Ace Attorney Deep Dive: “Turnabout Serenade” (Apollo Justice – Case 3)

“Turnabout Serenade”, the third case of “Apollo Justice”, has a bit of a sour reputation in the Ace Attorney fanbase. Some see it as a perpetuation of the infamous “third case syndrome” while others, such as myself, used to rank it as middling relative to the rest of the series. But do I still look back on this case with fondness after replaying it?

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

Trucy and Apollo are invited to a Gavinners concert, led by prosecutor-rockstar Klavier Gavin, but backstage a tragedy occurs – a singer’s bodyguard is shot, and the lyrics to the song playing on-stage seem to be connected.

There’s also a sub-plot involving Borginian smuggling and a cure for “incuritis”, but this falls laughably flat. I like how they tried to integrate an Interpol-level conspiracy within a rock concert, but the juxtaposition ends up being more jarring and frustrating than enjoyable.

Score: 5/10

Macro Story

We get tiny hints of what’s to come in the finale case – namely Valant Gramarye and the mysterious past of Troupe Gramarye – but this plays a miniscule role in the story of “Turnabout Serenade”.

Ema’s more annoying than usual, Klavier acts like more of an uncooperative dick than usual, we hardly see Phoenix, Apollo doesn’t develop much, so it’s down to Trucy to bring some levity to the Investigations and Trials.

Score: 4/10

Mystery

I have three major problems with the Mystery “Turnabout Serenade” tries to present.

Firstly, and most importantly, there aren’t enough suspects. It wasn’t Machi. It’s very unlikely to be Lamiroir. That just leaves Valant Gramarye, who isn’t involved much, and the true culprit … so yeah, it’s not a huge leap of guesswork to uncover the killer’s identity.

Secondly, and this is tied to the first point, Lamiroir straight-up tells us it’s Daryan at the end of the first Trial. There’s a chance she’s wrong or lying, and I’ll admit I wasn’t sure the writers would reveal their culprit so early (I suspected it could be a double-bluff), but within half an hour of that twist reveal you realise Lamiroir was telling the truth.

My last point has to do with the Borginian smuggling sub-plot. Apollo overhears from Klavier than Borginian Cocoons are involved somehow … but how exactly? What do they do? Why would someone kill over it? Oh wait, never mind, the game answers all of these questions within ten minutes. So much for a compelling Mystery to draw the player in.

Score: 4/10

Side Characters

There were four new Side Characters that we interacted with, by my count:

The most forgettable is easily the bodyguard victim, Romain LeTouse. We bump into him once, hear his final words, and are told that he was actually an undercover Interpol agent. While this does end up being important to the plot, LeTouse is largely forgotten about by the end thanks to the Borginian Cocoon sub-plot taking center stage.

Strangely, I’d actually say the defendant Machi Tobaye is the next most forgettable. There’s a twist that he’s not actually blind, but it’s still moronic how the prosecution stuck by a little kid as the culprit. I like how his ties to Cocoon smuggling make him a morally grey figure, but he hardly won me over by the end.

Despite his brief screentime, Valant Gramarye makes a strong first impression. He’s a pompous magician with intense bravado and showmanship, and I don’t know whether to love him or hate him. His mysterious past with Troupe Gramarye will only get more engrossing as “Apollo Justice” continues.

Last but not least we have Lamiroir, the shrouded singer with amnesia and a secret. The amnesia part is a bit cliché, but the twist that she’s actually blind is a highlight of “Turnabout Serenade” – and her unique circumstance and calming personality add a nice depth to courtroom proceedings.

Score: 6/10

Soundtrack

You can usually rely on the Soundtrack to get a case’s score back up with a comfortable seven or eight out of ten, but “Turnabout Serenade” is the first case in ages where the Soundtrack didn’t do it for me.

Lamiroir’s and Troupe Gramarye’s themes are nice, but “Guitar’s Serenade” (the one performed over and over again in the video featuring Lamiroir and the Gavinners) is so overplayed and simple it hurts.

Score: 6/10

Investigations

If I was only basing this score on the first Investigations, “Turnabout Serenade” wouldn’t do too badly. The concert setting is cool, the mixing board minigame is alright, and the body turns up quickly – in other words, we’re plunged straight into the action.

Sadly, the second Investigations drops the ball. There’s a lot of aimless running around from place to place trying to trigger the next scene, and the exposition-dumping gets particularly bad once the Borginian smuggling sub-plot is introduced.

Score: 5/10

Trials

I wish I could say the Trials in “Turnabout Serenade” rescue us from tedium.

There aren’t many earth-shattering revelations other than the odd “Lamiroir is blind” here and “LeTouse works for Interpol” there, and the second Trial uses the performance video so much it physically hurt me.

That video isn’t as egregious as the one in “Rise from the Ashes”, but at least that case had an exciting case and Trial surrounding it!

Score: 5/10

Case Logic

Get out your popcorn, ladies and gentlemen. This’ll be a long one.

Why in the name of sanity is Machi Tobaye named as the defendant in this case? The prosecution’s argument is that this young boy fired a huge gun without dislocating his shoulder – twice! – escaped via the overhead ducts, moved LeTouse’s enormous body to that stage platform, and then knocked himself out next to his own victim. The fact this case wasn’t thrown out of court immediately by anyone with half a brain is baffling. Then again, this is The Judge we’re talking about …

The other major issues lie in the victim’s final moments. LeTouse used his last words to say how Lamiroir was a witness, and how she couldn’t see … how about telling us the killer’s name, huh buddy?

Okay, let’s give him a second chance. Look at that! He wrote out a dying message in blood with the last of his strength! It must be the killer’s name … Oh, hang on a minute, it’s just his Interpol code. A code he had no reason to write down other than to blow his own cover for no good reason. God, I forgot how much of a trainwreck this case is …

I almost gave “Turnabout Serenade” a Case Logic score of 1 for how incompetent it is, but to be fair the culprit’s plan of using the song’s lyrics to misdirect investigations was quite clever.

Score: 2/10

Culprit

Daryan Crescend is one of the Ace Attorney culprits of all time.

He has a decently cunning plan, but he’s such a one-note evil by the end that I’ve forgotten all about his personality. Not only that, but his ties to the Gavinners and Interpol are severely underdeveloped – I thought Klavier would have more of a reaction to one of his great friends being convicted, but it plays out like any other day at the office.

Score: 5/10

Charm

I like the musical focus of “Turnabout Serenade”, but the music in question (and accompanying video) is so overplayed by the end that it becomes annoying.

There are also waaaaay too many flashbacks across the Investigations and Trials – especially to LeTouse’s final moments, which much have been replayed ten times more than necessary.

In the end, this was the first case in a long time that I wanted to power through quickly to move onto the next.

Score: 5/10

FINAL SCORE: 47/100

I forgot how flawed “Turnabout Serenade” is. It used to be my guilty pleasure case for its setting and focus on music, but the egregious plot holes and underwhelming moments left a stale taste in the mouth by the end.

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