Ace Attorney Anime Ep 18 Turnabout Big Top 1st Trial Review

<p>Another case has closed for Phoenix and a new one opens with <em>Turnabout Big Top 1st Trial<&sol;em>&period; This anime adaption of Capcom&&num;8217&semi;s <em>Ace Attorney<&sol;em> game series is little more than the original games&&num;8217&semi; scripts&period; A lack of background stories and extra plot twists make this adaption feel as if it merely animated cut scenes&period; For fans of the games&comma; it can be fun to watch but as a standalone anime the entertainment is does fall a bit short&period; <em>Turnabout Big Top<&sol;em> is a story arc centered around a circus theme&period; The murder&comma; the victims&comma; and the suspects are all involved within the same circus&period; The original game story writers did an excellent job of incorporating both the appealing and creepy side of circus life without making it terrifying for children to watch&period; Yet&comma; this eighteenth episode feels rushed and there seems to be more questions than the animation studio cares to answer on screen&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;121512" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-121512" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-121512" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;18164603&sol;Turnabout-big-top-1st-trial-pic-2-e1489870070885&period;png" alt&equals;"Ace Attorney Anime Ep 18 &sol; A-1 Pictures" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"550" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-121512" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Ace Attorney Anime Ep 18 Turnabout Big Top 1st Trial &sol; A-1 Pictures<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>While watching each passing episode&comma; I continue to wonder more about the main cast&period; The audience is privy to scarcely little background info about these iconic and memorable characters&period; It seems a wasted opportunity for the franchise as a whole to be so cautious with the overall story&period; Barely anything is known of Phoenix&&num;8217&semi;s childhood aside from his friendship with Larry and Miles&period; Wanting to know more of Phoenix&&num;8217&semi;s process while earning his law degree and what he does for fun is becoming normal&period; We&&num;8217&semi;ve seen Maya meditating and acting like a real person&comma; especially when the episodes are focused on her&period; Since Phoenix is the poster boy for the <em>Ace Attorney<&sol;em> franchise it&&num;8217&semi;s sad to see his more personal life aside from defending innocent clients and solving mysteries&period; However since this arc is focused on Berry Big Circus&comma; I am interested in seeing Phoenix&&num;8217&semi;s reaction to the performances and the types of people associated with the acts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Berry Big Circus is not all smiles and bad puns&period; There is an underlying problem with the members and it&&num;8217&semi;s that they all seem to dislike &lpar;or rather despise immensely&rpar; the main moneymaker magician &&num;8211&semi; Maximillion Galactica&period; This dark truth seeps to the surface after the ringmaster Russell Berry is found murdered on the circus grounds&period; Maya&&num;8217&semi;s new idol&comma; Maximillion&comma; is accused as the murderer since he is the only member of the circus who can fly&period; For the audience experiencing this adaption&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s much too obvious that Phoenix will rise to the challenge and find out the truth behind this sinister act&period; A slight twist in this rather predictable storyline is that Max is merely a country bumpkin who is only provoking his fellow circus members into reaching their full potential&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;121513" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-121513" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-121513" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;18164939&sol;Turnabout-big-top-1st-trial-pic-4-e1489870226711&period;png" alt&equals;"Ace Attorney Anime Ep 18 Turnabout Big Top 1st Trial &sol; A-1 Pictures" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"554" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-121513" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Ace Attorney Anime Ep 18 Turnabout Big Top 1st Trial &sol; A-1 Pictures<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Phoenix and Maya along with the anime&&num;8217&semi;s viewers are taken aback by Max&&num;8217&semi;s statement of the circus members being lazy by staying in their performance comfort zones&period; The animators do obtain credit for softening Max&&num;8217&semi;s rather peacock demeanor into a sorrow-ridden expression that makes his story believable&period; Originally Phoenix is not keen on defending the outlandish magician until he listens to Max&&num;8217&semi;s reasoning of provoking his circus mates&period; This bit of truth gives more insight to Max&&num;8217&semi;s true self&period; While watching this episode one cannot help but feel a bit sorry for Max who ends up revealing that his true name is Billy Bob Johns&period; The empathy is working so far&period; Just how far the sympathy can be carried remains to be seen&period; In the remaining episodes of the <em>Turnabout Big Top<&sol;em> arc&comma; it would be interesting to see how much of Max&&num;8217&semi;s intentions are for his own benefit or for the good of his fellow performers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;121514" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-121514" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-121514" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;18165221&sol;Turnabout-big-top-1st-trial-pic-1-e1489870380557&period;png" alt&equals;"Ace Attorney Anime Ep 18 Turnabout Big Top 1st Trial &sol; A-1 Pictures" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"527" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-121514" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Ace Attorney Anime Ep 18 Turnabout Big Top 1st Trial &sol; A-1 Pictures<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Aside from occasionally hitting the facial expression goal&comma; the overall art quality is poor for an A-1 Pictures production&period; A-1 Pictures is responsible for the glorious anime of <em>Fairy Tail<&sol;em>&comma;<em> Sword Art Online<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Your Lie in April<&sol;em> and many more&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s quite sad to see <em>Ace Attorney<&sol;em> become such a lackluster anime&period; Every so often sweet moments are added into the anime that can not be found in the games&period; These little scenes are little and far between&period; The art could be glanced over if the extra storyline was present&period; Since it is absent along with the inconsistency animation&comma; the overall effect of the<em> Ace Attorney<&sol;em> anime is disappointing for fans of the game series and of the anime medium&period; The little glimmer of hope are beginning to wane through each episode&period; The <em>Turnabout Big Top<&sol;em> story arc has extra content to work with&comma; so it&&num;8217&semi;s my last hope that the anime turns itself around and becomes as enjoyable as the games&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>Let us know what you thought of the episode on the comments or by reaching out to us on Twitter at &commat;BagoGames&excl; Remember&comma; you can always follow along with us on <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;crunchyroll&period;com&sol;ace-attorney">Crunchyroll<&sol;a>&excl;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;