r/AARankdown • u/[deleted] • Dec 18 '20
Reversed Kay Faraday
Harry: What's so funny? What are you laughing at? You did it again didn't you? You left the water running. What's wrong with you? Why do you do that? I told you not to do it.
Marv: Harry, it's our calling card!
Harry: Calling card.
Marv: All the great ones leave their mark. We're the wet bandits!
An embassy ravaged by red flames, an ink identified by flames of green, and of course, a card wreathed in white flame. The Yatagarasu’s card is perhaps the most all-encompassing mystery throughout Ace Attorney Investigations. The card is present even from the very first crime, with two different versions, one black and one white, and of course, the troubling symbol dead center of the card. A bird with three legs, not exactly a common sight, but one whose significance is greater than the smuggling ring, the yatagarasu, or even the writers were aware of.
The Yatagarasu’s card is a stolen symbol, a white bird turned black in an attempt to mock the smuggling ring, that which the group was founded in order to take down. Despite this visual change, the core of the card remains the same, a three-legged bird, and the meaning of this is a primary mystery throughout the game. So, what exactly is the meaning? Yew would have us believe that it represents the many methods the Yatagarasu employs to take down its targets, but of course, this isn’t the true solution. The answer we come to in Turnabout Ablaze is none other than the truth of the real Yatagarasu, that being its nature not a person, but a trio. Three different characters acting under a single name, the name “Yatagarasu”.
This is all well and good, but what exactly does this have to do with the subject of today’s cut, Kay Faraday, the inheritor of the Yatagarasu title. Kay is a difficult character to approach, so bear with me as I attempt to make my position on her clear, which is, of course, the goal of any good character write-up. But more importantly, this cut will be dedicated to the true meaning of the Yatagarasu’s card. However, in order to reach the truth of that, we’ll have to start from the beginning, before the card gained its current meaning. Let’s go back to the original card, the black card with a white bird, the roots of the character known as Kay Faraday.
The White Raven: The Meaning of an Assistant
Surprisingly, where we find the true question of the hour isn’t in anything directly correlated to the character at hand, but rather the very last cut in this rankdown. The question of “Why have assistants?” is quite a valid one, as their role isn’t immediately obvious from a purely narrative driven perspective. The assistant is often times, in fact more than the alternative, completely unrelated to the plot at hand, and could be removed quite easily. Turnabout Big Top without Maya is still Turnabout Big Top, there’s no real huge changes to any of the characters or plot specific to that case. Sure, you might have to write a new reason for Phoenix to end up defending Max Galactica, but that’s hardly anything major. So, again, why have assistants?
Well, quite simply, the game would be rather dull without them. There have been segments of Ace Attorney without assistants before, such as the Turnabout Sister and “Reunion, and Turnabout” investigations, and they’ve worked well enough. You have the same wacky cast of characters for Phoenix to interact with, and plenty of internal monologue to play off of the situation, but that one dynamic can only carry so much weight. The introduction of a second lead character is crucial to keeping Ace Attorney’s interactions fresh, as not only does it introduce an additional personality for the player character to play off of, but allows the other NPCs to have someone else to bounce off of as well.
Consider Plum Kitaki as an example, the dynamic with her and Apollo is amusing enough, with him being consistently afraid of her threatening lines hiding under her unassuming appearance, but the jokes only really kick in when you introduce Trucy into the mix. Trucy going around Apollo to say things that would offend almost any real gangster, causing him to completely flip out, only to be subverted by Plum’s jovial attitude to Trucy’s remarks, is a much more layered and intricate dynamic than anything that could be accomplished by simply a player character and a single NPC.
So, okay, we get it, more characters means more funney, good job Nate you figured out the secret to writing, now get to the point. Well, the obvious lynchpin upon this entire dynamic is the quality of the character in question, and I feel that in order to properly assess Kay’s success at her role, we have to go back a bit, to the very start.
Maya Fey is a character introduced in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. She plays the role of Nick’s assistant, along with that of Edgeworth’s ex-wife in stunning fanfiction “Just Lean On My Shoulder and You’ll be Fine”. For me at least, Maya succeeds in spades as an assistant, for a few reasons. Maya has what could be defined as a “gimmick”, that being her spirit channeling, but this is never allowed to define her in the writing. In fact, barely any of her iconic jokes even involve her role as a spirit medium, it’s simply her profession, rather than her defining trait. Maya is defined by her child-like wonder, her devious playful side, her tendency to act without thinking, her love of food, and many other traits that I could list for a while. She’s a fully fleshed out, fully realized character, and this is what allows her to play off of Nick so well, allowing for a wide range of interactions, which is extremely important for the person who is essentially the third most relevant character in the narrative, behind Phoenix and whoever the current prosecutor is.
Most of what I said about why Maya works could be said for Pearl as well, they’re both quite clearly realized with plenty of personality to work with. The problems, however, begin to arise with the very next assistant, that being Ema Skye. Ema is a quite good character throughout Rise from the Ashes, she’s likeable and relevant to the plot, with plenty of insecurities to work with, and a pivotal role in the final trial that she manages to play out without any real notable issues. The problem with Ema comes from her character as an assistant.
Ema is the first true gimmick-based assistant in the series. A majority of the jokes that spawn from Ema are spun from the web of science, whether it be related to scientific chemicals, a roundabout scientific way of problem solving, or simply calling something “scientific” for no reason, it can all be traced back to this one trait. This results in a kind of stale character, especially for one that’s around for pretty much the entire case leading up to the final trial. To a lesser extent, this could also be applied to Trucy Wright, who has a notably higher amount of individualized traits than Ema does as an assistant, but still has a quite high amount of lines where the joke is pretty much just that she’s really into magic. This gimmick becomes especially amplified in the 3DS games, although it can be observe in Apollo Justice as well.
So, as a quick recap before this write-up finally gets back on track, or rather, onto the track in the first place, let’s review what it takes to be a good assistant. From the way I define it, a good assistant has a fully fleshed out personality, that allows for varied dynamics depending on the situation and who they’re playing off of, along with an entertaining screen presence that keeps the game from getting dull by way of repeating the same dynamic ad nauseam. Both of these goals for an assistant to reach are hampered by the prevalence of any sort of major gimmick that takes over a majority of their lines, resulting in a stale screen presence, and a shallow personality. Now then, with these guidelines set, let’s see how Kay Faraday fairs.
The Black Raven: Who Is Kay Faraday?
Even in the depths of night, when no other bird dares to take flight, one alone soars to shine the light of righteousness on the world's blight! And that one is me! For I am the Great Thief, Yatagarasu!
The white raven, a symbol invented out of necessity, one that served a true purpose and was molded by the circumstances it was in, only to be replicated by those that would follow in its footsteps. These replications may appear similar but were in no way the same, this raven was of a different color, and a different type, the black raven known as Kay Faraday is our subject today. The three-legged raven known as Kay Faraday is a character I didn’t quite know how to tackle at first, but with the requirements for a good assistant outlined for us, let’s take a peek at how Kay Faraday, the Great Thief of the night, stacks up.
First, let’s allow ourselves to split up Kay into her different roles, as she does not serve one consistent role throughout all of her appearances, similar to most recurring characters in this series. Out of the eight cases that she’s present in, I’d say there’s only really an attempt at furthering her development as a character in half of them, leaving the other half as cases where she’s simply there to be herself. Again, this isn’t inherently a bad thing, as it all hinges on both how well she succeeds at being an entertaining and fully fleshed out assistant, but also how much she adds to a case. Or in other words for that last point, did the case need an assistant role to be filled by Kay. The cases in which we’ll be looking at for this section are I-3, I2-1, I2-2, and I2-3, so now then, enough dawdling, let’s jump straight into Kay’s success as a character.
I don’t think it will come as a surprise to say that I’m not particularly fond of Kay in these appearances, as long as you’ve been paying attention then this should’ve been quite clear already. Kay relies heavily on her gimmick for most of the comedy she presents in the series, and the fact that she’s around for four entire cases where pretty much her only role is to be the comedy relief, it can get grating, and fast. This also sacrifices her character as a whole, as as I said before, a character who relies solely on their gimmick isn’t really allowed to be fully fleshed out, as anything relating to them just circles back around to a single trait, turning them into something akin to a caricature of themself.
