LogFAQs > #957168792

The streets of London are upon us, and Ryunosuke and Susato are impressed. But no time to spare - we're ushered quickly to the Supreme Court of the city, which is inside a giant clock and made of brick and stone instead of wood.

The top justice minister has a fantastically Von Karma-esque character design with a frilly coat and fingersnaps and, and he has a gimmick where he looks at his watch a lot. (This results in him announcing that, should you for example attempt to present him with your friend's armband which has mysteriously replaced your Yumei University student badge, that to process the receipt of your evidence and to give an adequate response would require 24 seconds of his time. Too bad; we'd love to ask him for how to say Wardrobe in Russian...)

The good long and short of it is that we're given a chance to become an English-recognized lawyer. The twist... that the test is literally a trial. Starting in less than an hour. I want to accept, but Ryunosuke sensibly realizes that treating someone else's life as a stepping stone for our advancement isn't exactly ethical. Yet when we find out that literally no one is there to defend this man, i t means we're not really gambling with this man's life - instead, we're their only chance. So it's off to the races.

Magnus McGilded, despite his Scottish-reading name, strikes me based on dialect as being clearly Irish. He's even referred to as a leprechaun later. He also seems distinctly sketchy, to the point that I suspect he's a murderer trying to bribe us to step down. But no, he is in fact the defendant and is actually trying to pay us to be his lawyer. And in a pretty surprising twist, he's actually pretty beloved by the audience. Surely this is going to change, right? We're also dealing with a jury system, and they look like a typical Layton-vs-AA-style ragged gang.

Barok von Zieks is the legendary "cursed" prosecutor who's the reason no defense attorney would take this case despite all the guineas being offered as payment. And you can see why - dude looks like freaking Dracula and at one point even busts out a chalice to drink wine. All he needs to do is throw it down and demand WHAT IS A MAN? Guy has a lot of major Edgeworth-style animations - most notably the bow, which is used to very good effect here. He also continues AA's hilarious tradition with ages. When I see he's thirty-two, I actually am pretty impressed that AA got us a lawyer who, like Von Karma, has built up a long track record of legendary success over many years, starting from a reasonable age... instead, we find out that he's returning after a five-year hiatus - i.e., he had this reputation by age twenty-seven. Maybe I should just start thinking of lawyers in AA-world like professional athletes; those ages make a lot of sense then.

The details of the case are laid upon us: a murder in an omnibus (a horse-drawn two-tier carriage). In a neat turn on the typical investigation formula, they manage to bring the crime scene to us. This is obviously the best use of the investigation-during-trial method, though I will still argue that it's rhythm-breaking to have to interrupt dramatic dialogue by perusing the court record and doing something that none of the other characters can interact with.

The death is by stab wound to the stomach, and the defendant's bloody gloves were taken from the scene. Three witnesses - the driver, the banker, and the hatmaker - together testify that McGilded stabbed the victim... but when I try pressing their statements, the six jurors one by one start turning on us. The final juror, a knitting lady, seems to have a fondness for the park that McGilded built in his philanthropy... until Von Zieks delivers a coup de grace: that McGilded's wealth comes from predatory usury, and that someone that rich had no real reason to ride in that wagon, unless it was to collect "the debt" from the poor Mason.

The sixth juror drops, and it's unclear whether the trial will be over. But Susato notes that there is a possible Summation Examination available to us. Von Zieks considers it an embarrassment to the court system that we'd even try it, but let's be honest, the jurors chose way too fast. And besides, that ledger that showed Mason was a debtor of the defendant? Well it just so happens that one of our key witnesses also owes McGilded some money...

---

* Lots of talk about the World's Fair coming up in a few months, specifically about the crystal tower there. Dollars to doughnuts that the World's Fair is a crime scene, and perhaps even more specifically, the crystal tower itself.

* Freaking love Ryunosuke's DOUBLE SLAP PUMP UP. His eyes don't jitter even once after that psych-up move. His desk slams all are landing, too.

* I know this is going to change, but in a game (and series, honestly) that has had unending exposition and "tell, not show," I'm really impressed with how they've used Von Zieks so far. The guy hasn't bragged or tried to swing his dick around or anything; he's just confidently made his case, bowed, and gotten results. That's another great area where he reminds me of AA1 Edgeworth - and honestly, Von Karma, too.
---

yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness