History Headscratchers / AceAttorney

** In terms of case 3 in ''Apollo Justice'', Daryan only just found out that his crimes (stealing the guitar case, burning the guitar, murder) had coincidentally followed the lyrics so he JUST got the idea to move the body. He needed some way to throw the lyric thing into the 180 so he moved the body to match the last part of the lyrics. In terms of how no one noticed in case 5 of Investigations, I'd guess the EXACT timeline of events would explain it. I think the fire that made the body smuggling possible was the first one which was on the upper floors. Let's not forget that it's stated there was hours between all the events that happened. It's possible Yew stayed in the passageway until the fire-fighters had gone (between the first fire and second fire occurring) and made a dash then. As for the wire that no one saw, you'd be surprised how hard it is too see a length of thing wire, especially one that's high up several floors.

** It's as is stated above. There has never been any indication in any of the games that all murders, or even that all first degree murders, are punished with the death penalty, and in fact there's been a mountain of evidence to the contrary. I can only assume that this misconception arises from a combination of exaggerated word of mouth, with false memories, and people for some reason having no concept of similes and use of figure-of-speech ,(i.e., people taking statements like "their life will end", or, "their life is in my hands" ridiculously literally). That and, as shown above, a misinterpretation of what the Judge meant, or completely false memory on what he actually said, in the Stolen Turnabout. He specifically said that murder is a "capital crime, worthy of capital punishment", when explaining how murder is, obviously, much more serious then theft. Which is nowhere close to remotely implying that murder is anywhere close to always punished with death. All that means is that as far as the law is concerned, murder is a capital crime and so *can* be punished with death if need be.

** It's as is stated above. There has never been any indication in any of the games that all murders, or even that all first degree murders, are punished with the death penalty, and in fact there's been a mountain of evidence to the contrary. I can only assume that this misconception arises from a combination of exaggerated word of mouth, with false memories, and people for some reason having no concept of similes and use of figure-of-speeche (i.e., people taking statements like "their life will end", or, "their life is in my hands" ridiculously literally). That and, as shown above, a misinterpretation of what the Judge meant, or completely false memory on what he actually said, in the Stolen Turnabout. He specifically said that murder is a "capital crime, worthy of capital punishment", when explaining how murder is, obviously, much more serious then theft. Which is nowhere close to remotely implying that murder is anywhere close to always punished with death. All that means is that as far as the law is concerned, murder is a capital crime and so *can* be punished with death if need be.

*** Exactly. He doesn't actually submit the list as evidence, he just uses it to get Redd White to confess, which is cheating the system a little, but isn't actually breaking it. It's the same kinda thing as in 2-2, when Franziska shows the illegal picture she took to the court, but doesn't actually submit it as evidence, to burn the implications into the everyone's minds.

** Regarding where Miles was during Manfred's six-month vacation, it could be that he was either in an orphanage or still having his living situation figured out by the authorities and bouncing homes between his relatives and/or father's associates that weren't working out for whatever reason (maybe they had a hard time dealing with a recently traumatized child?) so von Karma might have heard of this and decided to take advantage of it after finishing his "vacation". The anime that unambiguously has Miles living with the von Karma's after the incident doesn't have this issue though due to omitting the six-month vacation.

* It seems to be accepted in the headscratcher above that Miles lived with the von Karmas after DL-6 and this is explicitly shown to be the case in the anime (which while not canon to the video games still counts as a headscratcher for the anime specifically). Even if no official adoption or fostering happened, why did no one object to Manfred taking Miles considering how he and Gregory were court enemies (and very much not of the FriendlyRival variety)? Even if Edgeworth didn't have any close relatives who could take him in, wouldn't Gregory at least have friends of his own who could? Gregory was a lawyer, so wouldn't he of all people have written a will directing who would take his son?

** Regarding where Miles was during Manfred's six-month vacation, it could be that he was still having his living situation figured out by the authorities and bouncing homes between his relatives and/or father's associates that weren't working out for whatever reason (maybe they had a hard time dealing with a recently traumatized child?) so von Karma might have heard of this and decided to take advantage of it after finishing his "vacation". The anime that unambiguously has Miles living with the von Karma's after the incident doesn't have this issue though due to omitting the six-month vacation.

