Perfectionist (pt. 2)

I have to save him.

Currently halfway through Bridge to the Turnabout and no one told me I'd end up feeling bad for Larry. I feel like the developers made it their mission to hate on him specifically. And honestly out of every Ace Attorney character with trauma that gets unaddressed, why does it feel like Larry gets treated the worst by the game.

Everyone thinks he's useless and annoying. But I think the judge was correct when he said Larry has "quite a severe inferiority complex". Larry casually drops that he's been physically abused by two of his ex-girlfriends, but seems to think it's perfectly fine. He seems to believe he's utterly worthless and that he makes people "eternally unhappy". But he never changes because he suppresses his trauma so hard that he forgets about them. He actually feels so bad for screwing up in The Stolen Turnabout but instead of genuinely working on himself, he adopts a new identity because he can't stand himself probably.

But AA1 clearly shows that Larry is not "useless" or a "nuisance". After all Phoenix also wanted to repay Larry for defending him during the class trial. And not to mention Larry saved Edgeworth with his testimony in 1-4. Oh Larry you'll always be a part of the signal samurai trio.

His Trust...

EVERYTHING YOU SAID YES

Notice that Miles never mentions following in MVK's footsteps or the "von Karma creed/blood/name" when talking about his motivations to prosecute. (Compared to Franziska who mentions it as soon as she is introduced in 2-2). Miles only talks about the DL-6 incident and his father's death and punishing himself in relation to why he became a prosecutor instead of a defense attorney.

Now I'm not saying Miles wasn't influenced by MVK, I'm sure he was. But ignoring the reasons that Miles explicitly tells us, and instead claiming brainwashing or abuse, is doing a huge disservice to both Miles's and Manfred's character.

Manfred is a petty, cowardly man who killed a man over a penalty and ruined Miles's life. And considering all the issues Miles and Franziska has, I believe he is also quite a flawed parent. Manfred being abusive, homophobic, sexist, etc however, is not canon (him calling Miles "worthless" is a mistranslation!!).

So yeah, I rest my case. Miles, Franziska, and Manfred are some of my favorite Ace Attorney characters and Manfred not being Pure Evil™️ honestly makes all the angst and pain so much more delicious.

“Manfred von Karma brainwashed Miles into becoming a prosecutor!”

*scratches head*

Not gonna lie, I was one of the people who believed in this claim until a friend told me otherwise and I started replaying Turnabout Goodbyes recently.

It's really wild to me how almost all of Manfred's mischaracterization can be tied back to Miles' mischaracterization from the AA fandom LMAO

Fandom telephone can be such a curse sometimes.

No worries! It's pretty easy to miss.

Basically in Bridge to the Turnabout, Larry himself implies that two of his previous girlfriends have hit him. This is what he says when he's on the stand testifying about witnessing the lightning strike:

Yeah, I don't think there's any other way to interpret these lines. Poor Larry... someone needs to teach him what a healthy relationship is like.

Currently halfway through Bridge to the Turnabout and no one told me I'd end up feeling bad for Larry. I feel like the developers made it their mission to hate on him specifically. And honestly out of every Ace Attorney character with trauma that gets unaddressed, why does it feel like Larry gets treated the worst by the game.

Everyone thinks he's useless and annoying. But I think the judge was correct when he said Larry has "quite a severe inferiority complex". Larry casually drops that he's been physically abused by two of his ex-girlfriends, but seems to think it's perfectly fine. He seems to believe he's utterly worthless and that he makes people "eternally unhappy". But he never changes because he suppresses his trauma so hard that he forgets about them. He actually feels so bad for screwing up in The Stolen Turnabout but instead of genuinely working on himself, he adopts a new identity because he can't stand himself probably.

But AA1 clearly shows that Larry is not "useless" or a "nuisance". After all Phoenix also wanted to repay Larry for defending him during the class trial. And not to mention Larry saved Edgeworth with his testimony in 1-4. Oh Larry you'll always be a part of the signal samurai trio.

Here’s our girl

Still not very good at digital art but I don’t mind how this one turned out :)

Click for higher res

Prosecutor’s office AA1 vs AA6

I beta read this!! You should check it out :)

Made a narumitsu au fic based on Koe no Katchi, check it out if you want

-Shout out to @aceof-stars for beta reading this!

