thought of Godot. I thought of Mia, too. I think that "a more confident Phoenix" would be a lot more similar to the both of them, than to anyone else. You could even say it's a natural extension of his arc, and that it's at least somewhat represented in AJ. In a funny way, you can also read that very same game's events as the reason why he doesn't seem as confident as you might expect him to be once he returns to law in Dual Destinies (his failure with the ace/getting disbarred leading to being somewhat unfamiliar in the courtroom after so long, the pressure of living up to his reputation, the heavy responsibility of protecting his clients again, etc. - you know, vs. the writers just wanting to go back to lawyer!Phoenix and not always thinking too much about his characterization during AJ and how that would develop when they did so). But certainly during AJ, especially from Apollo's outside perspective, I think we get a lot closer to the image of a supremely confident Phoenix Wright.

At least as far as I picture it! I don't think it would make too much difference in terms of him being unstoppable - since like you said, he pretty much already is. But there would be even fewer cracks for his opponents to poke at, and his mistakes wouldn't cut him down as much as they do in trilogy-era. He would inspire the same type of reactions as Godot did when he first appeared... a lot of people feeling intimidated and noticing just how well he seems to know his way around the courtroom, or people getting caught up in his pace and listening to him even sometimes outside their best interests. And, like Mia in the first game with Redd White, he'd scare villains enough to cause issues, probably. But at least he might (also like established lawyer Mia) actually be able to get his clients to pay him well, enough to buy fancy glass lamps if he wanted.

#ace attorney #aa meta #phoenix wright #mia fey #godot #diego armando #my meta #replies #youareshauni #ace attorney meta

[inbarfink]

Miles Edgeworth and Maya Fey are actually very similar people who reacted to very similar trauma very similarly. It’s just that Edgeworth’s Emotional Repression Trauma Coping Mechanisms manifest outwardly in a very ‘conceal don’t feel’ way, while Maya Fey's coping is like “If I stop being a goofy memequeen for even a moment I will have to face the Horrors again and then I will die!”

#ace attorney #aa #pwaa #phoenix wright #pheonix wright #miles edgeworth #phoenix wright ace attorney #maya fey #ace attorney meta #aa meta #gyakuten saiban #ace attorney posting #aa posting #ace attorney edgeworth #aa edgeworth #miles edgeworth ace attorney #edgeworth ace attorney #aa miles edgeworth #ace attorney miles edgeworth #ace attorney maya #aa maya #mitsurugi reiji #mayoi ayasato #ayasato mayoi #reiji mitsurugi

[lyxthen]

What is shocking and moving about Terry Fawles' death is not that he dies, oddly enough, it's not the great impact the moment has over both Mia and Edgeworth either, though that does help. It's the recontextualization of the game's first case, Turnabout Memories a case that was otherwise fun and lighthearted, where the witness eating the evidence is played for laughs (Feenie, what a clown you are, I love you so much). It is only after Turnabout Beginnings that you realize why Mia was acting like she was throughout the entire trial, why she is so decided on incriminating Dahlia, why she is so panicked to see Phoenix eat the poisoned necklace, what the significance of the name Diego Armando, mentioned at first only in passing, is.

I may not care much about Terry himself, but I care about Phoenix, and Mia, and Edgeworth, and Godot. All of this put together works to make the moment feel impactful, because it has been set up since the beginning of the game. The whole trial, you are filled with the sense of unease. If we know Edgeworth has a perfect record, and Mia can't lose the trial because we are the player character, so what is going to happen now? Why is Dahlia using a different name? The tension is insane and I love it.

We can talk about the problematic elements of this trial, and I will agree that almost every aspect of it is some flavour of fucked up, but I think it just really adds to that sense of tragic unease I've been talking about. It makes you go, "wow, that sucked absolute ass for everyone involved" and I think that's a very interesting emotion to explore in media.

#ace attorney #trials and tribulations #dahlia hawthorne #phoenix wright #aa meta

[fruityastronaut]

read a post abt how godot prosecutes like a defense attorney and it was very good and it reminded me of something i've been thinking about but forgetting to write down which is all the ways that kazuma also prosecutes as a defense attorney in dgs2-4 and 2-5. this is a non comprehensive analysis because i haven't played dgs myself in almost a year but i did just rewatch the ending so i mostly remember.

