Dios Myoss. la creatura

This one’s a bit far out there but it’s been living in my head rent-free so it’s time to evict it to tumblr. 

Satoru Hosonaga is Miles & Gregory Edgeworth’s ancestor. YES I SAID IT WAS FAR OUT THERE PLEASE LET ME FINISH

Okay, so if you can’t read the horrible low-res screenshot, the gist is that there are a couple visual similarities between them, being:

- All three have a sprig of hair that sticks up in the back. It’s unnoticeable from the icons alone (exception of Hosonaga), but from the sprites and in-game art both Edgeworths have that little tuft.

Also on the topic of hair, in the AA trilogy icon for Miles his hair color not only matches his father’s a bit more but also Hosonaga’s. (however in DD and SOJ it turns into a much lighter grey)

- All three have glasses. Granted, Miles gets his glasses later on in life, however it implies that they all have bad vision. Poor vision “tends to run in families”, however is not genetic. 

- Both Gregory and Satoru have defined cheekbones. Miles doesn’t, however he is 100% related to Gregory so he is excused for this one. 

- Not written on the image, however on the wiki their heights are all pretty close to each other.

Miles Edgeworth: 5′10′’; 178 cm

Gregory Edgeworth: 5′9′’; 176 cm

Satoru Hosonaga: 5′10′’; 178 cm

Granted, Hosonaga is from the late 1800′s/early 1900′s, so the height likely isn’t accurate. However, it is written on the wiki & supports my argument, so I will be taking it as canon despite its flaws.

THINGS CAN CHANGE THROUGH GENERATIONS. Miles and Gregory have vastly different hairstyles, and yet they’re still related. Skin tone can be accounted to lighting/health conditions. (Hosonaga has a colored background for his icon and also probably suffers from iron deficiency/anemia due to his constant coughing)

Now for personality, I’ll be going off of the Ace Attorney Wiki.

- All three are honest & hardworking.

- Professional/Serious demeanor. (Hosonaga has the wackiest disguises yet treats them all seriously & professionally so I guess.)

- Dedication to the truth. (it’s Ace Attorney what else would it be)

- Caring/Dedicating a lot for family/friends. (Miles to Phoenix, Gregory to his son & maybe Raymond Shields, Hosonaga to Asogi/Ryunosuke)

In conclusion, there is proof that Satoru Hosonaga is an Edgeworth.

This is a really small, fairly unimportant detail, but I noticed some things I wanted to point out... There are about 10-16 different, distinct types of Daruma doll in Japan, depending on who you ask.

Ryuunosuke’s seems to be a Takasaki Daruma produced in Gunma Prefecture (about 126 km/80 miles northwest of Tokyo). Takasaki is a city that makes about 80% of the nation's Daruma dolls. The character in the center, which in this case is the first character of Naruhodou, is usually an indication of what wish the buyer had in mind when they purchased the doll (you may remember that Susato filled in the Daruma's blank eye when Ryuunosuke became an accomplished attorney).

Incidentally, the character there, 成, can mean "to become/attain/achieve", so it could be a convenient wordplay that it also happens to be the first character of his name and not necessarily an indication that it was customized, but for what it's worth, I looked through a bunch of Google images and didn't see any with that character on it, even when I entered "だるま 成" as a specific search term. They tend to have "blessings", "victory," "passing an exam," or "happiness" on them instead.

Just how blasted does Van Zieks get each trial? He suggests that he normally “fills” his cup no more than 7 times but will ocasionally go beyond. The average bottle of wine contains around 5-6 full glasses. So let’s estimate that he drinks/pours up to one bottle per trial.

Admittedly, Barok does not actually even sip each glass he pours. Many of them get crushed or go flying into the lamp. That said, he spends a good deal of time off camera during summation examinations when he could easily be pouring even more wine. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that he drinks at least 7 glasses per trial (and possibly sometimes more).

