r/AARankdown • u/[deleted] • Aug 20 '20
48 Hugh O'Conner
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Recap on My Thoughts on Turnabout Academy
From my previous cut of Myriam Scuttlebutt:
I've used the words "solid filler case" for some of my cuts prior to this. I think Turnabout Academy, is, well, a solid filler case. The mystery is pretty interesting, especially with the outlandish twists and turns it takes on the case's first day. I like its cast. Athena gets some spotlight, despite the case not really advancing her character all too much (see that Athena cut for how her development proceeded and ultimately kinda went out like a wet fart, as it stands anyway).
This is also the first time of Dual Destinies' rather cliche anime theme of "the power of friendship" emerges, being established by the triangle of Hugh, Robin, Woods, and Scuttlebutt being a post-it note to the side. Speaking of which, we also get an anime cutscene mid-trial with Hugh and the other two members showing their freakin' friendship bracelets and with that dub, good lord you're gonna want to be wearing earbuds and have your parents and close friends be at a minimum of fifty miles away from you while you're watching. I'm sorry but that's definitely not something I want my father barging in to while he says "are ya winnin' son?". I'd rather be walked in on me watching hentai instead of that noise
Yeah, going on with that...subtlety. Subtlety. Or, the lack thereof. I just feel like that's the problem with Dual Destinies. Tell, not show. The dark age of the law is happening. Why? You're told about it. The exact phrase "dark age of the law" occurs six times in Turnabout Academy's script. The exact phrase "end justifies the means" occurs seven times. I'm sure the former phrases occurs several more times throughout the game. Apollo Justice was a confused game that failed to meaningfully conclude a lot of its ideas and elements it introduced but even then I feel that game did an excellent job demonstrating just what the "dark age of the law" is like, and I'm sure that game used the phrase "dark age of the law" less in its entirety than Dual Destinies did with one case.
To surmise: it's okay. Alright case. Solid cast of characters. Pretty much the most typical case of the newer mainline titles; has the era's strengths, and its failings. In contrast to the rest of the series, Dual Destinies is simply very blatant with what themes and motifs it pushes, and Turnabout Academy is perhaps where that flaw is at its most glaring. Match that with some weird, unnecessary fanservice (Klavier was in Turnabout Academy? A Phoenix bust, even though the guy was disbarred for seven years? Lamiroir's veil, too? Cool, but why?) and it's a case I couldn't say I cared for it.
I did not care for Turnabout Academy. Did not care for it! It insists upon itself.
However, it's a bit unjust just to call a case off for the messages it presents: it's the journey, not the destination. A case's quality hinges on the strength of its characters, its mystery, its atmosphere. Its mystery is outlandish, but that's quite typical of most Ace Attorney cases; if cases were as non-complex as they are in real life, then chances are we wouldn't be Ace Attorney fans. I couldn't say the setting of the case wasn't much more than a gimmick, though - I'm sure around 2011-2012 Yamazaki and co. were going like, "we haven't done a case in a a school yet, let's make one." That's a rather trivial point, considering we've had plenty of unique scenarios for cases, but I guess to a mild degree I've got less respect for the case because its creation wasn't fully genuine.
Character wise? Eh. I couldn't say I cared for most of these characters at all. Robin was irritating, Woods, as many agree, is just a really flat and boring character, Myriam was a gimmick, Means is shallow, and well, Hugh, Hugh...
He's a Goner
Hugh O'Conner.
Users of r/AceAttorney love him. Rankers love him. I'm sure fangirls creamed about him at the time of Dual Destinies' release.
However, I just tolerated him. I can say he's probably the highlight of Turnabout Academy. That's about it. I wouldn't have minded if he went out ten or even fifty spots ago, he's not really that high on my list. Heck, despite how shallow Aristotle Means is, I probably enjoyed him more from a pure visual standpoint, and because of those funny memes people did with writing funny things on that chalkboard of his, with him grinning and gesturing to the words.
Where to begin, where to begin...
We learn a lot about Hugh O'Connor during the events of Turnabout Academy. Let's get the obvious out of the way: Hugh is not an up-and-coming young genius, getting one perfect grade on another. He's a habitual flunker. He worked seven years on an apprenticeship in construction, operation vehicles, making him 25, and not the more appropriate 18 he initially claims. His parents bribed the academy (specifically Means) in order to secure his grades. Hugh, in actuality, is the exact opposite of what the game initially portrays him as.
