Mahou Shoujo × Haiboku Saiban - Vol. 3 Ch. 15 - Case 05 Tatemaki Lemon Part 3

[DLRevan]

While I always expected (I'd be disappointed otherwise) the court system to be unrealistic, I did also expect it to be concepted on the factors regarding magical girls and this setting.

But more and more it's just straight up Ace Attorney lol. I wonder how much the author is just copying AA versus picking rules and processes that they're turning upside down on purpose.

Random cross-examination time and order, random witnesses and evidence, hostile witnesses, objection on matters other than evidence/questioning, objection on disagreement rather than improper process, objection to a conclusion rather than evidence, objection to self (LOL), judge tolerating chaos, defense not offering mitigation plea (though I guess that's because they always win), burden of proof on defense, surprise evidence and witnesses, etc etc. Probably more than a dozen other things I've forgot.

Well I don't mind, it's just I thought it was more unique.

 

[The_H_Guy]

Is Lemon gonna defecate her personality?

OMG! It was really that!

Apparently there is an hidden reason why magical girls must not be defeated. Look like they become breeding material for monsters. So they want to plant a "you must absolutely never loose" motivation into them? So that they would prefer to die than being defeated?

 

[runedKnight]

While I always expected (I'd be disappointed otherwise) the court system to be unrealistic, I did also expect it to be concepted on the factors regarding magical girls and this setting.

But more and more it's just straight up Ace Attorney lol. I wonder how much the author is just copying AA versus picking rules and processes that they're turning upside down on purpose.

Random cross-examination time and order, random witnesses and evidence, hostile witnesses, objection on matters other than evidence/questioning, objection on disagreement rather than improper process, objection to a conclusion rather than evidence, objection to self (LOL), judge tolerating chaos, defense not offering mitigation plea (though I guess that's because they always win), burden of proof on defense, surprise evidence and witnesses, etc etc. Probably more than a dozen other things I've forgot.

Well I don't mind, it's just I thought it was more unique.

Though I haven't played or seen Ace Attorney, I think that having a proper system to play with might make things less hectic and unpredictable. On second thought though the Defeat Trial seems less an organized proper court and more of a legitimized flying monkey lobotomy kangaroo court.
It exists less to dispose justice or resolve Magical matters and more to publicly shame and punish the defeated. Having Yuuri win 4 cases in a row feels less like a talented defense attorney doing what she does best and more more like a divine miracle being sent by god to help the girls avoid hell.

 

[jackjack9]

I've said it once and I'll say it again; This magical girl system needs to be taken down.

 

[ihoj]

What a familiar technique.

 

[Substitution]

The prosecutor is clearly aligned with the monsters by doing this, but still won't be punished to that degree of severity, for no reason.

 

[sassinos]

Both Aoi and Wet Wolf looked pretty shocked at all that exposition. I guess the "Terms and Conditions For Being A Magical Girl" is rarely read by most of them, or as seen in Aoi's case never supplied. I wonder if Prosecutor Hook using her magic to make a monster attack another magical girl counts as collusion?

 

[phil777]

Personality excretion is erotic..

No, repent and divert from this line of thought. Your degeneracy must not reach such depths.

 

[homogenized]

Because if you DON'T become a magical girl, the state apparently arrests your family and locks you up to get raped and impregnated.

I think it was implying that a different nation with less "freedom" forces girls with power to serve under threat of arresting their family.

Wild guess time: Getting caught and charged is part of the prosecutor's gambit to set the take down of the whole system in motion.

 

[DLRevan]

Though I haven't played or seen Ace Attorney, I think that having a proper system to play with might make things less hectic and unpredictable. On second thought though the Defeat Trial seems less an organized proper court and more of a legitimized flying monkey lobotomy kangaroo court.
It exists less to dispose justice or resolve Magical matters and more to publicly shame and punish the defeated. Having Yuuri win 4 cases in a row feels less like a talented defense attorney doing what she does best and more more like a divine miracle being sent by god to help the girls avoid hell.

There may be a structure in Ace attorney thanks to the need for recognizable gameplay, but when you translate into what it would be like if it weren't a game, it's pretty much the same.

Cross-examination happens as pretty much the entire trial, and anyone can interject at effectively any time. The trials are often akin to show trials where it's already assumed by everyone the defendant is guilty, and in most games the player is the defense yet carries the burden of proof. Finding contradictions or loopholes in the evidence often comes after somehow intensely sensing the tension or emotional disposition of the witness...or even the prosecutor. Yuuri in this manga initiates that part of the 'gameplay' using her lie detection.

Fictional trials in comics/manga/drama shows have a lot in common in how unrealistic they tend to be, but the way the proceedings run, how they interpret procedure, and just the whole vibe here is really Ace Attorney. I wasn't sure until around this particular trial case though. Having another prosecutor helped to highlight how much of the formula is repeated.

 

[jrocker]

Okay so if you’re defeated by the monsters you’re raped and impregnated

If you’re defeated by the monsters and survive you’re brought to court where you’ll likely be raped and impregnated while onlookers sexually harass you

At this point why do you become a magical girl

As we saw with the first victim, they don't know most of this and its purposely not provided to them. We also saw that they might think they are helping but clearly they are only told they will get powers. We also saw in Chapter 1 there isn't even a retirement that they can leave. When the first girl was declared innocent she was destroyed that she wasn't punished but was still required to work for the same people and run the risks still

 

[nisashi13]

so they basically punish them to scare the new mahou shoujo so they take their job serious while also punish the defeated just incase of "corrupted mahou shoujo" show up.
but as far as we see in the story, they did more job to corrupt mahou shoujo than the monsters are, with the human attend the court are jerk while mahou shoujo turn again each other.

 

[Salamande]

When even the peanut gallery balks at a punishment, you know it’s fucked up.

 

[mushroomers]

Okay so if you’re defeated by the monsters you’re raped and impregnated

If you’re defeated by the monsters and survive you’re brought to court where you’ll likely be raped and impregnated while onlookers sexually harass you

At this point why do you become a magical girl

If I recall they dont get the terms and conditions. One of those animal familiars just comes and offers powers and they dont find out the consequences of defeat until it happens.

 

[Goldni]

i think the author has problems

 

[vasdas]

The question is still how do government control magical girls - they looks stronger then conventional weapons. It reminds me of Worm/Ward, where the state has lost its monopoly on violence, yet society continues to function. That stability exists largely because even the villains -most of them, at least - choose to uphold the illusion of order. They would rather be criminals in a working society than warlords presiding over collapse. Maybe something like that is happening here as well? And "magical girls riot" way closer than we think.

 

[The_H_Guy]

The question is still how do government control magical girls - they looks stronger then conventional weapons. It reminds me of Worm/Ward, where the state has lost its monopoly on violence, yet society continues to function. That stability exists largely because even the villains -most of them, at least - choose to uphold the illusion of order. They would rather be criminals in a working society than warlords presiding over collapse. Maybe something like that is happening here as well? And "magical girls riot" way closer than we think.

This is addressed in this chapter. There is all an argument inwhich the whole undefeatability of the magical girls is required to prove that magical girls are allies of humanity and not perceived as a threat. This would make authorities kidnap their families in order to keep them under control and demand absolute obedience from them. At worst they could even start a purge and systematically destroy them. Humans have the numbers. And become a wanted, would lead to a whole new series of annoyances cause they should live in hiding. In comparison defeating monster is much more practical. And let's not forget that there is magical girls working for the authorities just like Lemon herself, but with offensive power. It would create a super hero VS super villains situation.
So all in all, to just defeat monster without being defeated is ultimately the most practical choice to keep living peacefully, and even get some perk from being a magical girl compared to try starting a revolution and fighting both monsters that apparently hunt magical girls to turn them into living incubators, and humans that would consider them like monsters that should be either forcefully put under slavery and weaponized or annihilated.

But most importantly, in the end this is just a fanservice/ecchi manga. Things are like that cause the plot need it, and girls are subjected to pervy situations. But look like this manga is starting to question it's own devices, so... who know?

 

[DeadToReal]

Because if you DON'T become a magical girl, the state apparently arrests your family and locks you up to get raped and impregnated.

I think it was implying that a different nation with less "freedom" forces girls with power to serve under threat of arresting their family.

Wild guess time: Getting caught and charged is part of the prosecutor's gambit to set the take down of the whole system in motion.

^This. The girl in the qipao, the police uniforms, the Forbidden Place in the background. That nation is clearly China.

 

[LecherousLeech]

Be

This world is fucked dude but I can't stop reading

Because this world is fucked, I can’t stop reading.

 

[UdenEmpati]

Hadn't seen it mentioned, but interesting tidbit -

Shimiki's punishment was three days of absolute servitude. And, her ability appears to be possession - which I presume, allows her to forcibly take over the body and will of the target, and controlling them in their stead for some duration of time.

Which makes her punishment rather ...I guess "poetic", if nothing else.

But more critically to the actual plot, I bet we'll find out this was a joint hit between her and Mii-chan on Lemon. It's pretty suspicious that Lemon ran across a random MG who would have a grudge against her, and end up attacked in the specific suspicious manner that Yuri explained in this chapter.
So assuming Shimiki was there Possessing the lightning dog, then that's two MGs who have a reason to hate Lemon.
I'd bet money they planned it around that dog being there, even.

Even more insidious, Shimiki didn't become a prosecutor until after her defeat/sentencing. What if she did, for the express purpose of trying to take down Lemon?
Not saying this specific plot was in the works for however long, but I'd bet revenge was her motivation all along.

But, it means she's targeting a "fellow ally", purely for selfish reasons (if understandable ones), and even become part of the system that allowed this to happen to her, to do it.

So I wonder if, assuming Lemon gets out of this and Shimiki/possibly Mii-chan are charged with something instead, if it will push Lemon to joining the side of Yuri & Aoi, and if we will actually see a shift toward trying to actually fight the MGJS, starting with reforming Shimiki & Mii-chan instead of continuing the cycle of revenge by punishing them a second time.

Because they're both still victims of this perverted farce of a legal system; and putting them through a second round out of anything resembling vengeance just means the system wins while our MGs run in circles on each other.

So Yuri & Aoi and Lemon would have to fight to keep them from being charged and convicted, if there's any hope (or authorial intent, I guess) of changing the status quo.