Great Ace Attorney Deep Dive: “The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro” (Case 2-2)

We’ve had flashback cases in the series before, but “The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro” marked the first time an Ace Attorney case took place inside (or close enough to) another case’s chronology. There’s a lot to unpack here as a result … so it’s time for a Deep Dive!

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:

Great Ace Attorney Deep Dive: “The Adventure of the Great Departure” (Case 1-1)

Great Ace Attorney Deep Dive: “The Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro” (Case 1-4)

Every Ace Attorney Culprit Ranked

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles – Every Major Character Ranked

Micro Story

The main hook of “The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro” – one that I was thoroughly intrigued by – is that this case takes place at almost the same time as “The Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro” from the first game. While the “murder” itself takes place a few days after 1-4, many plot points here tie back to that first case in ingenious ways.

After receiving Susato’s letter in the present day, Ryunosuke recalls the aftermath of that case on Briar Road. Just when Soseki was about to get away from his “curse”, a man is found poisoned in their lodgings. Soseki is, of course, arrested on suspicion of murder … so it’s down to Ryunosuke and Susato to get him off the hook for the second time that week.

But in one of this game’s great twists, the “victim” turns out to still be alive. This therefore turns into a case of “attempted murder”, which is very similar to how 1-4 played out. But, and this goes without saying, “The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro” is a much better setup and execution of an attempted murder premise than the Briar Road case. Funnily enough, when your cast actually has agency (i.e. it’s not just a contrived accident) the turn of events is far more interesting!

There are heated courtroom debates over gas meters, poisoned teacups, frozen bars of soap … and, in classic Ace Attorney fashion, a real murder eventually rears its ugly head and needs to be solved. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to both make an impressive murder case and tie it back so intimately to a previous case, but the writers managed to pull it off with aplomb.

Score: 9/10

Macro Story

By the time the second case of the first game – “The Adventure of the Unbreakable Speckled Band” – ended, we were none the wiser as to how that game’s plot would play out. After “The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro”, however, there’s a clear trajectory for this game’s overarching narrative.

The most impressive thing about this Macro Story is easily how it ties into the previous game’s chronology – and how planned it all feels. Susato asking Ryunosuke to recall this case feels natural and also furthers the current plot. Shamspeare and Metermann cameo-ed in 1-4, so this must have all been at least semi-planned when the developers were making the first game. I just find writing like this so cool!

As it turns out, the reason Susato asked Ryunosuke to review this forbidden case – and why we the player never knew of its existence until now – was because Sholmes forbade everyone from talking about it. You find Selden’s treasure at the end, which turns out to be a bloody dog collar with the letter “B” on the front. Baskerville, perhaps? Of the hound variety, perchance? Sherlock Holmes fans like myself were no doubt chomping at the bit when discovering this piece of evidence … but we’ll have to put a pin in it for now.

Macro Story also looks at the character arcs, and they’re all a little thin this time around. Because this is a flashback case, the characters have to return to a point slightly earlier in their arcs – so they haven’t experienced the growth from “The Adventure of the Unspeakable Story” yet. Sholmes is the stand-out (no surprises there) because he’s the same kooky guy as always – his “people oversleep because they oversleep!” tirade is amazing.

Still, the groundwork is laid for later character work. Ryunosuke and Susato recall that they have Kazuma’s katana – a keepsake which will be crucial later, but it’s also a natural reminder of Kazuma’s existence. Van Zieks is also hostile towards the Japanese, something which will be explored further in the next case.

Score: 8/10

Mystery

For a large portion of “The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro”, you don’t actually know what crime has been committed. At first there’s a murder, but then the corpse gets up and walks. Then the prosecution claims the tea was poisoned, but that’s eventually proven false. Just what the hell happened in that lodgings?!?

This muddied information is what makes this case such a fun Mystery to unravel. It feels like you’re always one step behind, and that the characters are keeping secrets from everyone about everything. Sometimes in Ace Attorney it can be frustrating when the witnesses don’t play ball, but here it’s completely justified. Olive Green is perhaps the best example of this – the more we uncover her personal history, the more we understand why she did the things she did.

I’ve touched already on the Mystery surrounding the bloody collar and this case as a whole, but having an entire case be “forbidden” is about as mysterious as a premise can get. Why was talking about this case so taboo? What could have possibly happened that made Herlock Sholmes – the Great Detective, and a man who usually can’t be fazed – suddenly so serious and coy?

