Does anyone remember Screaming Yellow Zonkers? When I was growing up, it was my favorite snack food, although, to be honest, this truly was the definition of junk food. It was incredibly bad for you and, in those days, absolutely loaded with preservatives and food coloring and BHA and BHT and and and other nasty things for a growing body. I knew they were terrible, THEY knew it was terrible, everyone and their grandmother KNEW they were terrible. You would be better off licking toads, but I just couldn’t pass them by (the Zonkers, not the toads). I bring up this story from my past to explain why I chased after the second season of “Gyakuten Saiban: Sono “Shinjitsu”, Igiari!” (“Turnabout Trial: I Object to That ‘Truth’!”).

This series is based off of the Phoenix Wright video games, where you have to determine the truth. This show has as much to do with the judicial system as any ‘Godzilla’ film, except we have raised the stakes to an even more absurd level of yelling, screaming and gobsmacking. Oh, and for some reason, Phoenix is referred to as Naruhodō Ryūichi.

For this session, the stories have an interconnectivity, although you might not see it from the get-go. So, we have the standard mix of murder, mayhem, deception and last-minute judicial fol-de-rol that has you question if the Japanese legal system might be better off if they played a game of hanafuda instead. Best two out of three?

It’s just the sheer level of absurdity that makes it hard to determine how much you want to invest in this series. Perhaps I was taking it too seriously? Nope, not at all, but if they wanted to be more ridiculous than they wanted it to be, there were injections of seriousness that made it hard to accept in any way, shape or form. I mean, there is no crime too unfathomable, no witness too one-dimensional, no prosecuting attorney too outrageous that cannot be brought to heel.

Binging is hard, just because of all the eye-popping histrionics this show engenders. Generally speaking, it can help the show, as the cases are three and four segments long and the ending arc can really be understood better, owing to its length. I just do not know how long you can tolerate this attitude and approaching to lawyering and especially if the courtroom antics might be too much to bear with an all-out blitz. I personally would decline.

On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork           6 (Strange, strange, strange)
Plot                  7 (Don’t fool yourself)
Pacing             8 (Too frantic to be of any good)
Effectiveness   6 (It’s a video game and it shows it)
Conclusion      5 (It reaches a ‘coupler point’, but hasn’t ended)
Fan Service     5 (A similar show would be “Maburaho”)
Bingeability    4 (Too much to take in)

Overall            7 (Not certain what it wants to be)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. I still object!