To commemorate almost actually finishing this after *checks* almost exactly 9 years, here are some more photos of the inside of this book. Just to clarify, it’s an official fanbook, not a fanwork. It was published by Softbank Creative, and has a retail price of 1,500 yen + tax. I think I paid about £15 for it on eBay. It was first published on 14/06/2006 and I have the second printing which was on 30/06/2006. The ISBN is 4-7973-3556-4.

Here’s the dust jacket opened out.

Here it is with the dust jacket removed. It’s just the lineart in yellowy-orange.

The first page:

The contents page. Page 8 is the start of the pages I translated. It says Dorimaga rensai kiji sairoku. Which I think means a compilation of a serialisation in the magazine Dorimaga, which was a Japanese gaming magazine, also published by Softbank. This is why the first issue has Maya talking about their magazine debut. The magazine seems to have been focused on the various Sega consoles, with many name changes along the way, before branching out into games in general. I believe the magazine has since become defunct.

Here is an explanation of the main content of the story pages.

The following page shows the main characters. Japanese names (surnames first in Japanese):

• Phoenix Wright — Naruhodou Ryuuichi — The Fey girls call him Naruhodo-kun, which is a play on the word “naruhodo”, meaning “indeed” or “I see”. His first name contains the character for dragon, which is referenced in his case against his imposter.
• Maya Fey — Ayasato Mayoi — her first name uses the characters for “truth” and “evening”.
• Miles Edgeworth — Mitsurugi Reiji — his surname translates as something like “honourable blade/sword”, hence Edgeworth.
• Larry Butz — Yahari Masashi — there is a similar word play with his name as with Phoenix’s. The words “yappari” and “yahari” mean the same thing. Maya calls him “Yappari-san”, which among other things means “as you’d expect”. “When something smells, it’s usually the Butz” is from the Japanese “Jiken no kage ni, yappari Yahari” (“In the shadow of every incident, as you’d expect, it’s Yahari”)
• Pearl Fey — Ayasato Harumi — Her first name means “spring beauty”. Maya calls her Hami-chan for a nickname.
• Mia Fey — Ayasato Chihiro — Her first name uses the characters for “1,000” and “inquire”, referencing cross-examinations. Together it means “bottomless depths”.
• Detective Gumshoe — Itonokogiri Keisuke — His surname uses the words itonoko “jigsaw” (the tool, not the puzzle) and “nokogiri” (musical saw). Maya references it in this episode. Maya and Phoenix call him “Itonoko-keiji” (“Detective Jigsaw”). Pearl calls him “Ohige no keiji” (“Bearded Detective”).
• Franziska von Karma — Karuma Mei — Her first name is simply the character for “dark” (it’s also used in the kanji for Hades, and the minor planet Pluto). In the original, the Karumas lived in the US.
• Diego Armando — Kaminogi — Only his surname is given in this book. It translates as “divine tree”. He is still called Godot when a prosecutor.
• Wendy Oldbag — Ooba Kaoru — Her first name means “fragrant”. Her surname is a play on “ooba”, meaning “grandmother”. It’s also close-enough sounding to the English words “old bag”!

Here is a summary of the original trilogy, plus Yomigaeru Gyakuten (The Resurrected Turnabout/Rise from the Ashes):

Japanese has several different ways of saying “I/me” and “you”, and each character’s choice of word tells us something about their personality. For instance, Pearl uses “watakushi”, which is a very formal way to say “I”. She also uses the polite form, even when talking among friends, giving her the air of being very well brought up and respectful.

Maya uses “atashi” for “I”, which is quite common among girls and young women. It’s somewhat playful and girly, but not overly so.

Phoenix uses “boku”, which is a neutral masculine way of saying “I”, but still somewhat polite.

Larry uses “ore”, which is a rough, masculine way of saying “I”.

Miles uses “watashi”, which for a male is considered quite polite and formal.

Gumshoe uses “jibun”, which means “myself/oneself” (although in Kansai, it means “you”). His manner of speaking in general makes him come across as somewhat uneducated. He uses “anta” instead of “anata” for “you”. He also clips the word “desu” to “ssu”. In English, his catchphrase is “pal” instead.

We can also see how the characters view each other through their choice of word for “you”. In general, when speaking Japanese, it’s best to leave the “you” out, or use the person’s name if it’s not clear from context. Sometimes, it’s used though. Miles uses “kisama” when talking to Larry, which indicates a fairly high level of contempt. Phoenix uses “omae” when talking to Larry, which is still somewhat, if not rude, then let’s say not respectful. I seem to remember him using it with the others as well. Diego uses “anta” when talking to Mia, which shows a level of friendliness.

Official homepage web column compilation. I’m not translating those, I’ll be here until I’m dead. It’s various stuff about the game development and launch, etc and also loads of dialogue between Maya and Phoenix. There is one set of entries that I might possibly do, but no promises. The left hand side is a quick Q&A with the voice actors.

If you’re really curious, here are the archived URLs:

• Gyakuten Saiban 1 GBA
• Gyakuten Saiban 2 GBA
• Gyakuten Saiban 3 GBA (you may need a Flash-enabled browser to view this)
• Gyakuten Saiban 1 DS Relaunch

Staff interviews. I may do these if I run out of things to do (I have a backlog so don’t hold your breath!) and there is enough demand. The woman is Matsukawa (Minae? they didn’t give furigana), the producer. The man is Shuu Takumi, the director, and also the voice of Naruhodo-kun (Phoenix).

Last page:

If anyone would like me to film a flipthrough of the whole book (it’s 144 pages), please leave a comment below, and if there’s enough demand, I’ll do it. My PC is so slow, it takes 2 hours (for real) to export a 10 minute video at 480p. So that’s why I won’t bother unless I’m asked! Anyway, I hope it was fun to take a closer look at the fanbook and learn a little more about the cultural aspects and character dynamics that were lost in translation 🙂