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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney #4
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 4
Ace attorney, Phoenix Wright is at it again, protecting the innocent and helping his friends with his amazing skill as a lawyer.
208 pages, Paperback
First published July 4, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 16, 2022
I love when they include classic characters we haven't seen in awhile like the Tres Bien guy and the Eldoon Noodle's guy - there's so many vibrant characters from the games that I'm glad they brought them back (although the new characters are cool too!).
April 9, 2012
Another great entry. The cases seem to be getting more and more complex (though still nothing close to the complexity of the games. But I don't think they would necessarily work in manga form in their current state)
March 7, 2026
There's usually very little rhyme or reason to the stories paired up in each volume of the Phoenix Wright manga, but this one actually has a clear-cut theme: food! Specifically, food products containing gluten! People eat them, and then those people wind up dead. The moral of the story? You should never put anything in your mouth, ever.
Though I'm not particularly fond of the content of these stories, I'd like to take this opportunity to praise the translation work by Alethea and Athena Nibley, who have gone to great lengths to maintain consistency with the video games' English localizations. Not only do the recurring characters keep their distinctive mannerisms and speech patterns, but the new characters are integrated in the only logical way, by receiving terrible pun names of their own! I'm sure some folks would be upset that it's not a straight translation, but the games' completely nonsensical attempts at Americanization are very much a part of their unique charm for me, and I think the Nibleys did an admirable job of threading the needle between the two.
Turnabout from Heaven
In which a woman seemingly returns from the trifling inconvenience of being dead for sixteen years to save her daughter from her abusive father, noodle tycoon Buck Wheatley. By, um, murdering him. With buckwheat flour, to which he has a hilariously ironic allergy. Try not to confuse it with the Spirit of Justice episode "Turnabout Storyteller", which ALSO features a buckwheat allergy as an important plot point, plus a character with a related dumb pun name (Bucky Whet).
This is a very unusual case for the manga, with a mystery that hinges on motives and wishy-washy psychology rather than cold, hard evidence. In fact, the latter is downplayed so much that Edgeworth doesn't even bother waiting for the lab results to come back on a crucial piece of evidence before taking this one to court! However, while I do appreciate the attempt to try something different, I don't think the Ace Attorney franchise is equipped to tackle the topic of child abuse. Especially not when it's immediately followed by a wacky comedy scene featuring a cat loose in the courtroom!
Turnabout Gurgitation (Part One)
Now here's a bit of good old-fashioned Ace Attorney spectacle, in the form of a murder during a televised eating competition! Alas, the winner's bowl of super-spicy noodles contained an ingredient even more sinister than mere buckwheat: potassium cyanide. Like "Turnabout Gallows" before it, this story is split between two volumes, with this one ending on a bit of a cliffhanger. Unlike "Turnabout Gallows", however, it doesn't have a completely bonkers solution that I can still remember vividly almost 13 years later. And there's not much entertainment value in just reading the setup here, aside from the radical ecologist with totally natural dialogue like "You brought it on yourself, you Earth-hating man."
On the bright side, I did enjoy the cameos from two chef characters from the Ace Attorney video games, Guy Eldoon and Jean Armstrong. Speaking of, um, things you should never put in your mouth*.
*This joke is taken straight from my original review, from 2013, and I have preserved it here because it's the only way I'll learn my lesson
Though I'm not particularly fond of the content of these stories, I'd like to take this opportunity to praise the translation work by Alethea and Athena Nibley, who have gone to great lengths to maintain consistency with the video games' English localizations. Not only do the recurring characters keep their distinctive mannerisms and speech patterns, but the new characters are integrated in the only logical way, by receiving terrible pun names of their own! I'm sure some folks would be upset that it's not a straight translation, but the games' completely nonsensical attempts at Americanization are very much a part of their unique charm for me, and I think the Nibleys did an admirable job of threading the needle between the two.
Turnabout from Heaven
In which a woman seemingly returns from the trifling inconvenience of being dead for sixteen years to save her daughter from her abusive father, noodle tycoon Buck Wheatley. By, um, murdering him. With buckwheat flour, to which he has a hilariously ironic allergy. Try not to confuse it with the Spirit of Justice episode "Turnabout Storyteller", which ALSO features a buckwheat allergy as an important plot point, plus a character with a related dumb pun name (Bucky Whet).
This is a very unusual case for the manga, with a mystery that hinges on motives and wishy-washy psychology rather than cold, hard evidence. In fact, the latter is downplayed so much that Edgeworth doesn't even bother waiting for the lab results to come back on a crucial piece of evidence before taking this one to court! However, while I do appreciate the attempt to try something different, I don't think the Ace Attorney franchise is equipped to tackle the topic of child abuse. Especially not when it's immediately followed by a wacky comedy scene featuring a cat loose in the courtroom!