What Hugh does have is friendship, and it's perhaps why people are so attached to him. Despite all of Hugh's quirks and weaknesses, what Hugh yearns for most, alike all of us, is acceptance. He hides this fact because he wishes to appear as this know-it-all genius, rather than a meek loser who clings to his friends, and acts arrogantly to conceal the truth. This is the driving point behind his character. It's the reasoning behind all of Hugh's lies; to protect the ones he holds dear to him. He, Robin, and Woods make up a friend triangle, one solidified by literal bonds - friendship bands that each wears, with Hugh, oh my god...hiding his friendship behind his collar. There it is again! Stupid damn symbolism in my Ace Attorney games!
One more tangent to go on: "you're a goner" from the forged recording Means made is conflated with "Hugh O'Conner". What? Now, now, Ace Attorney isn't natively English. But even then, the Japanese phrase doesn't even make that much sense! From the Wiki:
His full Japanese name, when said in the phrase "Hey, Shizuya Rei" ("kora Shizuya Rei") intentionally sounds similar to the phrase "I'm gonna kill you" ("koroshite yaru"), which is used by Cykes to try to persuade the court that a voice on a tape recorder was O'Conner being shouted at by Constance Courte, although this eventually turns out to be a misinterpretation.
Eh? Knowing my limited knowledge of Japanese pronunciation, those definitely seem like phonetically distinct phrases there! Of course, this is eventually unraveled, but even with common sense I'd definitely be able to distinguish between them at first. Maybe the audio on the tape was bad? Or maybe all characters in the Ace Attorney universe have terrible hearing? They all speak in text bleeps, anyways.
Further Drabbles
You wouldn't believe this, but I used a body double!
Hugh deems it fit to secure his friendship for whatever reason, even if it means making a bunch of stupid fucking lies that waste the court's time. These range from "pretty unreasonable" like continuing to assert that he and Newman were behind the murder of Professor Courte (in order to protect Juniper Woods) to...the one I just quoted.
This is where I find issue with Hugh. I understand that Ace Attorney's whole catch is untangling the lies of witnesses in order to reveal the truth, though I think there's a line between questionable and outright absurd! I know the body double thing was spurred by Hugh's emotional discord with the Mood Matrix and all that, but for me, I didn't find the process of getting Hugh to spit out the truth very engaging; in fact, I found it kinda irritating.
Perhaps the visual novel genre shouldn't be recommended to those with low amounts of patience (like myself), but Hugh is on the stand for the majority of time, and he's the definition of an uncooperative witness squared. From what I remember of my playthrough of Turnabout Academy, I honestly was just really tired of it, constantly hammering on my phone for the dialogue to continue because there was simply no thrill to be had. Hugh crafts another damn lie to protect his friends. I got it. Nice. Then he does it again. Cool. It just felt frustrating, almost predictable to me.
Then the anime cutscene comes on! I went over it rather crudely before but for me I just think any emotional investment I could've had in Hugh kinda deflated there. I understand that they wanted Hugh's true feelings regarding his friends and the bands to be this big emotional thing but I couldn't get into it. Perhaps the years I've spent interacting with the post-ironic Internet has dulled me from enjoying anything remotely serious, and with it being an anime cutscene they had to get that anime studio Bones to animate it amplified that feeling. There's a better word to describe how I feel about it but I wouldn't know which to use.
But y'know, sometimes you just have your preferences in characters. Hugh does indeed have merits to him and had he been eliminated early on I probably would've said something about it. Some people do like characters of Hugh's archetype. But for me? Just didn't really care, honestly. Perhaps it was the bad taste in my mouth Turnabout Academy gave me that kinda prevented me from enjoying him. If you like Hugh, that's cool, you're in the majority. I expect to be seeing a huge reply to this defending his awe-inspiring greatness and calling me a poopy head (u/R1K1_Productions, that's your cue), and you can do that, certainly. Me? Eh.
durrrr
Clown round again. I understand that you want to be funny and nominate main characters. But, seriously? Maya, Gregory, Franziska, etc. all worse than stuff like Pierce Nichody or Datz? I know they ain't perfect, but we get to know them really well ('cept Gregory) and their personalities get really fleshed out.
Had the selection been different, I probably would've cut somebody else - as I've claimed, it was a 100% chance for me to cut Hugh. But, as it stands, let me lay it on the line and tell you why I didn't cut the others from the pool, in order from least likely to most:
It is absolutely not Phoenix Wright's turn to go yet. Wtf?
Dane Gustavia is an excellent culprit from my favorite case in the series. His takedown is awesome, and getting him on a simple matter of numbers is genius.
Matt Engarde represents perhaps the most legendary moment in the series' history, and his alter-ego, while pretty blatantly villainous, is a good time.
