Webcomic / Narumitsu Askblogs

The Narumitsu Askblogs are a series of fan character ask blogs based on Ace Attorney, ran by an anonymous team on Tumblr.

It has been approximately one year since Phoenix and co's exploits in Khura'in. The Wright Anything Agency is still up and running, and life is all good... until the local Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth is persuaded into creating a blog of his own to organize his feelings for a certain defense attorney.

Interspersing 2D sprite gifs of Ace Attorney characters - official or fan-made - within Tumblr text posts, the characters interact with asks submitted by users or each other. Additionally, there are major story arcs that crop up to shake up the stakes and allow an interactive story. The blogs are currently in their fourth major arc.

By this time of writing, the blogs that have been created are, in chronological order:

• Ask Miles Edgeworth
• Phoenix Wright
• Maya Hee! Maya Hoo!
• Simon Blackquill
• Athena Cykes, Courtroom Revolutionare!
• Definitely Not Klavier, Totally an RP Blog
• Trucy Wright
• Franziska von Karma
• Pearl Fey
• Ema Syke
• Ask Sherlock (NOT 'HERR LOCK'), Iris and others!"

Due to the nature of the blogs, Ace Attorney spoilers are unavoidable.

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Narumitsu Askblogs provides examples of:

• Americasia: The blogs run with the joke that Ace Attorney takes place in neither Tokyo, nor Los Angeles, but the fictional country of Japnifornia.
• Big Damn Heroes: When peril strikes and Phoenix winds up getting possessed by the vengeful spirit of Dahlia Hawthorne, Maya stages an intervention with the help of Pearl and successfully exorcises the psychopathic ghost for a second time.
• Bittersweet Ending: Turnabout New Year, New Family. Although Apollo still has a lot of unprocessed emotional baggage in regards to Lamiroir being his biological mother and this fact having been hidden from him and he decides to remain standoffish towards her, he readily accepts Trucy as a sister, his relationship with Phoenix isn't ruined for the long term, and the ending of the arc has him counting down to a hopeful new year with Athena by his side.
• Bookends: When Phoenix's black Psyche-Locks first appeared, they take a fair amount of asks to shatter, due to Phoenix being unable to accept the encouragements of the users, and gave him sharp pain when they did break. At the end of the arc, although they did return, they are easier to break, now that Phoenix is in a better state of mind and accepts the users' words, and Phoenix only experiences a soothing release instead of sharp pain when they shatter.
• Brick Joke:
  • During Trucy's magic show in Khura'in, an anon accuses her of planning to invite Nahyuta onto the stage to help with demonstrations of her (usually rather dangerous) magic tricks, leading to Apollo to forbid her from exactly that in his usual dryness. Fast forward to New Years, and Trucy is looking forward to roping him and Athena into her magic tricks again, leading to some nice deja vu:
    Apollo, during Trucy's show: .........Trucy, you are not allowed to give Nahyuta any impromptu heart attacks. End of discussion.
    Apollo, while reading Trucy's ask during New Years: Trucy, you are not allowed to give Athena any impromptu heart attacks with that machine. (What is this vague sense of deja vu?)
• The Bus Came Back: Apollo returns from Khura'in for a few days to celebrate New Years, tagging along in Athena's blog in the meantime.
• Call-Back:
  • Chains of the Past explores Phoenix's trauma over what Dahlia Hawthorne has done to his naive self in the past.
  • Turnabout New Year, New Family deals with the plot thread of Apollo and Trucy's blood relation, which had cropped up in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney.
