Saturday, July 30, 2016

Mitsurugi Reiji - This Is The Character Everyone Imagines Him To Be!? Takumi's Comments (2005)

Title: Mitsurugi Reiji - This Is The Character Everyone Imagines Him To Be!?!? Takumi's Comments /  「御剣怜侍 みんなが考えた御剣はこな感じ!? 巧氏コメント」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban Fanbook

Summary: The Gyakuten Saiban Fanbook, originally released in 2005 just before the Japanese release of Gyakuten Saiban Yomigaeru Gyakuten (Ace Attorney DS), featured a couple of character profiles with information that was imagined by the fans themselves! From bloodtype, type of mobile phone and even the places where they live, the fans had thought off all kinds things for the main characters of the Gyakuten Saiban series. In return, director Takumi, producer Inaba and character designers Suekane and Iwamoto also responded to those 'fan-theories/head-canon' and also talked about their own 'head-canon'. In his reaction to Mitsurugi (Miles Edgeworth)'s profile, Takumi added a couple of (unofficial) background ideas to the character, including a pet dog, a surprising sense in music and a habit of singing karaoke.

Turnabout Interview 2 – Development Staff Discussion (2005)

Title: Turnabout Interview 2 – Development Staff Discussion / 「逆転インタビュー② 開発スタッフ座談会」
Source: Turnabout Crossover

Summary: A discussion interview about the first DS release of the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) series with director Takumi Shū, producer Matsukawa Minae and character designer Nuri Kazuya. The interview was included in the booklet Turnabout Crossover (2005), which was part of the Limited Editon of the Nintendo DS release of Gyakuten Saiban Yomigaeru Gyakuten (Ace Attorney DS). This was the first game in the series to be released abroad, and the three talk about this new challenge for the series in the interview. Other topics include Takumi definitely not wanting to do anything for the DS port, looking back at the first game, the things they changed for the DS version, character design and more.

Friday, July 29, 2016

Twitter: Spirit Channeling in Mystery Stories (2016)

Title: Spirit Channeling in Mystery Stories
Source: Takumi Shū 's Twitter

Summary: On July 22, 2016, Takumi started writing about the reason why he used the theme of spirit channeling in the second episode of Gyakuten Saiban 2 (Ace Attorney 2 - Justice for All) on his Twitter account. In a series of tweets posted on July 29, 2016 (which starts with this tweet), he continues his explanation of why a seemingly supernatural element made its way in a fair play mystery story. While Takumi has already talked about this in the original Gyakuten Saiban 2 developer's blog, this series of tweets forms his most recent exposition on the topic and it also includes a little bit of his own views on mystery fiction in general.

In the translation below, each paragraph is a seperate tweet.

A Drama As The Next Step for Gyakuten Saiban? (2014)

Title: A Drama As The Next Step for Gyakuten Saiban? Interview With The Developers of iOS Gyakuten Saiban 5 / 『逆転裁判』の次なる展開はドラマ化? アニメ化? iOS版『逆転裁判5』開発者インタビュー
Source: Dengeki

Summary: In this interview posted on August 28, 2014, Gyakuten Saiban 5 (Ace Attorney 5 - Dual Destinies)'s producer Eshiro and director Yamazaki talk about the newly released iOS port of the game. They also talk about a character popularity poll held online, which featured both new and old characters. They also talk about non-game spin-offs of the series: some things they have mentioned in the interview have already come true now in 2016, like an anime TV series.

Images are taken from the source article. Copyright belongs to the respective owners

Gyakuten Saiban 4 Blog Entry 6: Changing Protagonists (2007)

Title: Changing Protagonists / 「主役交代」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 4 official site

Summary: In this blog post originally posed on March 30, 2007, Takumi talks about arguably the biggest change they made for Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 - Apollo Justice): replacing the protagonist of the first three games, Naruhodō Ryūichi (Phoenix Wright) with Odoroki Hōsuke (Apollo Justice). He explains how it was decided to replace Naruhodō, but also why he's still around in the game. Also, it is also made clear where one of the bigger surprises late in the game comes from.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Gyakuten Saiban 6 Development Discussion - Part 3 (2016)

Title: Gyakuten Saiban 6 Development Discussion - Part 3 / 「第3回『逆転裁判6』開発座談会 」
Source: Gyakuten Tsūshin

Summary: Part three of an exclusive interview with the development staff of Gyakuten Saiban 6 (Ace Attorney 6 – Spirit of Justice) for the official fan website for the series: Gyakuten Tsūshin. This part was first posted on July 28, 2016. While in part one and part two, the discussion was mostly about what the team liked best of the game itself, this time, the interview is mostly about the team itself. In most interviews, you only see producer Eshiro and director Yamazaki talk about their game, so it is quite refreshing to see other, less prominent members of the team being discussed, like the actual programmers of the game. They also talk about the special website for staff members, where they posted doodles and show off two of them.

