Visual Novel / Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice

Justice at home and abroad...

"A dragon never yields. Even when wounded, a dragon bites down hard, and never lets go till its dying breath. It glares, it roars, and it latches its jaws firmly onto its prey till the bitter end. That's what lawyers do to get to the truth!"

— Dhurke, Case 6-5: "Turnabout Revolution"

The sixth main installment of Capcom's Ace Attorney visual novel/adventure series of games (and tenth game in the series altogether), released on the Nintendo 3DS, similar to the previous installment. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice (逆転裁判 6, Gyakuten Saiban 6; lit. "Turnabout Trial 6") once more stars unflappable defense attorney Phoenix Wright and his fellow lawyers.

Phoenix Wright is on a trip to the Kingdom of Khura'in to visit his old friend Maya Fey, who is currently on a training expedition there. Knowing it'll be a few days before he can see her, Phoenix takes an opportunity to tour the local area, but his 9-year old tour guide, Ahlbi Ur'gaid, is suddenly arrested on the charge of murder. Phoenix decides to sit in on the young defendant's trial, but he is shocked to find that their nation's court system does not use defense attorneys in their trials. Instead, the prosecution indicts suspects, and the court then relies on mystic oracles to presume the defendant's guilt or innocence. Unwilling to let such a ridiculous notion stand scrutiny, Phoenix leaps to his tour guide's aid and offers his defense amid heavy resistance from both the audience and even the defendant himself. Also participating in the trial is the mystic princess Rayfa Padma Khura'in, daughter of Queen Ga’ran Sigatar Khura’in, in a unique role: not as prosecutor, witness, or judge; but to conduct the "Divination Séance," a ceremonial dance that can channel the visions of the victim through the "Pool of Souls". Phoenix soon gets wrapped up into a plot involving a revolution led by the shadowy Dhurke, and a corrupt justice minister by the name of Inga who hates lawyers.

While Phoenix deals with the attorney-less justice system of Khura'in, the other lawyers of the Wright Anything Agency, Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes, are left to handle business back home, with Apollo in particular learning to stand in court on his own. However, as Phoenix left for Khura'in, Khura'in comes to Apollo and co. in the form of international prosecutor Nahyuta Sahdmadhi, a monk who sees attorneys as obstacles preventing murder victims from resting in peace.

Key to the game is the new "Divination Seance" gameplay mechanic, which is how the court system of Khura'in renders its verdicts, namely by conjuring images of the last things the deceased saw or felt before their death. The defending attorney can then examine the "footage" of the event and pick out inconsistencies either from within the vision itself or with evidence of the crime. The five strike penalty system from the first game returns (compared to the "life gauge" system that has been in use since the second game). The developers have said that Phoenix has no new challenges left at home, so sending him to a new land would give him a new set of court rules to work with, reigniting the sense of urgency in court.

The game was originally announced on September 1, 2015 and appeared at the 2015 Tokyo Game Show in a playable form. The Japanese version launched on June 9, 2016 and arrived in English-speaking territories on September 8, 2016. As with Dual Destinies, only the Japanese release features both physical and digital releases, with the English localization being strictly digital via the Nintendo 3DS eShop. It was later released on the iOS and Android mobile platforms on September 21, 2017. An HD version is included alongside similarly-updated versions of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney and Dual Destinies in the Compilation Re-release Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, released on January 25, 2024 for multiple systems.^note Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC

A character sheet for the whole franchise can be found here.

Official website (Japanese) The TGS 2015 trailer can be found here (English-subbed) and here (dubbed). During March 2016, Capcom Japan launched a Twitter campaign to get as many Tweets as possible about the game, the prize for getting 18,000 Tweets being a special video, which was a short anime prologue. It can be viewed here (subbed) and here (dubbed). The final launch trailer can be viewed here (subbed) and here (dubbed).

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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice contains examples of:

Tropes # to C

• Aborted Arc: The anime prologue features Maya being attacked by a rebel in Khura'in in the middle of a phone conversation with Phoenix. Her mobile phone is broken, and Phoenix thinks something bad has happened to her. Not actually, because Nahyuta Sahdmadhi happened to drop by and immobilize the rebel before he could do any harm to her, but Phoenix decides to go immediately to Khura'in to check up on Maya. In the game proper, this assault is never talked about. It's said that Phoenix just went there because Maya was finishing her training to be the Master of Kurain Village. And that he was worried about her.
• Absence of Evidence:
  • Played with in "The Magical Turnabout". Trucy's fingerprints were found in an X-shaped tape understage ^note The tape's purpose was guiding the victim to the coffin. He ended up in the wrong coffin because the tape had been moved, so the prosecution claims she touched it during the murder to have the victim in the stage, not backstage... but she was wearing gloves at the time, meaning she left the prints sometime before the murder. In a nutshell — something that shouldn't be there, was, which proves nothing in this case.
  • Double subverted in "Turnabout Time Traveler". At one point, you have to prove that Sorin didn't enter the hold in the night of the crime, and you do that by presenting the hold keycard entry. Because his name is not in the list, he didn't go in. Then Sorin says that he came in using Nichody's keycard. And then, Nichody himself claims that Sorin didn't go to the hold after all, which is the truth.
• Accidental Pervert: Invoked by the protagonists near the end of the final case. The fact that Amara Sigatar Khura'in has a burn mark on her chest, but her sister Ga'ran doesn't, is a key point that makes Queen Ga'ran a potential suspect in the murder. It doesn't help that when it's pointed out in-universe, the camera zooms in on her chest.
• A-Cup Angst: Rayfa gets this when her mother cancels a TV show over its depiction of Rayfa. That is, Ga'ran didn’t want anyone to be "disappointed" that the real Rayfa wasn't "full figured". This gets worse when it’s revealed that Ga'ran isn't REALLY her mother and doesn't love her at all.
• Adaptational Badass: In-Universe: The version of Alice in Wonderland in Case 2 is a magic show starring Trucy as Alice except crossed with Magical Girl and Stage Magician. It even involves an evil magician who turns into a dragon.
• Ad Hominem: This is the king fallacy of the Ace Attorney series, and as such we have seen it a lot of times in previous installments... but this time it's taken to ridiculous, bloody levels. How? The main prosecutor in this game and Khura'in in general dismiss most of what you say by pointing out you're a filthy, unclean lawyer who should get executed and thrown to hell. This is no exaggeration, as the trial's public itself demands Phoenix's execution after his claims against the legal system in "The Foreign Turnabout". This fallacy comes a ton of times from the mouths of Princess Rayfa and Nahyuta Sahdmadhi, the aforementioned prosecutor.
• A Dog Named "Dog": The village centerpiece, Tehm'pul Temple, is a temple that has a name that sounds like Temple Temple.
• Alien Geometries: The Penrose Theater has several pieces of art out front that are optical illusions. One of them is a statue of a Penrose Triangle, a shape whose existence is physically impossible. If you try to turn on 3D on your 3DS to figure out what the hell you're looking at, the statue turns out to be graphically displayed on the 3DS as a flat sprite.
• Alliterative Family:
  • Siblings Sorin and Selena Sprocket.
  • Archie Buff and his daughter Armie. (Both double as Punny Names).
• Always Murder: Typical of this series, though in this game, it is also subverted and double subverted in certain cases:
  • Double Subverted in case 2. Trucy is arrested for involuntary manslaughter as the victim is apparently killed in a trick gone wrong. However, once Nahyuta takes the case, he changes the charge to murder. And sure enough, it was murder: Roger Retinz set the stage up so that the victim would die so he could frame Trucy for it.
  • Subverted in case 3: The critical death the case deals with is actually not a murder but rather a complex suicide dolled up to look like a murder (that unfortunately threw poor Maya under the bus to achieve). Why? Because the other "murder" is a perfectly justified Killing in Self-Defense committed by the original victim's wife against a rebel-hunting Killer Cop, Serial Killer, and member of the Secret Police who was trying to murder her. But because of the husband's unwillingness to hire Phoenix as the wife's defense attorney, the wife would have been declared guilty in her trial. Her husband therefore fabricated the suicide plot in order to convict Maya of murdering him and the Killer Cop.
  • Double subverted in the first part of Case 5, which starts as the first civil trial in the series, but ultimately results in murder charges being filed.
• Amoral Attorney: Defense attorneys are shunned and reviled as devils who will do anything to twist the truth in Khura'in. The "Defense Culpability Act" means that any defense attorney whose client is found guilty suffers the same fate as the client, up to and including the death penalty. It all started when Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in, the current queen of Khura'in, framed Dhurke, a defense attorney, for the apparent murder of Amara Sigatar Khura'in, the former queen. She's a trained prosecutor, meaning that the whole thing was caused by an Amoral Attorney for entirely amoral reasons.
• And Your Little Dog, Too!: In the second case, when Roger Retinz threatens to repossess Phoenix's office and everything in it, his threat includes Charley, the agency's beloved pet plant.
• Antepiece: In Case 2, Trucy is the first character whom Apollo detects is lying. The following Perception puzzle is fairly easy since the trigger phrase is large and the physical tell is that her eyes are obviously shifting back and forth.
• Anti-Gravity Clothing: Much like Dahlia's shawl, the scarf prosecutor Nahyuta Sahdmadhi wears floats serenely above his shoulders, adding to his mystic image.
• The Anti-Nihilist: Midway through the DLC Case, the police wrap up their investigations and the crime scene on the airship. Upon their approval, the Sprocket household staff eagerly begin cleaning up the reception hall. When one member is spoken to, they reveal that while everyone is aware that they're essentially cleaning up the aftermath of a grisly murder, they prefer to see it as "cleaning away the sadness" from the hall in time for the next couple to get married. Sure enough, Phoenix's work has Ellen and Sorin clear to use it to finally get married.
• Anything but That!:
  • Athena, when Nahyuta throws his prayer beads around her.
  Athena: Oh, no! Anything but this!
  • Invoked by Nahyuta again when punishing Ema for not performing a blood test in the rebel hideout.
  Nahyuta: Detective Skye, do you realize what your blunder has done to me? When this trial concludes, I want to see you in my prayer chamber. There, I will deliver a joyous sermon onto you for eight hours straight.
  Ema: I-I'm really sorry, but... Please, anything but that!
• Arc Words: At first, Nahyuta's mantra, "Let it go, and move on", seems like it's just him trying to persuade the defense to forfeit the case. However, after The Reveal in the finale, it becomes apparent that this mantra is how he copes with being forced to do Ga'ran's bidding, and throughout the game at large, it could also be applied to the culprits of the even-numbered cases, all of whom acted out of revenge because they failed to let go of the past (or in Geiru's case, of her "Well Done, Son" Guy complex) and move on with their lives.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Athena accuses the second witness of Case 4 of having something to do in the murder after she finds an inconsistency in her testimony. The gallery overreacts in this way, thanks to Nahyuta's speech tricks:
  Gallery man: He's right. That was harsh. She didn't have to go that far!
  Gallery woman: I feel kind of sorry for the witness. And why is the lawyer's outfit so yellow?
• Art Evolution:
  • Spirit of Justice redevelops the models for some of the returning characters from Dual Destinies, while some others like Athena are simply recolored. Both changes are made in order to match the updated character art. This is the most visible with Trucy (whose profile picture is redrawn from scratch and has a brighter color palette and hues closer to her sprite design in Apollo Justice) and Phoenix himself (in Dual Destinies, Phoenix had had two separate models - a frontal one and one in court. In this game both are a single model, and his head shape is different because of this.)
  • Many sequences that would have been handled by animated cutscenes in Dual Destinies are done in-engine by this game, which saves the cutscenes for things that the 3DS doesn't have the capability to feasibly render, such as sequences with large crowds.
• The Artifact: Apollo's ability to perceive witness tells continues to be restricted to uses outside the courtroom, even though unlike in Dual Destinies, the main prosecutor here never objects to it based on any professional standards. Nahyuta does demonstrate a way of nullifying Apollo's bracelet, but he only does this during the investigation of the last case to stop Apollo from discovering why he’s forced to serve Ga'ran.
• As the Good Book Says...: Near to the end of Case 5, Apollo tells Ga'ran that in his country there is the saying, "the truth will set you free".
• Asshole Victim: Played with. Much like Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (and in stark contrast to Dual Destinies), the main case victims fall under this trope to some extent.
  • The biggest two examples are Puhray Zeh'lot and Inga Kharkuul Khura'in, both of whom are murderers themselves, and the latter of whom was planning to murder his own (admittedly even more evil) wife.
  • Dumas Gloomsbury attempted to murder Ellen Wyatt because he was bitter about being made into a scapegoat.
  • Paht Rohl was engaged in a life of thievery, and even went so far as to threaten Ahlbi Ur'gaid at gunpoint after discovering that the Founder's Orb was missing. Mitigated somewhat by the fact that he did so mostly to take care of his many siblings, and apparently had more than a few regrets about having to do so.
  • Archie Buff was an international Monumental Thief. Downplayed, in that he tended more to borrow them without permission to catalogue and put them back once he was done and was suggested to be a genuinely good person otherwise.
  • A minor case with Manov Mistree/Mr. Reus, who knowingly took part in a cruel plan designed to humiliate Trucy and maybe to ruin her career by revealing all of the secrets behind her magic depending on whether a statement from Bonny or Betty to Ema Skye is true or not, but is not suggested anywhere else to have been an especially nasty person. Trucy at least seemed to respect him deeply before learning about it.
  • Taifu Toneido downplays the trope; despite passing Geiru over for promotion and stealing the deed to Bucky Whet's store, he was doing so for good reasons. His actual problem was more that he was a little eccentric and failed to make these things clear, resulting in a very literal case of Poor Communication Kills.
  • Subverted with Dhurke Sahdmadhi. Despite being painted as a murderous rebel early on and committing minor crimes in the name of his cause, he is a loving father and husband who is trying to overthrow a genuinely despotic government and has the best interest of the country at heart. Too bad it turns out he's been dead all along.
• Awful Truth:
  • In Case 5, Dhurke tells Apollo that in the next trial he will find himself with a truth that is difficult to accept. He's referring to the reveal that Dhurke was already dead when they met back in the United States the day before. Learning this gives Apollo a Heroic BSoD, and with good reason, because Dhurke is his foster father.
  • Rayfa deals with several truths in Case 5 surrounding both the true natures of Ga'ran and Inga, and learning the truth of her birth - she's actually the daughter of Dhurke and Queen Amara. She must even witness Inga's death firsthand through her Divination Séance.
• Badass Cape: Rayfa's, befitting her status as princess. She has to remove it before performing a Divination Séance
• Badass Creed: "A dragon never yields", for Dhurke and the Defiant Dragons.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • The story and trailers seem to build up the "two lawyers and two settings" theme, with Phoenix in Khura'in and Apollo in America. At one point Phoenix even considers Apollo to take over the Wright Anything Agency when he's ready. However, it was reversed in the ending as Apollo decides to stay in Khura'in and inherit his foster father's law office there while Phoenix and co. returns home with Maya.
  • When Dhurke says something about Amara and that there's no one who could replace her, this sets off Apollo's bracelet. He and likely the player thinks that he's lying about any potential replacement and that he secretly has a new love life, but he's sincere about that. He's actually lying about the fact that Amara is dead. She's actually alive.
• Bait-and-Switch Boss: Zig-Zagged in the final trial, where it seems as though Nahyuta will be the prosecutor once again, with him saying that Ga'ran herself ordered him to do so, and Apollo confronting him twice on the matter during the investigation segment. However, once the trial actually begins, Ga'ran determines that Nahyuta is too conflicted to prosecute Dhurke and takes over as the prosecutor herself, albeit Nahyuta does occasionally make arguments. Then Ga'ran puts him in charge during Amara's testimony, only to take over again after her cross-examination is done.
• BBC Quarry: Like any self-respecting sentai show, the Plumed Punisher show uses this, as seen in the in-game clip.
• Be as Unhelpful as Possible: In addition to the standard series fare with the witnesses, Khura'in's trials effectively pull this trope with the victims, as their final moments are shown through the Divination Séance and invariably look very incriminating, requiring the defense to prove that there's more to them upon closer examination. Justified, since prosecutors see the Séance before the case goes to trial, and thus would base their prime suspect on who the Séance seems to incriminate. The game's very last Séance, which had not been planned beforehand, actually averts this; Jove Justice's final moments very clearly pin his murder and the related arson incident on Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in, thus proving crucial in helping Apollo clear Dhurke of the aforementioned arson charges.
• Better Manhandle the Murder Weapon: The defendant of the DLC case; Ellen Wyatt is seen standing in front of the deceased victim with what's later proven to be the de facto murder weapon. How she recalls the event was that she was performing her last duty as a maid for the Sprocket household by single-handedly cleaning up the reception. She picked up the Time Keeper (the murder weapon/Time Machine) and noticed that a pegabull lantern looked a bit broken. Suddenly, it fell apart and out fell the victim's corpse, then the wedding guests came in and saw the scene. That's what you're told for Trial Day 1.
• Big Bad: Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in, the current queen of Khura'in and main responsible for the attorney genocide there. Notably the first female Big Bad in the series since Dahlia Hawthorne, and the first one to be the final culprit.
• Big Bad Ensemble: While they may be married, and equally terrible people, Queen Ga'ran and Justice Minister Inga are covertly working against each other, and enacting different Evil Plans. Well, at least until Ga'ran kills him off for trying to pull a starscream.
• Big Damn Heroes: Upon finding out that her husband kidnapped Maya, Queen Ga'ran summons the Royal Guard as backup while Dhurke negotiates a hostage agreement with Inga. You later find out that this was part of the former's plan.
• Big "SHUT UP!": After Nahyuta verbally manipulates the gallery against Athena and suppresses her, Simon Blackquill shouts "SILENCE!" and is then shown sitting at the defense's bench.
• Big Word Shout: A classic in the Ace Attorney series. New characters have speech bubbles never seen before.
  • Prosecutor Nahyuta Sahdmadhi uses both "Objection!" and "Satorha!", the latter being unique since it's displayed in apparently Khura'inese.
  • Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in uses "Such Insolence!" and "Objection!" when she prosecutes in 6-5.
  • Rayfa uses "That's Enough!"
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • While the oppressive Ga'ran regime was overthrown and lawyers were allowed to practice again without fear of unjust retribution, there is still a lingering sadness over Dhurke's sacrifice. Also, numerous defense attorneys and innocent people were sentenced to death under the DC Act. Finally, Apollo stays behind in Khura'in to help reform the legal system from scratch, with none of his friends knowing when he'll return.
  • The ending of "Turnabout Time Traveller" ends with Phoenix successfully getting Ellen acquitted, meaning that she can finally marry Sorin. However, the entire ordeal started because a man lost his fiancée on the day they were supposed to be married.
• Black-and-White Morality: More pronounced in the main plot of this installment. The Defiant Dragons, Phoenix and co. are the good guys. They stand for integrity and righteousness fighting to restore justice for the people and prevent them from execution. The Kingdom of Khura'in are clear-cut bad guys, undoubtedly oppressive, tyrannical and biased towards anyone accused of a crime. They virtually removed lawyers from their court system to make people live in constant fear of being accused, even falsely, and they have no qualms executing children.
• The Blank:
  • The Holy Mother is always drawn with no face, and her name is not known to anyone other than the Khura'inese queen to prevent others from channeling her. A Willing Channeler requires the real name and the real face of someone to channel that person.
  • This is how Justice Minister Inga views everyone as due to his prosopagnosia. This becomes very important to the case.
• Bonding over Missing Parents: How Apollo gets Archie Buff's kid to open up to him the first time — like the recently-deceased Mrs. Buff, Apollo's father Jove died in an arson, and he has no idea if his mother is still alive. Of course, this is played for Dramatic Irony, as the audience knows Apollo's mother Thalassa is alive and well, and in fact makes a cameo appearance at the end of the game.
• Bones Do Not Belong There: According to x-rays taken during the DLC case, Phoenix has hair bones, and Edgeworth's cravat is made of bone.
• Bowdlerize: One example and one inversion:
  • Oddly, while people yell about being sent to Hell left and right, the area beneath the stage at a theater, traditionally called "Hell", is only referred to as "The Abyss" here. According to Trucy, magicians call it that because that's the one area of a stage where they can't do any tricks.
  • The Japanese version of "Turnabout Storyteller" only could imply about alcoholic drinks because explicitly mentioning alcohol would have driven the game's Japanese CERO age rating to a higher minimum age, causing the initial Japanese version to not have any explicit references to alcohol. The English localization inverts this Bowdlerization and explicitly mentions sake to simplify localization and because alcohol does not result in much of a penalty in the English version's ESRB rating.
• Book Ends:
  • Spirit of Justice starts with Phoenix arriving in Khura'in, and ends with him leaving Khura'in.
  • For people that consider this game and the previous two Ace Attorney games a trilogy akin to the first three games, the first case of Apollo Justice and the latter half of the last case of this game feature Apollo as the main defense attorney, and Phoenix as his co-counsel. Both cases involve a woman with a disguise.
  • Both the first and last subjects of a Divination Séance in the game are bludgeoned in the head from behind, this being the victim's cause of death and the last thing they see being a scared child.
  • Given it's the last case chronologically, you start with Phoenix in Case 1 and end with Phoenix as well in the Special Episode/DLC Case. Both cases involve Larry Butz.
  • Both the first case and the final DLC case are solved the exact same way, by inserting a key into a piece of evidence stained with blood. Both pieces of evidence are time-centric custom-made items that were the murder weapon via bludgeoning.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Khura'in's Pool of Souls, which allows a court to see a victim's final moments, is undoubtedly a significant upgrade over Phoenix's home court, but it is often abused due to the DC Act and the Pool's perceived infallibility. In the end, it simply provides an additional perspective on the case, and is limited like any other testimony or evidence. The necessity of defense attorneys extends to arguing the insights of the Pool, which is what Phoenix proves during his trip. The best example is the second part of Case 3 where Puhray Zeh'lot is shown dying underneath a giant stone slab that was pushed by Beh'leeb Inmee, which is pretty cut and dry, but Phoenix manages to prove that Beh'leeb only did so because Puhray would have murdered her instead had she not taken action, meaning it was self-defense.
• Breather Episode: The fourth case, "Turnabout Storyteller". The first three cases have high stakes for the protagonists; by contrast, despite relating to the game's Central Theme of inheritance, the fourth case is otherwise unrelated to the game's overall story arc and has much lower stakes. There's even only one court day and no investigation period, the usual treatment for other games' first case. It does, however, foreshadow Rayfa's conflict about duty and what they should really believe in and do: Geiru is basically what could happen to Rayfa if the latter didn't have anyone to trust and rely on, or family.
• Brick Joke: In the finale's Khura'in segment, at the start of the investigation, Athena touches Amara's sarcophagus and is warned by Ema that this could get her cursed. When the main characters talk to the defendant at the end of the day and find out that Amara didn't actually die and the tomb is empty, Athena expresses relief that this means she won't be cursed after all.
• Broken Base: In-Universe: Maya becomes a fan of "The Plumed Punisher" since it's a Khura'inese rip-off of "The Steel Samurai" as well as meeting and trading very rare merchandise with a fellow fan. Phoenix and Edgeworth however, dislike it for the exact same reason.
• Broken Pedestal: Athena is excited to meet Roger Retinz at first, but grows disrespect for him due to his methods of making sure Trucy gets convicted and getting the Wright Anything Agency repossessed.
• Bouquet Toss: "Turnabout Time Traveler" ends with one of these, with Athena, Ema, and Maya all vying for Ellen's bouquet. It ends up in Larry's hands, much to their fury.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Maya Fey returns as part of Phoenix's adventure in Khura'in in her first main game appearance since Trials and Tribulations.
  • After not appearing in Dual Destinies, Ema Skye comes back, having achieved her dream of becoming a forensic investigator. Interestingly she is involved with both Phoenix's and Apollo's cases, apparently taking back-and-forth flights in a short period of time doing so.
  • Larry Butz shows up in the Special Episode DLC case as a surprise witness, still working as an artist.
• Busman's Holiday: The fact Phoenix finds himself defending a suspect for murder in a country where he doesn't even practice law means he fell into this pretty hard. Subverted in the sense that he has very good reason to be taking cases in Khura'in (due to their odd court system that probably got a lot of innocent people sentenced) as opposed to being roped into it by the coincidence of being there at precisely the right time when he's needed (although due to the Always Murder nature of Ace Attorney, it's still pretty unlucky someone he was associating with ends up suspected in a murder investigation). On top of all that, he finds himself joining the revolution to bring down the corrupt justice system.
• Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: In Khura'inism it is believed that butterflies ferry the souls of the departed to the Twilight Realm. Butterfly imagery is ubiquitous in its religious artwork. A flock of spectral butterflies even appears from the Pool of Souls right after a "Not Guilty" verdict in lieu of the usual confetti.
• The Butler Did It: Double Subverted in the DLC case. The victim is a butler that tried to kill the defendant, but ended up being killed by another butler.
• Cain and Abel: Ga'ran, the Cain, tries to have her sister Amara, the Abel, killed when Apollo figures out that Amara couldn't have murdered Inga and instead it was Ga'ran. In a greater scope in terms of plot, Ga'ran is the Cain simply for tearing Amara's family apart.
• Call-Back:
  • The Kingdom of Khura'in's method of determining guilt has shades of how the DL-6 investigation played out, since they rely on the what the dead saw and felt at the moment before their death. And considering what happened in DL-6, there's a lot of potential to take what they saw in the wrong context. It turns out that it didn't use to be that way, as before the DC Act lawyers were freely able to challenge the insights provided by the medium. In fact, at one point, just like with the DL-6, it appears to be a locked room mystery and the victim's spirit is called back to give testimony by the Master of the Kurain technique, where he lies in order to protect someone he loves dearly.
  • In Case 2, "The Magical Turnabout":
    • The characters of Bonny and Betty de Famme are a case of a Contrasting Sequel Antagonist for characters from the second and third games. Like Mimi Miney, one is a sarcastic, foul-mouthed young lady who has to pretend to be her sister, The Ditz, and it's eating her up inside. Unlike in that case, however, the sister is still very much alive, and Betty isn't the murderer. She's not even truly evil, though she is quite vengeful and enjoys appearing to be evil. Like Dahlia Hawthorne and Iris, they are twins where one of them is genuinely kind while the other only pretends to be nice, and bosses the other sister around. The main differences are: Bonny and Betty's interactions with each other are seen on-screen while the interactions between Dahlia and Iris took place off-screen, Bonny eventually stands up to Betty while Iris never manages to stand up to Dahlia, and Betty isn't actually evil like Dahlia.
    • Case 2 is similar to case 2-2, as both involve assistants of a lawyer being set-up to be framed for murder while performing their family art, and the person framing them is a fellow practitioner in the art. The lawyer is also given a chance to plead a lesser charge, but instead goes for a not guilty verdict.
    • Upon meeting Ema again in case 2, she demands that Apollo and Athena hand over their thumbprints to add to her personal database. Apollo is worried that she will be using it for evil. Of course, this being Ema, it is Played for Laughs, but a similar scene happened in the second half of Dual Destinies' fourth case, where Bobby Fulbright (or rather the phantom) is faking the prints on a crucial evidence with Athena's in order to frame her for Clay Terran's murder.
    • Remember the MASON System? Remember when you first talk to Trucy in this segment shortly after Zak's escape and Phoenix's dismissal? When you first speak with her, she has her bowed down and her hat is covering her face, obviously in sorrow. The pose is back with a vengeance!
    • When you have to explain how it was possible that Bonny de Famme was in two places at once during the magic trick, if you pick the option that the Bonny on stage was a fake, the Judge will call Apollo to be a fake attorney with a badge that is probably made of cupboard, and commenting he had such an infuriating experience. He's referencing Furio Tigre.
  • In Case 3, "The Rite of Turnabout":
    • Phoenix is reunited with Maya... only for the latter to be accused of murder during an enclosed ritual, like case 2-2, and on a snowy mountain, not unlike 3-5. Later on Maya channels someone who ends up testifying in court, with said testimony making Maya look bad, similar to how a Maya-channeled Dahlia tried to incriminate Maya in Misty's death in 3-5.
    • Phoenix and Maya make a joke about the number of times Maya has been a defendant in the third case. And then she adds more to the count in this game, as expected.
    • Zeh'lot's body is kept cold to throw off the time of death, just like Isaac Dover's and the fake Di-Jun Huang's in Investigations 2.
    • Building up from what is shown in Case 3-5, more information about how spirit channeling works is unearthed. Rayfa explains that the dead are completely unaware of how much time passes between each channeling, explaining why Dahlia only had a fuzzy recollection of being stabbed and her memory immediately switches to being in the Sacred Cave. Also, when Maya channels the victim, he is not aware who is channeling him until he's told, justifying why Dahlia didn't know that Misty or later Maya were channeling her the whole time - that Mia could know who was channeling her was merely her own deduction.
    • There's a suspiciously artificial gap in a body of snow at the crime scene. Like in Case 3-5, it's to obfuscate elements of the crime scene.
  • In Case 4, "Turnabout Storyteller":
    • This case and the fourth case in Trials and Tribulations are both a single trial day without an investigation headed by a female protagonist (Athena/Mia), take place in Courtroom No. 4 with a male co-counsel who was previously more well-known for their role as the prosecutor (Simon/Diego) who frequently quips at them, the defendant being a large, oblivious man, the culprit being female, and Phoenix Wright doesn't appear at all during the case.
    • Part of the trial requires Athena to convince the court to accept the confused testimony of a young child (or rather, the personality of one) as the turning point from which she proves her client Not Guilty. This is a callback to the UR-1 incident, in which she herself was the child.
  • In Case 5, "Turnabout Revolution":
    • the Wright Anything Agency finds themselves in desperate need of a chartered flight, and Edgeworth appears out of nowhere to provide them with one faster than you can say "Bridge to the Turnabout".
    • Queen Ga'ran, Edgeworth, and Phoenix discuss defense attorneys accused of falsifying evidence and prosecutors running "perfect trials", both of which were major themes in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney respectively. Both Phoenix and Edgeworth grumble that they don't want to deal with those topics again.
    • Part of Case 5 takes place in Kurain Village, and has a few items related to the village in Archie Buff's study; namely the Sacred Urn (still with the pink paint spots Adrian Andrews accidentally covered it with from case 3-2), Ami Fey's golden statue from cases 3-2 and 3-5, and the gravy-covered scroll of Misty Fey from case 3-5.
    • Remember back in Apollo's game, where Phoenix assisted Apollo in the first trial? In the final case, Apollo is the player character while Phoenix acts as his assistant, much like in Apollo's debut trial.
    • The first part of the fifth case is almost a Whole-Plot Reference to an earlier case. Namely, to "Farewell, My Turnabout". Phoenix is given an offer he can't refuse in the form of Maya's life in order to serve as the attorney for a prominent media figurehead, but forced to pretend nothing is happening. Both cases aren't what they initially seem, either, and Phoenix's reactions are nearly identical as in that case. The main difference is that this time, it's seen from Apollo's perspective instead of Phoenix's.
    • An indirect one in the first half of Case 5 is Sgt. Buff testifying to the court via remote control drone, with heavy similarities to the radio that stands in for Shelley DeKiller in 2-4: a face-like structure that shows various emotions, and "sweating" oil/breaking apart when "damaged" by a contradiction being exposed.
    • In Case 5, Dhurke is taken into custody and has all of his possessions confiscated except for his badge, just like Edgeworth was taken into custody and had all of his evidence taken except Kay's Yatagarasu badge.
    • Just like in the final case of Dual Destinies, a lighter becomes important during the final case here: Apollo uses one to set the Founder's Orb on fire, revealing likely the only image of the Holy Mother's face, and a lighter was used 23 years ago to try and kill Queen Amara.
    • When Edgeworth reveals that Trucy got into Khura'in by stowing in his suitcase, it's similar to an offhand and optional conversation in Dual Destinies where Phoenix asks if you can put an average adult in a suitcase, Edgeworth reminds him that they saw Trucy do exactly that as part of her magic show.
    • Apollo setting a trap for Queen Ga'ran by giving her the Founder's Orb and telling her to channel the Holy Mother, which itself is impossible since she has no spiritual power is similar to a previous trap seen in Trials and Tribulations: In Case 3-1, Mia asks Winston to take one of Phoenix's Coldkiller X pills and prove to her that they aren't laced with lethal poison as he states, which the latter freaks out about since it's extremely likely that she's right. Both traps require the prosecution to fall for the defense's goading to prove them wrong through the former's arrogance, only when this happens, Failure Is the Only Option as they can't prove themselves right in any way possible, eventually leading to their downfall. Winston has his life on the line if he takes one of the Coldkiller X pills as he'll either prove Mia wrong by surviving or die from the poison that Dahlia laced them with. Whereas Ga'ran attempts to prove her spiritual power is real, but the Royal Guard is eager to see said power only to turn on her for screwing them over.
    • Unlimited Penalty returns from Trials and Tribulations. One of the last questions you have to answer has a risk of your entire penalty bar being depleted.
    • Amara used her spirit channeling abilities to "disappear" from the crime scene and trick the Big Bad, just like how Maya did the same thing in "Bridge to the Turnabout". Similarly, Inga attempts to use Amara as a hostage to convince Dhurke to return to Khura'in, while unaware that he is being channeled by Amara - much like how Dahlia did not know that Maya was channeling her in the aforementioned case.
  • In the non-canon "Asinine Attorney" DLCs:
    • Apollo Justice: Asinine Attorney, being partially set in Nine-Tails Vale (via video chat anyway), has a lot of references to The Monstrous Turnabout from the previous game, including Jinxie appearing in person again. Also, Rayfa mentions meeting an actor with a lion-like face that apologized a lot, which players of the first games will identify as Will Powers, even if not named, and Klavier comments that he developed a distaste of seeing things burn (referencing the guitar that burned in the fourth game).
    • Phoenix Wright: Asinine Attorney has Phoenix and Maya face of against Miles Edgeworth, much like the first game. This is followed by the canon DLC episode "Turnabout Time Traveler" which also has Phoenix and Maya vs. Edgeworth, but takes place in the usual home court and with Larry Butz as a witness, alongside one of his drawings that you need to make sense of to discover an important part of the case. The Judge even calls attention to this.
      Judge: Seeing so many familiar faces gathered together like this... I feel as though I'm at a grand reunion. It makes me want to go out for dinner and a drink, and reminisce with all of you.
    • In "Phoenix Wright: Asinine Attorney", Phoenix's bullshitting ends up "proving" that the Rayfa we know was actually a body double the whole time, much like Edgeworth actually proved about Di-Jun Huang.
  • In the Special Episode, "Turnabout Time Traveler":
    • Two siblings are involved in a car accident and one of them dies, like in Case 2 of Justice for All.
    • Larry's wallet is left near the crime scene, so Phoenix can easily spot him there the day of the crime — much like in "The Stolen Turnabout".
    • At one point, Phoenix has to figure out what was written on a page that was torn out of a book. This is the exact same scenario he was in during his last trial before his disbarment, down to the missing page being taken advantage of to produce fake evidence, except he manages to figure this out.
    • Maya impersonates Edgeworth with the greeting, "I trust you've been well, Wright," which is how Edgeworth is introduced in case 5 of Dual Destinies.
  • Apollo's backstory is revealed to heavily mirror his half-sister Trucy's: Both he and Trucy wound up being adopted by kindly legendary defense attorneys whose lives and careers had just been ruined because they had each been framed by a sociopathic lawyer (who also killed the kids' biological fathers) for, among other things, forging evidence. Both of these defense attorneys devoted a significant portion of their lives to bringing this evil lawyer to justice, and both of these evil lawyers were defeated by Apollo as the final boss of a game, but only because of the defense attorneys' years-long efforts allowing him to deliver the final blow.
  • Just like the previous even-numbered installments (Justice for All and Apollo Justice), the word "Justice" is in the title. And just like those two, the final chapter features a case where Phoenix doesn't win.
  • Nahyuta's motivation is very similar to Lana Skye's. Like her, he's a high-ranking prosecutor forced to do the dirty work for another authority figure (Gant/Ga'ran) because they're being blackmailed with the well-being of their younger sister (Ema/Rayfa).
• The Cameo: In Case 5, Klavier Gavin is mentioned and appears briefly in a flashback by Apollo, the only instance of him appearing in the main game.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The reason Ga'ran kept Amara alive — she has no spiritual power, but needs to keep up appearances as only those with spiritual power can inherit the throne, so she has Amara impersonate her for channelings.
• Central Theme: Inheritance, heritage, fighting for what's right and just, and what one makes of the cards life has dealt them.
• Chekhov's Classroom:
  • Case 2 has Trucy tell Apollo and Athena the art of misdirection; a tactic regularly used by Stage Magicians like herself which has the audience believe that A is happening, but in reality, the magician is making B happen. This was the basis of Roger Retinz's plan. He wanted everyone to believe that Manov Mistree was killed by a sword Trucy thrust into the coffin, but was actually killed when he was pulled to the ceiling and got stabbed by a sword stuck onto it.
  • Case 4 has the defendant Bucky Whet try to tell Athena about the "Three Freshes"; his method of preparing soba noodles before his trial. However, he passes out before he could finish due to the heavy drinking he did prior. This comes up twice later; the first being that Athena needed to find a way to knock Uendo unconscious with an item at the crime scene, then remembering that Bucky fainted due to being drunk. Since Uendo admitted eating a manju bun with the victim, Athena theorises that Uendo is a lightweight and that his manju bun actually had sake in it, which knocked him out and brought his hidden personality Owen to light, who has to testify. The second time is when after Geiru reveals her lethal allergy to buckwheat, which debunks Athena's theory that she killed Taifu with the soba dough. After a review, Athena remembers that part of the "Three Freshes" involves never to let soba dough rest, which gives a piece of evidence a new meaning: The "Do not disturb" note. Turns out that Taifu didn't write it because he wanted to take a nap, he was actually making udon dough, which does require resting. The lack of buckwheat at the crime scene save for the containers in the fridge means that it was possible for Geiru to suffocate Taifu with the udon dough.
• Chekhov's Gag: At the start of "Turnabout Time Traveler", Larry is shown to have a finger-pointing animation during a comedic optional dialogue in which he begs to borrow Phoenix's badge while showing that he's got the courtroom theatrics down. It's not for show; when the trial hits a brick wall the next day, Larry does his finger-pointing pose and presents evidence that blindsides both Phoenix and Edgeworth while allowing the former to back up his case.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The Founder's Orb, which went missing in Case 1, plays a crucial role in Case 5. It triggers a civil trial pitching Apollo against Phoenix in the first half of the case, and is an item needed to start Dhurke's revolution (because it can bestow spiritual power apparently).
  • The Magatama of Parting is presented in Case 3 as a red item that becomes brown when its power is used up in kicking a spirit out of a channeler's body. You find brown magatamas in Inga's murder location two cases later, hinting at the fact that there was some spirit channeling going on in the tomb.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Puh'ray Zeh'lot is seen early in Case 3 as a devout monk praying the day away during the Purification Rite, although Phoenix doesn't meet him personally. He ends up being very crucial to the case. It turns out he was actually dead at the time.
  • Nayna is occasionally throughout the game as Rayfa's servant lady, and shows up when Rayfa has a question for her or needs her to remove her cloak for the Divination Seance. In Case 5, it's mentioned that she went missing. She was channeling Inga for a brief time and then Dhurke for nearly a whole day. And it turns out Nayna is Amara Sigatar Khura'in, the thought-to-be-dead former queen of the country disguised as an old lady.
• Chekhov's Skill: Simon's Razor Wind technique comes up when Nahyuta tries to attack Athena again with his beads, and destroys them mid-flight. It also comes up again when he uses it to scare Geiru into letting the air out of one of her balloons, revealing that she has a bandage on her forehead.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: After Ga'ran gets convicted of murder and is kicked off the throne, Rayfa takes up the mantle. Downplayed, since due to her young age, Nahyuta acts as her regent while her biological mother and previous queen Amara takes hold of the spirit-channeling duties until Rayfa herself can perform this feat.
• Cigar Chomper: Rayfa's father and Khura'in Minister of Justice, Inga Karakhul Khura'in, is consistently shown with a cigar in his mouth. Subverted in that it's actually a rubber stamp.
• Clear Their Name: Ultimately, the protagonists manage to prove the defendants innocent of the crime they are accused of, including Dhurke, who is accused both of Inga's murder and of his arson charge 23 years ago. Apollo succeeds in acquitting him, but Dhurke is Acquitted Too Late.
• Clothing-Concealed Injury: In "Turnabout Time Travel", Phoenix was meeting with Sorin Sprocket, a witness and the husband-to-be of Phoenix's client, when suddenly Sorin fell over, bleeding from under his clothes, revealing that he has a stomach wound that has yet to be fully healed. As there was some unidentified blood that was just discovered at the crime scene earlier that day, Sorin becomes Phoenix's prime suspect. The victim had stabbed Sorin before abducting Ellen Wyatt, the client, with the intent of murdering Ellen. Sorin manages to catch up to them despite his wounds and managed to knock the victim out with a wedding prop. The incident was quickly covered up, but the victim's co-conspirator decided to kill the victim and frame Ellen for the murder, using the same wedding prop to do so.
• The Con: In the second case, Roger Retinz plots to pull a hidden camera "prank" on Trucy's first televised appearance with Mr. Reus and Bonny and Betty de Famme by tricking Trucy into thinking she had accidentally killed Reus. Like the previous example, it turns out to be an elaborate scheme by Roger to kill Mr. Reus and pin the blame on Trucy which none of the other characters are aware of. He gets bonus points for managing to convince Betty that the "prank" was all her idea.
• Conspicuously Public Assassination: Having discovered that Queen Amara is actually alive, having survived the original assassination attempt on her life, a royal guard blatantly shoots her through the abdomen while she's in the middle of testifying on the witness stand. Justified in that they were already stationed in the courthouse because of the current prosecutor. She survives that too and lives on to help guide her daughter to become the next queen.
• Continuity Nod:
  • In what has probably reached a Running Gag-level of reference, when Shah'do pops out of Ahlbi's bag in the first case, the Judge asks Phoenix if he's going to attempt to cross-examine the dog after Ahlbi tries to interpret for him. Phoenix declines, thinking to himself "at least this time". This is a clear reference to the first and fifth game, where Phoenix has to cross-examine a parrot and an orca (in the DLC case) respectively.
  • If you examine the various flowers in the dressing room in case 2, they are all gifts from people met in the previous games:
    • The sunflower-like flowers (Nine-Tails flowers) are from Damian and Jinxie Tenma, the father and daughter from case 2 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies. The letter accompanying the flowers wishes Trucy good luck and thanks the "Demon Lawyer" Apollo for everything, as Jinxie says in the letter that thanks to Apollo, she was able to overcome her fear of yokai and even become a fan of them.
    • The roses with a Gavinners logo on it is from Klavier Gavin, the prosecutor from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney.
    • A small vase of daisies is from Lamiroir, also from the fourth game. Apollo notes that her songs really speak to him on a personal level, but he has no idea why.
  • Apollo and Athena discuss Phoenix's consumption of "grape juice" in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Athena even wonders if it was the fermented kind.
  • In Case 5, presenting any evidence to Edgeworth as Phoenix will have Edgeworth call Phoenix out for this, where Phoenix mentions that Edgeworth presented evidence left and right during his investigations. Phoenix also says that he learned this from a source, heavily implied to be Gumshoe. Sadly, upon hearing this, Edgeworth susses out who the source is and plans to review his salary.
  • When they're in Dhurke's old office, Athena and Datz suggest Apollo to try on Dhurke's jacket and one of his spare eyepatches. This may remind players of Apollo wearing Clay Terran's jacket and a bandage over his eye in Dual Destinies.
  • From Apollo Justice: Asinine Attorney:
    • Rayfa mentions Will Powers from the original trilogy, as a certain actor with a lion-like mane who keeps apologizing profusely whenever performing attacks in a making-of video she saw.
    • While watching a video showing Trucy's performance, Klavier mentions that he isn't the biggest fan of watching stuff burn, referencing the time his guitar burst into flames during "Turnabout Serenade".
  • When Larry Butz appears in "Turnabout Time Traveller", he jokingly suggests that Phoenix might have made more money playing the piano than he does now that he's a lawyer again.
  • There's a tube of Je Suis L'Belle hair color on the Justice Minister's desk in Case 5. Examining it causes Phoenix to ask Edgeworth if he wants to dye his hair black.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Nahyuta Sahdmadhi is set up to be this to Simon Blackquill, prosecutor of Dual Destinies. Unlike Simon, who presents himself as a grim, irredeemable convict and is dressed in black and white, Nahyuta posits as a Holier Than Thou monk dressed in white and pastels. However, these are both carefully cultivated personas that hide similar motivations — Nahyuta is Taking the Heat in order to protect his mother and sister, like Simon took the heat for Athena's murder charge.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Khura'inism seems to be rather fond of this, with punishments in the Twilight Realm ranging from standard ironic punishments to ridiculous ones like the Hell of Hangnails and the Hell of Tickling.
• Corpse Temperature Tampering: The second victim of case 3 is frozen in the snow to hide the fact that he was killed before the first victim of the case.
• Corrupt Church: Ga'ran perverted the religion of Khura'inism by marking lawyers as ultimate sinners that deserve genocide.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Phoenix notes that both Tahrust's death and Maya's trial could have been completely avoided if Tahrust had asked Phoenix to defend his wife of murder accusations for Puhray Zehlot's death, which was simply on self-defense because Zehlot was trying to kill her. Even so, Tahrust says that he didn't trust lawyers that much.
• *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": In "Rite of the Turnabout," Nick somehow injures himself so badly in his prayer pose that he's knocked out for a whole day.
• Crossover: In-Universe: After being introduced to The Plumed Punisher, Maya hopes to pitch a crossover with The Steel Samurai to TV stations when she gets back home.
• Curtains Match the Window: Sorin Sprocket has royal blue hair and eyes.
• Critical Staffing Shortage: Because Edgeworth fired a lot of corrupt prosecutors (including Gaspen Payne), the prosecutor's office is currently very understaffed. This means Edgeworth has to call on visiting international prosecutors like Nahyuta and take on a few cases on himself (much to his displeasure).
• Crazy-Prepared:
  • An odd villainous example: during Ahlbi's trial, Gaspen probably didn't need to prepare anything more than the Divination Séance and an autopsy report to prove his guilt (given that there probably wouldn't be a defense), but we soon find out that he actually has a pretty strong case built on quite a bit of evidence, as well as a decisive witness (who, as per tradition, turns out to be the actual murderer).
  • Turns out to be a Running Gag with Nahyuta, who does way more research into the background of a case than appears necessary; in preparation for Trucy's trial, he watched several episodes of Roger Retinz's show, going so far as to visit a burger joint that Retinz recommended. In preparation for Bucky Whet's trial, he does some really in-depth research into Rakugo, just so he can have a comeback in case Simon questions his knowledge on the subject. He also researches proper responses to receiving a business card, such as "How do you do?" and "What's crack-a-lackin', homie?"

Tropes D to H

• Damsel in Distress:
  • Subverted in the prologue anime, where Maya briefly gets taken hostage by a suspected criminal while she's on the phone with Phoenix, but is rescued almost immediately. Unfortunately, her phone gets broken when she's initially taken hostage, meaning that she can't call Phoenix and let him know that she's fine, which is what results in him jetting out to Khura'in. Maya does, however, get accused of murder again in the game's third episode. Episode 5 has her kidnapped again, but only for a day. The revolutionary Dhurke tries to rescue her, but he is fatally shot three times in front of her by her captor, Inga. However, before he dies, he still manages to scare the shit out of Inga and send him running for the hills with his potent Death Glare, and tells Maya to channel his spirit so she can escape.
  • The second case features Trucy as the defendant after someone is found dead at a dress rehearsal before one of her upcoming magic shows.
• Darker and Edgier: While the rating decreased from M to T (although it has the same rating in Europe), the narrative is even darker than Dual Destinies:
  • The DC Act resulted in many attorneys being killed through twisted logic. In a nutshell, if their client is found guilty, they are found guilty as well, resulting in a massive amount of executions. This has lowered the national crime rate, but destroyed the lawyers' lives.
  • Related to the above, the previous games generally didn't specify whether the killers would be sentenced to death, with a few exceptions- Dahlia Hawthorne and Joe Darke being executed and Simon Blackquill being one day from execution in "Turnabout for Tomorrow"- but in the first case, third case and the second half of the fifth case, the defendants are all explicitly facing the death penalty if convicted, due to the charges against them being murder and the theft of a national treasure, double murder (with the high priest as one of the victims), and assassinating the queen and a justice minister, respectively.
  • The villains take it up a notch here:
    
    While Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin is standard fare, it's the introduction of the DC Act and Gaspen Payne's attempt at killing Phoenix with it that sets the mood of the game.
    
    The culprit of "The Magical Turnabout" is essentially Kristoph Gavin as a minor villain. As a result of Magnifi Gramarye disowning him, he focused on revenge on everyone connected to a Gramarye, which includes Apollo and Athena due to their connections with Trucy. He used his own student, who trusted him, as the victim in order to frame Trucy, and his actions nearly break her.
    
    In "The Rite of Turnabout", while the Inmees are ultimately decent people, Zeh'lot, one of the victims, lives up to his name by murdering any rebels under Inga's orders, even turning on his master's wife upon finding out she was a rebel.
    
    Subverted in Case 4, a goofier case with a tragic villain. However, a mentally 5-year old boy witnessing the murder of basically his grandfather is completely horrifying. Even worse was that the true villain tried to pin the blame on the young lad!
    
    In "Turnabout Revolution", Paul Atishon is a jerk of a politician with a severe ego problem, but compared to the second villain of the case, he's nothing. Queen Ga'ran is a ruthless usurper to the throne who masterminded everything Inga didn't in a vain power grab. She's also responsible for the death of Apollo's father and her own husband, and even uses her foster daughter Rayfa and nephew Nahyuta to further her agenda. While she does much more, it's far too many to list here.
    
    In the DLC case "Turnabout Time Traveler", Pierce Nichody has a similar tragic motivation that involves a love interest who was killed in the past in an accident and takes out his aggression on the defendant via a frame-up, much like what Marlon Rimes did in "Turnabout Reclaimed". Nichody is essentially Rimes if he got further into his plans, with deadly consequences.
  • The scene showing Dhurke getting shot by Inga is extremely dark for the series due to the fact that you get to see him being shot three times on screen followed by him dying afterwards. But it's not just Dhurke that's shot: Queen Amara is shot in the stomach by a Royal Guard soldier. We see her bleed before passing out and being rushed to the hospital. The viewer is not spared. The Big Bad stands there and does nothing about it.
• Dark Reprise: Dhurke's bombastic theme is reworked as a much slower and somber Recollection theme in "Turnabout Revolution", particularly after the reveal that he was Dead All Along.
• Dartboard of Hate: Subverted in Dhurke's old office, introduced in the third case. There's a picture of Ga'ran with a knife stuck on her forehead, but Datz reveals in the finale that he did it accidentally while trying to kill a fly.
• Dawson Casting: In-Universe; the actress who plays the role of Rayfa in an episode of The Plumed Punisher is quite obviously much older, taller and curvier than the young, petite and flat-chested real princess. This gets lampshaded in the first downloadable mini-episode of Asinine Attorney. Ga'ran had the show banned because of this.
• Dawn of an Era: The post-Ga’ran era is dubbed the Revolutionary Era by the end of the game.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • Apollo's prominence in this game's story is equal to Phoenix's, but by the final case, he's the real protagonist of the story, with Phoenix serving just as an assistant in the last trial for the first time since Apollo's debut.
  • While Trucy got Demoted to Extra in Dual Destinies, Case 2 puts her in the spotlight due to being the defendant.
  • Athena and Simon, for the most part, play background roles, compared to their roles in the previous game. However, they get all of Case 4 to themselves, with neither Apollo nor Phoenix present.
• Dead All Along:
  • Dhurke was already dead by the time he came to America to visit Apollo, being channeled by Maya to complete his revolution. However, we only see him alive after the DCA tragedy.
  • Puhray Zeh'lot was killed before the case's first victim, meaning he's already dead when you first see him.
  • Queen Amara is an inversion, having survived their purported death.
• Death by Falling Over: Subverted in the case of Archie Buff's death. It's initially thought that he fell off the top of a ladder and hit his head against the floor, but he actually died because a suitcase fell onto his head.
• Death by Irony: The victim in "The Magical Turnabout" is killed by a blade after faking his death as a part of a prank to Trucy to induce panic on her as part of a plan to reveal all of Trucy's secrets and therefore ruining her career. It's ironic how he really looked forward to pretending that he has met his maker and then he meets his maker for real.
• Death Glare: Dhurke pulls one of these off on Minister Inga after he'd been shot three times, and it still manages to scare him away. He also does this to Paul Atishon after he learns that he set him and Apollo up to get the Orb.
• Decoy Protagonist: Phoenix is this to the game as a whole. His name is in the game's English title, and the plot is initially set off by his trip to Khura'in. However, near the end of the third case, Apollo's connections to Khura'in are suddenly revealed, and during the finale, Apollo is the player character, and has personal stakes in the plot. The introduction of the DLC case has made the trope a bit downplayed, though, in that during said case, focus shifts back to Phoenix while Apollo is nowhere to be seen due to remaining in Khura'in.
• Defeating the Cheating Opponent: In the final case, Apollo manages to take down a prosecutor who has enough sway to just change the law on the spot. Queen Ga'ran not only threatens Apollo with death, but she starts changing the law every time he exposes her lies and culpability in murder. Apollo insists on continuing anyway, and eventually proves that Ga'ran has no claim to the throne, which she can do nothing about.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Athena and Blackquill get hit hard with this in this game, having only one lead role in Case 4 while Athena gets put into an assistant role for Cases 2 and 5, and Blackquill only pops up again in Apollo's flashback in case 5.
  • Trucy and Maya get this after Cases 2 and 3, though Trucy has a significantly bigger role in here than in Dual Destinies, while Maya plays a key role in Case 5.
  • Pearl, once again, only shows up briefly in Case 5, and Klavier only appears in a flashback. However, they both have larger roles in the Asinine Attorney DLC.
• Description Cut: In the anime prologue, Alhbi tells Maya that Princess Rayfa is a very nice person. The camera instantly changes to Rayfa condemning an innocent woman of a crime with her Divination Séance.
  Accused: But I know I didn't do it!
  Rayfa: How dare you! Are you saying that my insights contain an untruth? You insolent criminal!
• Determinator: This is the basis of the Defiant Dragon's Badass Creed: "A dragon never yields." This is shown when Dhurke doesn't even let his own death stop him from achieving his goals.
• Deuteragonist: Both Phoenix and Apollo are major protagonists in this game. Apollo's prominence, in particular, is increased in comparison to Dual Destinies due to the positive reception his character got in that game. In the endgame, the story is really about Apollo, given his many personal ties to Nahyuta and the events in Khura'in.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • Probably the worst example in the series so far (and given guys like Manfred von Karma and Kristoph Gavin, that's saying something): The Kingdom of Khura'in has outlawed and executed countless defense attorneys for... daring to challenge the spirit medium's word in trials. In Khura'in's defense, said spirit medium is actually providing a pretty accurate service via the Divination Séance, but she is also a moody 14-year old girl. As it turns out, the anti-attorney sentiment was due to the Propaganda Machine spewing lies stating that an attorney was involved in the assassination of the previous queen.
  • Played for Laughs with Datz Arebal's reaction to seeing a fly. He throws a kukri at it.
  • There's Roger Retinz, likely in a nod to Kristoph Gavin due to the heavy Gramarye theme of Case 2. As a result of Magnifi expelling him, he decided, after Thalassa's disappearance, Valant's incarceration, and the deaths of Magnifi and Zak, to ruin Trucy and everyone connected to her. He goes as far as to kill his apprentice and bring crowds of Trucy haters to her trial just to break her, and even after his breakdown, he keeps trying to ruin Trucy.
  • Gaspen Payne tries to get Phoenix killed under the DC Act for humiliating him and his brother.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: In the anime opening to case 5, Dhurke interrupts an episode of The Plumed Punisher to deliver a message about his revolution to the people of Khura'in and the Ga'ran regime.
• Double Meaning: When Rayfa Padma Kuhra'in testified, she claimed that her father would never do anything evil. While we are told that Justice Minister Inga is Rayfa's father, he is actually her foster father or rather, uncle. Technically, since her biological father is Dhurke, Rayfa is right but she never knew that until very late in the game. Dhurke never assassinated his wife Queen Amara and he didn't start the fire.
• The Dog Bites Back: Nahyuta spends the majority of the first half of Case 4 mocking Simon Blackquill. The latter's response? Join Athena on the defense's bench to not only help her defend her client, but to also make fun of Nahyuta whilst giving him his trademark name insult "Prosecutor Sad Monk".
• Double-Meaning Title:
  • The title of the game is "Spirit of Justice". This not only refers to constant use of spirituality of Khu'rain through the Divination Seance, spirit channeling and overall piety of the country and setting, or even the theme of justice overcoming evil, but also the fact that Apollo Justice is the real protagonist of the game near the end and plays a huge part in starting the legal revolution that his adoptive father Dhurke began. Additionally, the final Divination Séance in the game is that of Apollo Justice's biological father, so it could be said that the "spirit of Justice" is the final nail in the Big Bad's coffin.
  • The DLC case, "Turnabout Time Traveler". Over the course of that case, time travel is naturally a heavy theme and the possibility of actually moving backwards through time is discussed. While no one actually does travel back in time, it's revealed that Sorin experiences time-travel of a sort on a daily basis, due to being unable to remember anything the next day except the car accident with his sister. He is the titular time traveler, stuck continually going back to the day his sister died. However, the title also holds meaning on a meta-level, in that the player finds themselves somewhat going back in time themselves, experiencing a case much like from the original trilogy: Apollo isn't present and while Athena is present, she's kept occupied and cannot help in court trials or investigation. However, Phoenix finds himself working with Maya as his assistant again, Larry Butz makes an appearance (having not been seen in a Phoenix Wright game since Trials & Tribulations ), and the prosecutor is, of course, Edgeworth. Anyone who's played the original Phoenix Wright Trilogy will find this feels much like the first games even if newer characters are present.
• Downloadable Content:
  • Two bonus mini-episodes called Asinine Attorney, each came with an assorted 3DS theme. A full downloadable case called "Turnabout Time Traveler", similar to "Turnabout Reclaimed" from Dual Destinies, was also downloadable after launch. The Apollo Justice Trilogy contains "Turnabout Time Traveler", but none of the Asinine Attorney cases.
  • There's a trio of alternate outfits for Phoenix (dressed as Furio Tigre), Athena (a Tres Bièn waitress), and Apollo (a Japanese high schooler). In Japan only, there is a set of Sengoku Basara-themed outfits for the Wright Anything Agency lawyers as well (with Phoenix as Date Masamune, Apollo as Sanada Yukimura, and Athena as Tokugawa Ieyasu).
• Dramatic Irony: Quadruple over, due to Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney's reveal that Apollo and Trucy are half-siblings by their mother Thalassa Gramarye.
  • Lamiroir sends Trucy a bouquet of flowers before her first big show. Trucy wonders why.
  • At the end of case 2, Roger Retinz gloats about how Trucy fell for his tricks, proving that he was superior to the Gramaryes. What nobody in the courtroom knows is that Apollo, the person who saw through his tricks, is Trucy's half-brother and Magnifi's grandson, meaning a Gramarye actually beat him, not the other way around.
  • While investigating Archie Buff's murder, Apollo (with Trucy investigating with him) gets Sgt. Buff to open up to him by talking about his biological parents — his father died in a fire, while he has no idea where his mother is or if she's even alive.
  • Dhurke considers Trucy "bride material" for Apollo.
• Dual Boss: Case 5 has this with Apollo and Phoenix versus Ga'ran and Nahyuta with Apollo and Ga'ran serving as the main attorneys while Phoenix and Nahyuta are the co-council for their respective teams. Well, at least until Nahyuta replaces Dhurke as the defendant and Ga'ran becomes the sole prosecutor for the case, though Nahyuta still serves as a witness.
• Dude, Not Funny!: In Case 5, Dhurke teases Apollo by faking a defeatist attitude. Apollo rebukes him for making light of the situation, since Dhurke is facing grave accusations.
• Dueling Player Characters: In the first part of case 5, the player as Apollo, with Athena as his assistant, faces Phoenix in court, with the latter taking the opposite bench for the first time. Justified since it's a civil trial for once.
• Dye or Die: Amara is implied to have dyed her distinctive white hair purple whenever she needed to impersonate Ga'ran.
• Eat the Evidence: The murder weapon of Case 4; a blob of udon dough was attempted to be disposed this way after Geiru's blood got onto it, so she made it into dumplings and fed them to her dog. This failed since they couldn't eat all of it and buried the rest in the yard, leaving just enough for forensics to recover.
• Enemy Civil War: Khura’in’s leadership is under fire not only from the Defiant Dragons, but also subject internal power struggle where the Justice Minister is plotting a coup against his wife, Queen Ga’ran. The heroes end up becoming pawns in both their plots throughout the game.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite being a major Jerkass otherwise, Justice Minister Inga has a soft spot for his daughter Princess Rayfa.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Rayfa is bratty, but in "The Rite of Turnabout" she tells Phoenix to respect the grief of Tah'rust's wife.
  • Whatever oath of fealty Ga'ran's Praetorian Guard may have sworn to her, it's clear that they were swearing allegiance to country first and ruler second as once Ga'ran's ineligibility to hold power is outed, they immediately turn their guns in her direction. Very much an enforced and positive example of My Country, Right or Wrong as they are wholly willing to admit they were in the wrong and that they had been duped by a pretender to the throne, recognizing that they must correct their error in the name of the kingdom.
• Everyone Is Related:
  • In case 3 Phoenix learns that the revolutionary figure Dhurke is the father of Nahyuta... as well as the foster father of Apollo for a while.
  • In case 5 it turns out that Nahyuta's mother was the previous queen, thus connecting Dhurke to the current queen, Rayfa and Inga.
• Evil Costume Switch: It is glaringly obvious that Ga'ran is a villain after she changes into her prosecutor costume.
• Evil Overlooker:
  • If he is evil (he's not nice, at least). Nahyuta Sahdmadhi can be seen at the top of a promotional image for Spirit of Justice. Subverted; he's probably one of the more noble Khur'ainian characters.
  • Played straight in the promo art as part of the Apollo Justice Trilogy, which has Prosecutor Ga'ran glaring from above.
• Exact Words: Apollo uses this in the first half of Case 5 when Phoenix asserts that the transfer agreement written by the victim Archie Buff is null and void due to his death which is believed to be caused by Datz and the Defiant Dragons as a whole, denying Apollo the right to burn the Founder's Orb. Apollo however, retorts by stating while Datz hasn't been proven innocent of the murder yet, he hasn't been proven guilty either. This still renders the agreement still active, except the victim's daughter; Armie Buff now owns the Founder's Orb and currently all rights to it. Her permission alone was now enough for Apollo to set the orb on fire.
  • Also comes up again in the DLC case.
  Phoenix: What happened to the surgeon afterwards?
  Nichody: ...Sometimes, I wonder the same thing myself.
• Expy:
  • Nahyuta is one of the original-trilogy Miles Edgeworth and Lana Skye. Aside from the stoic prosecutor shtick, he's also a protagonist's childhood friend, who changed dramatically after some time apart and a few particularly traumatizing legal cases. Alongside that, he parrots Edgeworth's philosophy from Justice for All - that regardless of feelings, he serves the law above all else. It's just that his version is somewhat twisted: he's serves the law, not the truth, and the law has been corrupted in Khura'in for a very long time. Nahyuta's sister is also being used as a bargaining chip by a blackmailer, forcing him to serve the blackmailer like Lana was.
  • Rayfa has a lot of similarities to Franziska, being the haughty, proud daughter of renowned people who has trouble coming to terms with the fact that her parents are abhorrent and comes to develop a better worldview because of her interactions with the protagonists, eventually softening into a Tsundere. For bonus points, she's Nahyuta's younger sister.
  • Prosecutor Ga'ran is pretty much a female and Khura'inese Manfred Von Karma. They are both Amoral Attorneys who are the very best at their jobs, boast perfect win records, control the court with intimidation tactics, and will do whatever it takes to win. They also both committed a murder from decades ago that almost went unsolved, and tried to throw their subordinates under the bus to try and get away with their crimes. They are also both the Final Bosses of their respective games. She also has traits in common with her distant relative Morgan Fey. She's the de facto leader of a family of spirit mediums, but has no spirit power whatsoever unlike her sister, who had to go on hiding under a secret identity long before the game had started.
• Extremely Short Timespan: While every other game in the central series has its cases spread out across several months, this game (excluding DLC) spans just over three weeks: April 24-May 19, 2028. This is especially notable in that, in such a short amount of time, nine separate "murders" are brought to court and solved, including a cold case, the Wright Anything Agency nearly gets repossessed, Phoenix and Maya are found guilty of murder and have to overturn the verdict or die trying, Apollo nearly drowns, and a monarch gets overthrown, among other things. Additionally, the events of this game take place in two countries on opposite sides of the world, with several characters involved in events happening in both countries. This results in numerous trans-Pacific flights and some Lampshade Hanging from Ema about the situation. Notably, case 3 ends on May 12 while case 4 takes place on May 13, giving Ema and Nahyuta just enough time to fly from Khura'in to California to take on the case at Edgeworth's request.
• Eye Remember: In the "Divination Séance" mechanic, Princess Rayfa channels the victim's last memories, which usually paint a pretty damning picture of the suspect. The attorneys have to prove that their client didn't do it by pointing out contradictions between the testimony and what's shown in the séance.
• Faint in Shock: In the final case, Rayfa faints while trying to perform the Divination Séance to show her father Inga's final moments.
• Fake Alibi: The murderer in episode two goes for the non present approach. By luring the victim into an otherwise harmless scheme, modified to include a deadly weapon.
• Fake Memories: The culprit of the DLC case forged a confession seemingly written by Sorin about the murder of Gloomsbury. After hearing this, Sorin breaks down, frantically flicking through his notebook as any of his transcribed memories could be forged by anyone aware of its purpose.
• Faking the Dead:
  • In "The Magical Turnabout", Manov Mistree plays dead as a part of a plan to humiliate and ruin Trucy. Unfortunately for him, Roger Retinz took advantage of the plan and killed him for real when he least expected it.
  • "Turnabout Revolution" reveals that Ga'ran staged Amara's assassination in order to usurp the throne, although she keeps Amara on-hand in order to keep up the facade of being able to channel spirits.
• Family Eye Resemblance: Nahyuta and Rayfa both have teal eyes, like their mother Amara.
• Family Theme Naming: We learn Apollo's birth father was named Jove Justice. Jove is a shortened version of "Jupiter", who was father to Apollo in Roman mythology.
• Family Relationship Switcheroo: Rayfa thinks Ga'ran and Inga are her biological parents. They're actually her aunt and uncle, with Dhurke and Ga'ran's sister Amara being her real parents.
• Fandom Rivalry: In-Universe. This game introduces the in-universe TV series The Plumed Punisher, which has many unavoidably noticeable similarities to The Steel Samurai, down to a ripped-off theme with different instruments. Being the Fan Boy he is, Edgeworth reacts to the series with outrage. And Maya (who actually likes both series) advocates the idea of The Plumed Punisher vs. The Steel Samurai crossover.
• Far East: Khura'in, which looks like a cross between various East Asian and South Asian countries, with a distinctly Indo-Himalayan flair to it.
• Feet-First Introduction: A lot of witnesses are introduced after being called to the stand by having the camera looking at their feet and then moving up to their face. This is also done for Sarge's Drone, which doesn't even have feet, and Uendo Toneido, who's sitting on a pile of Zabuton (pillows).
• Felony Misdemeanor: Played for Drama with Khura'in's Defense Culpability Act. This country punishes lawyers that can't prove their clients innocent with the same fate of their client. Therefore, if the client is given the death penalty, the lawyer is executed too. This has caused lawyers to virtually disappear in Khura'in, both by mass execution and by fear of blowing it in court, setting up a revolution in the shadows.
• First-Person Dying Perspective: This is one of the main mechanics of the setting. The Divination Seance enables lawyers to experience the victim's final moments through their eyes in a pool of water.
• Fission Mailed:
  • The first trial of Case 3 ends with a Guilty verdict. Not to worry — if you played through correctly, then after the guilty verdict and Phoenix's scream of despair, the bailiff will interrupt by announcing a second murder. This makes your client Maya look even worse, but it also causes the judge to grant you another day of investigation, suspending the court proceedings before a guilty verdict can result in the application of the Defense Culpability Act.
  • Case 5 has Ga'ran as the prosecutor and judge giving Apollo and Phoenix a premature Guilty verdict just because she can. Fortunately the trial continues regardless.
• Force Feeding: Case 4 has Uendo ordered by the Judge to eat a sake-infused manju bun to test Athena's theory.
• Foreshadowing:
  • As per norm for other entries in the franchise, pay very close attention to what everyone says in mandatory conversations, especially if someone points out a specific detail like an object as it'll likely be brought up later.
  • In Case 2, "The Magical Turnabout":
    • In Trucy's dressing room, there are two rabbits in a cage, one white and the other black, but otherwise identical. Likewise, rabbit-themed assistants Bonny and Betty de Famme are identical twins, one (relatively) good and the other evil.
    • You can inspect bouquets of flowers given by the Tenmas, Klavier, and Lamiroir. The Tenmas and Klavier appear in Apollo Justice: Asinine Attorney, and Lamiroir cameos at The Stinger.
    • During the show, Trucy scolds Mr. Reus as the play's Big Bad for using magic for evil. This is exactly the case with the real Mr. Reus.
    • When about to conduct fingerprint testing on the stage coffin, Ema gives a very short lecture to Apollo on how unique fingerprints are, not even twins share them. They find the expected fingerprints, belonging to Mr. Reus and Bonny, but there's a mysterious set on the top which don't belong to anyone related to the current case. This puzzles Athena, since there wasn't anyone else on the stage during the show, but, however, "Bonny" happened to be sitting on top of the coffin with her hand on it. It's revealed later that this was actually her twin sister Betty.
  • In Case 3, "The Rite of Turnabout":
    • You find out that the Holy Mother's sister, Lady Kee'ra, had no spiritual power of her own. In Case 5, you find out that this also applies to the current royal family. Only this time the powerless sister was consumed by envy and a desire for power, rather than doing the sensible thing and becoming a knife-wielding Batman.
    • Maya shows off her channeling powers for those who haven't seen them in action before. Maya channels Tahrust, the victim from the "first" murder, and he strips the kimono down to his waist to show that, aside from the hair, he looks exactly the same as he did in life, including tattoos. In Case 5, we later learn that Maya channeled Dhurke so that he could say goodbye to his adopted son Apollo like he should have years ago.
    • When Phoenix bumps into Inga in the Audience Room, Inga seems to have difficulty remembering who he was. It's chalked up to his It's All About Me attitude. It's pieced together in Case 5 that he actually has prosopagnosia — he's unable to tell faces apart.
  • In Case 4, "Turnabout Storyteller":
    • The opening shows a man and a woman talking about the murder scene. While on an initial playthrough one may think it's Geiru and Uendo, it's actually Uendo/Patches and Kisegawa talking.
    • When Athena is cross-examining Uendo, his voice blips occasionally switch to the higher-pitched female blips, which coincide with him turning his face to the side and having his ponytail lean to the right. It's later revealed to have been Kisegawa speaking during those moments.
    • During the trial, Simon jokingly calls Nahyuta "Prosecutor Sad Monk" as revenge for manipulating the gallery against Athena and making fun of him during the trial. Case 5 reveals that he was actually right about the "Sad Monk" part: Due to Rayfa being the daughter of Dhurke, life would be very difficult for her if anyone found out that she's the direct descendant of the man who tried to kill the previous queen, forcing him to work under Ga'ran's thumb in order to protect her.
  • In Case 5, "Turnabout Revolution":
    • It's shown that Dhurke has a tattoo bearing the mark of the Defiant Dragons on the palm of his right hand. This happens to be the same hand that Nahyuta wears his prayer glove on, which covers a majority of his palm.
    • Trucy is worried that Apollo's court battle against Phoenix sours things enough between them for Apollo to leave the Wright Anything Agency. He ends up doing so, but for a very different reason. Namely, to reopen Dhurke's law offices in Khura'in.
    • When Apollo meets Nahyuta during an investigation, the latter says something which triggers Apollo's bracelet, but Nahyuta uses his rosary bead chant on it, forcing Apollo to not press this further. You later find out what secret he was keeping.
    • At one point, a Khura'inese citizen compares Athena's ponytail to a spider's leg. A defining part of Queen Ga'ran's prosecutor attire is a hairdo entirely shaped like a spider.
    • There are some clues to indicate that Dhurke was dead before the case and that Maya and later Amara were channeling him. After the civil trial, Dhurke realizes that a girl he met was Maya and assures she is perfectly fine. When Inga calls Phoenix after the civil case and Dhurke answers, Inga is shocked because as Dhurke's murderer, he knows that Dhurke shouldn't be there. When Phoenix, Apollo and company arrive to Khura'in, Dhurke is unable to remember why he was holding the knife that killed Inga. When Apollo interrogates Dhurke, the latter confesses he is dying. In the trial of Dhurke, Maya vehemently denies channeling Inga but is keeping a secret by Dhurke's request. During one recess, Datz tells Apollo that he helped Dhurke escape because he wanted to protect Amara, but then Dhurke vanished without trace. Finally, Dhurke's departure coincides with Amara's appearance in the Hall of Justice.
• Four Is Death: Multiple cases:
  • The maximum security prison located on a mountain too steep to climb that Datz Are'bal escapes from in Khura'in is known as Royal Penitentiary No. 4.
  • "Turnabout Storyteller", the fourth case of this visual novel, subverts this trope with extreme prejudice twice:
    • Bucky Whet is the fourth generation of the Whet family's soba shop business and is the falsely-accused defendant that Athena Cykes defends.
    • Uendo Toneido has four personalities with one of them being hidden. The fourth personality was suggested to be a killer, but then when it is revealed, it turns out to be a child who has no capability of committing murder. That personality was the victim of a Frame-Up.
• Frame-Up: While this trope is naturally commonplace in the series, the fourth case is unique in that it goes for a recursive example of this: Geiru arranged the crime scene to pin the blame on Uendo, or more specifically, on Uendo's fourth alter, Owen. Uendo finds the crime scene and, in order to protect Owen, rearranges it again which now pins the crime on Bucky.
• Frothy Mugs of Water:
  • Inverted in case 4: A very important plot point involves a witness getting drunk on a sake-infused manju just before the murder. Unlike the Japanese version, the English localization can mention alcohol explicitly whilst still maintaining the same classification. It also avoided the need to localize a rakugo reference that the Japanese version uses as a euphemism.^note The Japanese version uses the term "mizu castella" (liquified castella cake), which is a reference to a rakugo story where a man claims that the sake he is smuggling is actually liquified castella cake.
  • Subverted in case 5: Apollo points out a bottle of grape juice and talks about its soothing effects, such as when Phoenix was in the hospital back in Apollo Justice. Athena then asks if he's really talking about regular grape juice and not the fermented variety, to which Apollo responds that they would never let him bring an alcoholic beverage into a hospital. Also doubles as a jab to the audience: anyone familiar with anime dubs would think that "grape juice" was a substitute for what was wine in the Japanese version, but in reality, it really was grape juice in Japanese.
• Gambit Pileup: "Turnabout Revolution." Justice Minister Inga sets a complicated scheme into motion to usurp the throne, but Ga'ran found out about this and killed him before he could kill her, creating her own gambit in order to cover up the murder. Meanwhile, Dhurke, despite being dead, manages to pull Apollo and co. into the revolution, who end up dethroning Ga'ran.
• Gender Bender: Spirit of Justice marks the first time a spirit medium channels a male spirit on-screen, following Misty Fey channeling Gregory Edgeworth during the DL-6 Incident. In Case 3, Tahrust Inmee - the case's victim, no less - is channeled by Maya to get his own perspective on his murder. This is to set up a much more prominent example in Case 5: Maya channels Dhurke to escape from captivity after watching him die in front of her. The Dhurke that travels to the States and meets Apollo is Maya herself to set up the later twist that Dhurke is dead.
• Get Ahold Of Yourself Woman: Simon pulls it on Athena by grabbing and shaking her a bit in Case 4. You see everything from Athena's POV. See for yourself.
  Simon: Motive, opportunity, and an injury [...] Is that all it takes to make you stop believing in your client?! Tell me again, who are you to Bucky?!
• The Ghost: Apollo doesn't appear at all in the special episode or is even mentioned once (unless you examine his jacket) since the case takes place many months later from the last in-game case where he decided to remain in Khura'in to rebuild the legal system.
• Glad He's On Our Side: In the fourth case, when Blackquill, who joins the defense team as co-counsel, uses his psychological suggestion skills on the witnesses and the Judge, Athena's Inner Monologue expresses relief that he's on her side this time around.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Passing an unjust law may have just been the tip of the iceberg, but it turns out that Queen Ga'ran of Khura'in is not as nice as she seems... Namely, she's the reason why the Defense Culpability Act came into play and why lawyers are regarded as garbage in that country. All because she staged an assassination attempt on the previous queen to frame a renowned lawyer.
• Good Princess, Evil Queen: The game has Princess Rayfa, who is bratty and holier-than-thou but ultimately has her heart in the right place and eventually warms up to the protagonists. By contrast, her Evil Aunt Queen Ga'ran is an evil, envious, power-hungry usurper. Rayfa initially believes that Ga'ran is her mother, but she was actually born to Amara, The High Queen whose throne Ga'ran usurped.
• Godzilla Threshold: In "The Rite of Turnabout", Maya is reluctant to use her spirit channeling ability and wants to keep a secret because it would cause serious backlash if anyone other than the Royal Family was shown using the ability. Maya had to use it as a last resort to channel Tahrust Inmee so that he can testify. After this though, no one took issue with it anymore, and even the Queen is okay with it.
• Good All Along:
  • As it turns out after meeting Datz, the Defiant Dragons are the good guys.
  • Case 5 reveals that Nayhuta is secretly a Defiant Dragon, who had to work for Queen Ga'ran to protect Amara and Rayfa.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Rayfa becomes Phoenix's main investigative assistant (albeit reluctantly) in case 3, Simon co-counsels Athena in Case 4, and Trucy and Dhurke investigate with Apollo in Japanifornia (but Athena as co-counsel in Japanifornia and investigative partner in Khura'in), while Phoenix investigates with Edgeworth (they even lampshade this!) and Rayfa again, and then Phoenix goes on to be Apollo's co-counsel in Case 5.
• Happily Married: Tahrust and Beh'leeb were one of the closest and most loving couples of Khura'in. The way Beh'leeb contemplates her husband's photo and mimics him while recreating dialogs he could have said make it clear.
• Hatedom: In-Universe: Roger Retinz stirs up a nasty one for Trucy via smear campaigns, who all vouch for her to get convicted of murder. She inadvertently deals a huge blow to them after performing a magic trick as her testimony and it's implied that they disbanded after it's proven that she was framed.
• Heel–Face Turn: The Royal Guard has a minor one when they turn on Queen Ga'ran after she's tricked by Apollo into revealing that she's a fraud.
• Hell: Given the religious setting, Khura'in's various hells are discussed multiple times mainly by Nahyuta. These various hells take some influence from the Buddhist Narakas, with several levels featuring varied punishments. Mentioned are Pahpul Boljhig, a hell for those who resist fate, where sinners struggle to escape but simply sink deeper into an abyss with a ferocious beast at its bottom as a result of their struggling; the Hell of Tickling, where sinners are constantly tickled; the Hell of Hangnails, where sinners constantly grow hangnails and have them violently ripped off; and Bahlgilpo'kon Hell, which is apparently so horrifying to the Khura'inese that Phoenix decides against asking for translation or elaboration. Dhurke also says that Inga Kharkhuul Khura'in is in hell getting tortured by his victims in Turnabout Revolution.
• Hero Antagonist: The first half of Turnabout Revolution has Apollo go against his own boss, Phoenix Wright in a civil trial. However, it’s not by choice—his client Paul Atishon is blackmailing Phoenix with Maya’s safety, and Atishon is in cahoots with the Justice Minister of Khura’in.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Apollo gets a massive one in "Turnabout Revolution" after the reveal that Dhurke was Dead All Along, even questioning why he became an attorney in the first place. He even gets his own breakdown animation like Phoenix, where he bangs his head into the desk before letting out a loud scream.
  • Athena has a minor breakdown in Case 4, leading to a Get Ahold Of Yourself Woman moment.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Armie Buff's mother jumps out of a window in order to save her, dying in the process. Armie survives with injuries including being temporarily being bound to a wheelchair, but eventually, she recovers.
• Hero Killer:
  • In Case 1, Gaspen Payne hoped to be this by goading Phoenix into defending his client and subjecting him to the Defense Culpability Act which would end in his execution if Ahlbi is declared Guilty, liberally making use of the Khura'inese's prejudice against lawyers and his immense popularity as a prosecutor to make sure this happens. This flops when Alhbi is declared innocent and Phoenix makes history as the first lawyer to attain a Not Guilty verdict in 23 years of Khura'in's history.
  • It's revealed in Case 5 that Inga fatally shot Dhurke while the latter was trying to rescue Maya.
• Heroes With Bad Publicity:
  • Phoenix unwillingly gains a lot of ire in Khura'in after revealing himself as a lawyer. This merits a personal escort by Rayfa during your investigations in Case 3 since she's adamant that he'll tamper with the evidence if left alone.
  • One character is played up like a traitor to the kingdom who's up to no good with his rebellious movement. Actually, Dhurke has a very damn good reason for wanting to overthrow the regime — the current queen nearly killed her sister, the former queen, and is responsible for the eradication of all lawyers in the land. Dhurke simply wants to restore the legal system to its former glory. Really, he was the victim in this tragedy, not Amara.
• Hidden in Plain Sight:
  • Zeh'lot's blood is mixed with Tahrust's blood to hide Zeh'lot's homicide.
  • The murder weapon in Case 4 is nowhere to be found. At the end of the trial, Athena realizes that it served as food for Geiru's dog. Yes, Blackquill saw the murder weapon being eaten right in front of his face.
  • Queen Amara is alive and well, and is disguised as one of the crown's trusty subordinates, whom you have seen more than once.
  • Queen Ga'ran's spider symbol was actually depicted when you met her personally for the first time, since the version on her robes was edited to look like a flower.
• High Priest: Naturally, Tahrust Inmee is the High Priest of the country's religious order, but the Queen is the head of the entire religion itself.
• His Name Is...: Queen Amara is shot before she can reveal the identity of the arsonist who burned down her home in the assassination attempt from 23 years ago. A subversion, in that the identity of the shooter increases the suspicion on the culprit, at least to those accusing them — the shooter was a member of Queen Ga'ran's royal guard. Ga'ran claims that he was a rogue guard who acted alone, although it's never made clear fully if this really is the case, or if Ga'ran gave her guard the order. Apollo, at the very least, appears to not believe Ga'ran's claim.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: After Apollo challenges Ga'ran's right to the throne because he (correctly) suspects she can't channel spirit mediums, she tries to invoke her right to an attorney. Apollo retorts that her DC Act wiped out every attorney in the country and forces her to attempt to channel the Holy Mother.
• Hope Bringer: Phoenix becomes one for the people of Khura'in, not only restoring their trust in lawyers, but inspiring hope that they can live in a society that is fair, just, and free of fear.
• How Did You Know? I Didn't: At one point in case 4, Simon Blackquill uses his Razor Wind trick to scare Geiru into letting the air out of a balloon she's holding. The resulting gust of air blows her bangs upwards to reveal a bandage on her forehead. After the initial shock of this revelation, we get the following lines.
  Athena: How did you know, Simon?
  Blackquill: Hmph. I didn't. But I had to take a chance and see for myself.
• How We Got Here: The intro shows the Defiant Dragons raiding and taking over the courtroom, which according to Phoenix, happened recently. This actually occurs in the final case.

