Shu Takumi
巧 舟
Takumi in 2011
Born	(1971-05-02)May 2, 1971 (age 54) Japan
Occupations	Video game designer, director,writer
Years active	1994–present
Employer	Capcom
Known for	Dino Crisis series Ace Attorney series Ghost Trick

Shu Takumi (巧 舟,Takumi Shū; born 2 May 1971) is a Japanesevideo game designer, director, andwriter atCapcom. He is best known for his work on theAce Attorney series, serving as director and scenario writer for the original trilogy.^[1] In addition, he provided the Japanese voice ofPhoenix Wright for the first four games. He then served as director and scenario writer forGhost Trick: Phantom Detective in 2010.

Shu Takumi joined Capcom in 1994 along withHideki Kamiya.^[2] His first game wasGakkou no Kowai Uwasa: Hanako-san ga Kita!! (学校のコワイうわさ 花子さんがきた!!),^[3] a 1995 video game adaptation of an anime of the same name. He was designated as a planner, and because the director was busy with multiple projects, Takumi had some freedom in his role. In the years that followed, Takumi came up with an idea for a detective game, though nothing came out of it at first.^[4]

Takumi was later picked up byShinji Mikami to work onDino Crisis. However, in early 1997, theDino Crisis team was temporarily redirected to help work on the ill-fated original version ofResident Evil 2. Takumi was then made director of theDino Crisis project before being demoted to planner, being responsible for the first half of the game. He was then made director ofDino Crisis 2, and was able to maintain his position throughout the game's development.^[4]

After the release ofDino Crisis 2, Mikami gave Takumi an opportunity to make whatever game he wanted with a small team of seven. He conceived of a detective-themed adventure game that would allow the player to input his or her deductions in some way. He thought of two ways to achieve this, one being a "joint reasoning" system in which the player would correct the deductions of a detective, and a court system in which the player, as a lawyer, would point out contradictions between witness testimony and evidence. His team began work onPhoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, a realization of the latter concept.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was originally intended for theGame Boy Color, but after being shown a demo ofMega Man Battle Network on a prototypeGame Boy Advance, development moved enthusiastically to the then-upcoming handheld. Despite being such a small project with only two programmers and two graphical asset developers, with Takumi taking on the roles of planner, director and scenario writer, the team managed to finish the game in ten months.^[5] The producer,Atsushi Inaba, liked the game so much that he requested that it be made into a trilogy.^[4] Thus,Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All andPhoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations were produced in 2002 and 2004, respectively, followed byNintendo DS ports of the three games, which were released internationally.

The 2007 gameApollo Justice: Ace Attorney was the last entry in the main series made under Takumi, who went on to create the standalone titleGhost Trick: Phantom Detective. After the release of theNintendo 3DS, Takumi came back as scenario writer for the crossover gameProfessor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.^[6] Takumi was not involved in the development ofPhoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies due to concentrating his efforts on said crossover game at the time. He went on to work on a spinoff series of theAce Attorney games taking place inVictorian London and incorporating the "joint reasoning" system that he had conceived all those years before, includingThe Great Ace Attorney: Adventures andThe Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve, which were released in 2015 and 2017 respectively.^[7] Takumi also acted as a script supervisor for the 2016–2018Ace Attorney anime series.^[8] After working almost exclusively on theAce Attorney series for two decades, Takumi contributed to the 2020 mobile gameMonster Hunter Riders as a questline writer.^[9]

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