By Capcom
Del Rey, 304 pp.
Rating: Teen (13 +)
Based upon the hugely popular DS game of the same name, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Official Casebook is a collection of short stories from too many manga creators to list. Phoenix Wright, Edgeworth, Godot, Detective Gumshoe and the rest of the beloved cast appear throughout the various tales set in and out of a courtroom. Let’s just get this part out of the way, I’ve never played any of the Phoenix Wright games so I’m jumping into this blind. With that in mind, read on!
It’s a bit difficult to talk about this book due to the sheer size and variety of the tales held within it. There’s no over arching plot, not continuing story or plot threads, they’re all just short 10 – 20 page one-offs usually with a strong comedic bent. The type of stories themselves are all over the place and range from attempts at coherent, funny mysteries to weird, meta oneoffs discussing how a manga about an attorney is probably going to be pretty boring. The only real constant throughout them is Phoenix Wright himself. It’s hard to really pin down the stories; while there are some good ones to be found, there are certainly a fair share of misses as well. The aforementioned meta story was pretty amusing, but the tale of Edgeworth getting a new car just left me scratching my head. A few of the jokes felt like they would have worked better if I had been familiar with the characters, but there were certainly others that I was able to read and enjoy with my limited understanding of them. Then again, with so many creators and stories that was bound to happen. Also, in addition to the twenty or so main tales there are several dozen short, four panel strips as well.
The art within the stories are just as varied as the stories themselves. They range from a more detailed and finished look, to a minimalist, nearly all-chibi installment. Thankfully all the characters maintain their own distinct look throughout, despite the large amount of artists. Wright’s immediately recognizable as Wright in all them, and the same goes for most of the other characters. Mia, Maya and Pearl can be a bit confusing at times, but once again I’m willing to chalk that up to my own unfamiliarity with the characters. There’s one bizarre moment of gore in the book as well, but oddly enough, it’s used for humor purposes. It was definitely an odd inclusion and really threw me for a loop, one minute it’s your run of the mill, dead average manga artwork, then suddenly there’s a rotting head with half it’s flesh missing taking up half of a page.
All in all, it’s an OK collection. I don’t think it’s really something that you should pick up cold, it’s definitely aimed at folks already familiar with the Phoenix Wright franchise, so folks like me may find themselves feeling a bit lost at times. Still, if you need more Phoenix Wright in your life than might just be your thing.
Volume one of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is available now.
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