Capcom’s Ace Attorney has given players memorable and chilling cases since its Gameboy debut in 2001. Then, in June 2024 Nintendo Direct announced the magenta-suited prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth, was joining the Ace Attorney Remastered Collection and the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles’ localization. Ace Attorney Investigation fans were happy to see his return.
The road wasn’t easy for Miles to become a prosecutor after suffering many hardships since childhood. The Ace Attorney Team later expanded his backstory in their 2016 anime adaptation. Director Ayumu Watanabe focused on improving his relationship with the cast, to gain empathy from the audience. He did this by displaying his trauma while progressing alongside the spiky-haired lawyer, Phoenix Wright.
The Signal Samurai
Miles Edgeworth is childhood friends with Phoenix Wright and Larry Butz in the Ace Attorney game and anime canon. The anime improves on this plot in Season 1, Episode 13 when Phoenix narrates about their childhood. The three boys became friends after Miles and Larry defended Phoenix from being convicted as a lunch money thief. He was unexpectedly caught when he picked up a fallen empty envelope from Miles’ school bag. The class accused Phoenix since he was too sick to attend P.E. but Miles and Larry rebelled, as there was no proof.
On their way home, Larry mentions he felt like a Signal Samurai who saved the day. Phoenix suddenly became excited as he heard the show’s name since he was wearing a Signal Samurai with blue on it. Miles watched the show after telling his father, Gregory Edgeworth, that he found an abandoned puppy that he named Missile. This puppy also gave Larry the lunch money to play a coin flip machine, and he won three Signal Samurai keychains. Even as adults, Phoenix, Miles, and Larry still carry them to represent their friendship.
The Von Karma Family
Before the anime, Ace Attorney told the story of Miles Edgeworth and the von Karma Family in their path of bringing all criminals to justice. Watanabe saw an opportunity to take inspiration from the games to build a better reason behind Miles’ loyalty to his mentor, Manfred von Karma, and the sibling relationship with his daughter, Franziska.
Manfred von Karma
In the first Ace Attorney game, Manfred von Karma is known to be a seemingly invincible prosecutor who has a 40-year win streak. He adopted Miles Edgeworth after Gregory’s murder in a courthouse elevator. Manfred soon met the consequences by the hand of Phoenix Wright as he uncovered the truth behind the DL-6 Incident and the trial of Miles Edgeworth. Manfred gets convicted of second-degree murder, perjury, and forging evidence.
In the anime, Manfred von Karma has a slightly softer side, thanks to having 3-year-old Franziska around. In Season 1, Episode 13, he adopts Miles, for what he believes was out of guilt, and hiding evidence of operating Gregory’s murder. Then Season 2 Episode 6, Franziska suggests Manfred invite Miles to watch his upcoming trial. Miles became heavily inspired by his sense of justice and used his logical deduction to protect a white pomeranian from a woman named Goldie Gerwitz. Manfred realizes that he adopted Miles to surpass the pain of DL-6.
Franziska von Karma
Franziska was introduced in Ace Attorney’s 2nd entry, Justice For All. She’s known to be the Whipping Prosecutor who strives to be like Manfred. After hearing about her father’s conviction, she flew from Germany to face Phoenix Wright. Ace Attorney Investigations later explored her rivalry with Miles Edgeworth when he passed his bar exam at age 20. They tried to find the culprit behind the murder of Byrne Faraday and Mack Rell.
The anime shows Franziska wasn’t always a strict woman with a whip to take charge of the courtroom. In Season 2, Episode 6, she’s shown to have affection for Miles as she tries to impress him by dressing Missile in a Manfred outfit. While she adores her father, Franziska is also a single child. She chooses a cat doll that matches Miles’ magenta vest and gets worried about him not wanting to eat pancakes without him. Because Manfred saw his potential in prosecuting criminals, this made Franziska happy, but then she later became jealous.
Miles Edgeworth And Phoenix Wright
Ace Attorney’s creator Shu Takumi is not shy to admit that Miles and Phoenix have a complicated friendship in and out of the courtroom. Aside from their childhood, Watanabe made excellent use of Phoenix’s reasons to become a lawyer. In the first Ace Attorney, you only learn about the Lunch Money trial and Mia inspiring Phoenix in the 3rd game, Trials and Tribulations, after rescuing him from being found guilty in the murder of Doug Swallow.
The anime heavily focuses on Miles and Phoenix’s friendship. Throughout the first season, Phoenix has been keeping track of Miles’ prosecution records through newspaper clippings. He struggled to communicate with him even after transferring schools. In doing so, he studied law practices hoping one day to face him in the courtroom. From then on, Miles does his best to make amends with Phoenix but still struggles to express his gratitude.
Where To Watch Ace Attorney
Ace Attorney is a courtroom detective drama based on Capcom’s 2001 game series. Follow the story of Phoenix Wright as he solves gruesome murders and faces the strange prosecutors who challenge his wits through testimony and evidence. Ace Attorney can be found streaming on Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime Video, and Google Play Movies.
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