Ace Attorney: Witnesses and Other Characters - Dual Destinies / Characters

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/AceAttorneyWitnessesAndOtherCharactersDualDestinies

Witnesses and miscellaneous characters that appear in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies. Here is the main character sheet.

Notes:

Due to the sheer amount of marked spoilers, all spoilers for Dual Destinies have now been unmarked. Read cautiously!
The DLC case, Turnabout Reclaimed, takes place between The Monstrous Turnabout (case 2) and Turnabout Academy (case 3), and its characters are listed accordingly.

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Turnabout Countdown (Gyakuten no Countdown)

Juniper Woods (Shinobu Morizumi)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/juniperwoods_4.png

^{Click here to see her in her Themis Academy uniform}

"I always seem to go into coughing fits whenever I get nervous. This kind of thing never happens *cough* at home in the forest, though. *cough*"

Athena Cykes's friend and the first defendant in Dual Destinies. She was accused of planting a bomb in one of the courtrooms of the courthouse, and Phoenix must prove her innocence. She gets nervous easily and likes knitting. She serves as the Student Council President at her school, the Themis Legal Academy, and hopes to become a judge one day. She is also the defendant of the third case, which takes place sometime before, as the circumstances of the mock trial she designed ends up bearing a strong resemblance to the actual murder that takes place.

Affectionate Nickname: She calls Athena "Thena". In turn, Athena calls her "Junie".
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Averted and Discussed. Her niceness is completely genuine, which makes it all the more jarring that several characters accuse her of being this. Justified seeing as the characters in question all have an ulterior motive for doing so. To wit:
- Gaspen Payne wants her found guilty to humiliate Phoenix Wright.
- Myriam Scuttlebutt strongly dislikes her, though this dislike is later revealed to have stemmed from envy and a desire to be her friend.
- Hugh O'Conner puts on a facade as part of a well-intentioned but misguided gambit to be convicted as the killer in her place.
- Aristotle Means tries to frame her for the murder he himself committed.
Blush Sticker: In her cuter outfit and especially when she fawns over Apollo. Much less visible when being a student and acting seriously.
Break the Cutie: Being wrongly accused twice in less than two months does not do herself any favors. In the courtroom bombing case, she was subject to abuse from prosecutor Gaspen Payne. In case 3, when Apollo's "perceive" system results in him discovering Juniper's role in the whole mess, Juniper breaks down and starts sobbing, and spends most of the scene crying as she explains her suspicions of Hugh.
Childhood Friends: With Athena. Because of this, she's the one to initially give the audience exposition on Athena's backstory.
The Cutie: A very sweet gentle soul, who happens to be very idealistic thanks to her teacher (who was also Klavier's teacher and the victim of Case 3) and is prone to fits of coughing and fainting.
Damsel in Distress: Holds the dubious honor of being the first character (not counting Espella Cantabella) to be the defendant in more than one case in the same game. Gaspen Payne even uses the fact that she was falsely accused once as a motive for her bombing the courtroom.
Delicate and Sickly: Downplayed. She tends to have fits of feeble coughing when she is nervous or frightened, which is implied to be due to asthma, but this doesn't seem to interfere with her life too much aside from that.
Dude Magnet: Presenting the Themis Herald to her in "Turnabout Academy" will trigger a conversation in which Athena remarks that Juniper's always been popular with the guys.
Friendship Trinket: Given one by Newman.
Girlish Pigtails: With leaves in them instead of ribbons as decoration. Except in case 3, where she lets her hair down instead.
Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Unfortunately, the bomb was hidden in one of them, which causes suspicion to fall on her.
Granola Girl: Lives in a forest and loves gardening. She also wears leaves as Signature Hair Decs when not at school, since her style of dress is based on mori ("forest") girl fashion.
Hidden Depths: Despite her quiet personality, she has ambitions of being a judge someday. Also, as we learn in case 3, whenever she's doing something related to her studies, she's completely organized and serious. Juniper even wrote the approved script for a mock trial in which Hugh O'Conner was going to be the attorney, and Robin Newman was going to be the prosecutor.
Implied Love Interest: It's pretty obvious that she has a crush on Apollo and there are plenty of hints that he has warm feelings towards her too but it's left up in the air whether or not they're an item.
In-Universe Nickname: "Junie" from Athena, whom she calls "Thena" in turn.
Letting Her Hair Down: Inverted. She lets her hair down at her school, where she shows her more serious and disciplined side.
Lonely Together: As children, she and Athena bonded because they were both outsiders at school — Juniper's illness and Athena's Power Incontinence both caused them to have to spend a lot of time at home.
Love Triangle: Rumored to be the object of affection for both O'Conner and Newman. It is not true, as she is actually completely smitten with Apollo and the three are just good friends.
Meaningful Name:
- Both her given and family names in the English version are botanically-themed; juniper being a type of coniferous plant. This is in keeping with her clothing having plant motifs. The "mori" (森) in her Japanese surname means "forest" and her clothes are based around "mori girl" fashion.
- Her given name also resembles Jupiter, a Roman god, which fits along with the both Greek and Roman Apollo, and Greek Athena. Furthermore, Jupiter is called "wood star" (木星) in Japan, tying to her English surname.
Nice Girl: She's nothing but sweet to everyone. Some characters try to cast aspersions upon her during case 3 but it sorts itself out by the end and her reputation remains undamaged by it.
Not So Stoic: The first encounters you have with her in "Turnabout Academy" show her serious, driven side where she's very busy setting things up for the mock trial and doesn't have time for casual conversation, which is a stark difference from the personality on display during her first appearance in "Turnabout Countdown" (where she was either very soft-spoken and gentle towards everyone around her or smitten by Apollo). However once she is cast as the suspect and things around her start falling to pieces her true, soft-spoken personality bubbles back to the surface.
Oblivious to Love: According to Athena, Juniper's always been completely unaware that she's a bona fide Dude Magnet.
Recurring Element: Like Larry in the first game, Juniper's the defendant of the first case, and a childhood friend of one of the protagonists (in this case Athena) who winds up being a recurring character throughout the game.
Sesquipedalian Smith: Ju-ni-per Woods.
Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: She gets slandered a lot and framed for murder twice, but she's really just as nice as she appears.
Ship Tease: She starts having feelings for Apollo after the murder at Themis Legal Academy; becoming nervous in his presence, knitting items with love hearts and blushing at him when she performs at the school concert. Even before the events of 5-3, Phoenix is quick to pick up on her feelings for Apollo.
Juniper: He might not look it, but he really IS brave! And kind, too!
Phoenix: No, that's not the part I'm finding fault with. (SOMEONE has a crush on Apollo...)
Signature Headgear: She wears a sunflower in her hair while at school or on her hat when she's not. The flower acts like an asthmatic inhaler for her and calms down her coughing spasms if she breathes from it.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: This is the source of her feelings for Apollo, both because Apollo was nice to her in case 3 and because he saves her life in case 1. She's become smitten with Apollo because, in her words, "Apollo is so strong and kind, just like the trees of the forest..."
Smitten Teenage Girl: She develops a huge crush on Apollo after the events of case 3, and deals with it by blushing, stuttering, and knitting plenty of cloth with hearts on them.
The Stool Pigeon: Professor Courte asked Juniper to keep an eye on her fellow students to avoid any more students going astray, in order to try to counteract the encroaching negative effects of the "Dark Age of the Law". When Athena discovers Juniper's role as a stool pigeon, Juniper's reaction is to start sobbing out of guilt... because while fulfilling her role, she discovered some secrets that made her think Hugh is chapter 3's murderer. This also means that this is an unusual sympathetic portrayal of this trope, as Juniper's role was necessary to fight the encroaching corruption in the school.
Take Me Instead: After Robin confesses to being chapter 3's murderer, Juniper overrides Robin by confessing herself. She makes sure to thank Athena for all Athena's hard work defending Juniper, but Juniper confesses to protect Robin. It doesn't work, however, because then Hugh has a Take Me Instead moment too.
Textile Work Is Feminine: Whenever she's smitten, she starts knitting clothing that has pink hearts all over it.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Athena's Tomboy. She's also the Girly Girl to Robin Newman's family-enforced Tomboy status, once Robin's real gender is revealed.
Two Guys and a Girl: Her and her friends Robin and Hugh. It's actually Two Girls and a Guy, given that Robin is female.
Wingding Eyes: Her "damage" animation in the first case has her pull her pigtails so hard that they snap back and deck her in the eyes, turning them to Xs.

The Monstrous Turnabout (Gyakuten no Hyakkiyako)

Damian Tenma (Deemon Tenma)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daemontemma.png

"Unworthy as I am, I, Damian Tenma, shall breach these walls... ...so that I may treat my benefactor to some tea, and maybe some cookies, too."

Jinxie Tenma's father and the mayor of Tenma Town. The prime suspect of Rex Kyubi's murder.

Becoming the Mask: After his identity as The Amazing Nine-Tails is uncovered, he happily expresses it after his fans show up to the courthouse and there's no more threat of blackmail.
Blood Knight: He is VERY eager to duel Simon Blackquill after seeing his Razor-Sharp Hand. Apollo has to talk him out of it.
Broken Pedestal: L'Belle was planning to invoke this trope for him, which is why he didn't kill him. L'Belle hoped that if Damian got convicted of murder, the Amazing Nine-Tails' popularity would drop, which would crush the spirits of the opposition to the merger.
Cool Mask: Dons a kick-ass fox mask as part of being The Amazing Nine-Tails.
Create Your Own Hero: Literally In-Universe. After being blackmailed into pursuing the merger, he couldn't openly oppose it as Jinxie would be harmed. Instead, he created The Amazing Nine-Tails to oppose himself as the villain in an effort to delay it.
Demonic Possession: He "becomes" Tenma Taro when angered.
Expy: A wrestling mayor who takes matters into his own hands to fight corruption in his city? Not the first time Capcom has done this, though his methods aren't quite as "hands-on" as Haggar.
Eye Beams: Trucy mentions there are claims he could do this.
Evil Is Hammy: Invokes this trope for all it's worth when acting possessed.
Evil Sounds Deep: Invoked. When pretending to be possessed by Tenma Taro, the beeping that plays when he speaks is lower-pitched.
Face of a Thug: Which leads to quite a lot of negative first impressions.
Gentle Giant: When he's not wrestling at least. He offers tea and cookies to Apollo when they first meet... even though he's currently being imprisoned.
Heroic Build: The Amazing Nine Tails sports it, he's The Amazing Nine Tails, do the math.
Honor Before Reason: He's so devoted to keeping secret both the true nature of Tenma Taro and his secret wrestler identity that he's willing to go to jail for them. Jinxie mentions that the latter is a Fate Worse than Death for wrestlers.
Leitmotif: "Go Forth! Amazing Nine-Tails" while in his wrestling persona as the Amazing Nine-Tails.
Lost in Character: He still lapses into Tenma Taro's demeanor at times after being acquitted. It's either this, or he's doing it for Jinxie's benefit, as he always snaps out of it whenever she tags him with an exorcism talisman.
Masked Luchador: He is this when in his Amazing Nine-Tails persona.
Meaningful Name: His Japanese first name comes from a Japanese expression which means "reduced to skin and bones". The pronunciation is also identical to the word "demon", which also applies to "Damian".
Milking the Giant Cow: While pretending to be possessed.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Fulbright comments that Damian's name makes him sound like a villain.
Nice Guy: To the surprise of everyone who meets him, he is a surprisingly polite, caring, and thoughtful man. He's just lacking a bit in social skills.
No Indoor Voice: Is prone to shouting loudly and menacingly.
No Social Skills: His conversational skills are... awkward at best, which don't do his reputation any favors.
Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: He looks evil, but is actually a nice, humble guy who cares about Jinxie. He appears to the public as being the mayoral version of a Corrupt Corporate Executive that pushes for the merger between Tenma Town and Nine-Tails Vale when in reality he's being blackmailed.
Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: One of the few defendants to be older than the case's true culprit (He's in his forties while L'Belle's in his thirties).
Papa Wolf: He will do anything for his daughter. At one instance he considers breaking out of jail to be by her side. He even pretends to be possessed by Tenma Taro in order to prevent her from being arrested for obstruction of justice.
Phrase Catcher: "Wait! We can worry about [X] after we've proven your innocence!"
Reasonable Authority Figure: He cares enough about both Tenma Town and Nine-Tails Vale to don a secret identity to protest the Municipal Merger, in spite of being blackmailed into pushing for in the first place, and is even willing to go to jail for murder if it would keep the secret of Tenma Taro from getting out, since it would drive the citizens of Nine-Tails Vale mad with greed.
Sacred Hospitality: Seems to be a believer of this. The first thing he says to Apollo is that he regrets not being a good host and serving refreshments (as he's arrested at the time).
Secondary Color Nemesis: He wears a green suit with orange beads and purple accessories, which especially sets him apart from the yellow-clad Amazing Nine-Tails, and he has a poor reputation in his town. It turns out that he really is a nice man and is the Amazing Nine-Tails himself.
Secret Identity: The Amazing Nine-Tails is him, not alderman Rex Kyubi.
Secret-Keeper: For who Tenma Taro really is... or rather, what Tenma Taro really is. It turns out that Tenma Taro isn't really a monster at all, much less a giant black Tengu. Actually, Tenma Taro is the name of a treasure that caused the villagers to fight over it, acting so greedy that it was as if they were possessed by monsters. This secret "must not be revealed", not because Tenma Taro is a monster, but because they thought that if people found out Tenma Taro is a treasure, everyone would start fighting over it again.
Stomach of Holding: Swallowed the key to the Forbidden Chamber to prevent the real killer from opening it. He later regurgitates it for Apollo to use as evidence.
Twitchy Eye: His nervous tic, which crops up when he's trying to hide his true reasons for the merger.
Walking Shirtless Scene: As the Amazing Nine-Tails.
Wrestler in All of Us:
- He bears the mantle of The Amazing Nine-Tails as a wrestling persona. His wrestling attire is reminiscent of King I/II from Tekken.
- The epilogue implies he might also have taken up a second, simultaneous career as Tenma Taro, which comes back to bite him when a match is scheduled where both of his personas are supposed to fight each other.
Worthy Opponent: At one point, Simon's "swordsmanship" is so impressive that Damian feels compelled to challenge him to a duel of honor. Apollo once again must remind his client that Damian will be free to do as he pleases once he gets a 'Not Guilty' verdict.

Tenma Taro

A demon resembling a tengu, sealed away in the Forbidden Chamber of the Nine-Tails Vale and feared by the residents. It was spotted near the crime scene by Jinxie Tenma around the time Alderman Kyubi was murdered. Before long, Tenma Taro becomes a major part of the case even when much of the cast doesn't believe in its existence.

Allegorical Character: The mythical Tenma Taro and his soul-stealing curse is an allegory for the evil things people did in the name of Greed for the large gold ingot.
Arch-Enemy: It and The Nine-Tailed Fox are mortal enemies.
Artifact of Doom: As mentioned below, a non-magical variant. It's actually a large gold ingot that caused great evil because of peoples' greed.
Card-Carrying Villain: Refers to itself as the "Demon King" upon introducing itself.
Demonic Possession: Supposedly takes control of Damien Tenma at the end of the first day in court. Subverted, as "Tenma Taro" is just a persona he adopted in order to deflect suspicion from his daughter.
The Dreaded: For the people living in Nine-Tails Vale, at least.
Historical Badass Upgrade: Tenma Taro was an inanimate hunk of gold. In village superstitions, he's an all-powerful demon.
MacGuffin: He's actually a gold ingot that L'Belle wanted to swipe to wipe away his debt.
Red Herring: It's actually suspected to be this In-Universe. Prosecutor Blackquill in particular considers it little more than a desperate attempt from the defense team to divert suspicion away from Mayor Tenma.
The Scottish Trope: It's a village superstition that Tenma Taro will steal your soul if you see it in the flesh and admit to the sighting. Filch exploits this to escape from the vault "unseen", disguised as Taro.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Subverted. "Tenma Taro" is just a large, valuable gold ingot used to buy the land that became Tenma Town, though it was apparently valuable enough to qualify as a non-magical Artifact of Doom.
Shrine to Self: The Forbidden Chamber contains an immense statue of Taro, as well as a scroll detailing the story of how the gold came to be personified as Tenma Taro. The statue itself used to contain the gold, but it was stolen long ago.
Staff of Authority: It's witnessed carrying a shakujo, even though his only official In-Universe artwork shows no such thing. This is an important piece of evidence twice during the case.
Tengu: Though the text ^note refers to it only as a "yokai", while Tenma Taro itself calls itself the "Demon King".
Walking Spoiler: Its role in the case and overall influence on the plot is impossible to discuss without delving into spoilers.

Phineas Filch (Kumabee Zeniarai)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/phineasfilch_3.png

"I knew ya'd understand, Mr. Lawyer, sir! Ya obviously got a big heart! As big as the wad o' cash in your wallet, I hope, eh heh heh!"

The caretaker of the Nine-Tails Vale's alderman's mansion. He tends to be petty when it comes to snatching things such as Apollo's bracelet. He disguised himself as Tenma Taro on the day of the murder.

Affably Evil: He's a thief, born and bred, and can't seem to hold still without pilfering various trinkets from other people. He's also a fairly sweet guy.
Affectionate Pickpocket: In almost any of his appearances during Case 2, he will have appeared to have stolen some object or another, whether it be Apollo's bracelet, Athena's Widget, Fulbright's shoes, or L'Belle's cream. He willingly gives most of the possessions back to the defense, however.
Animal Motifs: A number of characters find him very similar to a tanuki, which is described in Japanese folklore as very mischievous.
The Chew Toy: The rather horrible way in which L'Belle treats him is entirely played for laughs.
Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?: He steals Detective Fulbright's shoes without him noticing twice over. Said detective is actually a dangerous superspy.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The thieving, duplicitous Filch harbors a completely sincere and almost endearing hero-worship of his grandfather.
Generation Xerox: He steals things like his grandfather, whom Filch claims to be a famous thief.
Gonk: He is designed to look like a tanuki.
Hypocritical Humor: He accuses Apollo of being The Napoleon when he's being questioned. Apollo promptly points out that Filch has to stand on a box to even testify (and is more fiery to boot).
Impossible Theft: Steals Detective Fulbright's shoes while he's wearing them, twice, without Fulbright noticing either time until another character asks him about his lack of shoes. And just because this isn't impossible enough, it's later revealed that "Fulbright" is not the real Fulbright at all, but a highly competent and dangerous international spy in disguise. Even the Great Thief Yatagarasu herself would be humbled before such masterful skill at thievery.
Karma Houdini: He's never punished for trying to snatch Apollo's bracelet and Athena's Mood Matrix. He's never shown being charged for lying on the stand, or being in cahoots with L'Belle either. On the other hand, he's subject to plenty of verbal abuse from Simon and physical abuse from Taka, so he doesn't completely walk away scot-free.
Leitmotif: "Lively People"
Meaningful Name: "Filch" means to steal, as seen by the various objects he stole.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: During the first day of trial, he bolts out of the courtroom once Blackquill gets sick of him. Then at the start of the second day, while warning him not to do that again, the Judge reveals that his escape resulted in this trope:
Filch: Eh heh heh. Been known for my hasty retreats since I was a kid. Bit of a trademark o' mine.
Judge: Indeed. You managed to give a total of five bailiffs the slip.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: On the first day in court, he makes a run for it after prosecutor Blackquill sics Taka on him for lying one too many times.
Shout-Out:
- His Japanese surname contains a reference to the fictional currency featured in none other than Capcom's games.
- His English name, combined with his profession of being a mansion caretaker, might be a reference to Argus Filch, as both are the sole caretakers of large buildings named 'Filch' with the first names of Greek Kings.
The Slacker: And it's a plot point: the fact that he was watching a prize fight on TV instead of watching the entrance like he was supposed to helps clear up some details of the case. Yet he was so bored of that fight that he attempts to steal the ingot in the Forbidden Chamber that very day.
Spanner in the Works: L'Belle's schemes, which took months of planning and step-by-step preparation, are ultimately undone by Filch, who just wanted to steal something from the Forbidden Chamber because he was bored. That being said, L'Belle helped dig his own grave by getting Filch to vouch for his whereabouts, unaware that Filch had dropped a bottle of hand cream that completely undid their mutual alibi.
Sticky Fingers: He is a kleptomaniac.
Stupid Crooks: He's not exactly good at keeping his schemes under wraps.
Tanuki: His appearance and thieving habits are meant to resemble those of a tanuki, and he is referred to as such several times.

Azuki Kozo

Phineas Filch's grandfather, who, according to him, was a Robin Hood-esque thief. He had stolen the gold ingot, "Tenma Taro", years before the events of The Monstrous Turnabout without anyone realizing it.

Calling Card: He placed a statue of azukiarai (a yokai mentioned by Jinxie on the first day of her father's trial) at the site of his heists.
Just Like Robin Hood: Filch describes him as a noble thief who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. From his alias, he's apparently based on Nezumi Kozō, a real-life version of this trope.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: This thief stole the gold ingot named Tenma Taro which villagers fought over, removing the reason the superstition was created and was needed to keep villagers from fighting over it.
Posthumous Character: He died long before the events of the game, but his having stolen the sealed treasure means Florent's scheme was doomed from the start.
Spanner in the Works: He stole the gold ingot that represents Tenma Taro, thus even if L'Belle were to succeed in his plot, he would still be in trouble, as his goal is already long gone.

Turnabout Reclaimed (Gyakuten no Kikan)

Ora "Orla" Shipley (Ale Arafune)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ale.png

An orca that takes part in many amusement shows at Shipshape Aquarium alongside her trainer Sasha Buckler. Suspected of killing the aquarium's owner. Is actually one of two orcas that Jack Shipley found, one named Ora and the other being Orla. When the first orca was accused of killing her trainer, Azura Summers, Jack and Dr. Crab pretended to have Ora the First killed (but faked her death and moved her to another aquarium), and put Orla in her place.

Chekhov's Skill: Several of her tricks are vital to the case, such as how she knows how to sing the Swashbuckler Spectactular song... and only that song, meaning that the orca who sang the earlier version that Norma heard wasn't her.
Cute Giant: Really big and really cute.
Cuteness Proximity: For everyone (except Blackquill), but particularly Athena. She goes from giving Blackquill the eye for harassing Phoenix over his inability to interpret orca noises to Squeeing over Orla being adorable.
Kick the Dog: Is on the dog's end. She was being under threat to be put down several times, and was mistaken to be the murderer of previous trainer Azura Summers, who not only actually died of a heart attack, but her sister was also fingered as the murderer of that incident and had to have her death faked.
Leitmotif: "Cap'n Orla's Swashbucklers ~ Adventures Across the Seven Seas"
Make the Dog Testify:
- Orla is the defendant of Jack Shipley's death before the main suspect became Buckler and is also cross-examined once via television screen.
- It's actually played with during the initial investigation. No prosecutor would ever want to take the case due to its ridiculous and unprecedented nature; the only reason Blackquill accepted the case was because he thought Sasha did it and hoped to uncover enough evidence to indict her in the process of proving Orla's innocence.
Punny Name: Obviously derived from "orca".
Ridiculously Cute Critter: Anything she does is enough to get an "Aww!" from Athena and similar reactions from other characters, including Phoenix and the Judge.
Screens Are Cameras: Since Orla isn't going to fit into courtroom feasibly, being a multiple ton aquatic mammal and all, she interacts with the court through a TV screen, which has no visible camera, yet Orla (and Sasha when she's with her) can react to objects shown to her.
Silent Scapegoat: A double dose of this. As the replacement of Ora Shipley, she automatically becomes Rimes' revenge target for being blamed as the whale who caused Azura's death, and she is the one initially being held responsible for Jack Shipley's death.
Smooch of Victory: Gives one to Phoenix at the end. Athena wants one too.
Twin Switch: Poses as her twin sister, the real Ora, when the other has to be relocated to another aquarium.

Ora Shipley the First (Elle Arafune)

The original whale in the previous year's Swashbuckler Spectacular, and Orla's sister.

Death Faked for You: After her owners were pressured to put her down for apparently killing Azura Summers, they instead drugged her to sleep and had her raised in the Supermarine Centre in secret in exchange for payment while claiming that she was now dead.
Identical Twin ID Tag: One of her teeth is chipped in half, compared to her sister's full set. This proves that the walkie-talkie previously owned by Azura was hers.
Posthumous Character: Subverted! Turns out she wasn't put down, and was sent to another aquarium for safekeeping. By the end of the case, she's back, performing again.
Silent Scapegoat: While Azura Summers was in the middle of performing a show, she suffered a heart attack. During that time Ora Shipley was attempting to save her life but was unable to do so and is seen as the one who caused her death. It got so bad that she had to be moved to another aquarium to be able to stay alive.
Walking Spoiler: Her very existence flips the entire case on its head.

Sasha Buckler (Shouko Umino)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shouko_umino_6.png

"You min-now it! I'm Sasha Buckler! I perform like an agile catfish in our pirate show! It'll blowfish your mind!"

An entertainer at Shipshape Aquarium who works as Orla's trainer. She too is dressed like a pirate. She becomes the defendant during the second half of the case. She has a heart condition that could put her future as an entertainer at risk, and is taking medication for it.

Age-Inappropriate Dress: Well, she's 22, and still wears inflatable armbands. Though this might just be part of her costume, even re-inflating them when they deflate as her damage animation.
Anime Hair: As sharp as a sea urchin.
Contrived Coincidence: What are the chances that the next entertainer after the one who died from a heart condition also has a dangerous heart condition?
The Cutie: Despite her punk pirate design, she is idealistic and innocent, not unlike Regina Berry, and has a hard time believing Marlon Rimes is the culprit. She also wears two small inflatable tubes on her arms despite apparently being able to swim, though it's likely they're a part of her costume.
Expressive Accessory: Although it's hard to notice it. The eyes of the skull in her hat copies her expression (grow big) when she becomes shocked.
Facial Markings: Has a large pink star over her left eye.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Wears a thigh-high stocking with pink and black stripes on her left leg, and another that scrunches up around her calf with the same color pattern on her right. She also has a pink star on her left eye.
Fiery Redhead: Very passionate about her work.
Genki Girl: She gets along well with Athena because of this.
Girls with Moustaches: Wears an obviously fake one as part of her act.
Leitmotif: "Cap'n Orla's Swashbucklers ~ Adventures Across the Seven Seas"
Maniac Tongue: Sasha sticks out her tongue with a coy smile when smiling and hangs her mouth open with her tongue out when furious.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Her design and mannerisms combine elements of pirates and punk rockers.
Parting-Words Regret: Her last conversation with Jack was an argument about him not letting her perform in the newest show out of concern for her health. She feels very guilty about it.
Pirate Girl: She normally stars as a female pirate in the Swashbuckling Spectacular.
Pungeon Master: Frequently employs puns related to aquatic creatures in her speech.
Punny Name: Swashbuckler.
Retractable Weapon: Her sword prop sinks into the hilt when pressed in. Sasha pushes the blade in and out when nervous.
Stripperiffic: Kinda hard to notice due to the amount of asymmetries, but she wears very little (to drive this home, when she takes the witness stand to testify, during the initial zoom-in the top of the stand is in just the right place to make it look like she's wearing nothing on her lower half). To be fair though, she's an aquarium worker, and her outfit basically amounts to a somewhat provocative outfit over a relatively tame two-piece swimsuit.
Talk Like a Pirate: Even when not in character.
Undying Loyalty: Sasha's faith in Orla is unwavering in the face of two claims of her killing someone.
Unwitting Pawn: In response to Jack not letting her participate in the new show due to her condition, Sasha hid the skull rock prop in the orca tank, which Marlon used to hide the body in and frame Orla for Jack's death.

Marlon Rimes (Ikuya Itsuka)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marlonrimes.png

"Ahoy! Yo! Yo! Yo ho hooooo! Prep for the battle, prep for the war! Little lady Rifle gon' even da score! Ya'll think you can escape with your pride? Nuh uh, you just gon' be straight up denied!"

A scrawny rookie employee resembling a rapper who works as an animal feeder at Shipshape Aquarium. Loves animals and rapping, and a friend of Pearl Fey. The case's culprit, though he didn't kill Jack Shipley. Believing Orla to be the orca who killed his girlfriend, Azura Summers, a year ago, he attempts to murder her by draining the show pool's water while the orca pool is being cleaned. Jack Shipley found out and tried to stop him, but slipped on the show stage's floor and fell all the way down to the stage's pool floor to his death, even though Rimes tried to save him.

All for Nothing: His attempt to kill Orla in order to avenge Azura's death ultimately falls into this - Orla wasn't the orca present during Azura's death, and even then said orca didn't kill Azura either, her dying out of a heart attack instead.
Alliterative Name: His Japanese name is Ikuya Itsuka.
AM/FM Characterization: After his transformation from a fairly wimpy dude into a buff pirate man, his raps become faster-paced and more aggressive.
Ambiguously Brown: Either that or just plain tanned.
Anti-Villain: His attempted killing of Orla was motivated by the belief she was dangerous, and Shipley's death was accidental.
The Atoner: He ultimately vows to make up for what he's done, even if it takes the rest of his life.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Downplayed. His concern for his friends and co-workers? Genuine. The fact he likes animals? Also the real deal. His easy-going personality and claims of being a vegetarian? Fake.
Cynicism Catalyst: Azura's death made Marlon bitter enough to plan Orla's murder but he really had no clue about the whole truth: that her death was caused by her heart condition, the orca who she performed with isn't the same as the one performing now, and neither orca was actually responsible.
Death Seeker: After learning that he tried to kill the wrong orca, and the true nature of Azura's death, Rimes doesn't even bother to tell the truth about how Jack actually died until Phoenix points it out, simply wishing that he can get charged with the death penalty for his murder.
The Diss Track: His final testimony is a rap where half of each line is dedicated to talking trash about Phoenix.
Easily Forgiven: Sasha is remarkably forgiving towards him considering his attempt on Orla's life inadvertently led to Captain Shipley's death and Sasha getting wrongly accused of murder, though the circumstances are certainly understandable.
Expy: He's a tanned man who tries to kill a naive female because she caused the death of a loved one, but ends up accidentally causing the death of his beloved boss instead. He's basically Acro as an aquarium worker.
Fangs Are Evil: After his transformation, his visible teeth appear very sharp. His new pirate hat also sports a jolly roger with a fang filled smile.
Friend to All Living Things: Loves all the marine life at the Aquarium, and even crosses the Despair Event Horizon severely enough to beg for the death penalty once he learns that the orca he's been trying to kill is innocent instead of a dangerous beast. Fortunately, after going to rehabilitation, he gets to continue working with the Aquarium animals and make up with said orca.
Growing Muscles Sequence: Drinks an entire barrel of fish to achieve this. He states that after the incident one year prior, he had been fighting sharks to be able to take on Orla. Don't ask how he can seemingly keep up his scrawny appearance, though, or hide the massive bite scars on his delts.
Heel–Face Turn: After he's rehabilitated as ordered by the Judge, rather than seemingly getting either a life sentence or the death penalty like other killers, he's back to working at Shipshape Aquarium reprising Jack Shipley's role as Redstache.
Jive Turkey: His raps. One in particular when he transforms into his muscular alter ego is practically incomprehensible for those who don't know slang aptly titled "The Dissin' of Phoenix Wright".
Leitmotif: "Lively People"
Let's Get Dangerous!: Tears off his hat to reveal his Anime Hair, and drinks the fish bucket to bulk up, after which he pulls out a huge marlin to wave around and starts talking like a pirate.
Morality Pet: Even after bulking up into a scary and shady pirate guy, he never turns on Sasha and actively testifies in her favor, although at Orla's expense.
My God, What Have I Done?: When he learns that Orla wasn't the whale from the accident a year ago, and again when he learns that even that whale had nothing to do with Azura Summers' death.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: He is a pirate and a rap artist (as a contrast to Sasha's punk rocker motif).
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Looks a lot like Michael Jackson if the King of Pop became the King-of-Rap-cum-animal-trainer (which could possibly be a shout out to Free Willy, as Jackson was known for doing the movie's theme song). Post-transformation, he resembles Bob Marley with 50 Cent's body.
One-Winged Angel: Yes, in an Ace Attorney game. By chugging a barrel-full of fish he becomes incredibly buff and intimidating-looking.
Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: One of his "wounded" animations when he's buffed up is quickly bleeding thick streams of blood from the bite scars on his shoulders.
Punny Name: Frequently raps, so "rhymes," and a "marlin" is a type of fish. After his transformation, he wields a particularly large one.
Revenge Before Reason: Due to his belief that Orla is the one who killed Azura, he felt that she escaped justice for killing his girlfriend, and began plotting to exact vengeance on the whale without taking into account how it might affect the Aquarium, or even how Sasha would feel about the matter. He makes a grand total of three attempts on Orla's life over the course of the story, first by trying to dump her in an empty pool, then by slipping sleeping pills into her food so she'd drown, and finally by trying to frame her for Jack Shipley's murder, knowing that she'd be put down if she was found guilty. Once he finds out that it was all misguided however, He doesn't take it well.
Scary Black Man: After his transformation.
Slasher Smile: Both Rimes and his pirate hat's jolly roger have wide menacing smiles after his transformation.
Split Personality: Implied as after he transforms he says "I should never have let that guy take care of this."
Stepford Smiler: He has a deep issue behind his laid-back demeanor.
Sympathetic Murderer: And it's the murderer part that's debatable, depending on one's opinion of orcas.
Take My Hand!: Attempted to save Jack Shipley this way. Shipley wouldn't grab hold, fearing Marlon would fall too.
Talk Like a Pirate: Usually only when he's rapping. Full time after his transformation. He drops it after his Villainous Breakdown.
Testosterone Poisoning: His muscular appearance, coupled with carrying and chomping on a marlin.
Tragic Keepsake: His main one is a charm he lost that involves a picture with Marlon and Azura together.
Tragic Villain: He's the only "villain" in the series who didn't even kill anyone; he was trying to kill Orla because he thought Orla had killed his girlfriend a year ago and might do the same to Buckler. Shipley's death was a complete accident, and Rimes even tried to save him. In court, he's much more focused on getting Orla convicted than clearing his own name, and refuses to testify against Buckler.
Villainous Breakdown: The courtroom goes dark, and a storm brews in the background. The witness stand, with Rimes still on it, starts rocking back and forth as though it were a ship being buffeted about by the storm. It starts to rain and flash lightning, and Rimes, who is forced to drop the giant fish he holds, is having trouble holding onto his pirate hat...before his hat finally blows off, and eventually the witness stand pitches so far to the side that Rimes falls over, and we finally see him holding onto the "bars" of the bottom of the witness stand.
Walking Spoiler: Let's see... he isn't as much of a Nice Guy as he appears to be, he's Azura's boyfriend, he has a grudge against Orla, he "transforms" when he gets serious... but the biggest of all is actually that he didn't kill the victim, but rather tried to save him.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Tries to murder Orla not only as revenge for supposedly killing his girlfriend but on the belief she'd also threaten the lives of his coworkers. The "extremist" part is emphasized by the fact instead of voicing his concerns to his boss, in his blind rage he decides to take matters into his own hands.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He fought sharks to take on Orla and is the true culprit, however, his tragic backstory paints him in this way. Fortunately for him, since he didn't attempt to kill or frame any actual human beings, he gets rehabilitation instead of the usual death penalty or life sentence most Ace Attorney villains get.

Norma DePlume (Reika Uratori)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/normaplume.png

"I write the truth. And I will find the truth with my own eyes!"

A famous nonfiction writer wearing a black coat and a perpetually-floating white scarf. Hired by Marlon Rimes to investigate the aquarium, but also to set her up as a witness to the "murder" of Jack Shipley. Because of the book she wrote about the death of Azura Summers a year ago, she is all-but-banned from visiting the aquarium.

Abhorrent Admirer: To Phoenix in her Imagine Spot sequence. In the ending, it's implied she's also one for Dr. Crab.
Afraid of Blood: Freaks out when Phoenix shows her a blood-stained coin collected from the crime scene, and specifically states in court that she can't stand the sight of blood.
Animal Motifs: Phoenix describes her as a sea lion, because she's so fierce. This is aesthetically consistent with her pudgy physique and smooth black clothing.
Big Beautiful Woman: According to herself.
Cannot Keep a Secret: A self-admitted character flaw of hers.
Chekhov's Gag: During the second day of investigations, Norma recites Orla's "theme song" that she admonishes for violent lyrics complete with a ridiculous Imagine Spot of her as a pirate chasing Phoenix and Athena. Athena dismisses this as nothing but slander with her own Imagine Spot of singing the "actual" theme song. At first this seems like a funny one-off event and just seems to highlight Norma's sleaziness as a journalist, however Norma is telling the truth about her version of the theme song and the two theme songs later play a vital role in proving that there are actually two Orlas in the aquarium.
Cool Shades: Though she usually doesn't wear them.
Dramatic Wind: Somehow her scarf just keeps floating, even indoors with no fans in sight.
Fan Disservice: Many characters are turned off by her in-courtroom Wardrobe Malfunction.
Finger Gun: Even has an animation of "shooting" one.
Good All Along: Not really apparent at first, but her actions against the aquarium were because she honestly wanted justice to be done for Azura Summers' death.
Gonk: Once the Dramatic Wind stops and in the Imagine Spot sequences, she's portrayed this way. In-universe, it's implied that she looks much different than her author pictures in her books in order to keep her identity secret from her fans.
Heroic BSoD: Her standards are incredibly honest, thus when she realizes she was manipulated into a lie, she freaks out like actual villains do in the series. An extreme gust of wind blows her way, and it tears off her outfit's trinkets while she looks incredibly shocked.
I Was Quite a Looker: She reveals that she uses a old picture of herself in her books, a picture that looks completely different to her present self.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite acting like a stereotypical sleazy journalist, she sticks to her principle of writing only the truth, and eventually decides to report the trial's events accurately even if they refute her previous assumptions. She encourages Phoenix to find the truth as he heads into the second day of the trial, and afterwards advocates to have the TORPEDO system legalized.
Leitmotif: "Suspicious People"
Marilyn Maneuver: When she's caught off-guard in court. Phoenix wants to look away but can't.
The Nicknamer: She calls Phoenix and Athena "blue boy and yellow girl." Later, she calls Athena "yellow fan" because she thinks she's one of her fans.
Noblewoman's Laugh: She even keeps the pose when her mouth is closed.
Persona Non Grata: She's permanently banned from the aquarium by Jack for writing the book about Azura's death. Because of this, she never learned that they made another version of Orla's theme song. The ending shows her hosting a book signing event at the aquarium, implying the ban was lifted.
Punny Name: Nom de plume.
Red Herring: Norma was once badly injured during an interview and has been afraid of blood ever since. Despite this being given special mention in the dialogue, it has no relevance to the case.
Smoking Barrel Blowout: Her animation after "firing" her Finger Gun.
Stealth Pun: Norma was Marilyn Monroe's real first name.
Unwitting Pawn: Rimes tricked her into witnessing what seemed like Orla murdering Jack Shipley.
Wardrobe Malfunction: During her breakdown her coat falls open, leading to Fan Disservice which many characters in the courtroom get disgusted by. It's even referred to as such.

Herman Crab (Gaku Sugomori)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hermancrab.png

Also featured: Sniper the penguin chick (in his hair)

"...Son of a gun. This little thing doesn't let me get any sleep."

Shipshape Aquarium's resident veterinarian who wears a penguin mask. When Ora the First was ordered put down, he and Jack couldn't go through with it, so they faked her death and put her in another aquarium. Is (illegally) using a device named TORPEDO to check on all the animals in the aquarium.

Berserk Button: Don't accuse him of killing animals. He takes his job very seriously.
Celibate Hero: Suggested. He responds to the suggestion that he was romantically involved with Ms. Summers with incredulity and then states he doesn't believe in romantic feelings.
Character Catchphrase: "Son of a gun."
Deadpan Snarker: He has his moments, such as when Orla's in danger:
Herman: She'll drown unless we do something... Here, give me a hand.
Phoenix: Who, us?
Herman: No, I meant the Steel Samurai. Of course you! Just help me!
Dr. Jerk: An irritable and grouchy veterinarian. Or at least, so he seems at first...
Fingerless Hands: Sometimes Sniper puts Crab's stethoscope to the side of his head when he's under pressure on the stand. She somehow holds it in her flipper. Rule of Cute is obviously in play.
Fun with Acronyms: His monitoring system for marine life is the "TORPEDO": TeleObservation Realtime PErtinent Data Organizer.
Head Pet: Sniper the penguin chick lives in his hair.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his gruff demeanor, he truly cares about his animals and co-workers.
Leitmotif: "Difficult People"
Married to the Job: He lives in the aquarium, right next to a 24-hour monitoring system. When he needs to sleep, he uses a sleeping bag or the aquarium's nap room.
Moe Couplet: With Sniper, who brings out his caring side despite his attempts to deny it. Phoenix even thinks they look quite cute together.
Mistaken for Romance: Contrary to the protagonists' assumptions, Azura wasn't his girlfriend, just a coworker he misses.
Only Sane Man: He acts rather sardonic and professional at times, with his only goofy trait being the baby penguin living in his hair who just won't leave. He also drops a major hint to Phoenix upon realizing that he's going to figure out that there are two orcas and, in the end, pressures Sasha Buckler to get her heart surgery done to avoid dying like Azura.
Punny Name: Hermit crab.
Red Herring: He fits many usual elements of the series' murderers; not given importance until the second day, remarked as being suspicious, expresses distaste for Wright, and is clearly hiding secrets. The game tries to play this up even more by ending the second investigation with five more Psyche-Locks appearing on him, which you never get a chance to break. He isn't the murderer, even though Phoenix suspects him for some time. He's also hinted at first to be the boyfriend of the late Azura Summers (which would give him a motive for the attempted murder of Orla), but it's proven to be false when he sees the charm ingested by Rifle and half-incorrectly identifies it as Azura's, apparently having no idea that Sasha is holding it at the Detention Centre and that her real boyfriend had a matching one.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: He has a baby penguin living in his hair.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Twice, he breaks the law to do what's best for the animals: once by monitoring them using the then-unauthorized TORPEDO system, and also by secretly moving Ora Shipley the First to the Supermarine Aquarium rather than putting her down like the Center for Dangerous Animal Control ordered. Jack Shipley was also on board with both, and understood it was for the best.
Secret-Keeper: He and Jack paid huge amounts of money in order to keep Orla from being put down. However, it's later revealed that it was Ora they were talking about, but she wasn't put down either and was instead being kept safe in the Supermarine Aquarium for the past year.
Shoot the Dog: Subverted. He and Shipley pretended to do this to Ora (the first Ora, not Orla), but actually moved her to another aquarium.
Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Rifle has hated Dr. Crab ever since Sniper, a chick of hers, imprinted on him.
Verbal Tic: His exclamation "son of a gun", which doubles as a Stealth Pun: while Sniper is actually female, her mother is named Rifle.

Turnabout Academy (Gyakuten no Gakuen)

Hugh O'Conner (Rei Shizuya)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hughconner2.png

"I will now demonstrate the very moment of genius that transcended even perfection!"

A cool-headed Themis Legal Academy defense attorney student wearing a blue uniform. O'Conner is supposedly an excellent student due to his perfect test scores and him being an ace at archery. However, his test scores are because of defense attorney teacher Aristotle Means accepting bribes from O'Conner's parents to fake his test scores. That, and he's a 25-year-old working part-time as a construction worker.

Aloof Archer: Is a member of the archery team, is very cold and calculating, has an arrogant streak, and gets very defensive when you close in on him.
Bad Liar: Played with. He was able to fake his real age and cover his lowly profession... but he's not at all good at countering holes blown in his story and direct confrontation, ultimately culminating in a rather ridiculous "confession" when he completely loses his composure and tries a last-ditch effort to deflect suspicion from Juniper.
Body Double: Hugh claims in his testimony that the Hugh seen in the mock trial was really a body double of his. Nobody buys his story.
Broken Ace: Subverted. He doesn't mask his pain with genius...he uses it to mask his lack of actual genius (he acts like an Insufferable Genius so no one gets suspicious of his lack of genuine intellect).
Catchphrase: "Heh." He gives off a condescending chuckle, along with a smirk, before a lot of the things he says.
Characterization By Action: Adjusts his glasses as part of his smirk, frequently. He pushes them up by the lower corner but it's meant to convey a "by the bridge" characterization (being a condescending genius towards others).
Dark Secret: Two of them.
- First, he's not a genius at all, but a high school kid from seven years prior who flunked out and wound up having to work as a construction crane operator while still secretly attending high school under the guise of being 18.
- Second, the reason he gets such high scores on his exams is that his parents are bribing his teachers to give him better grades.
Didn't Think This Through: Athena points out that his plan to drive away Juniper only to be convicted in her place would only make her sad.
Dumber Than They Look: He's known for being a genius who gets perfect test scores, and has the nerdy appearance and snobbish personality to match. However, it is revealed that his good grades are due to his parents bribing his teachers, and he's not a good student at all—having flunked out of his previous high school.
Everybody Knew Already: When Hugh decides to reveal that he was never a genius in the first place, nobody is surprised and the Judge remarks it was pretty obvious.
Everyone Has Standards: Upon finding out that his entire school life as a genius was a sham thanks to his parents bribing the school, he flipped out and angrily told them off.
Expy: He's essentially an older and less blatantly stupid version of Sebastian Debeste from Investigations 2 — both are supposed geniuses who top their classes at Themis Legal Academy, but turn out to have only been doing so thanks to big fat bribes courtesy of their parents — with a few of Richard Wellington's mannerisms (most notably his superiority complex) sprinkled on top. They both stop acting like an Insufferable Genius in the end when they realize the truth.
Feigning Intelligence: He's not stupid, but he's definitely not the Insufferable Genius he presents himself as.
Friendship Trinket: Wears one on his neck.
Idiot Hair: Has a rather long cowlick◊, which is obscured most of the time in the game.
Improbable Age: Late in the trial, one contradiction involves him supposedly not being old enough to be qualified to operate a crane. It's ultimately subverted, by virtue of him being much older than he initially seems. In fact, he's 25.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: Learning his scores were faked didn't do any wonders for his self-esteem. Part of the problem when cross-examining him is that he's trying to somehow save Juniper and keep his respectable image at the same time.
Insane Troll Logic: His entire "confession," to the point where an annoyed Blackquill leaves to clear his head during his cross-examination. Justified, in that he actually is pulling something out of his rear end, on the spot.
Insufferable Genius: He frequently compares things between "you mouth-breathers" and a genius like himself. It's all just an act, though.
Jerkass: Acts like one due to his perfect scores and skills. He stops being one after he discovered that his scores were the result of his parents bribing his teacher Means.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Genuinely likes Robin and Juniper as friends. In spite of being distraught when he thinks they betrayed him, he still goes to great lengths to take the heat for them both when they are accused of murder.
Know-Nothing Know-It-All: An example where he wasn't even aware that his apparent high intelligence was nothing but a sham—he kept getting high grades in class so he figured he might as well adopt the personality. Once he finds out his parents were bribing the school for those grades, he's furious about it, drops the Insufferable Genius act and resolves to improve his grades on his own.
Leitmotif: "Difficult People"
Love Triangle: Rumored to be in one with Juniper and Newman. Of course, it's just a rumor. They're just good friends.
Manly Tears: When he discovers his friends aren't angry at him.
Meaningful Name: The O in his name can be seen as the number zero, as in him actually being a big failure of a student. This also applies to his given name in the Japanese version, Rei, which can mean "zero". Conner refers to his scores being the result of his parents conning him by bribing Means.
Mondegreen Gag: Athena proposes that a voice recording of a woman saying "You're a goner!" was really Professor Courte saying "Hugh O'Conner!" while confronting him. This is actually not the case.
My God, What Have I Done?: Has this reaction during his "breakdown" cutscene.
No Fair Cheating: Upon finding out that his perfect record was a sham, he immediately confronted his parents over the phone about it since they were submitting bribes.
Not So Stoic: He begins to break down as the trial goes on, cumulating in his ridiculous fake Motive Rant where he's practically Chewing the Scenery. Then after Athena proves how much his friends care about him, he bursts into Inelegant Blubbering.
Now That's Using Your Teeth!: When drawing his bow, he holds the arrow between his teeth. Justified since he injured his left hand.
Older Than They Look: He insists he is 18 years old but is later outed to be really 25 by Blackquill after finding out that he took a seven-year break.
Oh, Crap!: When being assessed by Athena during his testimony, one part causes a sadness spike since he claimed to have escaped through the empty sound booth, but mentally realised that he had just disproven Juniper's alibi.
The Perfectionist: He boasts about his 100% perfect score record. After learning it was a sham born out of bribery from his parents, he vows to study for retaking the entrance exam so he can legitimately score 100% on that at least.
Poor Communication Kills: Or rather, "Poor Communication Almost Ruins A Friendship." Several days before case 3, Hugh O'Connor learned that he was getting perfect grades because of bribes from his parents. But while he was confronting his parents over the phone about it, Juniper overheard him...but misunderstood, and thought he was submitting bribes! That's what caused Juniper to be suspicious of Hugh.
Red Herring: A rather effective one, actually. His Take Me Instead moment is meant to make him more suspicious for the latter half of the case, and his attitude before and after, but especially after, makes it seem that he's hiding something really big. He is hiding something big, but his secret is not that he killed the victim, but that he had figured out that his high scores were the result of his parents bribing the school.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Newman's red. It's even in their Japanese names and outfits.
Reference Overdosed: There are a lot of comparisons that can be made with O'Conner and Sebastian Debeste, such as the uniform, their names and their perfect grades being the result of their parents bribing the teacher of their class.
Stoic Spectacles: He's pretty calm all around. Until he isn't, and ends up chewing on his own bow in a borderline nervous crackup.
Take Me Instead: After both Robin and Juniper confess to chapter 3's murder, each to protect the other two, Hugh has his own Take Me Instead moment, confessing to the murder and even offering to explain in detail his "genius" murder plot. Luckily, it later becomes unnecessary, because the real culprit turns out to be someone else entirely.
There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: Geniuses and Mouthbreathers. No points for guessing which group he considers himself a part of.
The Stoic: In contrast to Robin.
Throw the Dog a Bone: After the case is over, the mock trial is started anew. Hugh goes on to win the mock trial, and gets a special lecture from Phoenix Wright as his reward.
To Be a Master: Hugh wants to be a great defense attorney someday, so he can dazzle everyone with his genius! This changes slightly at the end of case 3; instead, Robin, Hugh, and Juniper have a mutual goal to work together to create a court system where only the truth matters, and the ends never justify the means.
Villainous Breakdown: Inverted! He ends up breaking down in sheer happiness after Athena proves how much his friends care about him. Subverted in that he's hardly a villain, just a cocky Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Was about to lose to Robin in the initial trial. The fact he could turn things around just goes to show he's more than a total zero.
Zero-Approval Gambit: Tries his hardest to be as unlikable as possible in the hopes of being labelled as the culprit, going as far as to try to ruin his friendship with Juniper over a misunderstanding, all to spare her fate of being wrongfully arrested of murder. It almost worked, until Athena pointed out to him that his plan would only make Juniper feel worse than better.
O'Conner: Even so, I still wanted to make it up to Juniper for disappointing her like that. That's why I wanted to clear her name by pinning the blame on me! I mean, she probably hates me now, so it'd be a relief for her to see me locked away.

Robin Newman (Chishio Atsui)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robinnewman1.png

How Robin appears as a boy. ^{Click here to see Robin as a girl}

"IIIIIIIIIII'M ROBIIIIIIIN NEWMAAAAAAAAN!!! I want to become a great artist! I practice day and night!!! YEAAAAAAH! NOOOOOO! That's not it! Art's gotta be sincere, maaaaaan!!!"

A hot-blooded Themis Legal Academy prosecutor student wearing a red uniform. Newman also works with ceramics and has the tendency to dash his artwork against the ground if he doesn't consider a piece passionate enough. Newman is actually a girl who had been strictly raised as a boy for her whole life. She joined the academy to study law as her parents wanted to but seemed to have taken more of a liking for art than being a prosecutor.

Big Ol' Eyebrows: When you first see her, she seems to be sporting a very impressive pair that make her look perpetually furious. Turns out they're actually her hair covering up her actual small eyebrows as part of her boy disguise and move out of the way when in her girl form, but they flip back whenever she dips back into her boy persona.
Becoming the Mask: She was initially taking the prosecutor class due to pressure from her parents, Robin wanting to become an artist instead, but the events of Case 3 drive her into genuinely wanting to become a prosecutor in order to help fix the corrupted court system.
The Cutie: When she transforms into her girl form, oh boy... She cheers, spells out words with her finger, dances, faints, and does all sorts of other cute things. She is also an idealistic young lady like Juniper.
Declarative Finger: One of her quirks after her real gender is revealed is to S-P-E-L-L out some words, with her finger bouncing to every letter.
Distaff Counterpart: Her story is like Phoenix's but reversed and gender-flipped. She's almost a counterpart to Apollo as well, as they not only could easily pass as brother and sister on looks alone, but both of them wear red in their respective primary color trio, she's every bit as loud, brash, vain, and Hot-Blooded as Apollo is.
Dude Looks Like a Lady: He looks very feminine. It makes sense because he is actually a she.
Friendship Trinket: She made three of them for herself and Juniper and O'Conner.
Gender-Blender Name: Exploited as a fact, but not an Exploited Trope.
Hidden Buxom: After her exercise brace comes off, she is shown to have quite a feminine figure.
Hot-Blooded: Newman tends to scream a lot and insists on being very masculine, despite having some interest in women's clothing. Turns out he is actually a she, which explains said interest. Even after her gender is revealed, she's still very hot-blooded.
I Just Want to Be Beautiful: It's not the biggest component of Robin's personality, but Robin is upset that no matter how much he wears pretty dresses, he'll never be as pretty as Juniper... which is given further explanation when we discover that Robin isn't even a "he", but rather a tomboyish girl who was raised as a boy by her parents.
"I totally owned those girly clothes! I should have been totally pretty!!!"
Innocently Insensitive: Robin snaps after being accused of being forced to roleplay as a boy by Athena, followed by everyone else in the courtroom highlighting how masculine "he" is.
Kawaiiko: Robin acts like this after being outed as a girl, which is understandable considering she has been raised as a boy and wasn't allowed to do girly stuff. She has an animation where she twirls in a circle, clenches her fists, and actually makes a huge ":D" face before getting serious again.
Large Ham: Robin is... energetic, to say the least. This does not drop after her real gender is revealed, and in fact she becomes even hammier, even to the point of exaggerated fainting as her shock animation.
Leitmotif: "Lively People".
Love Triangle: Supposedly competes with O'Conner for Juniper. Nope, she's just good friends with them.
Meaningful Name:
- Chishio is an expression for hot-bloodedness and Atsui means "hot".
- Robin is a name that is used by both men and women, although it's more common for the former. Newman is a reference to her fake gender.
Mood-Swinger: Post-reveal, Robin flip-flops between her excessive girly behaviour and her ear-splitting shouting from her male persona.
No Indoor Voice: To emphasize "masculinity," Robin SHOUTS AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS, MAAAAAAAN! It doesn't take long for Apollo to comment he's found a rival to his Chords of Steel. She drops this after she takes off the brace, although she can still get shouty when emphasizing a point.
Painting the Medium: The typing sound for her dialogue shifts from the franchise's masculine style to feminine style upon her gender reveal. But when Robin shouts, her shouts use the masculine style again.
Raised as the Opposite Gender: Not that she likes it. At all. Athena even notes that it's the source of a lot of discord in Robin's heart.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to O'Conner's blue. It's even in their Japanese names and outfits.
Spelling for Emphasis: After being revealed to be a girl, Robin occasionally does this while wagging her finger on every letter.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Jean Greyerl from Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Both appear in the third case, both are introduced as boys until the defense finds out during the trial that they're girls, in both cases their gender reveal becomes a factor in being accused of murder (Jean being a girl opens the possibility of her being the witch that killed Newton Belduke, while Robin becomes a suspect for the voice recording of a woman saying "You're a goner!"), and both turn out afterwards to not be the killer (albeit Jean did use magic to commit theft and to frame someone else for witchcraft).
Take Me Instead: Eventually, to avoid either Hugh O'Conner or Juniper Woods being convicted as chapter 3's murderer, Robin Newman confesses to the crime. It doesn't work, though, because of a Take Me Instead moment on Juniper's part.
To Be a Master: Robin aspires to be a great prosecutor, in order to catch the bad guys! This changes slightly at the end of case 3; instead, Robin, Hugh, and Juniper have a mutual goal to work together to create a court system where only the truth matters, and the ends never justify the means.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: Once Robin Newman is revealed to be secretly be a girl, Robin is the Tomboy to the Girly Girl Juniper Woods (and herself in a sense, almost to Split Personality levels).
Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Outed as a girl during her cross-examination. The brace she wears causes her so much stress that Athena comes to "he" being a she as the only logical conclusion. This also comes right after Apollo, Blackquill, and even the Judge declare how "manly" Robin is. The revelation shocks the entire courtroom, including Blackquill.
Verbal Tic: In "dude mode," she screams everything she says, and punctuates her sentences with "MAAAAAAN!". In girl mode, she sometimes spells out words, punctuating her words with a P-O-I-N-T (in the Japanese version, she says the final syllables of her sentences one by one instead).

Myriam Scuttlebutt (Atsume Uwasa)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/myriamscuttlebutt.png

In disguise. ^{Click here to see her true appearance}

"Sss, sss, sss. It's the fate of we who live in the shadows. There's a very good reason why none may see my face by the light of day!"

A suspicious Themis Legal Academy student who hides her identity by covering herself with a cardboard box. She's the sole staff member of the school's newspaper, which she has turned into a scathing, tabloid-like journal of gossip and other mean-spirited "news" (she wears the box to make it easy for her to eavesdrop on others). In reality, however, she's found herself very lonely and isolated. Though she turned that sentiment into bitter gossip through her newspaper, she really wants to be part of Juniper, Hugh, and Robin's clique.

