Frame Up / Visual Novels

• Ace Attorney has it happen a good amount of the time, because of course Phoenix's court life can't be that easy.
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney:
    • The very first case involves Phoenix's dumb friend Larry Butz being framed by a burglar who killed his girlfriend and then later testified that he'd seen Larry at the girl's apartment at the time.
    • In the second case, Phoenix's mentor Mia gets killed and her visiting little sister Maya is framed by a witness (who was in league with the real killer) and the killer faking a dying note from Mia implicating Maya. Then, when Phoenix pisses off the real killer, the guy decides to frame him instead.
    • In the third case, Will Powers (the lead actor of the Show Within a Show Steel Samurai) gets framed by a jealous coworker- the murder victim, who drugged Will and put on his costume to attempt to murder his producer. However, during the fight, the producer killed him instead in self-defense.
    • In the fourth case, your rival Miles Edgeworth is framed for murdering the defense lawyer Roger Hammond... and because of his "demon prosecutor" reputation, Phoenix is the only defense attorney willing to take the case. And when you finally prove him innocent of that, you have to deal with Manfred von Karma framing him for killing his father 15 years earlier- an act Manfred himself committed. Though in this case, Edgeworth genuinely believed he'd killed his dad on accident, something Manfred encouraged to make him more likely to confess.
    • Nobody gets framed in the main trial of Rise from the Ashes (though it's hinted that Edgeworth would have been, if a witness hadn't caught your client stabbing the victim), but framing did occur in the SL-9 incident two years earlier, and it is related to the present case. Damon Gant framed Ema Skye for killing Neil Marshall, because he knew that Lana would come to the scene, realize the implications, and then enlist his help in re-framing Joe Darke (a spree killer the police didn't have sufficient evidence against), so that Darke would get the death penalty, if the frame job was discovered it'd be on Lana's head instead of his, and he took "evidence" implicating Ema so he could blackmail Lana with the possibility of revealing the evidence and getting Ema convicted of murder.
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All:
    • In the first case, the culprit tries to frame the horribly unlucky policewoman Maggey Byrde for the death of her boyfriend Dustin Prince. He doesn't do a very good job of it, misspelling Maggey's name in the forged "dying message".
    • In the second case, Maya gets framed again when the culprit hides in a room with Maya and the victim and disguises herself as Maya, faking a spirit channeling gone wrong as the reason Maya looked different and couldn't remember stabbing and shooting the victim.
    • The third case has a downplayed variant, as the initial framing was entirely on accident; the murder weapon was a bust of Max Galactica (your client) and the victim happened to be wearing Max's cloak, which caught on the bust and made it look like Max's silhouette to a witness. Though the killer does later testify against Max in support of the accidental frame job.
    • In the fourth case, Adrian Andrews frames Matt Engarde by stabbing the victim with a knife she knew had Matt's fingerprints on it. Matt actually was guilty (something Adrian guessed because of the toxic rivalry between him and the victim), but he hired a hitman to do the job instead of doing it himself.
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations:
    • In the flashback cases starring Mia, Dahlia Hawthorne frames two people for murders they committed. She gets away with the first case as the patsy, Terry Fawles, was so thoroughly under her thumb that she was able to get him to commit suicide, but Mia catches her when she tries to frame Phoenix himself.
    • The second case has a bizarre example, as both your client and the culprit are trying to frame themselves for theft, because that would give them an alibi for a murder committed at the same time as the theft.
    • In the third case, Maggey gets framed again, this time for murdering a customer at the restaurant where she works by poisoning his coffee.
    • The final case has a minor attempt at framing Maya, because it's tradition, but it doesn't really work out and Maya is never really considered a suspect. The frame attempt does provide evidence for the real killer, because the bloody writing on a white stone lantern wasn't removed despite being obvious and the scene having been cleaned up... because the killer couldn't see it, and Godot had earlier been established as unable to see red on a white background.
  • Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney:
    • The culprit of Turnabout Trump tries to frame Olga Orly for Shadi Smith's murder by accusing her of the crime in court, using the fact that she lied about Phoenix committing the crime.
    • In the third trial, Machi gets framed for the murder of Romien LeTouse. Nobody ever points out that the murder weapon was a gun whose recoil would probably have shattered Machi's arm (Machi being a 14-year-old), but it turns out a moot point as Lamiroir heard the real culprit talking to the victim and Machi does have decisive evidence against the killer, but it takes a lot of coaxing to get him to testify because he thinks he'll be executed if he does (he was the killer's accomplice in smuggling a Borginian cocoon, and that's worth death penalty in Borginia. He's only convinced to testify by pointing out that by doing so in Japanese/American court, he will be tried under their laws and not Borginia's).