Images are taken from the source article. Copyright belongs to the respective owners. It is recommended to read the first two parts first.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Gyakuten Saiban 6 Blog Entry 5: Revealed For The First Time! The Secret of Creating Gyakuten Saiban 6's Scenario! (2016)

Title: Revealed For The First Time! The Secret of Creating Gyakuten Saiban 6's Scenario! / 「本邦初公開!逆転裁判6シナリオ作りの秘密!」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 6 official site

Summary: This blog entry on the official site of Gyakuten Saiban 6 (Ace Attorney 6 - Spirit of Justice) was posted on June 6, 2016 and details how the scenario (story) of the game was written. Writer Fukuda, who also worked on Gyakuten Saiban 5's scenario, writes about the processes the team goes through as they first think of an overall theme for the game, and then work it out to a plot and finally write down the actual script of the game.

Monday, July 25, 2016

Gyakuten Saiban 6 Blog Entry 2: The Theme of Gyakuten Saiban 6 (2016)

Title: The Theme of Gyakuten Saiban 6 / 「逆転裁判6のテーマ」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 6 official site

Summary: In the second blog entry for Gyakuten Saiban 6  (Ace Attorney 6 – Spirit of Justice) which was first posted  on May 26, 2016, director Yamazaki Takeshi talks about the underlying theme of his team's latest game. His (probably slightly dramatized) account of how he came up with the idea is full of despair, betrayal, suspence and other thrills. He also shows off an amazing piece of concept art for the game, back when they basically had no idea yet what they were going to make.

Images are taken from the source article. Copyright belongs to the respective owners

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Gyakuten Saiban 4 Blog Entry 3: About The New Features (2007)

Title: About The New Features / 「新要素について」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 4 official site

Summary: In the second post on the Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 – Apollo Justice) blog (originally posted on March 23, 2007), director Endō Mitsuru writes about two new features in this game. First of all: himself, as he is new to the development team, and he talks about how he got himself in the development team. He also talks about an actual new feature in the game: Perceive. The sketch Takumi made is a must-see.

Images are taken from the source article. Copyrights belongs to the respective owners.

A Never-ending Love for Columbo (2015)

Title: A Never-ending Love for Columbo / 「終わりなき“コロンボ愛”」
Source: Kono Manga ga Sugoi WEB

Summary: In the marketing campagin leading up to the release of Dai Gyakuten Saiban (The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures), director and scenario writer Takumi Shū had a discussion interview with mystery writer Ōkura Takahiro, well-known for his Fukuie Keibuho ('Lt. Fukuie') series (see this link). While the main theme was of course Dai Gyakuten Saiban, the topic of the discussion eventually changed to the famous TV mystery drama Columbo. Both men are big fans of the series, and they started to talk that much about it, it had to be cut out of the original interview text. Kono Manga ga Sugoi eventually did publish this part of their interview, exclusively about Columbo, on their site. This translation is of the extra part specifically about Columbo.

Images taken from the source article. Copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Friday, July 22, 2016

Twitter: The Origin of Spirit Mediums (2016)

Title: The Origin of Spirit Mediums
Source: Takumi Shū 's Twitter

Summary: In a series of tweets (starting with this tweet) posted on July 22, 2016, Takumi Shū explained how he came up with the idea of using spirit mediums in the series. While the concept had been around since the first game, Takumi only started using it in the second game for the mystery plots and many have wondered why he used spirit mediums, a seemingly non-realistic and non-logical element, in a mystery story. The explanation is surprisingly simple, but also pretty surprising on its own.

