William Ho: Ace Attorney

William Ho: Ace Attorney (Cantonese: 逆轉裁判 Jyutping: jik6 zyun2 coi4 pun3) is a 2005 Hong Kong animated legal drama film written and directed by Roger Au. It features the voices of Brandon Chow, Nancy Tso, Daryl Lee, Alvin Ko, Richard Lo, David Sung, Deborah Tsui, Cynthia Hui and Olivia Yeung.

Set in the mid-1960s Hong Kong, rookie attorney William Ho Sing-Wing befriends a famous attorney who quit being one seven years earlier. William solves four different cases as an attorney and also learns how and why that same attorney lost his badge.

Plot
In 1965, William Ho Sing-Wing and his mentor Andy Ngo Hang-Gaa, an old friend of John Tai Ding-Gaa's, are called to represent him against charges of murdering one of his customers in a rigged game of poker. In the middle of his testimony, John inadvertently names Andy as a witness, and with the help of a falsified piece of evidence provided by Cathy Ching King-Suk, exposes him as the real murderer. Impressed by William's performance, he invites him to start his own practice out of Cathy's talent agency.

A few weeks after accepting the offer, William is assigned to investigate three separate incidents: a hit-and-run involving John, the theft of a noodle vendor's cart, and the disappearance of Cathy's favorite pair of panties. At the same time, the Kung crime family hires him to defend one of their own, Dax Kung Tung-Sing, in a murder trial concerning the death of Dr. Alan Lai Lung-Ming. By connecting the incidents to evidence recovered with the help of Detective Olivia Fung Gang-Oi, William discredits the case against Dax by proving that his fiancée, Denise Ka Wa-Fa, was the only one who could have committed the crime.

As a token of respect, prosecutor Danny Ngo Kaap-Noi, Andy's brother and William's rival, invites him and Cathy to attend a concert for his band, the Ngoers. During a guest performance by the diva Spark, her manager Winifred Alden is shot and killed in her dressing room. When Willa Rahner, Alden's pianist, is accused for the killing, William, through an extensive investigation, discovers that Willa and one of the Ngoers, Detective Sam Ching Chi-Hing, conspired to smuggle contraband into the country, and that Alden, in reality an undercover Interpol agent, was murdered to cover it up. The case nearly falls apart due to a lack of decisive evidence, but William is able to squeeze a confession out of Sam by threatening to have Willa testify.

In the final case, William is selected to serve as the defense in an experimental jury-style trial system organized by John, called the "Jurist System". His client, professional forger Joyce Pak Mei-Oi, is accused of poisoning her father Adam. After Joyce succumbs to poison while testifying, the jurists are instructed by John, who is the chair of the Jurist Simulated Court Committee, to play a "game" using the "MASON System", which simulates John's personal investigations. Seven years earlier, while representing magician Alan Ching Leng-Kaap in court, John was tricked into using false evidence created by Vera, costing him his reputation and job. Alan subsequently disappeared, leaving his daughter Cathy in John's custody. Over the years, John uses his experience and connections to gradually uncover the truth: Cathy and William are half-siblings gifted with a unique power of perception by their mother, May Ching Bik-Ching. Furthermore, Adam was forced to abandon Joyce, his daughter, in order to honor the wishes of her grandfather, who passed the legal rights to his magic to her side of the family. It also transpires that Adam was George Wong Gwok-Noi (黃國柰), the victim in the first case, who had come to give the rights to Alex (Hing-Wing; 興榮)'s magic to Cathy before being killed by Andy when the latter recognized him.

The whole matter takes a surprise turn when Andy is summoned to testify and it transpires that he was Alan's original attorney before being fired after losing a game of cards with the defendant. In truth, he was the one who had requested the creation of the false evidence from the Paks in order to win the high-profile case and become famous. William accuses Andy of setting up John with the false evidence out of both revenge and jealousy before attempting to kill everyone related to the case out of fear of being found out. Following the final arguments, Spark, who is one of the jurists for the case, must decide whether or not Joyce is guilty.

Joyce is declared innocent by unanimous vote and ultimately recovers from the poison. With his name cleared, John considers applying for readmission to the bar and assures Spark, who is really May in disguise, that he will watch over Cathy and William.