English Dub Review: Ace Attorney “The Stolen Turnabout-3rd Trial”
Looks like crime does pay. It pays very well.
Overview (Spoilers Below)
Phoenix and Maia, having just acquitted Ron deLite of robbing the museum, Lordly Tailor, as the phantom thief Mask de Masque, are now faced with an even bigger problem. Their acquittal is the very thing that pins Ron as being the murderer of Kane Bullard, the CEO of a security company. This leaves Phoenix stuck having to figure out the real truth of what happened that night.
The investigation of our favorite legal duo begins with the confession of Adrian Andrews, who informs Phoenix that she accidentally broke the urn that was the centerpiece of the Kurain gallery, which is what left the box-shaped stain in the paint at the scene of the crime. Following their listening to Adrian’s sordid tale, the two head to KB security, where they meet with Detective Gumshoe and learn a little bit more about the circumstances of the murder, and that the victim had pressed the emergency buzzer before his death. They also pay a visit to Larry Butz, who, unsurprisingly, had abandoned his post that night at the security company to see about a girl.
They then proceed to speak with Ron deLite and his wife, Desiree. The two learn a little bit more about their relationship and find out that Ron actually was Mask de Masque, but had been blackmailed into performing each of his crimes after the first one. Furthermore, he was at KB security that night but had been knocked out with a blow to the back of the head. All this new information rattles around in Phoenix’s brain. He thinks he knows who the culprit is, but the truth will have to be revealed during the trial.
Our Take:
The adventures of ace attorney Phoenix Wright and his plucky sidekick Maia Fey continue this week, as they delve deeper into the mystery of “Mask de Masque.” Our episode this time around suffers from the usual host of issues but takes some decent steps forward in drawing the viewer into its world of elaborate murders and high-criminality.
The mystery takes a deep breath this episode and tries to slow itself down, which is a much-appreciated change in pacing. Though I’m still not completely happy with how everything is turning out, the show’s starting to really dig into the investigation phase, and that gives it some meat to chew on that the audience can enjoy. If you’re not familiar with how things go already, I think you might find this particular murder mystery to be fairly compelling. It’s a good twist on the usual formula to have two cases in one mystery and to have the grand heist be just a stepping stone on the way to discovering the murder.
One thing of note about the presentation in this anime is how inhibitive the character designs and general style of the show is. There’s a real problem here with how stiff and unreal the characters feel, and that’s largely in part due to the awkward “sort of mimicking” that the show does of the original game. Needless to say, what works in a video game doesn’t always work in a show, and having scenes, such as the one at Larry Butz’s place of work, that just try to replicate the same visual space makes the show just plain ugly. Unfortunately, though, this show replicates the Ace Attorney style in all the wrong places, because it doesn’t capture the same intensity of the courtroom scenes in anime form. Things feel small and somewhat dry in this show, which is a far cry from what it should be. The courtroom objections are supposed to be high-octane dramas of human emotion, and this show fails to provide that.
There’s a great deal of expositional back-and-forth in this episode, which might turn off viewers who aren’t feeling particularly patient. Though, admittedly, the show does try to mix things up with jokes, slapstick, and other shenanigans. Though, the English voice acting is still not really where it needs to be. All criticism aside, though, this is an episode that feels like a step forward to where the show needs to be.