Ace Attorney: Witnesses and Other Characters - Phoenix Wright / Characters

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

Witnesses and miscellaneous characters that appear in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

Note: There are spoilers for later installments as well as the first game. Read cautiously!

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Turnabout Sisters (Gyakuten Shimai)

April May (Umeyo Shochiku)

Voiced by (Japanese): Mariko Honda (anime)

Voiced by (English): Jeannie Tirado (anime)

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

"I like a man with a big... vocabulary."

Redd White's secretary. Something of an airhead who easily seduces men because of her looks.

Animal Motifs: Cats. Her standard pose has her holding her hands up close to either side of her face like a cat pouncing, she uses words like "Rowr!" when she gets angry, and her 'Pressured' sprite has her adopt an angry, Cheshire Cat-esque grin.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Has a cute seemingly ditzy exterior, but reveals her true personality and becomes hostile under enough pressure.
Brainless Beauty: Zig-zagged. While she seems like one at first glance, it's revealed to be mostly an act she puts on to divert suspicion away from herself. That being said, she still makes some rather boneheaded moves, and her downfall comes from her assumption that anything can be bought in a store.
Curtains Match the Window: Has both pink hair and eyes.
Death Glare: When pressed and cornered.
Distracted by the Sexy: She weaponizes this trope, using her charm to get the court on her side and make them believe her. Unfortunately for her, neither Phoenix nor Edgeworth are buying it.
Double Entendre: With her, it's just asking for trouble.
Faux Affably Evil: She may seem bubbly and flirty, but she's a cold hearted criminal behind her seductive smile.
Feet-First Introduction: In the 2016 anime, the first glimpse of April is her bare leg which she uses while in the bathroom to point where she wants the wine to be placed by the bellboy (actually Phoenix).
Gonk: Normally she looks pretty, but once she's pissed off her face contortions look so bad it's ridiculous.
Head-Turning Beauty: She has no problem to show her sex appeal, using a combination of ample cleavage, an innocent expression and a cutesy style of speech. Every man who meets her (except Phoenix and Edgeworth) is instantly smitten.
I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: She has no problem using her assets, her cutesy demeanor, and her general charm to sway people to her side. She even deliberately wears short skirts and a Cleavage Window to give men a good look at her "goods" (no pun intended).
I Take Offense to That Last One: When Phoenix calls her a "big fat liar" her only response is "...FAT!?"
Ms. Fanservice: She's a criminal who gets by on her looks. This is emphasized in the anime and some of the concept art.
Naughty Nurse Outfit: There's official concept art of her in a sexy nurse uniform.
Obfuscating Stupidity: She's not the cleverest wire-tapper, but she's far more competent than she seems at first.
Psycho Pink: She's evil and wears a lot of pink.
Punny Name: April and May, obviously. The three kanji in her Japanese name idiomatically mean "high-, middle-, low-ranking" (and literally "pine, bamboo, plum". It's a Japanese thing). In fact, it's her and Redd's fault that the series has characters with punny names in the first place.
- Several characters address her as "Miss May", which is the sort of title one would expect to see bestowed on Playboy centerfold models.
- In French, she's called 'Masha Vril'; a combination of 'Mars' and 'Avril', which mean 'March' and 'April', respectively.
Rose-Haired Sweetie: Subverted. Her pink hair may be natural, but her sweet demeanor is only an act.
Sexy Secretary: She was the secretary of Redd White, the CEO of Bluecorp.
Taking the Heat: Tries to do this for Redd White, denying her connections with him.
The Tease: She likes to tease people and knows how to get her way.
Third-Person Person: In the Japanese version.
Twitchy Eye: The left side of her face twitches up every time she's caught off-guard.
Undying Loyalty: Surprisingly, considering the kind of man he is and the kind of woman she is, April May is very loyal to her boss, Redd White, and is even willing to take the heat for him. When Phoenix originally tries to crack her, she outright asks him if he'd give up Mia Fey and insists she's just as loyal to her own boss. Potentially subverted, if Phoenix managed to convince her that he has her dead to rights, in which case she gives him a bit of information out of concern that he'll have her killed.
The Vamp: She tries to be, but she fares poorly against anybody who can ignore her charms.
Villainous Breakdown: After Phoenix manages to figure out April May's role in the crime, April May screams and causes one of the buttons of her top to pop off, allowing her breasts to bounce, before her face suddenly becomes Hulk-like and she starts screaming at everyone.
April May: What's it to you, porcupine-head!? That stupid clock doesn't matter, okay!? She did it! And she should die for it! Die! […] Shut up, all of you! What gives you the right to talk to ME like that! You… you LAWYER!
Wicked Heart Symbol: She wears a few hearts on her clothing, but she's a bitch and a criminal behind her sweet, cutesy façade.

Redd White (Masaru Konaka)

Voiced by (Japanese): Hiromichi Tezuka (anime)

Voiced by (English): Larry Brantley (anime)

Played by: Makoto Ayukawa (film)

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

"I am always abso-posi-lutely perfect!"