As for the actual presentation of the Mystery, i.e. the main bulk of the case in between the great premise and the cliff-hanger ending … yeah. It’s pretty obvious who the guilty party (or, at least, the main offender) is. At no point in the Trials is there a major spanner in the works which throws the case on its head. By the time you enter the second Trial day, chances are you have a firm grasp of how Shamspeare and Green come into play.

But there’s one Mystery above all others which finally gets resolved in “The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro”. The single greatest question which loomed over The Great Ace Attorney duology … no – the series as a whole. We finally got to see where Wagahai the cat came from!

Score: 8/10

Side Characters

There were five Side Characters by my count – one new, three returning and the Jury. Considering this case takes place immediately after “The Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro”, I’m not surprised this case borrows a lot of characters from that cast.

The Jury is a mixed bag. Bruce Fairplay returns as the foreman once more, and the confused old man is a jury member yet again. There’s also a boxer, two random citizens and a lady who turns out to be the gas company boss’s wife. Talk about a stroke of luck.

A couple of returning characters who I don’t care about are John Garrideb and Soseki Natsume. Garrideb is only there to give exposition. I already mentioned in my 1-4 Deep Dive how I dislike Soseki’s mannerisms and I think he’s one of the most annoying defendants in the series, but his and Sholmes’s rivalry is quite fun here. I guess, if I was being generous, his character gets a slight improvement in this case.

Weirdly, the only new character is also fairly boring. Adron B. Metermann is a gas company employee who spied on Shamspeare to check for wrongdoing, but couldn’t find any evidence in the end. It’s up to Ryunosuke and Susato to do the heavy lifting during the gas sub-plot in court. Metermann has a funny design, but on the whole he’s a bit bland. This cast is pretty tame as it stands.

The best character is actually a returning face from “The Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro” who we never spoke to, because she was that case’s “victim”. Olive Green is one of the most impactful, most tragic characters in this duology. She acts as a secondary Culprit of sorts because she tried to poison Shamspeare, knowing he killed her beloved fiancé Duncan. Hers is a startling and truly affecting arc, one that sinks into depression before finding a newfound hope – all because of what Ryunosuke, and we the player, accomplished in court. She’s everything great about an Ace Attorney Side Character, the kind of person we want to fight for and protect via the law, and she’s the saving grace of this cast for sure.

Score: 7/10

Soundtrack

As I mentioned in the previous case’s Soundtrack section, “Resolve” doesn’t have many new tracks until the third case. My guess is that they saved the Soundtrack budget for those final three, crucial cases.

The two tracks I liked most were Shamspeare’s theme and “Reminiscence ~ Killer’s Crossroads” … but that’s it. The returning tracks are great, of course, but this Soundtrack was a bit disappointing in the end.

Score: 6/10

Investigations

We’re back to two Investigations and Trials per case! I was confused when doing Deep Dives for the first game as I was sure this was the format for the whole duology, but at least we’re back to the classic, tried and tested style.

The first Investigation has one of the all-time great Ace Attorney moments. After a fun Dance of Deduction revolving around the victim and a bar of soap, the victim just … stands up. And starts reciting Shakespeare. And then collapses in a heap. The rollercoaster of emotions I went through – from the sheer terror of the corpse reviving to the hilarity of Shamspeare’s monologue – is an experience I’ll cherish forever.

The second Investigation was never going to live up to the highs of that first one, but I thought it was still engaging. Whether it was Sholmes’s handprint analysis or the reveal that Soseki now lives in a lodging that once belonged to two dead men – one a notorious criminal and one the ill-fated fiancé to Olive Green – I was satisfied with how the Mystery was unfolding. In all honesty, the Investigations were regularly more engaging than the Trials themselves.

Most of the Investigations takes place in Soseki and Shamspeare’s lodgings, but we occasionally visit the hospital where Olive Green is recovering (from the incident on Briar Road). In one harrowing scene, you stop her from ingesting a lethal poison because she’s so despairing over her fiancé’s death. Rarely does Ace Attorney venture into such painfully real territory, but I for one was happy with how it was handled – and the poison ends up being crucial to the case at hand, so it was a win-win.

Score: 8/10

Trials

I’m glad we got two Investigation-Trial cycles once again, but I’ll be completely honest with y’all … These two Trials were a bit underwhelming on the whole. This will be immediately and painfully contradictory, but it probably should’ve just been one, tighter Trial.

The first Trial revolves around the gas meter / frozen coin scam that Shamspeare pulled off, which culminates in the reveal that the tea wasn’t poisoned (at least, Shamspeare didn’t drink it) because it was being used as the frozen coins. Cool. Not very exciting, but at least we’ve cleared that one up.

The second Trial is better … but not by much. It starts with confirming that the tea wasn’t poisoned, which is a bit of a redundant point to spend so much time on. Sholmes’s handprint analysis then isn’t accepted by the court, which is a bummer. But then the final third kicks into high gear when Olive’s plan – and Shamspeare’s true motives – are revealed.

In the end, I’d point to the two Summation Examinations – the first about the gas meters and the second about the poisoned tea – as being the pace-killers. Both of these feel like exercises in filler and they bog the whole thing down. At least the Olive Green twist, and the truth behind the poisoning and the “cursed lodgings”, is given the weight it deserves. It’s clever how the murder and revenge plots ran in tandem to create two locked room mysteries (kinda).

To summarize – great ending, but it took a while to get there.

Score: 7/10

Case Logic

The Case Logic wasn’t too bad this time around, but there are still a few issues I wanted to address.

Yet again, a member of the Jury ends up being crucial to the plot. Juror #4 just so happens to be the wife of the gas company’s boss, and so she gives insightful testimony regarding Shamspeare’s gas meter scam. I’m getting a little fed up of these conveniently chosen juries. I can’t remember the Jury for the next few cases, but I hope there’s nothing as egregious as this.

Speaking of the gas company, I find it shocking that Metermann (or anybody who investigated Shamspeare’s lodgings) missed the large, gaping hole in the bottom of Shamspeare’s gas meter. That sub-plot revolves around Shamspeare consistently conning the metermen … so how did nobody notice the roughly cut-out opening on the base of the gas meter box? It’s not a particularly well-hidden, ingenious con.

Which segues nicely into my final point about a man conning death. It’s all very funny that the victim rose from the dead … but how did nobody notice that Shamspeare was still alive?!? Did nobody check his pulse? Did the poison slow his heart-rate to near imperceptible levels, perhaps? It’s a great gag, but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. This Case Logic section is a bit of a buzz-kill, now that I think about it …

A couple of eye-rolling moments, but otherwise I thought “The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro” had tight writing.

Score: 7/10

Culprit

The Culprit of this case is, of course, William Shamspeare – the Shakespeare-reciting, frilly-dressed maniac. And what a Culprit he is.

His eccentric mannerisms are what make him so instantly memorable. He’s borderline insane, and I love the little moments where he almost breaks character because he’s so shocked or angry. His breakdown at the end of the second Trial is one of the best in the duology.

I really liked his motive, too. While it was a bit convenient and out-of-nowhere to say that he was an ex-convict and his cellmate told him the location of a hidden treasure, it’s a solid reason as to why he keeps killing people in the upstairs lodging. I’m not saying I condone his actions by any means, but I could see how he would get frustrated each time a new neighbour moved in and prevented him from taking what was “rightfully his”.

Above all else, I think it’s really cool how the “victim” of this case ended up being the Culprit. It’s a clever way to turn the case on its head straight from the get-go, and the contrasting schemes between Shamspeare and Green add depth to an already engrossing plot.

And I guess Olive Green would count as a secondary Culprit? Kinda? Either way, her inclusion wouldn’t hurt this score because I thoroughly enjoyed her tragic story and revenge plot.

Score: 9/10

Charm

Shamspeare does the heavy lifting in terms of this case’s Charm, and his “resurrection” scene is the clear highlight, but that wasn’t the only thing “The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro” had going for it. Sholmes, for one, provides a lot of the levity during Investigations.

It’s really impressive how this case is interwoven with “The Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro”, and the cliff-hanger with the bloody dog collar sets up a Mystery which will come to define the whole duology.

One cool parallel I noticed was that the previous case had a Culprit who became a victim, whereas this one had a victim who became a Culprit. I find details like that to be neat.

Score: 8/10

FINAL SCORE: 77/100

Good story, amazing Culprit and a satisfying ending. “The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro” had everything I wanted from a second case, and I’m excited to see how the scores will grow from here.

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