In the translation below, each paragraph is a seperate tweet.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Gyakuten Saiban 6 Development Discussion - Part 2 (2016)

Title: Gyakuten Saiban 6 Development Discussion - Part 2 / 「第2回『逆転裁判6』開発座談会 」
Source: Gyakuten Tsūshin

Summary: The second part of an exclusive interview with the development staff of Gyakuten Saiban 6 (Ace Attorney 6 – Spirit of Justice) for the official fan website for the series: Gyakuten Tsūshin.Part 2 was first posted on July 21, 2016. Following up on part 1, the six staff members are asked about the scenes they liked best, what characters from the series they'd want to see return in future installments, what they'd like to see if they were going on a holiday to the Kingdom of Kurain and the music and sound effects they liked. Proper introduction of all the participants is done in part 1, so it is recommend to read that first.

Images are taken from the source article. Copyright belongs to the respective owners.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Only Worries When They Announced Mayoi Would Appear in Gyakuten Saiban 6!? (2016)

Title: Only Worries When They Announced Mayoi Would Appear in Gyakuten Saiban 6!? Setting of a Southern Island and The Secret Story Behind The Chracters Told By The Dev Staff / 「『逆転裁判6』真宵の登場発表は不安しかなかった!? 南の島の設定や登場キャラの秘話を開発メンバーが語る」
Source: Dengeki

Summary: In this long interview (dated July 20, 2016) with Gyakuten Saiban 6 (Ace Attorney 6 - Spirit of Justice) producer Eshiro Motohide and director Yamazaki Takeshi, the two look back at their game which was one month earlier. They look at how they thought of the setting of the game, the new and old characters that appear in the game, how the story was told, how they came up with the new game mechanics and basically everything that has to do with the game.

Images are taken from the source article. Copyright belongs to the respective owners.

Gyakuten Saiban Blog Entry 8: Adverse Trial (2001)

Title: Adverse Trial / 「逆境裁判」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban official site (down)

Summary: Just before it became the year of 2000, the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney 1 GBA) team was facing its greatest crisis: not only was the game the target of harsh criticism within the company, the small development team of seven was about to turn into one of six. This developer's blog post, originally posted in 2001, is a continuation of the seventh post and details the direct aftermath of having 1/7 of the team leave suddenly. Did you know that Gyakuten Saiban was actually canceled for a short while?

Gyakuten Saiban Entry 7: Breakdown At The End Of The Year (2001)

Title: Entry 7 – Breakdown At The End Of The Year / 「年末崩壊」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban official site (down)

Summay: In the seventh blog post for the original Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney 1 GBA) for the Game Boy Advance, Takumi tells about the time when the team presented their first playable demo to their bosses. The result was a complete drama, and the target of a lot of criticism. The game mechanics were also quite different from the game we now know.

Monday, July 18, 2016

Gyakuten Saiban Blog Entry 1: Greetings (2001)

Title: Greetings / 「ごあいさつ」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban official site (down)

Summary: While it has become a tradition for the official websites of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) to feature a developer's blog, this tradition obviously started somewhere: this was the first blog post (or column) Takumi ever wrote for the official website of the original Game Boy Advance release of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA). He tells a little bit about how he came up with the idea for the game.

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Special Discussion Between Dai Gyakuten Saiban Director Takumi Shū X Mystery Writer Ōkura Takahiro (2015)

Title: Special discussion between Dai Gyakuten Saiban's director Takumi Shū X mystery writer Ōkura Takahiro of the Fukuie Keibuho series! /  「『大逆転裁判』ディレクター・巧 舟氏×『福家警部補』シリーズのミステリ作家・大倉崇裕氏のスペシャル対談!」
Source: Kono Manga ga Sugoi! WEB

Summary: A special discussion interview posted on July 8, 2015, held between Dai Gyakuten Saiban (The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures)'s Takumi Shū and the mystery writer Ōkura Takahiro, best known for his Fukuie Keibuho ('Lt. Fukuie') series. Takumi met with several mystery writers as part of the marketing campaign of Dai Gyakuten Saiban. A shorter version of this interview also appeared on the official Dai Gyakuten Saiban website. In this interview, Takumi talks about several mystery writers, and novels, that have influenced his writing of the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) series.

