Blaise Debeste

Bansai Ichiyanagi was a successful, yet corrupt prosecutor, head of the Prosecutorial Investigation Committee and the father of Yumihiko Ichiyanagi.

Forging evidence

 * Main article: The Inherited Turnabout

When Ichiyanagi was still Chief Prosecutor, he had collaborated with Manfred von Karma to convict Issei Tenkai of murder. He threatened Otome Itami into forging an autopsy report, because the body had gone missing. But, Gregory Edgeworth had pointed out the forged report. So to prevent him from being noted as an accomplice for this, he penalized von Karma. Von Karma himself never knew the autopsy results were faked and he wasn't told about the missing body. Soon, this became the starting point of the DL-6 Incident

Involvement in SS-5

 * Main article: SS-5 Incident

Ichiyanagi was part of the group who ordered the assassination of Teikun Ō. He worked directly under the imposter. 12 years ago, he got involved in the SS-5 Incident - he murdered the photographer who witnessed the assassination of the president. He prosecuted the case against the only suspect, Marī Miwa, who was also one of the conspirators, so Ichiyanagi tampered with the evidence so that she would be pronounced Not Guilty and then blamed the investigator, Dai-Long Lang, briging shame upon the House of Lang.

Tsubasa Kagome's murder

 * Main article: The Forgotten Turnabout

The incident lead to his murder of Tsubasa Kagome, a defense attorney who wanted revenge for her boyfriend's - the photojournalist's - death, and who found out about Ichiyanagi's illegal activities. He ran a secret illegal auction, selling evidence of past cases to anonymous masked buyers. He killed her during the auction and forced the nurse Tōko Mutō to serve as his accomplice, pretending to be Kagome, as he would otherwise sue Itami, her grandmother, for the fake autopsy record in IS-7. He burned off his own beard and hair in the ensuing struggle with Kagome, so he worn a wig to cover the burn marks. He played a game of Logic Chess with Edgeworth and was eventually taken down by him. Edgeworth even resigned as a prosecutor to defend the accused Kay Faraday, when Ichiyanagi threatened him that he would lose his prosecutor's badge.

Resolution

 * Main article: The Grand Turnabout

Before Kagome's murder, Ichiyanagi disposed of the evidence against Marī Miwa from a previous case after he was given it by his own son. Then, right before the trial he had his underlings kidnap Shimon Aizawa, Hakari Mikagami's adopted son. He threatened Mikagami that he would have him killed if he didn't get the verdict he wanted. However, his subordinates accidentally abducted Yumihiko instead. Edgeworth found him and helped him regain the courage to face his father in trial. He also soon deduced the location of Aizawa, who was promtly rescued by detective Gumshoe. Ichiyanagi lost his influence over Mikagami in court and then Yumihiko himself confronted and humiliated him (getting humiliated himself in the process). He brought the evidence Ichiyanagi had thrown away, which was enough to convict Miwa and he helped convict his own father afterwards. Ichiyanagi broke down in court, screaming Yumihiko's name, although Yumihiko himself was still grateful for all he's done for him.

Personality
Bansai Ichiyanagi was an arrogant and corrupt prosecutor, ever more so than Manfred von Karma. When called out on it, he didn't even bother to deny it. He held von Karma in disdain not because of his corrupt ways, but because he let himself get caught. He, along with his son, are the only prosecutors to date who actually wear their badges. It might be because von Karma, who used to say it's more "chic" to keep a badge in one's pocket, couldn't lecture his superior. Also, unlike von Karma, he didn't pride himself with a perfect win record, having no problems to botch his own case if it helped his personal needs. All in all, he came off as an even greater embodiment of the corruption of law than von Karma ever was.

Ichiyanagi loved himself more than anything else. Despite his age, he referred to himself as boku, a pronoun which is usually reserved for young men. Combined with his playful manner of speech, it made him sound disturbingly childish and cute. He cried a lot and he didn't even try to hide it, because he wanted to give off the image of a sensitive person.

Since he worked with von Karma he's known Franziska von Karma since she was very young. He claims his wife has gone missing. Later it turned out that whenever he described someone as "having disappeared", it meant he had them killed, leaving her fate ambiguous, at best. He constantly kept calling Yumihiko, his only son, an idiot though he seems used to it and admires his father anyway. When revealed to be a murderous criminal, Ichiyanagi told his son, in the cruelest way possible, that he only received all of the good grades and awards he is so proud of thanks to his personal connections and influence. When Yumihiko finally summoned the courage to confront him in court, he humiliated him even more. When his own son helped convict him, the defeated Ichiyanagi screamed his name, filled with hatred, though Yumihiko is still grateful for all that he's done for him.

Design
Ichiyanagi has his own prosecutor badge pinned on his red jacket along with many other badges, which he got from other prosecutors who were deprived of them and under examination by the Committe, and he wears them in the manner of military medals. His biker goggles are similar to the ones worn by aviators. As a result, it gives him a military-like appearance.

He has a tendency to play with his Zippo lighter, which flares up when he becomes nervous. When it accidentally sets his long beard on fire, he uses the moisture condensed in his goggles to put out the flames. His goggles are filled with water rather quickly as he is as much as a crybaby as his own son, although Bansai is doing it on purpose.. He tends to tug on his beard when sweating. He also owns a motorbike and has red biker gloves with a skull motif and the word "DEATH" on the fingers.

He is surprisingly muscular, considering his age. He has long hair, which is neither balding nor graying. However, it is revealed to be fake.

Name

 * Bansai is a Japanese expression of celebration or cheering. It also means "ten thousand years", so along with his surname, which can be read as Ichiryuu (meaning "first class"), it could translate as "forever number one" - a reference to his self-loving attitude.