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Juan Corrida was a young action star who starred as the titular character in the Worldwide Studios show Jammin' Ninja. He had a fierce rivalry with actor Matt Engarde, star of the Global Studios show The Nickel Samurai, which culminated in his death.
Corrida and Inpax
Discovering Inpax's corpse.
Two years before his death, Corrida met Celeste Inpax and took her as his manager. The two quickly fell in love and became engaged. However, Engarde decided to tell Corrida that Inpax was his former lover; outraged by this revelation, Corrida called off his wedding with Inpax. She later committed suicide. When Corrida found the dead Inpax, he forged a suicide note and kept it on his person, preparing for an opportunity to ruin Engarde with the note. He began to concoct a plan for revenge against his rival with Adrian Andrews, who was Engarde's manager and Inpax's protege. Tabloid papers witnessing them together reported that Corrida and Andrews were in a scandalous relationship.
The Jammin' Ninja
As the Jammin' Ninja.
At some point during Corrida's acting career, he landed the role of the titular protagonist in Jammin' Ninja, while Engarde took on the titular role of The Nickel Samurai. One year after Inpax's death, he participated in the second annual Hero of Heroes Grand Prix, but was beaten to the grand prize by the Pink Princess.
Death
- Main article: Farewell, My Turnabout
Corrida's corpse.
Two years after Inpax's death, the Jammin' Ninja participated in the third annual Hero of Heroes Grand Prix, and Corrida's plan to ruin Engarde was set into motion. Corrida had arranged with Andrews to get a costume of the Nickel Samurai and to call a press conference in which Corrida would appear, dressed as the Nickel Samurai and pretending to be Engarde, and "confess" to his rival's manipulation of Inpax. However, Engarde had a plan of his own to get Inpax's will back from Corrida; he hired the infamous assassin Shelly de Killer to kill Corrida in his room. After a struggle, de Killer managed to strangle Corrida with a scarf. Engarde, however, was arrested on suspicion of the murder, so the assassin kidnapped Maya Fey and blackmailed Phoenix Wright into representing the actor in court.
Wright's investigation of the case and questioning of Adrian Andrews brought the incidents involving Inpax to light, and he eventually realized that Engarde had hired de Killer to kill Corrida. Achieving what Corrida could not, Wright informed de Killer of Engarde's manipulative personality; Engarde had recorded the assassination for blackmailing and insurance purposes, which angered the assassin deeply, as he hated traitors. De Killer broke his contract with Engarde, freed Fey, and announced that Engarde would be his next target. Now with nowhere left to run, Engarde broke down and accepted the guilty verdict.
Despite Corrida's death, The Jammin' Ninja continued to be popular property for Worldwide Studios, particularly in Babahl. A stage show adaptation was even part of an historic diplomatic event in 2019 at the United States' Cohdopian Embassy.
Personality
Corrida's rivalry with Engarde went well beyond mere show, especially with the latter consistently being slightly ahead of the former in popularity. So bitter was their hatred for each other that Corrida ended his engagement with Celeste Inpax after Engarde told him about her previous relationship with him. After Inpax's subsequent suicide, Corrida forged a suicide note to "take Matt down with him". When Engarde caught wind of the plan, he decided to hire an assassin to silence Corrida once and for all.
Corrida often received bear toys and plushies from his fans, because he allegedly fought a bear in his training for the show. However, Corrida apparently did not actually like bears, as some bear toys were found in the trash can in his room at the Gatewater Imperial Hotel.
Trivia
- Being 21 years old in their respective debut episodes, Juan Corrida and Puhray Zeh'lot are the youngest victims in the series.
Name
- His Japanese surname literally means "the invincible". This is likely meant to be taken ironically.
- "Corrida" comes from a Spanish term for bullfighting. "Corrida" also fits with "Engarde", since they are both loan words relating to fighting ("corrida" with bullfighting and "engarde" with fencing).
- The name Juan Corrida might be a reference to the fact that there is only one shown hallway, or "corridor," in the Gatewater Imperial Hotel. It may also be a reference to how his life only had one path, like a narrow corridor, in his fatal competition with Engarde.
- In the Spanish version of the game, his name is changed to "Juan Rivera", probably due to the strong sexual reference the word "corrida" implies (meaning "orgasm" or "ejaculation" in Spanish slang). The last name "Rivera" was chosen instead, because it references the famous Spanish torero Francisco Rivera Ordoñez while roughly keeping the meaning of his English surname.