Sebastian Debeste

Yumihiko Ichiyanagi is a prosecutor sent by Hakari Mikagami of the "Prosecutorial Investigation Committee" to take over Miles Edgeworth's cases. He is a rookie prosecutor who even stated that he recently became a prosecutor prior to his first meeting of Edgeworth.

A murder in a prison

 * Main article: The Imprisoned Turnabout

Ichiyanagi began his career as a prosecutor shortly before the murder of Manosuke Naitō.

Tsubasa Kagome's murder

 * Main article: The Forgotten Turnabout

Ichiyanagi accused the amnesiac Kay Faraday as the killer of the defense attorney Tsubasa Kagome. Edgeworth disagreed, as Kay didn't possess the card key, so she couldn't enter the room and couldn't even commit the murder. Von Karma later whipped him for accusing her with no evidence. In the end, he found out that the murderer was his own father, Bansai Ichiyanagi, who detested him and his achievements.

Confronting his father

 * Main article: The Grand Turnabout

Personality
Ichiyanagi's goal in all things he does is to be number one, and he attempts to solve his cases faster than anyone else. While he is very arrogant and condescending, considering himself the best, he breaks into tears rather easily when proven wrong. When he is presented wrong evidence, he does not even realize it until Mikagami points it out. He tends to act like a conductor with his baton. When trying to make a statement, he is often told to shut up by other characters. Edgeworth and Mikagami usually employ some throat clearing, then resume the conversation ignoring whatever stupid thing he had said, while Von Karma prefers to whip him instead. He even at times forgets the name of his own evidence, and even call someone to verify it for him. Even Larry Butz calls him an idiot, which is quite the achievement concerning the fact that Larry ruined about 3 trials with his personal testimony.

Throughout the game, Bansai kept constantly calling him an idiot, though Ichiyanagi seemed to be used to it. When he later discovered that his much-admired father was a criminal and a murderer, he was told that he only received all of the good grades and awards he was so proud of thanks to Bansai's personal connections and influence. Too shocked by everything, he ran away, only to get kidnapped immediately by mistake. By the time Edgeworth and Kay found him again, all he could do is cry and feel worthless. In the end, he summoned up the courage to confront his own father, in the process being humiliated even more than before, but still wanting to express Bansai his gratitude for "everything so far", no matter whether he was hated by him until the very end.

According to his father, his mother's whereabouts are unknown. As it turned out that whenever Bansai describes someone as "having disappeared" it means that he killed them, it is likely that the same thing happened to his wife.

Design
He and his father are the only prosecutors in the series that actually wear their badges. Since he became a prosecutor only a month before the start of the game, he couldn't have been taught by Manfred von Karma that it is more "chic" to wear one's badge in the pocket. He has a noticeable slim forelock of hair that sticks up from from his head, usually in the shape of a question mark, but changing to an exclamation mark in some of his reaction sprites. This type of hair is also known as ahoge (lit. "idiot hair") in Japanese, a term fitting for his character. According to head illustrator Tatsuro Iwamoto, Ichiyanagi carefully styles it this way every morning.

Name

 * His compulsive desire to be "first" and "number one" is reflected in his last name, which contains the word "ichi" (一), meaning "one" in Japanese.
 * The kanji 柳 in his surname can alternatively be pronounced as ryuu, which gives it an alternative pronunciation Ichiryuu, meaning "first class".
 * Yumi in his Japanese name means bow, the weapon. This is parallel to Mitsurugi, which is a pun on sword. Also, with his surname it creates the pun ichiya naki yumi hiku - "pulling a bow without an arrow", which is a reference to his baseless deductions. If turned on its side, the shape of his hair resembles a bow with its string pulled as well.

Development

 * Yumihiko was by far the most popular new character with the female staff at Capcom. He is also the favorite new character of director Tsuyoshi Yamazaki.