Gyakuten Saiban

I consider myself a pretty big Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright fan. I've completed almost all of the games, and some a few times over. They are fantastic and immersive games I would highly recommend.

The same cannot be said about this anime series. The plot of many cases is difficult to follow to the point where you would not understand major parts unless you have already played the games. Even then, a large portion of the characters and evidence is completely left out. This makes the logic seen in the show difficult to follow, as the audience cannot (easily) draw the same conclusions to the cases. Figuring out the truth of these cases is the main aspect of the Phoenix Wright franchise, and there is no fun in watching the show. I felt absolutely no connection with any of the characters and stopped watching halfway through the series, feeling absolutely let down.

Do yourself a favour, skip this show and play the games if you are interested in Ace Attorney.

It is very simple. If you liked the games, you will like this series. Some fatigue can set if if you still remember everything that happened, because the story is based on the games, pretty much 1:1.

But if you like that "objection!" moment, you will also enjoy this series.

The only problem I have with this series in generals (games included), is that most of the important clues are pulled out of nowhere or during the trial, which means that it's impossible for viewers to speculate or make any predictions.

However the series is very enjoyable and newcomer friendly.

This isn't a straight 1:1 adaptation, as it adds more info and cuts out certain characters. (Such as the bellboy from the second case. I hated him, so meh.) Deducted points because the way they animated von Karma's face was Gollumesque.

Now, I get it. Anybody who was a fan of the games will find problems in the anime series, but can't you see? It's not the game. It's a TV show and its pretty damn accurate to the games, with a few differences, of course. It is simpler than the games. However, I love this show. Especially the Final Trial of Season 1.

NOTE: What I'll be saying only covers Season 1. I'm a rabid Ace Attorney fan and I could barely bring myself to watch up until the 14th episode of the series before giving up

This anime has every sign of a poor adaptation of a source material:

• Animations range from decent to abysmal, even by Dragon Ball Super Episode 5 on TV standards. And what happened to the colors? Compare the vibrance of the games' graphics to these washed out disasters
• It banks too much on the source material to cover for the anime's faults. As a result...
• Pacing doesn't exist and everything moves too fast, so nothing has the time to settle, and it barely makes the viewer connect to the characters or what's happening to them. It was a terrible idea to have investigations and trials together, or dedicating only one episode to an investigation and half of it to a trial
• Creative liberties can be a good thing can be a good thing. Are they here? Absolutely not. I wanted to rip my hair out of my head at what they did to the ending of Turnabout Goodbyes, one of the best and most memorable cases in the entire series. Or even smaller things, like adding an unnecessary piece of evidence to fabricate a contradiction when the game's contradiction worked just fine in Reunion and Turnabout. I'm not going to go jnto spoilers, but trust me, these are dumb

The score is about the only thing I would kind of save in this mess. Also Jinsei Wa Subarashii is pretty good

Let me close this "review" by giving some advice:

• Play the games
• Watch the live action by Takashi Miike
• Watch Season 2 if you're curious, but skip Season 1. You're not missing out at all.