Minfilia’s pretty cute in her winter attire. Alphi, bud, you could probably take a page from her book and maybe wear something that won’t give you frostbite?
I will admit that there are a ton of misconceptions in Ace Attorney, mostly because most of the fans I meet rather have not finished all the games or only know of it through the anime. I was originally planning on doing a list of misconceptions, but once this popped out, I realized this one deserved a blog of its own. I’m going to use this to tear apart this misconception and why it doesn’t work.
I heard about the idea of Manfred Von Karma adopting Miles Edgeworth when I saw it in the Ace Attorney Wiki. I had already played the first game and was currently playing Justice For All. I had never heard of this. Now, Franziska did clarify that Miles Edgeworth was like her little brother and I repeat LIKE her little brother, but that was it. It is very common in anime’s for characters to have those they consider a big brother/sister or little brother/sister figure and even call them as such, but are not literal siblings.
I suppose the team that worked on the anime and thought, “you know what would be a great idea? We should have Manfred Von Karma adopt Miles Edgeworth. I mean, it’s not like the original game clarified WHO Edgeworth lived with like a filthy rich aunt or that Miles had other relatives or friends of the family that could’ve adopted him!” Then, forgot to do their homework and read the script for Justice For All, because then they would’ve known Edgeworth did have a rich aunt or the Investigations games to know his father had someone working for him that was old enough to adopt Miles. Whoops! Oh, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Manfred Von Karma adopting Miles Edgeworth especially doesn’t make sense, because it goes against canon. After Manfred Von Karma murdered Gregory Edgeworth, he ran off and took a month off vacation somewhere. Now, the length of time of Yanni Yogi’s trial is never mentioned, but do you expect me to believe that Miles just sat in his empty home for a month without anyone offering to care for him or being placed under foster care before Manfred Von Karma signs the adoption papers? This is aside from the fact that, even after a month, his gunshot wound is still healing and probably has an obvious scar on his shoulder. Von Karma might as well be taking his potential enemy in his house with a stamp on his forehead reading I KILLED YOUR FATHER.
Speaking of moving into Von Karma’s house, do you also expect me to believe that Miles Edgeworth had lived with that man almost all his life and never once heard Manfred Von Karma screaming as loud as he did until Turnabout Goodbyes? At least as Manfred Von Karma’s student, we can assume that Miles Edgeworth already had his own place to live and did not ever see Manfred Von Karma’s private life. Did Miles Edgeworth never catch onto the fact that his mentor or adopted father murder his real father? Manfred Von Karma isn’t exactly a genius or that good at covering his tracks. That’s why he had to destroy the evidence of DL-6. You can’t tell me that the genius prosecutor had lived with his mentor from age 9 on up and never heard him scream from stubbing his toe or seen him dressing at some point with that too obvious gunshot wound. When you live with someone, you tend to learn things about that person’s private life. Even if I were to believe that Manfred Von Karma never allowed Miles to see him shirtless or dressing, I still wouldn’t believe there was never a point in time Miles never walked in or heard Franzy talking about her daddy’s shoulder wound. She is two years old and until she is at least five, she’d be jabbering like crazy.
Now, most people often use the excuse that it’s because Manfred Von Karma wanted to beat the dead horse that was Gregory Edgeworth. Now, when I was still finishing the trilogy, I did believe this, but then I played the Miles Edgeworth Investigations games and realized this wasn’t true. For one, Manfred Von Karma had treated Miles Edgeworth well and continually praised him for his work. Not only that, but he allowed Miles Edgeworth to disagree with him from time to time. In the Casebooks, it clarified that Manfred Von Karma and Miles did normally fuss, meaning they disagreed openly and sometimes threw each other under the bus. For the most part, they had a healthy teacher and student relationship and Manfred continually pushed Miles to his limits and had high expectations of him. If Manfred Von Karma intended on using Miles Edgeworth for being the son of Gregory Edgeworth, he would’ve been much more abusive to Miles. This is something even the anime makes clear. It’s clear that Manfred Von Karma did respect and care for Miles. He only betrayed Miles out of desperation and even Turnabout Goodbyes makes it clear that Miles was the one willing to turn himself in for his father’s murder, not Manfred Von Karma.
