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Maya Fey (Mayoi Ayasato)

Voiced by (Japanese): Satomi Hanamura (SoJ, PXZ2), Mirei Kiritani (PLvAA), Aoi Yūki (anime)

Voiced by (English): Abby Trott (SoJ), Samantha Dakin (PLvAA), Lindsay Seidel (anime)

Played by: Mirei Kiritani (film), Ritoka Nishiguchi (child - film)

Debut: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

^{Click here to see her original portrait} 

"The new and improved Maya Fey is on the scene, spirit and girl power at the ready!"

Mia's little sister, as well as a spirit medium-in-training and heir to the Kurain Channeling Technique. Maya is introduced as the main suspect of Mia's murder, and she becomes Phoenix's loyal companion after he gets her acquitted. She's the main assistant to Phoenix in the first three games, though she decides to accept her role as the Master of Kurain Village at the end of Trials and Tribulations, resulting in her absence in the fourth and fifth games. She's a major character in Spirit of Justice, where Phoenix visiting her in Khura'in is the catalyst for the plot. Phoenix is very fond of her and will go to great lengths to ensure her well-being.

Being a spirit medium, Maya's main contribution is her ability to channel spirits. Due to not being particularly well-trained, this at first means she can only channel Mia's spirit (and even then, not so reliably). She gets better over the course of the series, and is a top-notch channeler by the time of her reappearance in Spirit of Justice.

She also has the dubious honor of being the series' most recurring defendant.

