The Adventure of the Great Departure

The Adventure of the Great Departure

Transcript

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The Adventure of the Great Departure V · T · F
Episode data
Release info	The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures release
Japanese title	大いなる旅立ちの冒険 (Ōinaru Tabidachi no Bōken)
Incident overview
Incident type	Violent death
Dates	Friday, Nov. 22
Time of incident	Tuesday, Nov. 19; 2:00 p.m.
Victim	John Wilson
Weapon / cause of injury	Asphyxiation caused by curare* (initially thought to be blood loss from gunshot wound)
Related persons	Yujin Mikotoba Susato Mikotoba Aido Nosa
Related locations	Defendants' Antechamber 5
Evidence	University Collar Pin · Post-Mortem Report · Photograph of Victim · Waiter's Business Card · Crime Scene Photograph · Medical Report Card · Photograph of Handbag · Carbonated Water Bottle · Jezaille's Report · Plate of Steak
Trial data
Courtroom No.	2
Presiding judge	Seishiro Jigoku
Defense team	Ryunosuke Naruhodo Kazuma Asogi* (co-counsel)
Prosecutor	Taketsuchi Auchi
Defendant	Ryunosuke Naruhodo
Charge	Murder
Verdict	Not Guilty
Trial witnesses	Satoru Hosonaga* (not cross-examined) Kyurio Korekuta Iyesa Nosa Jezaille Brett! (arrested)
Navigation
Previous	Turnabout Reclaimed
Next	The Adventure of the Unbreakable Speckled Band
Previous (North American release)	Turnabout Time Traveler
Previous (European release)	Turnabout Time Traveler

Ryunosuke Naruhodo

I won't deny that I'm no expert. I'm just a student. And one who could arguably study harder, too. But standing here now in our Supreme Court, there is one thing that I feel very strongly: A country that fails to uphold the truth in its justice system is a country with no future at all.

Episode 1: The Adventure of the Great Departure is the first episode of the game The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures. In late 19th century Japan, during a turbulent time of increasing Western influence on Japanese culture, the stage is set for an international incident. John Wilson, a visiting professor from the United Kingdom, is shot in the restaurant La Carneval, and Ryunosuke Naruhodo, a Japanese university student, is caught red-handed holding a gun. With the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Friendship and Navigation having just been signed, the Japanese government sees this murder of a British citizen on their soil as a threat to continued good relations between the two island nations. As such, Naruhodo is sent to the Supreme Court of Judicature to stand in a closed trial, surrounded by military and government officials. Standing by his side is his best friend, Kazuma Asogi, who intends to represent him as his lawyer, but plans change when Naruhodo is informed of the risk that Asogi is taking by taking this case.

This episode serves as an introduction not only to the general mechanics and conventions of the Ace Attorney series, but also to aspects specific to the setting of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. For example, Wilson's gun is never mentioned to have been examined and the player is unable to do so themselves due to the firearm not appearing in the court record; this is due to technology in the game's setting being insufficient to perform a ballistics test. In a modern setting like in other Ace Attorney games, such a test would have immediately proven that the gun held by Naruhodo was not the one used to shoot Wilson. Additionally, it is the longest introductory episode in the series, consisting of three trial segments.

Acts and chapters

Act	Chapter
"Trial, Part 1"	"Opening"
	"Trial Start"
"Trial, Part 2"	"Recess"
	"Miss Brett's Appearance"
"Trial, Part 3"	"Susato's Sudden Entrance"
	"Conclusion"

Timeline

To edit the information in this table, go to Template:Timeline and edit the information there.

Date	Event type / related incident	Description	Notes
November 19, GAA-1 (Meiji 34)	The Adventure of the Great Departure	John Wilson is murdered.	N/A
November 22, GAA-1 (Meiji 34)	The Adventure of the Great Departure	Closed trial of Ryunosuke Naruhodo for the murder of John Wilson. He represents himself, thus marking his début as a lawyer.	N/A

"Opening"

The Empire of Japan - after opening its doors a push for cultural transformation brought great waves of Western influence to this Far Eastern island nation. The revolution washed over the land, making life in the capital exciting and unsettling. It was a period of great change, and some were swept away by the tide. But for one man the turbulence of that era was just the beginning of an extraordinary story.

Wilson's body slumped over in his chair.

A gunshot rang out in the restaurant La Carneval and the body of a deceased English gentleman was found. As the authorities arrived, a young Japanese man was seen holding a gun in front of the victim.