* From a purely in-universe perspective, why don't those who are fully aware of the existence of spirit channeling never once ask a Fey to perform one after the events of case 3-5? Given the multitude of relatively mundane ways spirit channeling has been used before this point (like in 2-4, where [[spoiler: Maya and Pearl chain-channel Mia in order to help pinpoint the fleeing de Killer's location]], or the multiple times channeled!Mia's appearance has seduced otherwise unhelpful witnesses into cooperation) it's rather surprising that Phoenix never turns to the Fey clan's spirit channeling powers for help in [=AA4=] or [=AA5=]. This becomes downright strange during the DLC case Turnabout Reclaimed, where Phoenix meets Pearl, who immediately demonstrates her continued willingness to use her supernatural powers to help him, but afterwards neither Phoenix nor Pearl even consider the possibility of Pearl channeling Jack Ripley's spirit and simply asking him how he died. While it makes sense from a narrative perspective that this doesn't actually happen, it seems quite odd that the idea is not at least brought up.

** It is possible that the prison authorities had abolished prisoner uniforms or at least made it optional some time after [[spoiler: the death of Terry Fawles, which may also explain why neither Morgan nor Dahlia were shown wearing prison-issued uniforms in the [[Anime/AceAttorney2016 anime adaptation]] even after being convicted]].

*** Which wasn't submitted into evidence. Phoenix just started reading out the list of names with no context as to what they were or why they were relevant. It defeated Redd White because he didn't want to reveal exactly what linked those names together (i.e.[[spoiler: That Redd White was blackmailing them all]]) because of the repurcussions that would have.

* This series's fixation with MenAreTheExpendableGender. There are only two cases in this entire series where the victim is female, both [[spoiler:Feys]]. There's a difference between Website/WomenInRefrigerators and avoiding killing women at all.us For that matter the lack of female murderers, it totals as three (six if you count [[spoiler:Dahlia Hawthorne's]] murders separately).
** Female Victims: There are actually 4 in the Phoenix arc [[spoiler:Cindy Stone, Mia Fey, Valerie Hawthorne, Misty Fey/Elise Deauxnim]], although none in AJ or AAI, unless you count [[spoiler:Cece Yew]], whose murder is a minor, but significant part of the plot, but isn't the subject of any actual investigation.

** Female Murderers: There's at least one in most games (PW - [[spoiler: Dee Vasquez]], JFA - [[spoiler:Mimi Miney]], T&T - [[spoiler:Dahlia Hawthorne]], AJ - [[spoiler:Alita Tiala]], DD - [[spoiler:only a kidnapper]], SoJ - [[spoiler: Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in]] and two in AAI - [[spoiler:Cammy Meele and Callisto Yew]])
*** Also [[spoiler:Mari Miwa]] in GK 2, [[spoiler:Belle Windsor]] in the manga.
*** There are also at least seven female accomplices: AA - [[spoiler:April May and Lana Skye]], JFA - [[spoiler:Morgan Fey]], T&T - [[spoiler:Viola Cadaverini, Valerie Hawthorne, and Morgan Fey again]], AAI - [[spoiler:Lauren Paupes and Shih-na]]. None in AJ though.

** There have only been two cases with a female murderer AND victim: In 3-4 [[spoiler:Dahlia killed Valerie]], in one case in the Miles Edgeworth manga. There are three times were a woman tried to kill a female character: [[spoiler:Morgan Fey]] conspires to kill [[spoiler:Maya Fey]] and [[spoiler:Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in]] conspires to kill [[spoiler:Amara Sigatar Khura'in]].

