periwinkla:

Phoenix’s careful wording in 4-1

I noticed something about 4-1, Turnabout Trump.

Phoenix uses very careful wording. He never outright lies, mostly misdirects.
Like when he’s asked if the locket is his, and he says the locket has his daughter’s photo inside.

But the most important misdirection here is about the forged card. He never shows it as actual evidence from the crime scene: if you look carefully at his words, he actually shows it as evidence of the reason why the killer would have taken the card. He’s even meticulous about verb choices.
In the ENG ver,, he even outright says the card is his.
Everyone simply assumes.
Also Apollo, unknowingly, doesn’t present it as evidence from the crime scene, either.

Anyway, here are some parts I found particularly incriminating. JP text beside ENG for comparison’s sake. I’ll only provide translation for the relevant parts (or the parts that differ between versions). But as you can see, the misdirection is there in the JP version as well.

Disclaimer : I only studied Japanese for a little while. AA dialogue is pretty simple though. Also English isn’t my native language either. Feel free to correct me on anything wrong here. Also note that I’m not trying to make the translations sound natural, I’m mostly trying to explain what the words are saying, sometimes I’ll be more literal than others. Translation =/= localization.

Translation notes and musings are in small text.

Judge
いかがですかな？　弁護人。
Well, Mr. Justice?
カードがスリ替えられて、
持ち去られた“理由”‥‥
The question of why the killer
would swap out a card has been
raised.
そのコンキョを提示できますか？
Can you point to a reason?

Apollo
(‥‥どうやら、
　ここが“勝負どころ”だ！）
(…It’s now or never!)
なぜ、カードは
スリ替えられたのか‥‥。
Naze, kaado wa surikaerareta no ka…
The defense would like to
present evidence to the
court…

Naze, kaado wa surikaerareta no ka…
Why the card was switched...

弁護側は、その“理由”を
提示したいと思います。
Bengogawa wa, sono “riyuu” o teiji shitai to omoimasu.
Evidence showing the reason
why a card was swapped out!

Bengogawa wa, sono “riyuu” o teiji shitai to omoimasu.
The defense would like to present that “reason”.

Judge
これは‥‥まさか！
Could… this be…!?
現場から持ち去られた
“５枚目のＡ”ですかッ！
Could this be the missing
fifth ace!?

Kristoph
ば‥‥バカな！
なぜ‥‥なぜ、キミが‥‥
In-Inconceivable!
How could you…
そんなものを持っているのだッ！
What are you doing with
that card!?

Apollo
そ、それは‥‥その。
（なんだ、このあわてようは‥‥）
Um, well, that’s the thing…
(Why’s Mr. Gavin so upset?)

（アヤシイ女の子からもらった、
　ただのアヤシイカードなのに）
(Ayashii onna no ko kara moratta, tada no ayashii kaado na noni)
(It’s just a fishy card from
some fishy girl…)

(Ayashii onna no ko kara moratta, tada no ayashii kaado na noni)
It’s just a suspicious card given by a suspicious girl…

Apollo doesn’t even understand the weight of the card when he presents it. He’s just doing what Phoenix is pointing him to. He thinks it’s just a suspicious card, and he’s only using it to provide a “reason”. At first, I was confused by this, because he seemed convinced later on that the card was real. But it appears that at first, he was indeed suspicious of it. It’s just as the trial goes on, he’s manipulated to think the card is indeed real. Because he trusts Mr. Wright, which *seems* to say it’s real.

Phoenix
そのカードはね。
あの晩、事件の後‥‥
《ボルハチ》で、
ぼくが拾ったんだよ。
Sono kaado wa ne. Ano ban, jiken no ato…
“Boruhachi” de, boku ga hirotta n da yo.
Oh, that card?
It’s mine.
That is, I picked it up at the
Borscht Bowl Club that night
after the murder had occurred.

カードは商売道具だからね。
‥‥ムスメにわたしておいたんだ。
Kaado wa shoubai dougu dakara ne.
…Musume ni watashite oita n da.
I gave it to my daughter.
Cards are her stock and trade,
after all.

In the ENG, ’It’s mine’ is actually an addition. Maybe to drive the point home more? The rest is the same though.

Phoenix
じゃ、ハナシをつづけようか。
Ja, hanashi o tsuzukeyou ka.
Allow me to elaborate.

Ja,hanashio tsuzukeyou ka.
Well then, let’s continue this discussion?
(fun fact: hanashi can also be traslated as ‘story’, or even ‘fable’,
you could say hanashi is the noun version of the verb hanasu (to talk, tell) so it’s basically anything you ‘talk’ about)

この“血痕”が原因だった
としたら、どうでしょう。
Kono “kekkan” ga gen’in datta to shitara, dou deshou.
What if this trace of blood
was the reason?

Kono “kekkan” ga gen’in datta to shitara, dou deshou.
(what) If this “bloodstain” was the cause… what do you think?
The ‘dou deshou’ is usually also traslated as ‘what do you think?’ – it’s used after you make a statement and you want to ask for the other person’s opinion. But mostly it’s a rethoric question. ‘What about it?’ would also fit.
Also interesting how “bloodstain” is in quotation marks…

Phoenix
現場写真‥‥被害者の頭部を
もう一度、よく見てください。
Take another look at the
photo… and at the victim’s
head.
犯行の瞬間、帽子は床に落ちて、
このとおり‥‥
At the moment of the crime,
his hat fell to the floor…
ひとすじの血が、
後頭部に向かって流れています。
…and a trickle of blood
ran from his forehead down
the back of his head.

この血が、一滴。カードに落ちた。
‥‥そうは考えられないでしょうか。
Kono chi ga, hitoshizuku. Kaado ni ochita.
…Sou wa kangaerarenai deshou ka.
Couldn’t a drop of that blood
have fallen on one of the
cards?

Kono chi ga, hitoshizuku. Kaado ni ochita.
…Sou wa kangaerarenai deshou ka.
This blood, this drop. Fell on the card.
…Is that unthinkable? / …Is that unimaginable?

He’s basically proposing a theory. Not said the card in Apollo’s hand is actually the one.

Apollo
カードに、血が‥‥
Kaado ni, chi ga…
I suppose…

Kaado ni, chi ga…
On the card, the blood (fell)…

Apollo is following along with what he’s saying.

Phoenix
ハンニンは、それをかくすために
カードを持ち去ったのです。
Hannin wa, sore o kakusu tame ni
kaado o mochisatta no desu.
The killer then took the
card to hide the blood.

Fun choice of words. ‘no desu’ = ‘the explaination is that…’ or, in this case: ‘the explaination would be…’
This is the more literal translation just to make it more obvious how he phrases it:

The culprit, in order to hide that he took the card the explaination would be

So in a way that it’s actually comprehensible:
The explaination would be that the culprit took the card in order to hide that (the blood).

Kristoph
成歩堂！　キミも
一度は法廷に立ったオトコだ。
Wright! Regardless of how you
wasted the last seven years,
you used to be a lawyer!
証拠品を隠すことが、
どれだけ大きな“罪”であるか‥‥
You know what a serious crime
it is to conceal evidence!

Phoenix
そのギロンはあとだよ、先生。
それよりも‥‥
Sono giron wa ato da yo, sensei. Sore yori mo…
Oh, we can discuss the finer
points of our legal system
later…

Found it funny how he calls him ‘sensei’ but in a way that is very mccking. ‘Sensei’ means someone who is masterful/very knowledgeable in something, in this context, law.
He says ‘Let’s leave that discussion for later, sensei. More importantly...’

これで、きみの疑問に
答えるコトができたようだね。
Kore de, kimi no gimon ni
kotaeru koto ga dekita you da ne.
What’s important now is that
I’ve answered your question.

Kore de, kimi no gimon ni kotaeru koto ga dekita you da ne.
And with that, I was able to answer your question, wasn’t I?

Basically says the same thing, but uses ‘dekiru’ = ‘to be able to’

Kristoph
な。なんのコトですか？
Wh-What are you talking
about?

Phoenix
ハンニンがカードを
持ち去った“理由”だよ。
Hannin ga kaado o mochisatta “riyuu” da yo.
You wanted to know why the
killer would have taken a
card from the crime scene.

Hannin ga kaado o mochisatta “riyuu” da yo.
The “reason” the culprit took the card.

カードに残った、１滴の血。
Kaado ni nokotta, hitoshizuku no chi.
And now, I’ve told you.

A drop of blood, it feel on the card. (That was why)

彼にとっては“致命的”だった。
‥‥だから、持ち去った。
Kare ni totte wa “chimeiteki” datta. …Dakara, mochisatta.
That one drop of blood would
have been decisive evidence,
you see.

Kare ni totte wa “chimeiteki” datta. …Dakara, mochisatta.
For him, that (the drop of blood) was ‘fatal’. …So, he took it.

Overall, the word choice in both JP and ENG is very careful, but in different ways since… obviously they’re different languages with different idiosyncrasies.

In conclusion….

Phoenix basically treated the card not as evidence from a crime scene, but more of an example, a recreation, a construction. Never said that was the actual card. Made people assume. Didn’t correct them. So… he manipulated their thoughts.

He’s like ‘oh, you want to know the reason? well, let’s see, why would the killer take the card…? well maybe it had incriminating evidence on it – oh what kind of evidence? look at this card here – see this drop of blood? what if the blood fell from the victim’s head on the card? so he had to take it – because it would have made it obvious the killer entered from the secret passage and how the murder actually happened’

Something that breaks my heart immensly about all this is that Apollo is so adamant at the start of the trial that Mr. Wright would never lie… and he’s furious and heartbroken that he basically manipulated him (and everyone else), instead.
Phoenix literally couldn’t lie anyway, because then Apollo would have known. If you think about it, it’s kind of how Engarde was able to lie to Phoenix even though he had the magatama.

He purposefully and meticulously manipulated people to think the evidence was real, without ever saying it. Putting the words in other people’s mouths.

(Also… at least to me, this seems a very prosecutor-like tactic. Perhaps even Von Karma-like.)

Why does he even tell Apollo that he forged it? (He didn’t have to.) Because he felt guilty. Apollo asks how he can call himself an attorney and he tells him he, in fact, doesn’t call himself one. Doesn’t have the right to.
Phoenix isn’t a liar – he says so himself after the trial, he never lied – but he sure is a manipulator here.

But he does feel guilty. He lets Apollo punch him. And he smiles.

I think this shows how even when we believe that what we’re doing is wrong, we might do it anyways. Out of desperation, anyone might cave and go against their own morals.