Episode 4

(Suspense music set to a guy counting in front of a TV screen. In other words, the beginning of a horror movie. Next thing you know, he's gonna jump up and kill the same number of…the fuck, he's dead!)

"I…I have nothing to say here. And not because I agree with what she's saying, because…I have no idea what the fuck her point is here! What the hell is this supposed to be? You just described what is happening on the screen-which we can all see-and just gave us your opinion on it. You have given zero reasons why that is a problem of the game. Please tell me she is not going to pad her sin count in this case. If she believes turnabout storyteller of all cases needed padding of the sin count, that says a lot about her taste." One sin added.

(He's late, he's late for a very important date!) Alice in Wonderland reference. Between this and episode two, I'd say someone's a fan.]

"Okay…and where's the sin? Games, movies and series have been using pop culture references for years. It works, since it appeals to various groups of audiences so as not to alienate them. Why are they a bad thing? And that's really ironic, coming from you, since pop culture references constitute 50% of this series." One sin added.

(Simon acts like Athena has no chance on her own and demands she gets Apollo or Phoenix to help her after encouraging her to do things herself last game. What caused such a change in character?)

"Well, Simon was not particularly interested in the previous cases. He was a few days away from execution, so he didn't care in the cases' outcome. All he cared about was to encourage Athena to become more independent and strong. But now, he has a lot of stakes in this case, since the defendant is the owner of his favorite soba shop. He wants the case to end on a not guilty verdict and he thinks Apollo or Phoenix will have much more possibilities of accomplishing that than Athena." One sin added.

(Bucky has known Athena for five seconds and already ships her with Simon Blackquill. I guess he's seen the fanart.)

"(Sigh) She is going to pad her sin count in this case, isn't she?" one sin added.

(Wait…Whet noodle? Are you telling me…well. Unexpected return of Yanni Yogi's bloodline is unexpected. Though it does explain the witness antics.)

"Yanni Yogi's shack was not the Wet Noodle. That's a lie he came up with to look like an idiot and support his apparent mental diasbiliity. Bucky claims they have been in business for four generations. It's possible Yogi just heard that name somewhere and decided to name his supposed shop the same way. And even If you argue it is a case of the localization team being lazy or forgetful and using the same name…that's still on a sin of the game itself." One sin added.

(Rakugo in Los Angeles. I have developer confirmation this entire case was created as a big middle finger to the localizers, who did nothing to deserve such treatment.)

"So the Japanese creators of a game taking place in Japan adding Japanese culture in it is sinful now? Rakugo is an integral part of Japanese culture. The developers were probably into it and so, they made a case about it. And this wouldn't be such an issue if the localizers did not still try to pass the series of as taking place in America. Between this and the Yokai craze in DD, it is clear the developers want to make the series more connected to their culture. And with the continued efforts of the localizers to justify the series being in Los Angeles, the whole deal is starting to reek of nationalism. Not everything needs to connect to American culture." One sin added.

(Also, Blackquill gives zero fucks about the murder, he just wants his favorite restaurant to stay in business so he can eat soba the same way Gumshoe consumes ramen. Relatable, but still sin-worthy.)

"But why? Why would it be sin-worthy? Blackquill actually has stakes in the outcome of this case. They may not be great, but it is still does justify the actions he takes later in court. And this is not his only reason, since he states he and the victim were close and that both the victim and Bucky's father would not forgive him in the afterlife if he let Bucky end up in jail. You complain a lot about this case having a shitty plot, but you sure are having a hard time following it." One sin added.

(Trial begins.) Let's talk about Nahyuta being here for a second.]

"Let's not." One sin added.

(Nahyuta claims he wants to repay his debt to Phoenix…by sending his subordinate down to Hell? I don't think he knows how debs work.)

"Pierce…I think he is being ironic. Phoenix beat him in the last case and so, he wants to get back at him by crushing Athena. Sure, that does make his redemption arc a bit hard to swallow, I will admit, but it is still in character. Even if the character is badly written." One sin added.

(Athena is even more of a kid here than she was a year ago. I get the events of last year were more serious to her, but this just feels like character regression. And she isn't the only one this happens to.)

