Actually, I'm pretty sure Takumi confirmed in an interview that the part Phoenix played was originally set up to be an entirely new character.



This has actually been discussed in length on 2ch--really interesting discussions, I thought. What it basically boiled down to is, yes, a lot of Japanese fans assume this game was "propaganda" in that sense. As to how successful it was? Not especially. The main thrust of the argument I see get brought up is that "guilt should be decided by facts, not emotions". I also think it's interesting that it's commonly pointed out that in Hobo's "vision" of the jury system, Phoenix's "class trial" back when he was nine would have gone veeeeeery differently.

I think part of the issue with the game is that I sort of get the feeling that the production team itself doesn't really understand the jury system fully...

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All I'll say is, if the Japanese public can't tell the difference between the Jury basing their feelings on the evidence, and the jury basing things entirely on their feelings then their justice system is as messed up as some people say it is. (Yes, this is from my Western P.O.V, but I do think the UK Jury system is the best system in the world).

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I wanted 5 cases too..

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Uh, I think most can tell the difference, but it's not like the jurist system presented in GS4 is a particularly comforting notion as far as legal systems are concerned. Especially with that "YOU HUNG THE JURY AND SHE DIED BECAUSE OF IT! DUN DUN DUNNNNN!" ending.

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GS is not a particularly comforting notion when it comes to ANYTHING either way.

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So... basically in the PW (as opposed to GS) Timeline...

They had the Jury system for years. And then... someone managed to get the Initial Trial System passed in time for Mia's first case... then Phoenix let that go one for... 15 years and decided to change it.

Epic win will occur if and only if it is revealed that Manfred Von Karma created the Initial Trial System.

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