Not Phoenix this time who's gotta solve stuff. note
Tsumugu Logic note is a free-to-play escape adventure mobile game released by SEEC for Android. It follows the various endeavors of the title character as he settles into a new town, and it currently has 12 chapters of varying lengths.
The gameplay itself is that of a Visual Novel, but also plays very, very similar to Ace Attorney. It contains point-and-click 'Investigate' portions and once a chapter, usually, there will be an 'Interrogate' part where you need to 'present' the correct piece of information, evidence or person and answer multiple choice questions based on the knowledge gathered during the Investigate portions in order to avoid a game over in the form of a bad end.
Also see Ace Attorney and Tears of Themis.
Beware of spoilers on this page.
This story contains examples of:
- All for Nothing: You can redeem Sally. Not that it matters, as she dies shortly after.
- Technically, Kotoko framing Tsumugu was this. If she knew that Sally'd be taking the blame for all murders, she would probably think twice about framing Tsumugu.
- Always Murder: Played with. The cases solved in chapter 1 until 8 are not murders (in order, they are: breaking out of the shed, a fictional suicide made to look like murder, cheating on a test, stolen rice fish, a coveted phone (that was not stolen to begin with), a fraudulent elite club, stolen money (that also was not stolen) and uncovering the past of the Morotomiya twins. However, the cases from chapter 8 onwards are certainly murder (excluding the last one).
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- If you turn on the reread function, you can reread any part unlocked of that chapter without having to use tickets. This is especially valuable to make it through interrogations.
- During said interrogations, answers you've already gone through and that have been proved to be wrong are marked to prevent going through the same mistake twice.
- Asshole Victim: One can see Nozaki as such, as he treated his sister harshly in the first half of chapter 6. The next ones also count. Fumi was the leader of a gang rape club and Akira did nothing but watch.
- Beach Episode: Chapter 9 has the main cast going to an uninhabited island on their vacation.
- Big Bad Friend: Big Bad Childhood Friend in this case. Kotoko is the one responsible for killing Fumi and Nozaki, as well as almost killing Tsumugu himself.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The members of the Black Club, but especially Fumi were this.
- Kotoko, and this one is more played straightly since she is the Childhood Friend who's prominently featured on the title screen of the first arc and is also the love interest of the Player Character.
- Bland-Name Product: Subverted with some names, including those of people, but played straight with the social media app Photogenic, which is clearly meant to be Instagram.
- But Not Too Foreign: Toma is half Australian, and he was also raised there. This is the reason why his Japanese is generally very middling to average at best, but Tsumugu notes that it's gotten better over time.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Tsumugu, to Kotoko.
- Chekhov's Skill: Tsukasa is good in calligraphy and he had to do volunteering. These are both 'fired' later as Tsumugu asks him to write his love letter to Kotoko and Tsukasa now knows the ins and outs of NGOs and is of big help in investigating the true nature of Perfect World. Furthermore, said love letter being merely dictated by Tsumugu and not actually written by him, is key in the end. Kotoko forges a suicide letter for Tsumugu in the case Kotoko succesfully kills him by imitating the handwriting on the letter. She did not know that it was Tsukasa who wrote the letter, not Tsumugu. Needless to say, Tsukasa is very surprised to see an imitation of his handwriting on a forged suicide note.
- The first thing Tsumugu notes about Sally is that she has firm hands, and she indeed confirms having been in bouldering. She also climbed. Sally helps Akira and Nozaki climbing and later notes which equipment has been stolen.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Tsumugu develops a crush on Kotoko, who's his Childhood Friend. There's a subplot of him trying to discover how to make her aware of that. It's safe to say that at the time of chapter 12's latter half, there's not much left of that.
- Closed Circle: Tsumugu thinks that Daimon would lampshade this trope about their situation in chapter 10, with them being stuck on an uninhibited island without wifi.
- Cute Bruiser: Our lovely protagonist, that friendly guy who's nice to pretty much everyone is very much capable of taking on three guards at once and emerging the victor. He's such a Nice Guy that afterwards, he says that they have to go to the hospital.
- Darker and Edgier: Chapter 6 is this to the first arc, indicated by its large chapter count. And the end of chapter 9 settles into a groove and it becomes a mystery game properly. It is quite telling that where chapter 6 dealt with a fraudulent elite group that robbed bullied people of their money, chapter 10 reveals several characters being members of a club that has gang rape as its signature.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Our protagonist. In fact, the last chapter of the first arc details his struggle that he can't seem to find a job he likes, and is insecure of what he wants in life.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Shun is considered to be one.
- Even the Girls Want Her: In Daimon's introductory stages, even Kotoko is impressed by her beauty.
- Evolving Credits: Chapter 1 to 8 feature just Tsumugu, Sosei and Kotoko, but after finishing chapter 8 and unlocking its true ending, the opening shifts to featuring Shun, Fumi, Yoshimoto, Tsumugu, Sosei, Toma, Sally, Suguha, Akira and Nozaki from the back looking over the sea, standing on the beach. This too, changes when chapter 9 is cleared - the setup is the same, but dark clouds are now in the darkening sky instead if it being clear blue with normal white clouds, and Nozaki is missing. The title screen of the next chapter also features blood stains in the bottom right corner. This eventually continues evolving, featuring less and less people, and from the third murder, the sky further turns into night.