The wealthy president of Bluecorp who built his powerful company through blackmailing lawyers, judges, politicians, police, and all sorts of other people. Thanks to him, word of the police using a spirit medium for DL-6 got leaked to the press. So if not for him, Mia wouldn't have (specifically) become a lawyer herself. Then again, he's the one who kills her.

In the film, his involvement in the DL-6 Incident is the same, but he is instead a writer for a magazine and wrote the article that exposed police use of a spirit medium. He is also the witness to Maya's alleged murder of Mia as opposed to the Bellhop.

Adaptational Intelligence: His anime incarnation, while still a major Smug Snake and technically a mere Starter Villain, nonetheless shows noticeably more pragmatism (such as never hitting Phoenix just to prove a For the Evulz point — an action which incenses him enough to start going after White 100% in the game) and ability to roll with the punches in court.
Adaptational Wimp: His live action incarnation, considering he's merely a writer and von Karma's pawn there, versus a wealthy blackmailer with his own company in the original Visual Novel. And he dies during the events.
Adaptational Ugliness: His live action incarnation looks nothing like he does in the games; instead he looks like a mix between Severus Snape and Howard Stern, except Asian.
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Phoenix pulls out the list of his blackmail victims, he begs him not to read it off.
Arch-Enemy: To Mia Fey. When White ruined her mother's life, she made it her mission to discover his criminal activities and make him pay. When she digs up enough dirt on him, he kills her and tries to pin it first on her sister, then on Phoenix. Ultimately, she's the one who cements White's downfall by coercing him to confess to her own murder.
Asshole Victim: In the movie. He's poisoned before Wright can summon him to testify, but owing to how much of a douchebag he was, no one's missing him.
Bad Liar: For starters, he doesn't even bother to check that his testimony is consistent with as April May's. When flaunting his power to try to get Phoenix Wright arrested fails, he proceeds to incriminate himself with very little input from Phoenix himself.
Beware the Silly Ones: He's somewhat goofy and not very intimidating until you realize that he is very powerful and has driven many people to suicide, and takes a sick joy in manipulating others.
Blackmail: His specialty, and the basis of his business is to acquire the information that lets him blackmail whoever he wants.
Bright Is Not Good: He's extremely flashy, wears a vibrant pink suit, sparkly jewelry, and sports purple hair. He's also an extremely dangerous blackmailer and murderer.
Confess to a Lesser Crime: He almost gets away because of this. Edgeworth prompts him to confess to installing the wiretap in Mia's office, which would have given him an alibi to his intrusion in order to dodge the murder charge. Phoenix shuts him down by proving he couldn't have been at the office any time but the night of the murder.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Head of a big information firm, and rotten to the core.
Courtroom Antics: In the film, he pulls a huge megaphone out of nowhere.
Death by Adaptation: Is poisoned in jail during the film, the day before Wright can call him as a witness in the Hammond murder case.
Delusions of Eloquence: He prides himself on his large vocabulary of ten dollar words and thinks that "lesser" people can't keep up, despite him using all of them incorrectly. For example, he refers to April May as his "secretariat".
Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: With his massive number of connections, a decent amount of fake evidence implicating Maya, and barely anything concretely linking him to the case, had he simply kept his distance and let Edgeworth do his job, he would have almost certainly slipped out of the law's grasp untouched. Instead, he decides to not only change gears and frame Phoenix for the murder, but testify in court as a witness. This backfires completely, as it means Phoenix now has the real culprit on the stand and testifying... and it turns out, he's nowhere near as good at lying as he thinks he is.
Dirty Coward: Once Pheonix shows the list of the people he blackmailed, he pleads him not to read it off. He then finally confesses for his crimes, but mainly because Mia threatened to release the list to the press.
The Dreaded: Almost everyone in the local law enforcement is afraid of him, making the day with him as a witness difficult since the court (the Judge included) is on his side.
Eagle Land: The localizations made him a Type 2 Eaglelander.
Establishing Character Moment: Even before you learn his name his whole personality is revealed in the intro cutscene of Turnabout Sisters, where he says that "gathering information" is his business, murders a young woman in cold blood, and uses the word "cogniferous".
Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: Both his hands are covered in diamond rings, and one of his "confident" animations is to raise his hands and dazzle the audience with them.
Evil, Inc.: He his the CEO of Bluecorp, which is an information firm that practices industrial-scale Blackmail.
Evil Is Petty: A lot of his blackmail demands are things he doesn't actually need; he just wants to see his victims deprived of them (like Grossberg's treasured painting). He also straight-up assaults Phoenix, just because he can (the cops won't touch him).