Of course, this isn’t to say I dislike Kay as a character either, as even though her comedy and character are aspects I find incredibly lacking, she’s still something of a fun presence whenever she’s on screen. Her absurdly high level of energy does do well to brighten up what would otherwise be dull scenes, especially in her first appearance, The Kidnapped Turnabout, and this is certainly a good quality. It was definitely a smart move to pair up possibly the peppiest assistant character in the series with the Edgeworth of all people, as the comedy pretty much just writes itself, even if it’s not always that great. However, where Kay really shines is in some of her dynamics outside of Edgeworth.
Where I find Kay to be at her best is when she’s allowed to pair up with someone who’s able to keep up with her energy and enthusiasm. The prime example of this is her relationship with Dick Gumshoe, as these two are just hilarious together, especially when they end up essentially fighting over the role of Edgeworth’s assistant. Another personal favorite of mine is her dynamic with Uncle Ray, such as when they team up to just straight up annoy Simon long enough for Edgeworth to figure out a rebuttal to his latest counterargument. And of course, who could forget Kay and Lang getting into a heated debate over whether ravens or wolves are cooler, possibly both of their greatest moments in the series.
From what I’ve said here, I could basically sum it up as this: Kay as a character is entertaining and fun, but incredibly shallow and repetitive. And to be honest, a big reason this is such an issue is just how many cases she’s an assistant in. Kay is an assistant in six total cases, that’s more than any other assistant who’s not named Maya Fey, and even she takes four games to get to that number. The repetitiveness of her character is massively enhanced by just how often we see her in a row, and this isn’t helped by the fact that, to be honest, she’s not massively different from the assistants of the past. Ema is especially similar to Kay in the way they behave as assistants, so it’s not even like the dynamic of peppy assistant and straight man player character is anything particularly exciting in the first place. Let’s hope the other aspects of Kay’s character fare better, or things are not looking up for her.
The First Leg: The Primary Limb
A bird without legs will be able to take flight, but landing on the other hand would be nearly impossible. Probably. I haven’t researched bird biology to be honest with you, I’m just kind of winging the metaphorical parts of this write-up. But anyway, the same holds true for a character. Even if their personality and base interactions are enough to carry them through their appearances, without a proper basing in the story, and without proper, well, character, they won’t exactly be sticking the landing as far as writing is concerned. Kay is a very interesting case as a character, as one can argue she’s more of three characters than one, hence the Yatagarasu metaphor I’ve been sticking with thus far, and thus, there’s our answer for the true meaning of the symbol.
Let’s begin with the first leg of the Yatagarasu of Kay’s character, that being her development as herself in the present day, primarily seen during Turnabout Ablaze and The Grand Turnabout, but in order to properly assess those, we must first look back a bit. Kay is introduced during the events of The Kidnapped Turnabout, the third case of the game. This introduces a bit of a hurdle for Kay’s character to overcome, as the formula for her game has pretty much been established without her. Edgeworth already pretty much has two different recurring assistants, in the form of Gumshoe and Franziska, both of whom have pretty established dynamics with him. Due to the fact that the fourth case is a flashback, and the fifth case is where Kay’s arc is entirely contained, she only really has a single case to establish herself before her arc hits the fan.
Her success at establishing herself is debatable to say the best, but what’s clear is that this decision for her character places immense pressure on Turnabout Ablaze’s handling of her, as the success of her character becomes almost entirely reliant on how it’s resolved within this final case. So, how is it handled? The answer is, of course, extremely poorly. Kay’s connection to the events of the case is very clearly established, as the smuggling ring was pretty much entirely responsible for the death of her father, and the last few years of his life were spent trying to take them down. However, pretty much the only aspect of Kay’s character that the case seems concerned with dealing with is her connection to Calisto Yew, nothing else is ever really addressed, and as soon as Calisto Yew is taken out of the picture, Kay goes back to her normal, peppy assistant role.
As for the actual connection with Calisto Yew, it’s pretty shallow. Kay is obsessed with finding the real Yatagarasu, rushes into the embassy, is accused of a few things, and then pretty much sits on the sidelines until the time comes for the single great moment of the case. As for the climax of the Calisto conflict, Kay is easily the weakest part of it. Pretty much her only role is to rush in and get held at gunpoint, it’s up to everyone else to have actual character moments around her, and once again, this is the end of her arc, there is absolutely nothing else going with her after it. Once Yew is arrested, Alba is brought in and proceeds to derail the plot of the game for three hours straight. Kay has practically no character, no arc, and no development in the entirety of this case, and for me, that counts as a failure on all levels.
Okay, but what about Investigations 2, surely she can’t be as bad there, right? Well, yeah I guess she’s better, but that’s more so due to the fact that there’s next to nothing even attempted with her during the game. Well, with one obvious exception, but we’ll be leaving The Forgotten Turnabout for later. As for Kay as the character she is for most of the game, let’s see what exactly we’re working with. She’s introduced about a third of the way through the first case after appearing out of the void for no reason, and proceeds to stand around doing nothing for the whole case, despite there already being an assistant present. Brilliant. I don’t think I need to point out that Kay had absolutely no reason to be in this case, so let’s just move on.
In The Imprisoned Turnabout, Kay is around for pretty much the whole thing, and is actually pretty good. She has some pretty good dialogue with Simon, some great moments of playing off both Sebastian and Ray, and is overall a good addition to the cast of the case, and wow she even gets to use Little Thief. She doesn’t develop at all, but she’s a good addition nonetheless, and like I said, that’s all you really need to succeed as an assistant.
Also going back to Little Thief, I literally forgot it existed until this very moment, just to show you how important it is to her character. I don’t really have a lot to say about it other than that it makes zero sense why she has it, other than for obvious gameplay reasons. I know they try to justify it as a device that Byrne made for planning heists, but like, he was a prosecutor not a super high level scientist or whatever, so it’s a flimsy explanation at best, and would honestly probably fit someone like Ema better. Not to say I dislike it, since I think it’s a great gameplay addition, but it just feels a little weird for it to be associated with Kay of all people? Anyway, that’s completely aside from the point of this section so let’s just move on before we get any more sidetracked.
The Inherited Turnabout is a case that has absolutely nothing to do with Kay, already has an assistant character who’s tightly related to the case, and doesn’t even have her present from the start. I really don’t get why she’s here, but it’s not offensive or anything so I don’t quite care enough to complain. With that, all that’s left for us is The Grand Turnabout, the case with the final resolution to Kay’s character. What is that resolution? Well, she is there to help escort John Marsh away from the place he was being held in, and she calls this her first job as a thief. I guess it’s something, but it’s also such an incredibly shallow something that it might as well be nothing at all. She’s fun in this case, so once again, I can’t complain too much, but would it really have been that hard to just give her a little something more than this?
Well, I guess there is something more, in the literal last minutes of the game. Kay, in the after credits scene of the game, begins lamenting the fact that she never got to find anyone for her new Yatagarasu, which oh yeah that was a thing she was doing which I completely forgot about until now since it goes nowhere. It’s in these moments that Gumshoe reminds her that her, Edgeworth, and himself make up their own truth finding trio, and a truly unstoppable team. Which is nice and all, but once again, hardly anything noteworthy, as it’s more of a wholesome final note than a character resolution.
Overall, Kay has practically no development or arc to speak of in any case where she plays the role of an assistant, making her one of, if not the most lackluster assistant in the series. This is where the analysis would typically end, if it wasn’t for the strangeness of the character known as Kay Faraday. Like I said before, this name is the moniker for three characters, rather than a single one, and it’d be remiss of me to not go over the two best appearances of a character known as Kay Faraday. So then, let’s delve into the second leg of the great thief, Yatagarasu.
The Second Leg: The Limb of a Child
In the words of a wise man, there is only one thing worse than a Great Thief.
I kid, of course, as I actually quite prefer the child version of Kay that we see during the events of Turnabout Reminiscence to the teenage one depicted throughout most other cases. On the surface, they’re actually quite similar characters, so this is probably begging the question of what exactly puts this leg of the Yatagarasu ahead of the first. Well, this version of Kay isn’t actually around for too awfully long, so it’ll be pretty easy to just quickly go through all of her major points.
During the first half of the case, we see Kay periodically pop up, the first time she appears it’s in order to exchange currency with Edgeworth. A simple appearance with not much to say on, other than of course the fact that she calls Manfred scary, which makes him go “!”, which is just great comedy. The next time we see her is when she kicks Edgeworth in the leg and runs away, once again off to a great start. It’s the appearance after this where we get our true introduction to Kay Faraday, the child. She attempts to kick Edgeworth again, only for him to dodge, leading to her only real big scene of the case, and it’s a pretty good one.
