Sunday, December 17, 2017

Naruhodo Gyakuten Saiban! 3 "An Autumn Of...." (2004)

Title: Naruhodo Gyakuten Saiban! 3 "An Autumn Of...." /「なるほど逆転裁判!第3回 〇〇の秋」
Source: DreaMaga 2004, November issue

Summary: Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) creator Takumi Shuu had a column "Naruhodo Gyakuten Saiban!" ("I See! Ace Attorney!") in the monthly game magazine DreaMaga (an abbreviation derived from its old format titled DreamCast Magazine). His column ran for 19 months starting in the September 2004 issue, mostly to build up to the release of the DS port of the first game. These columns would include a short essay by Takumi, dialogues that had been cut out of the games, an original artwork piece by Suekane Kumiko and a one-page dialogue-based short story starring the characters from Gyakuten Saiban, all surrounding a certain theme. The theme for this third column is autumn, and Takumi decides to write a bit about the detective writers and characters that influenced his youth, and that left their mark on Gyakuten Saiban. Note that this translation only includes the column itself, and none of the other parts (short story/cut dialogues).

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Forty Questions and Forty Answers As Told By The Staff (2005)

Title: Forty Questions and Forty Answers As Told By The Staff / 「スタッフがココまで語った40問40答」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban Fanbook

Summary: In this segment in 2005's Gyakuten Saiban Fanbook, series director Takumi and character designer Iwamoto answer no less than forty questions asked by the fans. While some of the questions relate to the development process, a great number of them are also questions you'd normally never seen in an official interview, that pertain to the story and characters, for example a question about whether detective Itonokogiri (Dick Gumshoe) can get married, what his salary is, or whether Mayoi (Maya Fey) goes to school. Note that this article was published in 2005, right before the release of the first DS port of Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney DS) and some of the elements mentioned here eventually found their way in later Gyakuten Saiban games.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Twitter: Box of Memories (2017)

Title: Box of Memories
Source: Takumi Shū 's Twitter

Summary: On October 11, 2017, Takumi tweeted that his extended leave after finishing Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 was now over, and that his very first job was to move offices. Takumi made use of the occassion to clear up some of the boxes with all kinds of files and other things related to his projects, and he decided to tweet photographs of some of those documents, including the original notebook he used to plan the very first Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) game in, but also the initial scenario plots he had for Gyakuten Saiban 2 (Ace Attorney 2 - Justice for All). Reading those notes shows how Takumi's plots take shape, as these prototypes are quite different from the final product

In the translation below, each paragraph is a seperate tweet. Images are taken from the source tweets. Copyright belongs to their respective owners.

Friday, September 8, 2017

The Return of the “Playable Mystery Novel”. Overturning The Norm – Gyakuten Saiban (2017)

Title: The Return of the “Playable Mystery Novel”. Overturning The Norm - Gyakuten Saiban / 「“遊ぶ推理小説”復権 常識覆した「逆転裁判」」
Source: Sankei News

Summary: Sankei News posted an article on the Gyakuten Saiban ("Ace Attorney") series on September 8, 2017. While it is mostly an introductionary article for people not too familiar with videogames in general, it features a couple of direct quotes from series supervisor Takumi and series producer Eshiro on how the games and its plots are developed.

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

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Game Designer Dreams Vol 3: Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2’s Takumi Shū on “What He Wants From Entertainment” (2017)

Title: Game Designer Dreams Vol 3: Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2’s Takumi Shū on “What He Wants From Entertainment” / 「Game Designer Dreams VOL.3 『大逆転裁判2』巧舟が語る「エンタメに求めるもの」」
Source: Spice

Summary: Entertainment website Spice posted an interview with series creator Takumi Shū on August 22, 2017 as part of their Game Designer Dreams series. In the interview, taken on the day before the release of Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 - Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Kakugo (The Great Ace Attorney: Resolve) is not only asked about how he first created the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) series, but also about how development on Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 went, as well as about Takumi came to work in the game industry in the first place. As part of the series, Takumi is also asked about his views on the future of the game industry, especially in relation to the uprise of social/casual games lately.

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

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

The Grand Trial Inquiring Into The Development Team’s Resolve - Part 1 (2017)

Title: The Grand Trial Inquiring Into The Development Team’s Resolve - Part 1 / 「開発陣の覚悟を尋ねる大法廷(インタビュー) 前編」
Source: Famitsu, August 10 issue, 2017

The August 10, 2017 issue of Famitsu featured the first half of a long interview with director Takumi, art director Nuri and producer Eshiro on the upcoming release Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 - Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Kakugo (The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve), which was scheduled for release for the following week (the magazine itself is always released before the date on the magazine). This first half of the deep interview includes topics like how this project first started, what the graphical challenges were, reflections on the first game and how elements like the characters have changed for this game.

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Director Takumi Shū X Sherlock Holmes Researcher Kitahara Naohiko Special Discussion! (2015)

Title: Director Takumi Shū X Sherlock Holmes Researcher Kitahara Naohiko Special Discussion! / 「ディレクター・巧 舟氏×シャーロック・ホームズ研究家・北原尚彦氏 スペシャル対談!」
Source: Kono Manga ga Sugoi! web

Summary: On July 9, 2015, Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Web published an interview with Takumi Shū, director of the game Dai Gyakuten Saiban (The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures) and the well-known Sherlockian and author Kitahara Naohiko to talk about Sherlock Holmes. The two talk about the Sherlock Holmes that appears in the game and how he relates to other interpretations of the character, but also about the setting of Victorian London and of course, about the Sherlock Holmes series in general, from their favorite stories to how Takumi first came into contact with the character which would receive a member of the main cast in his game.

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

Thursday, July 6, 2017

【Workplace】I Did A Magic Trick During My Job Interview And Got Hired (2010)

Title: 【Workplace】I Did A Magic Trick During My Job Interview And Got Hired / 「【仕事場】面接でマジック披露して合格しました」
Source: ZakZak (down)

In 2010, around the release of Takumi Shū's game Ghost Trick, ZakZak featured several columns by Takumi Shū their series The Workplace Of Top Creators, where creators got a place to talk about how their jobs and how they got them. In this second column originally posted on July 2, 2010, Takumi talks about his hobby magic (illusions). he explains how his experience with magic also helped him create mystery stories, as the two are actually much closer than might seem at first sight.

【Workplace】 Mystery Fiction Used For Games (2010)

Title: 【Workplace】 Mystery Fiction Used For Games / 「仕事場】ミステリー小説がゲーム作りに生かされました 」
Source: ZakZak (down)

In 2010, around the release of Takumi Shū's game Ghost Trick, ZakZak featured several columns by Takumi Shū their series The Workplace Of Top Creators, where creators got a place to talk about how their jobs and how they got them. In this second column originally posted on June 25, 2010, Takumi talks about how he first got hooked on mystery fiction, and how it played a role in helping him create his first original game: Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA).

【Workplace】 My Life Has Been Supported By The People I Meet (2010)

Title: 【Workplace】My Life Has Been Supported By The People I Meet / 「【仕事場】僕の人生は出会いに支えられています 」
Source: ZakZak (down)

In 2010, around the release of Takumi Shū's game Ghost Trick, ZakZak featured several columns by Takumi Shū their series The Workplace Of Top Creators, where creators got a place to talk about how their jobs and how they got them. In this second column originally posted on June 18, 2010, Takumi muses about the importance of meeting the right persons at the right time in your life, as they may have great influence on your work and your career.

【Workplace】 Looking For A Job At A Game Company Was Thanks To A Friend (2010)

Title: 【Workplace】Looking For A Job At A Game Company Was Thanks To A Friend / 「【仕事場】ゲーム会社を受けたのは友人のおかげ」
Source: ZakZak (down)

In 2010, around the release of Takumi Shū's game Ghost Trick, ZakZak featured several columns by Takumi Shū their series The Workplace Of Top Creators, where creators got a place to talk about how their jobs and how they got them. In this first column originally posted on June 11, 2010, Takumi explains how he got hired by Capcom in the first place. His friend mentioned in this column (Tanaka Shuntarō), originally worked in Sega CS2 and later moved to Overworks, and has directed games like Skies of Arcadia and Valkyria Chronicles.

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Gyakuten Saiban Special Court Seminar Report - Part 2 (2017)

Title: How Was Gyakuten Saiban Born, As Told By Mr. Takumi and Mr. Eshiro - Gyakuten Saiban Special Court Seminar Report - Part 2 / 「『逆転裁判』は如何にして産まれたのか、江城元秀氏と巧舟氏が語る――『逆転裁判』特別法廷セミナーレポート・後編」
Source: Inside

Summary: On June 4, 2017, series producer Eshiro and series director Takumi held a "Special Court Seminar" on Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) the Akihabara, Tokyo location of the Human Academy They discussed what how development on Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 - Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Kakugo (The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve) is progressing as well as the overseas, localized releases of the series. The two also answered a few questions from the audience. This is a translation of part two of Inside's two-part report on the Special Court Seminar. A translation of the first part, which delves into the topic of how the first game, as well as the spin-off series Dai Gyakuten Saiban (The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures) were conceived, is available here.

