The Tragic Tale of Mimi and Ini Miney
“It’s only fair…isn’t it…Ini?”
My favorite Ace Attorney case has always been “Reunion, and Turnabout,” the second case of the second game, Justice for All. “Reunion, and Turnabout” is important to the entire series for a few reasons: 1. It introduces Pearl and Morgan Fey, two characters who become pivotal to the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trilogy, and 2. It establishes the use of the Magatama, an ancient ornament Phoenix uses in order to uncover secrets people hiding deep within their psyche.
But to me, this case is important because it showcases the tragedy of two sisters, Mimi and Ini Miney.
This is how the story is first presented to us: On May 12th, overworked nurse Mimi Miney causes an accident that kills fourteen patients. Then, twelve days later, she falls asleep at the wheel and dies in a car accident. One year after both events, the clinic’s surgeon, Dr. Turner Grey, goes to spirit medium Maya Fey in hopes of channeling Mimi’s spirit. He’s hoping Mimi’s ghost will admit malpractice incident that killed her patients. Instead of revealing the truth, Maya (while channeling Mimi) kills Dr. Grey. Because Maya channeled Mimi (and because Mimi is dead), Maya is arrested.
Just so it’s crystal clear, I’m going to spoil the murder mystery now.
There are two main suspects for this case: Morgan Fey, Maya’s aunt who has always resented the fact that she is not the Master of the Fey Clan; and Ini Miney, a college student who is also the sister of Mimi Miney. Both suspects have reasons for participating in this crime. If Maya’s found guilty of murder, then Morgan’s daughter Pearl would be next in line to become the Clan Master. If Dr. Grey is killed, Ini Miney successfully avenged her sister.
The truth is that Morgan and Ini work together to commit the crime. While Ini is the one who murders Dr. Grey, Morgan created the plan to have the blame fall on Maya. For the second case in the game, that would be a perfectly fine end to a mystery, but it’s Ace Attorney. It doesn’t stop there.
It’s revealed at the very end of the case that the Ini Miney standing on trial is not the real Ini Miney, but actually Mimi Miney pretending to be her younger sister. The real Ini Miney died during the car accident on May 24th.
Between the accident that killed fourteen patients and the car accident that killed her sister, Mimi had enough of being Mimi. The car accident left her face severely burned, giving her an opportunity to change her look with plastic surgery. For an entire year, Mimi was Ini.
When Phoenix Wright first meets “Ini,” she’s completely scatterbrained. She uses “like” and “totally,” she often forgets who Phoenix is, and claims she slept through the entire murder. She sways her arms back and forth, like a little dance, to a tune only she can hear in her head. This ditzy façade splits when it’s revealed that she’s a murderer, but the façade shatters completely when we learn Ini is really Mimi in disguise.
What’s so sad to me is that we never learn what either sister is like. I don’t fully believe in Mimi’s interpretation of Ini because no one can fully grasp the complexities of a person. Not even two sisters. Perhaps Ini was incredibly cunning or witty, or maybe she was a free spirit with a bubbly personality. It’s unclear how much of Ini’s real personality is exaggerated or downplayed. If Mimi could survive a whole year as Ini, then perhaps we can say her interpretation was spot on, but knowing that people are complicated, I can also say that there were parts of Ini that Mimi probably never showed, parts that we could never see.
Likewise, Mimi’s real personality is muddled. We know she was overworked. We know she fell asleep at the wheel. She claims that Dr. Grey drugged her and caused the car accident, but that is never confirmed. If there’s one thing we learn about Mimi, it’s this; She loves European cars. It’s a strange thing to know with such confidence, but it’s also a great glimpse at a time when Mimi was probably happy. There is no other happiness in this case.
What I love about this depressing case is that Mimi is just a person who had too much misfortunes happen to her at once. Ace Attorney explores the dichotomy of sisters quite often: one sister who is evil and one who is good, one that is alive and one that is dead. And in a few cases, the living sister (ex: Maya) can still communicate with the dead one (Ex: Mia).
But Mimi cannot speak to her sister. No matter how much she may act as her, she cannot communicate with Ini. She’s been instead trying to speak as Ini, and (as she admits at the end of the case) hating every minute of it. Mimi tried desperately to move past her accidents, but her decision to impersonate Ini took her down a path that was just as destructive.
I absolutely love Ace Attorney’s windy road of twists and turns, but this case to me feels the most succinct to me. It’s a sort of despair that also feels very real to me. Mimi’s desperation to be someone else, her desperation to kill in order to keep up with the façade, is palpable. It’s real, and I’m so sorry for her. But I am most sorry for Ini, whose life was taken so young, and who’se voice we never get to hear. In a game where spirit channeling is both possible and incredibly prevalent, we never get the chance to hear from the real Ini Miney.