#lmj

I will try my best to reblog all upcoming fan events here while tagging all relevant ships or characters, in case there's something you're looking for specifically (or want to filter out). If there's something I missed or that you'd like me to tag, please let me know!

FAQ and main tags below the cut:

Okay now that Nwos is officially established as the 7th entry in the Layton series, what does this mean for Lady Layton?

Originally Lady Layton was supposed to be the 7th entry in the Layton series but it wasn't too popular with the fandom as many aspects of the game made it controversial. When the game was first released most of the fandom didn't like the changes from Katrielle replacing Professor Layton to the cases not connecting to the what should had been an over arcing mystery. And when the game flopped Level-5 tried to make it into an anime and that flopped as well. In hindsight the concept of Lady Layton either as game or anime didn't go the way Level-5 wanted.

With Nwos it's place within the official timeline is where Lady Layton was originally replacing it as the 7th entry. Nwos could cause some possible retcons like making either the game or anime not canon to the source material anymore.

I finally started playing LMJ this month, and after completing case 10, I have a question. You seem like a person who's very knowledgeable about Professor Layton lore, so I just had to ask! :D

Since the LMJ game and anime have come out quite some time ago, I've heard the famous "professor has been missing for a decade" lore tidbit. I found it unexpected, but sure, I decided to roll with it. That's why exchange with Dean Delmona in case 10 sounded unusual to me - he mentions that he hasn't seen Layton in a while, but he finds out from Katrielle that the Professor is actually missing, which surprises him! I haven't watched the anime yet, but I'm really curious - to tell the truth, while playing LMJ, I didn't get the feeling that Layton has been gone for a decade. A few months, a year at most. Everyone acts nonchalant and unaware that he's not there. I think if he had been missing for a decade, the people would act differently.

So my question is - is it some common misinterpretation that Layotn has been gone for 10 years, does the game and anime have a slightly different canons, or do people of London never read the papers?

Thank you for your time! 🙏

Thanks for the question!! It's been a while since I got lore asks so this is very welcome :D I apologize for the tardiness of the answer, life has been hectic recently and also I watched 2 hours worth of anime to make sure I was giving you the right numbers.

Note: I will avoid spoilers for the anime in the answer and I hope commenters do the same :D Please guys!!

As far as the anime goes, it is 100% canon that Layton was gone for not just 10, but 11 years! I rewatched all the relevant episodes, and it is mentioned several times that Layton physically left 11 years ago, and last contact with Layton via letter was also 11 years ago. Moreover, we have some ages mentioned that allow us to place LMDA firmly in the Layton timeline and that math also checks out for 11 years.

(This is extremely sad when you take into account Kat is 21 (as per her game profile in the extras), so that means that he has been missing for more than half of her life!)

However! The anime and the game do not have exactly the same canon. Particularly, the resolution of game-adapted cases is often different in the anime. It’s not too different but some secondary characters here and there have their backstories notably altered. This is probably done so game players can still enjoy something new in the anime, but leaves us wondering… what exactly is more canon?

There’s no answer to that, I’m afraid, nor official nor unofficial one. Personally, I choose to believe everything that happens in the anime is canon to the extent that’s what happened. I don’t entirely like how they told the story (it falls kinda flat because of its need to be 20 minute episodes which doesn’t align well with fans who expect the characterizations of a dialogue heavy game) but I think it’s a story that fits the characters and it’s nice of them to tackle some of the mystery of what happened to Layton so we can sleep at night.

(FUN FACT: Professor Layton and the New World of Steam will take place in the only year of the Layton timeline where they can manage to do whatever they like and not affect the anime canon. If they had wanted us to disregard canonicity of the anime, all they had to do was to say “NWOS takes place two years after UF”. And they didn’t do that.)

And yes, YES, you are absolutely right that from the game one does not at all get the message accross that it has been so long. It is not at all rare that you think it was less than 10 years: most of us did.

I was there, anon, I was there 8 years ago… doing a google forms to know people’s theories!

To contextualize, I made the post with the results of the poll on May 22, which is both after the anime started airing and before episode 10 aired, the first one that mentions details about Layton’s disappearance. We knew that Layton would appear in ep 10 because of Hino yapping on twitter, but the only clue we had was a still shot from the opening that barely gave more information that “probably at some point we will see Luke be older than 13”.

In the forms question “How long has Hershel being missing?” the most popular answer was “a few months”. The final divide of votes (not only those on the post, but also people who voted up to June), was ~50% votes “Layton has been missing a year or less”, ~30% votes for “Layton has been missing 10 years or more” and ~20% votes for “Layton has been missing 2-5 years”.

So yeah, it’s not you, it is definetely weird how the disappearance is characterized in the game, 70% of people didn’t get it. Even a quiet disappearance ought to rise some eyebrows at some point, especially if it’s for over a decade! How come no one misses him!! I do miss him!! :CC

So, to sum up:

Is it some common misinterpretation that Layton has been gone for 10 years— No :)

Does the game and anime have a slightly different canons— Yes :)

Do people of London never read the papers?— Most likely his disappearance was not an event, so it wouldn’t be featured in the papers but surely someone should have noticed!!!