"Even if a bowl is broken, there is always a way to put it back together."
Heartwarming moments in Trials and Tribulations.
The Stolen Turnabout
- Adrian Andrews is back and far more cheerful. It's nice to know that she got better after the events of Case 2-4.
- The entire reason that Ron became a thief was to support his wife's spending habit, terrified that she was going to leave him if she found out he was running out of money. After he's arrested for theft, he is also terrified Desirée will leave him because of her hatred for criminals. If you present the Kurain Urn to him after the trial, Desirée shows up to congratulate Ron on being declared innocent. Maya asks if she's going to leave him.Desirée: (as the Mask☆DeMasque theme kicks in) Why would I want to leave such a wonderful man?
- How utterly adorable the story of Ron and Desirée's meeting was. Desirée was held hostage by two thugs, and Ron, despite being positively terrified out of his mind, shaking, and with tears streaming down his face, still did not hesitate to shout at them and charge them, successfully scaring them away from her. Just knowing how timid Ron is and how heart-wrenchingly afraid he was and how it still didn't stop him from being an absolute hero.
- In general the relationship between Ron and Desirée is cute. While on the surface, they seem totally wrong for each other (with the characters asking "What Does She See in Him?"), and Desirée's rampant spending coming off as being a Gold Digger, their clashing personalities just make the genuinely happy marriage that exists underneath that much more special.
Recipe for Turnabout
- When Phoenix gets info by having Mia wearing Maya's waitress outfit interrogate him, Victor Kudo's surprisingly sweet. Yes, he's perving over her in his outfit, but he is utterly infatuated, calling her "my dear" and offering to replace anything Armstrong might steal from her, if he can afford it (and keep in mind, this guy's dirt poor).
- After Phoenix and Maya finally get Viola to talk about the circumstances surrounding her injury, they're ready to continue their investigation... as soon as they finish their espresso. Before this point, they'd been reluctant to eat or drink anything she served them due to her creepy behavior.
Bridge to the Turnabout
- The beginning of the case makes sure we're aware of Phoenix's fear of heights, especially on the rickety Dusky Bridge which he barely makes it across. Cue him realizing there's a murderer on the loose with Maya on the other side of the bridge and he runs across it without so much as a second thought… WHILE IT'S ENGULFED IN FLAMES. Pearl calls Maya Phoenix's "special someone" and really… how does one argue she's wrong?
- When Phoenix discovers that his former first love, whom he had thought was just using him, was actually someone else... someone who really cared for him. And that person was his evil ex-girlfriend's twin sister, who actually pulled a Twin Switch with her.Iris: I hope one day you can forgive me... (blushes) Feenie.
Phoenix: You really are the person I always thought you were. Even after Dahlia Hawthorne was found guilty, I still believed in you.
Iris: (tearing up) ...Thank you. - Godot's "tears", especially since Godot is really Mia Fey's mentor Diego. After all, "The only time a lawyer can cry is when it's all over," and this is technically the last game in the series' arc.
- Godot spends most of the game berating Phoenix, yet his attitude seems to change during the events of the final trial, even declaring with no hints of sarcasm that he's a great defense attorney. Godot even assists Phoenix at a few points in said trial to help him catch the culprit of the case, which just so happens to be Godot himself.
- The very end of the trial. Is there any better way to give closure to Godot's story?Godot: How many cups of darkness have I drank over the years? Even I don't know. The only thing I do know is... Right now, this one here is the greatest cup I think I've ever had. (drinks mug) Don't you think so... Phoenix Wright?
Phoenix: (holding a mug of coffee and drinking as well) Yeah. I think you're right. - When Phoenix recovers from his cold and regains the reigns on the case, one of the first things he discovers is that both of the Fey girls are missing. Charming, sophisticated, adorable little Pearl has disappeared amongst a ton of calamity. To make matters worse, his former opponent Franziska von Karma has decided to follow him around. Eventually the two cross the repaired bridge and run into none other than Pearl. After being completely deserted on this freezing, unfamiliar, ominous, extremely high mountain cliff, Pearl finally sees a friendly face. Cue the waterworks, from both her AND the player.