Evil Tower of Ominousness: His Bluecorp building, especially in the anime.
Expy: Of Charles Augustus Milverton, another Blackmailer Smug Snake responsible for countless destroyed lives. And both men are ultimately taken down via Pay Evil unto Evil by different vengeful victims.
Fatal Flaw: Pride. Redd White becomes so incensed that Phoenix would dare and try to challenge him that he decides to appear as a witness and try to implicate Phoenix in Mia Fey's murder without having any evidence to do so. Needless to say, this ends up biting him in the ass spectacularly.
Faux Affably Evil: He acts like a quirky and jolly businessman, but this façade cracks when Phoenix questions him too much.
Freudian Slip: If you press him on a certain statement, you can get him to make a pretty hilarious one.
White: Then she turned and ran for the door.
Phoenix: What did you do then?
White: I gave chase, of course. (cue Oh, Crap! face)
From Nobody to Nightmare: The Expanded Universe novel Turnabout of the Time Traveler reveals that, 15 years before the beginning of the series, White and Bluecorp were just a no-name start-up no one had heard of. Leaking DL-6 proved to be the chance he needed to begin gaining power, and by the time he murdered Mia he was running an extensive blackmail network that made him one of the most powerful men in the country.
Gratuitous English: In the Japanese version - poorly. Mere words don't do it justice; it has to be seen.
Gratuitous Spanish: In the English dub of the Anime - equally poorly.
Greater-Scope Villain: In a way, he could be considered this to the whole plot of the original trilogy alongside Manfred von Karma, as he is the reason Mia Fey became an attorney in the first place (due to his involvement in the DL-6 Case) as well as being her killer (which would drive the actions of Godot and Dahlia in the third game).
Hate Sink: Redd White is nothing more than a Jerkass who ruins people's lives for his own sick enjoyment. He's also a Smug Snake who thinks he can do whatever the hell he wants because of his status and rubs it in everyone's faces that no one can do anything about it.
Head Desk: When Phoenix starts cornering him.
Hoist by His Own Petard: In a general sense, him deciding to testify in court when he's already gotten out of it, since far as the court is concerned he doesn't exist (White is never even called to be a witness during the first day of the trial) is what allows Phoenix to prove that he's the real murderer. A more specific example is the piece of paper he used to pin the murder on Maya becomes an important evidence to prove his guilt; then it's implied that the list that Mia had Phoenix read in court that got Redd to confess is a list of people he's blackmailed. Especially noteworthy in that after White submits himself as a witness, Phoenix immediately finds a hole in his first testimony that's big enough for the crime to be pinned on him.
Indirect Serial Killer: Several people committed suicide because of his blackmailing, enough that Mia was able to blackmail him into confessing to murder.
Information Broker: Bluecorp provided enough dirt on just about every high-ranking person in the city to have real weight for White to use it as blackmail material and force everyone to do as he pleased.
Informed Ability: He's apparently a feared and powerful blackmailer with most of the government and law enforcement in his pockets, yet is so unbelievably stupid that he volunteers to testify when he's under suspicion, neglects to check his alibi with April May, and relies on ineffective threats and Insane Troll Logic to try and pin the blame on Phoenix Wright, who was never a suspect in the first place. How he was able to become so powerful is anyone's guess.
Jerkass: Speaks loudly how he can manipulate everyone to do whatever he wants. He even says that the courts, the police and the law are all "playthings" to him. Also, the way he was clearly preparing to throw his secretary under the bus for Mia's murder, and then casually accusing Phoenix of being Mia's murderer once Phoenix angers him shows how much of a despicable person Redd is.
Karma Houdini Warranty: The master blackmailer is eventually blackmailed into confessing to the murder. Overlaps with Laser-Guided Karma as it was by the woman who he killed at the start of the case.
Large Ham: "Welcome! Please furnish me with the title of your personage!"
Laughably Evil: He's a ruthless CEO who has blackmailed hundreds of powerful people and even driven some of them to suicide. However, his Large Ham attitude, flashy appearance, and Delusions of Eloquence make him a rather humorous character despite everything that make him a Hate Sink. Especially in the anime with his Gratuitous English.
Malicious Misnaming: Refers to Phoenix as 'Mr. Wrong' whenever Redd starts flaunting his power over Phoenix. Grossberg also gets this treatment; he's called 'Grodyburger' whenever Redd mentions him.
Meaningful Name: Red and white mixed together creates pink, which Redd White sports.
Man of Wealth and Taste: And way too damn proud of it.