    • The fourth case has no framing in the present, but solving the present case does lead to Apollo uncovering a highly impactful frame-up that took place 7 years ago, which cost Phoenix Wright his badge. The decisive piece of evidence he used was a forgery... but he didn't commission it; Kristoph Gavin did. Kristoph then planted the forgery on Phoenix and informed his brother Klavier (the prosecutor for the case) about it. Klavier, of course, trusted his older brother and never questioned where Kristoph had come by his information until the forger responsible, Vera Misham, confirms Kristoph as her client, much to Klavier's horror.
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies:
    • Juniper Woods has inherited the Maya luck of the series, being framed for murder twice in one game.
    • The second case has Damian Tenma being framed by the use of wrestling masks to impersonate him.
    • The DLC case has an orca being framed for murder, and Phoenix being asked to defend the whale as her trainer had heard of the parrot incident back in the first game. The whale didn't do it and it wasn't a murder; the victim slipped and fell into the orca's tank when it was being drained.
    • The reason Simon Blackquill is in prison is because he framed himself for Metis Cykes' murder, because Athena (a little kid at the time) had incriminated herself pretty badly and had Trauma-Induced Amnesia. He didn't want Athena to think she'd murdered her mother, so he took the fall for her. The true killer just escaped without framing anyone.
  • Spirit of Justice
    • One casee has Maya framed twice in one go by the case's victim, who committed suicide to frame her and take suspicion off his pregnant wife, who'd earlier killed someone in self-defense and couldn't have found anyone to defend her due to Khura'in's draconian policies against lawyers.
    • Back in Japanifornia, Roger Retinz's plot against Trucy was to frame her for the murder of Manov Mistree. Thankfully, Apollo is able to figure out the trick and get her off.
    • Turnabout Storyteller includes a unique example of a double frame-up, where the murderer faked a Dying Clue implicating someone's alternate personality, then the framee found it and used it to frame someone else.
    • In the end, the whole reason Khura'in despises defense attorneys is because Queen Ga'ran (herself a prosecutor) framed defense lawyer Dhurke for murdering the previous queen, Amara, and used that as a pretext to pass the Defense Culpability Act.
    • The DLC case has the culprit frame Ellen Wyatt for the murder of Dumas Gloomsbury, specifically to hurt her fiance Sorin Sprocket. The culprit was originally planning to murder Ellen, but then Larry happened.
  • The Great Ace Attorney: like the the previous games many cases involve frame ups of some sort, but some notable exampls include case 1-3, where its our client who actually is guilty and is trying to frame innocent witnesses and case 2-2, where the would be murder victim tries to frame the defendant, who they had secretly been trying to kill at the time of their would be murder
• Danganronpa:
  • Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc:
    • Makoto Naegi is nearly framed during the first case by Sayaka Maizono, the victim. She had intended to kill someone on the night they swapped rooms, but ended up being killed by her intended victim. The culprit, who only found out about the room swap afterwards, went with it when everyone thought he was guilty.
    • Chapter 3's case begins with nearly everyone thoroughly convinced Yasuhiro Hagakure is the killer, but details regarding the costume he supposedly wore while carrying out the murders would have made those crimes impossible.
    • Chapter 5's case is a set up intended to make everyone vote Kyoko Kirigiri as the culprit, set up by the Mastermind themselves since she is potentially the biggest wrench in their plan. And it likely would've worked if the Mastermind had killed Makoto to frame Kyoko as was initially planned, instead of them being forced to improvise after Kyoko intervenes in the scheme.
  • Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: As the second case unfolds, the evidence starts to pile up against Hiyoko Saionji, but a few incorrect details and how perfect the evidence is makes it obvious that it's a set up.
  • Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony:
    • The culprit of Chapter 2 frames Himiko Yumeno by rigging her magic show to reveal Ryoma Hoshi's body halfway through, making it look like she was responsible.
    • The culprit of Chapter 3 frames Himiko (again) by rigging three different rooms with the same deathtrap used to kill Tenko Chabishira, and asking Himiko to choose which room they will use to perform the occult ritual, making it look like she set it up.
    • During the fourth trial, it is eventually revealed that the victim, Miu Iruma, had planned to kill Kokichi Oma and frame Kaito Momota for it. However, Kokichi saw right through her plan and was able to prevent her from carrying it out by getting one of the others to kill her.
    • Though Chapter 6 doesn't contain a frameup itself, it reveals more details behind one of the prior chapters. The shot put thrown by Kaede Akamatsu in Chapter 1 missed Rantaro Amami, and the Mastermind hit him with an identical one afterwards, fooling everyone - including Kaede herself - into thinking she was guilty.
• In Shall We Date?: Ninja Shadow, Makoto's route has him framed for at least four murders. The Player Character is one of the few who fully believes that he's innocent. It turns out his Anti-Villain brother Toru is the real killer, looking to frame Makoto to force him join his plans to destroy the Shogunate.

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