The Judge (Japanese: Saibanchō), is a recurring character from the Ace Attorney franchise. He is an old judicial judge, who is typically the one presiding over the cases handled by Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes. He also appeared in the spin-off, Ace Attorney Investigations, in which he was a witness that was interrogated by Miles Edgeworth.
He is easily swayed by people's opinions, and is rather senile. He is often behind when it comes to the proceedings, and shows a fundamental lack of understanding to basic modern technology, such as asking what a digital camera is. Despite this, he shows moments of great wisdom, particularly when it comes to the law. He has a particularly high tolerance towards those who testify, being especially lenient towards corrections and those who unknowingly commit perjury. This likely steams from the time when he was a witness himself, and experienced how difficult it is to give accurate testimony, to the point of feeling down-heartened that he could have ruined an innocent man's life.
He is known as an incredibly fair minded Judge, and he is known as always handing down fair verdicts. He claims that, unlike his brother who treats cases as by the book, he involves himself emotionally into each case and its own 'world', which is part of the reason he's able to rule so fairly on them. He ultimately holds the belief that in a trial, every angle should be explored to make sure that the correct verdict is handed down. During one of Phoenix Wright's cases after he had already declared a guilty verdict, the sudden appearance of someone claiming to be a witness causes him to take this verdict back and continue the trial.
Miles Edgeworth once described the Judge as having the outstanding quality of being able to experience the emotions of any given case while still remaining true to the position of a judge, something he believed all judges should adhere to, referring to him as "the best Judge he knows".
The Judge's name is never revealed. Outside of the courtroom he is always referred to as "Your Honor", or "The Judge", and the one time he is given a profile his name is given as simply "Judge". Phoenix obtains the Judge's business card at one point, however he cannot read what it says due to the stylized handwriting. The Judge has the second highest amount of appearances across the franchise: He appears in every main series title, as well as the first Investigations game. This is beaten only by Phoenix Wright, who appears in every singe game outside of Dai Gyakuten Saiban.
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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit Professor Layton Vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles The Ace Attorney Anime
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