Warning, slight spoilers for Ace Attorney
1. Near the end of the first Ace Attorney game,
we learn of this event called the “class trial”, where a young Phoenix Wright is
accused by his entire class of stealing a classmate’s lunch money. They try to force him to apologize to the
boy, but at the last moment two students step in to his defense. Thankfully, it all ended up working out for
Phoenix in the end, but did you know that there’s actually more here than meets the
eye? Because this whole class trial event actually
happened to the game’s creator when he was in 2nd grade. Now, it didn’t end up working out exactly
the same, perhaps a little more tragically, you could say. So today I’d like to run through what happened
in the fictional class trial, and what happened in the real one too. Let’s go! Hi there, welcome to Thomas Game Docs! So as I mentioned, today we’re looking at
two different class trials - both the fictional one, and the real life one too. There’s some interesting differences between
how each of the stories play out. The fictional one, I would say, is a lot more
hopeful, while the real life one has a slightly more bleak ending. But I’m getting ahead of myself - before
we get talking about any trials, I think it would be in order to quickly look at the man
who created these games, and experienced this traumatic childhood event, first hand. Let me introduce you to Shu Takumi. This is the man behind the Ace Attorney series,
and I don’t say that lightly. The first game had a very small development
team, 7 people, and so each of them were incredibly influential in the creation and formation
of the game. But, Shu Takumi the director pushed and pushed
for Phoenix to be created. The game was almost cancelled multiple times,
one of the only 7 developers left Capcom mid-development, it was truly a struggle. But Shu Takumi persevered, unwilling to give
up on his vision. And finally, 10 months after development began,
the world was gifted with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Now, I think the story that best sums up who
Takumi is as a person is the tale of how he got his job at Capcom in the first place. Come with me for sec. It was 1994 when Shu Takumi showed up to his
job interview at the Capcom offices in Japan. He wasn’t really sure what he was doing
there - he wanted to be an author, not a game developer - but his friend said that making
games was fun, so Takumi figured he'd give it shot. Now, as the interview began nearing its end,
Takumi worried that he hadn’t done enough, he hadn’t proven himself. And so, he decided to pull out a wild card. Literally. He was an avid magician, you see, and he had
brought his magic props to the interview. And so, he decided to perform a magic trick,
right then and there! The interview loved it, but wanted to know
how it was done. Now takumi knew that a magician must never
reveal their secrets, butttt he did want the job at Capcom. And so, he decided to give them a sneak peak
behind the scenes, and thus, he got the job! Alright, so that’s just one of a multitude
of amazingly hilarious Shu Takumi stories. There are genuinely reams of bizarre anecdotes
about this man’s life, and I love him for it. But now you’ve got a sense for who he is,
let’s talk class trials, shall we! First off, let’s quickly go over what happened
during the in-game class trial. I know that my mind was a bit fuzzy on it
before I started researching this video. So, this whole class trial story features
three main characters. Phoenix Wright, the game’s protagonist,
Miles Edgeworth, a prosecutor, and Larry Butz, your childhood friend. As the phrase goes, “When something smells,
it’s usually the Butz.” So you actually encounter Larry right at the
beginning of the game. He’s defendant of the tutorial case! When you first meet him, he announces “Dude,
I’m so guilty!! Tell them I’m guilty!!! Gimme the death sentence! I ain’t afraid to die!” But, throughout the course of this short tutorial
case, you eventually prove that Larry isn’t in fact guilty, and that seems like it’ll
be the last of your interactions with him. But later on, that turns out to be not quite
true... You see, this whole thing stems from a simple
conversation between Phoenix and his assistant, Maya. “Why do you trust Edgeworth so much? Back when we first met him, he was kinda a
jerk, don’t ya think.” “You didn’t know him back then. In grade school. They saved me… Miles… And Larry.” It was early spring, in fourth grade, and
a young Phoenix was coming down was a cold. Because of that, his teacher let him skip
PE for the day, and instead stay in the classroom, studying on his own. Now, his school was fairly small, and so at