** No one's sentence is ever shown or even implied apart from [[spoiler:Manfred's and Dahlia's]]. Although even [[spoiler:Manfred's]] sentence is never explicitly stated as being death, it's just said that he's "not around anymore". When Phoenix talks about the defendant's "life" being on the line, he's speaking metaphorically about how their life will be destroyed should they be found guilty. I mean, they will be sent to prison and they would be labelled a killer for their whole life, so their life IS on the line.\\

Self-defence is pretty much stated too as being a legally justified killing and thus you won't go to prison for it. The reason Phoenix was determined to prove away the charge of self-defence was because copping to that would have been admitting that the defendant HAD killed someone and, even though they won't get jail time for it, they would be labelled a killer which would basically ruin their life. Plus, despite people wanting to believe that the law can't punish a kid for accidentally killing someone while in a life or death situation, the fact is that it can. I mean, you can call what [[spoiler:Edgeworth did in case 1-4]] different things – like self-defence, manslaughter etc., but it's clearly shown in case 2-2 that some one who commits a self-defence killing is still put on trial and prosecuted (this happens in real life as well if a prosecutor wants to press charges). It's just that, most likely, the defendant isn't given a sentence.\\

** The judge strongly implies that the default penalty for first-degree murder is death. That said, the characters in the ''Gyakuten Saiban'' games that likely got the death penalty are as follows: [[spoiler:Redd White, Yanni Yogi, Manfred von Karma, Damon Gant, Mimi Miney, Acro (transferred intent)[[labelnote:†]] The crime itself was premeditated, but he hit the wrong target[[/labelnote]], debatably Matt Engarde (the game is unclear if murder-for-hire counts in the ''Ace Attorney'' universe – it definitely does in the real world), Dahlia Hawthorne, Luke Atmey, Furio Tigre, and Terry Fawles (never carried out).]]
*** It's confirmed in [=AAI2=] that [[spoiler:Frank Sahwit]] did not get the death penalty, or even a life sentence, as his sentence is able to be extended in the post-game credits. So it's definitely possible for a convicted murderer to not be executed.
*** [[spoiler:Acro]] might not have gotten the death penalty, as Edgworth suggested they go easy on him.
*** [[spoiler: Acro's murder]] could also be counted as either second degree or voluntary manslaughter, as [[spoiler:he intended to kill Regina, not Russell]].
*** [[spoiler:Tigre's murder was second degree, so he would not get the death penalty]].
*** The culprit of 2-4 counts, since [[spoiler:Phoenix tells Pearl that he'll be charged as if he himself committed the murder with his own two hands because he hired an assassin. Manfred was likely convicted for two murders; the murder of Gregory Edgeworth which was actually a second degree killing, since he decided on the spot to kill Gregory, and the first degree charge of Robert Hammond. He got charged for that one for similar reasons to Matt Engarde. According to ''Investigations 2'', persuading someone to kill someone else either by hire or by simply the power of suggestion, nets you with first degree murder charges]].

** In general, if you commit first degree murder you will be executed, but second degree ([[spoiler:Frank Sahwit]]) and voluntary manslaughters get you a less severe sentence, like in real life.

* What is considered illegal besides murder and theft? In "Farewell, My Turnabout", [[spoiler:Adrian is definitely guilty of perjury and tampering with a crime scene.]] In "The Stolen Turnabout", [[spoiler:she hasn't spent much (if any) time in prison.]]
** According to the fourth game [[spoiler:smuggling and forgery]] are crimes.

*** The third case of ''Dual Destinies'' has a particularly flagrant example. One of the major sources of conflict is that all of the suspects are at a "law school" and being convicted of a criminal offense will permanently expel them. They then proceed to lie repeatedly on the stand about themselves and about their actions, up to and including [[spoiler:claiming to have committed the murder]]. Yet the case ends with quite a few of the suspects happily continuing their law education. And yes, perjury ''is'' considered a criminal offense in real life.

* If the trial was cancelled in "Turnabout Beginnings" due to [[spoiler:the defendant being dead]], why didn't the same thing happen in "Turnabout Reminiscence"?
** It wasn't cancelled but [[spoiler:Von Karma]] says that it has been put on hold indefinitely, which amounts to the same thing actually...

* One of the odder new aspects of the third game was the heightened tendency for characters to cross-examine the defendant, mostly because this forced the defense attorneys to point out contradictions and thus hurt their own case. This continued in ''Apollo Justice'', to the point that [[spoiler:calling upon the defendant to testify is the final solution to case 3]]. So how does this mesh with the constant tendency in ''Investigations'' for the opponent to dismiss every immediate suspect's statements on the grounds that they'd say anything to protect themselves? If that's true, then no one should have cross-examined them at all!