Narcissist: Redd is an incredibly vain and pretentious man with no empathy for anyone but himself who will gleefully ruin the lives of many without a shred of remorse.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: One may be tempted to brush him off as no real threat, since he's a goofball who dresses like an off-brand Liberace and misuses fancy words. But he's still a ruthless blackmailer and murderer who's driven multiple people to suicide.
Obviously Evil: While his appearance is just overly flashy instead of actually evil-looking, his asshole behavior and chronic Smug Snake-ness prevents him from even trying to hide his shadiness. Also, the 1-2 intro blatantly shows him, you know, killing Mia.
Psycho Pink: A male case; Redd White is Mia Fey's murderer and he sports a pink suit.
Punny Name: Red, white, and blue. His color palette is comprised of combinations of the three colors. The kanji of his Japanese name mean "small, medium, large". Indeed, it's his and April's fault that the series have characters with punny names in the first place.
Purple Prose: He's very fond of this, and occasionally makes up words entirely.
White: Please furnish me with the title of your personage! ...Your name! What's your name? I was just inquirably asking the title that you go by.
Real Men Wear Pink: Wears a vibrant pink suit.
Sadist: Aside from clearly enjoying ruining other people's life with blackmail, he also gets his kicks by physically hurting people, such as gut punching Phoenix for no reason. Not to mention his deranged grin when he's killing Mia.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Oh, yeah. His entire Verbal Tic is using unnecessarily large words whenever possible, often incorrectly, and he's not above outright making them up.
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: He claims to even have the Chief Prosecutor under his thumb, placing him above the law.
Shout-Out: In the Japanese version, his response when Edgeworth asks his name is to quote Muhammad Avdol:
YES I AM!
Sinister Shades: A blackmailer who, in the film, sports shades constantly.
Small Role, Big Impact: He only appears in the second case and never makes an appearance beyond it, but his actions, namely messing up the Fey clan's reputation in the past and killing Mia in the present, reach far past his involvement.
Smug Smiler: His arrogant grin never leaves his face except for his Villainous Breakdown.
Smug Snake: By the truckload. His overconfidence in his blackmail network proves to be his undoing when he decides to testify in court, despite the fact that it would be more pragmatic to remain out of the spotlight. Why did he decide to testify? Because he's annoyed at Phoenix not backing down at his threats and decides that he will have Phoenix convicted for the murder to get back at him, despite having no way to prove this beyond his word. The next day in court, Phoenix easily blows his shoddy testimony to smithereens (for reference, he doesn't even bother corroborating his testimony to match April May's) and it's not like he can threaten to blackmail anyone right out in the open in public court since blackmail itself is a crime. If it hadn't been for Edgeworth repeatedly throwing him lifelines, Phoenix would probably have gotten him convicted all on his own.
The Sociopath: Remorselessly kills Mia, frames her sister Maya for it, ruined their mother and family's reputation, makes Grossberg's life a living hell for 15 years, plans to abandon his secretary to the court's judgement once she fails to keep the heat off of his company, assaults Phoenix and later tries to frame him for Mia's murder as well, and drove countless people to suicide with his blackmail racket, all just to preserve his own hedonistic lifestyle. He even refers to his blackmail victims as "{...} mere toys. Playthings for my amusement!"
Starter Villain: Fits this trope for the series as a whole in a better sense than Sahwit, as White is the culprit of the first full-length case and the first villain in the series with a proper, calculated plan for murder, rather than just a common burglar who killed in the heat of the moment. Notably, he's actually one of the most powerful villains in the series in terms of societal influence, but is still easily defeated because he's that bad at testifying for himself.
Stupid Evil: Downplayed. While Redd White is a talented blackmailer and extortionist, he's a woefully inept killer who couldn't bluff his way out of a paper bag.
Sunglasses at Night: Constantly wears sunglasses in the film—even indoors and at night.
A Taste Of His Own Medicine: After blackmailing many innocent people, Redd White ultimately gets blackmailed himself, courtesy of Phoenix and Mia.
Verbal Tic: Using the biggest words he can get away with, and often using them incorrectly. He occasionally makes them up on the spot.
Villainous Breakdown: Flips out several times, especially when Phoenix innocently reads off a list of the names of people he's blackmailed, screaming at him to stop. Ironically, this means he is blackmailed by Phoenix and Mia to confess his crime.
Redd White: S-s-stop! Desist! Halt! P-please, stop! Make him stop! How... how did you get that list!?
Villains Want Mercy: He pathetically pleads with Phoenix to not read off a list of people he's blackmailed.
Wicked Pretentious: In spades. He wears a very flashy pink suit with a polka-dot tie, throws around a lot misused or outright made up fancy words, has much jewelry on his person that he literally shines, and his office is littered with a lot of extremely tacky decor such as a sculpture of himself carrying the globe on his shoulders.