the biggest thing i think that kazuma does that takumi uses to signal how much he's still a defense attorney is the first time van zieks gives testimony in 2-4. after ryunosuke presses everything, kazuma is the one to object and present contradicting evidence, the candelabrum, in the exact way a defense attorney does. the thing that makes this so interesting to me is that it's a very noticeable show of his defense attorney instincts, giving the player a glimpse into how inexperienced he is as a prosecutor despite being very knowledgeable about law and courtroom procedure. he literally didn't have to call van zieks to the stand to make this point, clearly he had the evidence already and almost every other prosecutor we see in the whole series would have either had a detective introduce this or done it themself before even calling the defendant to the stand. of course, kazuma calling van zieks to the stand only to completely cancel out his testimony with evidence makes complete sense for what we know to be his mentality at this point in addition to his defense attorney tactics showing through. when kazuma accuses van zieks of using the boone room as a place for the reaper operations, the timing of the moment is unorthodox for a prosecutor. the accusation feels like something that could have come out closer to his opening argument, and this may be reaching but i'd argue he could have thought of it on the spot. (either that, or it's more of kazuma having a flair for the dramatic which i also def vibe with).

kazuma’s word choice and delivery here feels not only very dramatic, but very, very much reminiscent of the way ryunosuke or even phoenix would come to this conclusion in court. he even references flipping your thinking, which we know to be a classic technique used by the defense.

as we all have seen in every single game, the burden of proof basically never falls onto the prosecution and the way that they construct their arguments in court is always very clearly planned out. not that kazuma didn't plan his case against van zieks, but it's all done in a very noticeably defense attorney way. 

i’m sure there’s more to be said about how kazuma prosecutes, but i’m going to skip ahead to the very end of the game. in the final scene on the port, kazuma tells ryunosuke that he is going to stay in london to “become a prosecutor”. this part always felt weird to me, because hasn’t he already been a prosecutor or at least been training to be one for like, three months? obviously, this goes to show that kazuma has not until this moment viewed himself as a prosecutor, but why? in my mind, until the end, kazuma saw this as a temporary position for him, just another job he would have to take on in order to exact his revenge. but maybe by the time they found out the truth behind the whole conspiracy and took down stronghart he changed his mind. either way, i think that probably until right after the trial or maybe before ryunosuke and susato returned to japan, kazuma intended to go with them back to japan. but, why did he change his mind? at this point, his mission in london is done, his friend and family are returning home, and he probably has to get his whole being legally dead situation under control. i still haven’t decided why i think kazuma stayed in london as a prosecutor, because i definitely think it was deeper than just wanting to hone his skills.

#ace attorney #ace attorney meta #dgs #kazuma asogi #aa #dgs spoilers #dgs 2 spoilers #me tag #this got.... out of hand #aa meta

[mutxnts]

bridge to the turnabout really is the culmination of everything that’s happened in the trilogy up to that point and has elements of things from each game and just. god i think it’s such a good case to end the trilogy on

first of all, and most obviously, you have all the stuff with phoenix and dahlia and iris. up until that case, he did not know he was dating dahlia’s twin sister, and it’s only revealed as the case goes on that she has a sister and he was actually dating iris the entire time. this is something from t&t, a callback to several earlier cases in this very game.

then you look at it from the fey perspective, and remember that in jfa we learn how it’s fairly common for branch family members to try and set up these plots to kill the future master. this is not the first time maya has been a target, and it goes back to morgan fey organizing it all with the help of dahlia, who is actually her daughter. pearl nearly gets roped into it too, but is stopped by misty fey making her reappearance after all these years.

but wait, that’s not everything with misty fey, because where have we seen her before? that’s right, DL-6. that case is involved too, from all the way back in aa1. misty fey was involved with that case and the channeling of gregory edgeworth before disappearing. the earthquake on the mountain that causes miles to have a panic attack is a direct reference to that incident.

and there’s still more!!! you get godot’s reasoning for being a dick to phoenix the entire series and find out it was because of mia, it all goes back to mia and her death in the second ever case and how much stuff from the series happens because she is dead. and then there’s larry, who sometimes seems like he’s just there for comedy relief, but actually plays a key role in a lot of cases throughout the games, and, despite how chaotic he can be, does care a lot about his friends.

the worldbuilding in these games is seriously so good, and the fact that they were able to so heavily interweave so much stuff together (especially the feys and DL-6) and have it still make sense and be cohesive in the end is so good and really pays off. it will always be one of my favorite cases for this reason, bc of how it really does feel like a culmination of everything we have learned about the aa universe up until that point

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #maya fey #mia fey #pearl fey #morgan fey #misty fey #dahlia hawthorne #iris hawthorne #gregory edgeworth #larry butz #godot #is that everything did i get all the tags lol #meta #ash posts #bridge to the turnabout #aa spoilers #aa meta #anywayyy i am once again thinking about this case #i swear this case is always on my mind #there is SO much to explore and unpack #the angst is so good and there are so many angles to look at it from #only thing we’re missing is the forbidden hospital scene 😔

[earlgraytay]

OK, so I knew the spirit mediums in Ace Attorney had to be based on something, and smarter people have probably already talked about this at much greater length and with much better sources than just one wikipedia article... but I stumbled over this while reading about Earthbound, and this looks like the spirit medium tradition that Ace Attorney's mediums are based on.