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• Ambiguously Bi:
  • In "Turnabout Big Top", she acts very smitten with Maximillion Galactica, swooning when he gives her a heart card and stuttering when he turns his charm on her. She also says though, in the same case, in reference to Regina, "Even I want to profess my love to her."
  • In episode 21 of the anime, she seems to enjoy the magazine with "rather scantily dressed" women and is visibly disappointed when Phoenix takes it away.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Her appearances beside Phoenix in court usually are filled with snark or saying something funny or ridiculous that just happens to kick start Phoenix's thought process, but in the final case of the first game she's the first character, even before Phoenix, to put everything together and straight up tells Phoenix that she thinks Von Karma murdered Edgeworth's father, which turns out to be true.
• Big Eater: She apparently has an "extra stomach" for steak and for sweets, and will bring up eating whenever the opportunity crops up. Despite this, she's consistently portrayed as having a slender build.
  Phoenix: (How many stomachs does this girl have!?)
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Both parts, depending on which phase of the plot you're in.
  • In investigations, she plays the boke to Phoenix with her childish and oddball observations.
  • In the courtroom, she plays the tsukkomi to the more oddball or difficult witness in snarky asides.
• Break the Cutie: You're introduced to her when she stumbles upon the corpse of her big sister, Mia, who was murdered in her own office and she is subsequently arrested and accused of the murder. This is just the tip of the iceberg, as the next two games put her through the wringer in certain cases, and she still manages to come out of it smiling.
• The Bus Came Back: After being absent in the main story games since Trials and Tribulations, aside from the occasional crossover, cameos in the Investigations games, some vague references in Apollo Justice and a postcard in Dual Destinies, she finally returns to the series in Spirit of Justice.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Any moment Phoenix isn't the butt of a joke, there's a fifty-to-fifty chance Maya's on the receiving end instead.
  • In a more serious manner, she's also the most recurring defendant in the series. Maya has been accused of seven murders on five separate occasions, four of which actually go to trial.
• The Cameo: She appears in the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue of "Rise from the Ashes" even though she's absent in the case proper, save for some split-second flashbacks.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: This is what prevents her kidnapping in "Turnabout Revolution" having lethal stakes like in "Farewell, My Turnabout", as her spirit channelling would be needed to summon the spirit of the Holy Mother, making Paul Atishon's threats against Phoenix empty.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Half the things she says during investigation are off-the-wall comments.
• Cool Big Sis: Pearl thinks the world of her. Justified, as Maya's the only close family Pearl has who's still around (and not in jail). This is reflected in how Pearl picks up some of her mannerisms.
• Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose: She does this pose anytime she's thinking something mischievous.
• Damsel in Distress: At least once every game she shows up in. Also qualifies her for Designated Victim.
  • Phoenix Wright: Maya is accused of her sister's murder in the first half of case 2.
  • Justice For All: Maya is accused of murdering a spirit channeling client in case 2, and she's kidnapped for ransom in case 4.
  • Trials & Tribulations: Maya's Sacred Urn is stolen in case 2, and she's missing/almost killed/accused of her mother's murder in case 5.
  • Layton vs. Wright: Maya is accused of witchcraft and murder in case 3, after which she is seemingly executed anyway when she tries to prevent the actual witch from being executed.
  • Spirit of Justice: The prologue anime has Maya taken hostage by a Khura'in Kingdom fugitive, but she's immediately rescued by the local authorities. However, she was on the phone talking to Phoenix when this happened, and her phone broke during the scuffle, so Phoenix goes after her without knowing she's alright, triggering the events of the game. Then in case 3 of the game itself, she's accused of murdering a priest. And in "Turnabout Revolution", she is abducted in order to force Phoenix to work for a murderer, just like in Case 2-4.
• Deadpan Snarker: Not as bad as Phoenix in any sense, but she gets her fair share of snark in the cases against Godot and his coffeenese. Most of the pans over to her in the cases are for her to say something about Godot's latest "metaphor", or when Phoenix fails at bluffing the court.
  Godot: It would seem I've been forced to eat crow!
  Maya: I wonder what blend number crow-flavoured coffee is?
• Depending on the Artist: Capcom just can't decide on what her eye color is. While trilogy art and other media flip-flops between brown, gray, or blue, Spirit of Justice art shows it to be gray.
• The Ditz: Her assessments of things can be quite a bit silly at times. While she didn't appear in Dual Destinies, she did write a letter to Phoenix in which she assumed he was having a trial in an exploding courtroom (as opposed to a courtroom in which there was an explosion).
• Fangirl: Lover of all things Steel Samurai and its spinoffs. Spirit of Justice even extends it to its ripoffs as well, to the point that she considers pitching a Plumed Punisher/Steel Samurai crossver when she gets back to LA.
• Fanservice Pack: Official art of her adult self indicates she's developed a figure comparable to her sister's.
• Fighting Your Friend: Phoenix has to cross-examine her in the final section of "Bridge to the Turnabout", and Apollo must cross-examine her in one of the final sections of "Turnabout Revolution".
• Final Boss: In a sense. She's one of two (along with Godot/Diego Armando) for Trials and Tribulations, being called as the final witness of "Bridge to the Turnabout".
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She's the rather childish Foolish sibling to Mia's Responsible. Part of it's due to her personality, but some of it may be due to the large age gap between the sisters.
• Generic Cuteness: In the first game she's referred to as plain; in the third, when asking Nick how she looks dressing up as a waitress he replies that maybe she should quit being a spirit medium. She's still drawn in the same Animesque style as everyone else (although she does look a tad more cartoonish than other characters). In the manga, Phoenix introduces her by saying that she's not all that pretty.
