"Turnabout Sisters - Last Trial" is the fourth episode of the Ace Attorney animated adaptation. It is the conclusion of the three episodes that adapt the story of Turnabout Sisters from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
Due to Redd White's influence and connections, Phoenix Wright is indicted for the murder of his boss, Mia Fey. Wright's only chance to avoid a guilty verdict is to expose White as Fey's true killer in court, a task made all the more difficult by Miles Edgeworth's ruthless prosecuting tactics. Wright is backed into a corner, but a little help from a spirit medium may be just what he needs to turn things around...
Synopsis[]
Now the one on trial, Phoenix Wright was sitting in the lobby of the District Court with Maya Fey, who was surprised to learn that Wright had no counsel. Wright believed that Redd White had managed to influence the justice system to leave him without an attorney, but Wright had come prepared with a plan.
The trial began with the judge proclaiming that the situation had changed drastically from the previous day's proceedings, as prosecutor Miles Edgeworth had obtained new witness testimony and evidence to show that Phoenix Wright was the "true" murderer of Mia Fey. Wright, undeterred by the accusation, declared to the judge that he would stand in his own defense. Edgeworth, sensing a smooth victory, summoned Redd White to take the stand. White denied that he had ever been to the Fey & Co. Law Offices, instead testifying that he had been at the nearby Gatewater Hotel, where he claimed to have seen the incident. Wright interjected that the previous day's witness, April May, never testified to seeing him commit the act. White casually threw May under the bus by claiming she had lied while he would be able to clear up the truth of the matter.
White testified that he had been reading some documents next to his hotel room window at 9 PM, until he heard a loud noise outside his window. He claimed that he and May had seen Wright hit Mia Fey over the head with a blunt object, calling attention to Wright's spiky hairstyle as the major identifying element. Wright sensed that everything had been playing out to a carefully laid plan to see him convicted but proceeded into his cross-examination. Wright asked the witness to reaffirm the time he believed he had heard the commotion, to which White said that he had heard "that thing" fall at 9 PM. Wright asked for clarification on "that thing" to which White responded that it was a glass light stand.
Wright confirmed from the floor plan that there were shards of glass on the edge of the office, but Maya pointed out that White knew what had fallen even though he only reacted only upon hearing the sound from across the way, by which point the item in question would have already fallen and shattered, with Wright returning to White's earlier claim of never having visited the office. White hastily mentioned that he had been able to see the light stand from his window before it shattered to clear up the apparent contradiction. However, this was itself a contradiction, which Wright pointed out with an objection. Using the floor plans, Wright demonstrated to the court that the glass shards were outside of the viewable area if viewed from the hotel window. Knowing what the object was before it fell would have required White to be inside the office at some point, placing him at the scene of the crime.
White was panicked by how suddenly the situation had turned on him, but Edgeworth quickly entered an objection of his own. Edgeworth slyly proposed White "confess" to his crime of illegal phone tapping. Wright objected by reminding the court that the wiretap had been attributed to April May, but Edgeworth countered that the important thing was not who had listened into the call but who had placed the wiretap, giving reason that the light stand would have been seen when setting up the wiretap. White immediately recovered and confirmed Edgeworth's entire scenario, saying he had attempted to use May as a scapegoat for his "own" actions. Edgeworth proudly dismissed Wright's entire theory as Wright broke down into a scream of frustration.
The judge saw all the contradictions cleared up from this and Edgeworth attempted to bring the cross-examination to a close with a promise White would face a separate trial for his actions, but Wright objected that his cross-examination wasn't over. White said he had placed the wiretap two weeks ago at the end of March, and that April May could vouch for him as she had heard Mia's call. Unidentified fingerprints had been found at the scene of the crime, dating back several days, but Edgeworth said they could likely be traced to the witness. Wright asked the witness what his reason was for the wiretap, but Edgeworth shot down the question by claiming irrelevance to the present case, with White simply adding that he was bound by client confidentiality.