- It's a small moment, but upon finding out that Phoenix fell off of Dusky Bridge during the trial, Franziska - who had be almost nothing but combative to Phoenix in the past - is clearly shocked and concerned at the news. Edgeworth has to reassure her that Phoenix was not seriously harmed, leading her to quip about Phoenix' luck.
- This case serves as Edgeworth's biggest day in the limelight short of the Investigations titles. Appropriately, it's full of humanizing, heartwarming moments that make it clear Edgeworth cares immensely about Phoenix and his associates, despite his chilly exterior.
- Edgeworth decides to take the risk of stepping in for Phoenix as a defense attorney, and his sole condition for doing so is that Iris tell the truth to Phoenix to let him "truly recover" from his pain.
- When an earthquake occurs later on, the first person that Phoenix thinks about is Edgeworth, instead of anyone else. Edgeworth was evidently on Franziska's mind, too, given that she immediately can guess why Phoenix reacted the way he did.
- After Phoenix has returned to the case, Edgeworth wishes him good luck - and calls him his "partner," with a fond smile. At the end of the trial, he even manages to congratulate Phoenix on his win without being awkward about it!
- Edgeworth, who doesn't show many emotions but clearly understands them far better than his emotionally clueless sister, becomes a bit of a Shipper on Deck for Iris and Phoenix. It's sweet because for the most part, up until it really clicks in his head what's probably going on with Iris and Phoenix, he's clearly defending Iris primarily as a favor to Wright. Yet once he breaks Iris' "Psycholocks," he stops thinking about or saying these things, and cracks down on investigating because he's figured out that Iris and Phoenix mean a great deal to each other.
- Once Edgeworth goes to the Detention Center to accept Iris as his client, Iris's immediate reaction is to ask if Phoenix is alright.
- From the same case; the heartwarming quality is reduced by Edgeworth's inability to say "thank you", but it's still quite touching:Edgeworth: Is that your attorney's badge? Interesting. I never imagined I'd ever see you wearing one of these, Wright.
Phoenix: It's because of you that I became one, Edgeworth.
Edgeworth: ...
Phoenix: Not that I have any regrets. I really don't. - The 3DS remake rewords Edgeworth and Iris's first conversation in the Detention Center. Iris asks Edgeworth what his relationship with Phoenix is. Edgeworth, who is notorious for his prickly attitude and unwillingness to express his emotions, immediately and unhesitatingly replies "He is a very dear and indispensable friend."
- Presenting Pearl's profile to Gumshoe; both men are clearly immensely concerned about the poor kid, and the idea that something bad might have befallen her horrifies them both. Edgeworth also shows great concern for Maya's condition, and says he could never face Phoenix again if something happened to her.
- Edgeworth is very upset about fainting during an earthquake, letting Iris slip away. When Phoenix tries to talk to him, Edgeworth won't listen. Cue Franziska whipping him, telling him to get some air, and relax. It works, too. The entire relationship between the three of them, having mellowed to that point, is quite endearing.
- In the epilogue, the heroes open the talisman locket owned by Maya's mother. It's a special treasure, one that the Master of the Kurain Tradition is never meant to remove until the day she dies. So, now that it's all over, Maya is able to open the locket, and do you know what was inside? What her mother carried next to her heart until the day she died? A photograph of Mia and Maya. Even when she vanished for 17 years, she always had her daughters with her. Always. What's even more heartwarming is the fact it shows that the Kurain urn was broken before Pearl broke it, supposedly, for the first time. Proves that you really can fix anything that's broken...
- The fact that the photograph in question depicts a young Mia and a toddler-aged Maya being caught in the act of fixing the broken urn and is completely adorable just seals the deal.
- Despite spending most of his time being a rude, Dirty Old Man, Victor Kudo actually gets a Heartwarming moment in which he states that his grandkids threw him a birthday party during the end credits, in which he cried like a baby. You get the feeling that that was the first time in a long time he had been happy.