• Genki Girl: Maya is easily excitable and generally in a chipper mood to the point of wearing out Phoenix.
• Hairstyle Inertia: A photograph at the end of "Bridge to the Turnabout" shows Maya sporting the same long hair and bun as a toddler. Her hair is still this way in her reappearance in Spirit of Justice, a whopping nine years after she's last seen in-game.
• Hiding in Plain Sight: She avoids Dahlia's wrath by channeling her. It works to the point Dahlia thinks she's in Pearl's body, and that Phoenix only realizes she's being channeled by Maya because there's no one else that could.
• Hime Cut: A variation, there are baubles that decorate the sidetails and tie the back together. It serves both to reflect her traditional upbringing and act as a tip-off to her spiritualist job.
• Hopeless with Tech: Zigzagged. She has a cellphone that she knows how to operate all right, but when it comes to computers, she can't even turn the things on. And despite this, she teases Phoenix when he struggles to get a security report from a computer in case 3-2.
• I Owe You My Life: Implied to be why she tries to cover for Godot in "Bridge to the Turnabout".
• Inadequate Inheritor: Morgan believes her to be this to the position of Master, as she has relatively weak spiritual power compared to her prodigy cousin Pearl. That said, Maya later proves this wrong when she overpowers Pearl's control of a spirit in 3-5.
• Kiddie Kid: Maya is 17-19 during the Phoenix trilogy but acts like 9 most of the time. Even in her late twenties in Spirit of Justice, she still retains some childlike mannerisms.
• Kimono Is Traditional: Goes hand in hand with her spirit medium background. At the end of "Turnabout Time Traveler", she is the only one to wear a kimono (a different one from her normal outfit) to the wedding in contrast to Athena and Ema's modern-style dresses.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: If it weren't for Phoenix, much of the evidence and various possessions of witnesses and suspects would end up in her pockets. She's always eager to get into restricted areas through illegal means, as well.
• Leitmotif: "Turnabout Sisters", which comes in 2001 (first game), 2002 (second and third game), and 2016 (sixth game) flavors.
• Lethally Stupid: Not very often but she has her moments, like when she tested how decorative sword would bend by smashing Phoenix's head with it, or when she tested if someone can be struck on back of his head from the front in the same way.
• The Load: She certainly feels like she's this, especially after case 1-4. It's not true, of course; spirit channeling powers aside, she's often a valuable source of insight and is one of Phoenix's pillars of emotional support throughout the original trilogy. She also remembers a key piece of information and figures out that Manfred von Karma killed Gregory Edgeworth before Pheonix even thought about it, saving his whole case and setting him on the right track to nailing the real murderer.
• Making the Choice for You: She wrote a note to Phoenix asking him to get Matt Engarde, the defendant who hired a Professional Killer to kill the defendant's rival, declared guilty no matter what. The problem is that she was being held hostage by that Professional Killer who will kill her if the defendant is found guilty. This means that she was asking to die rather than let Engarde get away with his conspiracy to commit murder.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Maya" and "Mayoi" are the Sanskrit and Japanese names, respectively, for the Buddhist concept of illusion. Meanwhile, the kanji used for the name Mayoi mean "true night," which the director felt suited the setting of "Turnabout Sisters", her debut case. "Mayoi" can also mean "lost" (as in losing your sense of direction).
  • Maya (altough sometimes spelled 'Maia') was also the eldest of the Seven Pleiads, and the most beautiful. The latin word 'Maior' ('greater') and 'Maiestos' ('majestic') are related to the name. The month May is named after this Maya, embodying growth. Fitting, since she eventually grows to be the master mystic.
• Nephewism: Maya was very young when her mother Misty disappeared, so her aunt Morgan became her guardian.
• Nice Girl: As childish as she is, Maya is one of the most selfless characters in the series. She gets herself held in contempt of court to save Edgeworth, despite the latter having prosecuted her and her new friend Phoenix, and later insists that Phoenix see to it that Engarde gets convicted regardless of what might happen to her.
• Non-Standard Character Design: In the first three games, her animation sprites look more cartoony compared to the rest of the realistic-looking cast at that time sans Moe and Ben, especially in this animation◊ of hers, probably to highlight her Generic Cuteness. Averted when she is drawn with the newer style.
• The Not-Love Interest: For Phoenix, despite what Pearl says. They're always together, obviously care deeply about one another, and messing with Maya is a really good way to ruin Nick's day (and perhaps get him to ruin yours next time you're in court). Even after seven years, they're not officially a couple but still keep in contact and are apparently close despite Maya's intensive training.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: In Spirit of Justice, Maya keeps her ability to channel spirits secret for much of the third case, since only the royal family is supposed to be able to do it. As a result, Rayfa dismisses Maya as a neophyte at best and a phony at worst, but Maya realizes that this deception is for the best.
• Oddly Visible Eyebrows: Particularly noticeable because her eyebrows are often completely covered by her long bangs.
• Once an Episode: In every main-series game she appears in, she is accused of murdering someone. The third game is the odd one out however, as it's the only one where she isn't the primary suspect, and it was intentional on her part. Nevertheless, it still counts.
• Older and Wiser: Although she remains perky and dorky, her reappearance in Spirit of Justice shows that she's also become much more mature as she grew up.
  Maya: Sorry, I guess I've outgrown that stepladder argument we always have...
  Phoenix: I think you mean "ladder," Maya.
• Out of Focus: In Justice For All, she spends most of the time being either as a defendant, or kidnapped. She only gets some relevance in the final act of the first case, and the entirety of the third case. Her role is so diminished compared to the first and third game that she doesn't even appear in the game's cover (when even Edgeworth, who appeared in only one case, is present there).