Turnabout Samurai (Gyakuten no Tonosaman)

Cody Hackins (Kyuta Ohtaki)

Voiced by (Japanese): Shizuka Ishigami (anime)

Voiced by (English): Kara Edwards (anime)

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

"I go to every live performance! I always take a picture when the Steel Samurai lands the final blow! Whizzam! I got 'em all! I never missed one! A perfect collection!"

A bratty seven-year-old Steel Samurai-obsessed fanboy. He's been to every live performance of it and decides that just once he'd like to see an actual filming of the show. The end result is he saw Jack Hammer get murdered.

Artistic License – Martial Arts: He testifies that the assailant dressed as the Steel Samurai dispatched the victim with a Samurai Punch, a Samurai Kick, and a Samurai Slap, the last one arousing Phoenix's suspicions that he's lying about what happened during the confrontation because that's clearly made up.
Blush Sticker: Has two pink circles perpetually on his cheeks.
Brain Bleach: His reaction after seeing that Will Powers also plays the role of Pink Princess.
Bratty Half-Pint: He's obnoxious and sasses off to every character save Mia, whom he seems to like for some reason. He does ultimately volunteer a genuinely helpful photo in the end, though.
Children Are Innocent: Word of God says that he was introduced as a witness because a child's reasons for lying would not be the same as an adult's in the same situation. It takes a lot of pressing to get the truth out of Cody, but it isn't out of malice; he genuinely doesn't understand the gravity of what he saw and doesn't see why certain things are important. The reason he refuses to say what he witnessed about the murder was because the victim was wearing a Steel Samurai costume, and he doesn't want to admit Steel Samurai lost a fight. He's simply too young to realize that the victim wasn't really Steel Samurai and had been killed, and treats the case like another Steel Samurai episode.
Demoted to Extra: The anime doesn't hold a court hearing for his testimony because Nick and Maya decide to lure him out with the info (by way of Nick binge-watching Steel Samurai movies all-night long...and failing to recall the right stuff with Cody around but still gets the job done) without even having to require Penny's help with their fascination for collecting Steel Samurai cards (thus diminishing her role further). However, despite this, his role is more active in the events and he becomes a Spanner in the Works who convinces a heartbroken Wendy to speak up and give Nick the crucial evidence to indict the culprit in the case.
Exact Words: He boasts about his 100% complete photo collection of every single one of the Steel Samurai's victories onscreen or in public performances. Note the word "victories". Phoenix realizes that the real reason why he didn't take a photo of the attack despite being literally in front of it was that the Steel Samurai lost.
Harmful to Minors: Averted and then spoofed in the credits — you would think seeing a person killed before his very eyes might be traumatizing. However, due to being a young child, he clearly doesn't understand that what he saw was real. He does cry at the witness stand, though only because Phoenix took apart his testimony, forcing him to admit that he saw his hero being defeated in a battle. But seeing Will Powers come out of a Pink Princess costume? That left a scar.
Cody: It was kind of a shock for a boy of my tender age.
I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: He's a minor so it's kept innocent, but there is a reason why he's a lot more willing to talk to Mia than Maya.
Innocent Inaccurate: When he testifies, it's plain that he doesn't realize what he witnessed was a murder. Well, a killing, at any rate.
Insufferable Genius: When Phoenix tries to buy him back with his own Steel Samurai card.
Cody: By offering me something I already own, you're in effect eschewing the very basis of our consumer society, namely the principle of fair trade! Man, for a grownup, you sure are dumb!
Phoenix: W-what do they teach these kids in school these days!? Quantum physics!?
Intrepid Reporter: He claims to have taken pictures of every single one of the Steel Samurai's victories from the TV show to physical live-action public performances which he publishes in a book.
Katanas Are Just Better: Despite the fact that the Steel Samurai mainly uses a spear, he carries around a katana on his back. He can't get it out of the sheath, though.
Ocular Gushers: When Phoenix finally succeeds in taking apart his testimony. It sure doesn't feel good to make a child burst into tears as he realizes that his idol was killed.
Otaku: As his Japanese name spells out.
Punny Name: Code-hacker. As for his Japanese name, the first three kanji characters (in Eastern name order) form "otaku".

Dee Vasquez (Sakura Himegami)

Voiced by (Japanese): Yurika Hino (anime)

Voiced by (English): Janelle Lutz (anime)

Played by: Miho Ninagawa (film)

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

"Don't hit your desk. It irritates me."

Global Studios (and Steel Samurai) producer that built the studio back up from the brink of ruin, and apparently is some sort of business genius. She's also got ties to the mob.

Adaptational Villainy: The anime removes the implication that Jack Hammer might have deliberately killed Manuel, along with the detail of Vasquez having been close to Manuel, which makes her less sympathetic than the game attempted to frame her as.
Arc Villainess: She plays this role for 1-3 as she's the killer in that case.
Anti-Villain: Zigzagged. It's easy to see her as sympathetic in the game, as her murder was in self defense and it's implied that Manuel was close to her, but it's important to remember that she was still a petty blackmailer who spent years threatening and abusing Jack Hammer over Manuel's accidental death. Likewise, she's established to have been a member of the mob and ordered her goons to kill Phoenix and Maya so casually that it couldn't have been the first time she's given such an order.
Berserk Button: When Maya mentions the incident where Manuel was killed by Hammer as an accident, she drops her stoic facade for a bit to yell at her before regaining her composure, angry that Maya believes it was an accident.
Blackmail: She was blackmailing Jack Hammer after he accidentally killed another actor.
Blunt "No": During her testimony she, at first, answers the questions asked by Phoenix with either a very deadpan "No" or "Yes".

Phoenix: By yourself?

Vasquez: Yes.

Phoenix: And you didn't stop at the Employee Area?

Vasquez: No.

Phoenix: ...

Phoenix: Are you always this... terse?

Vasquez: Yes.

Broken Bird: Five years ago, she watched Manuel die in an accident at Jack Hammer's hands. In the flashback, she is incredibly distraught at his death, the only time you see her act emotionally.
Evil Versus Evil: The confrontation between Jack Hammer, who had no issues in trying to frame Will Powers of a murder out of jealousy, and herself, a blackmailer with ties to the mafia.
Evil Wears Black: Marks her as a menacing, secretive woman.
A Glass in the Hand: She breaks her pipe during her Villainous Breakdown.
The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: In the promotional manga Turnabout Crossover, she has a sister, Tampopo Himegami (Dandee Vasquez in the Fan Translation), who is (surprise!) also a producer. invoked
Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: She's always smoking, and evidently has smoker's lung, since her speech is indicated by the lower-pitched beep-de-beeps usually reserved for males. ^note Notably the only character in the series to be shown actually smoking, rather than using something like a lollipop or a bubble pipe.
Graceful Loser: Once she is finally caught out as the killer (though in self-defense), she accepts her loss with dignity.
"...Yes. I am guilty. It was me... Congratulations, Mr. Wright. I lose... again."
He Knows Too Much: When Phoenix and Maya refuse to hand over the five-year-old picture of Manuel's death, she calls in her "boys" to "erase" them.
Karma Houdini: Her attempt to kill Phoenix and Maya isn't even mentioned in court despite Gumshoe catching her in the act. Though seeing as she got arrested for voluntary manslaughter, this trope could be considered subverted, or at least downplayed. Also, the mafia connections were irrelevant to the murder trial, so mentioning them would have breached the court rules that could result in a valid objection.
Killing in Self-Defense: At the climax of the case, Phoenix correctly deduces that her killing of Jack Hammer was an act of self-defense. She doesn't become more sympathetic because of it, however, seeing as Hammer's attempt was prompted by the fact that she had ruined his career by blackmailing him into submission.
Knight of Cerebus: Sahwitt was mostly a joke, and White while a despicable bastard was also Stupid Evil the moment he was forced to speak in court. Vasquez meanwhile is much better at covering her tracks, and is the first time the heroes have to work to take out a culprit. Her backstory and the circumstances behind Hammer's death also begins when the series begins showing the culprits in a more three-dimensional light, with actions that are more complex than simple pursuits of wealth and power.
The Mafia: She's got major connections in this criminal organization.
No OSHA Compliance: Those spiky fence posts that Jack Hammer died by. One would think that the crew would have removed them after the same thing happened five years ago.
Not So Stoic: When cornered during the trial.
Punny Name: She's a diva. "Sakura" is obvious, and "Himegami" means "princess-goddess".
The Quiet One: Part of why her Cross-Examination is so difficult is that she is very terse in everything she says, leaving very little to call her out on.
The Stoic: Throughout much of 1-3, she doesn't seem to be concerned at all with the proceedings.
Uncertain Doom: Averted. Although Dee did kill Jack Hammer and murder is normally punished with the death penalty in the Ace Attorney universe, she very likely escaped the death penalty and got a prison sentence instead. This is due to the facts that she lacked premeditation, killed Jack in self defense as Jack was the one trying to kill her, and the killing was technically an accident and Dee never intended to impale Jack on the fence.
Villainous Breakdown: Once her role in Jack Hammer's death is proven, she squeezes her pipe so hard that she breaks it. Compared to almost every villain in the series, her breakdown is rather mild.
Wake-Up Call Boss: She's much tougher than the previous villains Phoenix faces off in court, and actually holds her own for a while. This serves to mark a shift in difficulty for the game, as the following antagonists are even more wily and hardened than she is.
Younger than She Looks: Despite looking middle-aged, she's only 34.

Turnabout Goodbyes (Gyakuten, soshite Sayonara)

Old Caretaker/"Uncle"

Voiced by (Japanese): Takehiro Hasu (anime)

Voiced by (English): R. Bruce Elliott (anime)

Played by: Fumiyo Kohinata (film)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yanniyogi2.png

"Ayup... ZZZ"

An eccentric old man that owns the boat rental shack on Gourd Lake, though he's convinced it's a pasta joint called the "Wet Noodle". He owns a pet parrot named Polly. He's a lot more connected to the case than is initially apparent.^{Click here to see spoilers}

Adaptation Personality Change: In The Movie, he's a creepy old hermit who lacks the comedic traits of the game version of the character. Though both end up fake.
Alas, Poor Villain: He went through the effort of killing his laywer, Robert Hammond (and trying to frame Miles Edgeworth for the crime) because he was forced to declare his innocence through an insanity plea, resulting in him pretending to be unstable and crazy for fifteen years of his life, furthermore resulting in losing of his job and social status and his fiancee, Polly Jenkins committing suicide. And now he will spend the rest of his life in prison and his pet parrot will possibly be passed over to another owner. It's hard not to feel sorry for him albeit it doesn't excuse his attempts to frame Edgeworth.
Alliterative Name: His real name, which is "Yanni Yogi." Not so much in the Japanese, where it is "Kotaro Haine."
Anti-Villain: While he did commit murder and willfully framed an innocent man for the crime, it is only because his scumbag attorney had him plead innocence by reason of insanity to a crime he didn't commit, forcing him to not only put up with the consequences of his actions in the eyes of the public and destroyed his personal life when his fiancee ended her life but also to act like a bumbling fool for over a decade just to maintain the illusion that he really was not of sound mind. He's a fundamentally decent person caught under awful circumstances and pushed to the brink.
The Bad Guy Wins: Downplayed. He is revealed to be the killer but ultimately gets revenge on the 2 men who ruined his life, by killing Robert Hammond, the lawyer who made him plea insanity and unintentionally lead to the path that would expose Manfred von Karma as the real culprit of the DL-6 case, the case he was blamed. That being said, he is still alone and miserable without a job, without a positive social status, and with his fiancee still dead. He even loses his ownership of Polly, a pet parrot named after his late fiancee, once he is incarcerated.
Disc-One Final Boss: He's the culprit of Hammond's murder, but the case continues as Edgeworth is tried for the DL-6 incident, and Manfred, the culprit of that incident, becomes the game's actual final boss (not counting "Rise from the Ashes").
The Dog Was the Mastermind: A quirk of the first game not carried over to subsequent installments was that largely irrelevant characters with little significant role in the story would be given the label of their occupation in their character profiles, labeling them as unimportant. The old man is seemingly this, but turns out to be the culprit of the present-day murder, as well as one of the most important figures in the backstory.
Follow in My Footsteps: He as part of his Obfuscating Stupidity mistakes Phoenix and Maya for his children and wants them to take over the "noodle shop" after he's gone.
Graceful Loser: When Phoenix manages to prove his true identity without any doubt against it, he drops the act completely and fully admits to the court that he killed Hammond and Edgeworth is innocent for that.
Irony: He spends his testimony playing into the hands of Manfred Von Karma, the person that set his downward spiral into motion. Him and his parrot are also responsible for presenting vital clues that help bring Von Karma to justice.
The Killer Was Left-Handed: The clue that revealed him as the killer was a picture of him shooting the victim with his left-hand.
Know When to Fold 'Em: Gives up and admits to what he did after strong evidence is shown that he's Yanni Yogi. Justified, as he really wanted to stop pretending he is insane and has a good excuse for his crime.
Obfuscating Insanity: For fifteen years he acted insane to back up Hammond's insanity plea. He wasn't too happy about it.
Punny Name: His name and his Split Personality resemble Yami Yugi. Meanwhile, "Kotaro Haine" is a reference to the poets Kotaro Takamura, who died of a broken heart; and Haine, who valued youth and romance.
Red Herring: For fifteen years he was seen as Gregory Edgeworth's murderer (after being accused by Gregory when he was channeled by Misty Fey), having only obtained his innocence by a plea of insanity. Turns out he indeed wasn't the murderer.
Red Right Hand: It's not immediately apparent, but he doesn't have any fingerprints.
Scatterbrained Senior: He's clearly disconnected from reality and can't stay on topic for long. Not to mention the fact that he thinks he runs a noodle shop that, for some reason, also rents boats. It doesn't get more scatterbrained than that. Except, not really. The whole thing is an act and he's still entirely lucid.
A Sinister Clue: He fires a gun with his left hand.
Senior Sleep-Cycle: He keeps falling asleep standing as soon as he stops talking, and takes a second to wake up whenever he's spoken to. All part of his act.
Snot Bubble: Appears whenever he falls asleep, which is often.
Sympathetic Murderer: Robert Hammond prevented him from being convicted but ruined his life in the process. Yanni Yogi wanted and took revenge through a gun.
Talkative Loon: He doesn't seem to have much of a grasp on reality. Subverted. He's faking it.
Tragic Villain: He murdered the man that had ruined his life with a plea of insanity. He expresses no remorse for what he did, but the victim is painted in a worse light In-Universe than him after the truth is exposed. The Movie plays this up with a brutal Tear Jerker flashback to him witnessing his fiancee commit suicide.
Unwitting Pawn: To Manfred von Karma, who exploited his belief that Miles killed Gregory and entirely understandable grudge against Robert Hammond to get him to play a crucial role in framing Miles for two murders he didn't commit.
Villainous Breakdown: One of the few killers to avert this. In fact, he inverts this. When exposed, he simply reverts to his more composed true self and calmly admits his crime.
Vigilante Execution: Killed Robert Hammond for ruining his life and driving his fiancee to suicide.
Walking Spoiler: About 90% of this article is spoilered out. It doesn't take much to figure out that there's a lot more to this odd old man than meets the eye.
Weapon Specialization: It's revealed that his weapon is a semiautomatic pistol, both as a baliff and as the culprit of Case 1-4. It can be easily lost on non-Japanese players, but the fact that he has a functioning gun while the other killers had to use improvised weapons sets him up as more of a threat.
We Named the Monkey "Jack": Names his parrot after his fiancee.
Wham Line:
- Not said by him specifically but when his parrot suddenly says "Don't forget DL-6!", his antics soon stop being funny.
- He's convinced that Hammond's murderer is "little Edgey", the way he says it hinting about his past, and that he had met Edgeworth before.

Rise from the Ashes (Yomigaeru Gyakuten)

Angel Starr (Kyoka Ichinotani)

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

"The name is Angel Starr. Don't you go forgetting it. Or before you know it I'll have you whimpering at my heels."

A former detective whose ability to wring information out of suspects earned her the nickname the "Cough-Up Queen". Like Marshall, Starr worked on the SL-9 case, but in her case was fired instead of demoted and now works as a lunch vendor (hence why she's not in the law enforcers' section). With her connections (boyfriends) in the police department, she joined Marshall's attempts to continue the investigation of SL-9. Since the case ended she developed a hatred for prosecutors, and is the primary witness of Goodman's murder.