Images are taken from the source article. Copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Gyakuten Saiban 4 Blog Entry 9: All we need is IMPACT? (2007)

Title: All we need is IMPACT?
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 4 official site

Summary: Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney)'s planner Yamazaki, who would later become the main director of the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) and Gyakuten Kenji (Ace Attorney Investigations) games, writes about some scrapped ideas for Gyakuten Saiban 4. 1) Doing the witnesses in 3D 2) A scrapped idea for an animation of the protagonist Odoroki (Apollo Justice. 3) A scrapped idea for Minuki (Trucy), heroine of the story. Some of these ideas are actually reused in later games. We also get a glimpse of director Endō drawing skills. The post was originally posted on April 10, 2007.

Images are taken from the source article. Copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Gyakuten Saiban 2 Blog Entry 2 : Gyakuten Saiban (2002)

Title: Gyakuten Saiban / 「逆転裁判」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 2 official site (down)

Summary: In the second blog entry (dated October 11, 2002) for Gyakuten Saiban 2 (Justice for All) for the Game Boy Advance, director Takumi Shū talks about the warm messages they received in reaction to the first game, and about how Takumi intended the game to be less of a game, but more like 'just a mystery story', so even people who didn't often played games could have fun with it. He uses his mother as an example. In the Backstage side of this post, Naruhodo (Phoenix Wright) and Mayoi (Maya Fey) once again have fun by commenting on Takumi's post.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Gyakuten Saiban 6 Development Discussion - Part 1 (2016)

Title: Gyakuten Saiban 6 Development Discussion - Part 1 / 「第1回『逆転裁判6』開発座談会 」
Source: Gyakuten Tsūshin

Summary: The first part of an exclusive interview with the development staff of Gyakuten Saiban 6 (Ace Attorney 6 – Spirit of Justice) for the official fan website for the series: Gyakuten Tsūshin. In this interview, we have a variety of staff members commenting on all kinds of topics regarding the game, from what they themselves thought most special about the game to their favorite characters. Part 1 was first posted online on July 14, 2016.

Images are taken from the source article. Copyright belongs to the respective owners.

Gyakuten Saiban 6 Blog Entry 16: A Little Late (2016)

Title: A Little Late / 「遅ればせながら」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 6 official site

Summary: Gyakuten Saiban 6 (Ace Attorney 6 – Spirit of Justice)’s art director Fuse writes about some character design related topcs in this blog post dating from July 14, 2016. He talks about an early design for the heroine Reifa, about the Sengoku BASARA DLC costumes and makes of promotion for the upcoming artbook of the game.

Images are taken from the original source article. Copyrights belong to their respective owners, etcetera etcetera.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Gyakuten Saiban 6 Blog Entry 15: It Happened After the Dance of Devotion~ (2016)

Title: It Happened After the Dance of Devotion~
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 6 offical site

Summary: Sound composer Horiyama Toshihiko, who also worked on Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4: Apollo Justice) and Gyakuten Saiban 5 (Ace Attorney 5 - Dual Destinies), wrote this blog entry originally posted in July 11, 2016. The topic is a certain testimony early in the game, where the text was synchronized with the background music. Horiyama explains how they managed to make this.

Images are taken from the original source article. Copyrights belong to their respective owners, you know the story.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Twitter: Origin of The Class Trial (2016)

Title: Origin of The Class Trial 
Source: Takumi Shū 's Twitter

Summary: The Class Trial is a pivotal moment in the life of the character Naruhodō in the first Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) and one of the main mysteries of the game. Series creator Takumi has often said the trial was based on an event that actually happened to him when he was a child. While it has been mentioned often, the series of tweets he posted on his Twitter account on June 24, 2016 offer one of the more detailed accounts of this happening.

The series of tweets starts with this tweet. In the translation below, each paragraph is a seperate tweet.

Monday, July 11, 2016

Gyakuten Saiban Blog Entry 5: Title (2001)

Title: Title / 「タイトル」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban official site (down)

Summary: In this blog entry originally posted in 2001 on the official website of the Game Boy Advance version of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney 1 GBA), series creator Takumi talks about the various titles that he had in mind before settling on the final title. He also mentions the original name of the protagonist, before it was changed to the current name of Naruhodō Ryūichi (Phoenix Wright).

Sunday, July 10, 2016

A Collaboration Between Level-5 and Capcom's Flagship Titles Come True With Layton Kyōju VS Gyakuten Saiban (2012)

Title: A Collaboration Between Level-5 and Capcom's Flagship Titles Come True With Layton Kyōju VS Gyakuten Saiban. We Asked Director Takumi Who Worked On The Gyakuten Saiban Part About What Happened Backstage / 「レイトン教授VS逆転裁判」で実現したレベルファイブとカプコンの看板タイトルコラボ。その裏側を「逆転裁判」パートを手がけた巧 舟ディレクターにズバリ聞いてみた」
Source: 4Gamer

Summary: An very deep interview with Takumi Shū,  first posted on 4Gamer on December 22, 2012 about Layton Kyōju VS Gyakuten Saiban (Professor Layton VS Ace Attorney), which had just released in Japan then. As the game was a crossover of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) with the highly popular Professor Layton series of Level-5, and on the Nintendo 3DS too, this surprising collaboration gathered quite some attention. In this interview Takumi talks about how the project was started, how the companies of Capcom and Level-5 worked together, what Takumi did for this game and finally, he answers some random questions that have to do with the Gyakuten Saiban series.

The interview was held with Takumi, but Level-5 CEO Hino Ahihiro could not be present at this interview. 4Gamer later asked Hino questions based on this interview with Takumi, and they added his answers in between.

Images are taken from the original source article. Copyrights belong to their respective owners etc., you know the drill.

Gyakuten Saiban 4 Blog Entry 8: Return to the Crime Scene (2007)

Title: Return to the Crime Scene / 「犯行現場に戻れ」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 4 official site

Summary: A blog post posted on April 6, 2007 by Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 – Apollo Justice)'s director Endō Mitsuru. This game was the first time in the series that Takumi did not act as the director of the game. Endō is known to have an interest in mystery fiction, which he shares with Takumi, so it was not that strange the two of them paired up. In this entry, Endō reveals he was the person who came up with one of the more memorable methods of presentation in the game.

Images are taken from the source article. Copyrights belong to their respective owners. The works.

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Yomigaeru Gyakuten Blog Entry 3: vs. Planner (2005)

Title: vs. Planner / 「vs. 企画マン」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban Yomigaeru Gyakuten official site

Summary: This is the third entry in the official blog of Gyakuten Saiban Yomigaeru Gyakuten (Ace Attorney (1) DS). It was posted on August 16, 2005 and written by Takumi Shū. The first part is a bit teasing an upcoming project, but the second part is an interesting mini-interview with Yamazaki Takeshi, a planner at the time, but also the person who'd become the head writer and director of the main series and the Gyakuten Kenji (Ace Attorney Investigations) later. The last question Takumi asks Yamazaki is quite interesting, as this proposal sounds kinda familiar to a game Takumi himself made many years later! The entry ends with a little promotional talk by producer Matsukawa.

Friday, July 8, 2016

Turnabout Interview 1 - Suekane Kumiko (2005)

Title: Turnabout Interview 1 - Suekane Kumiko / 「逆転インタビュー① スエカネクミコ」
Source: Turnabout Crossover

Summary: An interview with Suekane Kumiko, character designer for the first Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) on the Game Boy Advance. The interview was included in the booklet Turnabout Crossover (2005), which was included with the Limited Editon of the Nintendo DS release of Gyakuten Saiban Yomigaeru Gyakuten (Ace Attorney DS). Suekane, now a freelance artist, talks about how she designed some of the characters, but also how she had a lot of influence on the role of the characters within the story. She also comments on the special comic she drew for Turnabout Crossover as well as simply how she does her work.

Suekane Kumiko
For GBA Gyakuten Saiban 1, Suekane worked on the character designs and other art-related work, and was responsible for commenting on the story. She has left Capcom now and is now ‘drawing comics and illustrations and stuff’ as a freelancer.

Gyakuten Kenji Staff Special Discussion (2009)

Title: Gyakuten Kenji Staff Special Discussion / 「『逆転検事』スタッフ特別座雑談」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban Special Court 2008 Orchestra Concert Pamphlet ~ Special Rewrite Ver.~ / 『「逆転裁判 特別法廷2008 オーケストラコンサート」パンフレット ~Special Rewrite Ver.~』

Summary: A special discussion interview from 2009 about Gyakuten Kenji (Ace Attorney Investigations) with producer Eshiro Motohide, director Yamazaki Takeshi and character designer Iwamoto Tatsurō . The interview was included in the special version of the 2008 Orchestra Concert Pamphlet included with the Limited Edition of Gyakuten Kenji. The interview touches upon topics like the early stages of the Gyakuten Kenji project, scrapped ideas for both the game and in the Limited Edition, why series creator Takumi wasn't working on this game, game and character design and the experiences of the three men who were basically doing their job for the very first time.