• Parental Abandonment: Her mother disappeared in disgrace at the end of the infamous DL-6 incident. Maya usually doesn't let on how much this bothers her, it tends to come up when other tragedies darken her mood and pull her out of her normal Plucky Girl attitude. Also, her father died when she was very young, but that almost never comes up, because it seems that she never really knew him.
• Periphery Demographic: In-Universe. She's seventeen at the beginning, and a fan of Steel Samurai, which is apparently aimed at 10-year-old boys — an interest that survives to her late twenties.
• Pipe Pain: Played for Laughs in Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney during the English Trial, where she picks up the assault weapon and whacks Phoenix with it to try and see if she could hit the back of his head with it.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Despite minor Ship Tease moments, she and Phoenix are officially this. They were attached at the hip back in the day, and are very clearly devoted to each other even after the timeskip.
• Plucky Girl: Maya loses multiple relatives over the course of a few years, gets accused of murder in every game, and endures other traumatic events. Despite this, her enthusiasm never wavers. Even during her more somber introduction in Case 1-2, she will still attempt to laugh if Phoenix tries to joke with her.
• The Pollyanna: She will talk about being accused of murder with a big smile on her face.
• Power-Strain Blackout:
  • Faints dead away after Dahlia is removed from her body in Case 3-5.
  • Just as she's found in "Turnabout Revolution", she faints from exhaustion and spends the first half of the trial resting in the hospital. Unsurprising, considering she'd been channeling Dhurke for almost the entire time Apollo and company were with him.
• Practically Different Generations: At the time of Mia's death, Maya was 17 and Mia was 27.
• Put on a Bus:
  • Right before Case 1-5, though in the original Game Boy Advance release there was no case 1-5 and her reappearance in 2-1 came without a break in between.
  • She is also absent from Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies. The latter confirms that she has been keeping contact with Phoenix by sending letters and Steel Samurai videos, and undergoing intensive training.
• Pretty in Mink: In the live action film, her jacket has a thick fur collar added.
• Sarcasm-Blind: Especially when she's in full boke mode during investigations.
• Secret-Keeper: In Spirit of Justice, she's asked by Dhurke to keep his own death a secret so the Khura'in revolution can keep going... as well as to be able to see Apollo again through channeling.
• She's All Grown Up: Before the time skip she was a perky teenager; now she's a lovely young woman in her late twenties. Lampshaded by Larry in Turnabout Time Traveler when he says she's "all grown up and as cute as ever".
• Shipper on Deck: For Phoenix and Iris after seeing what she assumes to be Love at First Sight.
  Maya: [singing] Iris and Nick, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
• Shoo Out the Clowns: She is largely absent in both "Farewell, My Turnabout" and "Bridge to the Turnabout" — the final cases of the 2nd and 3rd game, respectively. In the former she's kidnapped to pressure Phoenix into taking the case, in the latter she's locked away courtesy of Dahlia Hawthorne. Happens again in "Turnabout Revolution," which acts as a Call-Back to "Farewell, My Turnabout."
• Sidekick: Effectively Phoenix's partner in solving crime and the second main character in the first three games. She finally returns to this role in the DLC case of Spirit of Justice.
• Slipknot Ponytail: In Case 3-5, after Dahlia leaves her body.
• Stealth Pun: She's a paralegal.
• Stepford Smiler: At times, as Mia comments that she's more lonely and sad than she lets on. This is especially true at the conclusion of 3-5, when despite Maya's mother having been killed, she puts on a strong face and resolves not to cry for Pearl's sake, as Pearl has not only been manipulated by her mother, but also blames herself for the incident being set into motion.
• Technicolor Magic: She's a spirit medium heavily associated with the color purple, wearing a purple kimono pretty much all the time.
• Took a Level in Badass: Thanks to her extensive training to live up to her new position as Master of Kurain, she's a much better spirit medium in Spirit of Justice than she was as a teenager in the original trilogy.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Burgers or ramen, depending on whether it's the English or Japanese version, which leads to the odd case of the noodle stand Phoenix apparently visited with Maya a lot in Apollo Justice, since there's no mention of such a thing in the American releases of the first three games. At least the Professor Layton crossover there is a cutscene showing her and Phoenix munching burgers.
  • Though with how much Maya loves food in general, it's easy enough to assume they're both her favorites. This is further implied in Spirit of Justice (third case, second investigation day), when Phoenix offers to take Maya to "Eldoon's Noodles, or your favorite burger joint" for celebration.
• Unskilled, but Strong: She doesn't train nearly as hard at the Kurain Channeling Technique as her cousin Pearl, and considers her skill inferior. There are also times that she fails to channel a spirit when she's trying to (notably in Case 1-4, where she fails to channel her sister). Closer analysis reveals that, between her and Pearl, Maya is actually the medium with the stronger spiritual power. In case 2-4, she channels a spirit that Pearl was channeling, leaving Pearl as herself—a feat Pearl stated had to be done by a very powerful medium. This is a plot point in 3-5, where the failure of Pearl to channel a spirit is caused by Maya turning out to already be channeling said spirit—in other words, Maya can "steal" a channeled spirit from Pearl, but not the other way around. Not so much anymore in her Spirit of Justice appearance, as she's now both skilled and strong.
• Vapor Wear: In 6-3, when Maya is channelling a male spirit, he removes the upper part of her outfit to reveal his chest. Not among the clothing removed is a bra. This does, however, make sense, as channelling involves changing the shape of the channeller's body, and so loose, unrestrictive clothing is probably for the best.
• Willing Channeler: She can channel spirits of the dead, most usually her sister Mia, but only if she lets them.