This goes to the final reason why I don’t believe Manfred Von Karma adopted Miles Edgeworth and why I hate that idea. Manfred Von Karma would never EVER frame his children for a murder. Manfred Von Karma takes pride in his family to the point he will brag how great his wife’s cooking is despite the fact she’s an amateur or how his granddaughter has a dog named Phoenix. You really believe this man would frame his son for murder that he adopted as his own? I’m not saying that Manfred Von Karma isn’t a horrible person, because he is, but he’s not Blaise Debeste. He wouldn’t throw his child under the bus like that. His student is a different story.
Miles Edgeworth being Manfred Von Karma’s student and ONLY his student holds water. It means that Miles wasn’t loved by Manfred Von Karma, but was respected and taught by him. Miles Edgeworth being betrayed by Manfred Von Karma only means that he was desperate and fearful that Miles would find out the truth. Being student and mentor doesn’t mean that they have a parent and child relationship just like Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice being teacher and student doesn’t mean they have a father and son relationship. Having Miles Edgeworth be the adopted son of Manfred Von Karma only puts him on the same level as Blaise Debeste. Manfred Von Karma might be a horrible person, but he’s not a horrible father and would never hurt his children the way he hurt Miles.
When I see the anime portray Manfred Von Karma as a father in the flashbacks before framing his son for murder, it shows me the biggest contradiction. It’s like hearing the story how the father went from a loving father to an abusive one without the dead wife to give him a reason to turn abusive. One could use the excuse that Miles was only the step kid and that’s why he was easily thrown under the bus, but then why would Manfred have an excellent relationship with Miles before suddenly throwing him under the bus? Again, if they were mentor and student, then we can conclude they never loved each other and only admired each other. Love and admiration are two different things. If Miles were adopted, then we would have to place love into the equation and Manfred would have to love or hate Miles. He can’t have both.
Now, does that mean I hate the idea of Miles Edgeworth being the adopted son of Manfred Von Karma? No, not really. I just hate the idea of making it canon. If it was a what-if AU or something, then I’d probably enjoy it. Of course, it does have to make sense in context. Manfred can’t just adopt Miles right off the bat or at least without a reason that isn’t beating the dead horse that’s Gregory. Maybe he regrets killing Gregory, because his son is without family and adopts him. Maybe he kidnaps Miles and tries to brainwash him. I’d like to read fan fictions of those possibilities, but treated as AU’s. In canon, they’re not father and son.
That’s all I have to say. I wanted to get this off my chest, since so many people think this is canon and even the Ace Attorney Wiki considers Manfred Von Karma and Miles Edgeworth to be father and son. As I have just proven, they are not. They are mentor and student. Now, Manfred Von Karma might’ve been a father figure to Miles and I wouldn’t put that out of the realm of possibilities, but being a father figure and being a real father are two different relationships.
What do you guys think? What’s your opinion on Manfred Von Karma being Miles Edgeworth’s adopted father?
For the past couple of years, it has been my honor to be translating Takahashi-sensei’s Instagram into English. Even though he is no longer with us, his works will be with us forever. I will continue to keep this site up as long as possible to preserve his memory.
An illustration of a future tidbit of the movie’s story.
Since graduation four years have passed, Yugi as expected wins at the world game contest, and begins walking the achieved dream path of a game creator. Yugi’s game is given a high valuation, so what ends up happening is Kaiba Corporation embarking on joint development.
Yugi’s invented sphere-faceted-model fighting game = Spherium II prototype model is complete, so right now Kaiba and Yugi commence the fight on the stage of space!
From now on Yugi Muto becomes the new Yu-Gi-Oh! = GAME KING has departed for his goal~! END
This is just one possible future story.
Thanks for cheering on the Yu-Gi-Oh! movie this year~~!
It’s great to have drawn an illustration of what Yugi’s prospective future felt like together with Kaiba!
The extra short chapter at the end of Fruits Basket Another Volume 4 takes place on Valentine’s Day!!
We get to see Mutsuki hanging out with his family (hey there Yuki and Machi) and Shiki!
Here is the page that confirms it is Valentine’s Day:
Also, we see Sawa and Shiki giving each other chocolate (in one of the other pages, Hajime was watching Sawa, Sora, and others make chocolate.
Then we see Akito and Shigure sharing cookies and drinking tea together. They are an established pair like, like Yuki and Machi, who were also shown previously.
AND THEN!!!