- Females Are More Innocent: Zigzagged. The stuff that is solved that was actually done on purpose ( Tsukasa's cheating, Akita stealing the rice fish and Hayashi leading a fraudulent elite club) were enacted by men. However, the two culprits of the largest crimes in this story are female, and literally irredeemable note .
- Filler: Chapter 9 is a Beach Episode, being this. Or not.
- Figure It Out Yourself: Whenever Tsumugu has Sosei on his side, Sosei will usually spot contradictions or piece things together faster. He might give hints, but expect him to stay hush about it and wait for Tsumugu to figure it out; granted, he is convinced that helping Tsumugu doesn't mean he has to do everything for him, but he'll never object or step in if you lose the entire interrogation (however, he will note when something you choose/present is not right).
- At the last chapter, Sosei says that he has the case figured out and knows who's the culprit, but because Tsumugu knows the people involved much better than he does, he gives you the honors of laying out what went down trulely in full.
- First-Person Perspective: The story is written past tense, from Tsumugu's perspective.
- Foreshadowing: At an early chapter, the news warns of women getting assaulted in their homes and cults pretending to be extracurricular activities.
- More hints to the existence of the Black Club:
- When we first meet Yoshimoto, he is talking to Daimon. Yoshimoto says something among the lines of 'they' regretting what they've done, with Daimon not believing him and mentioning that a person died because of 'them'.
- Fumi freaks out a lot when she loses her smartphone, despite it not being 'stolen', just confused for another phone and hidden, while she didn't have an issue giving it to Suguha before. Considering that Fumi mainly uses her phone to manipulate rape victims, it is a big deal to her if it gets lost. But she was a shameless manipulator at that so even if it would be discovered, she'd be okay with it.
- Fumi, Akira and Nozaki move as a trio when advertising for the travel club, despite Yoshimoto, the leader of the club not being there (to contrast the other clubs that did have their leader advertising along with a member except for Daimon, who advertised alone). These three were the centerpiece of the Black Club.
- Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind: Suzuki, Tsumugu's old friend, is cross-eyed, has a lot of piercings in his face and has green hair, but Tsumugu mentions that despite that, he's never abused alcohol or used drugs, and that his slender physique is caused by doing a lot of yoga in his free time.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: Why do you stop getting chat messages and direct messages after chapter 8? Because there is no internet on the island.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: In the main story, Nozaki is never seen wearing his winter clothing (as he dies while it is summer). In the small talks of the minigame, you talk to him while wearing winter clothing, and you can even do so after his death. Akira is a similar case. This was likely put in to keep the summer clothing a 'spoiler' to those having not cleared the first chapters of the story yet.
- You can also set them on your home screen after their death.
- Hidden Depths: Suguha acts and dresses like a gang girl, but she's entirely serious about her future and spends long days in school.
- Interface Spoiler: People that aren't met in the story can be given gifts to. Also, Kotoko's brother's mother name being Okino is right there in the contact name if you pay attention.
- Limited Wardrobe: Played with. The characters have 'summer' and 'winter' clothing; once the story hits chapter 5, the characters will switch from their 'winter' into their 'summer' clothing. On some CGs, characters are shown wearing different clothing than that's currently on their sprite (like Kotoko killing Fumi).
- Became something that Kotoko had to invoke; her top was stained when she killed Nozaki. Because she couldn't switch or wash her clothes (that would be too conspicuous), she wore it inside-out from that moment on. The blood stain is still on it, something Kotoko confesses when Tsumugu presents the luminol they've been making.
- Mafia Prince: Tsumugu's father was a former gang member and his mother is a gambler. He still knows how to defend himself despite his Nice Guy personality.
- Morality Kitchen Sink: There's characters like our protagonist, who are firmly on the side of good, and then there are these...
- Fumi was a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who gleefully manipulated rape victims into becoming assailants and continuing the circle. She had no qualms about threatening anyone who dared to escape. Despite that, she kept acting as if she was just a Nice Girl.
- Akira had a nasty case of Bystander Syndrome that was Played for Drama. He never did anything to help Yu when he was in trouble, yet stuck around and considered him his friend. He also filmed the gang rape, but never helped any victims either, convinced he was just a watcher.
- Nom de Mom: Eagle-eyed players may have noticed that Yu, the brother of Kotoko, has a family name of 'Yu Okino' in contrast to 'Yotsotsuji', which is Kotoko's family name. Since their parents are divorced and Kotoko mentions that he is on his mother's side, this is probably their mother's maiden name. Curiously enough, the person who died on the 'drinking party' bears the same family name.
- Non-Indicative Name: The title in the play store advertises this game as an 'escape game'. In the entire game, you only escape from a room twice; once in the prologue that doubles as a tutorial, and once in the chapter 11/12 hinge.
- Non-Standard Game Over: You can trigger this in chapter 6, if you discourage Mirei from singing. Kotoko stands up and they perform a duet, at which Nozaki and Hayashi get confused. Tsumugu points out that she does have a friend and seems happy. The alternate ending closes off with "Stage completed?" and does not feature a standard game over scene, which indicates that it is an alternate timeline.
