| "I may not be a very good artist, but at least I know how to draw a person!" | |
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| Robin Newman |
Image Gallery | Sprite Gallery |
- "Robin" redirects here. You may be looking for the character Robin Wolfe from the Kodansha Comics manga.
| Robin Newman |
| Oh, Athena. Measurements are for wimps! Full on YOLO is what art's all about! I'm gonna drop both of 'em in a big pool of plaster! YEAAAAAAH! |
| Athena Cykes |
| I know I should stop you, but some part of me really wants to see how this plays out. |
Robin Newman is a loud and hot-headed third-year student at Themis Legal Academy, where she is studying to become a prosecutor. Although born female, she was raised as if she were male by her parents, a fact kept secret from her fellow students, including her friends Juniper Woods and Hugh O’Conner.
Life at Themis Legal Academy
With Woods and O'Conner.
Newman was raised as a boy and forced to study the Themis Legal Academy prosecutor course by her parents, although she actually wanted to become an artist. She kept her true gender a secret from her fellow students, but was able to channel her artistic urges via the school's fine arts club. Newman befriended judge student Juniper Woods and defense attorney student Hugh O’Conner while at the school, even making "proof of friendship" bands for them all to wear. However, Myriam Scuttlebutt, the editor of the school newspaper, took a disliking to Woods, and so began to circulate the rumor that O’Conner and Newman were in a love triangle for Woods' affections.
Getting a secret off her chest
- Main article: Turnabout Academy
Talking to Means at the outdoor stage.
Despite her preference for art over law, Newman soon became the top student in the prosecutor course and, in her senior year, was chosen to be the prosecutor in a mock trial that would be held during the annual school festival. Although details of the mock trial were kept under wraps, judge course teacher Constance Courte had written herself a note containing details about it in order to prepare the necessary props. Newman chanced upon the note and took photographs of it to give herself an edge in the mock trial. On the night before the mock trial, Newman helped with the preparations by making statues of the lawyers who were to give lectures at the festival, defense attorney Phoenix Wright and prosecutor Klavier Gavin. Although Newman managed to finish the statue of Gavin in time, the last bell rang at six o'clock before she had time to make the Wright statue, and so she asked defense attorney course teacher Aristotle Means to finish it for her.
Fleeing from Scuttlebutt while dressed in Woods' costume.
The following morning, Newman went looking for Woods, who had written the script for the mock trial and would be playing the part of the defendant. Although she did not find Woods in her dressing room, Newman instead discovered the costume her friend had made for a live performance of "The Guitar's Serenade" alongside Gavin in the school festival, and became enraptured by it. Newman put the costume on, in the process leaving her thumb and palm prints in the luminous paint Woods had applied to it, but was discovered by Scuttlebutt, who assumed she was Woods. Newman ran away, eventually losing Scuttlebutt after the latter tripped. Newman would go on to nearly win the mock trial, only to have it disrupted by the discovery of Courte's murdered body.
Woods ended up being arrested for the crime because of an incriminating tape recording which had apparently captured her voice threatening Courte, as well as the fact that the murder had been enacted in the same way as the one in her mock trial script. Soon afterwards, Newman was questioned by Woods' attorneys, Athena Cykes and Apollo Justice. The following day, Newman was called as a witness in Woods' trial after Cykes' cross-examination of Scuttlebutt proved that Newman was the person who had put on Woods' costume. In her testimony, Newman attempted to hide her previous actions with the costume in fear of revealing her true gender and her love of frilly, pretty things, but Cykes soon figured it out via her Mood Matrix device. Although the rest of the courtroom was dubious of Cykes's claims, Newman finally decided to come clean by removing her chest brace and telling the truth about her real gender, much to the shock of those present. Both Newman and O’Conner would later falsely admit to the murder of Courte in an attempt to protect Woods, thereby forcing the presiding judge to adjourn proceedings for that day.
Newman later met Cykes and Justice in the school's lecture hall, where the mock trial had been held, and told them that rumors had been going around about a "snitch" who was regularly reporting students' various misdeeds to one of the teachers. She also showed them video footage of the mock trial, which led Cykes to the conclusion that the voice recording which incriminated Woods had been dubbed onto the tape with a line from the mock trial. This made Cykes begin to suspect O'Conner to be the murderer, as he was the only male suspect and thus the only one who would benefit from creating a fake recording with a female voice.
The following day, Newman - alongside Scuttlebutt and O’Conner - was caught eavesdropping outside the defendant lobby, out of concern for Woods. Cykes tried to accuse O'Conner of the murder in court, but eventually figured out via the Mood Matrix that he was not the culprit and had actually been trying to protect Woods by taking the blame for her. When O'Conner confessed that he believed his friends no longer wanted anything to do with him because his parents had been bribing the school for his grades, Newman and Woods showed him their friendship bracelets, indicating to him that the friendship between them was still as strong as ever.
Cykes went on to accuse Means of the murder, as O'Conner's testimony had inadvertently proved that his alibi for the crime had been fabricated. When Means tried to claim that he could not be the killer because he had gone home at six o'clock on the night before the mock trial, one hour before the murder, Newman intervened and told Cykes about the statue she had asked Means to finish for her, which proved that he had actually been at school when the murder took place. This revelation eventually allowed Cykes to expose Means as the real murderer, and Woods was acquitted. After seeing Cykes's performance in court, Newman changed her mind about becoming an artist and decided to stick with studying law.
Personality
As a "boy".
As herself.
In her male persona, Newman appeared to be extremely hot-headed and frequently expressed himself by shouting and/or breaking one of the ceramics pieces he had made. He was often fixated on how "manly" he appeared to others, as well as the sincerity of the friendship between Woods, O’Conner, and himself. Via the Mood Matrix, Cykes would prove that Newman's powerful anger was directed at the brace she wore, which Newman saw as a burden preventing her from reconciling with her female identity and wants.
Although also frequently lapsing into her male persona at times, upon having her true gender revealed, Newman suddenly became far more stereotypically female; becoming much more cheerful and playful, over-dramatically fainting when accused of being a suspect for Constance Courte's murder, and frequently spelling out certain words within her sentences in a teasing manner. Additionally, she would occasionally replace the ceramics she smashed with a high-heeled shoe.
Newman proved to be passionate about art and displayed a strong affinity for it, yet remained humble and self-critical about the quality of her work, deeming a portrait of Woods as needing improvement and often smashing her own pottery. Newman made the special bands worn by her, Woods, and O’Conner as their "proof of friendship". Newman sported hers around her left arm, and would frequently place her hand near it when troubled.
Similarly to Woods, Newman appeared to greatly respect Courte and her philosophy of obtaining results through legitimate means and the truth, even declaring at one point that she had enrolled in the wrong course.
Name
- Her Japanese given name "Chishio" (血潮/血汐) means "blood circulating within the body", a phrase often used to signify hot-bloodedness.
- "Atsui" (熱い), her Japanese surname, means "hot". "Atsui" also is part of the term "atsuinaka" (熱い仲), which means "being in love".
- Her English given name is androgynous, and was likely chosen so as to keep her true gender a secret from the player until it is revealed in-game. Another Ace Attorney character, Adrian Andrews, was also given an androgynous name, although this was for a different reason (i.e., so that her gender could be mistaken from only knowing her name).
- Her English surname, "Newman", is appropriate, as she became a "new man" when her parents forced her to hide her gender.
Development
- O’Conner and Newman are polar opposites in personalities and the color of their uniforms. It is a common theme in Japanese popular culture for two linked individuals to have one have a red color scheme and the other a blue color scheme. The red individual tends to be extroverted, hot-blooded, and enthusiastic, while their blue opposite tends to be more introverted, intellectual, and proud. Another example of this trope in the Ace Attorney series is in Apollo Justice and Phoenix Wright, respectively.