Wright couldn't think of anything else to ask him nor could he find any more contradicting evidence as Edgeworth smugly declared Wright's case a lost cause. Maya, looking for any way to help Wright, began meditating, and the magatama around her neck started to glow. As the judge began to bring the trial to an end, a familiar female voice rippled through Wright's mind. He looked to his co-counsel and saw that Maya had undergone a drastic physical transformation, taking the appearance of Mia Fey. Maya's desperation to aid Wright awakened her spiritual power and allowed Mia to return to the world of the living. Mia reassured her protege that now was not the time to give in, as Maya had refused to, and told him to check the receipt with Maya's name on it. Flipping it over showed that it was the receipt from Mia's purchase of the light stand, which she had only done the day before her murder. Wright interrupted the judge's declaration that the trial was over with a thunderous "Hold it!" and presented the receipt to the court. The claim that White saw the light stand while setting up the wiretap was impossible if the light stand hadn't been in the office until the day prior to Mia's death. Wright believed he had conclusively placed White at the scene of the crime in a time frame that made it impossible for him to claim he wasn't there at the time of Mia's murder, and moved to have his verdict declared.
Edgeworth interjected and requested that he extend the trial by another day to perform further inquiries. Mia knew that the case needed to end right there and then, so she scribbled a note onto a scrap of paper. The judge dismissed White from the stand and White triumphantly declared he would refuse any further testimony. As he turned to leave, however, Mia tossed the paper she had written onto White's face. As he read the page, the complexion fell from White's face. Mia explained that it was a list of people White had victimized with his blackmail, from political figures to major celebrities. White was convinced he had destroyed Mia's ledger the night of the incident, but Mia told him she had committed it to memory and began to recite the list. However, before she could even say the first name, White cried for her to stop and slammed his face onto the witness stand.
White confessed he had murdered Mia Fey and explained the sequence from the night of the murder. Knowing that Mia Fey had a list of names with ties to White's blackmail operation, he had gone to the Fey & Co. Law Offices to retrieve it. Mia had attempted to flee from her assailant but White had taken the Thinker clock and smashed it over her head. He had nudged the light stand with the clock and destroyed the lamp as he moved in for the killing blow. With Mia dead he found and destroyed the list while writing "Maya" on the receipt in Mia's blood, placing it by her body. With Mia's urging, Wright moved to rest his case and have a verdict declared as Edgeworth could only wince in disbelief that he had just suffered the first loss of his illustrious career. The judge obliged and declared neither Maya Fey nor Phoenix Wright were guilty of Mia Fey's murder. The judge seemed to notice that something about Maya had changed, but Mia simply brushed it off as seeing things while Edgeworth silently left the prosecutor's bench.
Back in the lobby, Mia said Maya's underdeveloped powers were waning and soon it would be time for her to return to the world of the spirits. Wright begged her to stay, having much left to say, but she asked Wright come to the office that night before Maya returned to her own body. Maya regained consciousness and Wright assured her that they were victorious. That night, at the Fey & Co. Law Offices, Wright arrived and was greeted by who he thought was Mia. However, it turned out to be Maya imitating her sister's voice. Maya said her sister had left a thought in her mind before vanishing to come to the office at 9 PM. She also mentioned that Mia had asked her to look over Wright and the office, which she proposed be renamed the "Wright & Co. Law Offices" and, as they would be working together, decided she would address Wright by the nickname of "Nick" to keep things casual between them. The pair shook hands to cement their new partnership before Maya shoved him out the door to get something to eat while Mia's spirit looked on.
The final scene then showed some sort of steel samurai landing on top of a Japanese temple with the full moon in the background.
Characters[]
- Phoenix Wright
- Mia Fey (victim)
- Maya Fey
- Miles Edgeworth
- Judge
- Redd White
- April May (false flashback)
- Steel Samurai (cameo at the end)
Adaptation differences[]
- The trial skips the part where White testifies about the direction Mia ran.
- Wright does not faint when Maya channels Mia.
- In the game, Mia gives the list of blackmail victims' names to Wright, which he starts reading out loud before being interrupted by White, who then confesses to the murder. In the anime, Mia throws the list to White, and tells him that she has them memorized. However, White confesses before she even says the first name on the list.
- The Steel Samurai makes a cameo at the end of this episode.