0tter

like the premise is a basic one about a half human-half supernatural creature joining a detective agency to find out more about his parents. (imagine bungo stray dogs meets witch hat atelier)

AND LIKE INUGAMI (the guy that runs the detective agency) IS SUCH A FATHER FIGURE TO THESE KIDS ISTG. LIKE HE LITERALLY GIVES THEM EACH A ROOM AND AN ALLOWANCE FOR SOLVING CASES AND THEY'RE SO FREAKIN CUTEEE.

also I love how stupid kabane is,might save this for another post, but it's could be due to him being segregated from human society as a child or literally being from a different time. but they way he lowkey learns how to read social cues as time goes on is so cute.

The art style is also really yummy. like the manga uses screens n stuff, which is normal but like at the end of every volume or so they show which screens they use and i just thought that was really special.

THAT ASIDE, I LOVE HOW GENDER THE CHARACTERS ARE. AND NOT WITHOUT REASON. like Akira is just a guy that like frilly and cute clothes, but he doesn't like skirts cuz they're too feminine. He literally has a skewed sense of gender expression cuz he only ever had female role models until Inugami showed up. Tsunamayo, literally a gender ambiguous character, who i personally hc to be genderqueer, is lowkey my least fav character but i still appreciate them. HOW COULD I FORGET THE TIME NOBIMARU, TO GET INTO A KITSUNE VILLAGE, LITERALLY SHAPE SHIFTED INTO A GIRL. (and we got a shower scene to prove it). Also the hermaphrodite gyaru in vol. 19. I hope we see her again.

not necessarily canon but the two girl in Vol19 of the manga, literally wlw but ofc the wouldn't say it. LIKE WDYM ONE OF THEM WOULD LITERALLY DESTROY THE VILLAGE THAT RAISED THEM JUST SO THEY COULD BE FREE FROM THE SHACKLES OF THEIR PAST. also they lowkey had those two gay kitsune but one of them is dead, and the other is grieving and goin thru a redemption arc. like wdym they have their iwn manga covers too.

I mean, the first time he was super close to death was probably in the tutorial of the 2nd game. (and no im not counting the poison thing cuz that's only revealed in the 3rd game)

BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA TO THE HEAD, AND HE STILL WON THE COURT CASE. If he died here, ofc the perpetrator woulda been arrested probably due to the phone thing. but also Miles would probably hear about this through Gumshoe while he's like 2000 miles away. and considering the whole "Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth chooses death" thing, I feel like it would be a great contrast cuz Phoenix Wright DIDN'T choose death, but he died anyway, while Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth is very much alive. also Maya would be pretty sad n all (and would probably be a temporary suspect) and we wouldn't get the rest of the game.

He also could adied in his student days, but that would have been significantly less interesting. He wouldn't become an attorney, Larry would go to jail, yadda yadda. narumitsu is doomed. IF HE WAS HOSPITALISED THOUGH, NOW THAT'S A DIFFERENT STORY. purely because i think with him being hospitalised after the hospitalisation of Diego Armando, Mia would probably never forgive herself for putting these people in danger, and maybe quit law altogether, imagine beanix but with Mia. CONVERSELY THO, HIM AND GODOT WOULD HAVE SUCH A COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP. CUZ IN A WAY, PHOENIX WOULDA BEEN THE REASON MIA QUIT LAW, BUT HE ALSO HAS TO RECOGNISE HIM AS SOMEONE WHO WAS DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY DAHLIA. also i think they would have a brotherly relationship they mia had with phoenix, sorta.

and ofc there's the last case of the 3rd game. if phoenix fell of the bridge and died, it would be DL-6 all over again. maya would think she's the reason for phoenix's death. (as if she hasn't been convicted enough already) and Edgeworth would be distraught, Larry too, cuz he saw it happen, and not to mention Franziska would never get her revenge, (not that she ever appeared after this outside of investigations anyway). he SHOULD HAVE DIED HERE. but then we wouldn't get the apollo trilogy so yea.

SPEAKING OF THE APOLLO TRILOGY. REMEMBER WHEN PHOENIX GOT RUN OVER?? yea that woulda been grizzly if he died. Trucy woulda been orphaned, and Apollo would been left basically jobless. (if i was evil i woulda said Edgeworth got wind of Phoenix's death and took Apollo under his wing as an apprentice, while becoming the legal guardian to Trucy) but who cares dawg.