Images are taken from the source column. The graph below has been edited slightly to include English. Copyright belongs to their respective owners.

Gyakuten Saiban Special Court Seminar Report - Part 1 (2017)

Title: How Was Gyakuten Saiban Born, As Told By Mr. Takumi and Mr. Eshiro - Gyakuten Saiban Special Court Seminar Report - Part 1 / 「『逆転裁判』は如何にして産まれたのか、江城元秀氏と巧舟氏が語る――『逆転裁判』特別法廷セミナーレポート・前編」
Source: Inside

Summary: On June 4, 2017, series producer Eshiro and series director Takumi held a "Special Court Seminar" on Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) the Akihabara, Tokyo location of the Human Academy The two discussed how the game series was first created and the core concepts behind it. The two also discuss how the spin-off series Dai Gyakuten Saiban (The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures) was conceived. This is a translation of part one of Inside's two-part report on the Special Court Seminar. A translation of the second part, which delves into the topic of Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 - Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Kakugo (The Great Ace Attorney: Resolve) and localization of the series is available here.

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

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Gyakuten Saiban Director Takumi Shū X Mystery Writer Arisugawa Alice (2005)

Title: Gyakuten Saiban Director Takumi Shū X Mystery Writer Arisugawa Alice / 「『逆転裁判』ディレクター 巧舟 X ミステリ作家 有栖川有栖」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban Fanbook

Summary: In this conversation interview included in Gyakuten Saiban Fanbook, we have Takumi Shū, creator of the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) games talking with mystery writer Arisugawa Alice (a male). The two talk about mystery fiction, and about each other works. Takumi reveals that he has also drawn inspiration for his stories from Arisugawa's works, while Arisugawa explains why he thinks fans of mystery fiction will enjoy Takumi's games. The two also discuss the (non-?) importance of characters backgrounds, as well as how each of them write their mystery stories in the first place.

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Everything Mr. Takumi Has Is Stuffed Inside! Dai Gyakuten 2 Premium Demo Event Talk Show Report (2017)

Title: Everything Mr. Takumi Has Is Stuffed Inside! Dai Gyakuten 2 - Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Kakugo- Premium Demo Event Talk Show Report / 「巧舟の思いがすべて詰まっている!」 『大逆転裁判2 -成歩堂龍ノ介の覺悟-』プレミアム体験会のトークショーをリポート 」
Source: Famitsu

Summary: A special Premium Demo Event was held on June 3, 2017 for the upcoming game Dai Gyakuten 2 - Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Kakugo- (The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve). The event was held at Capcom's Tokyo branch office. The dozens of participants had been selected through the official community website Gyakuten Tsūshin. People were able to pla Episode 2 of the game for an hour in total, which was followed by a short talk show headed by producer Eshiro and director/scenario writer Takumi. The two answer to questions regarding the state of the develoment, the characters and even a hypothetical sequel to the game. This is a translation of the talkshow segment of the report.

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

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Celebrating The Release of Gyakuten Saiban 6! Behind-The-Scenes Tales Of The Sound Production Revealed (2016)

Title: Celebrating The Release of Gyakuten Saiban 6! Behind-The-Scenes Tales Of The Sound Production Revealed! / 「逆転裁判6 発売記念!サウンド制作秘話を大公開!」
Source: CAP'STONE

Summary: In this interview posted on July 12, 2016 on CAP'STONE, Gyakuten Saiban 6 (Ace Attorney 6 - Spirit of Justice)'s sound director Horiyama talks about all things related to the sound design of the game. From how the sound effects are created, to the tracks he thinks are the most interesting, almost everything included in his job as the sound director is mentioned. Special attention goes to differentiating the original Japanese setting with the new setting of the Kingdom of Kurain in terms of sound.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Gyakuten Saiban 5 - Sound Staff Interview To Commemorate Its Release! (2013)

Title: Gyakuten Saiban 5 - Sound Staff Interview To Commemorate Its Release! / 「逆転裁判5 発売記念サウンドスタッフインタビュー!」
Source: CAP'STONE

Summary: CAP'STONE is the website of the sound division of Capcom, which often features interviews with staff members about the sound design of Capcom games. In this interview to commemorate the release of Gyakuten Saiban 5 (Ace Attorney 5 - Dual Destinies) posted on August 6, 2013, Capcom's sound designer Sandou Yoshiki (using his name DJ Sandou) interviews the sound director (Horiyama Toshihiko) and the sound engineer (Amagishi Shinji) about working on the sound design for the game. They talk about recreating the sound effects for the new 3DS hardware and getting it all sound like classic Gyakuten Saiban, but also to give the sound effects a new, refreshing feel. Sandou Yoshiki himself has also worked on the Gyakuten Saiban series by the way, as he himself worked on sound effects for both Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 - Apollo Justice) and Gyakuten Kenji 2 ("Turnabout Prosecutor 2"). Yamazaki Takeshi, the scenario director of the game, also has something to comment on the importance on background music and sound effects at the end of the interview.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Special Talk Session: The Music of the Gyakuten series – Horiyama Toshihiko X Iwadare Noriyuki (2017)

Title: 15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Special Talk Session: The Music of the Gyakuten series - Horiyama Toshihiko X Iwadare Noriyuki / 「逆転裁判15周年記念トーク 「逆転」シリーズの楽曲 堀山俊彦 X 岩垂徳行」
Source: 15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Series Encyclopedia 2001-2016

Summary: In this interview published in 15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Series Encyclopedia 2001-2016, composer Iwadare Noriyuki and composer/main sound engineer Horiyama Toshihiko talk about the music of the Gyakuten Saiban series. Iwadare is an external composer who first got to work on the series with Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Ace Attorney 3 - Trials and Tribulations) and worked on many other titles after that, while Horiyama is a Capcom employee who worked as main composer for Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 -Apollo Justice) and has worked as main sound engineer and secundary composer on other titles.The two talk about the characteristics of the music of the Gyakuten series, how they come up with their compositions and how they record their music. Interviews with the composers of the music of this series are actually quite rare, and this is perhaps the most informative one available at the moment.

Monday, April 17, 2017

15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Special Talk Session: Gyakuten Saiban Up Until Now, And In The Future - Takumi Shū X Yamazaki Takeshi X Eshiro Motohide (2017)

Title: 15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Special Talk Session: Gyakuten Saiban Up Until Now, And In The Future - Takumi Shū X Yamazaki Takeshi X Eshiro Motohide / 「逆転裁判15周年記念トーク 「逆転」シリーズのこれまでと、これから。巧舟 X 山崎剛 X 江城元秀
Source: 15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Series Encyclopedia 2001-2016

Summary: The final interview found in 15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Series Encyclopedia 2001-2016 brings the Triforce of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) together, as it features the rare match-up of original series creator Takumi, director Yamazaki and current series producer Eshiro. The three look back at fifteen years of Gyakuten Saiban, speaking from their respective roles. Discussion topics include explaining their views on directing and producing styles, what they think makes the Gyakuten series unique, how they first joined Capcom, their favorite episodes and other stuff they liked in particular and their hopes for the future.

Sunday, April 16, 2017

15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Special Talk Session: Yamazaki Takeshi X Iwamoto Tatsurō (2017)

Title: 15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Special Talk Session: Gyakuten Kenji 1, 2 - Yamazaki Takeshi X Iwamoto Tatsurō / 「逆転裁判15周年記念トーク 逆転検事 「1」「2」 山崎剛 X 岩元辰郎」
Source: 15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Series Encyclopedia 2001-2016

Summary: In this interview published in 15th Anniversary Gyakuten Saiban Series Encyclopedia 2001-2016, director, scenario writer Yamazaki Takeshi and character designer Iwamoto Tatsurō talk about the two Gyakuten Kenji (Ace Attorney Investigations) games. Topics dscussed in this interview are how the two first met, how this spin-off project to the main series originally started, some more details about how Yamazaki had originally come up with a game that would star Akane (Ema Skye) as the protagonist, about what sets this game series apart from the main Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) games, character designs and finally, the two talk about a surprising mystery involving Yamazaki himself.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Iwamoto Column Entry 8: Little Jokes And I (2004)

Title: Little Jokes And I / 「ボクと小ネタ」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 3 official site (down)

Summary: In the eighth column for the official Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Ace Attorney 3 - Trials & Tribulations) website for the Game Boy Advance, character designer Iwamoto Tatsurō writes about hiding little jokes and other stuff in the background images for the games. Because the images are first drawn on a higher resolution, and later shrunk down for the Game Boy Advance, a lot of these jokes were hard to see when they were originally released, though more recent HD releases have changed this.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Iwamoto Column Entry 4: Character Design And I (2004)

Title: Character Design And I / 「ボクとキャラクターデザイン」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 3 official site (down)

Summary: Character designer Iwamoto Tatsurō writes about how he designs characters in his fourth column for the official Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Ace Attorney 3 - Trials & Tribulations) website for the Game Boy Advance. He talks about how he works together with director/writer Takumi to come up with the characters together, but Iwamoto talks also about the importance of buying reference material to become better as an artist, even if it means you need to buy books you normally wouldn't.

Monday, February 27, 2017

Iwamoto Column Entry 3: Gyakuten Saiban 2 And I (2004)

Title: Gyakuten Saiban 2 And I / 「ボクと逆転裁判2」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 3 official site (down) 

Summary: In his third column for the official Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Ace Attorney 3 - Trials & Tribulations) website (of the GBA version), character designer Iwamoto Tatsurō writes about his work for the second game in the series. He had already worked in the first game, but he was made the main character designer for the second entry in the game. Iwamoto confesses he went a bit too far actually, and that it was his fault that Gyakuten Saiban 2 ended up with four of the originally planned five episodes, because his animations and designs were just too big to store on a GBA cartridge.

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

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Drunkard Takumi Shū X Final Boss Inaba Atsushi X Adult Men Lover Iwamoto Tatsurō (2005)

Title: Drunkard Takumi Shū X Final Boss Inaba Atsushi X Adult Men Lover Iwamoto Tatsurō -  A Discussion Interview Where They Can Finally Talk All They Want About The Characters / 「酔いどれ 巧舟氏 X ラスボス 稲葉敦志氏 X オヤジLOVE  岩元辰郎 今だからこそキャラクターのことが言いたい放題対談」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban Fanbook

Summary: Gyakuten Saiban Fanbook was the first fanbook published for the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) series. Besides summaries for all the three original games, character profiles and art, you'll also find two long interviews in this book, one of them a developer interview with director Takumi, producer Inaba and character designer Iwamoto. In this interview, the three talk about their favorite characters and about designing them. They also talk about the influence of the Boys' Love genre on Gyakuten Saiban. While the Gyakuten Saiban Fanbook was published just before the DS port of the first game, this interview does not contain any references to that game, the reason being that this book was actually delayed for half a year (the book was originally slated for a March release, but was released in September), meaning this interview was probably taken long before any substantial news about the DS release had been released for the public.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Gyakuten Saiban Blog Entry 25: Finale (2001)

Title: Curtains /「終幕」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban official site (down)

Summary: The final column for the official website of the Game Boy Advance version of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA) has director and writer Takumi looking back at what the game means to him at a pesonal level. He also reveals a bitter childhood memory, which inspired the class trial featured in the backstory of this first game.

Gyakuten Saiban Blog Entry 24: Family (2) (2001)

Title: Family (2) / 「ファミリー (2)」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban official site (down)

Summary: The penultimate column for the official website of the Game Boy Advance version of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA) has director and writer Takumi continue his two-part series on how he named the characters in the main cast of the name, this time talking about  Mitsurugi Reiji (Miles Edgeworth) and Itonokogiri Keisuke (Dick Gumshoe). He also reveals the problems with his own (real) name, which is a combination of two fairly rare names.

Gyakuten Saiban Blog entry 23: Family (1) (2001)

Title: Family (1) /「ファミリー (1)」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban official site (down)

Summary: In the twenty-third column for  the official website of the Game Boy Advance version of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA), director and writer Takumi explains how he came up with the strange names for the members of the main cast. In this first part, he discusses why he gave Naruhodō Ryūichi (Phoenix Wright) and the Ayasato (Fey) sisters their names.

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Gyakuten Saiban 2 Blog Entry 9: Reunion, and Turnabout (2002)

Title: Reunion, and Turnabout /  「再会、そして逆転」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 2 official site (down) 

Summary: The ninth colum for the official website for the original GameBoy Advance version of Gyakuten Saiban 2 (Ace Attorney 2 - Justice For All) is about the second episode in the game, Reunion, and Turnabout. Director and writer Takumi explains why he decided to make an episode revolving around the theme of spirit channeling. He also reveals the origin of the name Kurain Village, hometown of Mayoi (Maya Fey) and what the original Ayasato Harumi (Pearl Fey) was supposed to be. In the backstage segment, Naruhodō (Phoenix Wright) and Mayoi comment on Takumi's column, revealing some old mystery stories Takumi wrote at high school and a surprising link between Chihiro (Mia Fey) and Harumi.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Gyakuten Saiban 2 Blog Entry 4: Battlefield (2) (2002)

