For a glossary of British dialect we use in this game, see here: British Dialect Glossary.

General

• Many characters appearing in this game are named after characters in the Sherlock Holmes universe. This is one of the reasons why we decided not to change any names in the localization.
• Souseki Natsume is a real-life Japanese author who spent two years studying in London, having been sent there by the government in 1900 with the intention of making him “Japan’s first Japanese English literary scholar”. He is the first historical figure to appear in any Ace Attorney game, though the game obviously takes some artistic license with his biography and character.
• Natsume’s cat, Wagahai, is a reference to one of his most notable works Wagahai wa Neko de Aru (I Am a Cat), a satirical novel about the influx of western culture into Meiji-era Japan. Incidentally, the pronoun Wagahai (我輩) is a pompous way of referring to one’s self – quite befitting of a cat.
• Souseki’s four word exclamations are Yojijukugo in the Japanese original. They’re compounds of four Kanji, either as a brief summation of a concept or as an idiom or some kind of wisdom. Unfortunately, they do not translate well, so his eccentric habit becomes even more strange in our translation.

Episode 1-1

• Ryuunosuke Naruhodou is heavily implied to be Phoenix Wright’s ancestor (very similar name and appearance.)
• Taketsuchi Auchi is heavily implied to be Winston Payne’s ancestor (same last name and appearance.)
• Auchi’s fan has the Kanji 罪 on it. It means sin; crime; punishment; etc.
• Imperial Yuumei University is the same university that Phoenix attended – Ivy University.
• This Episode and the next one will use the term Postmortem to reflect the difference in the terms the Japanese version uses in Episode 1 and 2 and the rest of the game. Episode 1 and 2 use 遺体検分記録 (roughly “corpse examination record”) and the later episodes use 遺体解剖記録 (“corpse dissection record”), which still sounds old fashioned, but is pretty close to the modern word 死体解剖 (“corpse autopsy”).
• Koban are golden, oval-shaped coins used as currency starting from the 16th century until the Meiji Restoration in the mid-19th century.
• When Naruhodou mentions that the word Kitchen is hard to write, it is because the Japanese equivalent of the word is 厨房, which contains complicated characters.

Episode 1-2

• The Russian characters in this episode speak with various degrees of a Russian accent in our translation. We consulted native Russian speakers in an effort to make it realistic.
• In the original Japanese, the characters of different nationalities are all stated to be using English as a common language. Distinctions are made between Japanese, English, and Russian.
• In particular, the アケルナ (Do Not Open) sign is strongly intended to be foreign writing to the non-Japanese cast, and context makes its meaning clear. As such, it was left untranslated.
• The ship’s name, Alclair, is just one of several possible romanizations of アラクレイ. It’s certainly a reference to 荒くれ, which means rowdy; wild; violent.
• Ōban are old coins, similar to koban; they are worth ten koban.
• Harakiri (腹切) is the reverse reading of Seppuku (切腹), a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment.
• The cat’s name was originally Kuroppoi, which means “blackish” – however, as its owner does not know Japanese, this name was localized. It is, to date, the only character with a localized name in our translation.
• Asougi’s blade, Karma, shares its original name with the Von Karmas (狩魔).

Episode 1-3

• When you examine the omnibus, you can see the words Phoenix Wright Omnibus. This nod to the English localization of the main series already existed in the original Japanese version of DGS and was not added or edited by us.
• The name Ladyfirst could also be read as “Redifast.” Looking at his friend Fairplay’s name, it is clear that their names are both meant to be gentlemanly English names; thus, Ladyfirst was chosen. We were able to confirm these romanizations in the game assets.
• Lord Chief Justice is an actual judiciary title, and quite a prestigious one – it is held by the head judge of the Courts of England and Wales.
• Cosney Megundal‘s name is a pun in the Japanese Kansai dialect, kozeni megundeyaru (小銭恵んでやる) – “I’ll spare you some change”.
• Beppo and Gina are references to Sherlock Holmes stories. In the stories, Beppo is an Italian immigrant who is being hunted by the Mafia. G. Lestrade is an investigator from Scotland Yard who occasionally works with Holmes.
• The name embroidered on Asougi’s Armband is intentionally left in its original language because he is Japanese – it wouldn’t make sense for it to be in English.
• Milord and the Crown Court are British terms related to the Old Bailey. Instead of Your Honour, Judges at the Old Bailey are referred to as My Lord, with Milord reflecting the traditional pronunciation. The Crown Court is a court in the Old Bailey, used as the highest court of first instance for criminal cases.

Episode 1-4

• Tisane is a herbal tea or medical infusion, often made from barley.
• The names of the streets on the map are references to pipes used for smoking.

Episode 1-5

• The shell to the knee thing was honestly in the original Japanese. It’s a lucky coincidence that it works with the meme, though.
• Holmes, Gina, and the Tinpillars call Hatch uncle. This is an old term for a pawnbroker, which happened to just perfectly fit with the Japanese おじさん (ojisan), ironically.
• Although no longer as popular in current usage, instal and biassed were the correct British spellings of these words at the time, hence their inclusion in the script.
• The Catholic saint St Anstrude was chosen as the hospital’s namesake, approximating the original Japanese 聖アントルード病院 (Sento Antoruudo Byouin).

Episode 2-1

• When disguising herself as a defence attorney, Susato goes by the name ‘Ryuutarou’. Similar to ‘-nosuke’ (from Ryuunosuke), ‘-tarou’ is a common ending for Japanese boys’ names.

Episode 2-2

• During the Joint Reasoning, Naruhodou refers to a teacup as a “Western-style yunomi”. A yunomi is a traditional Japanese mug for drinking tea. It may be decorated with an intricate design and does not have a handle. Susato then tells him to call it a teacup, using the English loan word in the original script.
• When investigating Pretency’s flat, Susato suggests Naruhodou dress up as a “daimyou“. Daimyou were Japanese feudal lords who ruled large parts of Japan until the Meiji Restoration. They wore their hair in top knots as a symbol of their social status.
• Duncan Ross, Altamont, and Selden are all names taken from Sherlock Holmes characters. Duncan Ross is an alias used by Archie, one of the masterminds behind the Red-Headed League, in the story of the same name. Altamont is an alias that Holmes takes on in the story His Last Bow. Selden is an escaped convict who is named in The Hound of the Baskervilles.