History TearJerker / PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice

[[AC:Case 3]]

* At the beginning of the first trial, when Ema is called to testify, she goes on record to say that she believes in Trucy. Initially, she refuses to testify. [[Jerkass Cue a passive-aggressive Nahyuta warning her to testify or else she will be punished.]] Her Snackoo animation changes accordingly from stressed to depressed. [[https://youtu.be/wN_el6GBPpk?t=638 See for yourself!]]

* Rayfa gradually falling apart over the course of the game. She may be an arrogant BrattyHalfPint, but she genuinely wants to be the best queen and princess she can be, and it's hard to watch her repeatedly fail to live up to her own standards, [[spoiler:which is only compounded her family issues]]. It culminates in her [[spoiler:having a full-scale ''nervous breakdown'' when trying to perform a Divination Seance on her father, and collapsing into a sobbing mess in the middle of court, bemoaning the fact that Khura'in is going to have such a failure for a queen. Rapidly becomes Heartwarming, however, when everyone in the courtroom chips in to convince her she isn't worthless.]]

** What's more heartbreaking is that [[spoiler: ''Dual Destinies'' shows us Apollo is extraordinarily good at hiding his emotions. Athena's reaction following Apollo's minor snap when he took his leave implies that she couldn't hear his emotions until then. Which considering his reaction in this game, means he might have actually still been reigning himself in at that time. Apollo doesn't like to show how he really feels, aside from his thinly-veiled dislike of Klavier and his unprofessionalism (unless you believe he's jealous, but considering his personality, it seems more likely he hates Klavier based on Klavier's inability to be professional)]]. So to see Apollo, who actively tries to be the ConsummateProfessional and, considering he never talks about himself at work and is by far the most distant with his coworkers, has shades of thinking BeingPersonalIsntProfessional [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness display that level of emotion at work is crushing]].

* Apollo [[spoiler:nearly drowns]]. It's as terrifying as it is heartbreaking, since [[spoiler:he's dying all alone]].
* The Reveal of [[spoiler:Dhurke's death. Apollo has to prove a suspect disappeared from a closed chamber by channeling. Since only Dhurke and Maya were found alive in the room, and Maya is pretty much alive, Apollo comes to the conclusion that the Dhurke they met after the murder was dead all along. At first he doesn't want to believe it. But after the judge calls for another thorough search of the murder scene, Ema reluctantly reports that Dhurke's body was found hidden in a coffin. This causes a severe breakdown to both Apollo and Nahyuta, to whom Dhurke was a father figure to (In fact, he is Nahyuta's biological father). Apollo keeps shouting "Please let my theory be wrong!" all the time and bangs his head onto the desk when his theory is confirmed. He even goes into a BSOD and starts questioning why he became an attorney in the first place. Notable in that his BSOD animation is more intense than his previous low points from Dual Destinies regarding Clay's death and his suspicion of Athena tearing him apart inside.]]

** Phoenix [[spoiler: proves she did it in self-defence without even really trying. It was just kind of something that he proved along the way]], so that kind of made Tahrust's death... almost unnecessary.

* Apollo [[spoiler: nearly drowns]]. It's as terrifying as it is heartbreaking, since [[spoiler: he's dying all alone]].

* As if Case 5 wasn't soul-crushing enough based on just what's right above this, [[spoiler: no matter how many times you wanted to strangle Nahyuta with his braid or shove those prayer beads down his throat every time he called you "putrid" or told you to just give up, Case 5 was pretty rough on the guy]].
** [[spoiler:And of course, it's revealed that he's completely undeserving of Ga'ran's bullying and cruel treatment, he having only done all that to protect his allegiance to the Defiant Dragons and that he actually respected Apollo. Give the poor guy a hug already.]]
* [[spoiler: Apollo's biological father, Jove, was killed in a fire trying to save his infant son. He died before he could do so, and so died not knowing his son made it out alive. You get to watch the whole horrible event, but it's mercifully short, since you only have to cite one location twice in the entire seance]].
* There's something very... off about the first part of the fifth case. [[spoiler: Then you learn you're basically playing the part of Edgeworth in Farewell, My Turnabout during the first half of the trial- Nick is being blackmailed into aiding a slimeball of a human being with Maya's life on the line. Except this time, Nick is fighting all alone]]. And it really shows, too, how much of a toll it takes on him.

* Apollo's decision to [[spoiler: stay in Khura'in]].

* The truth. [[spoiler:Puhray/Rheel Neh'mu was killed by Beh'leeb because she caught him snooping around the revolutionary's secret base. To quote, she had to kill a person whom she thought as a son just to hide the fact that she and her husband are part of the revolutionary army. Tahrust found out about this and made it look like it was Maya who killed him, and later then committed suicide and again made it as if he had been murdered by Maya all just to save his pregnant wife from persecution because the law demanded that, if a person is found guilty, those related to him and his defense attorney be found equally guilty. Remember, one piece of the evidence is a picture of the four of them happily having a meal like a family, and it is broken all just because of one law. Made even more heart wrenching is the final goodbye between Beh'leeb and Tahrust, who is channeled by Maya during the trial.]]