"I agree…this case is quite enjoyable as a filler case, which his what it's meant to be. But it's placement is very awkward and it does make Nahyuta even more unlikeable. If they had made it another DLC case for the game, and made Athena a bit more competent, the case would probably be a lot more loved." One sin removed.

(Nahyuta criticizes Athena for being unprepared.) I think the question is, how the fuck are you prepared? You showed un this country yesterday, goddammit it!]

"Yes, he did. And he wasn't prepared exactly for that reason. It is later shown she spent the whole night studying Rakugo to be prepared for the case and didn't know about basic facts of the crime as a result. Nahyuta may be really good at prosecuting, but he still is not the best." One sin added.

"And don't think I forgot about you telling at the screen." One sin added.

(First a bell pepper, now an egg yolk. Does this guy not eat? When everything reminds you of food, it usually means you are hungry. And you are not you when you are hungry.)

"Pierce makes a snickers pop culture reference that isn't a sin of the game cliché." One sin added.

(Blackquill is upset over being replaced as main prosecutor and resorts to…Rakugo trivia in an attempt to test his replacement? Of all the things he could do to him? It's like he forgot he was a badass or something.)

"Well, he is a witness right now. Turning badass on the prosecution would be damaging to his testimony and possibly get held in contempt of court, which means he will be unable to affect the outcome of the case. After he joins Athena on the defense's side, he takes a whole new level to badass. Because he can afford to do so then." One sin added.

(Case about tow disciples fighting over succession of a dead master give me unwanted flashbacks to AJ, episode 4. And makes me really concerned about the state of Athena's badge.)

"Pierce makes a reference to a different game that isn't…" one sin added.

[(Suffocating someone in three minutes.) Game goes on to make this sound like bullshit, but I looked it up: Athena's claim checks out. As for why she knows how to suffocate someone off the top of her head, I have no idea.]

"Pierce asks how Athena knows how long it would take someone to suffocate someone…immediately after saying she looked it up." One sin added.

(And once again, Athena continues her streak of blindly accusing virtually everyone of a crime until she happens to reach the true culprit. If she had the case that inspired this one, or even Apollo's role in the next one, she'd be fucked.)

"Then it's a good thing she didn't have a part on either case. Again "Ifs" won't cut it here. And Athena's strategy works since she does stumble upon the real culprit. And there really wasn't another person to accuse other than Uendo and his other personalities. And since Uendo was meant to be a red herring…" one sin added.

(Athena rags on Geiru's balloon artistry, but both the hat and cake look awesome. I wish I could do that in three seconds…oh, mu, excuse me, miss, a few balloons seem to have fallen down your dress. May wanna fish those out. I can't imagine keeping them so covered is comfortable and His Honor certainly agrees with me.)

"Wow…Pierce just sinned something she likes, made a cringey sexual joke and yelled at the screen in one breath. Guess how many sins you are getting for that one. Exactly." Twenty sins added.

(I realize it's important to the plot later, but why does no one think it's weird Geiru would feed her small dog such a large amount of dumplings? Depending on what's in them, that can be really bad for dogs.)

"The thought may have crossed the minds of a few people…but who's to say they'd address it? The gallery has no say in this, Nahyuta is too stubborn to focus on anything but his own case and why would the people conducting a murder trial care at all about Geiru's dog's feeding habits?" one sin added.

(Nahyuta ask the gallery for their opinion and questions Athena's resolve.) Reusing the tricks of past villains cliché. While not entirely wrong in his argument, this move is ultimately what got Blackquill to become Athena's co-counsel, only hurting his case in the long run. Nahyuta, if you want thing to go well for you, don't take tips from the phantom.)

"And that's why it fails. Athena has been shown to not take it very well when the people around her admonish her and treat her like being incapable. Nahyuta can tell this and uses it as a way of breaking her concentration. It is pretty clever. And since this is what got Blackquill to become our co-counsel, it is the best thing that could have happened." One sin added.

(Also, if the witness joins the defense's bench, doesn't that hurt the credibility of their testimony?)

"In principal, yes. But Simon's testimony is nothing but beneficial to Nahyuta's case and it does help his case against Bucky. So even if Simon is clearly biased here, Nahyuta has no reason to have his testimony retracted." One sin added.

(Why is Uendo allowed to sit down while testifying?)

"Pierce failing at game logic n. 236607." One sin added.

[(Stiff bards near stiff.) Athena sucks at catching onto puns.]

"Where are you getting this? Because she never addresses that pun? She has no reason to dwell on such an insignificant point of the testimony and it's not such a great pun for anyone to comment on it." One sin added.

(How does the fan also works as a fan for Kisegawa?)

"Pierce failing at game logic n. 236608." One sin added.

(Owen 4th) Geiru wanted to frame Uendo for the murder, so…she outs one of his personalities only she and the victim knew about? Damn, her frame game's weak. If it hasn't been for the five-year old's quick thinking, this case would have ended a lot sonner than it did?]

"Would it? Because I'm sure the police would ask around for a person named Owen. And Geiru, knowing about the fourth personality, could reveal that to the cops and tell them how to get that personality to come out. And that was the best personality to blame for the crime. It is the only one not to share memories with the others, which means Uendo could not positively deny committing the crime." One sin added.

(Nahyuta takes another leaf from Franziska's book and urges a witness to plead the fifth.. This works as well here as it did in JFA)

"It almost worked in JFA. Edgeworth overcame it by playing on Andrew's psychological state. The same goes here. Blackquill tricks Uendo into talking more through psychological manipulation. That's how it usually goes. A prosecutor tries to protect a witness from being exposed and the badass character gets them to talk." One sin added.

[(Why will you not listen to the guidance of this humble servant of the holy mother?) Because you're cranky, jet-lagged and just called him an impetuous fool. Need I say more?]

"No, you don't need to say more. That's enough yelling at the screen out of you." One sin added.

(The cushion game.)

"Pierce points out things on the screen cliché." One sin added.

(No way is that TV's cord long enough for the TV to play from near the door.)

"B…but the game is showing you it is...why do you refuse to accept what the game is showing you?! Who are you to question it?!" one sin added.

(Uendo is revealed to have separate personalities, some of which witnesses different things and some aren't aware of each other. One of them's a five-year old, goddammit it! If these courts can declare Yanni Yogi innocent due to legal insanity, they could declare Uendo unfit to testify for the same reason.)

"Look, I see your point. And I agree. This case is pretty bad and a lot of stupid things happen. But I would have removed sins for the accurate representation of dissociative identity disorder in this case. I hate how people suffering from DID are portrayed as monster and sociopathic criminals. It's a ridiculous, stereotypical myth. The fact is those people are very normal on their life, as long as they can control all of their personalities. And the way it was handled here is very well-done. In Split, Kevin Wendell Crumb was shown having a secret 24th personality that is a savage beats feeding on human flesh. That is unrealistic, offensive and stigmatizes people with similar mental illnesses. Uendo seems to be building up in the same direction…but the game subverts this by making his hidden personality a five-year old boy. This case may be bad, but there is a lot to be appreciated here." One sin added.

(Blackquill…I'm sure glad he's on my side today.) Speaking of…is there any reason Blackquill isn't our prosecutor?]

"Now that's just silly. Blackquill joining the defense's side and helping Athena by acting as her co-counsel and fighting off Nahyuta's insults is one of the greatest things about this case. And you asked for it to be cut out." One sin added.

(Athena wants to get Uendo drunk.) One drunk witness isn't enough, Your Honor! This trial isn't nearly idiotic enough yet! No, I demand a second drunk person. Or…three more? Four? How are we counting this?)

"Good point. Really, I agree, this is stupid. I would remove a sin…if you hadn't yelled at the screen again. You know who you should be yelling at? The developers! You know, the guys who made this game? Not the characters in the game that literally had no hand in anything going on in this game!" one sin added.

(Also, can you imagine being Uendo in college? Hey, wanna get drunk? I can't. Why not? I turn into a five-year old boy at the slightest presence of alcohol in my system…holy fuck, I just typed that.)

"Yes, that would be pretty fucked up…but the fact is people like Uendo do exist. People with DID, whose personal life suffers before they cannot show they true selves or they will risk being isolated and treated like monsters. Stigmatization is a thing and people with mental illnesses need to fight really hard to not be themselves." One sin added.

(Also, after fifteen years of the game denying the existence of alcohol, they finally come clean.)

"Finally? So I guess you forgot about chief Gant being intoxicated at the police department's Christmas party in AA-5? The grape juice in AJ was grape juice. Period." One sin added.

(Forcing Uendo to ingest alcohol.) That's nto legal.]

"The judge has given his permission. And as long as Uendo is on the stand, he does have to be cooperative." One sin added.

(Unedo should see a doctor about his alcohol tolerance. I feel like there is a condition associated with this.)

"Yes…it's called DID! That guy is mentally ill, those people don't have the tolerance the other people have!" one sin added.

(Also, forcing a five-year old-or the personality of one-to give testimony. That is not valid testimony, goddammit it!)

"Okay…I agree, while Uendo's representation of DID is great, this part is pretty stupid! Even by AA standards, this is way over the legal line." one sins removed.

(Blackquill grabbing Athena by the collar.)

"Sinning the collar scene." Ten sins added.

[(Finding the murder weapon.) Athena plays I Spy in court.]

"Pierce makes a pop culture reference…" one sin added.

(You've wasted enough of our time, defense. Let it go and move on.) You assh… eh, you are right. Athena, please take the sad monks advice. I really wanna move on to turnabout revolution.]

"Fair enough. But you still yelled at the screen." One sin added.

(Let me reiterate: Athena figures out Geiru is the real culprit because…the five year old personality of a witness who definitely meets the game's definition of legal insanity and only appears when the witness is drunk remembered Geiru's perfume during the death of his grandfather figure who he adored.)

"Yes…and that's something Athena would do. When Blackquill was on trial, Athena tried to testify in his defense, but the court ignored her and declared him guilty. She knows how it feels to be ignored due to being a traumatized child and allow the truth to get lost as a result. She doesn't want to do the same to Owen, which is why she gives him a chance. And you even acknowledge this directly after this sin, but this one is still in the fic, So this will get you two sins since you knowledge a plot point that nullifies your sin and still choose to ignore it." Two sins added.

(Judge only calls Geiru to the stand because he likes her fake tits. You're married with grandchildren, Your Honor! And if you're looking for tits, simply wander one case further. I can guarantee you peeks at two women, both with the real deal.)

"Pierce yells at the screen and makes a cringe sexual joke. She can't get enough of those things." Fifteen sins added.

[(Athena decides indicting Geiru is the only option.) Unless this case is a suicide, like the one that inspired it.]

"Are you being serious right now? In AJ, Magnifi was shot in the head. That is the most likely way to commit suicide. Taifu was suffocated to death with noodle dough. How the fuck could that be a suicide? Who would and could kill themselves in that way? And why?!" one sin added.

(Geiru can put her glove on and off like magic. I wish I was that fast at changing my clothes.)

"Pierce failing at game logic n. 236609." One sin added.

(Taifu Toneido knew Geiru would come into his dressing room from time to time, but still often made soba in there like an asshole. Between this and everything else, is it any wonder she wanted to off this guy?! He could have killed her! If she wasn't an idiot, and everyone in this court wasn't a total dick to the idea of a proper trial, she'd have gotten away with it. And honestly, I knda get the feeling she should have…)

"Okay, I am fucking done with this fic! You are actually supporting Geiru for murdering Taifu? He cooked Soba, but it wouldn't threaten Geiru as long as she wouldn't touch it. And he wasn't even making soba when he killed her, so her killing him was stupid. She may be a sympathetic villain, sort of, but I hate how everyone is simping for Geiru when playing this case. You wanted Bucky, an innocent guy, to go to prison and Geiru to win and get away with murder and evidence fabrication just because she has balloon tits?! This is beyond dumb, beyond ridiculous…this is insanity! I am done!" thirty sins added.

Total sins tally: 115

Sentence: Eating too many dumplings.