Norma DePlume

Norma DePlume

Image Gallery

Sprite Gallery

Norma DePlume V · T · F
Occupation	Non-fiction writer
Biological information
Reckoned birth year(s) (this is for age comparison purposes, and so may look odd; click on the question mark for details)?	1991
Documented age range (as recorded in court record profiles & case files)	36* (Turnabout Reclaimed)
Last known status	Alive (July 2027)
Eye color	Brown
Hair color	Blonde
Height (the metric (cm) values are sourced from official guidebooks and may not reflect the relative sizes of characters as depicted in-game or in other official media)	5'5"; 164 cm
Associates
Family	None mentioned
Friends	None mentioned
Affiliates	Ora Shipley the First (subject of previous book) Jack Shipley (owner of Shipshape Aquarium; deceased) Herman Crab (Shipshape Aquarium vet) Orla Shipley (intended subject for new book) Sasha Buckler (Orla's trainer) Sniper (subject of next book)
One-off nicknames
Word Mistress* (by Simon Blackquill) Sea Lion Lady* (by Athena Cykes)
Names in other languages
Japanese (romanization written with the given name first)	浦鳥 麗華 (Reika Uratori)
Actors
English	Wendee Lee
Miscellaneous
Debut episode	Turnabout Reclaimed
Musical theme	"Suspicious People"

Norma DePlume

I write the truth. And I will find the truth with my own eyes!

— Turnabout Reclaimed

Norma DePlume is a somewhat vain non-fiction writer of considerable renown. Her literary works include The Great Grief of the Great Thief and The Killer Killer Whale.

The Killer Killer Whale

A page from The Killer Killer Whale.

On July 20, 2026, DePlume was watching a "Swashbuckler Spectacular Show" at the Shipshape Aquarium. During the show, a trainer named Azura Summers rode on the back of the orca Ora Shipley while the latter sang the "Swashbuckler Spectacular song". However, tragedy stuck when Summers suddenly fell into the water. Ora followed her trainer underwater, only to repeatedly headbutt her before grabbing Summers in her mouth and taking her back to land. It appeared to everyone watching that Ora had attacked and killed Summers, and the incident became the subject of DePlume's subsequent bestselling book, The Killer Killer Whale.

DePlume continued to visit the aquarium after the incident. Jack Shipley, the aquarium's owner, eventually became so annoyed with DePlume's intrusive investigations that he blacklisted her from visiting the aquarium. However, DePlume somehow managed to continue her investigation, which included the discovery that Shipley was making monthly payments to an unknown group, which she suspected to be bribes to the Center for Dangerous Animal Control in exchange for not euthanizing Ora.

The sequel

Main article: Turnabout Reclaimed

Witnessing Orla appearing to kill Jack Shipley.

One year later, DePlume received a call from Marlon Rimes to visit the aquarium for follow-up research. At 10:10 a.m., she was beside the orca pool where Ora Shipley, now referred to as "Orla", resided. Suddenly, DePlume heard Orla singing the same song from a year prior and turned to see Orla headbutting a skull-shaped prop in her enclosure, which subsequently released a cloud of blood, much to DePlume's horror. She then saw Orla with Shipley's body in her mouth and thought that the "killer killer whale" had killed yet again. She screamed, which attracted the attention of aquarium staff, including Orla's new trainer, Sasha Buckler.

The next day, Buckler obtained the services of veteran defense attorney Phoenix Wright, who managed to secure a trial for Orla, with the prosecution lining up DePlume to testify as a witness. Wright was soon able to prove in court that she had not actually witnessed the moment of murder, only that she had been set up to think so. However, after the trial, Buckler was arrested for the murder instead. Wright took on Buckler's case and ran into DePlume during his investigation, who revealed the details of the incident a year prior. During their conversation, DePlume learned that Orla's "Swashbuckler Spectacular song" was currently different than it had been a year ago, despite the fact that she had heard the old song when witnessing the staged incident at the orca pool.

The writer came to watch Buckler's subsequent trial and learned that Summers had died as a result of a secret heart condition she was suffering from, with Ora's strange behavior being the result of a "lifesaver trick" she had been taught that was intended for rescuing drowning people. Realizing that she had been wrong about everything, DePlume revealed to the lawyers that Rimes had told her to visit the aquarium and encouraged them to find the truth. Wright eventually figured out that Rimes had been Summers' boyfriend and had attempted to kill Orla by draining her pool in the mistaken belief that she was responsible for Summers' death. Shipley interrupted, but fell into the empty pool during his rush to refill it and died. It was also revealed that the orca from the Summers incident and the one who had been accused of killing Shipley were actually two separate animals, sisters in fact. With the truth revealed, DePlume decided to advocate on the Shipshape Aquarium's behalf for the government to approve the TORPEDO animal monitoring system used by the aquarium's resident vet, Dr. Herman Crab.

A change of writing direction

A few months after the trial, DePlume completed a new book entitled Shipshape Aquarium: Don't Pull the Plug, and successfully got TORPEDO approved. Although Crab was grateful for her help, he was irritated to find out that she was currently writing another new book entitled Sniper: The Penguin Leaves the Nest, which meant that she would be bothering him everyday in order to study the penguin chick Sniper who lived in his hair.

Personality

Mugshot.

DePlume has a highly haughty personality. Due to her success, she uses outdated pictures of herself from ten years ago in her books so that the paparazzi cannot recognize her. She is all too willing to consider people she talks to as "fans" and is uncooperative with anyone she believes is being rude to her. DePlume does not seem to think much of people in general, referring to Wright as "blue boy" and Cykes as "yellow girl". At the same time, DePlume takes herself and her career seriously, priding herself as a "truth-seeker" and appearing horrified when Wright proved in court that she had been set up.

Owing to the fact that she was once badly injured during an interview, DePlume is terrified by the sight of blood.

Name

• Her Japanese surname "Uratori" contains the word "ura", which means "inlet".
• "Reika", her Japanese given name, contains the kanji for "radiant flower", but its pronunciation can also be read as "below zero degrees Celsius".
• Her full English name comes from the phrase "nom de plume", meaning a pseudonym used by an author (also known as a "pen name").
• "Norma" was the given birth name of the actress Marilyn Monroe; some of DePlume's animations seem to be based on famous pictures and poses of the actress, most noticeably at one point where DePlume has to hold down her jacket while wind blows from below, parodying the well-known scene in Monroe's film The Seven Year Itch.