Apparently, the itako ~spiritual tradition~ was pretty much explicitly created to give young blind girls a safe place in the world so they wouldn't be entirely dependent on their families. they were traditionally Married To A Deity and went around doing Shaman/Shrine Maiden Stuff. sometimes their communities would finance their training; sometimes they'd just get adopted by an older mentor. either way it has a lot of the elements the games mention, especially the beaded necklaces (traditional itako necklaces also have bones on them!) and the training that heavily involves cold water and fasting/avoidance of artificial heat/general deprivation.

itako were kind of looked down upon, especially after Westernization, because ~superstition~ and preying on grieving families. in some places itako occupied the same social strata as prostitutes and were one step above the "untouchable" burukamin. in other places they had some respect, but it definitely wasn't an Honoured Traditional Spiritual Practice the way the localization occasionally implies. the tradition's dying out because ... y'know, blind kids can just get an education the way anyone else can, and in the modern world most people know mediums are a scam. there's like 40 itako left total, they're all old ladies, and they mostly just perform for tourists these days.

honestly this cultural context adds an interesting layer of texture to how the spirit mediums get perceived by society at large that I wish the games got across better.

the weird place in Japanifornian society that "spirit mediums" occupy, where everyone knows they're Legit but no one really likes them, makes a lot more sense knowing the cultural context. being an itako was illegal at one point. Even if they were 100% legit, everyone know they were 100% legit, and no one had a problem proving their legitimacy? they're (traditionally) disabled young women in an extremely sexist and ableist culture, and most of their co-religionists are messed up to hell and back. no fucking wonder.

Now I really want to see a take on the Fey clan where they're all blind, and the inevitable "justice is blind" jokes we'd get from Mia. It'd change some major case-plot points, but... Yeah. If anyone has itako!Fey Clan fic recs, I'd love to see those, too.

#ace attorney #ace attorney meta #aa meta #itako #japanese culture #kurain is a cult ffs #< I stand by this even knowing the cultural context #because while I can't *judge* another culture too harshly #both in the localized version we got and from some of the v basic research i did #there was uh. a lot of objectively messed up stuff going on with the way itako were trained! #and it seems like people realized that and that's another reason why the tradition died out

[ziskandra]

Please tell me about "Manfred - Character study about adopting Miles"

Many years ago, someone on the Ace Attorney kink meme prompted for a fic where Manfred von Karma actually treats Miles with kindness when he brings him into his home (because, among other things, the later tragedy of finding out his mentor had murdered his father is so much more heart-breaking.

I might have mentioned this before but sometimes I just get ideas for lines and slap them into a document for … later: a lot of my fics that are written over a longer scale are often half-written scenes or sentences that get strung together over months or even years.

This is one of those documents: there’s not really much coherent plot yet, but the main gist of the vibes of the scenes in it are basically that even though Manfred is a rigid man with high expectations, Miles actually really appreciates those qualities in him: he got tossed around a bit in the months after his father’s death, and he’s happy to have some stability!

There’s also basically so things I want to explore in terms of socioeconomic class: the von Karmas are a family with a lot of intergenerational wealth whereas I tend to view the Edgeworths as having been of less extravagant means. Miles saw his defense lawyer dad work hard and struggle against the structural inequities of the legal system, a system that ultimately failed him.

And then Manfred swoops in and takes him under his wing and gives him structure and purpose and a much more comfortable life and Miles adapts to that life, even as he’s still haunted by grief and guilt over the death of his father. Manfred isn’t warm but he cares and provides and does all the things a parental figure is meant to do…

… and then he frames him for murder.

I’m also forever fascinated by Manfred’s motivations for deciding to frame Miles for the murder: did he somehow think this was the best way to tie up loose ends? Did he initially take Miles in because he did feel guilty, then over the years began to fear and/or resent him? Did Miles start reminding Manfred too much of Gregory, the man Manfred had killed, and he couldn’t live with seeing the ghosts of his past in his house anymore?

I think there is a whole bunch of complicated factors at play, and I would love to untangle them someday. What I don’t buy is the concept that he had this murder plot planned from the outset, because raising someone for fifteen years is absolutely ridiculous, even for someone as dramatic as Manfred von Karma.

I’m not sure if there’s an actual finished story in here somewhere, but in the interim I will continue chisel away at it while the mood strikes me!

[WIP asks]

#asha answers #mxelsifer #manfred von karma #asha meta #aa meta #thank you for the ask! #wip ask meme