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Maya Fey (Mayoi Ayasato)

Voiced by (Japanese): Satomi Hanamura (SoJ, PXZ2), Mirei Kiritani (PLvAA), Aoi Yūki (anime)

Voiced by (English): Abby Trott (SoJ), Samantha Dakin (PLvAA), Lindsay Seidel (anime)

Played by: Mirei Kiritani (film), Ritoka Nishiguchi (child - film)

Debut: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

^{Click here to see her original portrait} 

"The new and improved Maya Fey is on the scene, spirit and girl power at the ready!"

Mia's little sister, as well as a spirit medium-in-training and heir to the Kurain Channeling Technique. Maya is introduced as the main suspect of Mia's murder, and she becomes Phoenix's loyal companion after he gets her acquitted. She's the main assistant to Phoenix in the first three games, though she decides to accept her role as the Master of Kurain Village at the end of Trials and Tribulations, resulting in her absence in the fourth and fifth games. She's a major character in Spirit of Justice, where Phoenix visiting her in Khura'in is the catalyst for the plot. Phoenix is very fond of her and will go to great lengths to ensure her well-being.

Being a spirit medium, Maya's main contribution is her ability to channel spirits. Due to not being particularly well-trained, this at first means she can only channel Mia's spirit (and even then, not so reliably). She gets better over the course of the series, and is a top-notch channeler by the time of her reappearance in Spirit of Justice.

She also has the dubious honor of being the series' most recurring defendant.

