Horace Knightley

"Manosuke Naitō"

- Knights always strive to protect their King. Just shut your mouth.

Manosuke Naitō was the personal bodyguard of Teikun Ō, the president of Zheng Fa. He was present during the president's address to a crowd upon his arrival in Japan. When the president is injured by a bullet from an unknown gunman, Naitō immediately proceeds to secure the area. Later, Naitō also tries to stop Miles Edgeworth's investigation.

Early life
Naitō was the son of a French sculptor, Paul Holic. His father, using the name Isaku Hyōdō, collaborated with a pastry chef, Yutaka Kazami in Tenkai's dessert making contest. Naitō was a close friend of Kazami's son, Sarushiro. Kazami would often rely on his son to taste the desserts, so when Hyōdō betrayed him, he forced Naitō to tie Sarushiro up. Crying and asking for forgiveness he bound his best friend's wrists and legs. They were then both locked in a car outside in the freezing cold. The door froze over and they couldn't escape.

An assassin, Ryōken Hōinbō, happened to pass by and rescue them. Meanwhile, Kazami killed Hyōdō and fled the country, leaving them both as orphans, so Hōinbō took them to the orphanage Happy Family. They had also lost their memories from nearly dying in the cold. Presumably, this is when their surnames were changed, since they couldn't remember their fathers. Sarushiro would eventually regain his memories. However, he believed that Holic was his father, and that Naitō was the murderer's son, although it was the other way around. He secretly held a grudge against Naitō, thinking that if he hadn't tied him up, he would still be alive.

It is unclear whether Naitō ever remembered who his actual father was, or what happened to him before he disappeared. He does however own the Holic family ring, which would later prove that he was the real son of Hyōdō.

Sometime later, he became the second-in-command bodyguard for a private security company. When Teikun Ō, the president of Zheng Fa, arrived in Japan, he hired the bodyguards.

The invasion of Shelly de Killer
When Shelly de Killer infiltrated Ō's bodyguards in disguise as another bodyguard to kill the president, he nearly accomplished his goal. When the bodyguards try to stop him, de Killer incapacitated Naitō who became no help to the president. The head of security Gai Tojiro then thwarted and injured de Killer, which only made Naitō's rivalry with him much worse. After this event, Naitō was forced to wear a neck brace.

Teikun Ō's assassination

 * Main article: Turnabout Target

Speech
Naitō was seen during the president's speech along with his partner, Tojiro. Due to his neck injury, Naitō was moved to the right of the stage since he can't move his neck to the right. He shot the Steel Samurai balloon, which penetrated the Zheng Fa flag. In the plane, Naitō then shot Tojiro with his gun.

Investigation
Naitō arrived at the scene after Edgeworth proved Mikiko Hayami was wearing a red hood during the speech. Naitō brought both good news and bad news. The good new was that Ō was perfectly fine. The bad news was that Tojiro was killed while protecting the president. Naitō also stated that investigation control was taken away from Edgeworth.

Naitō was then taken hostage by John Doe, supposedly an ice-cream salesman who was being cross-examined by Edgeworth. He recognized him as Shelly de Killer, the assassin who crippled him a few days ago. De Killer demanded access to the plane, so that Edgeworth could keep on investigating Tojiro's death. When he was satisfied, he released Naitō and escaped.

When Ō finally arrived, he took away the investigation control from Edgeworth and Naitō confiscated all the evidence. However, Edgeworth was able to prove not only that he still has the right to investigate, but also that the assassination attempt was fake. Naitō claimed that it was still Hayami who shot Tojiro. The bullet that killed him was shot from the gun found in the audience, which was allegedly used by Hayami since it had a laser pointer. Edgeworth managed to prove otherwise. Naitō manipulated the gun while he held the evidence and changed the bullets. Since he didn't wear any gloves at that time, his fingerprints were still on the casing. This was the final evidence needed to apprehend him. Apparently, he was jealous of Tojiro's position. Tojiro was also the one who had the president's trust, which made Naitō hate him even more. As he was taken away, he still claimed that it was all his fault and that his plan was perfect. It was actually Sarushiro who came up with the idea of a fake assassination plan and told it to his "friend", knowing that it would get him arrested.

Death

 * Main article: The Imprisoned Turnabout

The case made news all over the country. Naitō became a scapegoat for the president as he was blamed for the whole assassination attempt, not just the murder of Tojiro. He was stabbed on the neck, killing him instantly. Edgeworth was set to prosecute. He was visiting the detention cells when they found out that Naitō had been murdered. Edgeworth wanted to investigate his death but he was stopped by Hakari Mikagami.

The main suspect was Naitō's close friend, Sōta Sarushiro, who was now working as a clown and animal tamer for a circus. He was last seen talking to him and he had the opportunity to do it, since he was tasked with moving the circus props back and forth.

The investigation had revealed the real culprit - the prison director, Marī Miwa, who coincidentally also used to be the director of the orphanage where Naitō and Sarushiro grew up. Apparently, she didn't recognize him. The assassin Hōinbō was also imprisoned and he would threaten Miwa that one of his "dogs" would come and kill her one day. She mistakenly thought that Naitō was one of them.

As it later turned out, Naitō's death was no mistake. Sarushiro knew how frightened Miwa was and used this to his advantage. He wanted revenge for his father's death and had her kill Naitō this way, knowing that it would lead to her arrest, killing two birds with one stone.

Design
Naitō has a stripe of yellow hair that runs down from the top of his head to his neck that resembles a horse's mane (as well as that of Luke Atmey). He wears a formal black suit, with a light-blue shirt under a brown and beige checkered tie. He also wears a golden pin of the shape of a palm on his lapel as well as a neck brace, and carries a standard bodyguard's earpiece/headset on his left ear.

Personality
Naitō was flamboyant and loved to play with his gun. He was skilled at twirling it around his finger and even goes as far to point it at people he talks to. He was also an avid player of chess. He thinks of himself as a knight, protecting his "king". He was very envious of Tojiro and wished to be the head bodyguard. He was also a man not to be trusted as proven when Ō realized too late to trust him with the fake assassination plan. His only (misplaced) friendship seems to be with Sōta Sarushiro.

Name

 * "Naitō" is the Japanese romanization of the word "Knight", and "Ma" (馬) means "horse", which both refer to his love of the game of chess, especially the Knight piece, which he resembles. He often compares himself to a Knight in the game of chess, defending his king.
 * His English unofficial name is Horace Knightley.  Both names refer back to their Japanese counterparts. This might also be a reference to "horse" and "knight", as the knight piece in chess looks like a horse head.

Development

 * He is the second non-attorney character to have a vocalized objection after Quercus Alba.
 * His tie resembles a chessboard. This refers to his passion of playing chess.