Currently obsessed with Ace Attorney

Long story short, recently I've become obsessed with Ace Attorney, again, and am once again lamenting the localization butchering of the series. One of my biggest peeves is due to the localization effort, the majority of the English-language fandom uses the American legal framework to interpret the events of the game rather than the Japanese legal framework.

One of the biggest misunderstandings is the significance of the attorney's badge. While English-language fic acknowledges the importance of the badge, it's treated as a valuable trinket rather than a legal document. What the English-language fandom seems to fail to understand is that the lapel badge is legally required to practice law. You are straight up barred from the courthouse if you don't wear the badge. You simply cannot practice law without it.

More than once, I've seen people write about how Phoenix Wright sticks his badge in his pocket and my brain just goes had;lhg;alsdhfl;dasjl;fdsjaf!!!! because NO! A defense lawyer would put that badge on their lapel and take very good care of it because it is the identification needed to access all the legal institutions and their place of work. No fucking way Phoenix Wright would just shove that badge in his pocket and call it a day. Hell, his attorney ID number is on that badge. This isn't some trinket, it's a piece of legal documentation.

And on the subject of badges, it absolutely kills me to see how almost no one in the English-language fandom understands the symbolic significance of the defense lawyer's badge. The motif is a sunflower precisely because it is not associated with the state. Of all the legal badges, the defense lawyer's badge is the only one that is not linked the the state. This is intentional. Where the judge, prosecution, Diet members, etc. all wear badges that calls to the state's power (chrysanthemum, sakura, yata no kagami, etc.), the defense lawyer's badge is a sunflower, a flower with no connection to the state. Where other members in the legal community serve the state, the defense lawyer serves the people.

So please, for the love of all things Wright, stop making up stupid meanings for the sunflower. There is already an established symbolism. And no, it's not because Phoenix Wright is a "sunny" guy. Gyah.

Another misunderstanding is the constant confusion as to why Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth is "moonlighting" as a detective. Uh...because it's literally the Japanese prosecutor's job to be investigating the crime. They are literally the criminal investigation's oversight officers and yes, they can bully the police officers around when it comes to the investigation because it is their fucking job description. So, no, Miles Edgeworth isn't "moonlighting" as a detective. He IS a detective. On top of being a prosecutor. It's his job to figure out whether someone is guilty and whether to go ahead with the prosecution. It's his job to put together a water tight case. It's his job to extract a confession. It's his job to interrogate the fuck out of the witnesses. This is all normal parts of the job and Edgeworth isn't overstepping. At all.

And to all the people protesting how this system is ripe for abuse...uh, yeah, in case you haven't noticed, that's literally the recurring theme of the game.

Finally, it boggles my mind how the entire fandom seems to fail to understand the predominant theme of the second game is "finding oneself". Literally the tutorial trial consists of the criminal taunting Phoenix Wright, telling him that only by figuring out who he is will he be able to present the evidence necessary to convict the criminal. And then the final trial is literally Phoenix Wright torn between trying to save his friend vs. letting a criminal go free and Miles Edgeworth has to tell him that they are lawyers, not heroes, so they are not capable of delivering justice.

The whole fucking point of the second game is to beat home the idea that it's not up to an individual to decide what is or isn't just. The best that people in the legal system can do is hope to expose the truth. As to whether the result is just, that's beyond what lawyers can control. And that's absolutely huge in a game that's literally all about the justice system. Phoenix Wright literally faces the moral quandary of wanting justice but not being equipped to deliver it, so the only thing he can do is put his trust in TRUTH and hope that its enough.

So watching people rag on the second game and complain about "morally grey" criminals being uninteresting just...completely missed the fucking point of the story. The story is intentionally withholding moral satisfaction from convicting the criminals because Phoenix Wright is supposed to be losing his faith. The whole point is to push Wright to breaking point and make him have to confront the question: What does it mean to be a defense lawyer? Does he trust the system?

I personally find the third game to be excessively convoluted. Not every fucking thing in Phoenix Wright's life has to be tied up in a neat bow. It actually detracts from the real world messiness of the first two games and pushes the game into a shounen "JUSTICE always triumphs" path that I didn't like. For me, the third game lacks the emotional maturity of the first two games, precisely because everything was too clean. Bad guys are always bad, good guys are always good...and so shounen it hurts.

Anyway...back to other stuff.