| Franziska von Karma | |
|---|---|
| Ace Attorney character | |
 Franziska in Justice for All | |
| First appearance | Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All (2002) |
| Created by | Shu Takumi |
| Designed by | Tatsurō Iwamoto |
| Voiced by |
|
| In-universe information | |
| Occupation | Prosecutor |
| Family | Manfred von Karma (father) Miles Edgeworth (adoptive brother) |
Franziska von Karma, known as Mei Karuma (Japanese: 狩魔 冥, Hepburn: Karuma Mei) in Japanese, is a character in the Ace Attorney series. She first appeared as the rival prosecutor to protagonist Phoenix Wright in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All, replacing former rival Miles Edgeworth due to creator Shu Takumi not wanting Edgeworth to continue losing to Phoenix due to Edgeworth's popularity with fans. She wields a whip against Phoenix, witnesses, the Judge, and others, and believes in aspiring for perfection. She professes a desire to defeat Phoenix, ultimately never doing so due in part to her being shot as part of a conspiracy by one of Phoenix's defendants to weaken efforts to prosecute him. Her revenge is revealed to be a desire to surpass Edgeworth, who had never beaten Phoenix before. She reappears in multiple later titles, at times serving as an ally to Edgeworth.
Franziska was created by Shu Takumi and designed by Tatsurō Iwamoto. Takumi expressed that he worked to ensure that characters in Justice for All were more outlandish than the first, expressing his belief that Franziska perfectly demonstrated this. She has received generally positive reception, identified by The Guardian as one of the most interesting female characters in video games. Her relationship with Edgeworth and her father received commentary, as did her use of a whip, which were felt by some critics as either annoying or outlandish.