* The Reveal of [[spoiler:Dhurke's death. Apollo has to prove a suspect disappeared from a closed chamber by channeling. Since only Dhurke and Maya were found alive in the room, and Maya is pretty much alive, Apollo comes to the conclusion that the Dhurke they met after the murder is the suspect all along. At first he doesn't want to believe it. But after the judge calls for another thorough search of the murder scene, Ema reluctantly reports that Dhurke's body was found hidden in a coffin. This causes a severe breakdown to both Apollo and Nahyuta, to whom Dhurke was a father figure to (In fact, he is Nahyuta's biological father). Apollo keeps shouting "Please let my theory be wrong!" all the time and bangs his head onto the desk when his theory is confirmed. He even goes into a BSOD and starts questioning why he became an attorney in the first place. Notable in that his BSOD animation is more intense than his previous low points from Dual Destinies regarding Clay's death and his suspicion of Athena tearing him apart inside.]]

The sheer amount of hatred in the first two cases can be depressing, to the point the game doesn't even feel like an ''Ace Attorney'' game at the darkest moments. People are openly calling for the death penalty of a nine-year old kid in the first case (whose only reaction is fear and quietly [[spoiler:confiding in the dog he smuggled into the court room]]) and ''Trucy'', the lovable and sweet assistant girl from ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', in the second. The second case in particular drives this home because of how personal it can feel if you played the fourth game (since you got to know and spend all that time with Trucy and now all these strangers want her head). Spiteful treatment of the defense attorney is par for the course in ''Ace Attorney'' (and in that regard a lot of the attorney abuse this time feels much colder because of how vindictive the prosecution's words are, instead of over-the-top antics like whipping the defense) but this is the first time in the series that so much abuse has been directed at the defendant and it can be heart-wrenching.

* Apollo's decision to [[spoiler: stay in Khura'in]].

* The truth about Case 3, Turnabout Ritual. [[spoiler:Puhray/Rheel Neh'mu was killed by Beh'leeb because she caught him snooping around the revolutionary's secret base. To quote, she had to kill a person whom she thought as a son just to hide the fact that she and her husband are part of the revolutionary army. Tahrust found out about this and made it look like it was Maya who killed him, and later then committed suicide and again made it as if he had been murdered by Maya all just to save his pregnant wife from persecution because the law demanded that, if a person is found guilty, those related to him and his defense attorney be found equally guilty. Remember, one piece of the evidence is a picture of the four of them happily having a meal like a family, and it is broken all just because of one law. Made even more heart wrenching is the final goodbye between Beh'leeb and Tahrust, who is channeled by Maya during the trial.]]
** It's even more heartwrenching for fans of [[spoiler:Rayfa, who just had her entire worldview upturned and spat on, but that pales to the AwfulTruth: her parents are ''terrible people''. She's ''devastated''.]]

* The Reveal of [[spoiler:Dhurke's death. Apollo has to prove a suspect disappears from a closed chamber by channeling. Since only Dhurke and Maya was found alive in the room, and Maya is pretty much alive, Apollo comes to the conclusion that the Dhurke they met after the murder is the suspect all along. At first he doesn't want to believe it. But after the judge calls for another thorough search of the murder scene, Ema reluctantly reports that Dhurke's body was found hidden in a coffin. This causes a severe breakdown to both Apollo and Nahyuta, to whom Dhurke was a father figure to (In fact, he is Nahyuta's biological father). Apollo keeps shouting "Please let my theory be wrong!" all the time and bangs his head onto the desk when his theory is confirmed. He even goes into a BSOD and starts questioning why he became an attorney in the first place. Notable in that his BSOD animation is more intense than his previous low points from Dual Destinies regarding Clay's death and his suspicion of Athena tearing him apart inside.]]

* Aaand of course, [[spoiler: Apollo's biological father, Jove, was killed in a fire trying to save his infant son. He died before he could do so, and so died not knowing his son made it out alive. You get to watch the whole horrible event, but it's mercifully short, since you only have to cite one location twice in the entire seance]].
* Apollo's decision to [[spoiler: stay in Khura'in]].