- Phoenix has to bring up Edgeworth's fainting spell in court later to prove that Iris was briefly unsupervised and could have switched places with Dahlia. It's one of those case-clinching moments, but Phoenix feels genuinely bad about mentioning it because he knows how guilty Edgeworth must be feeling.Phoenix: (I'm sorry, I know you didn't mean to...It wasn't your fault...)
- The conversation about earthquakes immediately after this is also kind of sweet and sad in equal measure. One right after the other, we get these two comments:Edgeworth: I'm sorry, Wright. After you chose to become a lawyer for my sake... and after you saved me...
Phoenix: (thinking) Edgeworth... you're stronger than you think, so no more of this self-pity, OK? - During the last day of trial, Godot is revealed to be the prosecutor, and that Franziska will not be prosecuting. This is because she stays out all night at Hazakura Temple to help Sister Bikini break the locks and rescue Maya. The fact that stone-cold tsundere Franziska stayed out at a freezing mountain cavern in the dead of winter all night long to try and undo a series of nigh-impossible locks with literally a thousand possible combinations to save someone she barely even knows, presumably without even being asked to do so by anyone else is utterly sweet, especially for Franziska. Most of Franziska's behavior in this case, or any case where she's not actually prosecuting for (shown slightly in 2-4 with her rushing to get the evidence to the court in time), ends up being rather heartwarming, though it might only be in hindsight. There's also the fact that she very willingly helps with the investigation and is genuinely helpful to Phoenix, despite her less-than-fond feelings of him.
- At the end of the trial, after Maya is informed of Franziska's assistance, she personally thanks her while addressing her as "Franziska" as opposed to "Ms. Von Karma".
- The very last scene. Larry first starts talking about how he is meant to be an artist, and we see his latest masterpiece: Phoenix, Edgeworth, Franziska, Gumshoe, Maya, and Pearl all together, smiling and laughing. And as the scene ends, we see that is the bottom page of the sketchbook, and the top is Mia, Misty, and Godot, looking down on them.
- Slightly earlier in the sequence, Larry asks if he can join Phoenix, Maya, Edgeworth, and Franziska's group hug.
- It's subtle and easy to miss for what it is, but it's really heartwarming how Edgeworth picked Franziska, his younger sister, to prosecute. His younger sister who has always felt she lived in his shadow, always felt like The Un-Favourite compared to him, and always had a need to defeat him to prove herself, even after the person whose approval she so desperately sought was gone. And Edgeworth gave her the first fair, equal chance to beat him. In court, attorney to attorney. Granted, it was BECAUSE of this that he knew she wouldn't expose him (and indeed, she did not, even though she could have damaged his reputation or even cost him his job).
- Not really as big as other moments in the case, but upon learning that Phoenix fell into Eagle River, Franziska shows genuine concern.
- The revelation that Mia didn't just become a lawyer so that she could find her mother, but so that she and Maya wouldn't have to compete over the Master title, like their mother and aunt did.
- After the case concludes, Pearl has an offscreen My God, What Have I Done? moment when she realised exactly how badly she'd been played and what her actions had caused. She runs off to the monastery, presumably as a self-imposed exile, too ashamed/horrified to face Phoenix and Maya. They go off to retrieve her and the resulting conversation is a major "Aww..." moment.
- A minor example in that Phoenix humors Larry (sometimes) by referring to him as Laurice Deauxnim like he requests, while nobody else bothers.
- If Phoenix presents Gumshoe's profile to Edgeworth during the second investigation, Edgeworth will mention that he just took him out for pasta and ordered extra parmesan cheese for him. Gumshoe cried tears of joy as he dug into it, which Edgeworth himself found quite moving. This is especially heartwarming if you presented the Magatama to Gumshoe while playing as Edgeworth; Gumshoe thinks it's some kind of hard candy that could "fill him up," something that prompts even Edgeworth to wonder if he's cut the detective's salary too much.
- If you present Larry's profile to Edgeworth in the second investigation day, Edgeworth will off-handedly mention that Larry drew a portrait for him, and ask Phoenix to "leave it at that" about him. Despite the fact Edgeworth considers him as a nuisance most of the time, Larry still values their friendship and Edgeworth still accepted a portrait of himself, even after the huge mess Larry's sketch caused in court.