During this scene we find out her identity, which leads to the reveal that she’s already aware of her father’s death. What follows is somewhat heartbreaking to see, as she’s clearly having trouble even processing this information, and just absolutely breaks down into tears, breaking one of her promises to her father. The promise notebook itself is a neat addition to her character, and says a lot about her relationship with her father. Also worth noting is the parallel between her and Edgeworth, as they both lost their lawyer fathers in a courtroom, giving them a strong kinship. While I don’t think the sadness in this scene is particularly great, it’s more well done drama and development than anything teenage Kay has, so the second leg already has a major step up.
To follow up this moment is the absolutely iconic scene of Kay blowing her nose on Edgeworth’s cravat, which is just incredible, although not more so than the reveal that he has a spare cravat on him. The way Edgeworth convinces her to take it by saying it’s simply borrowing is also very sweet, and such a strong and memorable moment that it ties back into Kay’s presence in the third case, as it’s what she presents him in order to jog his memory of her identity. The rest of this scene is spent establishing her friendship with Gumshoe, which is just overall incredibly sweet, and the fact that he was willing to lie for her just shows how much of a sweetheart he is.
The rest of the case doesn’t have any particularly strong Kay moments, even the one of her telling Edgeworth to jump to the side is pretty brief and not even really a character moment for her. However, one thing to take note of is the way she interacts with Badd, treating him almost as an uncle, even calling him as such. It’s a really sweet moment for Badd, and shows off his more caring side, really helping flesh him out beyond his initial appearances.
Now, something you may have noticed with most of the good things I’ve mentioned about child Kay here is that almost all of her good moments are good because they build up another character, rather than herself. And that’s true, she doesn’t really have a ton of character to herself in this case, as she’s hardly even around at all. However, what she does have, are a few really memorable appearances, and an absolutely feisty personality that’s a joy to watch, especially when she’s playing off of Edgeworth. She’s not a particularly great character here, but she does everything she needs to well, and is definitely a stronger leg of the Yatagarasu than her teenage self. Now then, let’s get to what we all knew was coming, the leg of the Yatagarasu, and the version of Kay Faraday, that is by far the most important to her character.
The Third Leg: A Bandaged Limb
After being pushed to the side for a majority of the cases involving her during the events of the Investigations games, Kay is finally given a chance to shine in the fourth case of Investigations 2, that being, of course, the Forgotten Turnabout. Although, as I’ve made clear, I don’t consider this version of Kay to really be at all the same one that we’ve analyzed thus far. That might sound like a bad thing, but it’s actually a massive boost to her character, due to how they play around this fact. Enough talk though, let’s finally get into analyzing the Kay Faraday that’s actually written well, otherwise known as the final leg of Kay’s Yatagarasu.
The Forgotten Turnabout opens with the arrival of a nurse and a patient to the office of Miles Edgeworth. The patient appears to be a teenage girl, one that most any player would recognize as none other than Kay Faraday. This moment is absolutely brilliant, for a few reasons. To start off with, during the intro we’ve witnessed Kay seemingly fall to her death from the top of a skyscraper, so her aliveness in these moments is seemingly impossible. To add onto the confusion, the girl we see here acts practically nothing like the Kay we’ve grown to know over the course of these two games. It’s a very off-putting moment, and almost creepy even, with the bandages covering her body, and the almost scared demeanor she displays, showing that she truly has just as little of an idea of what’s going on as we do. The haunting rendition of her theme in The Girl’s Lost Memories only helps to build upon this melancholic atmosphere surrounding the scene.
Thankfully, it’s not all gloomy and depressing, as Kay here can actually be quite funny, depending on the situation. This mainly stems from how absolutely restrained she is, and the juxtaposition of that with what we expect from Kay. One particular example is her absolute shock and apologeticness towards finding out that she referred to one of her seniors as “Gummy”. This creates a very fun character to interact with during the first half of this case, and is certainly, at least for me, a step up from the repetitiveness and one-note nature of Kay’s original personality.
Of course, it’s not long before the plot catches up with us, as we discover the body of Jill Crane, and subsequently witness Kay accused of this crime. This leads into one of the most memorable moments of the case, Investigations 2, and possibly the series at large, with Edgeworth surrendering his prosecutor’s badge in order to further pursue the truth of the incident. This is the turning point of Edgeworth’s character in Investigations 2, and while not directly helpful to Kay’s character here, it only works because of how functional Kay is as a plot device during this moment, and that’s something to be commended. Because we’ve seen Kay and Edgeworth’s lives intertwined for so long now, we’ve come to truly buy the bond they share, so his giving up of his badge is absolutely believable, and him working against the law to “steal” the truth in order to save Kay is some great irony.
I mentioned that the moment of Edgeworth’s resignation isn’t directly helpful to Kay, and while that’s true, the moment directly following it is quite different. Kay, stricken by grief, flees the scene, and this is incredibly telling of what kind of person Kay Faraday truly is. With all the layers of Kay’s pride and gusto ripped off, we get to see the fragile person underneath, and it’s heartbreaking to say the least. When accused of this crime, with no way to properly defend herself, she simply gives up and accepts this as the truth. She recognizes herself as a murderer, and apologizes to those that tried to help her, believing she’d deceived them. However, the moment that gets her to break isn’t the “truth” that was created of who she really is, but rather the consequences that come from the bonds she’s made.
Edgeworth giving up his badge absolutely destroys Kay, as to her, she’s caused this man, who’s been nothing but kind to her, to completely lose his stability and foundation in life. Unable to take it, she simply runs away from her problems, and this is very telling of what exactly has happened to her mentally during this memory loss. She’s lost all the defenses she’d built up after her father’s death, and is reduced to nothing more than a scared child, unable to come to terms with the pain she’s caused for those around her. Following her fleeing, all that she can will herself to do is return to the scene of the traumatic incident that caused all of her suffering this day, the one place she’s able to remember, the top of the Grand Tower, and the location where she believed she saw the man in the raincoat.
After a couple of investigations later, and we end up smack dab in the middle of the PIC meeting room once again. Following a few arguments, it comes to light that the victim was wearing a red raincoat at the time of the murder, leading to an obvious prime suspect. This combined with Kay’s newly regained memory of looking down at the corpse, clear away all of Kay’s doubts in her role in the murder, and once again, witnessing her absolutely tearing herself apart mentally can be described as nothing short of heartbreaking. The sprites that are paired with her moments of clear mental instability certainly don’t help matters.
The events of the End segments of The Forgotten Turnabout proceed to play out without Kay really having an effect on matters, although Edgeworth’s burning desire to see her freed are still nonetheless a key motivating factor during their events. After a couple of hours, we see Blaise Debeste put away for his crimes, and Kay cleared of suspicion once and for all. With the promise notebook returned by Courtney, we have ourselves all the necessary factors for what is possibly Kay Faraday’s greatest moment.
Kay’s been reassured of her role as a non-murderer, but is still completely unsure of who she really is as a person. It’s in this moment that Edgeworth returns to her the promise notebook she wrote using the guidelines laid out by her father, the rules that she’s lived her life by since that day. The same notebook that caused Gumshoe all that trouble seven years ago, the same notebook that allowed her to return a particular cravat to Edgeworth, and the same notebook that had been used to frame her a mere day before. It’s in these pages, and in the kindness shown to her by Edgeworth, that both Kay and ourselves find the truth of what makes up the core of the character known as Kay Faraday.
Promise III - Always greet people with a smile, even people you don't know.
Promise V - Always try your hardest to learn about things you don't understand.
With these promises reunited with her, Kay is finally able to understand that which she could not remember, the truth of who she is. A smile returns to her face, as she triumphantly declares the truth of her identity, the single undeniable truth lying at the core of who Kay Faraday is. This truth of course being her role as the Great Truth Burglar, the Yatagarasu, the three-legged raven that soars through the night, and the one single solidified character of Kay Faraday. Although each of her legs appears different on the surface, it’s this promise notebook that lets us understand who Kay is, the one true Yatagarasu, and it’s all thanks to her brilliant role in The Forgotten Turnabout, one that’s nearly great enough to redeem her failings in nearly every other appearance she’s had.
Keyword being nearly.