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• Ambiguously Bi:
  • In "Turnabout Big Top", she acts very smitten with Maximillion Galactica, swooning when he gives her a heart card and stuttering when he turns his charm on her. She also says though, in the same case, in reference to Regina, "Even I want to profess my love to her."
  • In episode 21 of the anime, she seems to enjoy the magazine with "rather scantily dressed" women and is visibly disappointed when Phoenix takes it away.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Her appearances beside Phoenix in court usually are filled with snark or saying something funny or ridiculous that just happens to kick start Phoenix's thought process, but in the final case of the first game she's the first character, even before Phoenix, to put everything together and straight up tells Phoenix that she thinks Von Karma murdered Edgeworth's father, which turns out to be true.
• Big Eater: She apparently has an "extra stomach" for steak and for sweets, and will bring up eating whenever the opportunity crops up. Despite this, she's consistently portrayed as having a slender build.
  Phoenix: (How many stomachs does this girl have!?)
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Both parts, depending on which phase of the plot you're in.
  • In investigations, she plays the boke to Phoenix with her childish and oddball observations.
  • In the courtroom, she plays the tsukkomi to the more oddball or difficult witness in snarky asides.
• Break the Cutie: You're introduced to her when she stumbles upon the corpse of her big sister, Mia, who was murdered in her own office and she is subsequently arrested and accused of the murder. This is just the tip of the iceberg, as the next two games put her through the wringer in certain cases, and she still manages to come out of it smiling.
• The Bus Came Back: After being absent in the main story games since Trials and Tribulations, aside from the occasional crossover, cameos in the Investigations games, some vague references in Apollo Justice and a postcard in Dual Destinies, she finally returns to the series in Spirit of Justice.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Any moment Phoenix isn't the butt of a joke, there's a fifty-to-fifty chance Maya's on the receiving end instead.
  • In a more serious manner, she's also the most recurring defendant in the series. Maya has been accused of seven murders on five separate occasions, four of which actually go to trial.
• The Cameo: She appears in the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue of "Rise from the Ashes" even though she's absent in the case proper, save for some split-second flashbacks.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: This is what prevents her kidnapping in "Turnabout Revolution" having lethal stakes like in "Farewell, My Turnabout", as her spirit channelling would be needed to summon the spirit of the Holy Mother, making Paul Atishon's threats against Phoenix empty.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Half the things she says during investigation are off-the-wall comments.
• Cool Big Sis: Pearl thinks the world of her. Justified, as Maya's the only close family Pearl has who's still around (and not in jail). This is reflected in how Pearl picks up some of her mannerisms.
• Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose: She does this pose anytime she's thinking something mischievous.
• Damsel in Distress: At least once every game she shows up in. Also qualifies her for Designated Victim.
  • Phoenix Wright: Maya is accused of her sister's murder in the first half of case 2.
  • Justice For All: Maya is accused of murdering a spirit channeling client in case 2, and she's kidnapped for ransom in case 4.
  • Trials & Tribulations: Maya's Sacred Urn is stolen in case 2, and she's missing/almost killed/accused of her mother's murder in case 5.
  • Layton vs. Wright: Maya is accused of witchcraft and murder in case 3, after which she is seemingly executed anyway when she tries to prevent the actual witch from being executed.
  • Spirit of Justice: The prologue anime has Maya taken hostage by a Khura'in Kingdom fugitive, but she's immediately rescued by the local authorities. However, she was on the phone talking to Phoenix when this happened, and her phone broke during the scuffle, so Phoenix goes after her without knowing she's alright, triggering the events of the game. Then in case 3 of the game itself, she's accused of murdering a priest. And in "Turnabout Revolution", she is abducted in order to force Phoenix to work for a murderer, just like in Case 2-4.
• Deadpan Snarker: Not as bad as Phoenix in any sense, but she gets her fair share of snark in the cases against Godot and his coffeenese. Most of the pans over to her in the cases are for her to say something about Godot's latest "metaphor", or when Phoenix fails at bluffing the court.
  Godot: It would seem I've been forced to eat crow!
  Maya: I wonder what blend number crow-flavoured coffee is?
• Depending on the Artist: Capcom just can't decide on what her eye color is. While trilogy art and other media flip-flops between brown, gray, or blue, Spirit of Justice art shows it to be gray.
• The Ditz: Her assessments of things can be quite a bit silly at times. While she didn't appear in Dual Destinies, she did write a letter to Phoenix in which she assumed he was having a trial in an exploding courtroom (as opposed to a courtroom in which there was an explosion).
• Fangirl: Lover of all things Steel Samurai and its spinoffs. Spirit of Justice even extends it to its ripoffs as well, to the point that she considers pitching a Plumed Punisher/Steel Samurai crossver when she gets back to LA.
• Fanservice Pack: Official art of her adult self indicates she's developed a figure comparable to her sister's.
• Fighting Your Friend: Phoenix has to cross-examine her in the final section of "Bridge to the Turnabout", and Apollo must cross-examine her in one of the final sections of "Turnabout Revolution".
• Final Boss: In a sense. She's one of two (along with Godot/Diego Armando) for Trials and Tribulations, being called as the final witness of "Bridge to the Turnabout".
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She's the rather childish Foolish sibling to Mia's Responsible. Part of it's due to her personality, but some of it may be due to the large age gap between the sisters.
• Generic Cuteness: In the first game she's referred to as plain; in the third, when asking Nick how she looks dressing up as a waitress he replies that maybe she should quit being a spirit medium. She's still drawn in the same Animesque style as everyone else (although she does look a tad more cartoonish than other characters). In the manga, Phoenix introduces her by saying that she's not all that pretty.
