Larry Butz

"Phoenix Wright"

- When something smells, it's usually the Butz.

"Miles Edgeworth"

- [His] very existence is a contradiction.

Larry Butz is Phoenix Wright's oldest friend. He and Wright have known each other since they were small children. He is involved in Wright's investigations from time to time.

Early life
As a child, Butz befriended Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth in elementary school. One day, during the fourth grade, he was absent from school, but at some point in time he came to school anyway and stole $38 of Miles Edgeworth's lunch money. The next day, Wright was held on a classroom trial for the theft, but Edgeworth and Butz defended Wright from the accusations, asserting that there was no proof that Wright had done the deed.

Defendant

 * Main article: The First Turnabout

Butz's first known girlfriend was Cindy Stone, a model. One day, he went to her apartment, but she wasn't home at the time. Later, Butz was arrested as the suspect in Stone's murder. Wright, in his first trial, proved that Frank Sahwit was the real murderer, and thus, Butz was declared not guilty.

At first, Butz was still sad because Stone was dead, but then said that she didn't care much for him anyway. Wright proved that to be false, and showed Butz The Thinker clock that had been the murder weapon. Wright continued that, being a heavy clock, Butz must have meant something to Stone, otherwise she would not have carried it on her international trips. Butz tried to dismiss it, and gave Mia Fey another Thinker clock. He then thanked Wright, but never actually did pay him for his defense.

Hot dog vendor

 * Main article: Turnabout Goodbyes

By the following Christmas, Larry had taken a new job selling hot dogs by Gourd Lake to pay for yet another model girlfriend, Kiyance, who made a "Samurai Dogs" sign for his stall and a Father Christmas outfit for him to use. By the time Wright met up with him, she'd already vanished to Miami for a photo shoot.

Larry was around the crime scene on the night of the murder of Robert Hammond, searching for an inflatable Steel Samurai, and his testimony proved to be the defining piece of evidence proving the guilt of Yanni Yogi and the truth behind Manfred von Karma.

True to form, Butz's relationship with Kiyance did not last long either.

Security guard

 * Main article: The Stolen Turnabout

"Judge"

- Wh-who is this useless looking young man?

The next time Wright and Butz met, the latter was working as a part-time security guard at the security company KB Security under Wendy Oldbag, although since Oldbag was on vacation at the time he was slacking off more than usual. At 1:00 a.m. on the night that the company's CEO was murdered, Butz found Ron DeLite's wallet. The next day he visited the DeLite household to return the wallet to Ron's wife Desirée, whom he had a crush on, only to find Wright already there in the process of asking her questions about her husband who he was defending on larceny charges. Wright later met Butz in the security room in which he worked.

It was later revealed that Butz had left his guard duties during the night of Bullard's murder, having been beaten up by his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend and leaving the killer ample time to commit the crime. This led to yet another of his emotional outbursts of self-blame, although he did not want to take responsibility for his actions. It also transpired that he was unaware of the CEO's panic buzzer, and so did not know that it had gone off at the time of the murderer.

Artist

 * Main article: Bridge to the Turnabout

"Phoenix Wright"

- Liar! You're Larry! Your clothes may change, but you're still the Butz.

Five months after the Mask☆DeMasque cases, Butz appeared before Wright and Fey in front of Dusky Bridge, introducing himself as Laurice Deauxnim. He claimed that he was Elise Deauxnim's apprentice, and had become a new person after reading her picture book The Magic Bottle. Later that night, Butz dined at the nearby Hazakura Temple with Wright, Fey, Deauxnim and the temple nuns. There, Butz fell for one of the nuns, Iris, and wrote her a "blackmail" letter telling Iris to meet him at Heavenly Hall or risk having the "secret" about their "love" revealed. This scared Iris (for she really did have a secret), causing her to stay at the main temple that night.

That night, at around 11 p.m., Butz was waiting at Heavenly Hall, when a sudden flash of lightning woke him up. Looking up, he saw that Dusky Bridge was struck by lighting and caught on fire. He also saw a hooded figure, which he assumed was Iris, flying over the bridge. Butz drew the "incredible" sight he had just seen and then ran up to the bridge.

Ten minutes later, Wright arrived at the bridge and incited Larry to phone the police while he crossed the bridge to ensure Fey's safety. However, the bridge was considerably weakened from the fire and Wright fell into the Eagle River. Panicking, Butz called the police and Miles Edgeworth, telling the latter to show up at the detention center. Butz then convinced Edgeworth to take Iris's case.

While Edgeworth was investigating, he asked Butz about what he was doing on the night of the murder, but Larry refused to tell him, leading Edgeworth to investigate further. Later on, Edgeworth cornered Butz at Heavenly Hall. Edgeworth found out about the letter but Butz refused to talk about his "incredible" sighting.

At the trial the next day, Edgeworth called Butz as a witness, who was whipped continuously by Franziska von Karma, due to Butz's repeated asking of whether she would model for him. During the trial, he showed the picture he had drawn. This caused the entire court to question his sanity.

It was later proven that the picture was drawn upside-down, since Butz was lying on his back when the event occurred. After the trial, Butz claimed that he would continue his art career, but merely a month later, he was seen pursuing a different career.

Steel Samurai

 * Main article: Turnabout Ablaze

"Miles Edgeworth"

- I will never accept you as the Steel Samurai!



Trying to impress another girl, specifically an actress named Mindy, Butz got a job portraying the Steel Samurai at a convention in the Allebahst/Babahl embassy's "neutral ground" to celebrate peace talks between the two nations. Sometime before the performance, Butz managed to ruin his spear prop while playing around with it, forcing the director to change the ending of the play. Afterwards, Butz signed a Steel Samurai autograph for Miles Edgeworth on his way to the ambassador's office (an event that would cause Edgeworth much grief when he realized the Samurai's true identity). Unaware that Mindy was out and Wendy Oldbag had to stand in for her as the Pink Princess, Butz snuck up to the roof of the embassy during his break, trying to sneak into the Pink Princess' actress' room through the chimney. His suspicious behavior, compounded with him leaving a sword prop in the same room that a murder took place lead to him, once again being accused of murder. However, Butz's name was cleared when the true nature of his actions came to light, and when the real murder weapon was found to have been the Primidux Statue that was in the room. Later, Butz and Oldbag came to Edgeworth's assistance when battling against Quercus Alba, even though Edgeworth didn't appreciate their help. However, Butz managed to help discover how Manny Coachen's body was moved.

Mindy left for Japan after the events at the embassy, but Butz almost immediately met another girl named Miharu who convinced him to travel to Paris to sell "blue dogs" (literally blue hot dogs).

Personality
Larry often talks without thinking, which became a problem when he was accused of Cindy Stone's murder. He is known to have terrible luck but he has good intentions. He switches between girlfriends and jobs rather quickly. Regardless of these quirks, he stands by Wright and Edgeworth when they need help.

Despite typically being seen as, and admitting to being, a very useless young man, he does have an impressive creative side. He temporarily became an artist, and was able to craft two automated clocks, in the form of The Thinker. As well as this, while donning the Steel Samurai costume, his performance was described by Edgeworth as being quite moving (much to his chagrin once he learnt who was under the mask), which would imply that he's quite the talented stage actor as well.

Relationships
It seems that Butz's biggest priority in life is to find a girlfriend. Even though he says that he is close to his many girlfriends, he seems oblivious to what they are actually doing. His girlfriends are almost always models. The earliest of these ever mentioned was Cindy Stone, who was murdered. He did not know that she was also dating several other "sugar daddies", as Winston Payne put it. Ironically, Stone seems to have been the closest thing to a serious girlfriend that Butz has ever had.

Later, Butz briefly mentioned another woman who was also a model, named Kiyance, but she moved to Paris and "left him behind". Two years later, he flirted with Desirée DeLite while working as a security guard for Kane Bullard, having just been dumped by another model.

Four months later, Butz was shown to have a crush on both Iris and Franziska von Karma. Neither of these women were interested either, since Iris was still in love with "Feenie" and Franziska viewed him with distaste.

During his time as the Steel Samurai, Butz developed a crush on the Pink Princess actress called Mindy. Unfortunately for Butz, Mindy showed absolutely no interest. His infatuation led him to accidentally send a love letter to Wendy Oldbag, who had taken over Mindy's role due to illness.

It is possible that Butz's failure in relationships is due to his inability to articulate his feelings in a romantic way. He has written at least two love letters, but both were interpreted as blackmail letters.

Name

 * "Yahari" (矢張) in Japanese means "I knew it" or "of course" and "Masashi" (政志) comes from "Masashiku" which means "with certainty". Characters will state that "when something happens, you know it's Yahari".


 * His English surname was likely chosen so characters can joke "when something smells, it's usually the Butz". It may also be a play on "klutz", a word for a clumsy or stupid person. In the English version of the game, both Dick Gumshoe and Mia Fey get Butz's name wrong, instead calling him "Harry Butz", a not-too-subtle play on "hairy butts".


 * "Larry" is a nickname for "Lawrence", suggesting his full name may be Lawrence Butz.


 * His French name "Paul Defès" is a pun on "poil des fesses" which means buttock hair. In the French language version, characters will state "Quand Paul Defès arrive, tout part à la dérive" which means "When Paul Defès shows up, everything's going downhill".

Development

 * While most recurring characters gained new sprite animations throughout the Phoenix Wright trilogy, Butz "lost" one. In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, he would occasionally tilt his head to the side and display a cocky smile. This animation has not appeared in any subsequent game. Dick Gumshoe also "lost" an animation, in which he would occasionally scratch the back of his head and look embarrassed.  Unlike Butz's animation however, this did eventually make a reappearance in Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.