* In the third case of ''Apollo'', and fifth of ''Investigations'', how did the killers [[spoiler:do so much moving around of bodies and other evidence without anyone seeing? I can buy that Alba could have just told everyone to vacate the Rose Garden when he dropped Coachen's body into the pool, since being able to order everyone to get off his country's soil seems to be one of his ambassadorial powers, but how did Yew retrieve the body at the other end without anyone seeing? Was no-one fighting the fire from the ground? And what did she do with the Steel Samurai's cart afterwards? Plus, how did no-one notice the giant length of wire that was shot between buildings? And in ''Apollo'', I could see that it would be possible for Daryan to move the body, guitar, and Machi without anyone noticing, but it's such a big risk; why would he even try? The only thing he had to gain from doing it was matching the lyrics to throw everyone off; hardly an essential part of his plan. Also, what did he actually do to Machi? Hit him over the head? Chloroform him? What?]]

*** Every defense attorney and every prosecutor has got one (the only exception being Lang and [[spoiler:Alba]] but they're a detective and a big bad who get to yell it a lot so they get a pass), so it's not like it doesn't follow rules. Plus, the VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightTrilogy was already pushing the limits of their original GBA carts and not being too much kinder to their DS cards. Voices for everyone, most of which you'd only hear once or twice, it wouldn't be worth the space.

* Why do the four mentioned feel the need to yell "Take That" at everything they point out? [[RuleOfCool I know it's more exciting that way]], but for example, at the end of 3-2, [[spoiler:Phoenix shows Ron why Dessie would stay with him by showing him the urn. Does he need to yell, "TAKE THAT!" at him?!]]

* Does the courthouse have any security or surveillance whatsoever, aside from the courtroom bailiff? I'm looking at three specific situations here. 1)The very beginning of 2-1, in which a witness strikes the defense lawyer over the head with a fire extinguisher in plain sight in the defense lobby, and no one witnesses it. 2)In ''Apollo Justice'''s fourth case flashback, [[spoiler:the defendant flees the courtroom, and only the courtroom's bailiff is involved in the pursuit]]. 3)In ''Investigations'' case 4, the only witness to anything happening in the courthouse hallway is [[spoiler:a judge using the bathroom in the opposite wing]]. Admittedly, you can't always prevent these kinds of things from happening in the courthouse, but these events go almost completely unnoticed.

** Judging from 5-1... NO. Just no. That case just takes that question, bashes it over the head and burns the body. A witness brings a bomb to the stand, which everyone intially thinks is real. After the witness assures everyone it's fake, he's allowed to KEEP it, apparently without any examination, because later in the trial he [[spoiler:threatens everyone with it, proclaiming it's actually real. The reaction to that? EVERYONE FLEES, except the judge, the prosecutor and the defense team. It's somehow up to PHOENIX to neutralize the threat by calling the witness's bluff. Just... wow. That fucking case.]]

* This one is in the manga, not the games, but in 'Turnabout Showtime' (I think that's what it's called) the culprit [[spoiler:(Raymond Spume)]] confesses so easily when all Wright did was outline what happened using circumstantial evidence? Am I missing something, but what was the decisive proof?
** Most of the case until then had focused on accusing Julie because she was the only one who could use her hands. Phoenix, by pointing out that costumes could be removed by oneself, that they could be worn backwards and that because [[spoiler:Raymond]] saw something that should have been behind him and Flip did a back flip instead of a front flip, they were wearing them backwards, disproved some of the assumptions that cast suspicion on Julie. This, apart from her breakup and the false testimony about her putting a knife into the costume, was the only evidence against her, and as [[spoiler:Raymond]]'s plan to frame her was falling apart while he started to look more suspicious with the new information, he broke down.

*** Then by all means explain why case 3-5 didn't end as soon as [[spoiler:Dahlia was exorcised and Iris's involvement in Misty's death was found to be nothing more than helping move the body]]. Godot literally says that the trial can't end until the actual murderer is determined.

** Plus, over the first three games, Phoenix was a lawyer for ~3 years, [[spoiler:until Shadi Enigmar came along]]. All of the cases we get to play are probably the only cases he has ever taken. No matter how good he is, he still has little experience. Also, take Phoenix's personality. While he stands to always help those that need defending, he gets really down and nervous when things start to go wrong. It's more in character for him to stick with what he knows, which he even admits he doesn't fully know being a Defense Attorney very well, either.

** It's hard to say exactly what would happen to them. Given that the people who did the cover-ups were very close to the children in question though, the reason they probably do it is out of fear of additional repercussions that might happen. A child may not go to prison, but they'd probably have to go through most of their life known as "that dangerous and creepy kid who killed daddy/mommy/her sister's co-worker". Not to mention, Edgeworth, Ema, and [[spoiler:Athena]] all show incredible guilt when they think they did kill someone, and they were all in their late teens/adulthood at that time. Imagine how devastating that would be to a child, who wouldn't even have the maturity or resources to piece together their own innocence. Finally, consider that a child accused of murder would likely be taken away from their family and put in the care of someone to "fix" them and make them no longer dangerous. So not only would the child be emotionally devastated and branded for life as a murderer, but they would also be without comfort from their family or friends or anything they knew.
*** Exactly. In the United States – one of only two First-World countries to retain the death penalty (Japan is the other) – thanks to a series of Supreme Court rulings, it is illegal for the State to execute people who committed capital crimes when they were minors. Japan rarely executes more than about a half-dozen people per year anyway. So basically, Ema et al wouldn't be facing the gallows/needle/electric chair/gas chamber/firing squad, but Ema and Miles would certainly have been sent to mandatory psychological counselling, and possibly worse. [[spoiler:Athena]] almost certainly faced a one-way ticket to juvie or the mental hospital forever [[spoiler:or worse, being murdered by the person who murdered her mother]].

** The explanation for the Japanese villages in ''Dual Destinies'' is that they were founded by Japanese immigrants. As for the youkai legends, [[spoiler:it turns out that the legends were started simply to hide the fact that there was a huge amount of gold hidden in the one village. So it's not impossible that the villagers simply forgot when the legend sprang up, and just adopted the idea that the youkai were always there.]]

* Similar to the 1-5/JFA retcon-- where the hell was Raymond Shields during the events of the first game? His attitude towards Edgeworth implies that he didn't follow 1-4 at all, even though you'd think he'd show interest in [[spoiler: seeing his mentor's murderer finally brought to justice, especially considering said murderer was the prosecutor who had given them hell for a solid year.]]

To name a few [[spoiler:The Steel Samurai costume in 1-3, Maya's outfit in 2-2, Max's symbols in 2-3, the Nickel Samurai Costume in 2-4 and the list likely goes on]]. Why does nobody beside Phoenix decide to point out that, if the face or other truly recognizable features are on the costume, it likely can't be the defendant just because they're famous for the costume? Especially since it'd be an incredibly bad decision to commit any sort of crime whilst wearing a costume you're famous for.
** In two of those cases, it's Oldbag or Lotta saying it, and they both jump to conclusions about everything and it's pointed out as ridiculous in universe. 2-2 isn't a valid example because [[spoiler:Maya is supposedly the only other person in the room with the victim, and she was supposedly channeling someone at the time, so even if it was actually Maya, it would make sense because the spirit wouldn't exactly worry about hiding the identity of the medium and changing out of her clothes]]. And for 2-3, I assume there's only one version of that outfit, and they wouldn't expect Max to not have them at the time.

So far every main/significant character has had a "signature colour" so to speak that makes up most of their outfit- Phoenix, von Karma, and Dhurke have blue, Maya, Pearl, and the Gavin brothers are all purple (as is Ga'ran), Edgeworth and Apollo are red, Athena is yellow, Franziska and Blackquill have black (though you can maybe say Franziska's is blue?), Nahyuta and "Bobby" are white, Rayfa and Amara have pink (Amara's dress seems to be a pale pink-white?)... but nobody has green? Green is more used to accent characters with a brown colour scheme- Gumshoe, Godot, and Inga. Winston Payne is the only person who wears predominantly green. Why?

So far every main/significant character has had a "signature colour" so to speak that makes up most of their outfit- Phoenix, von Karma, and Dhurke have blue, Maya, Pearl, and the Gavin brothers are all purple (as is Ga'ran), Edgeworth and Apollo are red, Athena is yellow, Franziska and Blackquill have black (though you can maybe say Franziska's is blue?), Nahyuta and "Bobby" are white, Rayfa and Amara have pink... but nobody has green? Green is more used to accent characters with a brown colour scheme- Gumshoe, Godot, and Inga. Winston Payne is the only person who wears predominantly green. Why?

[[/folder]]
[[folder: Costume Switcheroo in Case 2-2]]
A big point is made that the costume Maya wore into the Channelling Chamber is the one burned in the incinerator. It's how the Black Key got in there. But the problem then is... where did the bullet hole come from in the sleeve? It's rather important that the one Mimi wore DIDN'T have this bullet hole. When I first played the game I think I thought they'd dressed Maya in Mimi's clothing, but this doesn't make sense since again, no bullet hole. Why did they change Maya? Why not just put blood on her clothing and burn Mimi's costume?
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Why did Shelly abduct Maya so early?]]
Shelly knew Maya's name and that she was important to Phoenix, and how good of an attorney he was, so why didn't he know Maya would demand they go help Matt Engarde? As a player I honestly wish the abduction had waited until Phoenix started to doubt Matt's innocence or until court went into its second day, since that would have kept up some air of Matt actually being innocent just like the rest of the clients. Both to the player and to Phoenix himself, who has doubts early on. Even ''Gumshoe'' figures it out immediately.

[[folder: Why does everyone not know about major incidents?]]
* Why is it that none of the protagonists and their assistants ever seen to know anything about major past incidents that you'd imagine everyone in all of the ''country'' should've heard about, let alone citizens of the city where they actually happened. The SL-9 incident - A major serial killing that happened 2 years ago. Phoenix doesn't know about. Movie star dies (yes, the fact that it was an accident caused by Hammer was covered up, but I doubt they literally covered up the fact that the guy died) - Phoenix doesn't know about it. Murder of an important researcher at a local federal space center - Phoenix doesn't know about it. Orca supposedly kills someone during a public performance - Phoenix doesn't know about it--Yeah, you get the idea.
** Particularly egregious is the fact that Phoenix has never even heard of DL-6, despite the fact that the father of one of his best friends was the victim.
*** Well to be fair on this point at least, he was only 9 at the time DL-6 occurred. If I recall, mentions something along the lines of how Edgeworth transferred schools after the incident, but neither him nor Larry knew why. I can buy that he at least didn't know what was going on at the time. But it's true that once Phoenix started actively looking into Edgeworth's past that he should've at some point stumbled upon the fact that a lawyer with the same last name was murdered around around the same time that Edgeworth had transferred schools, and put two and two together. Just a search for "Edgeworth" should've turned up a crap ton about the DL-6 incident, given how big of a deal the case was at the time.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Why does everyone treat costumes, especially full body or concealing ones, as decisive evidence?]]
To name a few [[spoiler:The Steel Samurai costume in 1-3, Maya's outfit in 2-2, Max's symbols in 2-3, the Nickel Samurai Costume in 2-4 and the list likely goes on]]. Why does nobody beside Phoenix decide to point out that, if the face or other truly recognizable features are on the costume, it likely can't be the defendant just because they're famous for the costume? Especially since it'd be an incredibly bad decision to commit any sort of crime whilst wearing a costume you're famous for.
** In two of those cases, it's Oldbag or Lotta saying it, and they both jump to conclusions about everything and it's pointed out as ridiculous in universe. 2-2 isn't a valid example because [[spoiler:Maya is supposedly the only other person in the room with the victim, and she was supposedly channeling someone at the time, so even if it was actually Maya, it would make sense because the spirit wouldn't exactly worry about hiding the identity of the medium and changing out of her clothes]]. And for 2-3, I assume there's only one version of that outfit, and they wouldn't expect Max to not have them at the time.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Why are they still friends with Larry?]]
* Why are Phoenix and Edgeworth even still friends with a guy they consider to be a pathetic, miserable, womanizing man child that ruins their lives on a constant basis(aka, Larry), when literally the only positive thing either of them can say about him is that he wouldn't commit murder. Moreover, why is it a running theme in the games themselves to have the two bring this up as though it solidifies their friendships. "He wouldn't kill people" is pretty flimsy as literally the only foundation for maintaining a toxic friendship, don't ya think?
** They don't know either. This is more "we were friends in childhood and still kinda know each other" kind of friendship. There is no reason to assume that they keep in touch on regular basis, in fact most of their meetings are entirely coincidental, And both Phoenix and Miles doesn't seem particularly happy to see him.
** Because he's loyal when the chips are down. One of the ways you can discern whether someone is a friend worth keeping is to see how they act when you're at your lowest point. Most people who are only friends with you out of convenience or unwholesome reasons will probably abandon you once your struggles make maintaining the friendship too much of a hassle for them. Larry is horribly obnoxious and infuriating to be around 95% of the time, but when he's REALLY needed, he's shown to step up and do his best to help, however bumbling and idiotic his way of doing that may be. When Edgeworth is in real danger of getting sent to prison in 1-4, Larry jumps in and tries to save him. He doesn't have to do that, nobody expects him to do it, and he risks pissing off the court and being held in contempt, but he does it anyway because Miles is his friend. And given that people are creatures of habit, it's very likely that Larry has done similar things in the past, and that Phoenix and Edgeworth are aware of this character trait. In that light, it doesn't really make sense to call off your friendship with a guy who has proven himself willing to stick his neck out for you when you're suffering. Not over some negligible, mildly annoying slights.
** If Spirit of Justice is anything to go by, however, they don't consider him much of a friend anymore. You can practically hear Phoenix groan the second Larry shows up in Turnabout Time Traveler.
[[/folder]]