- More of this kind of endings are to be viewed at the end of chapter 8. They are not counted as bad endings and even seem to be ending positively, but why are they still regarded as not the true end? Because in all of these, Tsumugu is still friends with Kotoko. This also immediately explains why the ending mentioned above is not actually a positive ending, with Mirei becoming friends with the person who is bent on ruining Tsumugu's life.
- Ojou: Sally, who also dresses the part. Later on, Toma mentions that her family is rich.
- Old Shame: In-Universe. Shun used to be a pimp, but he eventually left the business and it has become this for him.
- One Degree of Separation: This unofficial relationship tree
◊ modeled after that in Arknights (Spoilers!) shows that a lot of characters do have connections that are not only limited to the school itself. - Out-of-Character Alert: The main reason why Nozaki's death was taken seriously by some (and Tsumugu, if he decides to go along and check it), was because Akira freaked out although it was stated in chapter 7 that Nozaki's prank he played on Kotoko was common, and this is pointed out. His sprite even changes to one not seen before in the main story. If this really were to be a prank, would Akira still fret so much as he did?
- On their way to the office, Kotoko says to Sosei and Tsumugu that if Sosei meets Daimon, they will have to solve another murder.
- Out of Focus: This is the general case with Yu, the brother of Kotoko. His sprite only appears in flashbacks, most conversations with him are over the chat, and he is literally the only character you cannot set on your home screen. Because he's dead.
- Playing Possum: Nozaki shocks Kotoko this way in chapter 7. The second time he is seen lying down, unmoving with blood on him, he's simply persumed to be doing this again (since he's setting up fireworks at the beach and waiting for everyone to come). However, this is not the case.
- Phoneaholic Teenager: Shun is one, all of his sprites do feature him holding his phone.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Sosei and Koyo. Koyo is a famous actor, while Sosei prefers to have a quiet life, spending his time on his artwork. In personality, Koyo is, while having a slight pushy streak, more naive and gullible than Sosei, who's The Stoic and a Deadpan Snarker.
- Shout-Out: Several of these are made to SEEC's other games, Tasokare Hotel, The Prison Boys and Yotsume God in the going out mechanic.
- Story Branching: There are branches, and this is also visible when a chapter is opened. Unusual for this trope, some branches literally lead back into the main storyline and don't affect the story much (a notable exception is choosing Mirei and not going back to choose her brother in chapter 6 will lead to a bad end, because you lack a certain important bit of information), the vast majority leads to a bad end (and the branches on these very obviously divert from the main storyline).
- Strong Family Resemblance: The siblings in the game (i.e Yu and Mirei, Kotoko and Yuu and the Morotomiya twins) share eye color and eye shape. This is exaggerated with the Morotomiya twins; their sprites are flipped versions of eachother and have more or less the exact same face. The only thing that sets them apart aside from their sprites indeed being flipped is their hairstyle; Sosei has a ponytail whereas Koyo has not. Justified, since they are identical twins. Sosei lampshades this and says that people have had trouble distinguishing them since childhood and mentions that even their voices are similar. This is also actually the case, as they are both voiced by the same person, Koutarou Nishiyama (although if you don't pay for the voiced content, you won't know), similarly to how Beeswax and Carnelian are voiced by the same person.
- This is also visually represented in the trailer of the first arc, in which there are two shadows of Sosei back to back and one of them turning into Koyo.
- Take Our Word for It: Due to its Visual Novel storytelling, the "fight scenes" are simply depicted using CG backgrounds, shaking sprites, flashing screens or are merely reacted to. The last part becomes blatant or obvious during certain parts, with the characters outright narrating or enumerating whatever feats or attacks the opposition does. (such as when a drunken Yoshimoto attacks).
- Ten Little Murder Victims: Chapter 9 ends with Nozaki being killed, and since the island they're on is uninhabited, this trope is in play (especially considering since they are with ten people). The outcome is a combination of C and E.
- Try Everything: The game sometimes requires this when an answer is not something that is outright said, only implied, in which case you need to press all the answers note – even if it makes you look like a complete idiot – until you have tried everything that won't get you penalized and continue the story. If you're not able to divine some the less obvious hints, you'll be doing this during every interrogation. Admittedly, this can require abuse of the reread mechanic (that makes it possible to reread any part of the current chapter) to avoid spending days worth of tickets and/or gems for the same interrogation.
- Twin Switch: Performed twice - one is right at the start, with Sosei pretending to be Koyo, and the other is halfway in the story, with Koyo pretending to be Sosei who just had a haircut. And then another time in chapter 8, but this time, Tsumugu invokes an Out-of-Character Alert.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 6, that not only has 48 stages (the double of an average chapter) involves taking down a fraudulent elite club, which is something very different from the normal 'cases' Tsumugu solves.
- Chapter 9 ends with Nozaki being found dead.
- Wham Line: Sosei delivers one halfway through chapter 8.I cut my throat right in front of him.
- Sally, tail end of chapter 11.
I killed all of them.