-Tw for suicide

-No spoilers past the beginning of farewell my turnabout please

-Ask about the au if you'd like

I think Miles feeling like his father would be disappointed in him is far more interesting if he came to that conclusion by himself instead of being "taught" to believe so by an external factor or being somehow trained to be something Gregory would have "hated" (and let's be real, Gregory would not flip a switch and hate anybody for anything, let alone his son).

Miles feeling like this by himself means there was a moment of self-reflection, even if that reflection did not reach the actually correct conclusion. It offers opportunities to explore how his brain works, themes of survivors guilt and grief that linger long after dl-6. That's interesting! That's intriguing!

What do you get from deciding there was some grand plan to form him into "a person Gregory would hate" (despite the obvious problems with that logic in the first place)? Cartoon villainy I guess? That's not very fun to explore...

Someone finally said it!!! Edgeworth is a very nuanced character. He is more than his trauma, his "unnecessary feelings" for Phoenix, or his emotional constipation. Narumitsu is not a one-sided Phoenix saves Edgeworth all the time dynamic. They're equals! Does Edgeworth's insistence in Farewell My Turnabout that Phoenix is not a hero mean nothing? I want to do like a proper analysis of this sometime, probably after I finish Trials & Tribulations...

okay here’s a secret for you guys: i actually prefer mtnr over nrmt

im not even sure why LMAO the second i started shipping nrmt i automatically pictured miles as the top like it just came naturally to me ig?

idk what it is about him that comes off that way to me but in all the ships i like the serious character is automatically a top for me so..

and because of that i got genuinely suprised when i found out that bottom!miles was way more popular in fanart/fics than i initially thought

like i didn’t mind at first because im not THAT obssessed with top/bottom dynamics i didn’t care too much about that stuff as long as it’s a ship i like and i’ll forever be grateful and happy that i get to see content of my fav ship everyday regardless of it’s specific contents/character dynamics it’s just a personal preference that’s all <3

but ngl there are times where i get kinda miffed about how miles *specifically* is protrayed in these fanworks because they always… woobify him? and don’t get me wrong ur free to protray him however u want pls don’t let me stop u this is only my opinion😭

they always baby him too much and take away his most defining traits like his ruthlessness and intelligence so they could turn him into this oh so angsty sad little boy who cannot intuit any emotion that’s not sadness or grief and needs to be taught how to feel happy by phoenix all the time as if he isn’t capable of doing it himself and needs to be handheld constantly

idk about u guys but miles’ character isn’t just about him struggling with unecessary feelings or missing his dad or whatever and yes that’s a huge part of him but what im saying is that’s not the ONLY big part of miles as a character

let’s not forget this is the same dude who told someone he didn’t gaf if they k worded themselves and he spent the last couple years prior to reuniting with phoenix SENDING INNOCENT PEOPLE TO JAIL OR POSSIBLY EVEN GETTING THEM THE DEATH PENALTY like this man’s ruthless as shit even after his character arc which really shows that von karma’s influence will forever be a part of him no matter how much he changed😭 he’s not evil or malicious but he’s not ur “sweet and sad widdle boy who we must protecc🥺” either

i dont like it when ppl dumb down this ruthless, intelligent and traumatized man to “aww my poor sad widdle baby” no offense but that’s not miles anymore that’s a whole ahh oc atp LMAOOO

I absolutely LOVE it tho when people dive into his darker side it’s such a refreshing thing to see ppl do with his character like YES give me more fics where miles is willing to bend the law if it's gets in the way of the truth, and it has ACTUALLY HAPPENED BEFORE!!!

it’s also another reason why i like mtnr because the fans of that dynamic actually DO explore this side of him a lot more where he’s more in control of everything and just takes charge and does whatever tf he wants without caring about what others think it’s a really nice change for once LOL but said fanworks are few and really hard to find

and also ppl always think miles is the most law-abiding citizen in society or whatever but i think that's bcuz him being prosecutor (one of the best too) and how much he loves his job automatically means that he’ll follow the rules to the ends of the earth or something but it’s been shown multiple times that he cares more about the truth than law itself ESPECIALLY if said law prevents him from knowing what really happened

sorry if this comes off as mean and i genuinely do not have a problem with ooc protrayals hell i LOVE ooc fanworks they’re super fun and i eat those shit up like a full course meal it’s just that miles get babied by the fandom so much more than phoenix does and hardly anyone ever talks about his morally gray side that’s willing to commit literal crimes to bring the truth to light in favor of turning him into the poster boy for ace attorney angst and it just kinda annoys me sometimes💀

this was supposed to be me talking about nrmt dynamics but it turned into a miles character analysis(?) instead… whoops