Trucy Wright

Trucy Enigmar Wright, known as in the original Japanese language versions, is a fictional stage magician in Capcom's "Ace Attorney" video game series. Trucy is featured as the main support character to the protagonist Apollo Justice in the fourth game of the series, and later returns in the and games. The character has also appeared in anime and manga adaptations of the series, and in crossover video games such as and "Teppen".
Trucy was created by Shu Takumi, the creator and director of the series, as he wanted an "opposite" to the first game's main support character Maya Fey, also taking inspiration from the character's cousin Pearl Fey. For her design, she was given a pink and blue magician's hat and cape inspired by early designs of the character's father, Phoenix Wright. When she was brought back for "Dual Destinies" and "Spirit of Justice", she was animated with a motion-capture actor, a first for the series. Critics praised her character and her interactions with Apollo and Phoenix in the fourth and sixth games, although her reduced role in the fifth game was criticized.
Appearances.
Trucy first appears in "", set seven years after the original trilogy, where she is introduced as the fifteen-year-old adoptive daughter of disbarred defense attorney Phoenix Wright and a member of the Troupe Gramarye, a group of stage magicians founded by her deceased maternal grandfather Magnifi Gramarye. As a child, Trucy's biological father and Phoenix's client Zak Gramarye has her give Phoenix forged evidence in order to clear him of the murder he is accused of (despite not having committed it), abandoning Trucy with Phoenix after he obliviously presents the forged evidence as genuine and is disbarred. After Phoenix adopts Trucy, she converts his former law office into the Wright Talent Agency, holding magic performances for money, including a puppet show with "Mr. Hat" and a pair of "magic panties", out of which she could allegedly pull anything. She also subsequently accompanied Phoenix in his career as a poker player, using her family's genetically superior eyesight to read his opponents' cards through the reflection in their eyes. Over the following years, Trucy becomes a moderately successful magician, escape artist, and con artist. Seven years later, under the alias of "Shadi Smith", Zak returns to give Phoenix his will, giving Trucy the rights to all the copyrighted magic tricks of the Troupe Gramarye, before being murdered by Kristoph Gavin in order to cover up his role in having Phoenix disbarred. After returning to the crime scene and being accused of the crime, Phoenix hires Kristoph's assistant and Trucy's secret older half-brother Apollo Justice to defend him in court. Unbeknownst to them both, Trucy forges evidence in an ace of spades with a drop of blood on it for him to present in court, representative of an actual ace of spades taken from the scene by Kristoph, allowing Apollo to prove Phoenix's innocence and Kristoph's guilt. Several months later, Apollo is hired as a defense attorney under Trucy as a part of the Wright Talent Agency, renaming the company the Wright Anything Agency to account for Apollo's profession; as his employer, Trucy subsequently makes herself Apollo's co-counsel and investigative assistant, teaching him her ability to perceive tension in witnesses to assist in cross-examining them. Over the course of their cases, Trucy and Apollo unknowingly reunite with their mother Thalassa, a blind amnesiac singer known as Lamiroir, while remaining unaware that they are siblings. As a birthday present later that year, Phoenix gives Trucy her biological father's will, allowing her to revive the Troupe Gramarye, expand her brand to television, and acquire fame.
In ", set the following year, Trucy continues to work as an investigative partner capacity at the Wright Anything Agency in a reduced capacity, while her magic career takes off. In April, Trucy invites Apollo to visit her friend Jinxie Tenma in Nine-Tails Vale, and is upset when he subsequently takes a leave of absence from the Wright Anything Agency after his best friend Clay Terran is murdered and Apollo himself is injured in an explosion, losing an eye and full use of his arms. After her father's newest protégé Athena Cykes is arrested for murdering Apollo's friend, Trucy is among those kidnapped by the prosecutor Simon Blackquill's sister Aura, who seeks to prolong her brother's execution. In an alternate ending, Simon is executed and Aura disappears with Trucy and her other hostages. In the true ending, Simon's and Athena's innocence is proven, Apollo returns to the Wright Anything Agency, and Trucy is freed, resuming her magic career. Trucy is also shown to see Pearl Fey (a cousin of Maya Fey raised by Maya and Phoenix) as an older sister, regularly keeping in touch with her as she attends high school.