Animal Motifs: Has many snake-like qualities to her, including hissing like one as a Verbal Tic, making a slithering motion for her "happy" animation, and her love of cardboard boxes.
Anti-Climactic Unmasking: When she gets really shocked she throws her box off, revealing that underneath it she... looks completely normal, with the only unusual aspect of her appearance being that she wears binder clips in her hair.
Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: The clips in her hair look like the kind usually used to suspend photos in a darkroom.
By the Lights of Their Eyes: As her profile image to the right shows, this is all you see of her until her breakdown.
Curtains Match the Window: Once her face is revealed, she is shown to have indigo eyes and hair.
Expressive Accessory: When she starts sweating, the box somehow sweats too.
The Faceless: Subverted, but notable for almost not being. Initially, the developers didn't plan to ever have Myriam take the box off. However, they changed their minds for several reasons. One was that they felt the concept art for a boxless Myriam was "too cute" to waste by not using it. Another was that they felt having Myriam reveal herself to look completely normal would surprise players, who would likely have developed a negative mental image of her based on her actions. A third was that they didn't want players to think they hadn't bothered designing a boxless Myriam.
Face Palm: Covers her face with both palms she throws off the box to recover her laptop and then realizes she just showed her face.
Freeze-Frame Bonus: Her real face, to some extent, but the reveal itself contains an even greater one. If you manage to get a close look at her laptop as its falling, you'll see her wallpaper is a picture of Juniper, Hugh and Robin, with Myriam herself seemingly being edited into the image.
Girlish Pigtails: Whenever we see her without the box covering her head.
I Just Want to Have Friends: She decided to spend so much of her time on them not because of her newspaper club but because she only wanted to be friends with Juniper, O'Conner, and Newman.
Infinite Supplies: Has a tendency to drop a bunch of pencils, set squares and the like from her box when her lies are exposed. Her laptop follows when she's particularly devastated. So she temporarily throws the box off so she can recover her laptop, but then realizes what she just did and covers her face with her hands, and this is how we get to see what she looks like.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's sleazy and generally belligerent but underneath it all she's just a lonely girl and using her "journalism" to vent. After Athena cheers her up after the first day of court (where she made a fool of herself on the stand) she offers some genuine help and by the end she's truly befriended Juniper, Hugh, and Robin.
Leitmotif: "Suspicious People"
Malicious Libel: She writes libel to disparage Juniper Woods with clearly false and negative stories.
Meaningful Name: "Atsume Uwasa" means "rumor collecting" after translation. "Scuttlebutt" carries the same connotation in English.
School Newspaper News Hound: She pretends to be one, but this trope is subverted by the fact that the school newspaper she publishes is full of Malicious Libel, at least judging from the Themis Herald issue found at the start of the case.
Shout-Out: Someone who likes to sneak around using a cardboard box to remain hidden? And often makes a hissing noise? Like a snake? Hmmm...
Spanner in the Works:
- After being threatened by Simon, she got scared and destroyed her box in the incinerator, but found the remains of a Gavinners flag inside. Turns out Professor Means tried to destroy it since the victim's blood got onto it. It was also the reason why another flag had a little amount since the former was on top of it.
- Two pictures she took inadvertently help to exonerate Juniper twice: One was during the stage setup which depicted a crane lifting the backdrop past a few windows, which disproved another piece of evidence proving that Juniper was able to kill the victim around the estimated time. The other one showed Hugh piloting said crane but more importantly, Professor Means talking to Robin. She had just finished the Gavin statue, but Means promised to make the Phoenix statue for her. Since he was carrying his staff/spear at the time, Athena was able to prove that he used that to disguise the victim's body as the Phoenix statue.
Verbal Tic: "Sss, sss, sss!" and "Kahk-kahk!"

The Cosmic Turnabout (Hoshi ni Natta Gyakuten)

Solomon Starbuck (Taiyou Hoshinari)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/solomonstarbuck.png

"Thanks, but......... Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaangh... I was supposed to be in space right about now... Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaangh... Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaangh.."

A famous astronaut who is friends with Apollo Justice.

Anime Hair: His hair is shaped like a rocket.
Bad Liar: Director Cosmos claims he's bad at keeping cover-ups under wraps, which becomes true in court.
Big Brother Mentor: Towards Apollo and Clay.
Borrowed Catchphrase: Borrows Clay's (who got it from Apollo) "I'm fine" as a form of mantra.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Don't let his depression and funny suit malfunctions fool you, despite his spaceship suffering multiple system failures due to sabotage by the phantom he was still able to successfully navigate the HAT-1 back to Earth using his piloting skills and ingenuity.
Earn Your Happy Ending: In the post-credits scene, he finally makes it into space on the HAT-3 rocket.
The Eeyore: When he's down on himself. With lots of contagious sighing to boot.
Epic Fail: He uses the parachute in his space suit while in court and gets flown away, and immediately gets stuck at the ceiling. The trial has to be interrupted for a bit so they can pick him down with a cherry picker.
Famed In-Story: Becomes a celebrity astronaut because of the "HAT-1 Miracle" and the movie that was made based on the incident.
Fiery Redhead: When he's not busy being The Eeyore.
He's Back!: After a little encouragement from everyone in the court, he was able to overcome his Heroic BSoD.
Hot-Blooded: He can get really psyched about space, causing him to become a Large Ham.
Ironic Fear: He's a spaceman that's developed a phobia towards outer space. Considering that he almost died in space during the HAT-1 incident, you can't blame him. Even so, he still wants to venture back into outer space, and eventually does so on the HAT-3 rocket.
Locked Out of the Loop: When Director Cosmos hatched his plan to switch launch pads with the help of his staff, he kept Solomon out of it through drugging him because he's a bad liar.
Meaningful Name:
- His Japanese first name literally means "sun". Plus, his name can come from phrases that roughly mean "I want to become a star".
- Sol is a fragment that can be taken from his first name in the English version.
- After the word Sol, arrange the leftover letters, and you get Moon.
Mood-Swinger: He can switch between being depressed and excited in a blink of an eye.
Spanner in the Works: His efforts in salvaging the HAT-1 spaceflight inadvertently foiled the phantom's plan to dispose of the bloodied moon rock, leading to the sequence of events that would lead to his arrest seven years later.

Ponco

"Commencing guest registration! Please tell me your name. A nickname is fine, too!"

One of the robots found in the space station, who specializes in guiding visitors.

Affectionate Nickname: Mommy Metis to Metis Cykes, like all of the other robots.
Berserk Button: Referring to her by something else besides "Ponco". It's Ponco, okay?! Not Panko, robot, or witness. It's Ponco!
Cheerful Child: Her eagerness to help and enjoyment in getting praised for being helpful make her look like one. The Judge even treats her like an adorable little girl.
Cute Machines: She's quite small with an optimistic personality, and she's capable of highly expressive emoting that makes the Judge diverge into full-blown Cuteness Proximity.
Foreshadowing: Observe her as she talks. Specifically, watch the color of her face as she changes emotions. Where have we seen this before? Athena's Widget.
Fun with Acronyms: Psychological Observation & Navigation Companion.
Genki Girl: Very eager to help people in an excited, cheerful manner.
Gratuitous English: In the Japanese version, Ponco tells Phoenix the meaning of her name in English.
I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Phoenix comments that the Judge seems ready to adopt her as another grandchild.
Innocent Inaccurate: Her testimony is riddled with this due to not understanding human interactions and how her recognition system works. For example, what she thought she saw was Athena hugging (aka stabbing) Dr. Cykes, she actually saw Athena stabbing the phantom dressed in Metis Cykes' clothing to fool Ponco's recognition system.
Insistent Terminology: Insists on being referred to as "Ponco".
Kill the Cutie: Simon sliced her to pieces after stumbling upon the scene of Metis's murder. Aura rebuilt her later though.
Leitmotif: "Lively People"
Make the Dog Testify: She ends up testifying about the murder at Athena's trial.
Ridiculously Human Robots: Invoked, that was the design goal.
Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Has "eyelashes" and a pair of antennae which look like pigtails to indicate that she's female.

Clonco (Ponta)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clonco.png

"Hello! Hello! Are you sightseeing? Are you lost? Are youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu... I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I am Clonco. Shall I guide you? G-G-Guide youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu?"

A robot accompanying scientist Aura Blackquill.

Apologetic Attacker: When Aura asks Clonco to escort Phoenix and Trucy out of her lab, he starts swinging his arms and apologising for scaring them out.
Butt-Monkey: Frequently subject to Aura's abuse.
Cute Machines: Same as his "sister" Ponco. Less so when Aura is controlling him.
Fun with Acronyms: Averted; unlike Ponco, Clonco is just his name.
Leitmotif: "Suspicious People" then "Robot Laboratory ~ Unerasable Past"
Mistaken Identity: He mistakes Apollo for Clay Terran even though the latter is dead. Initially seen as a mistake (since Clonco has somewhat glitchy behaviour), it ends up proving to be critical information - namely, of how easily his and Ponco's recognition systems can be fooled by covering one's face and wearing a GYAXA jacket belonging to an employee - Apollo was wearing an eyepatch, so Clonco had to rely on the ID embedded in Clay's jacket that Apollo was wearing, which was how the Phantom disguised himself as Metis with a Noh mask and her jacket.
Morphic Resonance: In a sense; when Aura's controlling him his screen turns purple and two drills protrude diagonally from his head, mimicking her hair.
People Puppets: Is taken over remotely by Aura to help with her hostage scheme, then later as her mouthpiece in court during Case 5.
Ridiculously Human Robots: Same reason as Ponco, he was meant to act like that. Since his mainframe isn't part of his body either, Aura feels safe tormenting him without damaging his vital parts.
Robot Buddy: To Aura Blackquill, who frequently abuses him.
Too Kinky to Torture: Actually misses Aura and her abuse after she is arrested and sent to jail.

Aura Blackquill (Kaguya Yuugami)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aurablackquill.png

"I like robots MUCH better. At least you can make them any way you want them. Unlike humans, with their petty emotions and constant worries..."

The older sister of the prosecutor/convict Simon Blackquill, and a scientist at the Space Center.

Ambiguously Gay: Aura had a lot of questionable subtext directed towards Metis Cykes and the Homoerotic Subtext between them is astounding. Her statement about her relationship with Metis almost tore Aura away from the "ambiguous" part.
Anti-Villain: Yes, she kidnaps Trucy and a dozen other hostages and threatens to have them killed if they don't hand over Athena, (and in one bad ending, goes through with it,) and yes, she genuinely believes Athena is the one who killed Metis, and she most likely intended to kill her. However, she does all the things she does because she wants to see justice done for her former partner, and wants nothing more than for her little brother Simon to be set free. After it's clear to her that Athena is not the killer, she releases the hostages and surrenders immediately.
Bad Boss: To the robots, Clonco says they make sure to keep their batteries charged because they don't know what Aura might do to them while they are "unconscious".
Big Sister Instinct: After her brother was arrested, she kept pleading for a retrial to no avail.
Broken Bird: As seen in the crew photo of the HAT-1 team, she used to be a much happier person, but her co-worker/possible romantic interest being murdered and her brother arrested as the culprit shattered her world.
Cool Shades: She has translucent, futuristic ones.
Cynicism Catalyst: Metis Cykes' death and her brother's subsequent indictment have caused her to gradually become an extremely bitter person.
Deadpan Snarker: During her Hostage Situation, she is flabbergasted that the masses are taking the robot revolt, a cliché situation, seriously.
Easily Forgiven: Averted. While Phoenix understands why Aura did what she did, in his monologue he condemns her actions as unforgivable for threatening to harm Trucy. The end credits even show that Aura is currently in jail with Simon trying to find her a lawyer.
Gadgeteer Genius: Quite skilled at making robots.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Metis Cykes, although the "heterosexual" part on Aura's side is a little ambiguous.
Hostage Situation: As Simon's execution date draws near, she decides to hold a group of visitors hostage in the space museum to demand Athena Cykes to be punished for killing Metis Cykes (the girl's deceased mother and Aura's former co-worker), the crime Simon was convicted of.
I Have Your Wife: She holds a number of Space Center visitors hostage (including Trucy) after her brother declines help from her to prove his innocence in the UR-1 Incident. Aura agrees to let Trucy go if Phoenix turns Athena in, but he instead proposes a retrial of the UR-1 Incident, which Aura accepts.
Jerkass: Most of her screentime has her abusing Clonco and being confrontational to the protagonists, especially Athena.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: However, she's more willing to answer Apollo's questions and treats him far more kindly than Phoenix or Athena. This is possibly to due to the fact he and Clay have been hanging around the space station since they were younger, but she more explicitly points out that they share the same pain of having lost someone important to them. Also, her biggest Jerkass moments, such as the hostage situation, all stem from her love for her brother and her determination to see him freed.
Kick the Dog: In one Earn Your Bad Ending, it's heavily implied she crosses the Despair Event Horizon/Rage Breaking Point and pulls a Taking You with Me on her innocent hostages (including Trucy, the adopted daughter of the guy trying to save Aura's brother, no less).
Knight Templar Big Brother: Creates a hostage situation once her brother's execution date draws near so she could finally get that retrial for him.
Latex Spacesuit: Wears this in lieu of a lab uniform.
Leitmotif: "Suspicious People" then "Robot Laboratory ~ Unerasable Past"
Letting Her Hair Down: In the post-credits scene, when watching the HAT-3 launch from her prison cell. Takuro Fuse comments in the Gyakuten Saiban 5 Visual Book that he did this as a way of showing Aura being finally freed from the phantom's curse.
Mad Scientist: She is a scientist, and she committed evil acts in order to save her brother from execution and force the prosecution of Athena for Metis's murder, making her an Anti-Villain. She also was building a Humongous Mecha named the JudgeTron in order to destroy everything related to the broken legal system. The Dark Age of the Law resulted in the false conviction of her brother, making her mistrust the legal system for good reason.
Meaningful Name:
- Princess Kaguya is a figure from a Japanese folktale (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter/Taketori Monogatari) who was said to have come from the moon to the earth, to expose the corruption of the princes who try to marry her. It is often regarded as the very first Science Fiction story. Kaguya is also a nickname for a satellite and a name for a minor planet.
- Similarly, her English name is taken from the Aura satellite launched by NASA in 2004.
- Aura was the personification of the breeze, and the clear sky. This complements Athena, whose namesake was originally a clear sky goddess.
Rage Against the Legal System: Is perhaps the epitome of the public backlash against the "Dark Age of the Law." Her brother is Wrongly Accused and is about to be executed, and the one she sees as the real killer is a defense attorney — leaving her with an equal distrust of prosecutors and defenders, and making her believe outright vigilantism is preferable to the Kangaroo Court system. This reaches critical mass when she finally snaps and takes a bunch of hostages to force a retrial for said brother on the day before his planned execution. However, once the phantom is caught and her brother is exonerated, she gives up her crusade — and is promised a fair, non-corrupt trial (for the Hostage Situation) by Phoenix and Edgeworth.
Robot Buddy: Has one she is free to use (and abuse). She also helps creating those robots in the first place.
Unwitting Pawn: Aura was used by the phantom to help him escape and to put blame on Athena when she is accused for matricide.
Walking Spoiler: Not so much as her relation to the prosecutor other than the Hostage Situation she started but to her co-worker and victim of the UR-1 incident Metis Cykes.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Somewhat. She staged the hostage situation so that the court can host a re-trial for Simon's false charges since his execution date was going to be on the next day. However, she would not accept any other verdict other than Athena being indicted for Metis' murder, convinced that she's the only other possible suspect. She loosens up however when Phoenix proves a third party was at the crime scene and was the real murderer of Metis. She even lets the hostages go afterwards and turns herself in.
When She Smiles: While Aura has smiled before, it was usually to show her contempt with the people or things she did not like. However, when her brother, Simon, is acquitted from the false charges of murder, she makes a genuine smile towards him and even sheds some tears of joy. Also, the picture of the HAT-1 team shows her genuinely happy and smiling along with the rest of the crew.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: She committed evil acts in order to save her brother from execution and force the prosecution of Athena for Metis's murder, making her an Anti-Villain. The Dark Age of the Law really hurt her, making her mistrust the legal system for good reason.

Yuri Cosmos (Uchuu Oogawara)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yuricosmos.png

"For I am Yuri Cosmos! Director of the Cosmos Space Center, which was of course named after me, Yuri Cosmos! ............ Don't you have anything you wish to ask me?"

Chief of the GYAXA space program and space center, a proud man who rides a not-quite-Segway everywhere he goes.

Arc Villain: Subverted; he plays the usual case villain role mechanics-wise, complete with a final breakdown, though he is not actually a murderer or a criminal at all, aside from perjury to keep the phantom's involvement under wraps.
Break the Haughty: It's really hard not to feel for all the crap he goes through during Case 4. He's also an insufferable egotist who needed to be deflated a little.
Circling Stars: In his dizzy animation, fittingly enough.
Cloudcuckoolander: He rides around on a Segway everywhere even in court or while being shot at by a murderer and investigating the scene afterward, and acts as if he were in a space battle. Insults and sarcasm also fly right over his head thanks to his arrogance.
Cool Old Guy: Though he rattles on about his own importance, he's a pretty cool guy.
Exact Words: He was shot by Detective Arme by accident. He only survived because it miraculously hit his huge medal.
Expressive Hair: His mustache droops whenever he gets dizzy/upset, gets thicker and taller when he's angry, and during his breakdown, the ends of it point up. His beard is also affected, but not to the same extent.
Father Neptune: He certainly fits the appearance, even if he acts more like a space commander than a naval commander.
A Father to His Men: He truly cares about his astronauts, especially since it's the entire reason that he performed the launch pad switch.
Graceful Loser: Even though the whole mess resulted in his demotion, he still serves the new director with pride.
Hero Antagonist: In a rare occurrence for the series, his lies in court turn out to be hiding completely well-intentioned actions.
It's All About Me: Without exaggeration, he considers himself "the center of the cosmos" — that is, he thinks the universe revolves around him. Shockingly, he's not a Jerkass about it; just an insufferable Cloudcuckoolander.
Leitmotif: "Head of the Center of the Universe"
Meaningful Name: His Japanese name contains a homophone for the word for "space" ("uchuu") and basically references how he only works at a space station instead of actually being at space like an astronaut. In addition, "Yuri" is likely a reference to cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
Out-Gambitted: The government won't let him call off the HAT-2 mission, despite the bomb threat. He attempts to get around this by switching the museum and Launch Pad 1, which would ensure that the astronauts don't get caught in the launch pad's explosion. Unfortunately, he got wiretapped by the bomber, who then used the switch to his own advantage.
Perpetual Frowner: This is actually Lampshaded by Trucy when viewing the old picture in the space museum. Everyone else is smiling and cheering, but he just gives a thumbs up without changing his expression.
Pocket Protector: His badge saved him from a bullet mistakenly fired by Detective Arme.
Red Herring: He serves as the "villain" of Case 4 structure-wise, being set up as the true culprit and providing the final testimony of the case, but he isn't the murderer. He even gets a Villainous Breakdown when "defeated" despite those usually being reserved for the true culprits.
Sarcasm-Blind: Mistakes snide remarks, particularly Simon Blackquill's, as actual compliments. Athena points it out fairly early in Case 4.
Shout-Out:
- His jacket's buttons are Starmen from Super Mario Bros.
- Physically resembles Juzo Okita, a Space Opera captain.
Small Name, Big Ego: He's quite obsessed with his name going down in history.
That Liar Lies: Both the defence and the prosecution, but actually more so the latter, constantly call him out on his lying spree in court. Of course he's not lying for the reason you think he is.
Villainous Breakdown: He's not exactly a villain, but has one that matches a killer's breakdown after being exposed as not telling the court about him switching the launch pads before the HAT-2 bombing. He accidentally smashes down too hard on the controls for his segway, making it go out of control and drag him all around the courtroom before finally smashing through the courtroom doors, leaving an Impact Silhouette.

Turnabout for Tomorrow (Mirai he no Gyakuten)

The phantom — WARNING: MAJOR UNMARKED SPOILERS

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pwaadd_phantom.png

"............Aww. Look what you did to my mask."

An international spy who infiltrated the police force at least a year before the start of the game. A master of disguise and a skilled actor who has complete control over all of his emotions, he, along with the Big Bad of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, ushered "the Dark Age of the Law". His true identity, looks, and personality are unknown.

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When he's finally exposed in court, he's reduced to begging the unseen assassin(s) near the building not to kill him. He gets shot anyway, although he survives by dumb luck.
Ambiguous Gender: He's referred to as male and his not so-Heroic Build certainly points towards him being one, but his complete abandonment of his own past and identity leaves some ambiguity on the matter. It should be noted that his breakdown shows that he's perfectly capable of imitating women.
all lowercase letters: His moniker of "the phantom" is never capitalized, perhaps to help de-emphasize it as a name.
Arch-Enemy: To Athena and Blackquill. He killed the former's mother and was responsible for the latter going to prison.
Bad Liar:
- While good at prepared lies, he is no good at improvising lies, as demonstrated when Phoenix asks him who specifically in his family was kidnapped. Also at this point, he can't figure out the correct convincing emotion and frequently switches emotional reactions to the lawyer's statements.
- This dovetails with how, in 5-4, Phoenix and Athena come upon Bobby apparently ruminating on what course is genuine justice. In light of his improvisation problems, it becomes clear that what they really walked in on was him composing how he was going to act to everyone else. If he isn't given a good chunk of time to write and rehearse, he can't really find his way through how emotions work. Which makes sense, given that his emotional instincts and awareness are heavily stunted, at best.
Becoming the Mask: He disguised himself with a lot of identities to the point where he forgot what his true identity is, causing him to break down.
Beneath the Mask: Quite literally in this case. Subverted, in that we never actually meet his real personality - just his takes on other people.
Beware the Silly Ones: While on his Fulbright persona, he's pretty much harmless. Outside of it, however...
Big Bad: Of Dual Destinies.
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Due to his unshakeable determination to get away with his crimes and inability to care about how his actions affect others, committing heinous crimes is as natural as breathing to him.
Call-Back: He is not the first character to imitate Phoenix Wright. However, while Furio Tigre's imitation only qualifies as a Paper-Thin Disguise, the phantom pulls it off very well and is a far greater menace to society than Furio Tigre ever could have been. Although despite the accuracy, it is ultimately just as useless as the actual Phoenix Wright was in the courtroom.
Clothing Damage: Along with the Cool Shades worn by his Fulbright disguise, his Fulbright mask is also damaged by Simon Blackquill.
Consummate Liar: In a manner much like Luke Atmey, he manages to fool the Magatama even after getting Psyche-Locks broken, though, in the phantom's case, it's more of a lie of omission. When Phoenix makes him confess about why there was so much security around the Cosmos Space Center, Fulbright reveals the bombing threat and how Blackquill is hunting down a phantom. He explains all of this without revealing he himself is the phantom Blackquill is looking for, and without the Magatama picking up that he's withholding secrets again.
Cool Shades: And deceptively hi-tech while on his Fulbright costume.
Copied the Morals, Too: In the literal sense, considering the phantom needed to mimic Fulbright down to the very last idiosyncrasy in order to be fully convincing. This includes genuinely assisting Phoenix and his allies on every case that has nothing to do with his mission of sabotaging the HAT rockets and preserving his identity, but that's mostly to keep up the disguise than any real sense of morality.
The Cynic: He claims that trust and emotions are meaningless concepts, but the defense calls him a Dirty Coward for running from his emotions and his problems.
Death by Irony: Convicted with a piece of evidence he tried to destroy that is in possession of the daughter of the woman he killed and it all took place in the courtroom he bombed no less. Not to mention that one of the pieces of evidence that helped catch him was the very same bomb he used to blow up the courtroom.
Dead Person Impersonation: It's implied that he does this regularly, given his status as a Master of Disguise, but there are two prominent examples in the story:
- He impersonated Bobby Fulbright, a deceased police detective, so he could manipulate the crime scene as a detective.
- He also killed Metis Cykes, after which he exploited Ponco's detection system in such a way that he passed himself for her in Ponco's "eyes".
Dirty Coward: He does everything so that he can escape suspicion.
The Dog Was the Mastermind: Except with the added bonus that the real dog was dead the whole time and the mastermind was only impersonating him. The dog being Bobby Fulbright.
The Dreaded: He's feared and hated by everyone after the reveal of his identity.
Emotion Suppression: He normally doesn't feel any emotions whatsoever, though when he realizes his life is in danger he begins to feel fear for the first time.
Empty Shell: Subverted. He claims to have no 'self,' but as Athena and Phoenix start wearing down his defences, his Dirty Coward nature starts shining through.
Evil Twin: Disguises himself as Phoenix after he's outed in order to mock him. He also tries to get off on a technicality by questioning the validity of the evidence against him. The Evil Twin disguise is also the last one he takes before his Villainous Breakdown.
The Faceless: For the player, his face is never seen after his breakdown.
Faux Affably Evil: Puts on a friendly façade and pretends to care about justice as Fulbright, but in reality, he doesn't care about anyone but himself.
Final Boss: He's the last witness and the last killer of the game.
Foreshadowing: Plenty while on his Fulbright persona:
- He's the only person Blackquill can't seem to intimidate. Of course, later is revealed that he's actually as good as, if not better than Blackquill at combat, due to being a world-class spy. He's also the one person aside from Simon himself who's perfectly aware that Simon is innocent, because he himself is the culprit.
- "My investigations are as thorough as they are foolproof, or my name isn't Fulbright!" They aren't, and it isn't.
  - When Athena and Apollo investigate the entrance to the Forbidden Chamber, he casually mentions that the door is an essential part of the local culture and therefore can't be blown up. Given the phantom's pension for bombs...
  - In that same case, there's his "You callin' me a bad guy?" speech, and Jinxie calling him a ghost. While the latter seems to be her general delusional phobia, it actually serves as double foreshadowing: not only is a phantom a kind of ghost, but the real Bobby Fulbright is indeed dead.
- Whenever he clutches his right hand in righteous fury, you can clearly see the scar Athena gave him seven years ago in self-defense.
- During Case 3, he tries to compare a clock with his watch and deems the former accurate...only it turns out his watch has stopped. Looks like his employers who gave him said watch which had a myriad of gadgets such as a hacking device forgot to make it tell time.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: The only thing we know about his true appearance is that Athena gave him a scar on his hand, noticeable when he clenches his fist.
Greater-Scope Villain: Whoever orders him to commit his crimes is this.
Hate Sink: He's a selfish, manipulative coward who ruined countless lives, he gets the ire of everyone who knows about him. His willingness to do anything to achieve his goals also makes him far worse than the average antagonist, as he attempted to murder an eleven year old girl after killing her mother right in front of her, purely because she was a witness. When he's revealed for the heartless and sociopathic monster he is, he's reduced to a pathetic shell of a man who resorts to attempting to murder everyone in the courtroom, gaslighting the defense and desperately trying to escape his well earned punishment.
Hidden Villain: His very existence isn't revealed until Case 4 and he's only exposed at the tail end of Case 5.
Hoist by His Own Petard:
- Blowing off Courtroom No. 4's roof had two effects detrimental to him: First, this rendered the courtroom officially out of order—had he not done so, the courtroom would've most likely been used for yet another case, leaving Wright and company with no courtroom left to conduct the UR-1 retrial, thereby allowing Aura to kill her hostages as well as the phantom to get away with his misdeeds. Second, the exposed courtroom allowed the sniper to have a clear shot at him.
- His other big mistake was faking Athena's fingerprint data in the final trial. All Phoenix had to do was ask for a re-test. At that point, his plan to frame Athena fell apart. The rest of the trial is him trying to escape the accusation of being the phantom.
Identity Breakdown: Blackquill preys on the phantom's feelings of uncertainty to make him realize he no longer remembers his own identity. The phantom then starts tearing his masks one after the other, screaming in despair as he tries to unveil his real face. When he finally removes the last mask, he is shot down by a sniper, thus preventing the player from seeing his true appearance.
I Have Your Wife: While trying to keep his Fulbright facade, he claims this as how the phantom is blackmailing him.
Impersonating an Officer: He disguises himself as police detective Bobby Fulbright.
It's All About Me: His mission was to sabotage the rocket launches and steal the meteorite for his "client" but when Athena's intervention caused him to spill some blood on said meteorite he switched gears to destroying the meteor to preserve his identity, no matter if it went against the job and how many people had to die for it to happen.
The Killer Becomes the Killed: Right after he keeps switching masks in his breakdown and eventually goes back to the torn Fulbright mask, he gets shot by an unknown shooter. Of course, the trope is subverted here as the phantom survives since nothing vital was hit.
Kubrick Stare: Is quite capable of one when his pretending to be lovely detective Bobby Fulbright begins falling apart.
Lack of Empathy: Lack of ANY emotion, let alone empathy.
Latex Perfection: All of his masks.
Laughably Evil: His imitations of other characters are both amusing and paranoia-inducing at the same time. A prime example of this is when he uses a Phoenix mask for no other reason than to screw with the lawyer. That said, his humorous moments are eclipsed by the sheer tragedy he causes in an attempt to cover all traces of himself.
Laughing Mad: Has one in the latter stages of the trial, and only in his Fulbright persona. It's actually kind of unsettling since he does not have it when "in character" and it's a sign that you're starting to tear down his Fulbright disguise.
Leitmotif: "Phantom ~ UNKNOWN".
Light Is Not Good: A bonus meaning on Fulbright's English name, as it gives off this vibe in contrast to Blackquill's Dark Is Not Evil.
Mad Bomber: The one who set up the bombs for the murder of Clay Terran and responsible for the courtroom bombing.
Manipulative Bastard: He's skilled at appealing to other's emotions.
Master of Disguise: He can do the mannerisms of the characters he's copying perfectly.
Multilayer Façade: Taken to its absurd conclusion. Not even he knows his real identity anymore.
My God, What Have I Done?: Has this reaction when he brings the blood-stained lighter to the court during the climax of Case 4 and it turns out to have Athena's prints. Ultimately subverted however, as it was part of his plan to frame her in the first place.
Ninja: He thematically represents this in contrast to Blackquill's samurai motif, being a spy who's a Master of Disguise as well as a hired killer.
No Name Given: Even though he's referred to as "the phantom", the nametag of his dialogue box is ???.
Nominal Hero: During Cases 2 and 3 and the DLC case, none of which have any relation to his evil plan. He's genuinely helping the heroes and law enforcement solve the crimes to the best of his ability, but only to maintain his cover as a detective.
Not So Stoic: His defining character trait as noted in the psych profile is that he feels little to no emotions. Yet when he is finally caught and about to be exposed, he reveals he does indeed feel one emotion greatly: fear.
Obviously Evil: In the latter stages of the trial, when his Fulbright disguise starts falling apart.
Only in It for the Money: This is his only possible motive, as he's too emotionally distant to be a sadist or have a loyalty to his clients like Shelly de Killer.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When the very emotional "Fulbright" switches into a very deadpan expression in Case 5, the player is tipped off that he is indeed the phantom.
Person of Mass Destruction: His rap sheet includes bombing an entire courtroom and being one of the two Greater Scope Villains responsible for the "Dark Age of the Law" (the other being Kristoph Gavin).
Properly Paranoid: Insists that there are assassins nearby who will kill him if he's revealed to be the phantom. Turns out he's right, as he's shot by a sniper on a nearby rooftop right when he removes his last mask. He survives the shot, however.
Red Baron: The name "phantom" is more this than an actual proper alias, to the point it's never capitalized save in evidence names.
Revenge Before Reason: Had he not helped clear Starbuck by presenting the lighter and claiming it had Athena's fingerprints, he would have gotten away with everything. However, he had a vendetta against Athena for wounding him in the past and clearly aimed for her to take the fall instead. This leads to his downfall.
Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Being revealed as the phantom, he takes off his Fulbright mask to reveal the face of...Solomon Starbuck. Of course, this facade lasts for only a few seconds before the phantom explains that it's just his nature of immediately adopting diguises. He later shows off an Aristotle Means and Phoenix Wright face just to get under everyone's skin.
Shapeshifter Identity Crisis: During his breakdown, he starts to scream about what his true face is and becomes confused on whom he really is.
Shapeshifter Swan Song: While not an actual shapeshifter, his breakdown where he cycles through several of his masks all at once is meant to invoke this.
Shoe Phone: The phantom has a lot of cool gadgets, such as a lighter gun and a Gadget Watch with a grappling hook and a jammer that can nullify the Mood Matrix.
The Sociopath:
- He is basically called one without the word 'sociopath' actually being used. It's explained that he doesn't experience emotions, at least not the same level that most people do; it's almost a textbook definition.
- It's played within that he's capable of faking his emotions, but only to the extent that he forces them to purposely confuse Athena's Mood Matrix. In his final on-screen moments, he also admits to experiencing fear when he realizes there's a sniper trained on him, though it's debatable whether he's repressed his emotions and let them all out after Phoenix and co's Kirk Summation, or whether he simply feels fear from losing control of the situation, which isn't unusual for sociopaths.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Calisto Yew/Shih-na and Di-Jun Huang's imposter from the Investigations games. Both of the above are antagonists who take on fake identities as part of their crimes and whose real names are never revealed. Furthermore, like the former, he's a spy pretending to fight crime, and like the latter, he pulls off a Dead Person Impersonation unsuspected for a very long time before the truth surfaces.
The Spook: Very much so. Not even he can remember who he is.
That Makes Me Feel Angry: When Phoenix and co. finally beat him in Turnabout for Tomorrow.
"I'm scared! I'm afraid! I feel FEAR!"
The Unfettered: His only goal is safeguarding his identity and he does not care how many lives he has to end, ruin or jeopardize to make it happen. To wit, the courtroom bombing at the beginning of the game? That was his doing. Why did he do it? There was some evidence in that courtroom that could compromise his identity. Let that sink in: he was willing to bomb an entire courtroom full of people just to get rid of some evidence.
The Unreveal: His true face is never shown.
Villainous Breakdown: It starts subtly. First he makes inappropriate emotional reactions to his statements. Then he openly uses his spy gear. At one point, he even uses a zip-line to try an escape the courtroom, with a deadpan "nope, I'm out of here" expression. The whole time, he insists that he's an undercover agent, not the spy. Then when it's revealed he was impersonating a dead man, he takes off his mask and starts impersonating other people - while still loudly insisting he's an undercover agent. Once he's finally cornered, he freaks out from sheer terror. His face turns into various characters, such as Tonate and Means, and screams about his identity crisis. He eventually turns back to the torn Fulbright mask but unexpectedly gets shot by an unknown assailant and at the last moment, takes off his mask but his face is never seen.
Voice Changeling: Along with his disguises, he can imitate the voices of the people he impersonates. Even the voices of women. Given the rest of his spy gadgets, it's not hard to imagine that he has one that does this for him.
Walking Spoiler: He has an extra spoiler warning on a page with unmarked spoilers for a reason. His existence isn't even revealed until near the end of the game, and his identity is one of the biggest twists in the game.
Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: He has a bunch of spy gadgets typically seen in fiction, which evokes this reaction from Phoenix.
White Mask of Doom: Stole Metis Cykes's Noh mask, which is said to give ordinary humans the powers of a phantom. The image of him wearing this mask is really disturbing.
Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Once Phoenix catches onto his identity, he tries to claim that he's being blackmailed by the "phantom" into working for him, not being the phantom himself. When he's pressed, however, he can't even decide which of his relatives is the hostage, and no one takes it seriously.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The reason he's so dedicated to keeping his identity hidden is the fear that one of the corporations/organizations/countries he's got top-secret info on will kill him.

Characters / Ace Attorney: Witnesses and Other Characters - Dual Destinies

Turnabout Countdown (Gyakuten no Countdown)

The Monstrous Turnabout (Gyakuten no Hyakkiyako)

Turnabout Reclaimed (Gyakuten no Kikan)

Ora Shipley the First (Elle Arafune)

Turnabout Academy (Gyakuten no Gakuen)

The Cosmic Turnabout (Hoshi ni Natta Gyakuten)

Turnabout for Tomorrow (Mirai he no Gyakuten)

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Characters / Ace Attorney: Witnesses and Other Characters - Dual Destinies

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Turnabout Countdown (Gyakuten no Countdown)

The Monstrous Turnabout (Gyakuten no Hyakkiyako)

Turnabout Reclaimed (Gyakuten no Kikan)

Ora Shipley the First (Elle Arafune)

Turnabout Academy (Gyakuten no Gakuen)

The Cosmic Turnabout (Hoshi ni Natta Gyakuten)

Turnabout for Tomorrow (Mirai he no Gyakuten)

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Index

Next