the beginning of each month, the students would bring in an envelope containing all
of their lunch money for the semester. However, during this fateful PE lesson, one
student's envelope mysteriously vanished. In this envelope was $38 dollars. That’s nothing to sniff at! After the PE lesson finished, the students
returned to the classroom to discover an empty envelope. And, the only one in the classroom was Phoenix. Naturally, they assumed it had to have been
him who had committed this truly horrific theft. But how to punish him for the crime? Well, they came up with a solution: the next
day, they would hold a class trial to determine Phoenix’s guilt. However, as the next day came around, it soon
turned out that this class trial was, well, less than judicial. Rather than presenting testimony and weighing
up evidence like in a real court, the students began to chant “Guilty, guilty, guilty! It was you! Thief!” Phoenix desperately tried to assert his innocence,
but the cruel chanting continued. Scared and confused, he looked to his teacher
for some kind of help, any kind of help. But all he got in response was “Now, Phoenix,
you shouldn’t steal people’s money! It’s not right. Apologize to the class, Phoenix.” It all seemed like some kind of cruel nightmare
to the young student. Everyone was ganging up on him, and he didn’t
seem to have any way out. But then, all of a sudden: “Objection! He shouldn’t have to apologize!” It was Miles Edgeworth, the boy whose money
had been stolen, and a budding attorney. Loudly, he called out, “The only thing that
belongs in a trial is evidence!” Yes, some kind of help for Phoenix! However, Edgeworth’s shouts didn’t seem
to sway the tide of public opinion, and the students continued to chant “He did it! He’s the one!” Yet again, Phoenix was scared and all alone. But again, help soon came his way. “Why don’t you all just shut up!!!” Another student, Larry Butz suddenly shouted
out at the top of his voice, “This is how it is, everybody ganging up and picking on
one person. Just think how he feels!” Finally, the class listened. With a sigh, the teacher responded “Very
well. I will replace the money myself. This class trial is over.” Later that day, Phoenix ran up to Edgeworth
to thank him for his help, and more importantly, thank him for believing in him. Then, out of nowhere, Larry ran up to them
both. Again, Phoenix gave him his gratitude. And from that day forth, Phoenix larry and
Edgeworth became inseparable friends. ...Until a certain incident, anyway. Ah, isn’t that a sweet story. Well, until you realise who stole the lunch
money all along… But, you’ll have to play the game to figure
that one out. But as I mentioned before, this is just one
of the two class trials that took place. Because in addition to the fictional one from
the game, a similar event took place in the childhood of Shu Takumi, the creator of Ace
Attorney who we talked a little bit about earlier. Let’s take a look way way back then shall
we, to the summer of 1979. It seemed like any other summer day in a regular
middle school in Japan, and second grade student Shu Takumi was playing all alone in the schoolyard. Feeling a little bored, he began exploring
this playground, when something in the distance caught his eye. Far far away, next to the garbage disposal
area, there was something shiny lying on the ground. But, what was it? He decided to investigate. Once he got a little closer, he was able to
make what the object was. A small tin can, maybe 5cm tall, with a small
piece of origami stuck onto the front of it. What was this object, he wondered, and what
was it doing just lying on the playground by the garbage area. He decided to pick it up, and see what it
was. He gave it a shake, and it sounded sort of
metallic. What was that? After turning it upside down, the object revealed
itself to him. It was a single 5 yen coin. That's about 4 UK pennies - it’s really
not much. Now, without thinking much of it, the young
Takumi put the coin in his pocket, put the can back where he found it, and forgot about
the whole thing. But, the next day, this harmless act would
come back to bite poor Takumi. He was sitting in class during a regular lesson,
when a knock came on the door. He was called into a classroom he’d never
seen before, full of 40 students who he’d never met. And at the front of the class was a 40 year
and extremely enraged teacher. He turned to Takumi and began scolding him. “Stealing is bad! Now apologize and once!” He was led over to a girl who, again, he had
never seen in his life, and ordered to apologize for his wrongdoing. Takumi couldn’t help but freeze. He didn’t have a clue what was going on,