• Genki Girl: Maya is easily excitable and generally in a chipper mood to the point of wearing out Phoenix.
• Hairstyle Inertia: A photograph at the end of "Bridge to the Turnabout" shows Maya sporting the same long hair and bun as a toddler. Her hair is still this way in her reappearance in Spirit of Justice, a whopping nine years after she's last seen in-game.
• Hiding in Plain Sight: She avoids Dahlia's wrath by channeling her. It works to the point Dahlia thinks she's in Pearl's body, and that Phoenix only realizes she's being channeled by Maya because there's no one else that could.
• Hime Cut: A variation, there are baubles that decorate the sidetails and tie the back together. It serves both to reflect her traditional upbringing and act as a tip-off to her spiritualist job.
• Hopeless with Tech: Zigzagged. She has a cellphone that she knows how to operate all right, but when it comes to computers, she can't even turn the things on. And despite this, she teases Phoenix when he struggles to get a security report from a computer in case 3-2.
• I Owe You My Life: Implied to be why she tries to cover for Godot in "Bridge to the Turnabout".
• Inadequate Inheritor: Morgan believes her to be this to the position of Master, as she has relatively weak spiritual power compared to her prodigy cousin Pearl. That said, Maya later proves this wrong when she overpowers Pearl's control of a spirit in 3-5.
• Kiddie Kid: Maya is 17-19 during the Phoenix trilogy but acts like 9 most of the time. Even in her late twenties in Spirit of Justice, she still retains some childlike mannerisms.
• Kimono Is Traditional: Goes hand in hand with her spirit medium background. At the end of "Turnabout Time Traveler", she is the only one to wear a kimono (a different one from her normal outfit) to the wedding in contrast to Athena and Ema's modern-style dresses.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: If it weren't for Phoenix, much of the evidence and various possessions of witnesses and suspects would end up in her pockets. She's always eager to get into restricted areas through illegal means, as well.
• Leitmotif: "Turnabout Sisters", which comes in 2001 (first game), 2002 (second and third game), and 2016 (sixth game) flavors.
• Lethally Stupid: Not very often but she has her moments, like when she tested how decorative sword would bend by smashing Phoenix's head with it, or when she tested if someone can be struck on back of his head from the front in the same way.
• The Load: She certainly feels like she's this, especially after case 1-4. It's not true, of course; spirit channeling powers aside, she's often a valuable source of insight and is one of Phoenix's pillars of emotional support throughout the original trilogy. She also remembers a key piece of information and figures out that Manfred von Karma killed Gregory Edgeworth before Pheonix even thought about it, saving his whole case and setting him on the right track to nailing the real murderer.
• Making the Choice for You: She wrote a note to Phoenix asking him to get Matt Engarde, the defendant who hired a Professional Killer to kill the defendant's rival, declared guilty no matter what. The problem is that she was being held hostage by that Professional Killer who will kill her if the defendant is found guilty. This means that she was asking to die rather than let Engarde get away with his conspiracy to commit murder.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Maya" and "Mayoi" are the Sanskrit and Japanese names, respectively, for the Buddhist concept of illusion. Meanwhile, the kanji used for the name Mayoi mean "true night," which the director felt suited the setting of "Turnabout Sisters", her debut case. "Mayoi" can also mean "lost" (as in losing your sense of direction).
  • Maya (altough sometimes spelled 'Maia') was also the eldest of the Seven Pleiads, and the most beautiful. The latin word 'Maior' ('greater') and 'Maiestos' ('majestic') are related to the name. The month May is named after this Maya, embodying growth. Fitting, since she eventually grows to be the master mystic.
• Nephewism: Maya was very young when her mother Misty disappeared, so her aunt Morgan became her guardian.
• Nice Girl: As childish as she is, Maya is one of the most selfless characters in the series. She gets herself held in contempt of court to save Edgeworth, despite the latter having prosecuted her and her new friend Phoenix, and later insists that Phoenix see to it that Engarde gets convicted regardless of what might happen to her.
• Non-Standard Character Design: In the first three games, her animation sprites look more cartoony compared to the rest of the realistic-looking cast at that time sans Moe and Ben, especially in this animation◊ of hers, probably to highlight her Generic Cuteness. Averted when she is drawn with the newer style.
• The Not-Love Interest: For Phoenix, despite what Pearl says. They're always together, obviously care deeply about one another, and messing with Maya is a really good way to ruin Nick's day (and perhaps get him to ruin yours next time you're in court). Even after seven years, they're not officially a couple but still keep in contact and are apparently close despite Maya's intensive training.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: In Spirit of Justice, Maya keeps her ability to channel spirits secret for much of the third case, since only the royal family is supposed to be able to do it. As a result, Rayfa dismisses Maya as a neophyte at best and a phony at worst, but Maya realizes that this deception is for the best.
• Oddly Visible Eyebrows: Particularly noticeable because her eyebrows are often completely covered by her long bangs.
• Once an Episode: In every main-series game she appears in, she is accused of murdering someone. The third game is the odd one out however, as it's the only one where she isn't the primary suspect, and it was intentional on her part. Nevertheless, it still counts.
• Older and Wiser: Although she remains perky and dorky, her reappearance in Spirit of Justice shows that she's also become much more mature as she grew up.
  Maya: Sorry, I guess I've outgrown that stepladder argument we always have...
  Phoenix: I think you mean "ladder," Maya.
• Out of Focus: In Justice For All, she spends most of the time being either as a defendant, or kidnapped. She only gets some relevance in the final act of the first case, and the entirety of the third case. Her role is so diminished compared to the first and third game that she doesn't even appear in the game's cover (when even Edgeworth, who appeared in only one case, is present there).
• Parental Abandonment: Her mother disappeared in disgrace at the end of the infamous DL-6 incident. Maya usually doesn't let on how much this bothers her, it tends to come up when other tragedies darken her mood and pull her out of her normal Plucky Girl attitude. Also, her father died when she was very young, but that almost never comes up, because it seems that she never really knew him.
• Periphery Demographic: In-Universe. She's seventeen at the beginning, and a fan of Steel Samurai, which is apparently aimed at 10-year-old boys — an interest that survives to her late twenties.
• Pipe Pain: Played for Laughs in Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney during the English Trial, where she picks up the assault weapon and whacks Phoenix with it to try and see if she could hit the back of his head with it.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Despite minor Ship Tease moments, she and Phoenix are officially this. They were attached at the hip back in the day, and are very clearly devoted to each other even after the timeskip.
• Plucky Girl: Maya loses multiple relatives over the course of a few years, gets accused of murder in every game, and endures other traumatic events. Despite this, her enthusiasm never wavers. Even during her more somber introduction in Case 1-2, she will still attempt to laugh if Phoenix tries to joke with her.
• The Pollyanna: She will talk about being accused of murder with a big smile on her face.
• Power-Strain Blackout:
  • Faints dead away after Dahlia is removed from her body in Case 3-5.
  • Just as she's found in "Turnabout Revolution", she faints from exhaustion and spends the first half of the trial resting in the hospital. Unsurprising, considering she'd been channeling Dhurke for almost the entire time Apollo and company were with him.
• Practically Different Generations: At the time of Mia's death, Maya was 17 and Mia was 27.
• Put on a Bus:
  • Right before Case 1-5, though in the original Game Boy Advance release there was no case 1-5 and her reappearance in 2-1 came without a break in between.
  • She is also absent from Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies. The latter confirms that she has been keeping contact with Phoenix by sending letters and Steel Samurai videos, and undergoing intensive training.
• Pretty in Mink: In the live action film, her jacket has a thick fur collar added.
• Sarcasm-Blind: Especially when she's in full boke mode during investigations.
• Secret-Keeper: In Spirit of Justice, she's asked by Dhurke to keep his own death a secret so the Khura'in revolution can keep going... as well as to be able to see Apollo again through channeling.
• She's All Grown Up: Before the time skip she was a perky teenager; now she's a lovely young woman in her late twenties. Lampshaded by Larry in Turnabout Time Traveler when he says she's "all grown up and as cute as ever".
• Shipper on Deck: For Phoenix and Iris after seeing what she assumes to be Love at First Sight.
  Maya: [singing] Iris and Nick, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
• Shoo Out the Clowns: She is largely absent in both "Farewell, My Turnabout" and "Bridge to the Turnabout" — the final cases of the 2nd and 3rd game, respectively. In the former she's kidnapped to pressure Phoenix into taking the case, in the latter she's locked away courtesy of Dahlia Hawthorne. Happens again in "Turnabout Revolution," which acts as a Call-Back to "Farewell, My Turnabout."
• Sidekick: Effectively Phoenix's partner in solving crime and the second main character in the first three games. She finally returns to this role in the DLC case of Spirit of Justice.
• Slipknot Ponytail: In Case 3-5, after Dahlia leaves her body.
• Stealth Pun: She's a paralegal.
• Stepford Smiler: At times, as Mia comments that she's more lonely and sad than she lets on. This is especially true at the conclusion of 3-5, when despite Maya's mother having been killed, she puts on a strong face and resolves not to cry for Pearl's sake, as Pearl has not only been manipulated by her mother, but also blames herself for the incident being set into motion.
• Technicolor Magic: She's a spirit medium heavily associated with the color purple, wearing a purple kimono pretty much all the time.
• Took a Level in Badass: Thanks to her extensive training to live up to her new position as Master of Kurain, she's a much better spirit medium in Spirit of Justice than she was as a teenager in the original trilogy.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Burgers or ramen, depending on whether it's the English or Japanese version, which leads to the odd case of the noodle stand Phoenix apparently visited with Maya a lot in Apollo Justice, since there's no mention of such a thing in the American releases of the first three games. At least the Professor Layton crossover there is a cutscene showing her and Phoenix munching burgers.
  • Though with how much Maya loves food in general, it's easy enough to assume they're both her favorites. This is further implied in Spirit of Justice (third case, second investigation day), when Phoenix offers to take Maya to "Eldoon's Noodles, or your favorite burger joint" for celebration.
• Unskilled, but Strong: She doesn't train nearly as hard at the Kurain Channeling Technique as her cousin Pearl, and considers her skill inferior. There are also times that she fails to channel a spirit when she's trying to (notably in Case 1-4, where she fails to channel her sister). Closer analysis reveals that, between her and Pearl, Maya is actually the medium with the stronger spiritual power. In case 2-4, she channels a spirit that Pearl was channeling, leaving Pearl as herself—a feat Pearl stated had to be done by a very powerful medium. This is a plot point in 3-5, where the failure of Pearl to channel a spirit is caused by Maya turning out to already be channeling said spirit—in other words, Maya can "steal" a channeled spirit from Pearl, but not the other way around. Not so much anymore in her Spirit of Justice appearance, as she's now both skilled and strong.
• Vapor Wear: In 6-3, when Maya is channelling a male spirit, he removes the upper part of her outfit to reveal his chest. Not among the clothing removed is a bra. This does, however, make sense, as channelling involves changing the shape of the channeller's body, and so loose, unrestrictive clothing is probably for the best.
• Willing Channeler: She can channel spirits of the dead, most usually her sister Mia, but only if she lets them.