Ace Attorney (TV series)
A mystery anime adapting the first three Ace Attorney games.
Ace Attorney, known in Japan as Gyakuten Saiban: Sono "Shinjitsu", Igiari!, is a mystery anime series produced by A-1 Pictures, based on Capcom's video game series of the same name. Directed by Ayumu Watanabe and written by Atsuhiro Tomioka, with Ace Attorney creator Shu Takumi serving as a script supervisor, the series adapts the first three games of the franchise. The first season aired in 2016 and was simulcast by Crunchyroll, while a second season by CloverWorks aired from 2018 to 2019.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Legal drama; mystery
- Creator
- Capcom
Facts from the source article.
Premise
Set in an alternate world where trials must reach a verdict within three days, the series follows rookie defense lawyer Phoenix Wright. After his mentor Mia Fey is murdered, Phoenix befriends her younger sister Maya, a spirit medium-in-training who can channel the dead. Together they head the Wright & Co. Law Offices, defending clients in court against prosecutors including Phoenix's childhood friend Miles Edgeworth.
Production and release
The anime adaptation was announced at the 2015 Tokyo Game Show. A-1 Pictures, which had produced cutscenes for the sixth main game Spirit of Justice, handled production for the first season, directed by Ayumu Watanabe with series composition by Atsuhiro Tomioka and character design by Keiko Ōta and Koji Watanabe. The first season adapts the first two games—Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Justice for All—plus an original episode, though the cases "Rise from the Ashes" and "The Lost Turnabout" are omitted. Shu Takumi acted as script supervisor. The opening theme for episodes 1–13 is by Johnny's West, with ending theme "Message" by Rei Yasuda; from episode 14–24, the opening is by Johnny's West and the ending by Tokyo Performance Doll. The series aired on NNS from April 2, 2016, replacing Kindaichi Case Files R. Crunchyroll simulcast it with multiple subtitle tracks, and Funimation distributed it in North America, releasing the first Blu-ray/DVD set on January 23, 2018. A second season by CloverWorks adapts Trials and Tribulations, "The Lost Turnabout", and original stories, airing from October 6, 2018 to March 30, 2019, with most original staff retained and Takumi returning. A one-hour special aired on January 19, 2019, and Funimation produced an English dub as it aired. A manga adaptation by Naoyuki Kageyama ran in V-Jump from March 2016 to July 2017, collected into three volumes.
Reception
Jacob Chapman of Anime News Network noted that popular reception was "subdued at best and outraged at worst, in ways usually reserved for radically altered adaptations". He criticized the animation quality as "constantly off-model and slideshow-minimal but still watchable at least", while being more receptive to the adaptation's faithful recreation of game events and removal of extraneous details. He added that the adaptation fails to replicate the "surprisingly powerful impact" of playing the games and experiencing the characters' intricacies firsthand.
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