Turnabout Gurgitation (Part One)
Now here's a bit of good old-fashioned Ace Attorney spectacle, in the form of a murder during a televised eating competition! Alas, the winner's bowl of super-spicy noodles contained an ingredient even more sinister than mere buckwheat: potassium cyanide. Like "Turnabout Gallows" before it, this story is split between two volumes, with this one ending on a bit of a cliffhanger. Unlike "Turnabout Gallows", however, it doesn't have a completely bonkers solution that I can still remember vividly almost 13 years later. And there's not much entertainment value in just reading the setup here, aside from the radical ecologist with totally natural dialogue like "You brought it on yourself, you Earth-hating man."
On the bright side, I did enjoy the cameos from two chef characters from the Ace Attorney video games, Guy Eldoon and Jean Armstrong. Speaking of, um, things you should never put in your mouth*.
*This joke is taken straight from my original review, from 2013, and I have preserved it here because it's the only way I'll learn my lesson
May 21, 2017
J aurais aimé n avoir qu une seule enquete dans ce tome ! On nous alleche avec la suivante... mais c est pas.mal quand meme!
Du phoenix tout craché j etais a fond dedans, comme dans le jeu !
Du phoenix tout craché j etais a fond dedans, comme dans le jeu !
October 16, 2018
3.25 stars.
March 23, 2021
Straight on to the next volume because this one ended mid case! Another great comfort read for me.
May 18, 2026
That was actually one of the best ace attorney cases I've seen if only turnabout gurgitation wasn't such a slog
December 18, 2024
Same great artwork and surprising ‘turnabout’ twists as in the video games.
April 14, 2015
Regardless of this series being about an attorney defending claimants from being accused of murder I am glad to inform you that it is not overly graphic and has thus been classified as Teen by the people at Kodansha Comics. Also I think it would be good to mention regardless of the serious nature of the crimes committed in this book that it is not an overly serious series being based on the spoofy Phoenix Wright Videogames. If you decide to read it I hope you enjoy. :)
In Turnabout From Heaven we find poor Diana Wheatley who was abused by her father until he was killed by severe allergic reaction. Diana is accused of switching her father's allergy medicine with enough wheat to kill him but she is insistent that her mother who was killed many years ago in an accident came back and killed him instead. Watch as Phoenix shows off his skills as a defense attorney and uncovers the truth behind this heavenly case and watch as the adorable Pearl Fey unleashes her adorable nature upon you fair readers. :)
Afterward we start the trial of the Turnabout Gurgitation where a televised food eating competition ends in murder and Phoenix is hired by the show's manager to clear the announcer's name. The trial will continue into volume 5 so if you don't want to wait till the end you might want to get the next volume as well. :)
My favorite part of the book would have to be when Pearl offers Phoenix food at the end of Turnabout from Heaven and it turns out it is super spicy. It was sweet revenge from an evilly cute girl that thought Phoenix was cheating on Maya. :)
In Turnabout From Heaven we find poor Diana Wheatley who was abused by her father until he was killed by severe allergic reaction. Diana is accused of switching her father's allergy medicine with enough wheat to kill him but she is insistent that her mother who was killed many years ago in an accident came back and killed him instead. Watch as Phoenix shows off his skills as a defense attorney and uncovers the truth behind this heavenly case and watch as the adorable Pearl Fey unleashes her adorable nature upon you fair readers. :)
Afterward we start the trial of the Turnabout Gurgitation where a televised food eating competition ends in murder and Phoenix is hired by the show's manager to clear the announcer's name. The trial will continue into volume 5 so if you don't want to wait till the end you might want to get the next volume as well. :)
My favorite part of the book would have to be when Pearl offers Phoenix food at the end of Turnabout from Heaven and it turns out it is super spicy. It was sweet revenge from an evilly cute girl that thought Phoenix was cheating on Maya. :)
September 10, 2019
If you've played the games, you'll probably quite enjoy this foray into crazy cases with Phoenix Wright and Co. If you haven't, you're likely to be confused by the fourth volume in the series, at least, given it does very little in terms of introductions for the characters, but an earlier volume might remedy that and the plotlines don't really require you to know the characters terribly well.
Phoenix Wright always ends up with the weirdest cases. That's the charm of the games, and that's the charm of the stories here, too. This is fun to puzzle through, even though you are obviously taking a less active part. The stories are interesting and well-presented and getting to see the beloved characters again is always fun. I accidentally ended up with the fourth volume in the manga series when I went to the library and had one of those "mine!" moments that I'm sure quite a few of you can sympathize with, but given I had played the games I don't think any further background is really needed. I jumped right in without feeling like I was missing anything from the previous volumes.
Each of the stories included is a standalone mystery, and they're fun to try to puzzle out, though often convoluted. That's part of the fun, of course, and I'm glad I picked this up. I might try tracking down the rest, but I'm honestly feeling more inclined to go pick the games up again so I can play more of an active role in hunting down the perpetrators...
Phoenix Wright always ends up with the weirdest cases. That's the charm of the games, and that's the charm of the stories here, too. This is fun to puzzle through, even though you are obviously taking a less active part. The stories are interesting and well-presented and getting to see the beloved characters again is always fun. I accidentally ended up with the fourth volume in the manga series when I went to the library and had one of those "mine!" moments that I'm sure quite a few of you can sympathize with, but given I had played the games I don't think any further background is really needed. I jumped right in without feeling like I was missing anything from the previous volumes.