Tropes I to P

• I Choose to Stay: Apollo stays in Khura'in at the end to take over Dhurke's old law office, finish the revolution and rebuild the legal system.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Non-romantic variation. Phoenix has Athena sit out the second half of case 5's trial, because Simon threatened use him for sword practice if she got hurt.
• I Know Your True Name: Some rules about contacting the dead, whether for spirit channeling or divination seance were revealed in this installment, namely that the person doing the invocation needs to know the real name and the face of the deceased. Needless to say, this rule comes up several times throughout Spirit of Justice.
• Informed Attribute: The royal family claim that Khura'in has a low crime rate thanks to the Defense Culpability Act. However, given the sheer amount of execution orders Inga has to get through, this can't possibly be the case, at least not to the extent that the royal family would want you to think.
• Implausible Deniability: Rayfa claims that the Plumed Punisher is an original show created in Khura'in, it's most definitely not a ripoff of The Steel Samurai, and any resemblance is merely coincidental. These are Blatant Lies and Phoenix and Edgeworth know it. Maya is also aware of this, but she enjoys the show and plans to try and pitch a Crossover with it and The Steel Samurai when she gets back home.
• Imposter Forgot One Detail: A burn mark on Amara's chest (see Accidental Pervert above) causes Ga'ran to be hit hard with this trope.
• I Never Said It Was Poison:
  • The final witness of case 3 knows a handful of things that only the killer would know. For example, that Zeh'lot died between 2 and 3 PM, and that the stone slab fell onto him, even though he shouldn't reach that conclusion from the rebel hideout's photo alone. However, he's not the killer, but instead his wife, who told him how the crime happened.
  • In "Turnabout Time Traveler", Larry says that there were two pegabulls at the reception hall in the night of the crime... yet that's something only someone who was in the cargo hold that night would know, because the court didn't tell him. And he wasn't supposed to wander through the zeppelin.
• Informed Flaw: While Larry Butz was a Terrible Artist in previous games, he greatly improved in this game but Edgeworth still considers a drawing Larry shows in court to be bad.
• Instant Mystery, Just Delete Scene: The anime intro to Case 4 shows Taifu Toneido practicing his rakugo routine while an unidentified person in black approaches him from behind. The intro suddenly ends before anything else happens, and the next image we get is Taifu's face shoved into a bowl of broth. The murder weapon is not shown, and the player won't find out about it until five hours of gameplay later.
• Instant-Win Condition: Faced with imminent execution and the fate of the revolution hanging in the balance, Apollo realizes that the Founder's Orb was the key to dethroning the queen. Once he shows Ga'ran doesn't have the ability to channel spirits, her claim to the throne is invalidated, making it possible for every law she has passed, including the Defense Culpability Act, to be abolished, hence the good guys automatically win.
• Interface Spoiler: Bonny's name in her second appearance in "The Magical Turnabout" is completely blanked out until she reintroduces herself, despite the fact that her name was already given in the beginning of the case, foreshadowing the presence of the twin de Fammes.
• Interrogating the Dead:
  • The basis of Khura'in's judicial system is watching what the victim saw last to determine the culprit (the Divination Séances).
  • In "The Rite of Turnabout", there are two different victims killed at different times, and Maya is accused of killing both. During the course of the trial, Phoenix accuses one of the victims as the killer of the other, and Maya channels that victim so he can be made to testify.
  • In "Turnabout Revolution" it is revealed that Dhurke has been dead for a few days before he testified his innocence in court. Of course, it doesn't stop the prosecution from claiming Dhurke killed Inga while the former was being channeled.
• Inverted Trope: In other games in the series, at the end of the game, the main character would be put on the spot (such as by being made to pay for everyone at a celebratory meal) and shout Objection! right before the credits rolled. In this game, however, the credits roll first instead, and the final Objection! shout instead happens at the end of The Stinger.
• It Only Works Once: The Magatama of Parting is a red magatama which can be used to externally eject a spirit being channeled by a spirit medium. After it does so, it turns brown and doesn't do anything afterwards. After that, you have to get another one.
• Jumpscare:
  • The first case begins with a small slow and calm description of Khura'inese beliefs concerning what happens to someone when they die. It then suddenly gets interrupted by a blood splatter, followed by the murdered Paht Rohl falling onto the ground along with the Founder's Box, with Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin standing ominously over him and calmly planning to get Ahlbi convicted of this.
  • In Case 2, Apollo and Athena decide to go back to the Wright Anything Agency after some investigating. The usual transition with the location, date and time is played on a blank screen... then it's revealed that the whole office is covered in red "REPOSSESSED" stickers.
  • Whenever Amara gets angered, she suddenly turns pitch-black with Glowing Eyes of Doom while being struck by lightning, which scares away the animals that were next to her.
  • In the DLC case, when Phoenix is flicking through Sorin's notebook while examining it, he's suddenly greeted by a massive bloodstain, then he remembers it's there because he and Maya accidentally dropped it into a pool of Sorin's blood earlier.
  • Dhurke's Death Glare is considered quite frightening, even in-universe. He managed to scare the shit out of Inga with it even while fatally wounded.
• Kangaroo Court:
  • While Ace Attorney remains no stranger to unfair court systems and absurd prosecution tactics, even Phoenix himself is appalled at Khura'in's court system, which uses unseen mystic forces to try and come to verdicts rather than letting a defense attorney challenge any suspicion on behalf of a defendant. Moreover, anyone who helps someone who turns out to be guilty are treated as accomplices to the guilty party, so if a defense attorney happens to defend someone guilty of a crime worthy of capital punishment... In short, many of the attorneys who previously practiced in Khura'in were arrested and executed for aiding their clients, with those still remaining forming an organized rebellion. Of course, this was deliberately put in place by Ga'ran as a way to maintain her rule.
  • Subverted in one critical way though; the Judge of Khur'ain's court is actually pretty canny and astute, being quite willing to swallow his own distaste for defense attorneys if he's convinced there's a chance that the defendant may be innocent.
• Killing in Self-Defense: In the DLC Case, the defendant testifies she was attacked by the victim which looks like a clear case of self-defense. Sadly, Edgeworth reveals that the victim's autopsy determined that he was struck twice with the murder weapon which Ellen was seen holding in front of the dead victim. He points out that this disproves any act of self-defense since he theorises that Ellen dealt the second blow to finish him off, likely making this a murder case whether she did it or not. Since this happens early on, expect to see more work to do.
• Kimono Is Traditional: Maya and Pearl wear them, as per series and job tradition, but so do Uendo and Taifu Toneido as part of their jobs as practitioners of rakugo.
• Large Ham: The royal guard is fond of yelling and elongating vowel sounds. Athena's worried about being interrogated by them, since she believes she'd crack after being yelled at for an hour.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The DLC case comes after the main game so even though the events of the main game are seldom mentioned, it's hard not to notice Apollo's absence.
• Later-Installment Weirdness:
  • This is the first game in the series without a recurring detective. That being said, said role is taken over by Ema Skye, a former detective.
  • "Turnabout Revolution" is the first case in the series in which Phoenix is playable in an investigation segment and does not use the Magatama, ever since he obtained it in Justice for All^note There is a trailer that shows Phoenix using the Magatama on Ahlbi in the Royal Courtyard during this case, but it's not used in the game (Phoenix points out Ahlbi's lie on his own). Furthermore, this is the first game where the Magatama appears, but no sets of five Psyche-Locks are shown (the most being four, in the third case).
  • "The Magical Turnabout" is the first case in the series that has both only one investigation segment and only one trial segment.
  • This game features the first two instances after the original trilogy where presenting your badge is necessary to proceed as opposed to merely eliciting funny reactions.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • In "The Magical Turnabout", during the cross-examination of Roger Retinz's perfect alibi, Apollo suggests that he could have a brother who looks exactly like him. Retinz mocks the suggestion, saying "You think the audience would let you get away with using the same gimmick twice in a row?", in reference to the twist resolving around the De Famme twins in that same case.
  • In "Turnabout Time Traveler", Edgeworth at one point challenges Phoenix to go back in time and do the trial over again after things take a nosedive for him, poking fun at the Save Scumming tendencies of many fans of the series.
• Little Stowaway: Trucy actually made it to Khura'in by hiding in Edgeworth's suitcase, with the entire cast being none the wiser about it until the end. Given Edgeworth's reaction, it's not the first time she did that.
• Loads and Loads of Loading: Some flashbacks and screen interfaces can take around 4 seconds to load in the 3DS version. This might not seem too much, but it is very noticeable to those who have played the Nintendo DS games, which didn't even take a second to load things. It definitely feels weird to be meeting a character and then wait a bunch of seconds until you can choose to begin a conversation or leave the place. The game's developers have stated that models are rendered before the camera shows them, so that might explain some of these long loads. The iOS version fixes this problem.
• Locked Room Mystery:
  • The third case, "The Rite of Turnabout", features a murder that occurs inside a sacred temple off-limits to ordinary people, while Maya and the victim were conducting a ritual. The victim had actually committed suicide and framed Maya, all to cover up the fact there was hidden rebel hideout on the grounds, as the day before, his wife killed a rebel-hunting vigilante within the hideout in self-defense.
  • While it's not locked, the murder of case 4 plays out like one, due to being constantly watched by Geiru and Simon. Subverted in the end when Athena proves that the murder took place before Simon even arrived. Athena even lampshades this fact prior to case five's civil trial.
  • The fifth case has one, because the murder takes place in a tomb closed off to the public AND surrounded by the royal guard. Subverted, like in Case 4, when Apollo proves the murder took place earlier than believed.
• Loony Laws: The Defence Culpability Act, which subjects the defense attorney to the same sentence as the defendant if they cannot prove their client "not guilty".
• Lord Country: The royal family's surname is also Khura'in.
• Lost in Translation:
  • Athena's confusion over the agency handling a civil trial for the first time in "Turnabout Revolution" might come off as odd in the English version, which is set in the States where civil lawsuits are very common^note it's hand-waved with a clarification that she thought they specialized in criminal law. However, her surprised reaction makes a lot more sense in the Japanese version; at the time of writing, civil trials were a very new addition to the Japanese legal system.
  • On the other hand, Khura'in's legal system being so behind-the-times that they don't have civil trials at all makes the major systemic overhaul brought about by Phoenix and Apollo seem much more drastic for Western audiences than it does for Japanese audiences.
• Lost My Appetite: In the end, Bucky Whet delivers an order of prepared soba noodles to Simon Blackquill while heavily drunk enough that he gets nauseated. Simon Blackquill lost his appetite after seeing Bucky Whet like this.
• Loyal to the Position: The Khura'in Royal Guard are fanatically loyal to the legitimate rulers of Khura'in and will do anything they demand, including executions and (possibly) public assassinations. The ending of Case 5 shows they take the "legitimate" part extremely seriously.
• MacGuffin: The Founder's Orb is the Khura'in's national treasure, and it is believed that whoever solves the riddle will gain immense power. The Defiant Dragons see it as the key to destroying the Ga'ran Regime and the main goal is to help them obtain the Orb before the Royal Family and their allies do. Once they do get it, it would score them a symbolic victory at best, but Dhurke didn't really have a plan beyond that as of yet. It did end up ending the Ga'ran regime, but it took a lot of thinking by Apollo until he used it in an Indy Ploy where he gave it to Ga'ran and told her to channel the Holy Mother, which, due to her lack of spiritual power, is impossible.
• Machine Blood: In "Turnabout Time Traveler", Pierce's breakdown has him desperately operate on FXR-UPR as a representation of his failure to save Selena. FXR-UPR "bleeds" oil, some of which splatters on Pierce's surgical mask.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Paul Atishon kills Archie Buff and makes it look like he fell off the top of a ladder. All characters initially think it was an accident, but considering it's Always Murder in Ace Attorney, players shouldn't buy it.
• Manipulative Editing: Exposing this is a vital clue in Case 2. Retinz edited the stage show footage to remove the part where Trucy swaps the real sword for a fake one before she "stabs" the coffin with the victim inside. After watching Trucy do the trick in-person during the trial and the "official" footage again, her assistant Bonny realises something was off about the latter, especially after someone ogling her from offstage secretly recorded her and sent a copy for unknown reasons, which includes the missing part. This leads to the manipulation's discovery and ejects the faked footage from the Court Record.
• Marathon Level: "Turnabout Revolution" is an absolute monster of a case, due in part to covering two mostly-independent trials in two different countries (only two pieces of evidence are used in both incidents). Over the course of the case, a total of five supposed murders^note Archie Buff, Inga Karkhuul Khura'in, Amara Sigatar Khura'in, Dhurke Sahdmadhi, and Jove Justice are solved, with a sixth^note Armie Buff's mother being relevant to the backstory. Even with the generally-longer stretches between "to be continued" messages, it is the first main-series case to have an investigation day split into three segments, and only the third to have a trial day split this way. This case on its own is approximately the same length as the entirety of the original GBA release of the first game.
• Meaningful Echo: A non-verbal example. Princess Rayfa is known to put on dramatic fainting spells when things don't go her way. In the last case, she is so emotionally overwhelmed by communing with her father's mitamah that she has a panic attack and faints for real. It's heartrending, especially in comparison.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: Case 2 ends with Roger Retinz proclaiming victory over Troupe Gramarye, due to having successfully fooled Trucy with his tricks. Trucy is briefly discouraged by this and feels she has failed as a magician, until she is reminded that she stayed true to her beliefs that a true performer always has a smile on their face. Nothing else of consequence comes from Retinz's "victory", rendering it an entirely moot point. Additionally, he was technically defeated by a Gramarye; Apollo Justice.
• Memetic Badass: In-Universe: Lady Kee'ra is depicted as a guardian deity despite having no spiritual power since she decided to fight crime akin to Batman. In the present, there's a sentai show themed after her called The Plumed Punisher, which is pretty much a Khura'inese The Steel Samurai.
• Metaphorically True: When Ema Skyke asks Dhurke Sahdmadhi what he does, he says that he's currently making Khura'in a better place through volunteer work. Later on at the start of the civil trial, after the Judge begins to recognize Dhurke^note He's currently a wanted criminal in Khura'in, facing the risk of execution if he's taken back there, Apollo says that he's just a random tourist. Which, as he states to a concerned Athena, is technically true.
• Mid-Season Twist:
  • Case 2 reveals that Nahyuta knows Apollo personally; we just don't know how exactly at that moment.
  • Case 3 reveals that Dhurke is Nahyuta's biological father and Apollo's foster father.
• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: The theft of Khura'in's national treasure and the murder of the guard looking after it → A coup d'état plotted by the very Justice Minister of the kingdom and a popular revolution involving basically every known character up to Case 5. The plot is so big, its influence encompasses Japanifornia, thousands of miles away. But wait, there's more: in investigating the coup d'état, the truth about the queen's assassination 23 years ago comes to light, which further shakes the kingdom as the current queen was responsible for that arson and the law that killed off all lawyers in the land.
• Miscarriage of Justice: There were countless false convictions in Khura'in due to the genocide of defense attorneys. Phoenix and Maya suffer through one during the game, even if it is overturned the next day.
• The Mockbuster: In-Universe: Khura'in has its own version of The Steel Samurai known as The Plumed Punisher, complete with a similar theme tune, although with different instrumentation. They claim it is totally an original show and in no way a ripoff of anything. The similarity of the two theme songs plays in a role of outing the real killer in Episode 3, as she had been wearing a watch that played the Steel Samurai theme, which was mistaken by the first victim of being the local show's song. Amusingly, we get to see the two biggest Steel Samurai fans in the cast react to the show. Maya loves it just as much as The Steel Samurai and wants to see a Crossover between the two shows happen, while Edgeworth is outraged that anyone would dare rip off his favourite show and have the audacity to claim it as original.
• Mistaken for Evidence: The painkiller in Inga's private quarters turns out to ultimately be worthless as evidence. The trial wastes a lot of time on it until a divination séance is performed, proving that it has nothing to do with the case.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • Interviewing Trucy in the detention center in case 2 is both sad and heartwarming as Apollo reaches out to her and she finally breaks down the emotional barrier she'd been maintaining since the 4th game. After she calms down, she accepts Apollo's offer to be her defense, and the mood immediately shifts back to funny when Athena speaks up for the first time in a little while:
    Apollo: ([Trucy] seems fine now.)
    Athena: *sniffle* Truuucyyyy! Let's wiiiin this triaaaal togetherrrr! *sob*
    Apollo: (Unlike some people...)
  • The first encounter with Sgt. Buff in case 5 is back and forth between hilarity and tearjerker status as Apollo is repeatedly rebuffed/shot (harmlessly) and then learns of the heartbreak of the loss of Sgt. Buff's parents.
  • In the finale, when Phoenix examines Inga's safe. He figures out that the password is Rayfa's birthday, and the safe's contents further reveal that he had been holding on to a hearfelt letter she wrote to him when she was 8... and then we see the other document in the safe: a note about his plot to overthrow the Queen, forcing Rayfa to face the truth about him.
  • Near the end of the DLC case, Phoenix examines the murder weapon in order to prove it was used during the second reception. Based on statements given by a few servants cleaning up the crime scene and Ellen's pendant, he activates the Time Keeper. The top opens up to reveal a cute little diorama featuring mini models of Sorin and Ellen... except that Sorin's model is knocked over and there's a huge crack in the diorama case covered in blood.
• Moral Disambiguation: Initially, the whole conflict seems to be ridden in moral ambiguity for the most part; the Kingdom of Khura’in has a harsh law that subjects lawyers to the same sentence as the accused if found guilty, but people seem rather content with their lives and live in peace, and their queen sees it as necessary for a peaceful society. The Defiant Dragons seek the government’s overthrow because of how unfair the law is, but they appear to be anarchists who are willing to incite unrest without sorrow. As the story progresses, the conflict is ultimately more black and white than we’re led to believe, and it becomes clear who the good and bad guys are. Though there wasn’t any doubt about it, the Defiant Dragons are fighting against an unfair justice system that sends falsely convicted people to their deaths, and they will not use violence to achieve their ends. They even convince Phoenix that they aren’t the enemy and Dhurke isn’t a bad guy. The Kingdom of Khura’in however, are morally reprehensible that they framed the death of the previous queen on Dhurke, leading to the Defense Culpability Act being ratified. What’s more is that they secretly commit murders on their own people and frame it on the Rebels.
• Motor Mouth: Phoenix's tour guide, Ahlbi Ur'gaid, becomes very talkative when giving tours. He could go on for hours unless he's stopped.
• MST3K Mantra: Invoked. The bonus Asinine Attorney mini-cases begin with the judge (the Khura'in one in Phoenix's, the Japanifornia one in Apollo's) saying not to take them too seriously, since they didn't happen in our world, and just enjoy them for what they are.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: Turns out the Ga'ran Royal Guard have this mindset. During most of the game they show Undying Loyalty to Ga'ran and are great fans of her... but the moment it's proven she does not have claim to the throne, they point their guns at her. They only serve a legitimate queen.
• My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours: This is essentially what brings Ga'ran down in the end. Apollo deduces that the Queen is so desperate to get her hands on the Founder's Orb because, according to legend, the Holy Mother can imbue another person with spiritual power; something Ga'ran lacks completely. And since having spiritual power is a requirement to be a ruler in Khura'in, this means Ga'ran has no right to the throne and all laws she's composed during her reign are null and void (including the Defense Culpability Act). From there, Apollo simply challenges her to channel the Holy Mother, which proves that she has no spiritual power when all of her attempts to channel the Holy Mother fail.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In one of the promotional countdown videos, Maya yells out "Steel Samurai Maya Smelting!", which is the name of one of Phoenix's hyper combos (that involved Maya) in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
  • In the final case's last trial, the prosecution brandishes a giant fan and repeatedly attacks the defense with wind gusts every time the prosecution makes a valid point, referencing the trials depicted in the anime where both the defense and prosecution did this against each other, but with the power of logic. Apollo does a full rip from the anime against Ga'ran when he comes up with the killer blow.
• Never Trust a Trailer: In the pre-release anime prologue, the Agency's lawyers face off against Simon Blackquill in a case involving pork buns, and Maya's phone call with Phoenix is interrupted by a rebel attack. Panicking, he gets on the next flight to Khura'in. None of this happens in the actual game.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In the finale, Phoenix tells Ga'ran that Apollo is Dhurke's adopted son. This allows them to put together that Dhurke entrusted the Founder's Orb to Apollo, so she sends her guards after him. Fortunately, by the time Apollo is searched, he no longer has the orb with him.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In the finale, Ga'ran sending her guards after Apollo upon suspecting he has the Founder's Orb is what leads to him rediscovering the secret entrance to Dhurke's old office while trying to escape. This allows him to leave the orb in Datz's care and collect the documents from Dhurke's investigation into Jove Justice, and into the arson incident that got the former framed and the latter killed.
• No Flow in CGI: According to the official blog, Rayfa always sheds her cape before performing the Dance of Devotion to avoid her body clipping through it.
• No Name Given: The Holy Mother is always drawn with no face, and her name is not known to anyone other than the Khura'inese queen to prevent others from channeling her. A Willing Channeler requires the real name and the real face of someone to channel that person.
• Non-Standard Game Over: You can get a different outcome to certain trials if you lose:
  • In the beginning of case 5 where Apollo goes against Phoenix over who the Founder's Orb should go to, losing results in the orb going to Phoenix's client and it destroys the revolution in Khura'in. Phoenix and Apollo still work together, but now there's always an awkward feeling between them since Phoenix was actually trying to win so that his client would bring Maya back safely and no one knew about it.
  • The tail end of case 5 can have three different outcomes besides the 'true' one.
    • If you get the defendant acquitted but fail to find the true killer, the case ends without anyone knowing who really killed Inga.
    • If you fail to prove that Queen Amara isn't Inga's killer after she falsely confesses, Dhurke is acquitted but Amara is tried for Inga's murder in his place and is subsequently found guilty.
    • Later on, if you fail to show proof that Ga'ran killed Inga, the trial ends with her sending guards after Apollo and his friends. Apollo escapes underground to the old law office used by the Defiant Dragons and he joins them in their cause to keep the revolution going.
• Noodle Incident:
  • When looking through Trucy's handbag, Athena finds "something" that she refuses to elaborate on beyond saying, "Oh, Trucy, you are BAD!" much to Apollo's chagrin.
  • According to Edgeworth, Trucy has stowed away in his suitcase lots of times in the past.
• No-Sell: When Apollo questions Nahyuta outside Amara's tomb in the finale, his bracelet reacts. But before he can try to perceive him, Nahyuta uses his "Satorha" prayer to crush the bracelet against Apollo's wrist, warning him that he knows about the bracelet's gimmick and won't allow such "devilry".
• Nostalgia Level:
  • Kurain Village returns in case 5, being explorable for the first time since case 2-2.
  • Though it doesn't involve returning to any older locations, the DLC case "Turnabout Time Traveler" is thematically nostalgia-oriented, with Phoenix and Maya on the defense side, Edgeworth for the prosecution, and Larry as a witness, even including a Trials and Tribulations-style misinterpreted drawing. The characters’ animations while on the witness stand are also more subdued than in the main game, mainly using the standard front-facing shot. Even the murder weapon is a throwback, since it's a statue with a hidden clock inside, the activation of which serves as a vital clue, just like the Thinker from the series' first case.
• Not So Above It All:
  • Rayfa is given the important duty of performing the Divination Séance in court, but is still prone to childish temper tantrums and calling people nincompoops. Additionally, she repeatedly denies any possibility of being a fan of The Plumed Punisher, despite reaffirming that it came before The Steel Samurai and recognising a piece of merchandise along with the fact that only 50 copies of it were made.
  • The reason for Simon's involvement in the fourth case. The client is the owner of Simon's favourite restaurant, and if he's found guilty, the restaurant would be closed.
• Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon: This is the prosecution's case against Trucy in 6-2: She murdered Mistree onstage with a real sword that was supposed to be a prop one, but had been switched out prior to the magic show. Of course, that turns out to not be the case, nor was either sword actually the murder weapon.
• Not What It Looks Like: Every Divination Séance in a nutshell. It looks like your client is murdering someone, but it always turns out to be something completely different. Everyone who has committed a crime in Khu'rain is well aware that a Divination Séance will be performed and will incriminate them, so they use this to their advantage.
• Oh, Crap!: Athena knows exactly what's coming next when Nahyuta throws his prayer beads on her in case 4 and shouts, "Anything but that!" Even after having her body squeezed by the prayer beads, she still doesn't back down. Nahyuta merely responds by intending to give her a second dose of the beads, only for Simon to intercept the beads by slicing them before they can squeeze Athena again.
• Ojou Ringlets: Rayfa's, befitting her status as princess.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: This game's version of "Confess the Truth", the track typically used during The Summation, includes this.
• Once an Episode: Some series traditions the game continues include:
  • Maya being accused of murder. Twice!
  • A masked entity being involved in one case.
  • Edgeworth appearing in the last non-DLC case.
  • The last non-DLC/bonus case being presided by a different prosecutor than the one used through the rest of the game.
  • You meeting and speaking with one of the victims before their demise. In this case, Inga Kharku'ul Khura'in.
• One-Winged Angel: Whereas in the previous game only had two real examples of this, here almost all of the killers (with the exception of Paul Atishon) will drastically alter their appearance and attitude once it becomes clear that they're the guilty party, with this usually being the point where their true personality becomes apparent:
  • In the first case, Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin produces a pair of massive guitar amps and starts playing metal.
  • In the second case, Roger Retinz has a fairly low-key version, unfurling what initially looked like a sweater around his neck to reveal a magician's cape, and pulling up his sleeve to reveal a scar that identifies him as the original Mr. Reus. His personality change is less pronounced, as he's still as much of a Jerkass as ever, he just acts like a magician instead of a TV producer.
  • Subverted in the third case, where Tahrust Inmee's appearance is actually the result of his being channeled of Maya. He's also not really a murderer. After the case is over, Beh'leeb Inmee, who actually killed Puhray Zeh'lot (albeit in self-defense), has a minor example of this when she gets over Tahrust's death, throws off her veil and draws the Khura'inese character for death (which is the same character that Lady Kee'ra's mask has) on her forehead.
  • In the fourth case, Geiru makes herself a balloon sword, adopts a crazed expression and starts acting more like a snarky Jerkass. It then gets inverted when she breaks down, revealing that in actuality her true appearance and attitude is completely different yet again, being a Nervous Wreck with shorter, dark hair.
  • The biggest example is probably in the second half of the fifth case, when Queen Ga'ran changes into a completely different, much more revealing outfit, and casts off her previously regal attitude and starts behaving like the crazed despot she actually is.
  • In the DLC case, Pierce Nichody dresses up like a doctor, his occupation before becoming the Sprocket household's butler. He also acts like a major Jerkass, though it's hinted that this is just all the anger and frustration at his late fiancée, Selena's death coming out at once.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Something is seriously wrong with Phoenix Wright himself in "Turnabout Revolution" — so much that he declares he will face Apollo in court in a civil trial for legal ownership of the Founder's Orb. Everyone is understandably disturbed by the sudden shift in attitude. The truth is that Atishon was blackmailing Phoenix with Maya Fey's safety.
• Overly Long Name: Parodied with the Khura'inese Minister of Justice, whose full name is: Inga Karkhuul Haw'kohd Dis'nahm Bi'ahni Lawga Ormo Pohmpus Da'nit Ar'edi Iz Khura'in III. This is an obvious pun on "How could this name be any longer or more pompous than it already is?" In the finale, Ga'ran uses this fact to prove Maya couldn't have channeled him, because she would have needed his full name, but only knew him as Inga Karkhuul Khura'in.
• Overly Narrow Superlative: In the DLC case, which involves a murder on a blimp used for a wedding reception, Phoenix resolves to prove the bride's innocence.
  Phoenix: We can't let this go down as the saddest flying wedding reception in history.
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": In 6-5, you discover that the combination to Inga's safe is his daughter's birthday (which falls on Christmas Eve). Said safe contains several mementos of her childhood, a reasonable thing to keep using that combination. Said safe also contains his plans to overthrow the reigning monarch, a... not so reasonable thing to keep using that combination.
• Pet the Dog: During 6-5, Maya asks her kidnapper, Justice Minister Inga for burgers and a television to watch The Plumed Punisher on. She gets them. We later discover said kidnapper genuinely loves his foster daughter, unlike his abusive wife.
• Pig Latin: In the DLC case, when Larry claims he saw a pterodactyl during the first day of the trial:
  Phoenix: (Ix-nay on the erodactyl-ptay, Larry.)
• Playboy Bunny: Trucy's assistant, Bonny de Famme, is dressed like one, although she's a Stage Magician. For fairly obvious reasons, her twin sister Betty sports the same garb, although she bolts on a bat motif in addition to it to reflect her more abrasive personality.
• Player Nudge: Classically, if you restart the testimony during a cross-examination, your peer (or yourself) will take interest in a certain fact, giving you a basic idea on what to do next. Simon is also this to Athena In-Universe, having identified a contradiction in a witnesses' testimony directly when they delivered it, but leaves her to identify it herself. He also points out that you don't necessarily need to drink sake in order for it to get in your system. He's talking about the manju bun Uendo ate.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Zigzagged with Rayfa's outfit; the dress itself is pretty normal, but what goes around it is very fancy, being based on a Khura'inese butterfly.
• The Power of Love: In "Turnabout Time Traveler", Phoenix finds himself having to invoke this verbatim in order to justify a witness's actions and keep his case going (with the trope name even being the option you have to select). Edgeworth doesn't buy it, calling the act too dangerous to commit even for love, but the judge overturns him, moved by the witness's potential effort and allowing him to buy into Phoenix's scenario.
• Praetorian Guard: The Ga'ran Royal Guard, an elite unit of Khura'inese soldiers handpicked for their skill and loyalty that answer only to Queen Ga'ran. They turn on her after realising that she's a fraud.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Like in Dual Destinies, a case generally ends with the camera focusing on the pointing attorney giving a one-liner before the killer does their breakdown. Apollo and Athena make them play on the villain's occupation as well.
  • Case 1:
    Phoenix: Admit it [...] You're the one who killed Mr. Rohl!
  • Case 2: Apollo tells Retinz, a TV producer, that his show has been permanently cancelled.
    Apollo: With no tricks left, I'm afraid your show has been cancelled, permanently.
  • Case 4: Athena tells Geiru, a balloon artist that this time, it's her balloon that's going to pop.
  • Case 5, Day 1:
    Apollo: Try to explain your way out of this one!
  • Case 5, Day 2: While the standard "pointing the true culprit" animation is used earlier in a fake-out, this is notably the only time where it doesn't use the standard animation when you finally prove the Big Bad's guilt. Instead, there's a fully fledged cutscene where Apollo slams the bench with his fists and then epically points to Ga'ran while blowing the guards away, announcing that her reign of terror ends there.
  • Case 6/Special Episode: Subverted, there's the pointing animation but Phoenix doesn't crack at the true culprit, given the circumstances.
    Phoenix: And that one person was you [...]!
• Pretty Butterflies: Khura'inism in general associates souls. A flock of spectral butterflies flies out from the Pool of Souls when a Not Guilty verdict is obtained in Khura'in.
• Princesses Prefer Pink: Pink and purple, to be exact, are the main two colors of Rayfa's outfit.
• Propaganda Machine: Khura'in's state-owned media constantly demonizes Dhurke Sahdmadhi and his Defiant Dragons.
• Propaganda Piece: In-Universe, The Plumed Punisher at least has an episode that demonizes Dhurke whose Defiant Dragons take Rayfa as a Damsel in Distress, and it isn't subtle about it.
• Prophecy Twist: The Divination Séance pool gives accurate visions, but that doesn't necessarily mean Rayfa's insights are based on correct interpretations. For example, the pool did accurately show Alhbi raising his arms, which at first is very incriminating to Phoenix's client — but as it turns out, he wasn't raising a weapon. That was simply Rayfa's interpretation. Actually, Alhbi's arms were in the air because Paht Rohl was pointing a gun at him. So the pool did show the truth, but the interpretation of what it showed was off the mark. Indeed, people who commit crimes in Khura'in are well aware of the incriminating nature of the Séances, and commit them in a manner to make it look like someone else killed the victim.
• Public Execution: What Phoenix and Apollo are threatened with if they do not prove their client innocent in Case 5.
• Public Secret Message: The secret to open Khura'in's Treasure Box is told in the lyrics to the Song of Ceremony, which is heard by everyone every day. No one would expect one of the big secrets of the kingdom to be divulged to the public in such a fashion.
• Pun: The temple that houses Khura'in's court is called Tehm'pul Temple. ^note "Temple Temple".
• Punctuation Shaker: The English version uses apostrophes (and h's) to give Khura'in a foreign feel.
• Punny Name: Most of the names are punny in some way, as is tradition for the series.
  • Ahlbi Ur'gaid sounds like "I'll be your guide". Guess what his occupation is? Likewise, his Japanese name Bokuto Tsuani is a play on the sentence "boku to tsua ni", which translates to "tour with me".
  • The victim of the first trial is a guard named Paht Rohl.
  • The head monk of Tehm'pul Temple is a hippie named Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin (peace, love and understanding).
  • Mr. Reus sure is mysterious. Even his real name is Manov Mistree! As a Bilingual Bonus, the word reus means guilty in Latin. Both men who used the stage name Mr. Reus are guilty of malicious acts (Manov Mistree was part of a plan to humiliate Trucy and maybe ruin her career by exposing the secrets to her magic depending on whether a witness statement is true or a lie. Roger Retinz is guilty of murder, tried to frame Trucy for that murder, and tried to use the blame on Trucy and a forged contract to bankrupt the Wright Anything Agency). So the name really means Mr. Guilty, and both deserve that name.
  • Bonny (bunny) and Betty (batty) de Famme is a play not only Animal Theme Naming, but a play on "defame" which is what they try to do to Trucy.
  • The television host is named Roger Retinz, who is clearly obsessed with ratings. His nickname is "The Ratings Rajah", which is basically just swapping his first and last names.
  • The Inmee couple, Tahrust and Beh'leeb - "Trust in me" and "Believe in me". Their child continues this with Faitah Inmee - "Fighter/Faith in me". Alternatively, Tahrust died of a stab wound, so his name could also be a pun on "thrust in me".
  • Anon Ih'mus (TBD) is quite the anonymous fellow. His real name is Datz Are'bal: a pun on "that's a rebel".
  • Puh'ray Zeh'lot, the monk who prays a lot. He's also quite a prey zealot as he is also a member of the Secret Police who hunts down members of La Résistance as a Killer Cop. Also, he's using an alias. His real name is... Rheel Neh'mu.
  • Bucky Whet runs a soba noodle shop. Soba noodles are made from buckwheat.
  • The Toneido (Tornado) school of rakugo, Taifu, Geiru, and Uendo (Typhoon, Gale, and Wind).
  • The Buff family, Archie and Armie: Archie is an archaeology buff, and Armie is...well...
  • The politician campaigning in the Kurain Village area is named Paul Atishon. Technically, it's Paul Atishon-Wimperson, but for obvious reasons he chooses to drop that last part.
  • The member of the Royal Guard who directly answers and serves to Queen Ga'ran as her lackey is named Lah'kee.
  • The Sprocket company. Complete with steampunk-esque aesthetics. Company heir Sorin (soaring) is marrying Ellen Wyatt (elle in white), though the butler Pierce Nichody (persnickety) doesn't seem thrilled about it. The latter means "approach with a delicate touch". Fitting, since he was a surgeon.
  • And the icing on the cake: Justice Minister Inga Karkhuul Haw'kohd Dis'nahm Bi'ahni Lawga Ormo Pohmpus Da'nit Ar'edi Iz Khura'in III. How could this name be any longer or more pompous than it already is?
• The Purge:
  • According to the anime prologue, defense attorneys in Khura'in were targeted and sentenced to death, apparently because they were an affront to the Khura'in religion (when a rogue defense attorney is brought before Nahyuta Sahdmadhi, he refers to him as unenlightened and a "sinner") and defending the guilty in court is considered a crime in itself. The suspect in another case pleads with the court to provide her a defense attorney, to which Rayfa Padma Khura'in says there is no need for one because the spirits will always reveal the truth. During the web demo, Ahlbi tells Phoenix he is uncomfortable accepting his defense and the audience verbally detests that someone is claiming to be a defense attorney in their courtroom.
  • A mundane and nonlethal variant with Edgeworth, who uses his position as chief prosecutor to clean out the Prosecutor's Office of crooked prosecutors by firing them in a bid to help fully stop the "Dark Age of the Law", such as those who were more focused on winning rather than help find the truth. So far, Gaspen Payne was also fired, while Simon Blackquill and apparently Klavier Gavin remained.