Some time earlier, the man, a student at Imperial Yumei University named Ryunosuke Naruhodo, was dining with his fellow student and friend, Kazuma Asogi, who was to participate in a student exchange program between Japan and Britain. Asogi aspired to study Britain's judicial system to help him change the judicial system of Japan. Asogi wished that Naruhodo could come with him and "have a wild time tearing up the streets of Her Majesty's City of London together," but sadly it was not that simple. Asogi eventually left while Naruhodo stayed behind. Shortly after that was when the shot was fired.

8:43 a.m.

Naruhodo remembering his meeting with Asogi.

Three days after the murder, Naruhodo and Asogi arrived at the Supreme Court of Judicature, where the former was to stand trial and the latter intended on advocating for his defence. Yujin Mikotoba, professor at Yumei University, also arrived with a young woman. Professor Mikotoba informed Asogi that he was being summoned to the judge's chambers, to which the woman escorted him. Professor Mikotoba then informed Naruhodo that, if Asogi lost this trial, the offer extended to him to study in Britain would be permanently revoked. Furthermore, there were certain peculiarities in the trial that would make it difficult to secure a not guilty verdict. Pressed for time, Professor Mikotoba instructed Naruhodo to answer "I do" to the first question the judge would ask, explaining that Asogi must not be the defence lawyer in the trial.

"Trial Start"

9:00 a.m.

From the beginning, the first peculiarity was apparent: this was a closed trial, with only military and government officials allowed to attend. The defence's request to have Asogi advocate for Naruhodo had been made last-minute, and in light of this, the judge asked for a confirmation of who would advocate for the defendant. Asogi started to state his confirmation but was interrupted by Naruhodo, who declared that he would be defending himself. Asogi had known that this would happen had Naruhodo known about his situation, and lamented that Professor Mikotoba had divulged that information. Prosecutor Taketsuchi Auchi scoffed at this development, but Asogi bluffed that Naruhodo was confident that he could speak for his own innocence.

The judge had Naruhodo relay some basic facts of the case to ensure that he could conduct himself to the standards befitting the Supreme Court. The victim was John Wilson, a British professor of medicine at Yumei University. Japan had recently signed the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Friendship and Navigation with Britain, so this case was coming under heavy scrutiny and the Japanese government was looking to wrap up the trial as quickly as possible. According to the post-mortem report, the cause of death was blood loss from a gunshot wound, and a photographic print of the scene indicated that Wilson had been shot at close range. Satisfied at Naruhodo's conduct, the judge gave the floor to the prosecution.

The mysterious woman.

Auchi's first witness was Satoru Hosonaga, the head waiter at La Carneval, who testified that the incident had occurred a little after 2 in the afternoon. Hosonaga had been putting away utensils in the kitchen when he heard the gunshot. He had then hurried to the dining area to see the victim dead and Naruhodo beside him, gun in hand. Hosonaga then claimed that Wilson had dined alone at his table, and no one else had been around that table. This shocked Naruhodo; while he had approached to greet Wilson after Asogi left, he clearly remembered a woman sitting opposite the late professor.

Naruhodo challenged Hosonaga's claim, but the latter insisted that his testimony was correct. In fact, after witnessing the scene, he had hastily drawn a sketch of the seating arrangements in the restaurant, on the back of his business card. The judge accepted the card as evidence, though Hosonaga was notably shaken at this. Auchi warned the defence that he had more witnesses to establish the defendant's guilt decisively, causing Naruhodo to lose hope, but Asogi stood firm, encouraging his friend not to quit when the battle had barely even started.

Naruhodo picking up Wilson's gun.

The witnesses warned about were Iyesa Nosa, an Imperial Army sergeant, and Kyurio Korekuta, an antique dealer. They had been dining together, eating steak and discussing a curio that Korekuta had, when the gunshot rang out. Nosa claimed to have seen the precise moment that Naruhodo had fired on Wilson, testifying that the former had shot the latter from behind. Naruhodo explained to Asogi his side of the story: he had gotten up to leave when he noticed an English-made gun near Wilson. Thinking it belonged to the professor, Naruhodo had picked it up, right before the gunshot rang out.

Asogi instructed Naruhodo to assert his right to a cross-examination. With some help from Asogi, Naruhodo pointed out a contradiction: the photographic print showed a bullet wound at the front, and the post-mortem report stated that the bullet had not passed through the body. Contrary to Nosa's claim, Wilson had been shot in the chest. At this, Nosa admitted that had been looking at his steak and had not actually seen the moment of crime. Korekuta, too, had not seen the key moment, instead looking under the table for a valuable Hōei era Koban coin that he had lost.

The two witnesses nonetheless testified that the victim had dined alone at the time, and Nosa had not seen anyone other than Naruhodo, so he was the only one who could have committed the murder. To corroborate this further, Auchi presented another photographic print showing the table with one half-eaten steak lunch. Naruhodo cursed the fact that the incident had occurred later in the afternoon with so few guests as witnesses, though the timing of the lunch did pique the judge's curiosity. Auchi explained that a medical report card had been found in Wilson's jacket pocket, describing an appointment ending at 1 in the afternoon. Naruhodo and Asogi requested that this report card be submitted into evidence, and examined it to discover that the appointment was for a tooth extraction. A note was written on the card strictly forbidding food and drink other than water for three hours after the procedure. This completely changed the meaning of the photographic print of the steak, as it now proved that another individual had been dining at the same table as Wilson.

Asogi warned the witnesses that, should it turn out that they had lied in their testimonies, they would be charged with perjury and deemed complicit in the murder. This sent Nosa and Korekuta into a panic, forcing the latter to reveal that someone had ordered them to conceal the presence of a woman in their testimonies. Judging by their reactions, it was someone with great influence, from the government, military, or police. Naruhodo examined Hosonaga's business card and alerted the court to his real job title, and the reason he had been so hesitant to submit the card: "Chief Inspector Satoru Hosonaga, Primary Criminal Investigation Division, Imperial Police Bureau."

Hosonaga explained that he had been investigating undercover at the restaurant due to a string of incidents occurring there, unrelated to the murder. He also admitted that he had seen a British woman sitting with Wilson, but had received special orders from the bureau to release her and erase all evidence that she had been there. It was already bad for an Englishman to be killed on Japanese soil, but to accuse an Englishwoman of the crime without evidence would have been completely out of the question. Asogi recalled that there were a number of British exchange students at Yumei University, and one of them was a woman from the medical faculty's research laboratory. Impressed by Asogi, Hosonaga revealed that he had checked the identity of the woman at the restaurant, and she was the exact woman Asogi described, named Jezaille Brett. The judge ordered a recess while Hosonaga located Brett and escorted her to the courtroom.

"Recess"

11:38 a.m.

Asogi commended Naruhodo on his performance, adding that he was perhaps suited to be an attorney. Naruhodo was relieved that he was finally being believed, as he prided himself on his powers of observation. Unfortunately for said powers, Hosonaga had immediately apprehended him and taken him to a small pantry beside the kitchen, so he had no idea what had happened in the dining area after that. Professor Mikotoba congratulated the two and admitted that he had wanted the trial not to get in the way of Japan sending its brightest young stars overseas. Asogi, however, stated that he would not bother going anyway if he could not help his friend in his time of need. Regardless, Professor Mikotoba implored Naruhodo to find the truth, as he was the one who had offered Wilson his teaching position at Yumei University. He then sent the woman accompanying him to retrieve "something I think we may need." As the recess ended, Naruhodo thanked Asogi for putting his faith in him.

"Miss Brett's Appearance"

12:09 p.m.

Auchi, against all odds, had received permission from the government to have Brett testify. He voiced his frustration at this latest development, as he was now undergoing scrutiny. Asogi brushed off Auchi's concerns, making him more agitated. As Asogi wondered aloud whether they were in a court controlled by Japan or by England, Auchi lectured him on Japan's precarious position and its need to secure its own future. Naruhodo stepped in and replied that a country that did not uphold the truth in its justice system had no future at all.

Jezaille Brett was summoned to the stand. She apparently could only speak English, so Hosonaga stood in as an interpreter. She testified that Naruhodo had gotten into an argument with Wilson and shot him dead with his own gun. She also claimed that she did not carry a gun and there was no place to conceal one in her attire, which she had also worn on the day of the murder. Naruhodo interrogated her on the details of the steak lunch, learning that she had heard about the dentist appointment beforehand. Brett also revealed that the crime scene photograph showed the table exactly as it had been left after the murder. She added that the two diners had each had a glass of carbonated water. Naruhodo pointed out that the photo of the table had only one wine glass, making these two facts seemingly contradictory. Brett explained that she had hidden her wine glass in her handbag due to shock. Believing this to be his chance, Naruhodo supposed that Brett could have also stowed away the real murder weapon in her handbag. Unfortunately for him, however, Hosonaga revealed a photographic print of the handbag, showing that it was a meshwork bag, the wine glass clearly visible inside, and nothing else.

The victim's burn mark.