he was confused, scared, and completely alone. All he could think was “No! It wasn't me! All I did was find it...!” His mind went blank. Now let’s pause for a second. What on earth is going on here? Well, it turns out that Takumi had fallen
foul to a horrid prank by a couple of students in this unknown classroom. You see, the previous day, it turned out that
the class had been been working on a handicraft project - they had each made their very own
piggy bank out of a tin can and a small piece of origami. They simply folded the origami, affixed it
to the can, and voila! Their money boxes had been created! However, a couple of students from the class
had managed to steal one girl’s money box, without her even noticing, and they later
hid it by the garbage disposal area. I think you can see where this is going. Along comes Takumi with no idea of the morning’s
events, and look, a money box! Without so much as a thought, he just put
the 5 yen coin into his pocket. It was 5 yen, after all. Unfortunately for him, another student saw
him fiddling with the money box, which leads us back to… “Hurry up and apologize!” the teacher
insisted hysterically. Takumi looked around the class, and in return
he was greeted by 40 cold glares. They started to shout at him, “You can’t
go stealing people’s money!” Takumi’s mind was blank. He didn’t know what to do, other than apologize. “...I’m sorry” he eventually mustered
up, a tear rolling his cheek. He bowed to the class, and began repeating
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’M SORRY” again and again. With no Edgeworth to shout “Objection”,
no Larry Butz to yell “Shut up”, Takumi was left all alone, wondering what he did
to deserve all of this. Well, that wasn’t very cheerful was it. But there’s a little more to this story. Stick with me for a second. You see, if we fast forward 20 years or so,
Takumi was now all grown up, and in the midst of writing the script for his GameBoy Advance
lawyer simulator, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. And as he wrote, he suddenly remembered this
pretty tragic memory from his childhood. And, right then and there, he decided to rework
the events to fit the game - it would certainly do a good job of building up the characters
he had worked so hard to make the player fall in love with. But this was also an opportunity. A chance to take the negative memories from
his past, and put a positive spin on them. What if, in that moment when he was feeling
so completely alone, someone had stepped in to his defense, quite literally? And so, he began writing the the events of
the class trial, where Phoenix would be accused of stealing a classmate’s lunch money, much
like the 5 yen he was accused of taking when he was in grade school. But, he made the crucial addition of two moments. “Objection! He shouldn’t have to apologize!” That was the first. And the second, “Why don’t you all just
shut up!!! This is how it is, everybody ganging up and
picking on one person. Just think how he feels!” That was it. That was what Takumi had needed in his moment
of complete loneliness. In a sense, writing this revised scene was
a sort of closure for the game designer. It brought an end to the bitter memories from
that day. A few days later, Takumi brought up this class
trial in a meeting about the script, as a sort of joke. But, instead of laughing along with him, like
Takumi expected and sort of hoped, they instead sympathised with him, felt sorry for him. Takumi was shocked. Somehow, that wasn’t at all the reaction
he had expected. But while the events certainly stung when
he was a child, they ultimately proved useful to Takumi. That class trial moment from the first game
is heartwarming and incredibly powerful, I think. For a writer, your past experiences influence
everything you write. As Takumi himself put it, “Such trifling,
slightly bitter memories... For scenario writers, they're like spices
they can take out and use when they have trouble coming up with ideas. But do that for too long, and you'll run out
of ideas anyway. Maybe it's about time to get a new stock of
trifling, slightly bitter memories...” Maybe, Takumi, maybe! Hi there! Thank you so much for watching to the end! So it's currently, 9:30 or something like
that, I've been editing for most of the day, so I'm ready to never look at an attorney
again. I just wanna say thank you for watching this
much! And also to plug my Twitter! If you're not following me there, then I'd
really recommend it, if you want to hear more from me. If you don't, then don't go there! Cool, see you next week then! Bye!
