If there’s anything I’ve felt about ace attorney since playing through the original trilogy, it’s how cheated I’ve felt about the fandom interpretation of it. Y’all were so caught up with your gay boys and your Miles Edgeworths I didn’t realize how much of this game was about WOMEN. THE CORE OF ACE ATTORNEY IS IN ITS FEMALE CHARACTERS. From Mia jumpstarting Phoenix and guiding him throughout the whole trilogy even after her death, her presence being the primary connecter of Phoenix and Maya, Maya and Godot, heck even Dahlia and Iris and the whole lot of them. From Franziska’s earnest faith and consolation of Miles Edgeworth, even begrudgingly, pulling him out the trauma of his childhood with the face to face confrontation of a bullet wound in the same spot as the man who killed his father. Lana and Ema dragging Phoenix back into the thing he does best. Lana and Ema who’s tragic story lies in a pair of sisters ruined by the heinous law system and their unconditional love for each other. Dahlia and Iris with a different version of sisterly tragedy, struggling through generational trauma in separate settings and support systems. The matter of the Fey tradition looming over the entire narrative and all the legal and social terror that comes with it. CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE ACE ATTORNEY WOMEN.
The female characters are easily one of the best things about Ace Attorney. When the worst thing I can say about my least favorite is that she’s extremely forgettable, you know it’s a strong female cast!
this was the same exact reaction i had getting into AA in 2021. it had always been HUGE in the pop culture zeitgeist, even all the way back in the early/mid 2000s when i was on fan forums and geocities pages. i was CERTAIN i knew what it was about–i thought it was about fancy, pretty lawyer men and how they were all kissing. i never once saw a single female character.
when i watched a friend play game 1 and realize the women WERE the story i was fucking flabbergasted. i was so ANGRY at the fandom and how it represented things. and that was BEFORE i saw how bad they were with fanon telephone too, i’ve never in my life seen a piece of media so WHOLLY MISREPRESENTED in EVERY WAY by the fandom that claims to adore it.
this is also how i found out that a ton of the AA fandom hasn’t even played/watched the games and get most of their knowledge through fanfic :’) every day my heart hurts.
