Shi-Long Lang

"Shi-Long Lang"
 * "Lang" redirects here. For other uses, see Lang (family).

- Lang Zi says: "A cub who disrespects others soon feels the disciplinary bite of an elder."

Shi-Long Lang is an elite investigator who has the highest successful arrest rate out of all Interpol agents. He is known for mass investigation tactics using a large team of 100 subordinates.

The fall of the House of Lang

 * Main article: SS-5 Incident

Shi-Long Lang comes from an ancient and once revered family in Zheng Fa, descended directly from Lang Zi, whose philosophies shaped the country into what it became. For a long time, the House of Lang held great power and influence over Zheng Fa's law enforcement; Lang family members were commonly seen in top positions in law enforcement institutions and the family also operated a training school for police officers.

All this came crashing down after the events that were later referred to as the "SS-5 Incident", in which the president of the country, Teikun Ō, was kidnapped and held for ransom, despite Shi-Long Lang's father Dai-Long Lang personally heading the president's security. Although the president was seemingly returned unharmed, from that day forth it seemed like he was an entirely different person. In an attempt to make amends, Dai-Long took it upon himself to personally solve the case. Although a suspect was apprehended, namely the owner of the orphanage where the president was kidnapped from, she was acquitted due to a corrupt prosecutor tampering with the evidence. The Lang family name was tarnished and lost its once high standing, while Dai-Long himself spent the rest of his days trying to figure out the SS-5 Incident, but ultimately dying before he could figure out the truth. Due to these events, Shi-Long Lang held a grudge against prosecutors, seeing them all as being just as corrupt as the prosecutor who had destroyed his family's reputation.

Traveling and learning

 * Main article: Turnabout Reminiscence

Shi-Long Lang rose up from the ashes of his household's misfortune and became a police officer intent on restoring his family's ruined reputation. He studied the law enforcement of other countries to gain a deeper understanding of his job. At the age of 20, he met Tyrell Badd in the Los Angeles District Court, assisting him in searching for the Yatagarasu's Key, which had gone missing from prosecutor Byrne Faraday's evidence bag. He also met Miles Edgeworth and Franziska von Karma for the first time, and he was quick to give them his less-than-glowing opinion on their profession.

Over the seven years that followed, Lang quickly rose up in the ranks of Interpol and became one of their top investigators. He gained command of a team of 101 subordinates, including Agent Shih-na, who became Lang's secretary. Meanwhile, a smuggling ring began to mass-produce fake currency in Zheng Fa, throwing it into economic chaos. Lang vowed to take down the ring and restore his family name. Fellow agent Akbey Hicks and prosecutor Franziska von Karma joined the hunt for the ring's leader, and found a few leads including the Amano Group's connections to the smuggling ring.

The smuggling ring

 * Main article: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

The hunt begins

 * Main article: The Kidnapped Turnabout

When Lance Amano was kidnapped, Lang saw his chance to get to his father Ernest Amano, the CEO of the Amano Group. He quickly enlisted the Los Angeles police department's assistance in conducting a mass search at Gatewater Land for the boy. Lang crossed paths with Miles Edgeworth again in the Wild, Wild West area of the park. Edgeworth had been briefly kidnapped himself, but Lang left him to find his own way out, and then had him confined to the area so that Edgeworth wouldn't tamper with Lang's investigation.

Edgeworth conducted his own investigation nonetheless and discovered the body of Oliver Deacon. Lang received word of this and quickly checked the weapons of the entire search party. Mike Meekins, who had gone undercover as a Blue Badger entertainer, had lost his gun, and so Lang accused him of the murder. Edgeworth engaged Lang in an argument, accusing him of being a tyrant with his hasty arrests. Edgeworth managed to convince Lang that the crime scene was somewhere else entirely.

Lang encountered Edgeworth again at the next suspected scene of the crime, the stadium, in which a shooting had been witnessed. They argued about the positions of the victim and the killer on the stage of the stadium, as well as muddy tire tracks that were nearby. Edgeworth determined from witness testimony that the killer had to have been one of the kidnappers. He also argued that since the Blue Badgermobile's tires weren't covered in mud, said tracks had to have been caused by a different vehicle. It was then that Lance Amano suddenly appeared, apparently having escaped the kidnappers. Meekins's gun was found soon afterward, clearing him of suspicion.

Shortly after that, a Badger uniform was spotted at the Gatewater Land main gate. Inside the uniform was a pendant bearing the name of Lance's girlfriend Lauren Paups. Paups admitted to the murder, but Edgeworth soon realized that Paups was the victim's daughter. Lang was still not convinced of Paups's innocence, so Edgeworth determined that there had been three kidnappers, and the third kidnapper was the real killer: Lance Amano himself. The entire "kidnapping" had been staged.

The real crime scene had been the haunted house, but Ernest had bought the house and refused to give them access. Luckily, through a simulation device called Little Thief, the investigation was able to continue with a computer-generated simulation of the building. Lang assisted in improving the accuracy of the simulation until Lance's guilt could be proven. Lang arrested Lance for the murder and Ernest for obstruction of justice, and he snidely thanked Edgeworth for making all this possible. However, he was interrupted when prosecutor Jacques Portsman came in to take over Ernest's case. Portsman was later revealed to be an agent of the ring and he was planning to get Ernest off the hook, but that night he was arrested for murder.

Retribution

 * Main article: Turnabout Ablaze

Shortly afterward, word came out that the Great Thief Yatagarasu was planning to infiltrate the former Cohdopian Embassy building in order to steal its "dirtiest secret". The building was at this point shared between the embassies of Allebahst and Babahl, and the two countries were to hold a goodwill event the following day that involved the Steel Samurai and the Jammin' Ninja, two television action heroes. Interpol was called upon to bolster security in the wake of the Yatagarasu's threat. Lang split his investigation team between the two embassies, with Shih-na heading the Babahlese side and himself leading the Allebahstian side, though Allebahst's tight security caused problems as they only gave access to about half of Lang's officers. This also attracted the attention of Tyrell Badd, who joined Lang's security operation.

During the event, Ambassador Quercus Alba was to give a speech in the rose garden, with Lang and Badd as part of the security detail. However, the Yatagarasu's shadow suddenly appeared, throwing the audience into an uproar. The shadow quickly disappeared as abruptly as it had appeared. Soon after that, Lang found the corpse of Ka-Shi Nou in Alba's office; Nou had been bludgeoned with a blunt object. The Samurai Sword prop was found near the body, which pointed to the Steel Samurai's actor, Larry Butz, as the killer. Lang's team quickly investigated the entirety of the Allebahstian Embassy. Later, he heard from Shih-na that the Babahlese ambassador's secretary, Manny Coachen, had been killed in Babahl as well, and Miles Edgeworth had appeared to clear one of the suspects, Kay Faraday, of the murder.

As Lang was dismissing his investigators, he ran into Edgeworth again. He told Edgeworth that his own men were having trouble gaining access to Allebahst, so Edgeworth had no chance to enter himself. However, Babahlese ambassador Colias Palaeno appeared and asked Alba to let Edgeworth into Allebahst. Both Alba and Lang caved to his request, but the latter refused Faraday access because she was still under suspicion. Badd met up with the group in Alba's office, so when Lang realized that Edgeworth knew Butz, he couldn't stop him from conducting his investigation, as Badd was fully willing to cooperate with Edgeworth. Edgeworth pointed out to Lang that the Samurai Sword was too hollow to have been used as a real weapon, and that Lang's men hadn't been able to investigate the Primidux Statue in the office. Although Alba refused permission to look at the statue, Lang combed it over anyway, and it was discovered that it was the real murder weapon, and that it had been smuggled from the Babahlese side of the embassy.

Lang met Edgeworth again in the rose garden, where Edgeworth figured out the true source of the Yatagarasu's shadow. Two statues had been arranged to form the shadow, which meant that it had merely been a diversion. Later, Edgeworth pointed to Shih-na as a suspect. Since Lang was not familiar with the details of the investigations that Edgeworth had conducted in Babahl, he had no choice but to have Shih-na talk directly to Edgeworth. Lang tried to keep his faith in his loyal subordinate, but Shih-na became more and more suspicious, and it seemed as if Edgeworth knew her from a past occurrence. Eventually, Edgeworth needed to search Shih-na's belongings, which Lang allowed to see whether he could really trust Shih-na. Shih-na failed the test, and she revealed herself as one of the smuggling ring's spies. Shih-na then suddenly held Kay Faraday at gunpoint, causing a stand-off between her and Badd, who aimed his gun at her. The stand-off ended as Badd shot at Shih-na, but Lang stood in the way and apprehended her himself by putting her in a hold, getting shot in the leg in the process. Lang declared that she was still his responsibility, and he took her into custody.

Lang returned minutes later to find that Quercus Alba was trying to terminate the investigation. Lang realized who his true target was, and he forced the investigation forward by accusing Franziska von Karma of the murder. This sent the group to Alba's office again, where Lang even argued with Edgeworth to give him ideas, and eventually Edgeworth figured out what Alba had done with Nou, Coachen, and the Primidux Statue. However, Alba refused to give up, and he told them that as an ambassador he had the right to be tried in his own country, but not to be prosecuted by Miles Edgeworth for Nou's or Coachen's murder.

Lang quietly left, knowing what he had to do. He contacted Allebahst's imperial household, informing them of the accusations against Alba, and thus his ambassadorship was revoked. He returned to find Edgeworth, Faraday, and Palaeno trying to stop Alba from escaping. Upon realizing what had happened, Alba was forced to continue with Edgeworth's interrogation of him. Lang listened as Edgeworth revealed how Alba had killed Coachen and transported his body to Allebahst and then Babahl, and he provided some constructive criticisms of Edgeworth's case to help it along. Eventually, the location of the murder was identified as the dressing room of the Theatrum Neutralis, which was considered American soil. While Lang's officers found no evidence of murder in the room, a single drop of blood was found on a box of "Samurai Dogs" that had been in the room, proving that Alba was the killer once and for all.

Quercus Alba stood trial in the Los Angeles District Court on March 17, 2019. Lang was not one to miss the opportunity to see the man who had caused his country so much grief get justice. He put his grudge against prosecutors aside to thank Edgeworth for his role in making this possible, though he still insisted that he didn't like prosecutors, and that he'd continue to do things his own way.

SS-5 Incident resolution

 * Main article: Gyakuten Kenji 2

A brief meeting

 * Main article: The Imprisoned Turnabout

Due to Shih-na's involvement with smuggling ring, Lang's entire army of investigators had been disbanded. About two weeks after the resolution of the smuggling ring investigation, Lang was briefly reunited with Edgeworth and Faraday when he visited a local prison in which the pair were investigating the murder of Manosuke Naitō. He spoke with them only briefly, before heading off to continue his solo investigation.

A mystery solved

 * Main article: The Grand Turnabout

Over a week later, Lang received disastrous news: President Teikun Ō had been found dead. Lang personally headed the investigation at Global Studios filming set where the body had been found, and once again met Edgeworth and Faraday, who were investigating the case themselves. He argued with Edgeworth's logic multiple times, accusing Shimon Aizawa and Hakari Mikagami as the murderers, but Edgeworth managed to prove that both were innocent. However, the biggest shock to Lang was when Edgeworth figured out that the president that had returned from the SS-5 Incident and died at the filming set was only a body double that had taken on the persona of the real president, who had been assassinated in the SS-5 Incident.

Lang went on to assist Edgeworth in convicting Sōta Sarushiro, the body double's killer. However, after Sarushiro confessed, the notorious assassin Shelly de Killer appeared, intent upon killing Sarushiro for betraying him. De Killer was foiled in his attempt by the sudden appearance of Ryōken Hōinbō, another assassin who sought to protect Sarushiro. Although de Killer easily escaped, Lang quickly chased after the infamous assassin, intent upon apprehending him.

Personality
Lang is overwhelmingly charismatic and shares a strong bond of mutual loyalty and respect with all of his subordinates, seeming to know each of them on a somewhat personal, individual level. He even went as far as giving one of his subordinates a birthday present for one of said subordinate's relatives. He is generally very loud, aggressive, and determined to do things his own way. He has even defied other authority figures on occasion in his dedication to chasing down his target. He sees his subordinates as his own responsibility, as shown by his willingness to take a bullet in the leg in order to apprehend Shih-na alive himself, rather than let Badd shoot her. He has even caught Franziska von Karma's whip with his bare hand (although he did get whipped a short time later). On the other hand, he is very respectful to those who have earned his trust.

Lang has a vindictive hatred of prosecutors because of the actions of Bansai Ichiyanagi that ultimately ruined his family. He devoutly follows the teachings of Lang Zi, whose philosophies call for a "shoot first, ask questions later" style of detaining suspects. Lang arrests anyone he can, and then lets the courts sort out whether his detainees were guilty of their crimes. His justification for this is that no one is truly innocent, so even innocent suspects may be getting due punishment for an unrelated mishap. Some have called these tactics tyrannical.

While Lang's academic intelligence is little match for that of a veteran prosecutor like Edgeworth, he knows how to do his job effectively. He thinks quickly and then acts swiftly (and sometimes quietly) to get his way as soon as possible. These street smarts, combined with his aggressive tactics, make Lang a formidable, fearsome foe for the criminal networks of Zheng Fa. Lang's subordinates have an unceasing dedication to their jobs to match Lang's own, and with their sheer numbers, they can thoroughly comb over large areas such as theme parks with frightening speed.

Lang frequently recalls metaphors and ancient quotes from Lang Zi, which grow increasingly vague as time progresses. He also dons a pair of "X" shaped sunglasses, which he occasionally wears upon entering a crime scene or area, then dramatically removes. True to his last name, Lang has wolf-like mannerisms; he bares his teeth when upset, and he refers to the men working under his authority as his "pack". His hairstyle is also somewhat suggestive of a wolf's ears. Lang even howls occasionally when cornered in a bad situation or made an absolute fool in public.

Not so fast!
Lang has a unique phrase, "Not so fast!" The original phrase in the Japanese version is "Amai na!" (アマイな！), which translates as "Naïve!" It is used similarly to the way "Objection!" is used by other characters, as it would be grossly out of character for Lang to say, "Objection!"

Name

 * His Japanese family name ("Rou") roughly means "wolf".


 * Lang's Japanese given name ("Shiryuu") roughly means "dragon". This is reinforced by the dragon design on his jacket.


 * His English name is a Chinese reading of the kanji that make up his Japanese name; "Shi", "Long", and "Lang" mean "lion", "dragon", and "wolf", respectively.


 * His subordinates call him "Shifu", which is the Chinese word for "master" or "teacher".


 * The "dragon" part of Lang's name is similar to Phoenix Wright's given name in the Japanese version, "Ryuuichi" (龍一).

Development

 * In Tatsuro Iwamoto's early days at Capcom, he drew a character with two eyepatches, and wanted to use him for Daryan Crescend, but Shu Takumi rejected the design. The eyepatches were later implemented onto Shi-Long Lang's design, though here they were X-shaped sunglasses instead of eyepatches.


 * "Ane-san" (アネさん), the name Shi-Long Lang calls Franziska von Karma in the Japanese version of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, means literally "older sister", which Lang uses even though she's younger than him (additionally, in normal conversations one would use "onee-san" instead). "Anesan" is typically used by Yakuza henchmen to refer to their boss's wife or mistress. Whether Lang is showing her respect or mocking her is debatable.