Within the Ace Attorney series, the prosecutor’s tend to be the best written, and most fleshed out characters of their respective games. I have a lot of thoughts on all of them, but instead of making individual articles for each, I thought I’d just rank them all for your (and my) convenience
Disclaimer: this list is subject to change, as the last 3 spots tend to shift around quite a bit. This is more to be taken as a catalog of my thoughts on each of the series most notable prosecutors. Additionally, I’m gonna basically define prosecutor as whoever is the main rival to the prosecutor throughout the game, meaning characters like Shi Long Lang are fair game, while others like Manfred Von Karma, aren’t. I might make a final culprits ranking sometime in the future for him though
All That being said, let’s begin with
11. Nahyuta Sahdmadhi
Now personally, I think the modern trilogy of Ace Attorney has done a pretty good job of differentiating their prosecutors with those of the original trilogy, with Nahyuta being the big exception. Idk man, he’s just boring, and I don’t have a lot to talk about with him. He feels reminiscent of the OG trilogy prosecutor’s, but in a way that makes him feel very generic and boring. The only real thing I like about him is that I think it’s funny how he travels all the way to Phoenix’s home country to spite Apollo specifically
10. The Paynes
Ah the Paynes. They talk a big game even though their purpose is to be fodder for the tutorial cases. They’re above Nahyuta because at least I feel something when I think of a Payne. And I just think they’re really funny in how pathetic they are. In fact, as we see in the Great Ace Attorney. They’ve been losing to the Wright family for generations. They’re familial purpose is to job to a member of the Wright family. Hell, Gaspen Payne became head prosecutor of Khu’rain only to get defeated by Phoenix, again. Ace Attorney plays these guys up as professional yappers about how “good” they are, which will never not make taking them down satisfying
9. Barok Von Zieks
Okay so to clarify this right off the bat, while Barok is low on the list, there’s also a very sizable gap between him and the Paynes. Like a Turnabout Bigtop and Bridge to the Turnabout quality wise type of gap big. Just to be clear, we’re feasting good here on out
Anyway, Barok Von Zieks. I like him, he’s definitely got a really cool design, theme, and story with his brother in GAA2. I like to refer to him as the “hype moments and aura” prosecutor, because of his in court animations. Whenever the leg animation plays, you know that’s when shit gets real and he’s about to lock in. And when the animation plays against Stronghart in the final case, it’s easily one of my favorite moments in the case.
8. Shi Long Lang
Shi Long Lang is similar to Barok, in that he has a lot of “hype moments and aura” moments. And ye, I think he’s cool, I like that he has an army of men at his side, and really like how he knows them so thoroughly, to the point that he knows their birthdays, their families birthdays, and their families, relatives birthdays. It’s that kind of thoroughness that shows he really does care for his men, and is why they come back to him in Investigations 2 despite him being demoted. Ye, Shi Long Lang is just cool, and definitely a worthy opponent for Miles Edgeworth
7. Franziska Von Karma
Franziska’s a weird one for me. Truthfully, I don’t have a lot to say about her, but I do think that her reputation does earn her at least being above the prosecutor’s below her. It’s always nice to see her when she does show up, I like how indiscriminately abrasive she is, turning her whip on anyone who would dare cross her, and not just Phoenix (though he does get the brunt of it). I also think her vocabulary is pretty funny, with her overuse of the word “fool” in increasingly absurd ways, and like that she is starting to come out of her fathers shadow and carve her own path, like her brother. Honestly, I’d like to see her return, just so we can see what she does next. She’s an interesting character with a lot of potential to grow as a prosecutor
6. Simon Blackquil
The modern trilogy of Ace Attorney has done a pretty good job of differentiating their prosecutor’s from the original trilogy. And this may be an unpopular opinion, but I think Blackquil continues this trend. On the surface he looks scary, as the “convicted prosecutor”, but then you learn more about him, and realize that unlike many other prosecutors who lean on the antagonistic side, Blackquil just wants to help Athena, and see her grow as an attorney. He’s a sort if second mentor in that sense, and I think that’s really cool and unique for a prosecutor. I also love his relationship to Athena, easily the best part of Dual Destinies for me, being the man Athena desperately wants to save from the fate Blackquil took on to save her. He’s also the best part of Spirit of Justice’s most mediocre case, and the one that made the case bearable to sit through
5. Klavier Gavin
I think Apollo Justice is the most interesting game in the Ace Attorney series, a game that shows what the series could’ve been if Apollo truly had become the central main character over Phoenix. And Klavier is a prime example of this, a huge departure from the prosecutors of the previous entries. Edgeworth, Franziska, and Godot all had beef with Phoenix, a personal reason to take him down that deterred them from the ultimate mission of obtaining the truth. Klavier has every reason to have this same beef, facing off the man who took down his brother, Kristoff and being mentored by the man who was thought to have plunged the legal world into disarray.
But he doesn’t.
