Oddly positioned right before the climax, we have this single-day courtroom only case starring Athena and Blackquill. It revolves around very traditional Japanese stage comedy and noodle making, and makes no bones about diving right into those subjects in detail.
Is this a “very special episode”? Were Capcom asked by the government to put together an educational case? I personally quite enjoyed it. I am a big ol’ Japanophile and it will surely be some time before my Japanese is at the level I can properly experience a Rakugo play myself.
There’s a lot of very flat Japanese humour here, wordplay and puns, which naturally doesn’t translate spectacularly well. There were some gags in there which I did enjoy, and I appreciated the history lesson, but I can see this rubbing people very much up the wrong way.
The way it interrupts the ongoing narratives to drop us into a case without most of the main cast is jarring. This isn’t helped but having a particularly bad crop of witnesses and side characters as well. An unfunny comedian with multiple personality syndrome means a lot of time spent dealing with some real anime bullshit.
Then there’s the main witness-what-done-it. Oh boy.
Athena is a female attorney, so of course for her first successful solo case the game pits her against a sexy clown balloon artist with knockers that distract the judge. Naturally, when she finally breaks her wig falls off and her fake boobs pop and she is revealed to not, in fact, be hotter than Athena Cykes. Of course. Brilliant.
Ultimately, this case is forgivable thanks to its short length, but I can’t imagine it living long in the hearts and minds of fans.
It did make me go out and eat some soba, though.
2/5