Each of the stories included is a standalone mystery, and they're fun to try to puzzle out, though often convoluted. That's part of the fun, of course, and I'm glad I picked this up. I might try tracking down the rest, but I'm honestly feeling more inclined to go pick the games up again so I can play more of an active role in hunting down the perpetrators...
November 26, 2012
*SPOILER WARNING*
Turnabout From Heaven
“I sympathise with her but murder is murder” – Edgeworth
And attempted murder is attempted murder!
In this case, the victim died of an allergic reaction to Buckwheat.
He was abusive to his daughter who happens to be the defendant but the actual murderer is her mother.
Or so it seems at first. Her mother replaced the victims medicine with buckwheat flower to kill him – however it turns out she accidentally put milk powder in the medicine instead. He was actually killed by flower which got on his cat.
So the mother accidentally didn’t kill him and therefore gets away with it. No one cares that she tried to kill someone, in fact they’re all happy that she can get away with it because it’s not what actually killed him. It’s like if someone accidentally shot someone with a pellet gun instead of a real gun – they still had the intention, you can’t celebrate that they got away with it!
This is just wrong. This is not the message of the ace attorney series.
It doesn’t matter that the victim wasn’t nice and the mother wanted to kill him to protect her daughter.
Phoenix Wright is not about justifying murder, or celebrating someone getting away with attempted murder!
It’s just wrong!
I'm giving this a three star for the other case in this volume. If that wasn't there it'd be two or one.
Turnabout From Heaven
“I sympathise with her but murder is murder” – Edgeworth
And attempted murder is attempted murder!
In this case, the victim died of an allergic reaction to Buckwheat.
He was abusive to his daughter who happens to be the defendant but the actual murderer is her mother.
Or so it seems at first. Her mother replaced the victims medicine with buckwheat flower to kill him – however it turns out she accidentally put milk powder in the medicine instead. He was actually killed by flower which got on his cat.
So the mother accidentally didn’t kill him and therefore gets away with it. No one cares that she tried to kill someone, in fact they’re all happy that she can get away with it because it’s not what actually killed him. It’s like if someone accidentally shot someone with a pellet gun instead of a real gun – they still had the intention, you can’t celebrate that they got away with it!
This is just wrong. This is not the message of the ace attorney series.
It doesn’t matter that the victim wasn’t nice and the mother wanted to kill him to protect her daughter.
Phoenix Wright is not about justifying murder, or celebrating someone getting away with attempted murder!
It’s just wrong!
I'm giving this a three star for the other case in this volume. If that wasn't there it'd be two or one.
July 23, 2025
In this manga we get two cats, noodles, Edgeworth and Phoenix working together in court, smug Egdeworth, Gumshoe, Pearls, Edgeworth dramatically shouting about the dangers of allergies and an emotional family story. I could not have wished for more.
I loved the big dinner scene at the end <3
-the case of the eating competition is interesting so far
- I'm surprised they picked Payne as the prosecutor for this case, but he is as entertaining as always
The bonus content at the end was great too. It can be cringe but, to be honest, I like it when authors/artists inject themselves into their stories for some fun bits. The Apollo Justice cameo was a fun surprise, but now I want a whole manga with older Phoenix, Apollo, Trucy and Klavier. Where is it Capcom??? Don't be such a tease :(
I loved the big dinner scene at the end <3
-the case of the eating competition is interesting so far
- I'm surprised they picked Payne as the prosecutor for this case, but he is as entertaining as always
The bonus content at the end was great too. It can be cringe but, to be honest, I like it when authors/artists inject themselves into their stories for some fun bits. The Apollo Justice cameo was a fun surprise, but now I want a whole manga with older Phoenix, Apollo, Trucy and Klavier. Where is it Capcom??? Don't be such a tease :(
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 23, 2016
This is one of the better entries in this series. I figured out whodunit in the first case, but there were enough other plot twists to keep me interested. The beginning of the second case was intriguing as well. I have a few thoughts about who the killer is, but I will have to read the next volume to see if I'm right. Also, Pearls is adorable as usual. I was a bit annoyed that but other than that, it was a fun romp in the world of Neo Olde Tokyo.
January 24, 2015
Still some inconsistencies with Edgeworth's relationship to Phoenix--they're too friendly. Edgeworth isn't the type to sit down and have a nice family dinner like the setting created after the first story.
Want to Read
July 10, 2013I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11878833
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11878833
February 23, 2015
Když Payne trénuje, je hrůzostrašný.
A chudák Phoenix.
"Mám známé v gastronomickém průmyslu, seženu vám místo v nejlepší restauraci!" "PHOENIX TEN PŘÍPAD PŘIJÍMÁ."
A chudák Phoenix.
"Mám známé v gastronomickém průmyslu, seženu vám místo v nejlepší restauraci!" "PHOENIX TEN PŘÍPAD PŘIJÍMÁ."
September 4, 2015
Even by Ace Attorney standards, that first case stretches realism (there is such a thing as attempted murder, you know). Not bad otherwise.
February 24, 2013
Another great book with a full case, and a cliffhanger on the second case!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews