Larry Butz
Laurence "Larry" Butz, known as Masashi Yahari in original Japanese language versions, and sometimes going by the self-styled pen name Laurice Deauxnim, is a fictional character in Capcom's Ace Attorney video game series. Initially introduced as the first client of main character Phoenix Wright, he appears as the childhood friend of Wright and Miles Edgeworth in '. Following the events of the first game, the character appears as a witness and supporting character in most of the subsequent titles in the series, including the spin-off games ' and its sequel. Larry has also made appearances in extended Ace Attorney media, such as film and animation, as well as several cameo appearances in titles outside of the main Ace Attorney series.
Design
According to Shu Takumi, Larry Butz was originally intended to be an ordinary "average Joe" office worker who would only appear in the fourth case of the first game, "Turnabout Goodbyes", but when "The First Turnabout" was added later in development, Takumi decided to reuse the character to save time on character design and asset creation. Larry subsequently underwent many character changes, including being a prickly tough guy at one point, before settling on his role as the quirky "lamenting" friend of Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth. His encore appearance was a well-received element of the first game's story, thereby leading to future sequels intentionally bringing back old characters.Appearances
Larry's first appearance was in ', where he is introduced as a Phoenix Wright's first client after having been falsely accused of killing his ex-girlfriend; Wright cites Larry as one of the reasons he chose to become a defense attorney. After proving his innocence, Larry shows up throughout the remainder of the game in various professions, including running a hot dog stand and dressing as Santa Claus. As the game progresses, Larry is revealed to be a childhood friend of Wright and Miles Edgeworth. Due to his antics in school, he earned the catchphrase "When something smells, it's usually the Butz". This still holds true as an adult. Larry is very flight-of-fancy and quite prone to yelling fits, leading to him cycling through a number of different jobs and girlfriends, and becoming a hopeless flirt; hitting on practically any and every girl he meets, regardless of their relationship status or even interest in him. Comedically, the judge constantly mispronounces his name as "Harry" or "Hairy" on several occasions. His Japanese name is a pun on the phrase やはり or やっぱり, which means "as I thought".At the game's conclusion, Larry is revealed to have stolen the lunch money of Edgeworth's as a child, which set up a younger Wright's humiliation, sense of justice, and friendship with Edgeworth.
Larry returns in ', where it is revealed that he after being dumped by several different women for Tibet and Hollywood, he has gotten a job as a part-time security guard at the security company KB Security, under the supervision of Wendy Oldbag. After slacking off while at his post, he reveals to Wright that he had left to visit the defendant Ron DeLite's wife Desirée, upon who he had developed a crush. After talking to Maya about her family, Larry's faith in romance is restored and he decides to continue with his life.
In ', set four months later, Butz appears before Wright and Maya in front of Dusky Bridge, introducing himself as "Laurice Deauxnim". Claiming to have become the apprentice of the famous children's author and illustrator Elise Deauxnim, having become a new person after reading her picture book The Magic Bottle, he stays at the monastery at which she is residing, and becomes romantically interested in Iris, a nun at the temple, whom he accidentally blackmails through a poorly-worded anonymous love letter. After his drawings prove significant in solving the subsequent murder case and are praised by the group, Larry decides to commit to being an artist as a full-time career, drawing Wright, Maya, Pearl, Edgeworth, Dick Gumshoe, Franziska von Karma, Godot, and the spirits of Elise and Mia Fey.
Larry reappears in the spin-off ', in which he trying to impress another girl, specifically an actress named Mindy, he gets a job portraying the Steel Samurai at a stage show, an action which enrages Miles Edgeworth due to Larry having signed an autograph to him earlier while in-costume. After the game's main events, Butz almost immediately meets another girl named Miharu, who convinced him to travel to Paris with her to sell "blue hot dogs".
In Ace Attorney Investigations 2 — two weeks after the previous game — Larry has returned to being an artist under the Laurice Deauxnim name. Once more, his sketches are instrumental in solving a case of attempted murder.
Larry appears briefly in ' in a silent capacity in his Laurice Deauxnim persona, seen as having a picnic with an unnamed woman in a park, and later in the same position painting a portrait of her.
Larry makes a return to the series in ', in the special DLC episode. Here, he brings a newlywed bride accused of murder to Wright's office, asking him to help defend her, after misinterpreting a request to help her escape one of elopement and a marriage proposal. His actions, although well-meaning, subsequently attract the attention of the police, who initially believe Larry to have kidnapped her. However, thanks to Larry's actions, Wright manages to defend his new client and save her, along with Edgeworth, who had taken up the prosecutor's bench once again, with Larry serving as a witness in the case.
At some point prior to Spirit of Justice, he is mentioned to have achieved success publishing a children's book series following a character based on Franziska von Karma as he had suggested in Trials and Tribulations and the Ace Attorney Investigations series, who serves as the series' model, the latest installment of which is called Franzy's Whippity-Whip Trip, the first installment being Franzy's Whip Lash Splash: Simple & Magnificent.
Other appearances
Larry originally intended to make an appearance in the main story of , complete with Labyrinthian-style outfits. Although this never came to fruition, concept art of his planned design does appear in The Art of Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Larry makes an appearance in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as an alternate costume for Phoenix Wright.Larry has appeared in other media adaptations of Ace Attorney. Dai Houshou and Ruumi Nagina portray the character in a series of stage musicals performed by Takarazuka Revue. Akiyoshi Nakao portrays Larry in the 2012 live-action film Ace Attorney, loosely adapting his role in the first game; an unaccredited actor plays Larry as a child. Larry appears in the 2016 Ace Attorney anime series, which adapts the events of the first three games in the series; he is voiced by Tōru Nara in Japanese and by Josh Martin and Steph Garrett in English. Larry also appears as a recurring character in the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney manga series, as well as its spinoff series, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.