• The Cameo: Aside from the official blogs, some anons have masqueraded as other Ace Attorney characters, including (so far) Detective Gumshoe, Larry Butz, Kay (until she made a proper cameo on Edgeworth's blog and later became a co-runner of Ema's), Athena Cykes (until she got her own blog) Apollo Justice (who later made a physical, if temporary appearance on Athena's blog), Datz Are'bal, and Nahyuta Sahdmadhi.
• Continuity Nod:
  • For a short time, Phoenix was teased about his rather... suggestive obsession with red apples, which originated from a Japanese QNA session with fans, hosted by Phoenix and Trucy.
  • One of the first asks received in Athena's blog brings up her Childhood Friend, Juniper Woods.
  • Apollo is Put on a Bus until New Years, since by the time of the blogs he has been staying in Khura'in for a year or so to help reform the judicial system there.
  • In an ask to Edgeworth about Sebastian Debeste's therapy, Edgeworth takes the liberty of internal monologue to express his disgust at the latter's father, Blaise Debeste, calling back to the man's heinous actions explored in Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.
• Cry into Chest: Athena ends up doing this to Apollo when it's time for him to return to Khura'in, not willing to part ways with him a second time.
• Darker and Edgier: Although several of the arcs have already been rather serious in tone, Chains Of the Past is undoubtedly much heavier than the others, dealing with the deeply-rooted issues harbored by Phoenix, such as feeling like he isn't needed anymore, and his loved ones will all leave him, not to mention his big baggage with the whole Dahlia Hawthorne incident that he never got to truly process. It comes to a head when his trauma with the cold medicine is hit with a metaphorical sledgehammer, and his fragile mental state nearly resulted in his Demonic Possession by a vengeful Dahlia until Maya puts a stop to it.
• Darkest Hour: The climax of Chains of the Past. Phoenix's black Psyche-Locks have come back with vengeance, and his mental state has cracked enough to be influenced by Dahlia, Edgeworth has been locked out of his house and all of his attempts at reaching out are in vain, Athena can't even get five feet within the residence without collapsing from picking up her boss' torrent of emotions, and their only hope in putting a stop to this is Maya, who is racing against time to the scene before all hell can break loose.
• Dramatic Irony: Much grief was given over the identity of Apollo's biological mother once it is brought up in Turnabout New Year, New Family, with Apollo himself having a not insignificant amount of angst over it. If only he knew as much as the audience does...
  • Played for Laughs in Turnabout Business Proposal. Edgeworth muses about his grand plan to propose to Phoenix on the night of White Day. What he doesn't know, however, is that Phoenix plans to propose to him on the same day. Hilarity Ensues.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Edgeworth's blog used his 3D sprites during its very early days, before switching to fan-made 2D versions once Phoenix's blog cropped up. Later blogs would all use 2D sprites right from the get-go.
• Empathic Environment: A pouring thunderstorm heralds the Darkest Hour of the second arc.
• Friendship Trinket: Apollo gives a golden colored magatama to Athena before he returns to Khura'in, hoping that it would give her some comfort in times of loneliness. Pearl gives a little more insight into the magatama, however, explaining that the artifact actually serves to help soothe the emotions of its wearer, and is a common gift for loved ones.
• The Glomp: Athena gets a little too excited upon finally meeting Apollo face to face at the airport.

