Directed by Ayumu Watanabe Music by Kaoru Wada Original network NNS (ytv) Genres Mystery, Drama, Comedy | Written by Atsuhiro Tomioka Studio A-1 Pictures Director Ayumu Watanabe | |
 | ||
Licensed by Crunchyroll
Anime Limited Networks Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation, Nippon Television Network System Similar The Lost Village, Kiznaiver, Concrete Revolutio, Endride, The Morose Mononokean | ||
Ace Attorney, known in Japan as Gyakuten Saiban: Sono "Shinjitsu", Igiari! (Japanese: 逆転裁判 その「真実」、異議あり!, lit. "Turnabout Trial: I Object to That 'Truth'!"), is a 2016 anime series produced by A-1 Pictures, based on Capcom's video game series of the same name. It was directed by Ayumu Watanabe (Space Brothers) and written by Atsuhiro Tomioka (Inazuma Eleven). It aired in Japan from April to September 2016, and was simulcast by Crunchyroll.
Contents
Premise
Based on the first two video games in the series, Ace Attorney takes place in an alternate world where the court system has been changed to the point where trials held in first instance courts must reach a verdict within three days. Phoenix Wright is a rookie defense lawyer who works under his mentor, Mia Fey. When Mia is murdered, Phoenix befriends her younger sister Maya, a spirit medium-in-training who can channel the spirits of the dead. Joined by Maya, Phoenix heads up the Wright & Co. Law Offices and stands up to defend his clients in court, often butting heads with prosecutor Miles Edgeworth.
Production and release
Ace Attorney's anime adaptation was first announced during a presentation at the 2015 Tokyo Game Show. The series adapts the first two video games in the franchise, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Justice for All, though the cases "Rise from the Ashes" and "The Lost Turnabout" from the first and second games respectively are omitted from the adaptation. The series was produced at A-1 Pictures, who also produced the animated cutscenes in the sixth main game in the franchise Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney − Spirit of Justice, and was directed by Ayumu Watanabe and written by Atsuhiro Tomioka with character design by Keiko Ōta and Koji Watanabe. Ace Attorney creator Shu Takumi also acted as a script supervisor for the series. The opening theme of the first 13 episodes is "Gyakuten Winner" (逆転Winner, "Turnabout Winner") by Johnny's West while the ending theme is "Message" by Rei Yasuda. From episode 14 onwards, the opening theme is "Jinsei wa Subarashī" (人生は素晴らしい, Life is Wonderful) by Johnny's West while the ending theme is "Jun'ai Chaos" (純愛カオス, Pure Love Chaos) by Tokyo Performance Doll.
The anime began airing on NNS across Japan from April 2, 2016, replacing Kindaichi Case Files R in its initial timeslot. The series was simulcast by Crunchyroll, with multiple subtitle tracks featuring both the original Japanese names and localized English names, and will be distributed for home video in North America by Funimation. A manga adaptation by Naoyuki Kageyama begun serialization in Shueisha's V-Jump magazine in May 2016.
Reception
Jacob Hope Chapman of Anime News Network said that popular reception was "subdued at best and outraged at worst, in ways usually reserved for radically altered adaptations". Chapman was critical of the animation quality, calling it "constantly off-model and slideshow-minimal but still watchable at least", whilst being more receptive to the adaptation's faithful recreation of the game's events and removal of "extraneous gags and details". He added that while the adaptation "[does] its best to adapt in beneficial ways", it fails to replicate the "surprisingly powerful impact" of playing the games and experiencing the characters' intricacies firsthand.
