So one of the things I like to pick apart in a fictional narrative where good versus evil is a relevant theme, is how does the narrative depict the nature of evil, and what tools and mechanisms does it give the protagonists to combat it.
The Ace Attorney series absolutely thematically depicts a battle of good versus evil, and the narrative position that it takes is that good = the truth, and evil = lies.
In Ace Attorney the hard truth is always preferable to a soft lie. Characters who lie, and twist the truth– even to help someone, or for good reasons– are cast as making a choice to do something wrong– are bringing wrongness into the world. They are not effectively fighting evil.
We can see this embodied with Simon who chooses to lie on behalf of Athena, and while this lie saves her it also is the narrative cause of her suffering and his sister’s suffering. Not only this but he is literally visually shackled by his lie in the story– he’s freed by the truth.
Ace Attorney also takes the position that the longer a lie goes undiscovered, the more harm that it does. A lie that’s become integrated into the fabric of the world keeps people from healing from the results of harm– we can see this embodied heavily in Von Karma, and Edgeworth in the first game. Von Karma who is literally concealing the truth inside a wound in his body, and Edgeworth who is unable to move on and heal from his trauma until the truth of the matter is uncovered.
The mechanism with which the characters fight evil in the series is by discovering secrets and revealing lies, picking away at falsehoods and incorrect assumptions until only the truth, no matter how difficult to accept, remains. The narrative reality of Ace Attorney is that truth is good, that truth is healing and freeing, and that lies are like a rot or a cancer that destroy people.
The weapons by which the characters in Ace Attorney fight evil are logic and reasoning– but always tempered with faith and hope, but notice that the characters– especially Phoenix and Apollo– are motivated to pursue the truth even when it is against their best interests, and even when it looks like the truth is going to shatter their belief in someone they trust.
In Ace Attorney the battle of good and evil is presented as pursuing truth, to heal those who have been harmed and distorted by lies and false perceptions. The more serious the evil, the deeper and more ingrained in the fabric of the world the lie is.
An ultimate battle between good and evil would potentially look like the protagonists digging up the truth in a truly ancient cold case– discovering a lie that has remained ingrained in the world for centuries, amplifying the pain of others and causing them to be unable to heal. This dovetails extremely well with the existence of literal actual ghosts and spirits in the story, haunting the narrative until the truth is uncovered, and they can finally rest.
And that’s why I’m working on an Ace Attorney crossover with Fatal Frame.