Tropes Q to Z

• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Zig-Zagged. In the first case, Phoenix goes up against the Chief Prosecutor of Khura'in... who turns out to be Gaspen Payne, who is hardly any more competent than he was in Dual Destinies. Subsequent cases in both Japan(ifornia) and Khura'in are handled by Nahyuta Sahdmadhi, who is technically Gaspen's subordinate, but also proves to be a lot more capable, even initially scoring a guilty verdict against Phoenix and Maya, who only survive because Maya is indicted of a separate crime, giving Phoenix another day to crack the case and overturn the initial verdict. And then, the Queen herself is revealed to be a prosecutor and takes over in the finale, and is the most formidable opponent yet, if only because she keeps changing the law over the course of the trial. While prosecutors in Khura'in would win by default before Phoenix arrived because there were no defense attorneys, all of the above is Justified: Gaspen was already incompetent and specifically moved there to build an easy perfect record, so he didn't polish his skills between games; Nahyuta has been traveling the world to learn different prosecution related skills, so he has actually faced defense attorneys before; and the Queen, in addition to the aforementioned power to change laws during the trial, had been a prosecutor since before the Defense Culpability Act was passed, so she also had legitimate experience and skills.
• Reality Is Unrealistic: You'll often see people bring up "unrealistic" aspects of Uendo Toneido's multiple personality disorder, such as how he has four personalities, how one of his personalities is a different gender, the fact that all but one share the same memories and switch in when they feel like it, and that his "child" personality who thinks himself five years old comes out whenever he passes out drunk. As others rightfully point out however, this is probably one of the most accurate depictions of your typical dissoaciative identity disorder in fiction.^note Although it might be unusual to have this many aspects piled together for one sufferer, it is far from unlikely. Differing genders, being in "dissonant" (aka, not in control but still conscious and aware) while other personalities are in control), hidden personalities that other alters do not know about, differing ages between personalities, and even the idea of a certain altar appearing when someone gets drunk, are all, in fact, common aspects of DID The typical Split Personality (one "normal/good" personality, and one "evil" personality who share seperate memories) as depicted in fiction is a very rare occurrence of the disorder in real life.
• Remember the New Guy?: Troupe Gramayre had another member (Mr. Reus) who was part of the original troupe, but apparently left before the Troupe broke up for good. It could be a case of Magnifi deliberately trying to remove Reus from their past as well, considering how much he valued the Troupe's public appearance. This is even lampshaded by Apollo, who, despite extensive digging into the Troupe, has no idea who he is.
• Retcon:
  • Possibly. In Khura'in, spirit channeling can only be interrupted using a special kind of magatama. This seems to discount the existence of the Spirit Severing Technique introduced in Justice for All in Case 2-2, but it could just either be a case of cultural difference, or the Spirit Severing Technique and the Magatama of Parting are one and the same. It's also possible that the Spirit Severing Technique doesn't exist, and was just a lie made up to get Phoenix and Lotta out of the Chamber, since Maya never actually channeled Mimi's spirit.
  • In Trials and Tribulations, Mia said, quite explicitly, that a person's ego continues to exist eternally after death, although it's both stated and shown in Spirit of Justice that a person is not aware of any time passing between the time they die and the time they are channeled. ^note Again, perhaps it's a difference between Kurain and Khura'inese beliefs: Kurain, which is based on Japanese culture, is animistic, and likely believes that spirits persist invisibly to watch after the living. In Khura'inism, the spirit, or mitamah, either (a) move on to some afterlife, either the Twilight Realm or some sort of Hell, or (b) gets reincarnated in a Sa%E1%B9%83s%C4%81ra'>samsara-esque process.. Or maybe it's both, given a dead character's appearance as a ghost in the ending FMV- it could be that the dead who feels like they still have unfinished business can will their spirit to continue to exist in the world (although still being able to be channeled), and they can only finally move on to the afterlife and/or get reincarnated after they feel that their deed is done.
  • Back in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, it's stated that Apollo's biological father was killed in an onstage accident, but this is changed in Spirit of Justice to dying in an arson-related incident. It's also heavily and repeatedly implied in that game and in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies that Apollo was raised in an orphanage where the games are normally set, and aged out of the system, but again, this was changed so that he spent time living in Khura'in with a foster father, though only until Apollo was 9. While you can handwave all or most of that, or theorize to try to logically merge the retcon into existing canon, what you can't handwave is the fact that Spark Brushel knew Apollo was still alive and showed no surprise at his being alive when he does meet Apollo, when Thalassa herself thought Apollo died in the fire that killed her husband, a fire that was specifically stated to be an arson, not an accident. The Apollo Justice Trilogy compilation attempts to smooth things over by changing Brushel's claim to "Apparently, he died during some gig.", which is actually closer to the original Japanese version of the line.
• Retraux: The Steel Samurai's theme is ripped straight from the WiiWare release of the original trilogy.
• The Reveal: Apollo reveals in Case 5 that there was a second victim in the tomb, and it's Dhurke.
• Revealing Cover Up:
  • Ga'ran ordered Lah'kee to shoot Amara to prevent her from revealing who gave her orders in the first place, but her claim that he was a rogue member just amped up the suspicion.
  • Wouldn't have been revealing had they not had the Divination Seance. Ga'ran killed Jove Justice from behind holding a lighter with Dhurke's fingerprints on it, likely because she wanted no witnesses to the deed. However, in her attempt to cover her treachery, her Justice Minister cuffs were visible on a reflective surface, and it was known that she was Minister of Justice at the time. All this ended up implicating the culprit later on.
• Revenge by Proxy: Two of the true culprits' motives essentially boil down to this:
  • In case 2, Roger Retinz attempts to pin a murder on Trucy Wright, discredit her as a magician, and take control of the Wright Anything Agency, all as revenge against her grandfather Magnifi Gramarye for kicking him out of Troupe Gramarye.
  • In the DLC case, Pierce Nichody's fiancee Selena Sprocket died in a car accident just before they were to be wed. Nichody blames this on Selena's brother Sorin, who was driving the car at the time. As revenge, Nichody attempts to get rid of Sorin's fiancee Ellen Wyatt just before they are to be wed. To accomplish this, Nichody convinces Dumas Gloomsbury to kill Ellen on the night of the wedding reception. When this fails, Nichody kills Gloomsbury and attempts to pin the crime on Ellen.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Villified: Only after when we find out what the Defiant Dragons are really about is it clear the Kingdom of Khura'in is undoubtedly evil. The royal family discourages the existence of lawyers because of an act that subjects them to the same sentence if the accused is found guilty, leading a good number of falsely accused to be sent to their deaths, resulting in an unjust law system that makes people live in fear. The Dragons are unambiguous paragons of truth and justice, and only want to restore the justice system that Queen Ga'ran destroyed. Dhurke even emphasizes that he aims for a bloodless revolution.
• Revolutionaries Who Don't Do Anything: In particular Datz, who spends more time goofing off and getting into trouble than he does helping Dhurke start his revolution.
• Rewatch Bonus:
  • After completing "The Magical Turnabout" and watching the anime cutscene of the fatal magic show, you’ll learn how the mystery prints got onto the top of the prop coffin: Betty (as Bonny) was sitting on top of it.
  • When Datz reveals why he threw a kukri at the picture of Queen Ga'ran was because a fly landed on it, you can watch the cutscene when he does this, where a fly does appear there.
  • The big damn reveal of Case 5 calls into question everything you saw in that episode so far regarding a certain character. When you replay it, all makes much more sense. A whole different sense.
• Riddled and Rattled: Inga shoots Dhurke inside Amara's tomb, but Dhurke manages to keep himself standing and scare Inga away, staying alive long enough to ask Maya to channel him after he dies.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Shah'do, Ahlbi's pet dog, is just plain adorable and you will want to cuddle the little puppy-dog, oh so much.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: During the final trial, Apollo discovers Nayna is actually Amara in disguise, and proves Amara is alive by telling Ga'ran to channel her if she really is dead; Ga'ran has to concede the defense's argument because she can't channel someone who isn't dead— except it's revealed at the very end of the trial that she can't channel spirits at all.
• Right Man in the Wrong Place: The whole premise of this game is that Phoenix is an ordinary lawyer who finds himself in a country with an unfair legal system under a tyrannical monarch then ends up joining the revolution to restore the Kingdom's legal system to its fair and just state.
• Royal "We": Queen Ga'ran speaks this way (for example, she refers to Justice Minister Inga as "our husband" at one point in "Turnabout Revolution") until she begins acting as a prosecutor.
• Royally Screwed Up: Almost everyone in the royal family hates or distrusts every other member of the family at one point or another, mainly due to Ga'ran's lies. This is resolved when the culprits for wrecking the royal family, Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in and Inga Karkhuul Khura'in, are respectively dethroned and assassinated.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something:
  • Rayfa is a princess, but she's also a spirit medium in training who takes an active role in court.
  • Ga'ran Sigatar Kurain, the queen of Khura'in, presides as the prosecutor alongside Nahyuta for the latter half of 6-5. Of course, this was what she did long before she ascended the throne. She has won every case she prosecuted and has committed murder. All of these facts make her a Manfred von Karma Expy. This is why she's The Dreaded Amoral Attorney.
• Royalty Superpower: In Khura'in, only the women of the royal family are capable of channeling spirits, because they claim direct descent from the Holy Mother. Citizens and the Royal family would take issue if anyone else had this ability.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • After Apollo convinces Nahyuta to defy Ga’ran, he throws off his glove with her symbol on it, revealing the Defiant Dragons’ tattoo under it.
  • Selena’s pocket watch has stopped working ever since her death, which Pierce uses as a symbol of how his time has stopped as well that day. When Ellen suggests he could still move on, the watch miraculously starts working again.
• Sanity Slippage: The Breakdowns of the villains in Case 2, Case 4 and Case 5 imply that they are experiencing this. Downplayed with Geiru of Case 4, since she realises what she's done, but played straight with Ga'ran of Case 5, who straight after recovering from fainting earlier, is fully convinced that she's the Holy Mother.
• Samus Is a Girl:
  • Inverted in "The Rite of Turnabout", where the rebel-hunter themed after the legendary female warrior Lady Kee'ra turns out to be a man.
  • In "Turnabout Revolution", Sarge, AKA Armie Buff, is actually a 12-year old girl who likes playing tough. She was believed to be a male due to a voice-modulator.
• Saying Too Much: Expect this a lot. The first example is in Case 1, where Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin accidentally calls the Magatama Key the Mitamah Key, hinting to Phoenix why it wouldn't unlock the box that held the Founder's Orb: The obvious lock is a decoy; you have to hold the key so it looks like a mitamah and put it under the butterfly picture on the box.
• Scars Are Forever: Used to tell impostors apart on two separate occasions.
  • In case 2, Apollo deduces that Retinz is the real Mr. Reus because of X-shaped scars on his arm, which aren't on Mistree's arm.
  • In case 5, Apollo (again) deduces that Amara, not Ga'ran, was doing the channeling on the afternoon of Inga's murder, because Ga'ran doesn't have the burn scar on her chest that's visible on Amara's chest — a result of the arson that she survived.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!:
  • Paul Atishon attempts this several times by associating himself with his grandfather's accomplishments. While this lets him get away with being a public nuisance to the people of Kurain Village, it has little effect elsewhere.
  • Edgeworth books a plane that can get Dhurke out of the country and back to Khur'ain without getting arrested.
  • Invoked and Defied in Turnabout Time Traveler. The Sprockets have connections in the judicial system and try to use their influence to sweep Gloomsbury's murder under the rug, but Edgeworth refuses to stand for it and handles the case himself.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Sprocket Aviation attempts to use their massive influence to keep Gloomsbury's murder from going to court. Of course, Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth will have none of that.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Queen Ga'ran rewrites Khura'inese law a few times during the final trial to put the defense at a disadvantage.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: On several occasions during the civil trial, Paul Atishon briskly walks off the stand without saying a word, and Apollo has to call him back.
• Second Verse Curse: Invoked with the Song of Ceremony. Because only the first half is sung during the Dance of Devotion, most people don't know the second half. The second half taken on its own means nothing, but this becomes plot-relevant in "Turnabout Revolution", because the complete song is a clue to the solution of the puzzle locking the box containing the Founder's Orb.
• Secretly Dying: Dhurke claims he doesn't have long to live the day before his trial and doesn't want that getting out for fear of stopping the revolution in its tracks. Ultimately, this is subverted because he was already dead before the beginning of Case 5.
• Secret Test of Character: Deconstructed in the fourth case. Taifu Toneido passed over Geiru, who had a "Well Done, Son" Guy complex, as the new Uendo Toneido in a bid to push her to take her own path, and stole the deed to Whet Soba to get Bucky to work his hardest to prove he was worthy. But by being so cryptic about it, both of those points never got across and only served to give Geiru a motive for murder and factor into Bucky being charged for the crime due to having a plausible motive himself. Had they been more direct, the entire case could have been avoided.
• Self-Deprecation: Case 2 has a subtle one against Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Trucy is reluctant to reveal the secret behind her coffin escape trick, but she does so anyway because she knows Apollo and Athena need that information to build their case. Later on, she also reveals the secret behind her sword swap trick in open court with no hesitation. This is in contrast to Trucy, Lamiroir, and Valant flat-out refusing to reveal the secret behind Lamiroir's trick in "Turnabout Serenade", significantly hindering the defense in the process.
• Sequel Goes Foreign: This is the first entry from the Ace Attorney main series where Phoenix goes on to defend people outside of his original country.
• Sequel Hook: In a post-credits scene, Phoenix hands over Jove Justice's picture to Thalassa, telling her that it's about time they "tell them the truth".
• Series Continuity Error: With its own prologue, no less. According to the animated prologue, Phoenix is in Khura'in because Maya's phone broke in the middle of an emergency situation, spurring Phoenix's travels abroad. In the actual game, Phoenix first appears and wanders around like a tourist, because he and Maya arranged a meeting some time in advance and he's arrived a couple weeks early.
• Shameful Strip: Midway through Case 5, Queen Ga'ran sics a faction of the Royal Guard on Apollo to perform a strip search due to suspicion that he has the Founder's Orb. Luckily, it was given to Datz earlier for safekeeping.
• Share Phrase: "Pohlkunka!", a Khura'inese exclamation of surprise that essentially takes the place of the Big "WHAT?!" and is used primarily by Nahyuta and by the Judge of Khura'in.
• She Is All Grown Up: Maya has gotten noticeably curvier after we last saw her almost a decade ago. Her breasts still aren't nearly as big as Mia's at all^note In-game, that is. She has official art that could give Mia quite the run for her money., but her overall figure is nevertheless more Ms. Fanservice-worthy. Lampshaded by Larry in the DLC case, where he says that she grew up nicely.
• Ship Sinking: Edgeworth swiftly deals with all ships involving him, when in "Turnabout Time Traveler" he declares he has no intention of ever getting married, period.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Phoenix does this twice in the second half of "Turnabout Revolution". First, he orders Trucy to stay at home, and later on he orders Athena to sit out the final trial, although Athena is still present during the recesses and Trucy appears at the end, having hidden in Edgeworth's suitcase.
• Shoo the Dog: Phoenix forbids Athena from standing with the defense in the second trial of "Turnabout Revolution". As he points out, both he and Apollo are literally risking their necks by standing at the defense bench, and there were many moments where they could have been legally executed at a moment's notice. He further notes that Blackquill would be furious if Phoenix lets Athena stand in harm's way. Furthermore, what help she could provide would likely not be accepted as evidence in Khura'in's backwater court.
• Shout-Out: Plenty as per usual of any AA game. See here for the list of shout outs in the game.
• Shrine to the Fallen: Case 6-5 has Amara's tomb, which was built at the former site of the music theater. According to Athena, the tomb "cost some $800 million [in U.S. dollars] to build, and took 400 workers five years to complete. Special memorial rites were also conducted at various points of its construction." The tomb even has a portrait of the Holy Mother, a sarcophagus that is said to act as a freezer for Amara's mummified body, and other portraits that paint her in a good light and Dhurke in a bad light. Ironically Double Subverted in that, although it turns out that Amara is still alive, no one would ever imagine that the tomb would end up as a final resting place for her husband Dhurke, who died at the hands of her brother-in-law Inga in his effort to save Maya there.
  • When you examine the altar at the former Sahdmadhi Law Offices as Apollo, Datz explains that the place has a shrine to the fallen victims of the Defense Culpability Act.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!:
  • In the prologue anime, a remnant of Khura'in's old attorney system before the Defense Culpability Act was passed angrily rejects the prosecutor's offer to repent and screams "What good is a court system that only passes down guilty verdicts!?"
  • In "The Foreign Turnabout", the Khura'inese Judge essentially tells Rayfa to Get Out! of his courtroom if she can't accept that Phoenix just subverted her interpretation of the seance.
  • In "Turnabout Revolution", when Apollo dismantles Paul Atishon's lies and blackmail against Phoenix concerning Maya, the latter hurriedly asks Phoenix to do something to defend him. He, however, no longer has to worry about Maya's safety since Apollo pointed out that killing Maya wouldn't be a good idea for her captors since her spirit-channeling abilities are integral to their plan. Phoenix decides to resign as Paul's attorney since he's also nearly proven to be Archie Buff's murderer.
• Sins of Our Fathers: In Khura'in, being related to a criminal will ruin your reputation. Even if you are related by adoption and not by blood, it doesn't matter, as Apollo found out the hard way. This is why Amara and Nahyuta try to take the heat for Ga'ran, because Ga'ran threatened to reveal that Rayfa is actually Dhurke's daughter. As Dhurke was accused of murder at the time, her relation to Dhurke would end up ruining her life, just like how Nahyuta was expelled from the royal family for being Dhurke's son. This is likely why Tahrust Inmee had to go such lengths to hide his and his wife's affiliation with the rebellion. If the rebellion were to fail, any exposure he or his wife would face for it would also taint their child's life as well. Puhray Zeh'lot finding out that they are rebels threatened to undo all of this. Having his wife branded as a criminal for killing Zeh'lot (since the true circumstances would be buried beneath the victim's visions in the Pool of Souls) would likely bear the same effect, which is another reason that turning the case onto Maya seemed to be Tahrust's only option. The trope is name-dropped in Case 5, when Apollo asks if Nahyuta suffered "Because of the whole 'the sins of the father are visited upon his children' thing?" (emphasis included in game).
• Sleep Cute: Trucy on Edgeworth at the end of "Turnabout Revolution".
• Sore Loser: Occurs with some of the culprits. One of the first examples is Gaspen Payne. While he isn't the culprit of Case 1, he reacts badly to not only Phoenix causing his first ever loss on his perfect record, but also foils his plan to legally kill him through the Defense Culpability Act.
• Soundtrack Dissonance:
  • The Detention Center theme for Spirit of Justice, "Cold-Glass Elegy", plays during the detention center visits back at home (rather than in Khura'in). It's a tragic track that sets the mood for defendants Trucy Wright and Ellen Wyatt. Not so much for goofball Datz Are'bal, who's on suspicion for killing Archie Buff, whose death isn't even the primary focus of "Turnabout Revolution's" civil case. He even notes that the jail cells in the USA/Japan are a lot better than the ones in Khura'in, and is generally relaxed and carefree during his captivity.
  • In the fifth case during the civil trial, Phoenix's Objection theme plays whenever he gets the upper hand against Apollo. Hearing Phoenix's triumphant theme when you're losing is certainly dissonant, to say the least.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • Roger's cover-up largely relied on the show staying on script, so when Bonney deviated from it by accident, it forced him to make some last minute changes to fit the facts, allowing Apollo to see through them.
