迷探偵
Gender: None specified
Rank: Ace Attorney
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:27 am
Posts: 2317
So I was going through some Japanese sources for GS Library, when I came across some tidbits about the infamous "sibling of Franziska", and as it doesn't really fit within GS Library's range, I figured I'd write it down here.
In fandom, people sometimes mention the fact that Franziska has an elder sister, who has at least one child. While the fact that Manfred von Karma has a grandchild has been mentioned in the first game, the fact that Franziska has a sister (and not a brother) has often been taken for granted. In this post, I'll point out why.
First of all, the fact that von Karma has a grandchild is mentioned AA1-4, on the last day when you need to point out a connection between Yanni Yogi and the DL-6 case. The following is a translation of the Japanese script (so not the localized script):
Turnabout Goodbyes, final day wrote:
Bah! That is nothing more
but mere coincidence!
The pet dog of my grandchild
is called Ryū.
Attorney! Do you mean you are
my grandchild's fiancé!?
My grandchild is only seven years old!
Obviously, considering the ages, this line implies that Franziska has one elder sibling with a child. By the way, I think the localization says specifically granddaughter, but the Japanese only says grandchild and makes no suggestions as to the gender.
Some might consider this to be a mocking joke by von Karma, but it
really doesn't look like that in the Japanese script. Nowhere throughout the game does von Karma mock Phoenix like this by simply telling a lie, so it would be a very strange time to suddenly use a joke like this. His whole argument here is that coincidences *do* exist, so he's obviously pointing a true fact that has a coindental link to the case. But more importantly, the line is really just stating a fact when he says his grandchild has a pet dog. The fact he even specifically states his grandchild is seven years old (in a different, extra text window in the Japanese version of the game) really implies nothing more than that he stated a fact.
And the developers themselves also consider the fact real enough that they point it out in other materials. In
Gyakuten Saiban 2 Shinsō Manual (which despite its name, is not the manual, but a walkhrough/guide), there is a segment with early character designs of the characters, which includes an "interview" section, where Maya interviews the character in question. On the page with Franziska, it says:
Gyakuten Saiban 2 Shinsō Manual wrote:
Q: Do you have any siblings?
A: I have an older sister who has her own family. She has a child, with a pet dog called Ryū.
As this is a guide, the question of how official this tidbit is open for debate, but this is the official guide for the game, and extra material from the guides have actually been made it to official canon. Edgeworth's fandom of the Steel Samurai for example comes from a manga Suekane (main character designer of the first game) drew for the guide for the first game (
Takumi says here).
In
a 2014 interview about the Ace Attorney Trilogy for 3DS, Iwamoto (character designer for AA2, 3) also mentions the fact that Franziska has a sibling, though he apparently thinks the older sibling is a brother.
Quote:
Interviewer: Are there characters that have been rejected?
Iwamoto: I create characters following the scenario, so in general, there are no characters that have not been used at all. But, there is a scene where Karuma Gō talks about his grandchild, and Mei (Franziska von Karma) is his daughter, so we know that Mei has either an older brother or sister. I once draw a sketch of “Mei’s older brother” just for fun. Among the rejected rough sketches of Gyakuten Saiban 3’s Godot, there is one I myself see as the brother of Mei. I once told this to the director, but he just ignored me (laugh).
So it seems apparent that the developers at least consider it a fact that 1) Franziska has an older sibling, 2) who has a child with a pet dog called Ryū, even if other details are open for debate.
"One dumbbell, Watson! Consider an athlete with one dumbbell! Picture to yourself the unilateral development, the imminent danger of a spinal curvature. Shocking, Watson, shocking!" - The Valley of Fear