Characters / Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

Ace Attorney | Main Character Sheet
Wright Anything Agency (Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice) | Defense Attorneys & Assistants | Main Prosecutors (Miles Edgeworth, Franziska von Karma) | Prosecutors & Judges | Law Enforcement | The Fey Clan | Troupe Gramarye | Kingdom of Khura'in
Witnesses and Other Characters (Original Game | JFA | T&T [Dahlia Hawthorne] | AJ | DD | SoJ | Manga | Anime | Novels | Theater) | Victims
Investigations (AAI | AAI2) | TGAA (Major | Minor)
PL vs. PWAA

A list of major characters that appear in Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Gyakuten Kenji 2. For minor and case-specific characters, see here for the first game and here for the second game.

See here for the franchise character sheet.

Since Gyakuten Kenji 2 has not received an official localization, the English localization names are taken from the fan translation, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth: Prosecutor's Path. As such, the names are arranged Japanese Name (Fan Translation Name).

Main Characters

Counterclockwise from centre-front: Miles Edgeworth, Kay Faraday, Franziska von Karma, Shih-na, Shi-Long Lang, Raymond Shields, Justine Courtney, Sebastian Debeste, and Dick Gumshoe
Not pictured: Ema Skye and Tyrell Badd

For Miles Edgeworth, Dick Gumshoe, Franziska von Karma, and Ema Skye see respective pages.

Introduced in Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

Kay Faraday (Mikumo Ichijo)

Kay Faraday (Mikumo Ichijo)

Voiced by (Japanese): Ayumi Fujimura (drama CDs, trailers)

^{Click here to see her younger self}

Debut: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

"Even in the depths of night, when no other bird dares to take flight... one alone soars to shine the light of righteousness on the world's blight! And that one is me, for I am the great thief Yatagarasu!"

Edgeworth's assistant in Ace Attorney Investigations, who serves the same in-game purpose as Maya in the Phoenix Wright games and Trucy in Apollo Justice. Described as a "mysterious thief," she owns a device called the "Little Thief" that allows her to create life-sized holograms of rooms and other scenes. It belonged to her late father Byrne Faraday, who used it during his tenure as the Yatagarasu to plan information heists.

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• Advertised Extra: Borderline example in the first installment. Despite being presented as Edgeworth's assistant she only appears from the third case and since the fourth case is a flashback to how she and Edgeworth originally crossed paths, her involvement in the story really only occurs in the third case and the final case. The story of the game heavily centers around Kay's history and her attempt to get closure for the events of Second KG-8 Incident but a good portion of the plot takes place before she is introduced (with Gumshoe and Franziska filling the role of assistant character in the first and second cases and even in the fourth case the duty falls to Franziska for the most part).
• Animal Motifs: Crows, fitting her title which means "three-legged crow" in Japanese and crows are infamous for stealing. She even looks like a baby crow as a kid.
• Apologizes a Lot: In AAI2, after losing her memory, she becomes meek, timid and prone to apologizing for everything regardless of whether the listener is even angry with her.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Chronologically she first meets Edgeworth (during Ace Attorney Investigations) 7 years prior to the Amano incident, where she kicks Edgeworth in the leg and blows her nose on his shirt.
• Fangirl: She claims to be one in regards to the Jammin' Ninja. This irks Edgeworth, a die-hard Steel Samurai fan. In AAI2^note or at least the fan translation, she is also a Kaiju fangirl, and has to be reminded that they are not real and therefore cannot stomp people to death.
• Genki Girl: Fits the series mold of a cheery young female assistant. Possibly even more so than Maya or Trucy.
• Gentleman Thief: She repeatedly compares herself to Robin Hood. The Yatagarasu is explicitly called a gentleman thief in the Japanese version.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: More of a Highly Visible Phantom Thief. This is, of course, possibly even worse. Edgeworth wonders if she really wants to be a ninja when Kay starts showing her preference for the Jammin' Ninja over the Steel Samurai. She's also not at all averse to loudly declaring her role as the Yatagarasu with law enforcement personnel in immediate earshot. This comes back to bite her once toward the end of the first game, when Interpol agent Shih-na attempts to arrest her for a murder which the Yatagarasu most likely committed. Kay swears she's no murderer but refuses to back down from her claim that she is the Yatagarasu, making Edgeworth do some extra work to clear her name.
• Identity Amnesia: In AAI2, Kay temporarily loses her memories and even some of her vocabulary after a fall from a roof. She even believes herself to be a murderer.
• Informed Ability: Both in-universe and out. Nobody believes that she's a competent thief, given how very unsubtle she is about things.
• Intangible Theft: The original Yatagarasu stole the truth (i.e. broke into places and stole incriminating information). Kay, as the second Yatagarasu, steals other concepts- like screen time.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: Surprisingly averted. Despite calling herself a thief and making jokes about stealing various items, her only real heist is to steal the role as Edgeworth's assistant from Gumshoe and Ema Skye. Justified, given that the Yatagarasu is a noble thief who swipes information and dirty secrets, not material possessions.
• Leitmotif: "The Great Truth Burglar", a slightly more traditionally-Japanese theme to match the Yatagarasu theme of her character. It gains a Dark Reprise in I2-4 as "Reminiscing ~ A Girl With Lost Memories" when she's suffering from amnesia.
• Magical Computer: Little Thief, a device that Kay uses to virtually reproduce crime scenes, even ones she can't actually access, though its reproductions are limited by what Kay knows about the location in question.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: With the exception of the romantic angle, the main entry description pretty much nails Kay's and Edgeworth's relationship.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Chances are, Little Thief has been used for less scrupulous goals than reproducing crime scenes. It doesn't work in real time, though, so this fails to explain how Kay deals with the whole "highly visible" thing. When she first uses it, Kay explains that it's used to help plan potential heists. Which makes it perfect to reproduce a crime scene.
  • 'Mikumo' means 'Beautiful Cloud' referring to the Karakusa pattern she and her father wore. It's a traditional, stereotypic motif of a Japanese thief's bag.
• Modesty Shorts: Official artwork◊ reveals that she wears a pair of shorts under her skirt.
• The Promise: She and her father had several, which were recorded in a special notebook. She doesn't manage to keep them all, but everyone takes them seriously.
• Punny Name: "Kay" probably comes for "key", and "Faraday" may refer to the Faraday cage which is used in computer forensics.
• Remember the New Guy?: Investigations Case 4 reveals that Edgeworth met her on the same day he met Gumshoe. Subverted in that he doesn't immediately recognize her when she reappears after a seven-year absence.
• Shoo the Dog: She tells Edgeworth to forget about her when defending her causes him to lose his badge and even gets him detained for helping a fugitive. He doesn't listen, obviously.
• Stealth Pun: Whereas many fictional characters open locks with hairpins, she uses a key to hold her hair in place.
• Take Up My Sword: Little Thief belonged to her father, a prosecutor who used it to infiltrate companies with suspected criminal ties and steal anything that incriminated them.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Shortly after her introduction, she declares to Edgeworth that she has never actually stolen anything. She also ends up never really stealing anything either, to contrast Maya and Trucy, who definitely steal stuff in the name of evidence. So the spirit medium and the magician end up stealing more than, you know, the actual thief (though to be fair she's under the eye of Edgeworth, who won't have any of that nonsense on his watch).
• Trademark Favorite Food: Swiss rolls.
• Trying Not to Cry: She made a promise to her father never to cry in front of anyone. Unfortunately, shortly after his death, it's a promise she doesn't manage to keep.
• Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: She hasn't appeared, or even been mentioned, outside of the Investigations games.
• You Killed My Father: To Calisto Yew, after she's unmasked as Shih-na, although it quickly shifts into Sympathy for the Devil when she realizes that Yew is so empty inside that she was more of the murder weapon used to kill her father than she was the actual murderer.