He has no beef with Apollo, or Trucy, no ulterior motives, and is only slightly petty (20% off tickets when they could’ve been free). His only goal throughout the game is to find the truth, and that’s it. He’s simple, but that simplicity is what makes him a breath of fresh air for prosecutors
4. Eustace Winner
I hated Eustace when I first played Investigations 2. This whiny, annoying nepo baby brat who was being paraded around by the prosecutor’s office to specifically spite Edgeworth was so annoying to me on my first playthrough. And yet, when I finished the game, Eustace ended up becoming one of my favorite characters in the entire series. He’s a perfect representation of the themes of the game, of how a parents legacy can have an effect on a child, from Judy Bound never recovering from her dependance on her father, to Simian Saint going down an even darker path due to his abandonment. Eustace almost became like them, until he gained the strength from Edgeworth to rise above his fathers tainted legacy, the legacy that up until this point he’d been coasting on, and forge his own path, build his own truth. He has the biggest glow up of any character in the series, and replays of Investigations 2 are so much better after you’ve experience his journey in full.
3. Miles Edgeworth
Not number 1? Well remembers, the top 3 changes a lot, I just like Edgeworth 3rd best, for now. Consider these next few spots 1/2/3 if you like. Anyway, Edgeworth definitely has a huge advantage due to the amount of screen time he has, having 2 games to flesh him out. But that screentime would be worthless if they weren’t used well, and they were used beautifully. From his beginnings as a child who admired his father and wanted to follow in his footsteps, to being groomed by Von Karma into being a ruthless prosecutor, I love the journey he goes through from Ace Attorney 1 to Investigations 2. Finding out what it truly means to be a prosecutor, becoming a warrior, fighting for the truth, his revelations in Farewell my Turnabout are responsible for guiding the series direction from that case onward. Any time he and Phoenix are together in court is a joy, and it’s even better when they’re collaborating, like in Rise from the Ashes. After all, that’s what Attorney’s and Prosecutor’s are meant to do right? They aren’t defenders of the innocent, they’re seekers of the truth.
Meanwhile in Investigations, we get to see Edgeworth confront his dreams of being a defense attorney while currently being a prosecutor. His taking on his fathers old case in turnabout legacy, fighting the prosecutor committee headed by the corrupt Exelcius Winner, and forging a path that will protect those like Simain Saint from the system as a prosecutor, was also really cool to see. Edgeworth is consistently an amazing character, highly deserving of his crown as most beloved ace attorney character
2. Godot
The original trilogy does not have one bad prosecutor, and Godot is fantastic, and poetically tragic. If you were disappointed by how Turnabout sisters handled Mia’s death, then Trial’s and Tribulations is there for you, a game that puts the focus on Mia’s legacy and the burden it puts on Phoenix. And no burden is heavier than Godot, the prosecutor from hell, back from the dead to put Phoenix to the test
Poisoned by Dahlia Hawthorne, he returns from the brink of death only to discover that his partner Mia Fey, and Dahlia Hawthorne, the demon that took his life away, are both dead. And so, he makes it his life mission to take down Phoenix for daring to stand where she stood, for taking her place, and to protect Maya Fey, the one piece of Mia left in this world, from the clutches of Morgan Fey, and her daughter, Dahlia. He takes a role as a prosecutor to keep tabs on his enemies, discovers the long lost Misty Fey, the mother of the woman he loved and the girl he swore his life to protect, and enlists her help in his final mission, for Misty Fey, whose resolve to protect matched his, to channel the spirit of Dahlia Hawthorne. But in that pivotal moment, when faced with the demon that took everything away from him, that was about to take Maya away, was it the desire to protect Maya Fey that caused his hands to take Misty Fey’s life? Or was it in cursed, black hearted revenge against Dahlia Hawthorne, the woman who ruined his life? The answer is as murky and dark as the coffee he drinks, so much so that not even he knows. His one solace at the end, is that he knows that Mia will never truly be gone, for in the final moments before the truth is revealed, he saw Mia’s legacy, her will living on in Phoenix Wright
1. Kazuma Asogi
Does Kazuma Asogi count for the purposes of this list? Yes, because Twisted Karma and Resolve of Ryunosuke are technically separate cases.
Anyway, Kazuma has a little bit of everything the other prosecutor’s before him have. Like Godot, his heart is also tainted with revenge against the man who took away his father, and like Edgeworth, his experiences in London help him realize what he really wants to do in his life. But the thing that makes Kazuma special is how he relates to Mia Fey. Like Mia, Kazuma is Ryunosuke’s mentor in the first case, and supposedly dies in the second. But unlike Mia, he survives and returns in GAA2. And compared to how he was in GAA1, the supportive best friends of Ryunosuke who mentored him in his first case ever, it’s a jarring contrast. He’s now a man who is fixated on revenge against the reaper of the bailey Barok Von Zieks, for allegedly killing his father. So much so that he’s virtually unrecognizable to his friends, Ryunosuke and Susato. His theme says it all, his once determined, heroic theme now a sharp, confrontational one tainted with the memories of past tragedies, a perfect representation of the attorney reborn from the ashes, a prosecutor.
He’s also great when he does start getting his shit together and focuses on the real enemy at hand, even getting a cool dynamic with Ryunosuke where they team up against Stronghart, similar to how Phoenix and Edgeworth did against Gant in Rise from the Ashes. And the ending of the game, where he hands his sword Kurama, his dreams of becoming an Attorney, over to Ryunosuke, and they vow to meet again, is also really cool.
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