Ace Attorney Episode 8 Review

The beginning of the end

(This review contains spoilers!)

          Let me just start off this review by saying that after episode 12, I’m not going to be continuing this show. I haven’t played the second Ace Attorney game, so I won’t have anything to compare it to, plus, this show can be so dull at times I honestly have no urge to see any more of it after this arc wraps up.

          With that said, how’d Ace Attorney fare this week? With the final storyline finally having arrived, I was hoping that the show would reflect the darker atmosphere that the case brought in the game.

          Well, firstly, the old animation quality seems to be back. It’s still nothing compared to shows like Madoka Magica or Non Non Biyori, or even last season’s Erased, but it’s decent enough. I’m glad they recovered from whatever happened these last two weeks. Part of me thinks that they knew how boring the Steel Samurai case was that they just put the most effort into this next one. While I can’t say I blame them, if my theory is correct, that’s awfully lazy on their part.

          As for the plot, it essentially follows the game point for point. This is probably for the best, as I’ve always considered the final case to be an excellent ending for the entire game, as it really puts all the skills you’ve learned to the test, and ties together lots of loose ends.

          For the first time ever, the anime finally seems to understand what makes the games so great: the characters and the mysteries are both entertaining in their own right, and you don’t have to choose one over the other. The Turnabout Sisters adaption focused too much on the mystery, leaving us with forgettable characters and an underdeveloped Maya. The Steel Samurai adaption focused too much on the characters, leaving us with a terrible plot. At long last, both elements seem to be going hand in hand.

          Speaking of Maya, she finally got her time to shine, as more of her family history was revealed, and we got to see her really be determined to help solve the case. One of my main griping points for Ace Attorney has been how it reduced Maya to the goofy sidekick who really doesn’t need to be there, so I’m glad that she’s finally coming into her own as a character.

          I’m not getting my hopes too high though. Ace Attorney’s notoriously uneven quality could strike back at any time, and the final case might be completely botched. If this episode is any indication, however, we may get lucky.

FINAL SCORE

6/10

Okay