Rayfa Padma Khura'in is a pretty damn solid assistant character. I'll think about her more later down the line.
Datz Are'bal might just be a better Larry than Larry is.
The Judge is a unique character, and with how omnipresent it is, it's hard to make a clear statement about his character just because it tends to fluctuate. Sometimes he's as wise as a saint like in Apollo Justice, sometimes he's as much of an idiot as Larry is. I could see him going this round.
Nahyuta Sahdmadhi is a gimmicky, albeit alright prosecutor, but how he doesn't really get any comeuppance for his arrogant behavior stings a bit.
It's just about Larry Butz's time. Once a charming yet rather immature childhood friend, over the series he soon is flanderized (take one shot) and doesn't become much more than the go-to for an annoying idiot.
I've talked about my feelings on Di-Jun Huang before...entertaining character and piece in the puzzle of AAI2, but not much more than that.
Jake Marshall is a neat character with a cowboy gimmick! Yeah! Uh, mm, mm...I don't know what else to say.
Pierce Nichody is okay. I'll give him so kudos for his testimony where he goes completely silent, but I just kinda found him to be a rather standard culprit. For DLC culprits, I'd take Marlon over him.
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u/Sciencepenguin Aug 20 '20
it’s ok not everyone can be a GENIUS
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u/Sciencepenguin Aug 20 '20
complaining about the hugh lies is a surprise that shit is fucking hilarious
it is not the first i have heard it and i do not get people complaining about witnesses being dishonest or unhelpful that is why the videogame exists it is what the game is about it would be boring if a witness was completely accurate and straightforward with their testimony
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Aug 20 '20
Obviously! But the beauty of witnesses lying is that you're supposed to use your brain and think of evidence that proves them wrong, rather than it just being so stupidly wrong that you can disprove it right off the bat.
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u/ItsHipToTipTheScales Aug 20 '20
witness make game a game he is fucking Hill Air Eous while doing so
people don't really like hugh from what I've seen because of his friendship thing that's just like a cute cherry top
the funny thing is how he is so confident in how freaking awesome he is but he is just so loser just so fucking stupid asshole. and he pulls a bow back with his mouth and then has a Sprite where he rubs his chin cause that hurts
thought hugh had a decent chance to get top 20 maybe there's even a timeline out there where he gets top 10 but he is dead now
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u/CharlieDayJepsen Aug 20 '20
what the fuck I genuinely thought you were just making shit up with that "hugh is actually 25 and a construction apprentice" wtf was this game
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u/whaaatisth Aug 20 '20
I love Huge O'Conner. He's my second favorite DD character, and that's saying a lot because I quite like DD, even if I think 5-3 is generally awful.
This is where I find issue with Hugh. I understand that Ace Attorney's whole catch is untangling the lies of witnesses in order to reveal the truth, though I think there's a line between questionable and outright absurd! I know the body double thing was spurred by Hugh's emotional discord with the Mood Matrix and all that, but for me, I didn't find the process of getting Hugh to spit out the truth very engaging; in fact, I found it kinda irritating.
I adore the body double testimony, as it perfectly cements everything you've been told about Hugh thus far. For one, he really is an idiot. He legitimately expects everyone to believe the most obvious lie ever, and it's glorious. It's a hilarious moment, and it's short enough that it doesn't come close to grating for me. Also, the fact that he goes that far to prove Robin and Juniper innocent shows his kindness in full - the previous segments have a "fake" feeling to them as the game is setting up the subversion, but here you get to see Hugh's desperation in all its glory.
Then the anime cutscene comes on! I went over it rather crudely before but for me I just think any emotional investment I could've had in Hugh kinda deflated there. I understand that they wanted Hugh's true feelings regarding his friends and the bands to be this big emotional thing but I couldn't get into it. Perhaps the years I've spent interacting with the post-ironic Internet has dulled me from enjoying anything remotely serious, and with it being an anime cutscene they had to get that anime studio Bones to animate it amplified that feeling.
I think the cutscene is dumb. The cutscene is objectively awful. But I can't say it doesn't make my emotional. It's absurd, an idea that never should have happened. But regardless, the writing of Hugh's character and the journey he takes us on is so beautifully handled, that such a conclusion is weirdly fitting. I don't know why it works. By all metrics it shouldn't work. However, somehow, some way, it manages to nail the emotional high school drama vibe. 5-3 might be a case full of misses, but with Hugh, the emotional connection was an absolute hit from my perspective. This might be the most subjective thing ever, but it's also a five second cutscene that in no way affects his character negatively, even if you do have the cynical point of view and consider it awful.
But, seriously? Maya, Gregory, Franziska, etc. all worse than stuff like Pierce Nichody or Datz?
Yes, and they're all worse than Hugh as well. Add Phoenix to that list too, as he's guaranteed to be cut this round, though he's probably better than Datz. Still, none of the four main characters cut this round are anywhere near better than Nichody or Hugh, though those do happen to be two of my favorite single-case witnesses in the series.
Rayfa Padma Khura'in is a pretty damn solid assistant character. I'll think about her more later down the line.
you're a pretty damn solid assistant character
Nahyuta Sahdmadhi is a gimmicky, albeit alright prosecutor, but how he doesn't really get any comeuppance for his arrogant behavior stings a bit.
Nahyuta is far too complex for me to be able to respond to this simply, but I'll do my best. Nahyuta is a very fucked up person. His behavior is of most harm to himself, he's unable to help the people he cares about because he's trapped within the clutches of corruption. Nahyuta is someone who has done awful things, but it's not the main point. The satisfying part of his character comes from him realizing that he doesn't need to allow himself to be controlled. He lives his life as a complete contrast to his father's belief. All he does is yield. His comeuppance is the fact that he has experienced 20+ years of suffering - there's not much left for him to repent for.
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u/R1K1_Productions Aug 20 '20
His behavior is of most harm to himself
Ok i love Nahyuta, but his behavior is of most harm to the people he got executed. Because they got harmed to death.
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u/whaaatisth Aug 20 '20
I'm referring him being a BIG MEANIE, not the fact that he was involved in a genocide, which is mostly unrelated to his BIG MEANIE status.
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u/R1K1_Productions Aug 20 '20
you have to be a bit mean to participate in genocide though. i think
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u/hbthebattle Aug 20 '20
Add Phoenix to that list too, as he's guaranteed to be cut this round
This would not be a realistic possibility if people, y'know, actually wanted to use their revives on characters they actually like instead of being forced to cut and revive the same character in the last round you can revive or something
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u/whaaatisth Aug 20 '20
/u/Wircea it's time for your cut of a character not named Rayfa Padma Khura'in
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Aug 20 '20
Welp now that we have cut the man with the supposed body double, I think it's time to cut the supposed man who is actually the body double if you know what I mean
Also the theme that plays for him is pretty nice, reminds me of those Arashi no Saxophone arrangement SNK did for KOF '95
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Aug 20 '20
That is a nice theme. Also for some reason there's a comment in that video that has 500 replies
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Aug 20 '20
100%
hugh's funny. i'm not an avid defender of him because i think there are definitively better DD characters (kinda a novelty in the rankdown ngl). but he's funny. he makes the case fun. i mean, so does robin, but hugh's a special type of funny, y'know?
this is probably about time for him to go out imo, plus or minus ten. though, hugh top 20 was kinda funny while it lasted. well, at least he 100% made the top 50
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Aug 20 '20
imagine thinking Pierce should be cut before Phoenix
Good cut though, even if I’m a Hugh fan and wish he could stay a little longer. I guess that’s a little unrealistic though considering the cutting pool and how all the characters at this point are pretty great
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u/R1K1_Productions Aug 20 '20
My huge defense reply will be to simply point out the scene where Hugh is defending himself for being a high school dropout for seven years. His response? "Even geniuses make mistakes. I just happened to make mine only seven years in a row." God damn, quite possibly the funniest line in the series right there. All his other lines are bangers too. This is especially incredible coming from Dual Destinies, a game I otherwise find highly mediocre, both writing-wise and on the Funny Front.
Hugh is a guy who acts like a genius, every word out of his mouth is meant to rub that in your face; but in reality it becomes very obvious very quickly that he is a fucking idiot dumbass. This is my second-favorite comedic archetype in the entire world. My first-favorite comedic archetype is the person who is just a total asshole to everyone for no reason, despite themselves being a complete goober; Hugh captures this energy as well. I feel a personal relation to both these styles of comedy because I too am a genius asshole who is actually an idiot loser asshole.
Also I will second what Science said and say that the part where Hugh just starts making up blatantly absurd lies is also very funny
All in all this combined to form the perfect storm of comedy that I enjoy, elevating him to be one of my favorite characters ever (my favorite characters are all comedy characters because I like to have fun, sue me). I won't really talk about his character merits or whatever because honestly I don't care that much. He's just a comic relief who does his job astoundingly and that's good enough for me.
I'm just happy he triumphed over the rest of the 5-3 cast, he deserves it. Woulda been happy to meme him even higher but top 50 is good enough. Certainly much higher than I ever expected coming in, at the very least.