Ace Attorney Deep Dive: “Turnabout Academy” (Dual Destinies – Case 3) (2024)

Phoenix Wright and co. go back to school – by invitation, of course. Phoenix is due to give a defence seminar at Themis Academy, but in classic Ace Attorney fashion something goes horribly wrong.

I’ll be deconstructing the case in ten distinct categories and giving a score out of ten for each. This will give a definitive score out of a hundred, if the maths checks out!

Before we begin, you can check out some of my related blog posts below:

Micro Story

Phoenix is invited to do a defence seminar for the top attorneys at Themis Academy, and he brings Apollo and Athena along as a learning experience. Athena recognises Juniper Woods as an old friend – and it just so happens that Juniper wrote the script for the upcoming mock trial.

When a professor turns up dead in the exact same way that unfolded in the mock trial script, however, it seems Juniper is the only possible culprit. Athena vows to defend her friend in court no matter what.

The mock trial aspect lends itself to a nice mystery, and I liked the throughline across “Turnabout Academy” of the central trio and how their friendships are called into question. Not a mind-boggling plot by any means, but the emotional cores were there.

Score: 7/10

Macro Story

The most interesting part of “Turnabout Academy” on a surface glance is that a new defence attorney is at the helm – Athena finally gets a case all to herself, and it allows her personality and abrasive style to take the forefront.

She’s pushed to her limits in her first real court case, deciding between harsh truths and deep friendships. She holds her own despite some justifiably amateurish outbursts, so it’s a saddening thought to know her next and final case in the trilogy (“Turnabout Storyteller”) is a silly filler one.

The “Dark Age of the Law” subplot is also more prevalent than ever, showing how many graduates of Themis Academy have been taking shady teachings and perpetuating the miscarriages of justice. Again, like my complaints in previous Dual Destinies cases, I wish this subplot was more tangible than just “courts are bad these days, take our word for it”.

Score: 7/10

Mystery

After replaying twenty Ace Attorney cases where the culprit is either obvious from the get-go or obvious halfway through, it’s so refreshing to have a Mystery that subverts expectations.

It’s framed in such a way where it has to be one of the three friends, and each character has their own secrets and mysteries to the point where you genuinely question if one of them committed the dirty deed after all.

This Mystery is great all the way through … so the only thing holding it back is that Aristotle Means looks sus as hell from the moment you meet him.

Score: 8/10

Side Characters

There were five notable Side Characters by my count, but two of them are people we’ve met before so this should be a quick section:

Juniper Woods is our defendant of this case, and she was also the defendant in “Turnabout Countdown”. She didn’t get much time for development then, but her involvement in the friendship trio makes her much more important this time around. Even if her personality is a bit lacking compared to the other four Side Characters.

The other two members of the friendship trio, Hugh O’Connor and Robin Newman, are the anchors of the case. The reveals that Hugh is 25 and Robin is a girl are fun twists, and their obnoxious and loud personalities respectively should get annoying but I found them a lot of fun. These three are the emotional core of the case, and “Turnabout Academy” wouldn’t work without them.

Myriam Scuttlebutt is definitely the black sheep of the “Turnabout Academy” cast. On the one hand she’s really weird and uncooperative with the Investigation, but on the other I find her stealth-box and her shyness around the other classmates quite endearing.

Last but not least, we have Klavier Gavin making a cameo appearance. I would’ve liked to see more of him, but his brief scenes are lots of fun.

Score: 8/10

Soundtrack

This might end up being a controversial section and score – “Turnabout Academy” doesn’t have any famous or otherwise sensational tracks, but the atmosphere they created were top notch.

“Themis Academy”, “Lively People” and “Suspicious People” all add to the zany tone the case is going for, and “Reminiscence – Wandering Heart” is a solid Reminiscence theme.

Score: 8/10

Investigations

While I would’ve liked to see some more diverse rooms, Themis Academy had a lot of cool backdrops to explore which made the Investigations a fresh experience. And the body turned up quickly, which is always a plus!

The mock mock trial could’ve been more in-depth, and I wish we got a statue building minigame, but otherwise “Turnabout Academy” had some serviceable Investigations that did the job.

Score: 7/10

Trials

Like with all Ace Attorney cases, the Trials in “Turnabout Academy” are when all the twists and turns come out to play.

Robin is revealed to be a girl, Hugh is revealed to be 25 years old, all three friends fake confessions to prolong the Trial, and their friendship reforging at the end was a really touching conclusion to that subplot.

Also, bonus points for Blackquill taking a stroll during courtroom proceedings because he was bored. One of my favourite things a prosecutor has done in the series.

Score: 8/10

Case Logic

“Turnabout Academy” has been consistently good or great in every category, but if there’s one department where it falls flat it’s the Case Logic.

The major problem that docks the score massively is that it contains one of the worst oversights / plot holes in the series – Aristotle Means’s staff plays an important role in the murder and should be on the victim’s corpse during the mock trial, but when Athena and friends talk to him during the mock trial itself he has his staff with him. Did he bring a spare? He never confessed to having two staffs, so this has to go down as one of Ace Attorney’s most egregious plot holes.

A much funnier plot hole is a 25-year-old Hugh O’Connor posing as an academy student and none of his friends seemed to notice. Never change, Ace Attorney.

Other than that, I found the body-statue segment to be a stretch, and Myriam’s two undeleted photos being the important ones is a classic contrivance. Oh, and Juniper being in charge of the mock trial’s script, direction, witness testimony AND sound mixing is sadistic (did no other students volunteer to help?).

Score: 5/10

Culprit

This’ll no doubt be a controversial take, but I found Aristotle Means to be a cliché and underbaked villain.

His constant rhetoric of “the ends justify the means” gets old fast, and his connection to the Dark Age of the Law is half-explained and should’ve been built-up over multiple cases in an ideal world.

Great breakdown, though.

Score: 6/10

Charm

More so than the previous two Dual Destinies cases, “Turnabout Academy” is the first time I’ve been charmed by the 3D environments and the storytelling.

The power of friendship is an endearing throughline, the Mystery is well set-up and developed, and the Klavier cameo is appreciated.

Score: 8/10

FINAL SCORE: 72/100

While maybe not as great as I remember, “Turnabout Academy” still boasts some very good characters and a mystery I could sink my teeth into.

Aaaaand that’s my list! You can check out some of my latest blog posts below: