I love the Ace Attorney series very much. I enjoyed everything about it including my two ships, EdgeWright and Klapollo.
I had heard the anime was not up to the par that the live-action film looks much better in comparison. In my opinion, the live-action film did its best and did better than other known anime live-action films. Rouruni Kenshin was a great live-action adaptation while Another was hilariously bad. PGSM was a good series although others would disagree. I enjoyed the series regardless. We are getting a live-action Tiger & Bunny and One Piece in the future after all.
Now, Japan had done live-action stage shows before. SailorMyu and HetaMyu were popular enough. I cannot rid that the actor who played North Italy sounded exactly like Namikawa. There's a Tokyo exhibit of performance for One Piece. In USJ One Piece summer event, there were actors who play their characters.
I'm getting off-topic. Now the AA fandom had been waiting for an anime adaptation at least. They already had a live-action film and merch. Even if the adaptation might not be up to par, it's still an anime adaptation. Which leaves a lot of stuff out.
The point of adaptation was to make sure you have the spirit of the original, keeping what made the stuff great or good at least while maintaining its qualities.
For example, if I am adapting the Persona series into the live-action series, I need to consider town and persons as well as Jungian psychology. As much as I love police officer Akihiko in Trinity Souls, the anime contradicted actual Jungian psychology in parts. Akihiko should still have his Persona, growing stronger the older he gets. They got that people gotta be broken in order to have potential. I need to understand the Tarot cards and fortune-telling because the series always give accurate readings from Igor. Fortune-telling and urban legends is a big thing in SMT overall while also considering that we're dealing with real-life actions here and consider place and time. I had to think of themes appropriate. The series under Kashino's hands had color schemes as well as dealing with true-to-life situations and character flaws. Adachi's story was a Japanese cautionary tale after all and I need to get that out because he's not a sociopath in any way.
How about One Piece? I know the series runs on silliness. I need to adjust what I need and making sure it looks great and not as narmy. I need to know when I could make it cost-effective. Games of Thrones was one of the most expensive shows to date. I mean I get that money needed to pour in to make this a great product to watch. I know people would criticize which so I need to employ those who wanted to work and not to half-ass.
I'm getting off-topic but ya'll get the idea of an adaptation.
Just from the first episodes alone, you know it wouldn't be the same as the game. They need to translate the game into anime. The fun of the game was the problem-solving including THAT ONE LEVEL.
They skipped over stuff I know they could have got into depth. I like the VA's and animation just fine.
From what I see, they can expand and omit details that are not necessary. They still kept the craziness of the courtroom AA is known for, which I am thankful for.
I mean I wouldn't call this anime the epitome of what a video game to anime would be like. It's still flawed and isn't a perfect translation of how one can transition a video game to an anime format.
They made some of the more NaruMitsu moments even more romantic. I am a big sucker for those guys so I am thankful for those moments.
If I were to pick between which is the better adaptation of the games, it would be the live-action movie surprisingly. Maybe it's flowed better while sticking just close enough to the text. That is what I did and say about the live action Bleach movie after all.
Overall, from what I figured, the anime is underwhelming. It fulfilled its purpose of being a game anime adaptation in the same way the Persona series' adaptations are.
...Fans of Into the Spiderverse, be aware that these guys are terrible writers and planners. They do not deserve any benefit of the doubt. They deserved their firing from DW while Tim Hendrick deserves his promotion. Just look what happened to VLD for Godoka's sake. Even now, I'm still crying about the loss of potential or just plain good storytelling with these guys at the helm. They need people to keep them on a leash. Sony, please keep them under supervision before things go bad like how they did with VLD. Keep under them supervision and if they ever try unprofessionalism and other bad things they did at the helm of VLD, don't ever let them try.
If you have any doubts for what I am saying about them being terrible storytellers, look no further than sheer lack of planning and research. And that's not getting into darkness for darkness' sake and lack of empathy for the story and characters. Remember, they tried to recreate VLD as their original Voltron and failed miserably. The fact they don't understand mecha, especially Miss Montgomery, is a blaring red flag.
There were red flags for me as a mecha fan... These two don't know anything or try to know anything about mecha anime. At least, Gen Urobuchi knows about magical girl and Kamen Rider conventions enough to deconstruct them but not at the price of a good story and characters. I recognize the conventions Urobutcher deconstructed so that makes me an easy fan so much so I recommend both works. JDS and LM would sacrifice a good story and characters for their own pride and that's evident in their writing. And their pride consists of terrible writing layers of cake in one-dimensional characters and toxic messages and the dubious honor of being poorly written as an icing. The cake is a mix of baked and underbaked/dry combined with bland icing. Just look at the last season of VLD for the love of Godoka and the Man of the Beginning. And that's with Dreamworks doing damage control on these guys. As a result of this, Code Geass is a better mecha than this - and I honestly feel like I'm insulting CG with the likes of VLD because CG used mecha conventions while VLD refused to touch a single piece of mecha convention, not even a Char Clone for Godoka's sake. Lotor is the closest thing to a Char Clone and they don't take advantage of it at all. - and I think mecha fans would think the same because the use of Voltron is pointless and the Lions became plot devices to the worst degree. They can't clear the line between Real and Super Robots. Is the Lions Real or Super because it's hard to even tell! They should've watched some Gundam or even ask mecha fans about mecha anime conventions. Guillermo Del Toro knows about such conventions which makes Pacific Rim a glorious treat. Yes, PR - not the sequel - is more mecha than VLD and I wholly recommend it if you want to see an American reinterpretation of Japanese mecha.
And that's a genre they never understood. Utter lack of empathy for clones is anything for one. Kuron... The clones in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, Kingdom Hearts, and Tales of the Abyss are treated much better than Kuron on any day of the week in their original universe, even when the universe is clearly working against them. In fact, the current Tsubasa trio is working towards saving Clone Sakura and Syaoran right now and we still don't have a clue whether or not it's Asch or Luke or both who came back. Kuron is a signal that JDS and LM have no clue what storytelling actually entails. They don't even look at Young Justice? They humanized Kuron yet expects the audience to not like him. Um... then why show him vulnerable and above all human? Their incompetent storytelling is detailed right there and that's just one example. Let me tell you that VLD has many examples of bad writing under the helm of these two idiots. And the show is an example of how not to do a multi-seasonal show with micromanaging toxic bosses. If SU is an example of how to not do professional art in a series, then VLD is much worse. VLD, above all else, is a disappointment with cruel themes and poor storytelling. It would be a horrible full course meal to sit through and I wouldn't recommend going through with it except with a couple of seasons that has potential... But other than, yeah, VLD as a recommendation would not sit through. Only watch VLD for how not to do anything storytelling and animation really especially when the potential is spelled out in the first season alone. Ironically, the first season is probably the most well-written of the entire show and that's what makes it worse.
I wanted to give them a chance so badly. But their attitude keeps me from even trying to make peace. I sincerely wish them the best on whatever route they take but if they wanted to become better, they have to improve their attitude for the story and characters. When even George R.R. Martin cared more about the story despite his kill count, then those two are doing it wrong. With no empathy for the story and characters, how can they call themselves writers? Did they even see how Lord and Miller acted in their writing? The script is all out there for the world to see. I can feel the love in there just as much as I can feel the love in Bojack Horseman! JDS and LM don't share love and empathy as writers and readers that are made evident by their own writing in VLD. That's one of the worst things about them.
When the above-mentioned works are doing better than these two, then I refuse to give them anything resembling mercy. I am merciless if anybody ever acted this disingenuous. I am scrutinizing them for their next works because I hope to Godoka they get better. That's all I want from them: just get better from your stupidity and toxicity towards the marginalized, workplace, and storytelling in general.
You guys have this warning: Beware of Joaquin Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery. Don't say I haven't warned you guys if these guys continued their behavior.
If they want to become Alex Hirsch level of fame and professionalism, they are not it to look up to. They want to be Hirsch but they can't. Their level of toxicity and unprofessionalism refused to even touch Hirsch and hell even Miranda's level of professionalism.
So, Mr. Vic Mignogna is currently in a controversy. I had heard about sexual harassment about him before this mess.
I'm surprised the Me Too movement had yet to hit the American dubbing anime industries yet. Internet Youtubers had been hit after all. Just look at Tobuscus, Channel Awesome, and Austin Jones to name a few. I was actually expecting Vic to be in the midst of the Me Too movement.
Regardless of anime's growing popularity, anime is still a niche so people don't know any true news. Netflix doesn't seem to know how to pattern off the good anime from the not so good ones. I have to flat-out tell my cousins never to watch some of these or up to a point because it's terrible. I did recommend watching Neo Yokio simply for its insanity.
So to know that it's basically headline news... I hope Funi recovered from this because their reputation would take a hit about not doing anything about Vic's behavior at cons. Funi, Vic, and the accusers won't come out of this unscathed. If by some miracle, Funi managed to salvage it, then it's fine.
As for me, I'm just surprised it took this long. Although Vic, you really shouldn't let it out in the public eye so soon because as part of the Me Too movement, your repute would still take a hit. Nobody would let it slide you harass underage fans. Even when it's hard to even know the complete truth from both parties, reputation would still be in doubt for both. Thank god, there are no rape allegations but sexual harassment is still not okay. Just because you are famous in a niche doesn't mean you have the power to do any of this to another woman and taking advantage of their adoration to do it. You are bringing it to the forefront but you still won't win with reputation intact.
And I have a feeling that Sabo would have to be recast. FMA already ended so I don't have to worry about a recast. Many of his current roles like Broly might be potentially recast. Although I hoped the English dubs would still be up because they can't erase him from anime dub history. He is the voice of Ed after all and till this day, I still have the dub of the 2003 anime in my collection. I don't have Brotherhood because I preferred reading the manga anyway and yes, it's part of my collection in the Shounen section.
Yes, I have sections. However, I would buy English ones if it's a particular favorite of mine. I have dozens of CLAMP manga but I put in alphabetical order, then volumes.
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