Translation note: the characters use the English phrase "new music", so the bit when Pearl says "'new' means 'NEW'", she's saying atarashii, the Japanese word for "new", for the second "new".

Episode 12 — August 2005 issue

Takumi Snippet

Takumi Shuu (??)
Ace Attorney's director and scriptwriter. It's rumoured his fuel is alcohol.
Status: ...The song that goes, "I want to set sail on a ship over the sea to another land" can, these days, elicit tears of agreement.

Letters Corner

• Last month's issue was fun and hilarious and really good. "Polypropylene" really hit the mark. When Maya said, "It's cute," it seemed that girl had good sense, thank goodness. Takumi-san, despite your difficulties with the game, thank you so much. Suekane-san, your illustrations are always enjoyable, too. (Kazutotoro, Hyougo Prefecture)

Cultural notes: If you speak Japanese, you may know that the months are boringly named "month one", "month two", and so on, but the months have traditional names as well. The traditional name for December is Shiwasu. It is written 師走, which uses the characters "priest"/"master" and "run", the meaning of which is often said to be that December is so busy, that even the priests are running about in a hurry. You can read more here.

There is a punny bit, where Maya uses another character for master 士, which also has a reading of shi, but has the meaning more of a person qualified to do a job. For instance, the word for "lawyer", bengoshi, uses the character: 弁護士. In this case, I have written it in uppercase: SHI.
The official name: Shiwasu = 師走
Maya's version: SHIwasu = 士走

I do wonder how she was able to communicate this with just the spoken word. Maybe the pitch accents are different.

In the letters corner, a reference is made to an Akiman illustration in the previous issue. This wasn't included in the book. The only thing I can find matching the description is this image. I don't know if it's the one, but it's tagged Akiman, and features "the two of them", but I really don't know.

Episode 16 — December 2005 Issue

Takumi Snippet

Takumi Shuu (??)
Ace Attorney's director and scriptwriter. It's rumoured his fuel is alcohol.
Status: ...Well, this year is almost over, too. How can I put it? Recently, I have an image of just rushing about all year. I wonder if it's the year's fault?

Translator's Notes: I've updated this (Oct 2021) to fix a really stupid mistake I made the first time, although somehow, I found that version funnier. Anyway, at the end, Maya is referencing katsudon. From Wikipedia: It has become a modern tradition for Japanese students to eat katsudon the night before taking a major test. This is because "katsu" is a homophone of the verb "katsu", meaning "to win" [also the reason for my translation mistake the first time round!]. It is also a trope in Japanese police films: suspects will speak the truth with tears when they have eaten katsudon and are asked, "Did you ever think about how your mother feels about this?". This explains why Pearl serving him katsudon makes him feel more like a prisoner than before.

Episode 13 — September 2005 Issue

Takumi Snippet

Takumi Shuu (??)
Ace Attorney's director and scriptwriter. It's rumoured his fuel is alcohol.
Status: ... The production has somehow reached a stopping point. Things are more laid back. With a feeling of fullness, I properly signed it off. My apologies.

Info Corner

I'm going to show you the contents of the deluxe limited edition of the DS release of Gyakuten Saiban — The Resurrected Turnabout.

Notes: In the Japanese version, Payne's name is Auchi, which is a play on "Ouch", hence Payne/pain. The puns at the end are "Couch" and "Pouch". Maya's bean comment is referring to the bean throwing festival.

I think I've solved a little of the confusion I was having. I think Edgey's just been looking back through historic cases, and telling them how everything seemed to be disastrous back then, and then the 15 year old case comes up as an example. I think.

Episode 9 — May 2005 Issue

Takumi Snippet

Takumi Shuu (??)
Ace Attorney's director and scriptwriter. It's rumoured his fuel is alcohol.
Status: Recently, I had the chance to follow a certain mystery author's diet. As for the enjoyment of the mystery, my true feelings ended up going beyond words.

Letters Corner

• I'm crazy about Suekane-san's wonderful illustrations! (Saika, Tokyo Metropolis)
~ She also drew this issue's cover for us! It's the appearance of the new character, Akane [Ema]!

• It's so funny! I think "Larry-kun" is a really great character. (nas, Mie Prefecture)
~ The story is calmer this issue, but for March and April's issues, things were really crazy! I wonder what will be in the new episode?

Main story translation by Hikari Kaitou, editing and the rest by Silver Arrows.

Hikari's Notes: "Around the time of the Hanami Festival." Flower viewing (hanami) season is a big deal in Japan, where a lot of people make a point to visit parks with flowering trees and hold picnics and drinking parties under their branches.

Episode 6 — February 2005 Issue

Takushuu Column — Ace Attorney 3

Hello! Last time and the time before, we looked back on the trilogy, but now we come to the end.

Ace Attorney 3.

Actually, at the point that AA2 was completed, I already had an image of what AA3's final story would be. The final version was completely different, but this time, let's start with that story.

In front of an extravagant hotel, an assassination, seemingly by a professional hitman, takes place. The hitman's name is Koroshiya Sazaemon [Shelly de Killer]. However, 17 years earlier, he was already declared dead. His final moments are revealed, and we learn Sazaemon's true identity... Continue reading →

Notes: There was no illustration on this page, but going from the Hamidashi Corner in next month's issue, there appeared to have been a separate illustration by Akiman somewhere. See the next issue for more.

Episode 15 — November 2005 Issue

Takumi Snippet

Takumi Shuu (??)
Ace Attorney's director and scriptwriter. It's rumoured his fuel is alcohol.
Status: ...Because of the popularity of Ace Attorney, the official blog will be updated every Tuesday and Friday... Recently, it strangely feels like I have a lot of deadlines...

Letters Corner

• This is the first issue I've bought. The articles are super good. I also pre-ordered the game. It'll be fun from now on (Masashi Tomo, Aichi Prefecture)

Notes: Maya tries to say "Merry Christmas" in English, but she says it the kana way.

Thanks to Hikari Kaitou for corrections. Thank you to u/Evelinessa for pointing out that the card Franziska was returning was de Killer's card from Gyakuten Saiban 2. Neither Hikari nor I picked up on that!

Episode 5 — January 2005 Issue

Takushuu Column — Ace Attorney 2

"Let's get straight to AA3!"

When the producers decided to continue with the series, I was so grateful.

To be honest, at the time we launched AA1, I was kinda half-hearted about a sequel. I couldn't think at all of making anything beyond the first game.