  Athena: Apollo!!!

  Apollo: WAH!! A... Athena, please let... go...

  • Then turns heartbreaking at the end of his guest appearance, when he has to return to Khura'in, with Athena clinging on to him as she weeps onto his waistcoat, with a stunning digital art piece punctuating the moment.
• Hero of Another Story: Although most of the action during Chains From the Past is centered around Phoenix's and Edgeworth's blog, Athena gets to play an unexpected role courtesy an anon masquerading as her, by running around to dig up more information about the roots of Phoenix's issues, be it through finding past case archives or directly interviewing involved parties.
• Hope Spot: When Phoenix's black Psyche-Locks are finally broken after a multitude of asks, he comes out of the bathroom to let Edgeworth take care of him, promising to tell him the full story once he's rested up. Unfortunately, that never comes to pass, due to the latter's decision to lace some puddings with the cold medicine, which kicks Phoenix's trauma with Dahlia Hawthorne and the whole "poisoned necklace" incident into full swing, bringing back the black Psyche-Locks, and things only get worse from there.
• Internal Reveal: Turnabout New Year, New Family has Apollo and Trucy finally learn about their blood relation.
• It's All My Fault: Athena has a brief case of this at the end of Chains From the Past, believing that her efforts to help Phoenix had only accomplished nothing more than wasting precious time and led to his Demonic Possession. Edgeworth helps to snap her out of it.
• Kick the Dog: A multitude of users decided to send Edgeworth photos of his Disappeared Dad in the middle of December, the month of the latter's death, some even being photoshopped with a Christmas theme in a bout of Black Comedy. The poor man is so overwhelmed that he has to disable attaching media in asks.
• Lighter and Softer: Turnabout Business Proposal, the fourth main story arc, focuses on... Phoenix and Edgeworth both planning to pop the question, while completely unaware of the other's intentions to do the same. After three arcs of heavy emotional stakes, this is quite a welcome change of pace.
• Minor Injury Overreaction: A strange example in which that it's done by another character to the injured. While all of the female characters are spying on Edgeworth and Phoenix (It Makes Sense in Context), Athena falls off a tree she was perching on in the middle of texting Apollo. The latter promptly freaks out and immediately calls Athena and making a whole lot of noise in the process, even though the fall was allegedly not that bad.
• Ms. Exposition: Pearl briefly assumes this role to clarify what Athena's golden magatama can do.
• Noodle Incident: Trucy frequently brings up a "machine" that she subjected Athena and Apollo to at least once in the past for a handcuff magic trick that they probably never successfully pulled off. All we know about the machine is that it's supposed to release water and spikes, and that Athena is scared to death by the mere notion of being put back inside it.
• Nothing Is Scarier: The colorful and lively character sprites tend to disappear whenever a character collapses into a vulnerable emotional state, as demonstrated by Edgeworth and Phoenix. Zig-zagged with Klavier and Blackquill, however, who normally post without character sprites unless they're interacting with the other characters.
• Official Couple:
  • Who else but Phoenix and Edgeworth?
  • And on the sidelines, Klavier and Blackquill.
  • Ema and Kay are explicitly stated to be in a queer platonic relationship.
  • Great Detective Sherlock Holmes and Yuujin Mikotoba are confirmed by Sherlock Holmes himself to be boyfriends.
    • Forbidden Love: Due to the period-typical homophobia and racism in 1800s Britain, Sherlock and Yuujin have never previously expressed their love for each other in person.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Athena with Apollo, during the latter's brief return for New Years. The two are practically joined at the hip, Apollo frequently puts up with Athena's sunniness and childish schemes out of the goodness of his heart (although with no small amount of exasperation), and when the stakes are raised, they are unfailingly by each other's side to support them through the turmoil.
• Poor Communication Kills: The first major story arc had Phoenix gifting Edgeworth a small bouquet of red camellias at the end of their dinner date. Unfortunately, due to red camellias conveniently representing "death of a samurai" in flower language, Edgeworth got the wrong end of the stick and mistook the former's gift as a declaration of hate instead, causing both no small amount of anguish.
• Post-Final Boss: In a case of Bookends, Phoenix himself functions as this for the final leg of Chains From the Past, asking for users to help him break his four black Psyche-Locks once again. Fortunately, now that the action has passed and Phoenix is in a clearer state of mind, the locks break more easily and painlessly within just a few asks.
• Properly Paranoid: Played for Laughs. The moment Edgeworth and Phoenix express the intent to propose to each other, several users and the other characters immediately bet that something will go wrong during the night. Maya even assembles all of the other female characters into an unofficial reconnaissance squad to investigate the proposal and make sure nothing bad happens. True to word, Wendy Oldbag shows up with the intent to sabotage the event with a marching band she somehow hired out of pettiness.
• Relationship Upgrade: Phoenix and Edgeworth officially get together after the first arc, and are planning to proceed to tying the red ribbon by the fourth. Humorously enough, although Klavier and Blackquill are also shown hopping into the dating fray, it's decidedly much less dramatic and anguished as Phoenix and Edgeworth's attempt, merely being a simple talk over a simple dinner on a simple night.
• Shipper on Deck: Trucy is ever delighted to have Edgeworth as her "Papa". Maya eagerly supports Phoenix's relationship with the prosecutor, as well as Franziska, in her own unique way.
• Time Travel: Sherlock Holmes, among others like Yuujin Mikotoba and Iris herself, time travel with an invention created by him and the aforementioned assistant Iris Watson.
  • The Future Is Shocking: An anon asks Sherlock if he's heard of the adaptation of Iris' novels, BBC TV's Sherlock. Sherlock is shocked and angered by it, especially the apparent Race Lift of Yuujin Mikotoba. Since they have records of Yuujin's Letters as mentioned by Miles Edgeworth, it's easy to think they collected the logs of his adventures with the Great Detective too.
• Trauma Button: Phoenix seems outright terrified to take cold medicine when he is falls ill and keeps insisting that he'll be fine, even when it seems to be getting worse. Anyone who's played Trials and Tribulations would know why. It only gets worse when Edgeworth decides to mix some of it into chocolate puddings out of concern for his declining health, not knowing that it is the single biggest trigger for his trauma surrounding the poisoned necklace.
• Wham Line:
  • During Chains From the Past, an anon challenges Phoenix to use his magatama on himself. The result?
    Phoenix: F-Four black psyche-locks??
  • A text conversation between Athena and Apollo shakes up the character roster for the next few days to come:
    Apollo's message: On the 29th, can you come over to the Japanifornia International Airport?
• Wham Shot:
  • Gregory Edgeworth showing up in Edgeworth's blog on 28th December.