The Alibi: As you play through Rise from the Ashes, a large amount of evidence accumulates against Miles Edgeworth which heavily implies that someone was trying to do a Frame-Up against him. Angel Starr's witnessing of a stabbing in the alleged crime scene in the garage proved that Edgeworth was nowhere near the alleged crime scene, so Edgeworth was called to prosecute his boss instead of sitting in the defendant's chair in that case because he is the highest-ranking prosecutor under the chief prosecutor.
A Bloody Mess: Her "Crime Scene" lunch box evokes this: it's rice with a lot of red sauce covering it and a single fork stuck into it, resembling a murder weapon drenched with blood. That said, nobody mistakes it for blood, since she's very obviously using it to show off.
Busman's Vocabulary: Since she's a lunch vendor, she tends to make puns and metaphors based on food.
Cordon Bleugh Chef: Played with, as most of her lunches are delicious. That said, some of the lunches she prepares are questionable, such as "The Fingerprint",^note "squid wheels",^note or "peppered fish guts".^note She likes to give these particular lunches out to people she doesn't like.
Dominatrix: Implied, as she offers to crush Phoenix under her heels.
Duality Motif: It's very subtle, but her "good mood" eye is dark blue while her "don't mess with me" eye is silvery blue.
Edible Theme Clothing: Her hat has a pair of onigiri rice balls attached to it and her choker has an octopus-cut hot dog decoration on it, indicating that she's a food vendor.
Expressive Hair: Her mood is indicated by which eye is covered by her bangs.
Eyepatch of Power: Which eye gets covered by her hair depends on her current personality.
Gold Digger: She admits to having multiple "boyfriends" at the Police Station. It's not money she's after, she uses them for information regarding SL-9. Although it's not stated if they're literal boyfriends or just friends in high places.
Good Cop/Bad Cop: She's implied to have been so effective at getting suspects to confess (thus earning her the title "Cough-up Queen") because she's capable of doing the good-cop-bad-cop thing by herself.
Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Has one of each: her left eye is the "good one" and the right is evil. She'll flip her hair to hide one, depending on how vindictive she's going to be for her next dialogue line.
Hypocrite: In court, she keeps insisting that prosecutors forge evidence and twist testimonies to get the verdicts they want, at the same time Angel herself is giving false testimony to get the verdict she wants.
Little Black Dress. Hard to see in the game, but she wears a dress under her coat.
Meaningful Name: "Kyoka" refers to the flowers you leave at a grave, and "Ichinotani" is a famous battlefield from the Sengoku period.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Check out that Japanese name.
Navel-Deep Neckline: Her Little Black Dress outfit has a low neckline that just barely reaches her abdomen.
Pride: A notable and obvious aspect of her personality.
- She won't let people forget that she's 'the' Cough-Up Queen, threatening them in case they forget and bringing it up when pressed as a deterrent.
- During the trial she boasts about various aspects of herself, ranging from relevant(deductive skills and testimony quality) to passingly tangential to the current conversation(her speed, lunch quality, and fashion sense). These are usually unprompted.
- This ends up being her downfall in court. She has the trial heading exactly where she wants it to go, but she can't stand the idea of Ema besmirching her good name and provides additional testimony when provoked, extending the trial.
Red Baron: Known as the "Cough-up Queen" during her detective years due to her ability to get confessions from suspects. The Judge's reaction implies that she was better known by her title than by her name.
Pretty in Mink: Wears a gray fur coat, trimmed with light gray fur.
Punny Name: She's the prosecution's starr witness.
Really Gets Around: She has a bunch of boyfriends... although it's not made clear whether they are genuine boyfriends, or if she was just using them to find means to investigate the SL-9 incident.
Single-Issue Wonk: On the stand, she's obsessed with proving that Lana planned to murder Bruce Goodman. Edgeworth actually doesn't care all that much about this and is quite prepared to believe it was spur-of-the-moment, but her attempts to prove her own theory end up undermining Edgeworth's case.
Silk Hiding Steel: She's elegant with a gentle appearance and sophisticated manner of speech. However, when it comes to getting what she wants, she's completely ruthless, having no qualms with breaking people's spirits or manipulating their emotions. She outright states she's totally aware of the disparity between how people see her and how she acts and uses it as a tool.
Angel: You know, I may seem like a demon sometimes... But I can be an angel, too.
Small Name, Big Ego: Downplayed. To her credit, she was a skilled detective, enough so that The Judge eventually remembers, and she's shown to be quite tenacious and perceptive in her own right. However, she remains confident and continues to brag even after Phoenix shoots her down multiple times.
Angel: How dare you! My powers of deduction are not to be underestimated!
Phoenix: (Really now...)
Spanner in the Works: The fact that she witnessed Lana Skye stabbing Bruce Goodman's already lifeless body threw a giant monkey wrench in whatever plans Lana and more importantly, Damon Gant had for covering it up.
The Tease: She has shades of this. One of her sprites has her pulling back her coat to reveal a bit of bare shoulder, with a knowing look in her eye.
This Cannot Be!: After her third testimony is cracked and it's made clear she wasn't where she said she was:
"How many years have I been getting the better of men...? To think that the tables could be turned..."
Tsundere: To the point where her hair flip and revealed eye indicate which "mode" she's in.

Characters / Ace Attorney: Witnesses and Other Characters - Phoenix Wright

Turnabout Sisters (Gyakuten Shimai)

Voiced by (Japanese): Mariko Honda (anime)

Voiced by (English): Jeannie Tirado (anime)

Voiced by (Japanese): Hiromichi Tezuka (anime)