Common Themes In Maya Fey's Ace Attorney

The final case of the second game deals with this concept as well. During this case, Maya Fey has been kidnapped by an assassin, who was hired by Phoenix’s defendant, Matt Engarde, who is guilty. Phoenix is given an ultimatum by Engarde, wither he defends a guilty man, or Maya dies. This case begs the question, is it better to risk harm to those you love to expose the Truth, or is it better to keep yourself and loved ones safe and obscure the Truth. As you can see, Ace Attorney often deals with the conflict between truth and Truth.

Another common element of Ace Attorney’s gospel is that of Redemption and rebirth. As discussed previously, Edgeworth starts out as a dirty and conniving prosecutor, who uses intimidation, faked evidence, and anything

else possible in order to secure a guilty verdict. Throughout the series though, especially after he confronts the truth about his father, he becomes reborn, and becomes more similar to Phoenix, using his abilities not for personal gain, but in order to dispense justice. He even helps Phoenix in the final case of the third game, attempting to find out the truth when Phoenix gets hospitalized after falling off a cliff. Godot also works as an example is Godot, Godot gets partially redeemed in the final case of the third game. Previously seen as just a hate filled person, after Godot murders Maya’s mother to get revenge on Dahlia, and he is caught, he finally breaks down, and admits his wrongdoings. He admits his saving of Maya was done more out of spite than an actual care for Mayas safety, and he admits that he is not a moral person. His admittance of guilt and his subsequent apology for every horrible act he has committed partially redeems Godot, he still has to serve his sentence, but it is clear he has genuinely seen the error of his ways.
Ace Attorney also has some interesting insights on morality, oftentimes it is true that the crimes committed in the cases fall into shades of black and white, however, cases such as the previously discussed one involving Acro or the final case of the third game fall into many shades of gray. Ace Attorney clearly tells us that almost nothing is merely black and white, except for anything involving Dahlia Hawthorne, because she makes Satan look like the Hamburgler.
Self-doubt and guilt are also some common themes in Ace Attorney.

Again, both Edgeworth and Godot have this as a major theme in their character arcs, Edgeworth is haunted by the death of his father, just as Godot is haunted by his poisoning and the death of Mia Fey. Edgeworth’s guilt prevents him from working towards justice, as he aims to achieve glory to distract him from his belief that he is a murderer. Godot on the other hand is haunted by Mia’s death, he places his guilt of not being there to protect Mia on Phoenix, which leads him to become a prosecutor just for revenge. Both of these characters, due to their own internal guilt and self-doubt, do immoral and horrible things. The Ace Attorney series teaches us not to allow our own guilt to consume us, lest we become nothing more than victims of that guilt. Edgeworth and Godot’s stories bring with them one last element of Ace Attorney’s gospel, that of the sins of the past. Both of these tragic stories involve the sins of the past coming back to haunt the present. Ace Attorney warns us not to leave previous sins unpunished, or they will come back to haunt us in the present as

well.
Fighting injustice is the most important message in all of Ace Attorney’s gospel.

Throughout the entire series, Phoenix, Edgeworth, Franziska, Maya, Mia Edgeworth’s father, and an assortment of other characters all had the express goal of fighting injustice. However, in the world of Ace Attorney, defending the accused is ridiculously difficult, oftentimes prosecutors use dirty or illegal tactics to win, and judges normally favor the prosecutors side, however, despite that, the protagonists in Ace Attorney do their best to ensure justice for all. The entire series is actually a critique of the Japanese court system, where there is a 99% conviction rate, and it is not uncommon for defense attorneys to never get anyone a not-guilty verdict in their entire career. The court system favors prosecutors greatly, and oftentimes prosecutors fight more for personal honor and profit than for actual justice. The reason the word of Ace Attorney is so silly, and believe me it is, you cross examine a parrot in the first game, is because the ridiculousness is actually a parody of Japan’s legal system, which is warped and unjust, almost to a ridiculous degree. The main point of the entire Ace Attorney series is to refute the Japanese justice system, the message of the Ace Attorney series is that the most important thing when it comes to being a member of the justice system isn’t to win, to fight for personal profit or respect, but to discover the truth, to bring justice to people. Justice is

important, and injustice must be fought against. How can a justice system be good if it doesn’t truly strive for justice? That is the question that the Ace Attorney series asks, and is the ultimate question at the heart of its gospel.
As demonstrated, the Ace Attorney trilogy is no mere entertainment. It contains its own gospel, with a series of complex and enlightening messages and themes. It contains a host of well written and interesting characters, whose stories reveal information about our own society. The entire series is actually a critique of an unfair and immoral criminal justice system. Like all entertainment, Ace Attorney is not mere fun, it has its own messages and its own themes that help illuminate the world around us.