  • In Case 5, Ahlbi and Datz become key players in dethroning Queen Ga'ran because of a firecracker prank. At 2PM, Datz scared Shad'do with one of his firecrackers, leaving Ahlbi to chase him to the Royal Palace. While he was there, he witnessed and took a photo of Queen Ga'ran performing spirit-channeling duties for a client. In court, the prank helps determine when Inga was really killed due to the gunshot-sounding noise (the firecracker) and the male laughter (Datz). The photo Ahlbi took at first supports Ga'ran's alibi, but a bit of digital-enhancement on it by Ema reveals a large burn scar on "Ga'ran's" chest. Apollo looks at Ga'ran's Cleavage Cut and notices that the scar isn't there. It's later revealed to belong to Amara, who took Ga'ran's place for spirit-channeling duties. This disproves her alibi and eventually leads to her dethroning.
  • In the DLC case, Ema reconstructing the broken pegabull lantern the victim was found in causes a slight bit of confusion since she mixed up the handles to the door in the back. Both were different colors, with the unpainted one covered in blood that was actually placed on the inside from the start. Since it was placed outside during the reconstruction, it led the prosecution on a false lead that the killer got the victim's blood on it trying to put their corpse in. The defense found this out before the trial and was able to prove that the victim was still alive when he was put inside.
  • Yet another from the DLC case. Larry's wedding crash and subsequent actions threw off Pierce's entire plan, and he becomes a key player during the trial by providing key evidence to Phoenix that proves his theories.
• Spark of the Rebellion: Phoenix has become this in "The Rite of Turnabout" when he proves Maya innocent and during the trial, shows the people the tragedy that the Defense Culpability Act has caused Tahrust Inmee. With that, it gave the Defiant Dragons their resolve once more, leading them to reach out to the people and gain more followers to their side. It goes without saying Phoenix became a thorn on Ga'ran's side.
• Spit Take: During case 4, when Uendo is drinking tea while he's on the witness stand, he does one whenever Athena states something he finds shocking.
• The Starscream: Justice Minister Inga is plotting a coup against his wife Queen Ga'ran, but she finds out and murders him first.
• Stealth Insult: Gaspen Payne isn't aware that his Khura'inese title as "The Incredible Payne" describes him perfectly, as internally pointed out by Phoenix.
• Stealth Pun: The game's English title is one, as the thing that ultimately helps bring about the downfall of the Big Bad is the spirit of Apollo's biological father, Jove Justice. It also hints at the fact that Apollo (Justice) is the protagonist, despite Phoenix's name being in the title.
• Steampunk: Anything and everything related to Sprocket Aviation in "Turnabout Time Traveller", from Pierce's multipurpose shoulder mech to the wedding reception being held on a zeppelin.
• Stupid Crooks: The arsonist responsible for bounding Armie Buff to a wheelchair and the death of her mother was found by police directly in front of the burning building, laughing at it.
• Suicide, Not Murder: Showing that Tahrust Inmee's death is one of these is how Phoenix maanaged to get Maya Fey off the hook for one murder charge in "The Rite of Turnabout".
• Supporting Protagonist: You play as Phoenix in the first and third cases, and while he is still an important character in the overall story, by the final case he's pretty much replaced by Apollo as the main character, since the latter is the main focus of the overarching plot and he's the Player Character in almost all of the last case (Phoenix is only playable during a single investigation segment), with Phoenix appearing as his assistant in the last trial. Athena gets this too, being playable in the fourth case and having a large role in the second case and the first half of the fifth case, and investigating with Apollo.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • The game suggests that Edgeworth has fired a lot of crooked prosecutors while cleaning up the Prosecutor's Office after Dual Destinies. This has resulted in a shortage of prosecutors, making him call on Nahyuta for several cases and even take one himself, to his obvious displeasure. In addition, the ones he fired are going to more sympathetic settings where prosecutors can still have everything their own way.
  • After a mistake made by Bonny in "The Magical Turnabout" had Retinz improvise due to spreading blood on the coffin Manov was allegedly killed in by swapping the panels around, which left the fingerprints inside reversed. When this is questioned in court, Apollo points out that if the blood was wiped and put in the correct side and thus removing the fingerprint anomaly, the police would immediately suspect foul play due to luminol tests, which would also have Trucy being framed a very likely explanation from the start.
  • In case 3, Tahrust lampshades the fact that having an alarm clock in the rebel hideout would give it away if it kept sounding, so they turned it off.
  • Upon discovering that there's a price of 3 million in local currency on Datz's head, Rayfa plans to petition the queen to lower it down to one million since if the reward money was claimed, it would come out of taxes from the civillians.
  • Case 4 has the possibility that the defendant, Bucky Whet, wears perfume, explaining why the prime witness recalled smelling some off the murderer who stood over him. Bucky, however, shoots this down by pointing out that if this was true, he wouldn't make a good delivery boy since the perfume would get into his bento boxes and ruin their taste. He gives everyone one to prove this statement. He turns out to be right.
  • Case 5 at one point has Apollo dust a suitcase for fingerprints. When the most obvious spot (the extending handle) doesn't have enough residue to get a full reading, Apollo is suggested by his peers to think about where else you would touch a suitcase such as opening or closing it. The correct location is on the lid, as Datz likely put both his hands on top of it to close it.
  • After lawyers are reintegrated into the Khura'in legal system, Apollo has over 300 clients at his desk due to being the only lawyer in the country.
  • The credits reveal that after Trucy's trial led to the reveal of Betty de Famme, no one wants to pay to see Bonny's teleportation trick since they now know how it works. Bonny considers joining Trucy.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The Khura'inese Judge looks a lot like the regular Judge. They're presumably not related, but the resemblance is uncanny.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: In-Universe, The Plumed Punisher theme sounds just like The Steel Samurai theme, just with different instrumentation. Actually a plot point.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: It's revealed in the final case that, while pulling a Dead Person Impersonation during her Evil Plan, Queen Ga'ran disguised herself as a guy (namely Dhurke).
• Swiss-Cheese Security: The Royal Palace has this when Ahlbi reveals that there's a hole in the garden fence he can get through from the bazaar.
• Take a Third Option: Midway through the DLC Case, it's pointed out to Phoenix that it's likely that either Ellen or Sorin will get convicted. Due to the insistence of the Sprocket household, if either one gets a guilty verdict, the wedding will be cancelled and destroy any chance of them getting married together in the future since one of them is a criminal. Phoenix promises to get both exonerated.
• Taking the Heat:
  • In the final case, Amara and Nahyuta try to claim they killed Inga instead of Ga'ran because Ga'ran threatened to ruin Rayfa's life.
  • In the DLC Case, Ellen tries to get herself convicted in place of Sorin, while the latter also tries to do so for her sake.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • You have to have Rayfa with you during Case 3, since she believes that Phoenix will tamper with the evidence if left alone, so she accompanies him on his investigation despite trying to get Maya convicted of murder. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Implied to have occurred in one Downer Ending for Case 5, after Apollo's actions lead to the Founder's Orb legally declared the Crystal of Ami Fey and Paul Atishion's victory and the death of the revolution. Apollo's relationship with Phoenix has been left strained after that.
• Tempting Fate: When Ema shows up at the start of the second case, she seems a lot happier than she was in Apollo Justice thanks to finally landing her dream job, and proudly declares that the Snackoos are a thing of the past. One rough start with Nahyuta later, and she's back with the Snackoos in court.
• Thanatos Gambit: After Dhurke is fatally shot trying to rescue Maya, he quickly asks her to channel him after he dies so he can get the Founder's Orb from the states and hand Apollo the one thing that would later destroy Ga'ran's position of power: a photo of Jove Justice. In the event that Apollo finds out that he's Dead All Along and runs out of options, all Apollo needed to do was remember that Rayfa needs a facial reference and a name to perform a Divination Sèance, hoping that Jove at least saw something that proves Dhurke didn't start the fire 23 years ago.
• That Was Objectionable: In the first trial of "The Rite of Turnabout", Phoenix screams "Hold it" and states that the defendant is innocent before failing to explain why.
• The Unreveal: Ga'ran's major reason for wanting the Founder's Orb is to channel the founder and receive "great spiritual power". The Defiant Dragons want to obtain it before she does. The founder is never channeled, so we never see what she was like nor do we find out what the power even is.
• The Theocracy: Khura'in is a hereditary theocratic monarchy, and the queen being a descendant of the Holy Mother (their patron deity) is the grand priestess, the highest religious authority of Khura'inism and the country's temporal ruler. To be a priestess, the royal women must have the ability to commune with the dead. Only a handful of state officials are secular leaders.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: In-Universe, Phoenix and Edgeworth both consider The Plumed Punisher to be a rip-off of The Steel Samurai. Being the Fan Boy he is, Edgeworth is quite a bit more vocal about his hate. Phoenix, however tries to keep his in check, as mentioning the fact that it's a rip-off is a Berserk Button for Rayfa.
• This Cannot Be!: Apollo and Nahyuta have a moment prior to their collective Heroic BSoD once Ema makes the unfortunate revelation that yes, Dhurke really was dead in the US and, when arrested for Inga's murder, is presently dead and buried in Amara's sarcophagus, and will never return, as he was being channeled by multiple people- but mostly Maya.
  • Rayfa repeats that so often that it can almost be considered her Catchphrase.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Sometime during "Turnabout Revolution", this is more or less Phoenix's reaction when Lah'kee from the Royal Guard comes to tell him he is summoned for an appointment with Queen Ga'ran. He likely assumed he was in trouble, but the Queen summoned him for an inquiry about Inga and his treachery.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Trucy has a frightening one in "The Magical Turnabout", accompanied by one of the most severe Heroic BSoD cases ever seen in the franchise: she honestly cannot explain why her magic trick failed and Mr. Reus lay dead in the coffin. For the first time in her life, Trucy is lost and scared. Witnessing a normally happy, cheerful person being depressed and traumatized, along with an indifferent, bittersweet stare is just painful and jarring to look at- possibly more than Athena's crisis in Dual Destinies.
  Trucy: Polly... What if I made a mistake...?
• Til Murder Do Us Part:
  • Subverted with Dhurke and Queen Amara. Everyone thinks that he murdered her by setting fire to her residence. She's actually alive, but continued to think that he tried to kill her, straining their relationship until Rayfa was born.
  • The real example of this trope is when Ga'ran murders her husband Inga after learning that he was plotting to murder her.
• They Have the Scent!: Phoenix used Shah'do, Ahlbi Ur'gaid's dog, as a tracking dog to find Datz Are'bal.
• Time Travel: The theme of the DLC case. Ellen and Sorin's wedding is themed around time-travel and three characters- Ellen, Sorin, and Pierce- are said to be time-travelers. In Ellen's case, Pierce gaslit her into believing she time-traveled. In Sorin's case, his anterograde amnesia means that he constantly 'travels back in time' to the day he got his brain injury because he forgets the events of each day when he goes to sleep. Pierce time-travels because he cannot move on from the day he lost Selena, which motivated him to frame Ellen.
• Took a Level in Jerkass:
  • For someone who once thought making a girl cry was the worst crime of all, Edgeworth has no problems at all attacking a heartbroken Ellen immediately after Sorin accuses her of the murder- even the Judge thought he went too far.
  • Gaspen Payne goes from being a cowardly bully in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies to plotting to murder Phoenix by proxy using the Defense Culpability Act.
• Tricked into Signing: Roger Retinz gets Trucy to sign a fake contract promising to nationally televise her magic show, while hiding a second contract under a clipboard and a sheet of carbon paper, using the second fake contract to frame Trucy for Mr. Reus' murder and extort the Wright Anything Agency for everything they have.
• Twin Switch:
  • Exploited by Bonny and Betty de Famme as part of Bonny's teleportation magic trick.
  • While they aren't twins, the striking resemblance between Amara and Ga'ran is noted in-game. In fact, Amara's been channeling for Ga'ran when the need arises because of Ga'ran's own lack of spiritual power, with everyone else being none the wiser.
• Underestimating Badassery: In "Turnabout Time Traveler", after forcing Phoenix to admit he has no evidence to back up his case, Edgeworth quips that he is "no more intelligent than Larry". Larry then stops him in his tracks and presents evidence that takes both the defense and the prosecution by surprise, and allows Phoenix to prove his claims.
• The Unfought: Justice Minister Inga is built up as the Big Bad through cases 6-1 and 6-3 and the first half of 6-5, but he isn't faced in court. He becomes the victim of the second half of 6-5.
• Un-person: Magnifi exiled Mr Reus from Troupe Gramarye and gave him this treatment after he messed up a trick and scarred his arm.
• Uptown Girl: The couple in "Turnabout Time Traveler" consists of Sorin, heir to the incredibly wealthy and influential Sprocket family, and his fiancee Ellen, who's employed by them as a maid.
• Video Game Caring Potential: For one thing the stakes are already plenty high enough to make you not want to misstep when failure means the court is going to issue the death penalty to an innocent nine-year old child but on top of that that failure will also apply his fate to his defense as well.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential:
  • The Revisualization segment in Case 2 allows you to (incorrectly) point out that Bonny's mistake was her life choices. In the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy rerelease, you get an achievement by picking this option.
  • If for any reason you decide to show the grieving Bel'heeb Inmee either the autopsy report or the crime photo clearly depicting her dead husband despite at no point during the case you're required to do this, you'll get rightfully chewed out for doing so.
  • Played for Laughs in Case 5: If you show irrelevant evidence to Edgeworth, a conversation noting that he did the exact same type of thing before will culminate in him planning to take a shot at Gumshoe's salary.
• Vocal Dissonance:
  • The warbaa'd is a medium-sized bird that roars like a lion. Anyone seeing one for the first time is bound to wish they had worn brown pants that day.
  • Rayfa. The game says she's 14, but her voice actor sounds like she's 24, which can be a bit jarring to some players.
• Wedding Episode: The focus of the DLC Episode "Turnabout Time Traveler" involves a time-travel themed wedding that gets interrupted when the bride is framed for murder. At the end, Ellen and Sorin finally get to properly marry.
• Wham Episode:
  • "The Rite of Turnabout" starts off mostly light-hearted, with the return of Maya, and even after the murder it seems like any other case. Until the end... where you witness first-hand just how badly the DCA can affect Khura'in's people as you realize the victim committed suicide to spare his wife from it, and you find out that the royal family is even worse than anyone ever expected. And since these truths come out during a public trial, mass dissent is sparked, and the revolution kicks into full swing, with one of the key witnesses joining the cause. And Phoenix realizes he’s in deep with this now. On top of that, you get a brief glimpse of Dhurke in the flesh. The writers specifically stated they made Case 4 Filler because the player would need a Breather Episode between all that and Case 5.
  • "Turnabout Revolution". To show how ridiculously whammy it is, the case just starts with Dhurke popping up in the Wright Anything Agency in the flesh, looking for Apollo, his foster son. Then you go to Kurain Village to obtain the Founder's Orb, and after you do, Phoenix pops up and tells you that he's going to confront you in court tomorrow because his client claims the orb's ownership. In the trial you find out that Phoenix's client murdered the archeologist who was supposed to hand over the orb, and that he kidnapped Maya, which is why Phoenix is defending him. Then you go to Khura'in, and Dhurke is arrested for the murder of Inga, the Justice Minister. Further investigation reveals that Queen Amara was Dhurke's wife, and Dhurke tells you that he's secretly dying. The final trial is no less shocking, what with the reveal that Dhurke was dead before the case even began, Queen Amara is alive and was disguised as Nayna, and Queen Ga'ran killed both Apollo's biological father and Inga. Plus Nahyuta is Rayfa's brother.
• Wham Line:
  • Revisualizations (the gameplay segments where your Player Character goes over everything that happened so far in their head to reach a conclusion) normally end with one of these, but Case 3's turns all assumptions about the case upside-down: Tahrust's death was a suicide.
  • One line happens near the end of the game that pretty much shook the series going forward: Apollo decides to stay in Khura'in.
  • For once in the series there is a Wham Contradiction. To wit, the player is shocked when they deduce the contradiction to a line uttered by a witness. It happens in "Turnabout Revolution" when Amara says that Minister Inga was the sole victim and that there was no other spirit to channel until he was dead. Dhurke's bloodstains contradict that claim and prove that he died as well as Inga.
  • At the end of the day 1 investigation of the last case, Apollo runs into Phoenix and they argue who the Founder's Orb belongs to; Apollo claims it belongs to Dhurke while Phoenix argues it belongs to his client. Mr. Wimperson. At the end of the argument, Phoenix drops a bombshell on Apollo:
    Phoenix: I'm really sorry it's come to this, but...
    Apollo: Mr. Wright? I don't understand.
    Phoenix: Let me spell it out then. If you continue to claim that the crystal belongs to your client...then I will be seeing you in court.
    Apollo: Wh-wh-whaaaaaaaaaaaa!?
  • In the DLC case, Sorin drops one in the second day of the trial. For context, Phoenix suspects that Sorin killed the victim in revenge for causing a car accident that killed his sister, but Sorin says he didn't resent Gloomsbury.
    Sorin: That's because..... the one who caused the car accident... was me.
    Phoenix: WH-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!
• Wham Shot:
  • "The Rite of Turnabout" has a major one. While investigating a Defiant Dragons hideout, Phoenix comes across a photo of the rebel leader Dhurke and his two sons, Nahyuta Sahdmadhi and Apollo Justice.
  • "Turnabout Revolution" has a few ones. Noteworthy ones include:
    • Two shots back-to-back occur when Sgt. Buff announces that they will now reveal who they look like, the next shot displays a wheelchair, then the Feet-First Introduction reveals that Sgt. Buff is a little girl.
    • When Apollo figures out that you need to burn the Founder's Orb to uncover its secret, he puts a lighter to it, melting the wax interior and revealing a statue of the Holy Mother... with a face.
• What the Hell, Player?: During the second case's revisualization segment, Apollo asks himself what Bonny's mistake during the magic show was, and one of the options is "Her life choices". If you select it, Apollo berates himself, and implicitly you, for even considering it. The 2024 remaster has an achievement tied to selecting this.
  No, no. I should never say a person's life choices are a mistake. I'm sure she can be a great magician someday if she works hard at it. Good luck, Bonny!
• White Hair, Black Heart: Nahyuta Sahdmadhi is just as much of a Well-Intentioned Extremist as other prosecutors in the series (he thinks himself a champion of the deceased and avenging their murders), and yep, he has white hair. Ultimately subverted when it's revealed that he was only acting that way because Ga'ran had his mother and sister hostage.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Downplayed. While Rayfa has a "holy and strict" air to her and has an active role in court despite only being 14, she does still have a lot of things to learn.
• Wolverine Publicity:
  • Maya features prominently in the marketing (which includes a trailer dedicated to her return) and even appears on the cover, but she doesn't even appear until the third case and spends a big part of the only other case she also appears in offscreen. Rayfa actually has a much bigger role in the main story than Maya does. However, in the DLC case, she plays a much larger role as Phoenix's assistant in both investigations and in court.
  • Blackquill and Edgeworth appearing in the promotional material, however, is a bit more played straight; both only appear in one court case each: 6-4 and 6-5 respectively. 6-4 can be likened to a filler case altogether, and in 6-5 Edgeworth's role ends shortly after he appears. Edgeworth does appear in some of the DLC, though, and, like Maya, plays a large role in the DLC case.
• Woman Scorned: Amara is led to believe for 8 years that Dhurke really did mean to assassinate her. She is proven wrong when Apollo proves that Dhurke was the victim of a Frame-Up due to forged evidence that was exposed as fake by a divination séance, and Apollo and Nahyuta were able to name Ga'ran as the prime suspect for the assassination using that same divination séance.
• Would Hurt a Child: In the first trial, the people of Khura'in and Gaspen Payne, Khura'in's chief prosecutor, openly claim for Ahlbi Ur'gaid's execution. He's 9.
• X Called; They Want Their Y Back: In Case 5, when Apollo and Dhurke get lost in a very deep cave with no apparent way out:
  Apollo: A bit [of bad luck]? Murphy called. He wants his law back.
• You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost: In Case 6-5, Phoenix says this to a surprised Apollo and Trucy when he appears to stop Dhurke from getting arrested, though he has Paul Atishon as his client.
• You Rebel Scum!: This appears to be a favorite appellation by any Khura'inese authority figure against the heroes.

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