In ", set over the following year, Trucy's magic shows become more popular, with tickets to events regularly selling out, allowing her to acquire a deal for a television series, "Trucy in Gramarye-Land", from Take-2 TV, performed with twin sisters Bonny and Betty de Famme and Manov Mistree, the latter of whom is subsequently murdered by Trucy's producer and former Troupe Gramarye magician Roger Retinz, who unsuccessfully attempts to frame Trucy for the crime before being exposed in court by Apollo. Following her acquittal, Trucy has Apollo reluctantly serve as her new magician's assistant. Sometime later, Trucy and Apollo are met by Apollo's adoptive father Dhurke Sahdmadhi, who brings them to Kurain Village to retrieve a Khura'inese artefact. Reuniting and talking with her sister Pearl while Apollo and Dhurke investigate a cave, Trucy performs a magic trick to save the pair after the cave floods. In a subsequent civil trial in which Phoenix and Apollo are on opposing sides, Trucy sides with her father, subsequently sneaking herself back with him to the Kingdom of Khura'in by hiding in Miles Edgeworth's suitcase, greeting him and Apollo after they have Queen Ga'ran Sigatar Khura'in exposed as a fraud and forced from the throne. Upon Justice's and Dhurke's return, the group was approached by Phoenix Wright, who disagreed with Justice's view on the evidence that had been found. This led into a civil trial, splitting the Wright Anything Agency in half, with Trucy siding with her father, although both of them obviously did not want to stand against Justice and Cykes. Even so, Trucy herself stated she was on no one's side, and was more worried about Justice leaving the agency again, and her father and her half-brother leaving on a bad note. Upon learning that Apollo intends to remain in Khura'in to start his own law office, Trucy sets her sights on making Athena her new magician's assistant. Elsewhere, Trucy's mother, having regained her memory, expresses interest in meeting her children.
Other appearances.
Outside of the main "Ace Attorney" series, Trucy makes brief cameo appearances in several other Capcom titles, including as a collectible card in and "Teppen: Ace vs. The People". Prior to voicing Trucy in "Spirit of Justice", Kira Buckland voiced her in an unofficial "Ace Attorney" fan game published from 2011 to 2016, subtitled "Conflict of Interest".
Trucy has appeared in other media adaptations of "Ace Attorney". She is a recurring character in the "Ace Attorney" manga series published by Kodansha Comics, and appears as a chalk drawing in the opening credits of the first season of the "Ace Attorney" anime series, which adapts the events of the original trilogy.
Concept and development.
"Ace Attorney" series creator and director Shu Takumi conceived of Trucy as an "opposite" to Maya Fey, the main support character to the protagonist Phoenix Wright throughout the original trilogy, with her career as a stage magician inspired by Takumi's time at his university's magic club when he had attended it. Trucy's Japanese given name, Minuki, alludes to her ability to read subtle body movements with its use of . Her Japanese surname, Naruhodō, references the Japanese expression , which equates to the English "I see". This phrase is often used in Japan to express attentiveness to the subject at hand. Takumi chose the phrase to highlight her father Phoenix Wright's initial inexperience in law: "even though her name reads "I see", she may not in fact understand what is happening, something which may also be true of people using the phrase. It is also commonly used in mystery novels when investigating, a core gameplay concept of the series."
Localization.
During the localization of "Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney", there was some debate about the use of the word "panties" to describe Trucy's magical bloomers, a prop she uses in her magic shows; some on the localization team felt that it was inappropriate to joke about an underage girl's panties, and wanted them to be localized as "magic pants", while some felt that the joke would be lost if the player already knew that they were massive bloomers. Janet Hsu, one of the staff members working on the localization, made an argument for "emotional accuracy", saying that the Japanese version of the game was trying to make the player feel at unease over looking for what they might imagine to be "sexy lingerie", and then let the player feel relief at finding out that it is a prop for a magic show. In the end, they were referred to as "panties".
Design.
Along with the rest of the fourth game's characters, Trucy was designed and drawn by Kazuya Nuri. She was designed with colour variants of her clothes dependent on the character's age, typical for stage magicians, including pink and black; several 2D animations with 3D elements were additionally produced for the character in the fourth game, using a motion-capture actor to picture her taking off her hat and summoning puppet "Mr. Hat". In the fifth and sixth games, Trucy is repeatedly animated as summoning a pair of "magic panties", used in every conversation featuring the character.
Reception.
Trucy was received well by critics, especially for her spunky characterisation and use of stage magic throughout the series. "The Outerhaven" described Pearl as "[o]ne of the biggest additions to the series", ranking them as the seventh-best character in the series. "Adventure Gamers" described Trucy as the one new character of the fourth game by comparison to the other characters, describing the others as "[not] as interesting" by comparison. "Your Fellow Geek" praised "Trucy [a]s honestly pretty great as she's got the pep like Maya does, but also has the gimmick of being a magician which can be pretty fun", before concluding to describe her as an "endearing new character". "Tech News" complimented her appearance in the fourth game as "energetic and a bit naive, [but] very intelligent", while "Nintendojo" criticized her signature song as being "butchered" in the fifth game.
Reviewers additionally praised Trucy's magic trick animations in the fifth and sixth "Ace Attorney" games, although criticising her incessant reuse of the word "panties".