Title: Battlefield (2) /  「修羅場(2)」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 2 official site (down)

Summary: In the fourth column posted on the official site for the GameBoy Advance release of Gyakuten Saiban 2 (Ace Attorney 2 - Justice for All), director Takumi explains the basics of writing a mystery story, and about how hard it was coming up with the basic plots for this second game in the series, as he was given little time for writing the scenario. As always for the columns for this game, the column is followed by a backstage segment where Naruhodō (Phoenix Wright) and Mayoi (Maya Fey) comment on Takumi's column, this time revealing Takumi's rather troublesome love for the bottle.

Gyakuten Saiban 2 Blog Entry 3: Battlefield (1) (2002)

Title: Battlefield /  「修羅場(1)」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 2 official site (down) 

Summary: In the third column director Takumi wrote for the official site for the GameBoy Advance release of Gyakuten Saiban 2 (Ace Attorney - Justice for All), he explains how the project first started. As revealed in an earlier column, it was only decided after the team had finished the first game that this would become a series, and Takumi had nothing prepared when the producer (Inaba) gave the start sign for this second installment. In this column he explains how things got rolling. It is followed by a "backstage" segment, where Naruhodō (Phoenix Wright) and Mayoi (Maya Fey) comment on Takumi's column, this time talking about how forgetful Takumi can be.

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 Is Right In The Middle of Development! (2017)

Title: Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 Is Right In The Middle of Development! A Direct Interview with Eshiro Motohide, Takumi Shū and Yamazaki Takeshi at the Gyakuten Saiban Fifteenth Anniversary Special Court! / 「『大逆転裁判2』は、絶賛制作佳境中です!」。『逆転裁判』15周年特別法廷で江城元秀氏、巧舟氏、山崎剛氏の3名に直撃インタビュー!
Source: Famitsū

Summary: The fifteenth anniversary of the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) series was celebrated on January 22, 2017 at the Gyakuten Saiban Fifteenth Anniversary Special Court event. Famitsū interviewed series producer Eshiro Motohide and directors Takumi Shū and Yamazaki Takeshi about their thoughts on this joyous occasion and about Takumi's upcoming game Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 (The Great Ace Attorney: Resolve), of which a demo and promotion video was shown at the event. This interview, published on January 31, 2017, is actually quite unique as it features both Takumi and Yamazaki appear: the two have not worked on a game together since Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Ace Attorney 4 - Apollo Justice) and therefore seldom appear side-by-side on "official" business.

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

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Gyakuten Saiban 2 Blog Entry 12: Curtains (2002)

Title: Curtains / 「終幕」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 2 official site (down) 

Summary: The twelfth column for the official website for the original GameBoy Advance version of Gyakuten Saiban 2 (Ace Attorney 2 - Justice For All) is also the last, so director Takumi looks back at the beginning of the project, and tells the reader about what he had in mind when he first started working on the game and how they are already getting feedback of the game (which was released several weeks before the publication of this column). Unlike other columns for this series, this column does not feature a 'backstage' segment.

Gyakuten Saiban 3 Blog Entry 7: Part 2: Greetings (2004)

Title: Part 2: Greetings / 「パート2: ごあいさつ」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 3 official site (down)

Summary: The seventh column for the official Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Ace Attorney 3 - Trials & Tribulations) website is titled Part 2, as the previous six columns featured Naruhodō (Phoenix Wright) and Mayoi (Maya Fey) commenting on Takumi's development diaries. Starting with this column however, Takumi uses his own voice to talk about how development went on this game. Here he looks back at the last three years of working on the series.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Gyakuten Saiban 2 Blog Entry 8: The Lost Turnabout (2002)

Title: The Lost Turnabout /  「失われた逆転」
Source: Gyakuten Saiban 2 official site (down)

Summary: In the eight column on the official website for the original GameBoy Advance version of Gyakuten Saiban 2 (Ace Attorney 2 - Justice For All), director and writer Takumi talks about how he came up with the plot and ideas for the first episode in the game: The Lost Turnabout. As always, the 'normal' column is followed by a backstage column, where Naruhodō (Phoenix Wright) and Mayoi (Maya Fey) comment on Takumi's column, revealing for example the hardships artist Iwamoto had to suffer throughout this case or how Takumi came up with the iconic opening scene of this episode.