The judge declared the cross-examination over, with the last photograph having no apparent further significance. Even Asogi was at a loss. Naruhodo, however, noticed something that did not seem right. Requesting a chance to inspect the photo, he pointed to a peculiarly shaped burn mark on Wilson's wrist. Brett nervously requested that she be dismissed, but it was too late; Naruhodo pulled out the crime scene photograph and identified a bull insignia on the metal plate that the steak was served on, matching the shape of the burn mark. Hosonaga discerned from looking at the burn injury that it was relatively fresh and severe, and would have had Wilson screaming in pain, but he had heard no such scream at any point in his undercover stint. Naruhodo reached a startling conclusion: Wilson had already died before suffering the burn, and more crucially, before being shot.

At this point, Brett began to show her true nature, speaking Japanese and revealing that she could do it all along. She also showed a more openly racist side, calling Japanese a "vulgar tone" and claiming that Japan's "inferior" investigative techniques would not be able to detect any other cause of death even if Wilson had died before the gunshot. When asked to elaborate on the latter remark, she explained that, in Britain, the police would try to preserve the crime scene and store evidence for later examination. This seemed to agitate Hosonaga, who explained that he had done what Brett was talking about, and had taken the bottle of carbonated water served to Wilson and Brett for the sake of preserving it as evidence. Naruhodo suggested that Brett had poisoned the water, but Hosonaga had already ordered tests for every poison available in Japan, and found no trace of any of them. Once again, both Naruhodo and Kazuma were at a loss, but just then, Professor Mikotoba's assistant arrived with a small package and introduced herself as "Susato Mikotoba, judicial assistant to the defence."

"Susato's Sudden Entrance"

1:14 p.m.

Though women were not permitted into the courtroom other than to testify, Susato was granted enough time to present the defence with a new piece of evidence: a research paper by Brett on a substance called curare. The defence described to the court what curare was, based on the paper: a deadly poison, unknown to Japanese law enforcement, used by South American indigenous tribes to lace their arrows for hunting animals for food. This toxin would cause instant paralysis, eventually causing the muscles that control breathing to fail, resulting in death by suffocation, all without any outward signs that anything was wrong. In response to this, Brett took a drink from the bottle, demonstrating no ill effects. Naruhodo pointed out that the report only mentioned the poison working if it entered the body through an open wound; as its use in South America readily demonstrated, consuming it without having it enter a wound was completely safe. Brett countered that the same should have applied to Wilson, but, as conviction boiled within Naruhodo, he cried out, "Objection!" and stated that Wilson had undergone a tooth extraction, a fact that Brett had known about in advance, which she had used to her advantage to carry out the murder. Just as victory seemed within Naruhodo's grasp, Brett snatched the bottle and "accidentally" dropped it, shattering it to pieces while the carpet underneath soaked up the water.

The bloodstain on the plate.

With the evidence to prove their poison theory gone, the argument returned to the matter of who had shot Wilson. Naruhodo went back through his memories and recalled seeing a bloodstain on the plate of steak. This bloodstain would prove that Wilson's killer had taken the shot from the opposite side of the table. It turned out that Hosonaga had taken the plates of steak from both Brett and Nosa after the incident. Hosonaga then retrieved the plate that he had taken from Wilson's table, but no blood was found on it, much to Naruhodo's surprise.

Iyesa Nosa, the La Carneval thief.

Desperate for another clue, Naruhodo lifted up the steak and underneath found a rare Hōei era Koban coin. Nosa and Korekuta were brought back, and the latter confirmed that it was the same coin that he had lost. Hosonaga explained that he had been investigating a series of thefts at the restaurant. With a similar theft having happened at the time of the murder, the thief could only have been Nosa. Broken, Nosa admitted to the thefts; due to his low pay as a low-ranking soldier, he only wanted to provide for his infant son Aido. Every three days, he would go to the restaurant and search for his next mark, all while enjoying a steak meal, apparently chomping into it without using a knife and fork. He had initially slipped the coin into his pocket, but after the shooting, he had "slipped it under the steak" instead, in case he got searched.

Brett, once again confident that Naruhodo had exhausted all of his options, requested permission to leave, commenting incredulously on the idea of biting into a steak instead of using a knife and fork. That off-handed comment, however, gave Naruhodo one last idea: the steak from Wilson's table had bite marks, which meant that it belonged to somebody who had taken bites out of the steak directly, namely Nosa and not Brett. Nosa admitted that the plate with the coin belonged to him. Once Hosonaga had revealed that he was an undercover police officer, Nosa had decided to switch his plate with Brett's, seeing his opportunity when Naruhodo was arrested and sent to the kitchen. Hosonaga presented the other plate, and the bloodstain could clearly be seen. It served as decisive evidence of Naruhodo's assertion that the perpetrator had shot from across the table. Brett, shocked at being outdone "by a Japanese schoolboy", screamed as the swan on her hat came alive and dragged her around before ascending to "heaven".