* It seems to be accepted in the headscratcher above that Miles lived with the von Karmas after DL-6 and this is explicitly shown to be the case in the anime (which while not canon to the video games still counts as a headscratcher for the anime specifically). Even if no official adoption or fostering happened, why did no one object to Manfred taking Miles? Even if Edgeworth didn't have any close relatives who could take him in, wouldn't Gregory at least have friends of his own who could? Gregory was a lawyer, so wouldn't he of all people have written a will directing who would take his son?

*** I'm sure he was living with the von Karma's. But during his first featured investigation it's shown that Franziska is here on vacation like the troper above said. So yeah, I'm sure he was under Mandfred's wing, so too speak.

* It seems to be accepted in the headscratcher above that Miles lived with the von Karmas after DL-6 and this is explicitly shown to be the case in the anime (which while not canon to the video games still counts as a headscratcher for the anime specifically). Even if no official adoption or fostering happened, why did no one object to Manfred taking Miles? Even if Edgeworth didn't have any close relatives who could take him in, wouldn't Gregory at least have friends of his own who could? Gregory was a lawyer, so wouldn't he of all people have written a will that would directed who would take his son?

[[folder: What's Miles living situation post DL-6?]]
* Where was Miles living and with whom after DL-6? The games state that von Karma took Miles "under his wing" but deliberately avoid any reference to his adoption or foster care, and in ''Investigations'' Edgeworth implies that he wasn't living with the von Karmas prior to his first case. Even if he had stayed with the von Karmas, what was he doing during Manfred's six-month "vacation"?

** The Magatama is far from flawless. Like the above said, it can easily be fooled because of the way it functions: it doesn't detect lies, but when person "has a secret hidden in their heart". What these secrets are can vary wildly, but they don't always coincide with each lie they tell. Someone can tell a bald faced lie or be [[IRejectYourReality delude themselves into believing something]] and it would not activate at all. Even when it does go off, it doesn't force the target to spill their secrets. It lets Phoenix know if he's on the right track when he's already questioning someone, but the psyche locks won't break unless he has evidence with him the person cannot bring themselves to deny. As we've seen with Klavier, some secrets are so deeply guarded that no amount of evidence would be enough to the psyche locks around them.