So how drunk would he get? We need to consider a few more facts before drawing a conclusion. First, we have to make some assumptions about how long a typical trial is. Some of them run about 6 hours (with a recess inbetween), some much more (or a little less). Let’s put a 6 hour time frame on this for the sake of simplicity since Van Zieks does not specify. Second, the average alcohol content of a bottle of wine is 12-14%. Further, Van Zieks does not appear to eat anything during trials nor does he appear to drink water (though we can make no assumptions about how much he eats/drinks prior). Third, we must note that Van Zieks is 6′4 and muscular, we can probably safely assume he is around 200lbs. Finally, he is clearly an experienced drinker.

In my opinion (fortified by a half-assed google search) 7 glasses glasses of the “blood red plonk” over one trial would get the good prosecutor legally drunk (in the US that is a blood alcohol content of .08% or higher) . That, of course, does not mean he is subjectively drunk or even feeling a buzz. If I were to guess, though, without eating, or drinking any water, I’d say Barok is is certainly feeling intoxicated after 7 full glasses.

According to Verywell Mind, when a person gets between .06-08% BAC, they might experience:

…poor muscle coordination, loss of balance, slower reaction time, slurred speech, loss of acuity in vision and hearing, difficulty in detecting danger, and impaired judgment, self-control, reasoning, and memory.

Clearly, Van Zieks is able to prosecute very effectively even after having multiple drinks, so I’d say that in most trials he probably hovers around the “slower reaction time” stage (this might explain his very languid movements).

and this kind of polearm-head shape:

if there is a word for this shape, please tell me, because i don't know it.

okay, the crossed swords - i don't have a ton to say, this seems to be the van zieks family crest. he has actual crossed swords on his office wall. the van zieks love swords.

the fleur-de-lis is best known as a symbol of the french monarchy, but it's commonly used in various military uniforms, including some british army uniforms. it's also associated with christian imagery or divinity. an inverted symbol in heraldry could be used to suggest the opposite of the conventional meaning, so if you like, the inverted fleur-de-lis might mean damnation or suggest a fallen angel, but that's just riffing - i couldn't find any suggestion that inverted fleurs-de-lis have ever been conventionally used as infernal or satanic symbolism. the van zieks might just think it looks cool like that. that's allowed in heraldry.

as for the poleaxe head-ish shape, 1. idk it looks nice but 2. i did find that the household cavalry farriers (horseshoe-ers) carried a poleaxe for the primary purpose of quickly and humanely dispatching mortally wounded horses. read the farriers section of my topmost link - it's gruesome AF and fitting for the reaper. the farriers wore a black variant of the cavalry uniform, which is nice and goth but i think barok's coat is pretty clearly blue, not black, so i can't draw that connection. the household cavalry is divided into the Life Guards who wear red and the Blues and Royals who wear blue, so the color choices for klint and barok are probably just based on that.

To avenge his father is the pinnacle of every decision, to get to London, to be a lawyer, to succeed, this tunnel vision is what SO MANY PEOPLE MISS ABOUT HIM!! He’s not JUST egotistical or cocky, he’s determined. He works his ASS off to get where he needs to be. He has to be perfect under any circumstances or his entire life mission crumbles.

Subconsciously, he is pushing himself under the assumption that he has already failed his family, he doesn’t value his future beyond clearing the name of a dead man, this is who Kazuma Asougi is. And it’s EXACTLY why Ryuunosuke was the first person he ever connected with. Susato and Yuujin took him in, they gave him kindness that he thought he didn’t deserve, a vessel cannot make friends, so he remains detached, he puts on a mask of professionalism. out of fear, to be vulnerable is to be distracted, or worse, content. He can’t be content. He is always, ALWAYS, moving.

Ryuunosuke gives him a taste of TRUE failure. He’s humiliated- but for possibly the first time, he allows himself to be upset for his own sake instead of his father’s. Ryuunosuke doesn’t stammer for apologies or insult him, he answers honestly, completely blunt. (Autism.)

Ryuunosuke surprised Kazuma, so Kazuma Asougi makes a beautiful mistake.