Finally, Brett confessed to the crime, explaining that she had intended to leave immediately after seeing Wilson sip the poisoned drink, so that she could make it look as if he had dined alone. However, with Naruhodo showing up and seeing her, she had to change her plans. She had made sure that Wilson was sitting when sipping the water, then put his pistol on the floor for Naruhodo to pick up. She had then used her own pistol, hidden from under her skirt, to shoot the corpse. As Hosonaga was detaining Naruhodo in the kitchen, Brett had rotated Wilson's chair, failing to notice Nosa switching the plates of steak. After requesting to speak with the judge in private later, she was arrested and taken away.

Auchi swore vengeance against Naruhodo for this loss. Asogi responded that Auchi had become conceited with age, but the old would have to stand aside for the sake of the new. He sliced off Auchi's hair with his katana, promising that, even after a thousand years, Auchi's clan would never rival Naruhodo's.

The judge gave his closing remarks. He congratulated Naruhodo on his excellent use of evidence and deduction, and was hopeful for how the scientific ideas of the West would shape the future of law in Japan. He also told Asogi to learn all that he could in Britain, and fulfill his "mission". He again addressed Naruhodo, sensing "unusual potential" in him before delivering his verdict of "not guilty".

"Conclusion"

2:46 p.m.

Naruhodo, Asogi, and the Mikotobas celebrated the verdict in the defendants' antechamber. Professor Mikotoba told them that he had met Wilson in Britain, and they had worked at the same hospital. Asogi swore to him on his katana that he would learn all that he could on his own journey. As for Brett, Hosonaga revealed that the British foreign affairs ministry had demanded that she be sent to Shanghai, China, to be tried under a British consular court. Asogi was confused; the treaty should have rendered those courts void. Nevertheless, they could only hope that Brett would be brought to justice one day. As Hosonaga invited them all to La Carneval, Naruhodo accepted that he may never know why Brett had killed Wilson.

As everyone else left, Naruhodo commended Asogi for his skills, but the latter replied that the former had a natural talent for being a defence lawyer. To him, a lawyer's most crucial weapon was not any sort of skill or knowledge of the law, but their ability to make a choice about what to believe in, and holding strong in that belief against all odds, much like Naruhodo's trust in him. Asogi then wanted to ask Naruhodo for a favour, but was interrupted by Hosonaga, who informed them that he had arranged some rickshaws for them all to ride to La Carneval. The favour would have to wait, but little did Naruhodo know that it would change his life.

References to other cases

• The clinic that Wilson visited for his tooth extraction is called "Hotta Clinic", which is the Japanese name of the Hotti Clinic from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations.
• Asogi's comment that Auchi's clan would never rival Naruhodo's does indeed come to pass, as neither Winston nor Gaspen Payne have been able to win in court in any of their in-game appearances in a trial where Phoenix Wright is present. Additionally, Auchi's hair after Asogi cut it resembles Winston's hair in Turnabout Trump.
• At one point when presenting a profile incorrectly during the trial, Naruhodo comments that Auchi makes him "wince in pain", a direct reference to Winston Payne's name.

Notes

• When Jezaille Brett is introduced, the judge exclaims that "no discussions take place without tea" and "it's always ladies first" in England. It is much later revealed in Twisted Karma and His Last Bow and The Resolve of Ryunosuke Naruhodo that not only was he one of the three exchange students who travelled to Britain ten years ago, but he also had experienced a trial in a British courtroom. In this context, this pair of exclamations does not make much sense for him to make seriously, and is primarily meant as a gag to illustrate how overly polite that he and Auchi are trying to be to Brett.
• The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Friendship and Navigation seems to be based on the 1854 Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty and the 1894 Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation. The latter is of particular importance as it entails the end of extraterritoriality for British subjects (hence Jezaille Brett being expected to be tried on Japanese soil after Naruhodo's trial) and the end of consular courts (hence the surprise that Brett would be tried in one).

Typos

• In Jezaille Brett's testimony "The Victim's 'Death'," she says, "If there's some other way a man's life can been taken without leaving a trace, please, do show me."
• When accusing Brett of poisoning Dr. Wilson, Ryunosuke says, "There's only person who could possibly have done it!" which should be "There's only one person who could possibly have done it!"
• During Brett's confession, she admits that she hid a pistol under her skirt, to which Auchi responds, "U-Under you skirt...?"