** It is possible that the prison authorities had abolished prisoner uniforms or at least made it optional some time after [[spoiler: the death of Terry Fawles, which may also explain why neither Morgan nor Dahlia were shown wearing prison-issued uniforms in the [[Anime/AceAttorney anime adaptation]] even after being convicted]].

** That's literally the whole point of the streamlined system. The court system in Ace Attorney isn't designed to be fair or thorough, it's set up to get someone convicted for a crime as soon as possible no matter what so the police can move on. It wouldn't make sense for them to only streamline the court system without shortening the time allowed for investigations because the idea is that they have limited resources and they don't want to spend excessive time on cases. Having such a flawed and skewed system no only speeds up gameplay, but it also gives more urgency to Phoenix's trials. You're fighting against a system that IS designed to find a suspect and get them convicted as quickly as possible even if some of the facts don't tie in well. That's why Prosecutors like Edgeworth, who are trying to find the truth rather than win a case, are rare and often have to fight against their own system (like Edgeworth does in Investigations) just to get to the true bottom of the crimes they investigate.

** There indeed are state appointed lawyers, they arê even mentioned in at least 2 cases, for example in 1-2, Redd White wants to get Phoenix the worst state appointed laweyer possible, that's why he defends himself there. But to be fair it is a good question why Phoenix at the start doesn't take state appointed cases, this would have brought some money in.

* Why are Phoenix and Edgeworth even still friends with a guy they consider to be a pathetic, miserable, womanizing man child that ruins their lives on a constant basis(aka, Larry), when literally the only positive thing either of them can say about him is that he wouldn't commit murder. More over, why is it a running theme in the games themselves to have the two bring this up as though it solidifies their friendships. "He wouldn't kill people" is pretty flimsy as literally the only foundation for maintaining a toxic friendship, don't ya think?

I suppose this is more of an observation about how the series has recognized that it is at risk of getting stale and is desperately trying to find new mechanics to add to the courtroom to keep things fresh (granted, not easy considering how few opportunities there logically are to add meaningful interactivity in a VisualNovel), but only succeeds in adding gimmicky novelties (Apollo's Perception, Athena's Mood Matrix, the Divination Seance, even the Pursuit mechanic in the Layton crossover and ''The Great Ace Attorney'', with only the Jury in ''[=GAA=]'' really adding anything substantial[[note]]and even then, you're told that you are meant to be pitting the jurors' preconceived notions against each other when you're really just doing a cross-examination in a different way, as most of the jurors just end up functioning as witnesses (i.e. they introduce new information) - the first game even admits near the end that you're not really pitting these people against each other most of the time[[/note]]) when it could be doing so much more by stepping back and realizing that maybe the playbook laid down in 2001 on the GBA could use a little revising. What about if the defense calls a witness that testifies in favor of the defendant, and you have to pick which questions to ask them that are relevant to the case? Then the prosecution cross-examines them, and you can refute the contradictions that they find. You could even have your witnesses stay on the stand while cross-examining the prosecution's witnesses, and you could point out contradictions not only between their testimony and the evidence, but also your own witness's testimonies.\\

* Why are Phoenix and Edgeworth even still friends with a guy they consider to be a pathetic, miserable, womanizing man child that ruins their lives on a constant basis(aka, Larry), when literally the only positive thing either of them can say about him is that he wouldn't commit murder. More over, why is it a running theme in the games themselves to have the two bring this up as though it solidifies their friendships. "He wouldn't kill people" is pretty flimsy as literally the only foundation for maintaining a toxic friendship, don't ya think?

** It may depend partially on the spirit in question. Some are just naturally more willing to cooperate with others, letting even rookie mediums channel mostly safely. Others may be more hostile and/or strong-willed, requiring a more skilled medium to prevent them from taking their bodies for a joyride. Though, even masters probably have limits on who they could ever safely summon. Dahlia was a special case: she's not only an extremely strong-willed, very evil soul, but a former medium herself who had a very specific plan in mind for when she would be channeled. I'd imagine she would the type of spirit classified under the "Do Not Channel Under Any Circumstances" category for being impossible to fully control. Misty knew the risks, but decided to do it anyway out of desperation to save the live of her only surviving daughter.[[/folder]]

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