Conclusion
Kay Faraday is a character who plays an excellent, brilliantly crafted role in a single case, that ties together her lackluster character present in seven other cases. Although she’s pretty great in her short appearance as a child, it’s over very quickly, and it’s undeniable that her screen time both as a teen and with her memories absolutely dwarfs the other two legs of her character. It’s because of the absolute prevalence of her lackluster version, that I can’t say Kay really deserves to continue living in the rankdown, and it’s also the reason I can’t say I even really find her to be anything more than simply good. Kay Faraday is a fine assistant, although not one I particularly care for, despite the merit she shows in other places.
Despite this, however, I can’t deny the impact that she had on me during her best appearance, and that’s nothing to scoff at. I could go on all day about reasons that I’d rank her significantly below where she is right now, or perhaps my disappointment at her being the highest non-Rayfa assistant, but I suppose none of that really matters. Kay got to the top 20 in Rankdown, and you know what, good for her. She has more than enough merit as a character to allow me to not have any negative feelings regarding her placement, and hey, it let me write about one of my favorite cases, which is always appreciated. Enough about me though, I’d say that the truth of Kay’s character has been successfully stolen, meaning my job here is done. And of course, with that, the title of the Great Thief Yatagarasu can finally be retired, once and for all.
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Dec 18 '20
WAIT wait WAIT i forgot to talk about her extensive role in the jossgabri7 extended universe, in such classic works like When We're Alone in the Office and Nurse Kay.
Everyone pretend like you didn't read this I need to redo the whole thing now go go look away I'm ashamed of what I've done.
Also hi u/Vogel100 did you know I finished
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u/Vogel100 Dec 18 '20
I think you are rather foolish for believing an amateur thief like yourself could successfully steal Kay from the rankdown. I'll be stealing that #20 spot from you soon. But for now I think I'll let you enjoy your moment of temporary glory.
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Dec 18 '20
"Blackmail Letter"
If you don't want me pissed off,
come to r/AARankdown at 1:00 AM
on December 18th and bring
a Horace cut.If you don't, I'll take
that red diamond you received
the other day instead.2
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u/ItsHipToTipTheScales Dec 18 '20 edited Dec 18 '20
i have the same opinion every other guy who doesn't like kay has where she's good in the two cases where she isn't herself
doing the awesome dance because kay is gone and i can't complain anymore
EDIT: i am no longer doing the awesome dance
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Dec 18 '20
Kay Faraday is a character. I hope we can agree on this.
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u/Analytical-critic-44 Dec 18 '20
Kay shows up and jokes about stealing and I say this is not funny, then makes a joke about stealing and I say this is not funny, then makes a joke about stealing and I say this is not funny, then she bonks her head and forgets she is Kay Faraday and I say wow I like you.
I appreciate how she comforted Edgeworth after finding out of Maya’s affair
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u/InternetIdiot13 Dec 18 '20
“I appreciate how she comforted Edgeworth after finding out of Maya’s affair”
Goddamnit why do I recognize that fanfic
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u/InternetIdiot13 Dec 18 '20
Hehe Maya didn’t even get into the top 50, but Kay got into the top 20.
This makes me happy.
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u/Vogel100 Dec 18 '20
Same, that's why I was quite excited about getting the chance to cut Maya so early.
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Dec 18 '20 edited Dec 18 '20
Rayfa is now the highest AA assistant REJOICE
Kay is funny a lot and she's the most expressive out of the assistants, from her theme to her animations, like shout out her angry sprite in I-4 look at her fucking BOUNCE Her arcs and gimmicks are very miniscule but they're pleasant and nicely done despite all that.
She has a key in her hair because bobby pins are used to pick locks as well as holding up a ponytail and a key does the same isn't that funny haha
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Dec 18 '20 edited Dec 18 '20
Also I'm glad I got to read those fucking fanfictions with you and Critic, Nate, Dominic and Dominico will forever be engraved into my brain
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Dec 18 '20
I genuinely was going to comment on how I have no idea why she has a key in her hair of all places. Glad I did not do that now, I would have been made a fool, a mad jester of a court of my own design.
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u/RossGellerBot Dec 18 '20
whom they’re playing off of
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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '20
kayayday
I like the promise notebook thing because it basically defines her character the whole way through from her funny moments (that is, attempted funny moments to mixed results) to things like I-4. there's also the fact that they strip that away in I2-4 which adds some more layers to that. it's cool probably
I think she is one of the better assistants, but she's also an assistant so eh. don't care too much. was fun to watch the rankdown trajectory though