* The sheer amount of hatred in the first two cases can be depressing, to the point the game doesn't even feel like an ''Ace Attorney'' game at the darkest moments. People are openly calling for the death penalty of a nine-year old kid in the first case (whose only reaction is fear and quietly [[spoiler:confiding in the dog he smuggled into the court room]]) and ''Trucy'', the lovable and sweet assistant girl from ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', in the second. The second case in particular drives this home because of how personal it can feel if you played the fourth game (since you got to know and spend all that time with Trucy and now all these strangers want her head). Spiteful treatment of the defense attorney is par for the course in ''Ace Attorney'' (and in that regard a lot of the attorney abuse this time feels much colder because of how vindictive the prosecution's words are, instead of over-the-top antics like whipping the defense) but this is the first time in the series that so much abuse has been directed at the defendant and it can be heart-wrenching.

* The Reveal of [[spoiler:Dhurke's death. Apollo has to prove a suspect disappears from a closed chamber by channeling. Since only Dhurke and Maya was found alive in the room, and Maya is pretty much alive, Apollo comes to the conclusion that the Dhurke they met after the murder is the suspect all along. At first he doesn't want to believe it. But after the judge calls for another thorough search of the murder scene, Ema reluctantly reports that Dhurke's body was found hidden in a coffin. This causes a severe breakdown to both Apollo and Nahyuta, to whom Dhurke was a father figure to (In fact, he is Nahyuta's biological father). Apollo keeps shouting "Please let my theory be wrong!" all the time and bangs his head onto the desk when his theory is confirmed. He even goes into a BSOD and starts questioning why he became an attorney in the first place.]]

* Rayfa gradually falling apart over the course of the game. She may be an arrogant BrattyHalfPint, but she genuinely wants to be the best queen and princess she can be, and it's hard to watch her repeatedly fail to live up to her own standards, [[spoiler:which is only compounded her family issues]]. It culminates in her [[spoiler:having a full-scale ''nervous breakdown'' when trying to perform a Divination Seance on her father, and collapsing into a sobbing mess in the middle of court, bemoaning the fact that Khura'in is going to have such a failure for a queen. Rapidly becomes Heartwarming, however, when everyone in the courtroom chips in to convince her she isn't worthless.]]

* There's something very... off about the first part of the fifth case. [[spoiler: Then you learn you're basically playing the part of Edgeworth in Farewell, My Turnabout during the first half of the trial- Nick is being blackmailed into aiding a slimeball of a human being with Maya's life on the line. Except this time, Nick is fighting all alone]]. And it really shows, too, how much of a toll it takes on him.

* Aaand of course, [[spoiler: Apollo's biological father, Jove, was killed in a fire trying to save his infant son. He died before he could do so, and so died not knowing his son made it out alive. You get to watch the whole horrible event, but it's mercifully short, since you only have to cite one location twice in the entire seance]].

* The Reveal of [[spoiler:Dhurke's death. Apollo has to prove a suspect disappears from a closed chamber by channeling. Since only Dhurke and Maya was found alive in the room, and Maya is pretty much alive, Apollo comes to the conclusion that the Dhurke they met after the murder is the suspect all along. At first he doesn't want to believe it. But after the judge calls for another thorough search of the murder scene, Ema reluctantly reports that Dhurke's body was found hidden in a coffin. This causes a severe breakdown to both Apollo and Nahyuta, to whom Dhurke was a father figure to (In fact, he is Nahyuta's biological father). Apollo keeps shouting "Please let my theory be wrong!" all the time and bangs his head onto the desk when his theory is confirmed. He even goes into a BSOD and starts questioning why he became an attorney in the first place.]]

* The truth about Case 3, Turnabout Ritual. Ogamu/Fon Myou was killed by Saara because she caught him snooping around the revolutionary's secret base. To quote, she had to kill a person whom she thought as a son just to hide the fact that she and her husband are part of the revolutionary army. Malmel found out about this and made it look like it was Maya who killed him. He later then committed suicide and again made it as if he had been murdered by Maya all just to save his pregnant wife from persecution because the law demanded that, if a person is found guilty, those related to him and his defense attorney be found equally guilty. Remember, one piece of the evidence is a picture of the four of them happily having a meal like a family, and it is broken all just because of one law. Made even more heart wrenching is the final goodbye between Saara and Malmel, who is channeled by Maya during the trial.
* The Reveal of Druk's death. Apollo has to prove a suspect disappears from a closed chamber by channeling. Since only Druk and Maya was found alive in the room, and Maya is pretty much alive, Apollo comes to the conclusion that the Druk they met after the murder is the suspect all along. At first he doesn't want to believe it. But after the judge calls for another thorough search of the murder scene, Ema reluctantly reports that Druk's body was found hidden in a coffin. This causes a severe breakdown to both Apollo and Nahyuta, whom Druk was a father figure to (In fact, he is Nahyuta's biological father). Apollo keeps shouting "Please let my theory be wrong!" all the time and bangs his head onto the desk when his theory is confirmed. He even goes into a BSOD and starts questioning why he became an attorney in the first place.