We get THIS page!!! 😍😍😍😍💖💖💖💖
KYORU FAMILY!!! Hajime’s siblings! Their daughter is hanging off of Kyo!! 😭💖
It looks like Hajime sent them a text letting them know about Shiki and “the person he likes” and then there is a mention of Valentine’s Day.
In the lower panel we have Hajime and Mutsuki sharing sweets like we saw Akito and Shigure, an established pair, doing. Also, the final page shows Shiki and Sawa, a canon pairing, out on a date.
There is no dialogue at all in this extra comic. But with the way everything is juxtaposed? I don’t care what anyone says, this confirms Hajime x Mutsuki, in my eyes. I mean, you have the two of them sharing chocolates and sweets on Valentine’s Day juxtaposed next to established and canon het relationships, what do you think this is trying to imply, lol.
I wanted to make this post earlier in the day, but work got in the way (specifically a meeting with my boss and coworkers about the upcoming Parent-Teacher conferences that we have, which cut into my break time). But, moving on, this post is about Akito and the karma, redemption, and remorse that we see Akito receive and experience in Fruits Basket Another Chapter 13.
I know I’ve definitely seen a post or two talking about her karma and how this new chapter finally puts to rest that talking point about how her character never really suffered enough or did enough to be redeemable (or about how in the Furuba series we never got to see Akito really grow and change - we only got the start of her journey). However, this post of mine is more about a parallel.
Reading this new chapter (Chapter 13), I was greatly reminded of another fictional character - Draco Malfoy. While I know that pretty much everyone has their bone to pick with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, there are a few things in that script that stand out as actually being good - and two of those things are the handling of Draco Malfoy’s character and Scorpius Malfoy.
Draco Malfoy raises Scorpius to be nothing like he was. He actively chooses to not indoctrinate his son with the same toxic bs that he was indoctrinated with. And he tries hard to raise a kind and loving person. But, the Malfoy name is now in the dirt and Scorpius has to deal with the negative karma alongside Draco.
This is very similar to Akito. We learn that Akito was a very hands on mother, essentially the exact opposite of Ren. Akito showered Shiki with love and actively chose to raise a child in an environment that was different from her own. We can also see her growth as a character in the fact that she actively chooses to keep herself distance from most of the Zodiac members nowadays. She spends her New Years with Tohru only and that is honestly a pretty amazing thing to think about! Such a far removed action from the Akito that we saw at the start of Furuba!
But, like with Draco Malfoy, Akito’s karma comes to bite her through her child:
Shiki has to endure the past pain and negativity that Akito put out into the world alongside Akito now. However, like with Malfoy, knowing that their child is suffering in such a way because of their own past actions makes both of these characters try even harder to be better, kinder, and more loving parents to their children (while also largely keeping their distance to the people they hurt and abused).
Narratively, for us readers, both Malfoy and Akito are characters who show proper remorse and get a proper “redemption” (so to speak) not through some heroic “good guy” moment or through a character growth that we actually get to see or through a montage of therapy sessions or anything like that. No, instead both their karma coming back to them and their remorse are shown through their children and how they chose to raise their children. Is it the best way to go about this sort of narrative? That is debatable and totally up to each and every individual person. However, I do think that it is incredibly realistic.
In Furuba, Shigure would bemoan when parts of his house got destroyed, but here in Fruits Basket Another, he is celebrating it, in a way. The difference of course being two-fold.
In Furuba, Shigure’s house was destroyed on a pretty consistent basis, especially in the beginning of the series. It wasn’t just something that happened once in a while, it happened in nearly every chapter/episode. And that destruction was due to characters like Kyo and Kagura who didn’t have any control over their explosive feelings. Learning to control their feelings and to express their feelings of love or frustration through non-violent/explosive means was part of their growth. So the destruction of Shigure’s house was always viewed as a negative.
Here though, with Shiki, he bottles things up far too much. So, for him, this act is good, in a way. He actually outwardly expressed his anger and frustration with things. Is breaking a mirror the best way to go about it? No, but it is better for Shiki than just keeping it all inside. And now that Akito and Shigure know about it, they can actively help Shiki and help him continue to grow and express his negative feelings more clearly and precisely, and without having to resort to another explosion of his feelings and property damage like that.
This moment feels immensely in character for both Shigure and Akito as well. They would both understand why this is good for Shiki in a way, and Akito would probably understand where Shiki is coming from. Plus, I can just picture Shigure saying to leave it broken with a big smile on his face. It’s a short, little moment, but very insightful.