Thursday, July 7, 2016

The Development of the Locked Room in the 21st Century - Video Games and Locked Room Mysteries (2010)

Title: The Development of the Locked Room in the 21st Century - Video Games and Locked Room Mysteries / 「21世紀型密室の発展型ービデオゲームと密室ミステリー」
Source: Collected in Misshitsu Mystery no Meikyū ('The Maze of Locked Room Mysteries') / 『密室ミステリの迷宮』, 2010

Summary: An essay by Takumi Shū on the link between mystery fiction, and video games. He touches upon how he came upon the idea of the contradiction system for his own games, his memories of playing mystery games and an idea for a possible game to be made in the future. The essay was included in Misshitsu Mystery no Meikyū ('The Maze of Locked Room Mysteries'), a mook on locked room mystery fiction, edited by Arisugawa Alice. The mook also includes a questionnaire with respondents, including Takumi, naming their favorite locked room mystery novels of all time, as well other memories concerning the subgenre.

Takumi Special Interview (2015)

Title: Takumi Special Interview / 「巧舟スペシャルインタビュー」
Source: Dai Gyakuten Saiban Official Website (2015)

Summary: A very long interview with series creator Takumi Shū about his career at Capcom, how he came to create the first Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney), how he came to create Dai Gyakuten Saiban (The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures) and the process of creating characters (images are taken from the source. Copyright belongs to their respective owners, etc.).

Takumi Shū
Joined Capcom in 1994
Works: 
  • Gyakuten Saiban 1 -3 (2001-2004)
  • Ghost Trick (2010)
  • Dai Gyakuten Saiban – Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Bōken (2015)

Worked as planner, scenario writer and director for all the games mentioned above.

Gyakuten Saiban 2 Blog Entry 1: Greetings (2002)

Title: Greetings / 「ごあいさつ」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 2 official site (down)

Summary: the first entry of the official developer's blog of Gyakuten Saiban 2 (Justice for All) for the Game Boy Advance. This entry was originally posted on September 20th, 2002, ten days after the official site was opened. The blog entries consist of two parts: one where planner/scenario writer/director Takumi Shū talks about the game, and the backstage parts, where the Gyakuten Saiban characters comment on Takumi's latest entry. In this first entry, Takumi talks about how it was decided that they were going to make a sequel to the 2001 Gyakuten Saiban.

The First Turnabout

Welcome to the Gyakuten Saiban - Ace Attorney Library! The goal of this site is to provide a central place for translations of interviews, blog entries and other material on Capcom's Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) game series.

There are sites out there that focus on reporting on the latest news in Ace Attorney fandom, but here, I want to focus on what the creators themselves have to say: in the fifteen (and running) years the series has existed, developers have said a lot about the series in interviews, blogs, essays and other materials. However, not all of that is available in English, or at least not in a complete form. Here at the Gyakuten Saiban - Ace Attorney Library, I hope to bring you translations of the material mentioned above. While summaries would be infinitely easier to make, I think complete translations have extra value, as they allow the readers to form a better image of what the author/interviewed person is trying to say.

The main objective is to tackle the backlog of untranslated material, so a lot of this will be quite old. I'll try to pick out the items that are most interesting in terms of development of the games, so a lot of the translations will be about game design, character design and simply 'behind the scenes' stories. I won't be doing things in order, or 'per game'. Translations of more recent material will also appear here (eventually). That said, I do think updates to the site will be irregular.

As I have posted a lot of translations of such articles on the forums of Court Records, I'll also be reposting (after a bit of editing) some of those articles here.

Final note: as I focus on Japanese materials, I'll mainly use Japanese names for everything, also because some things are only released in Japan (for the moment) and I think "solutions" to mix the original Japanese names with the localized versions, like "The Great Ace Attorney" for Dai Gyakuten Saiban are a bit ridiculous. However, the localized name of anything (if available) will be mentioned the first time it appears in an article. If there is no official localized name available, a translation follows (indicated by single quotes '___').

And that's it! Court adjourned!