Shi-Long Lang (Shiryuu Rou)

Shi-Long Lang (Shiryuu Rou)

Debut: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

"Lang Zi says: The reason people judge people is because people are people."

Edgeworth's rival in Ace Attorney Investigations, an international detective who is brash and dismissive of those he dislikes (especially prosecutors, since a corrupt one ruined his family's reputation), but cares deeply for his men. He practices a philosophy of "detention" which often leads him to suspect the wrong people, forcing Edgeworth to prove that they didn't do it before he can arrest them.

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• Advertised Extra: Despite being billed as Edgeworth's rival in the first Investigations, Lang only appears in two of the game's five cases, bar a brief cameo in Turnabout Reminiscence.
• Alternate Character Reading: His English version name is the Chinese reading of his name's kanji sequence.
• Animal Motifs: His manners, name, and design are meant to invoke wolves, and his incredibly efficient Badass Crew of 100 agents resemble a wolf pack.
• Back for the Finale: After only making a brief appearence early into Investigations 2, Lang returns in The Grand Turnabout as the 11th-Hour Ranger.
• Badass Crew: He leads a hand-picked group of 100 agents, and they get work done in record time. Sadly, Investigations 2 reveals they were forcibly disbanded after it turned out the second-in-command was The Mole, leaving Lang to investigate on his own. They remain loyal to him in spite of this, however, and it's suggested that they may be reforming after the events of the game.
• Batman Gambit: In order to begin to attack Ambassador Alba, he directly accused Franziska von Karma of murder to continue the investigation.
• Berserk Button: Hearing people speaking ill of President Huang makes him irrationally upset, as he and the rest of his clan all looked up to him. At least before Broken Pedestal sets in when he learns that the actual President Huang he looked up to died many years ago and has been since replaced with a body double.
• Big Damn Heroes: Diplomatic Impunity? Agent Lang won't have any of that, Ex-Ambassador Alba. Just shortly after being shot in the thigh, too.
• Bilingual Bonus: Knowing Chinese characters (in the Japanese version) or pinyin (in the English version) can inform the player of his Meaningful Name without having to look it up. Also, "shifu" means "teacher" or "master", something his reverent subordinates refer to him as.
• Catchphrase:
  • Not so fast!
  • Also: "Lang Zi says: [insert wolf-related aphorism]".
• Character Development: Lang's interactions with Edgeworth slowly cause him to let go of his grudge against prosecutors.
• Confucian Confusion: Tends to quote wolf-themed aphorisms from a Confucius-expy named Lang Zi. As the story goes on, they become increasingly incomprehensible to the point that Edgeworth finds them difficult to follow.
  Lang: Lang Zi says: "A cub who disrespects others soon feels the disciplinary bite of an elder."
  • Doubles as a Bilingual Bonus; "(insert surname) Zi" is a Chinese honorific for a famous philosopher of that surname. In other words, he's quoting himself.
• Cool Shades: Way too cool for words. Just how do they even stay on his face?
• Cowboy Cop: A sympathetic one, but his M.O. handling cases is very much "arrest first, ask questions never".
• Cuteness Proximity: Usually tough and aggressive, when he sees Missile, he noticeably gushes◊ a bit.
• Demoted to Extra: Much like Gumshoe and Franziska, he doesn't play as large of a role in the second Investigations game as he did in the first.
• 11th-Hour Ranger: In Investigations 2, he's the final one of the many allies Edgeworth gains over the course of the story.
• Establishing Character Moment: When he stomps onto the scene in case I-3, he insists that all his men are "number one", berates a subordinate for speaking rudely to Edgeworth and demonstrates proper behavior by exchanging business cards with him, and then throws Edgeworth off the case based on his own "philosophy of detainment," which is essentially "round up the usual suspects and the prosecutors will figure out which ones are guilty in court later."
• The Exotic Detective: Coming from the ambiguously Asian country of Zheng Fa, and his slight fixation with wolf themes and metaphors makes him this.
• A Father to His Men:
  • One of the most hilarious scenes in Investigations even plays around with the trope: Lang calls out one of his men and gives him a birthday present, causing the others to compliment him for being such an awesome boss... Then the first one says it was not his birthday. The silence lasts a single second before Lang retorts with: "Hmph... The present's not for you. It's for your younger brother's wife's younger brother! Give this and tell him I said "Hi!", at which his men cry Manly Tears.
  • A far less humourous example is where he takes Detective Badd's bullet for Shih-na even after knowing full well that she was The Mole, his reasoning being that she was still his subordinate, and he was still beholden to protect her from harm. And then he arrests her and leads her off.
  • In one of his first scenes, one of the other officers is having his men count off in numerical order. The first one shouts, "1!" The second one shouts, "2!", at which point Lang gets angry and berates him. All of his men are number one in his book! Turns into a Brick Joke later on when Lang once again has his men count off and each of them shouts, "1!"
• Freudian Excuse: While hinted at in Investigations, Investigations 2 reveals his full backstory, and it's not pretty. The Lang family were a family of officers who answered directly to the Zheng Fa government for generations, with Lang's father being a close friend of President Huang himself. 12 years ago, however, the president was "kidnapped" (in fact assassinated and replaced by his body double) in what would become known as the SS-5 incident. Lang's father investigated the incident, but due to the Chief Prosecutor at the time, Blaise Debeste, being an accomplice to the incident, the investigation was railroaded into failure, and the fake president blamed it all on him, disgracing the entire family. Lang ended up watching his father spend the last years of his life slowly wasting away, desperately trying to find evidence that could prove what really happened. After learning this, Lang's hatred of prosecutors becomes a lot more understandable.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Wears a leather jacket, covered in gold dragons to make it even more badass.
• Hot-Blooded: Is rather territorial about his jurisdiction and doesn't hesitate to butt heads with people over it or show aggression, which isn't very surprising for a man with a wolf motif.
• Hot Blooded Sideburns: To go along with his "wolf-ears" hair.
• Honor Before Reason: Yes, Lang, it's your duty to protect your subordinates from harm, but Taking the Bullet for a known mole and murderer, even non-fatally might be going a bit too far.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Twice at about the same time, at the end of the third case of Investigations. Lang tells Edgeworth about the rumors about a prosecutor that works for the smuggling ring he's tracking down, and accuses Edgeworth of being one. This happens at around the same time Ernest Amano, who he very well knows he's tied to the ring, and was angry at being found out about that and obstructing police investigation about his son's murder of Colin Devorae, suddenly became significantly more cheerful once Jacques Portsman, the very prosecutor that is tied on the aforementioned rumor, appears and claims authority over the case. Lang never finds that behavior suspicious.
• Implausible Deniability: When Edgeworth questions why an Interpol agent commanding a team of 100 is investigating a local kidnapping case and later murder, he tells them to mind their own business and stop interfering with the investigation. It turns out that he's actually hoping Ernest Amano will slip up and do something incriminating.
• Inspector Javert: He disclaims the need for logic in making arrests in preference of detaining the most suspicious person immediately, and he hinders Edgeworth out of his grudge against prosecutors.
• Inspector Lestrade: He's not stupid or careless, however; he's thorough in investigating crime scenes and he always has some basis in suspecting the prime suspect in cases he's involved in. Whether he's a Javert or a Lestrade depends on the situation, though generally he inches to being a Javert at the beginning of the case or when he's agitated and emotional, and gets closer to being a Lestrade when he calms down and the case develops more.
• Interpol Special Agent: He has much greater investigative power (and manpower...) than a real-life Interpol agent.
• It's Personal: He has a personal score to settle with the Greater-Scope Villains of the two Investigation games. Alba is the head of a smuggling ring that has put Lang's homeland's economy in shambles, and the president's body double disgraced his family.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He only hates prosecutors due to how Blaise Debeste destroyed his family's reputation of being top officers of the law. He treats his men well, though, and even develops some respect for Edgeworth late in Case 5.
• Jurisdiction Friction: Naturally he tells Edgeworth to get lost, seeing as an Interpol agent has greater jurisdiction than a local prosecutor. Things don't go his way in the end.
• Leitmotif: "Lang-Zi Says!", a brash, suave jazz-rock tune to help make Lang even more of a badass.
• Meaningful Name: "Lang" is Chinese for "wolf" and "Shi-Long" is "Soldier-Dragon". In fact, his English name is a Chinese Mandarin reading of his Japanese name, which means the same thing.
• Metaphorgotten: He makes countless wolf metaphors. By the end of the game, Edgeworth has started to wonder what the hell he's talking about.
  Edgeworth: (These quotes are definitely becoming increasingly difficult to decipher...)
• Mr. Fanservice: A rather fit and confident man who plays the role of Exotic Detective that's Hellbent For Leather with his shirt opened to show a teasing view of his chest. He's got quite a loyal female fanbase.
  • His concept designs initially pegged him as being shirtless. And we see that he's definitely supposed to have quite◊ a body◊.
  • It's even Lampshaded in the fandub of the Investigations series where Edgeworth's voice actor takes jabs at Lang.
    Edgeworth: Pretty boy?! Strong words coming from a man showing off that much chest!
    (Later...)
    Edgeworth: (to Lang as he's about to leave) wait! Who're you calling "pretty boy", you Tetsuya Nomura knock-off?! ^note Tetsuya Nomura is one of the most prominent character designers and artists of Square Enix who are known for their various pretty boys.
• My Card: When he meets Edgeworth for the first time during case I-3, he exchanges business cards with Edgeworth.
• My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours: Ambassador Alba evades investigation by abusing the law, so as a law enforcement agent, Lang just contacts the government, presents compelling evidence of wrongdoing, then convinces them to revoke his ambassadorship.
• No-Sell: At one point when Franziska tries to whip Lang, he catches the whip single-handedly, much to her shock.
• Only a Flesh Wound: He gets shot in the thigh, and just... walks it off. His injury never comes up again in Investigations or its sequel (which, keep in mind, is only two weeks removed from the events of the first game — you're not going to be feeling like walking that soon after a gun shot).
• Pretty in Mink: His jacket has a pretty large fur trim.
• Properly Paranoid: After seeing the likes of pre-Heel–Face Turn Edgeworth, Manfred von Karma, pre-Character Development Franziska, Blaise Debeste (especially since he's the one who ruined Lang's family — just to hide his own wrongdoing, no less),etc., you really can't blame him for initially hating prosecutors in general.
• The Rival: To Edgeworth. In case three of Investigations, the two are at cross purposes until Edgeworth reveals the truth (and even then, he still thinks Edgeworth hurt himself more than Lang, because he thought that von Karma's pupil was the corrupt prosecutor covering for the person Lang was there to catch). The relationship is still adversarial in case five, especially to start, up until Edgeworth finds out that Shih-na, Lang's own assistant, was part of the smuggling ring. From then, he is closer to being Edgeworth's Aloof Ally.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Most of his initial◊ designs◊ involved him having no shirt, with the fur trim of his jacket covering parts of his chest.
• Worthy Opponent: He despises Edgeworth initially, being a prosecutor and all. By the end of the first Investigations game, he sees Edgeworth as this and even begins to show him some respect. It still takes the whole of the second game for him to begin to get over his huge distrust of prosecutors though.
• You Are Number 6: Subverted. He has all of his subordinates count off by '1', asserting that they're all "number one" in his book.

Shih-na

Shih-na

Debut: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

"...If you are done playing games...!"

Lang's assistant, a demure, seemingly albino woman with a penchant for sunglasses.

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• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Outright states, "I was destined to betray all of you from the start." She's not kidding, either; when she's captured, she drops a key piece of evidence to capturing her real boss, Quercus Alba, (her "hair sticks", actually crossbow bolts) and makes it known that this wasn't an accident by outright telling Kay to keep them when she tries to return them, then tells Edgeworth that she killed no one tonight. She even betrayed him in the end!
• Emotionless Girl: Extremely stoic. Her personality gives the impression that she speaks with almost zero inflection in her words. Most evident in her "blowback" animation when she takes the verbal "hit" but her facial expression never wavers. However, it is merely a façade.
• Futureshadowing: She makes a remark in Case 3 that she can hardly contain her laughter. It might come off as deadpan sarcasm the first time you see it (as by the time it would make sense, you'd probably forgot she ever said it) but once you are familiar with the plot of the game, it takes on a whole new meaning on subsequent viewings.
• Glasses Pull: Usually done alongside Lang.
• History Repeats: Her final breakdown in the game repeats nearly the same pattern from when she was caught as Calisto Yew. Laughing histerically and acting like she's been beaten, only to hold someone at gun point. Except this time, it backfires epically.
• The Hyena: She not only lets out a familiar-looking laugh animation that exposes her as Calisto Yew, but when you finally defeat her, she lets off an especially maniacal Evil Laugh.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: To Shi-Long Lang.
• Meaningful Name: The name "Shihna", both Japanese and English, comes from an old medieval Islamic word that roughly means "military administrator".
• The Mole: This time, she's infiltrating Interpol for the smuggling ring.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: She looks a lot like Lady Gaga. Even as her former self, when compared to Lady Gaga's original appearance.
• No Name Given: As above, 'Shih-na' is not her real name any more than 'Calisto Yew' was.
• Not Me This Time: When exposed as Calisto Yew, she says she killed no one at the embassy. And for once, she's telling the truth.
• Not So Stoic: Eventually she admits that she's amused and start to show it. This is her mask beginning to slip.
• Pretty in Mink: Has a mink scarf to go along with Lang's boa.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: As an Interpol agent it's best to not mess with her.
• Red Herring: During her final testimony, Confrontation ~ Presto 2009 plays. The theme has played only for the final and true villain of every other case in the game. While she is indeed a villain, she is actually not responsible for either of the murders in the case. Players will probably notice this when they realize a good majority of the evidence and circumstances has yet to be explained at this point.
• The Reveal: Partway through your final interrogation of her, you realize something about her when she starts Laughing Mad.
  • Crosses with Theme Song Reveal. Edgeworth and the others accuse her of being Calisto Yew and of the murders in the embassy. She has her final breakdown. Cue "Let me Laugh at Cool".
• The Stoic: Shows no expressions, even to the point where her "takes damage" animation shows visible "knock-back" (her hair), but she doesn't bat an eye.
• Sunglasses at Night: Wears sunglasses at night in Case 5, albeit mostly indoors.
• Sympathy for the Devil: In spite of the fact that she killed her father, Kay still ends up feeling sorry for her upon recognizing how fundamentally empty she is as a person, saying that she realizes that her heart is "cold and dark and...incredibly lonely."
• Two Aliases, One Character: She is also Calisto Yew.
• Vapor Wear: Her dress is so low in the back and cut so high up one thigh that there's no way she's wearing anything under it.
• Villainous Breakdown: Starts laughing hysterically when first accused of murder. Once she's proven to be Calisto Yew, she goes into full-on Laughing Mad mode, cackling like a crazed banshee with fangs in her mouth.
• Wham Shot: Laughing in the same way Calisto Yew did.

Tyrell Badd (Ittetsu Bado)

Tyrell Badd (Ittetsu Bado)

Debut: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

^{Click here to see him during the IS- 7 Incident}

"...Do I need to teach you a thing or two about how to talk to adults, kid!?"

A hardened detective (we're not kidding, he looks like he'd be more at home in Sin City) who's worked many cases with Calisto Yew and Byrne Faraday investigating the Yatagarasu.

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• Anti-Villain: He was the one that removed any traces of the Yatagarasu's actions, but just like Faraday, he did that to bring hidden acts corruption into light, and he's overall a good person once you get past his intimidating looks.
• Badass Longcoat: Filled with bullet holes! "I wear this coat to remind me of My Greatest Failure." "You got all of them in one case?" "Only about half."
• Breakout Character: Despite his character arc being concluded in his second appearance, he was brought back in The Inherited Turnabout through the flashback sections, simply due to how much of a hit he was with fans. Notably, besides Kay and Lang (both main characters), he is the only character introduced in Investigations to return in the sequel.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Shown in his interactions with Kay and when he talks about Byrne Faraday.
• But Now I Must Go: Turns himself in after Shih-na is unmasked as Calisto, and hands Edgeworth the remaining crucial pieces of evidence.
• Butt-Monkey: Is strongly implied that he was to Manfred von Karma what Gumshoe is to Franziska.
• *Click* Hello: Twice. He gets the drop on Shih-na before she can shoot Kay. And it also turns out that he was the one who pulled the gun on Edgeworth at the very beginning of the game.
• Coat Cape: He always wears his trenchcoat like this. It's part of his "hardboiled detective" look.
• Consummate Professional: He's fully devoted to his job and carries out his investigations without his emotions getting in the way.
• Cool Old Guy: He's 60 by the final case of the original game.
• Dark Is Not Evil: His overall design seems to be based around the Darker and Edgier trope. Also because his surname is Badd, it may have led people to believe that he was the true villain of case 4, but it turned out that he was actually a decent person. Also Kay seems to adore him. And while he's eventually revealed to be one-third of the Yatagarasu, he only did that because he didn't think there was a way to catch the smuggling ring he was after within the limits of the law.
• Dead Partner: His investigative partner Byrne Faraday is killed in Case 4, which is set a few years before the start of the game.
• Death Glare: Gives one to Franziska when she offhandedly taunts him about his failure to protect Prosecutor Faraday. It's enough to actually scare her of all people into apologizing for her remark. It probably reminded him of his similar failure to protect Cece Yew.
• Detective Mole: He was in charge of investigating the Yatagarasu, when he was one of the three people that composed the Great Thief.
• Dirty Cop: Downplayed. He's working for/as a criminal, but he has good intentions.
• The Gadfly: A low-key example, but by the end of Investigations even Edgeworth has noted that he's teasing Franziska for no reason other than to watch her freak out.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: His speech is chock full of ellipses, probably as a way to allude to this trope without resorting to actual voices. Whenever Badd takes his lollipop out of his mouth, he speaks normally, which implies that the pauses are just him sucking on the lollipop. As it turns out, he really isn't evil.
• Hardboiled Detective: Tough guy who looks like he goes for a drink after work.
• Hey, You!: Typically calls Edgeworth and Franziska "kids" or some other variant, but after Edgeworth exposes Calisto Yew, he starts calling them "Mr. Edgeworth" and "Ms. von Karma".
• Hidden Depths: Does this twice, belying his image as a veteran detective with a dark streak. First, the "cigarette" in his mouth turns out to be a lollipop, and second, when he looks furious and is about to pull something from his coat, Edgeworth jumps and thinks he's pulling his gun. Nope, it's his hand mirror, and he seems to enjoy admiring himself with it (though pulling it out like that to screw with Edgeworth isn't out of the question). However, it turns out that the true purpose of the mirror is to keep an eye on who's behind him- all those bullet holes in his jacket aren't for show after all.
• Honorary Uncle: Kay calls him "Uncle Badd".
• Knight in Sour Armor: He remarks that the only reason he sees life to be worth living is to find justice for the KG-8 Incident and crush the smuggling ring that has taken so much from him. His role in the Yatagarasu is so he can fulfill his mission beyond the limits of the law.
• Leitmotif: "The Truth Isn't Sweet", a suave theme with a pounding beat which would fit right in as the theme song to a gritty Police Procedural TV show. Unlike Lang's faster-paced theme, this one is meant to show Badd as a mellower type of badass.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Badd" and "Bado" are for "bad(ass)", and "Ittetsu" means "stubborn," while "Tyrell" comes from "tirel," an Old French term that meant "to pull," but was also used colloquially to refer to a stubborn person; it's also the surname of the only person to confess to killing the Princes in the Tower, Sir James Tyrrell.
  • "Badō" is the Japanese transliteration of "bird." The first character of "Badō" is also very similar to the kanji for "crow."
• My Greatest Failure: He couldn't safeguard the piece of evidence that would convict Manny Coachen, which is why he's so determined to take down the smuggling ring. He eventually finds out that Calisto actually works for the smuggling ring and that she only posed as the victim's sister in order spy on him and Byrne Faraday.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: You wouldn't want to mess with a detective with a last name of "Badd".
• Non-Standard Character Design: In contrast to the bright colors and simple faces of everyone else, Detective Badd has drawn facial definition and much darker colors.
• Not So Stoic: After Yew is exposed. In the resulting chase, after almost getting shot, Edgeworth notices that he's more shaken than he lets on.
• Obviously Evil: Badd? Really? Totally subverted. He lives in a world full of punny names, but he really is not so bad. Though he is extremely badass.
• Older Sidekick: He's a good deal older than Faraday and worked under him as a detective.
• One Degree of Separation: Investigations 2 reveals he met and worked with Gregory Edgeworth on the latters final case, and had a very antagonistic relationship with Manfred von Karma to boot. This puts his interactions with the Von Karmas (Edgeworth included) in his first appearence in a very different light.
• Oral Fixation: When Badd first appears there's a little white cylinder sticking out of his mouth, seemingly evoking the image of the smoking noir detective. When he takes it out, it's revealed that it's a lollipop.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: It's time to pay extra attention to what he's saying... when he goes from... speaking...like this to suddenly speaking! Like this! He's talking about what he knows about the Yatagarasu, a hint that there's another reason why he knows the most about it than everyone else.
• Overly-Nervous Flop Sweat: You know things are really serious when Badd starts doing this in addition to his normal shock reaction.
• Papa Wolf: To Kay, to whom he is also a Parental Substitute.
• Real Men Hate Sugar: A notable aversion, he has a massive Sweet Tooth.
• Real Men Wear Pink: More like "Real Men Eat Candy", but similar principle.
• Remember the New Guy?: Is an extremely well respected veteran police detective who Gumshoe respects deeply, but was never mentioned before Investigations.
• Retired Badass: Investigations 2 reveals he retired after the events of Turnabout Ablaze.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: When it becomes clear that Manfred von Karma isn't going to allow a fair investigation (and even takes him off the case), he turns his grudging acceptance of Gregory Edgeworth into a real alliance and lets him in on everything he knows. He's also a member of the Yatagarasu, going outside the law because the smuggling ring cannot be taken down through legal means.
• Smoking Is Cool: Subverted; he's a cool character, but that's a lollipop in his mouth, not a cigarette. It appears that he used to be a smoker as some use lollipops to get over their smoking habit. This makes him the second character in the game he first appears who's implied to previously have been a smoker.
• Sweet Tooth: Aside from the lollipop he has in his mouth, in Prosecutor's Path he is easily distracted by the desserts in Master's mansion and very interested in learning as much dessert-related trivia as he can from the chefs.
• The Stoic: He does not smile. Ever. Also, his "hurt/shock" animation shows the least amount of emotion when compared to everyone in the series (his eyes simply widen).
• Tragic Keepsake: His own coat, which is tattered by numerous bullet holes, to remind him of his inability to save Cece Yew.
• Unexplained Recovery: An extremely unusual case that involves the "recovery" not dying to begin with. Despite his last appearence in Investigations having him turning himself in for his illegal operations as part of the Yatagarasu, Badd shows up retired but a free man in the credits of Investigations 2 talking with Ray. It's possible that he was acquitted due to his part in taking down the smuggling ring, but an explanation is never properly given.
• Verbal Tic: He likes to...pause dramatically...in the middle of sentences... Though it's actually his sucking on his lollipop.

