On the Paper Trail: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Official Casebook: Vol. 1

Ladies and Gentlemen here we are, back on the paper trail and at the last manga book for a while. I will explain why in a little bit but as a recap we took a look at Zelda, Mega Man, WoW, among other titles however I can clearly say that the Phoenix Wright was the fist manga that literally had me go WTF out loud to myself.

For those who do not know Phoenix Wright is a point and click adventure that has a twist where you are a lawyer who is defending you clients in trial there is no win/lose situation right away but the various evidence you collect plus the connections you make with them will allow you to either win or lose the trial. This Manga does not cover that aspect, it is more of a slice of life of things that occur outside the court room.

This collaborative piece has various authors going and portraying the characters from this series as they would go and interact with them in vignettes about things that could take place in every day life. These range for adopting a kitty cat, piecing together why they actually choose their profession, finding a lost ball, and explaining to a little girl that a professional relation doesn't have to be a loving one.

This book does not take itself seriously even having two stories referring to the fact they are in the manga and needing to go and spice it up, one has a makeover from phoenix wright as done by the side characters while another holds a trial in an arena like environment playing to the crowd for dramatic effect.

There are MANY authors in this story and none of them connect with one another, which leaves you sometimes confused and lost in the various narratives that take place at random intervals of the Phoenix Wright saga. Now if all these stories took place say between the first or second games that would help the reader ground themselves in the environment the authors are working in, however this book has it scatter shot throughout the series. This allows non gamers to get into the stories without an issue but as a narrative makes it really disjointed.

Final verdict, if you enjoy Phoenix Wright style humor and the slice of life stories this is a pick up, otherwise there is nothing here that stands out to get you into the series based on this game. Next time we are going to do a double feature!