Introduced in Gyakuten Kenji 2

Tateyuki Shigaraki (Raymond Shields)

Tateyuki Shigaraki (Raymond Shields in the fan translation)

Voiced by (Japanese): Keiji Fujiwara (trailers)

Voiced by (English): "Byronic Hero" (AAI2 Fan Translation)

Debut: Gyakuten Kenji 2

A famed defense attorney who knew Edgeworth's father, Gregory Edgeworth, and succeeded him as the head of the Edgeworth and Co. Law Office after his death. Appears in Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth 2.

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• Accidental Kiss: When he asks Patricia Roland for a hug, he gets his wish, but she throws in a kiss as well. Well, he was asking for it.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: After meeting Regina Berry, he wonders if she's the kind of animal tamer who uses a whip and says 'down, boy'. Edgeworth mentions he knows someone else like that, and Raymond demands they be introduced. Of course, if you know who he's referring to... Incidentally, they DO end up meeting in the fourth case. And they even go up against each other in court in the fifth.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Contrasted with the people he works with, he tends to come off as quirky. To wit, he's unprofessionally sarcastic, has a habit of asking people he meets for hugs, and is something of a Handsome Lech, all of which belies his competence. Bonus points for being an actual lawyer!
• Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: One possible interpretation of his behavior towards Kate.
• Casanova Wannabe: Not to the same extent as Larry, but his offers of hugs generally don't go over well with the ladies. The only one who actually takes him up on his offer turns out to be the second case's murderer.
• Character Tics: He often makes air quote gestures with his hands when speaking, emphasizing his sarcastic tendencies.
• Deadpan Snarker: His older self has a biting sense of sarcasm.
• Eccentric Mentor: Despite being Miles' opposite in terms of personality, Raymond is still capable of providing him useful guidance as a defense attorney.
• Economy Cast: He's the defense attorney of Horace Knightley, Simon Keyes, Katherine Hall and when Patricia Roland's intended lawyer was killed, he took over her case. Note that none of them are innocent, although Kate never ended up actually killing anyone. He also mentions that he's defending Horace against charges of organizing the assassination attempt against Di-Jun Huang, where he was genuinely being scapegoated by the body double, and not Rooke's murder.
• Fanboy: His past self, of Piece of Cake. He even sings the show's theme song along with its two presenters when meeting them for the first time.
• First-Name Basis: He's one of the few characters who calls Edgeworth by his first name in both the original Japanese and fan translation, and starts doing so after he starts to warm up to Edgeworth.
• The Glomp: When he meets Patricia, he offers her a hug as he does with a lot of other characters. Unlike other characters, she gives him a bigger hug than he asked for, as well as a kiss, instead of turning down his offer.
• Handsome Lech: His present self. He gets on quite well with Larry when they meet in the third case.
• His Quirk Lives On: His present-day self will remove his hat and bow it with it held to his chest, exactly the same way Gregory used to. It's even the same hat.
• Honorary Uncle: In the fan translation, he refers to himself as Uncle Ray. Given his apprenticeship to Gregory, and the fact that he and Miles Edgeworth know each other, there's probably a chance that Gregory may have introduced Tateyuki/Raymond as "Uncle Ray" to Miles.
• Ingesting Knowledge: His past self carries a notepad which he uses to take notes on the case, usually followed by him ripping out the page he was writing on and eating it. He believes it helps him remember what he wrote.
• Jerkass Realization: After the flashback portion of "The Inherited Turnabout" concludes, he apologizes to Miles for the way he treated him.
• Jerkass to One: He's a friendly individual to most people, but is cold to Miles at first due to still thinking of him as von Karma's disciple.
• Leitmotif: "Joking Motive", a showy jazz song meant to invoke Shields' laid-back personality.
• Locked Out of the Loop: He's shocked on two occasions after finding out very valuable information was concealed from him or doesn't match his data, namely his would-be client Horace Knightley was charged with attempted assassination of President Di-Jun Huang rather than murdering his own superior, and that Manfred had some records of Jeff Master's conviction altered that he was charged with murder rather than his official charge of just being an accomplice, the latter of which manages to help catch the culprit of the IS-7 incident since he didn't know about the accomplice charge either.
• Lovable Coward: Downplayed. The man is easily startled but calms down pretty quick and is a nice guy otherwise.
• Meaningful Name: "Tate" means "shield" in Japanese, which is fitting for a defense attorney and complements both Miles and Gregory Edgeworth's sword-related names.
• Named After Someone Famous: In the fan translation, he's named after Raymond Burr, who portrayed Perry Mason, which complements Gregory's first name.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: His older self has no "angry" sprites (the closest he has is his "serious" one), as he presents himself as a very jovial and easygoing person who rarely gets mad, preferring to express any discontent in a sarcastic, semi-joking manner. When he does get mad, however, such as when Dane Gustavia gleefully admits that he'd let Jeff Master, who at this point is clearly innocent, continue to rot in jail to preserve his own reputation as a master confectioner...
  Raymond: Miles. It's been a long time... Since your Uncle Ray's been this angry.
• Remember the New Guy?: Edgeworth makes it clear he's known him most of his life, though he's been away overseas for a while. He was also at the courthouse during DL-6, but avoided being trapped in the elevator prior.
• Ship Tease: A bit with Kate, especially during his younger years. From their first meeting, Gregory reminds him to 'note', not 'dote'. They clearly hold each other in high regards, though Raymond won't hesitate to suspect Kate when the evidence clearly points to her.
• Signature Headgear: Both his past and present selves wear one. The one worn by his present self used to be Gregory's.
• This Is Unforgivable!: While normally a laid-back man, Raymond cannot bring himself to not hate Gustavia for the crime he committed 18 years ago, which not only resulted in an innocent man getting wrongfully convicted and held in jail up until the present day (while Gustavia used the opportunity to become famed worlwide), but also caused lots of pain and suffering to most people who were involved in that case, particularly Katherine. It doesn't help that Gustavia rather boldly admits to the crime yet is not willing to answer to it, knowing the law can't touch him.
• Tragic Keepsake: He inherited Gregory's hat, and implies that he also inhereted Gregory's coat, and keeps his attorney's badge pinned to it like Gregory used to. Despite claiming he wears it in court for good luck, when we actually do see him in court he's just wearing the same outfit as always, although this may be because he knew the defendant was guilty going into it. He also inherited the Edgeworth Law Offices, which he refuses to change the name of.

Yumihiko Ichiyanagi (Sebastian Debeste)

Yumihiko Ichiyanagi (Sebastian Debeste in the fan translation)

Voiced by (Japanese): Naotaka Noda (AAI2)

Voiced by (English): "SonicShadows" (AAI2 Fan Translation)

Debut: Gyakuten Kenji 2

"...Oh well. It can't be helped. There's no way someone who's so thick on the intake could have good ears."

A rookie prosecutor who fancies himself as 'the best' at his work. He first appears in the second case of Ace Attorney Investigations 2.

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• And Now for Someone Completely Different: For a very brief moment in Case 5, you present a single piece of evidence as him, although Edgeworth helps explain it after he does so.
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Underneath the egotistical moron prone to humiliating himself in front of everyone is a deeply insecure kid desperate for his father to acknowledge him.
• Book Dumb: An inversion and then a subversion and finally a double subversion. Sebastian graduated at the top of his class but seems to lack common sense when actually putting it to work. Then it's revealed that his father abused his influence to get him his grades, which make it seem like he is stupid in both real life situations and school. It's finally double subverted though when Edgeworth pulls him out of his Heroic BSoD and shows that he's capable of being competent when he has no name to stand on.
• Bound and Gagged: By the subordinates of his own father, although they were actually aiming for another boy.
• Break the Haughty: Given that he was not taken seriously in the first place, it's a bit surprising how thoroughly the final two cases kick him in the teeth. First he learns his much-admired prosecutor father is in fact a criminal and a murderer. Said father proceeds to disclose, to Sebastian and the entire assembled court, that all of the good grades and awards he was so proud of were only obtained through Blaise's own personal connections and influence. That is followed up with a remark that being too stupid to figure this out made him undeserving of being Blaise's son. Overwhelmed, Sebastian flees the courtroom... and is immediately kidnapped. By the time Edgeworth and Kay are able to free him, he's far overshot "humbled" to crash land somewhere around "shell-shocked," able to do little but cry and feel worthless. Only after the longest Logic Chess segment in the game is he able to start pulling himself back together, although when he does come back his apparent level of competency has gone way up.
• Buffy Speak: Whenever Sebastian is the one talking, expect to see nothing but vague terms -"that thing"- and pauses which Courtney fills with the word he was looking for. If he attempts to make use of a slightly more complex term or idiom, he will misuse it without fail. Sure enough, his rather small vocabulary often results in him getting lost during someone else’s explanations.
• Bumbling Sidekick: To Courtney to the point that she often uses him to testify only to execute The Plan on Edgeworth. His attempts to support his dad only cause Blaise to feel embarrassed as well. To be fair, by the final case, that's no longer the case.
• Butt-Monkey: He's often told to shut up by the other prosecutors when he's trying to make a statement. Smarter characters like Courtney and Edgeworth will now and then employ some fake throat clearing to resume the conversation ignoring whatever stupid thing he's just said. Franziska even whips him once when he's not making any sense. Even Larry looks down on his level of intelligence. It gets really depressing later.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Played with. Sebastian does indeed tell Blaise to just give up and admit that he killed Jill Crane, and turns his insults back on him, asserting that he'll surpass him as a prosecutor by becoming a fair and kind crusader for truth and justice. But despite everything Blaise put him through, how lowly he thought of him, Sebastian still finds it in his heart thank him for all he's given him before saying goodbye as Blaise is finally convicted.
• Character Development: Starts as a Know-Nothing Know-It-All being carried along by his Hypercompetent Sidekick; ends as a young man who knows he has a long way to go but wants to stand on his own two feet and pursue the honest path.
• Coat Cape: He wears his coat over his shirt without putting his arms into his sleeves.
• Curtains Match the Window: Brown hair and brown eyes
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Unlike other examples of Improbable Age from prosecutors like Franziska, he is just about as good as you'd expect from a 17-year-old prosecutor. He's not a Teen Genius and is way out of his depth. The only reason he has the job in the first place is because his dad bribed his teachers for good grades.
• The Dog Bites Back: While he doesn't call his father out for the crap he's been through, he manages to humiliate him in court, which is just as satisfying.
• Dope Slap: Invoked by his baton when he bends it too far.
• Dumb Is Good: Likely the reason he managed to remain as pure-minded despite being brought up by a guy who nonchalantly takes pride in his wickedness. Also leads him to obliviously aid Edgeworth here and there against Courtney or Blaise's wishes.
• Dumpster Dive: He tears through a gigantic garbage pile after realizing that his father disposed of the evidence he wanted to keep safe. Although he didn't have enough time to find the murder weapon from the second case and only found Sirhan's bell wrapped in newspaper, Edgeworth finds out that Sebastian tore open a huge hole in Blaise's plan by doing this as his distinct glove print was on it, proving that evidence was disposed of and he can request a much bigger search of it with the help of the authorities.
• Expressive Hair: The question mark on his head turns into an exclamation when he's startled.
• First-Name Basis: In the fan translation, he and Justine call each other by their first names.
• Foil: To Edgeworth. Both are prosecutors who devoted much of their life to an attempt to appease the expectations laid on them by the Amoral Attorney who raised them, and ended up suffering tremendously as a result. While Edgeworth was raised to be a "genius" by Von Karma in an act of egotism and is genuinely talented and intelligent, every one of Sebastian's achievements were things manipulated by his father, who only valued him as another pawn to get what he wanted, and he in reality is just a regular person underneath it all. Edgeworth likewise spend years grappling with the effect Von Karma had on him and his life perspective before managing to firmly reject much of his teachings, while Sebastian even at the end never truly can reject his, only resolve to move past him.
• Follow in My Footsteps: To his father, as a prosecutor.
• Heroic BSoD: Has a MAJOR one in Case 5. (And who can blame him!) It takes an entire Logic Chess bout with Edgeworth to snap him out of it. The logic Chess is actually extremely long because, midway through the questioning, Sebastian starts having a mental breakdown and Edgeworth has to help him back.
• Idiot Hair: Word of God states that, like Apollo, the question marked-shaped hair on top of Sebastian's head is not natural; he carefully styles it that way everyday.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: His logic is horrible, he constantly misuses words, can't see when a wrong piece of evidence is being presented... and still thinks he's superior in intelligence to everyone else. When Edgeworth gently corrects his phrasing and Sebastian thanks him for it, it's a sign that he's coming out of this mode.
• Improbable Age: Deconstructed. Sebastian is a prosecutor conducting full control over cases at just 17... and is about as good as you might expect from that descriptor. This is because of his father buying his grades.
• Inelegant Blubbering: When he breaks after realising most of his achievements and supposed genius were all lies.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Will keep proclaiming himself the best, then instantly get teary-eyed when others don't take him seriously (which translates to all the time). There's also all that self-deprecation during his Logic Chess segment...
• Insane Troll Logic: His logic is so bad that even Larry Butz, a widely acknowledged moron, is able to realize that Sebastian is an idiot and be perfectly sound in such a realization.
• Insufferable Imbecile: While he acts like an Insufferable Genius, his complete lack of common sense to back up the "genius" part leads to this trope instead. He becomes much less insufferable and starts getting smarter after his Heroic BSoD.
• Joke Level: His first testimony is easily one of the most ridiculous in the entire series, yet it takes so long to crack simply because it's so damn vague! (seriously, since when was "finding 'traces', 'there' " a valid reason for arresting someone?) His second testimony is a little better, but has one contradiction so obvious Edgeworth points it out without you having to do anything. And most of the discrepancies you do point out contradict his own testimony! In fact, his first testimony is set to his own theme rather than the standard cross-examination theme.
• Leitmotif: "The Best Reasoning," a cutesy, dopey-sounding theme that greatly contrasts Courtney's darker, no-nonsense leitmotif, and "The Best Farewell", a more serious-sounding theme that plays once he's up against his father.
• Lethal Joke Character: He's a terrible prosecutor with less-than-adequate logical reasoning skills, yet when push comes to shove, he's able to take down Blaise Debeste and provide the final nail in his coffin. This is likely because Edgeworth gave him the incentive to strive to be better.
• Malaproper: The boy can't get a single idiom right, constantly using the wrong words for a situation (ie "inculpable" in place of "incapable"). Most of the correct answers in his Logic Chess are of Edgeworth gently correcting him on which words to use.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Ichi" means one in Japanese. His goal in life is to be number one at everything. "Yanagi" can mean "weeping willow" — both he and his father cry easily. "Yumi" means bow, the weapon, in contrast to Mitsurugi/Edgeworth, which is a pun on sword. His full name creates the pun "ichiya naki yumi wo hiku" - "pulling a bow without an arrow", which is a reference to his baseless deductions.
  • "Ichiyanagi" is the alternate reading for the kanji "ichiryuu", which means "top notch", or "first rate", which is where "Debeste" comes from. Also, if you reverse the kanji "一流" ("ichiryuu") to create "流一", and replace "流" ("ryuu", meaning "style") with its homonym "龍" ("ryuu", meaning "dragon"), you get "龍一", "ryuuichi", which is Phoenix Wright's given name in Japanese.
    • "Yumihiku" means "to rise up against," and as the combination with his surname suggests, he does end up confronting a family member.
  • In the fan translation, he's named after Saint Sebastian, who is associated with the bow and arrow. "Sebastian" also evokes the image of a sheltered, well-to-do kid, and given the fact he carries a baton around with him, it might also evoke the composer Johann Sebastian Bach. "Debeste" sounds like "the best" (and literally means that in Dutch).
• Missing Mom: According to his dad, her whereabouts are unknown. And since it turns out that whenever Blaise describes someone as "having disappeared" it means that he either killed them or had them convicted to life in prison...
• Production Foreshadowing: Sebastian's school uniform came from Themis Legal Academy, the setting of the third case in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, and sure enough, the academy is still facing corruption and forged grades even eight years later, with defense attorney Hugh O' Conner being another such victim.
• Prone to Tears: He wells up at the slightest inconvenience, usually when people point out the holes in his Insane Troll Logic. To be fair, he's been through a lot. A Heroic BSoD will do that to a person.
• Pungeon Master: He's all too aware of his Punny Name and WILL make jokes off it at every possible opportunity. He'll even twist other characters' Punny Names to do this, like when he asserts that he's better than Edgeworth because the first syllables of their (Japanese) names can mean 'one' and 'three', respectively; or in the fan translation, when he says he's miles ahead of Edgeworth. Leads to Got Me Doing It on several occasions.
• Put on the Bus: After he overcomes his father and learns to stand on his two feet, Sebastian leaves the story entirely and doesn't show up again until the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons:
  • While Sebastian's initial "logic" implicating Simon Keyes in Knightley's death is definitely of the insane troll variety, it turns out that Keyes did end up causing Knightley's death (he just wasn't the one who actually killed him).
  • In Case 3, he comes up with the even more insane conclusion that Dane Gustavia wanted to commit suicide, thinking he wanted to be more refined doing so in an art gallery. While he's obviously wrong about Gustavia's decisions, this was Katherine Hall's intention to dupe everyone else into thinking this was a case of suicide.
• School Uniforms are the New Black: He still wears his school uniform despite being a Themis Legal Academy graduate by the time he first appears. Yes, he wears it even while on the job.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: "Pops... you stink". And then proceeds to dig up a link between his dad and the evidence he hid, without even asking Edgeworth to explain it for him.
• Single Tear: He graduates from Inelegant Blubbering to this.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He thinks himself a fantastic prosecutor but really isn't anything special. If you present the wrong evidence to him, he doesn't even realize until Courtney points it out for him. Thanks to the trauma he experiences in the game, this is actually quite depressing. By the time the credits roll, he's already asked everyone to stop calling him "Ichiryuu"/"The Best".
• Spanner in the Works:
  • If it weren't for Edgeworth's unintentional help, Sebastian could have caught Simon Keyes much earlier than he eventually was.
  • He performs a Dumpster Dive to try and recover evidence he gave to his father for safekeeping which was actually disposed of. His only finding was seeming meagre... until Edgeworth proved that Blaise tried to hide evidence anyway because of it due to a glove print.
• Took a Level in Badass: In the final case of Investigations 2, after he stops crying and Edgeworth snaps him out of his Heroic BSoD, he finally has enough courage to stand up to his father and humiliate him in court but not before getting broken further. Even his theme music takes a level in badass when this happens.
• Unwitting Pawn: Having been told that that's the safest choice, he lets his father hold onto the evidence concerning Roland's trial, which Blaise then proceeds to get rid of. At one point, Blaise literally refers to his son as a "pawn that isn't user-friendly". It's strongly implied that this was in general what Blaise intended him to be in the long run, a pawn whose sheer incompetence could ensure his crimes would never be uncovered.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: In Sebastian's own words, he became a prosecutor merely because he wanted his dad to acknowledge him.
• You Fool!: On the receiving end of this from Miles Edgeworth, Franziska von Karma, and even Dick Gumshoe and Larry Butz. When Larry calls another person an idiot with perfectly sound reasoning, that shows that Sebastian's logic at the time is Insane Troll Logic. Blaise Debeste also invokes this by calling his son an idiot, but often without any justification.

Hakari Mikagami (Justine Courtney)

Hakari Mikagami (Justine Courtney in the fan translation)

Debut: Gyakuten Kenji 2

"Ah, 'Lady Justice'... blessings be upon her."

Edgeworth's rival in Ace Attorney Investigations 2, a fierce-looking (female) judge. She's part of the Prosecutorial Investigation Committee, who is determined to end Edgeworth's career as a prosecutor. She has a washboard of hair over half her face and seems to wear more traditional clothing.

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• Adoptive Peer Parent: Would you really believe at first glance she's John Marsh's mother? Though she's actually his adoptive mother. Biologically, they are first cousins, once removed.
• Anime Hair: Judge Courtney sports bangs that are shaped like a stereotypical lightning bolt. The hair is so rigid-looking that from the way it's bent, it looks like she has a large piece of steel glued to her forehead.
• Beware the Nice Ones: She's said to always have a kind smile on her face, but is merciless towards anyone who breaks the law. She's also a loving mother toward John, but is also so strict with him that he's a bit scared of her.
• Big Damn Heroes: Has her moment in Case 4.
• Catchphrase: Overruled! ("却下!" or "Kyakka!" in Japanese).
• Closet Geek: Of all things, Moozilla. Her phone has the movie's opening riff as the ringtone and has a Moozilla toy attached to it. Justified, given that her son is the main star...
• Cold Ham: She may not speak boisterously or announce her presence through self-generated fanfare, but she constantly proclaims herself a vessel of the Goddess of Law's will, which touts her as being a divine force. The effect renders itself similarly to more unsubtle Large Hams as a result.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: Seems to worship the law itself as a concept (or at least the Goddess of Law) and carries herself as a priest, even holding her gavel like it's a crucifix.
• Curtains Match the Window: Has dark brown hair and eyes.
• Doting Parent: Towards John Marsh. Case 5 shows that she always carries a magazine cutout of an article detailing John's big debut in his acting career so that she can look at something to be proud at every day. Her ringtone is also the Moozilla theme song, most likely because of John's role in the movie.
• The Dragon: To Sebastian in case 2 and 3, and to Blaise in case 4.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Both Sebastian and Blaise leave it to her to do most of the dirty work, albeit for different reasons (Sebastian because he's incompetent, Blaise probably to use her as a scapegoat in case something goes wrong).
• Dragon with an Agenda: Is secretly trying to take Blaise down.
• Evil Brit: Her "Overruled!" in the fandub has a very noticeable British accent and she constantly tries to hound Edgeworth throughout his investigations due to the P.I.C. having targeted him for alleged misconduct. After she turns on Blaise, she drops the evil part.
• First-Name Basis: In the fan translation, she and Sebastian call each other by their first names.
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Her robe is tailored to her body but isn't made of particularly thin or clingy fabric, Nevertheless, it shows the outlines of both breasts in most of her poses.
• Full-Name Ultimatum: She frequently resorts to this when scolding John.
• Good All Along: Almost to the point where she's The Mole. She's trying to expose Blaise's corruption, but before she can do that she has to pretend to work with him, which causes her to get in Edgeworth's way. In Case 4, she dramatically reveals her true allegiance and turns on Blaise.
• Hanging Judge: She's a bit overeager to take Edgeworth's badge and declare the latest subject of Sebastian's incoherent investigations Guilty, to say the least. While part of it is coming from Blaise, and another part of it is her worry that Edgeworth will take Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! too far, she's still overly high-handed and too quick to condemn.
• Heroic BSoD: In Case 5; She initially seems to be her usual aloof and quick-to-deliver-verdict self in the trial...right up until her Logic Chess segment gets around to her actual reasons for being soft on Patricia Roland, where she quickly breaks down, panting heavily while apparently on the verge of tears. Not only is she scared for her son's life, as it turns out, but in effect Blaise found the one thing that will truly bias her, meaning she's no longer an impartial judge and is deeply torn up over that fact. Kay helps her calm down by convincing her she doesn't need to be ashamed of being human.
• He's Back!: After being under Blaise's thumb because of her kidnapped son she gets a call telling her he's been found, allowing her to properly conduct the trial.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: She is this to Sebastian in The Imprisoned Turnabout, being far more competent than he is and correcting his mistakes.
• Hypocrite: She is merciless towards lawbreakers, but Justine rarely follows her own rules. She makes threats to Edgeworth when she is not under investigative authority, continues to hold up investigations, even uses fabricated evidence to convict a suspect she knows is innocent, and hides evidence when she is a person of interest. While prosecutors have been shown to be this way in this series, the judge is supposed to be impartial.
• Ice Queen: Both Raymond Shields and Larry Butz try to proposition her at various points in the game. Her reaction to both men is unenthusiastic to say the very least.
• I Have Your Son: She was forced to work against Edgeworth when Blaise and his goons kidnapped her adoptive son to force a Not Guilty verdict for Patricia Roland. Though it turns out Blaise's goons are so dumb they accidentally kidnapped Blaise's son instead, and the one who actually kidnapped John wanted to force a Guilty verdict.
• Informed Ability: Many people in the story call her extremely intelligent. However, just like any opponent in the series, she's prone to making rather stupid mistakes.
• Inspector Javert: Determined to put an end to Edgeworth's career and have him replaced by Sebastian, of all people. It's all an act however, since she's just working on Blaise's behalf and later drops it when she has incriminating evidence to indict Blaise.
• Iron Lady: A spin on the usual presentation, Justine doesn't appear outwardly to be the type (her manner of speech is very soft, inviting, and unimposing). However reading into her words quickly reveals she is absolutely no-nonsense and rock solid in her convictions. Towards the end of this game this starts to ebb off substantially, however, and you peer deeper into her other personality traits.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Late in The Imprisoned Turnabout, she says she distrusts Edgeworth because his logic has proven faulty on multiple occasions. Edgeworth, who'd erroneously suspected Sirhan Dogen of the murder, and only identifies Patricia Roland as the culprit near the end of the case, admits she's not wrong about him making mistakes in this case.
• Leitmotif: "Goddess of Law". Her ringtone is a version of "The Great Monster Borumosu".
• Lost in Translation: In the original Japanese she uses extremely formal honorifics on others, and uses "-sama," the most respectful honorific, on most people. In the fan translation, she instead calls people "Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss" or their job titles (e.g. Prosecutor Edgeworth, Warden Roland), which is more conventionally polite.
• Mama Bear: Normally she acts like a soft-spoken, deceptively gentle but extremely stern and merciless enforcer of "the Goddess of Law's will". However anything that concerns her adoptive son (whether he's in danger or he's just being rude to those around him), she flips the switch and becomes a concerned mother. It's almost cute in a way to see her go from being Miss Rulebook to mommy.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Hakari" means "Scale" (As in "Lady Justice's scale") and Mikagami means "Water Mirror", possibly referring to the Yata-Mirror, the Japanese imperial insignia of wisdom.
  • The fan translation renames her Justine Courtney, suggesting "justice" and "court".
• Obfuscating Stupidity: An interesting case, as she does it through another character rather than herself. Basically, whenever she lets Sebastian testify, you know she's cooking up something that is at least marginally smarter.
• Ojou Ringlets: They look a bit like lightning bolts.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: Her Leitmotif.
• Parodies for Dummies: In Case 3, she hands Edgeworth a book with a cartoony cover on it which provides the exact details entailing the Statute of Limitations. You will have to pull that out later.
• Principles Zealot: Strongly believes in upholding the law, and feels Edgeworth is unworthy to be a prosecutor if he breaks it.
• Promotion to Parent: She adopted John when her cousin Amy Marsh(John's mother) died.
• Retractable Weapon: Her gavel has an extendable shaft.
• The Rival: To Edgeworth, in her stricter adherence to the law.
• Secret Test of Character: Never confirmed, but some of her conversations with Edgeworth (particularly the one where he's in detention) sound like she's trying to determine if he really is committed to the truth and/or has what it takes to stand up to Blaise Debeste.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Polite, gentle, but utterly inflexible.
• The Smurfette Principle: To date the only female judge in the series besides Queen Ga'ran in Spirit of Justice.
• Teenage Pregnancy: Subverted. When she reveals that John is her son, most would expect this case, until later she explains that John's her adopted son.
• Wham Line: Near the end of the fourth case, when it seems as though the true culprit is about to get off scot-free, she appears ready to have Kay arrested, but then...
  Courtney: The defendant... Blaise Debeste! I indict you!
• Wham Shot: During her Logic Chess match, during which she reveals a new animation: utter panic.
• Younger Than They Look: Her manner of dress, mature mannerisms, and role as step-mother all suggest that she's on the older side but simply looks youthful, but she's the same age as Edgeworth himself.

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