Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury
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Wyvern
 Posts: 1583 |
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This is my new favorite dialogue exchange in all of Gundam:
Perfect, no notes.
You say that as if Bandai didn't love money. G-Witch was a huge success for them, with model kit sales absolutely eclipsing previous installments. If they can find an excuse to pull a Gundam Seed sequel movie out of the blue after 20 years, they can find a reason to continue G-Witch if they really want to. I'm not saying that's a good idea, story-wise. I'm just saying one of the themes of this story was, "companies don't care if something is a good idea, they care if it's is a profitable idea."
And meanwhile Shaddiq is going to be in prison for life and seems perfectly okay with paying for everyone else's misdeeds. I suppose since he was probably already going to get life (or worse) for the stuff he actually DID do, he may as well confess to a bunch of other people's crimes while he's at it. It's not like they can execute him twice.
I was disappointed too, but not surprised. Anime still can be annoyingly skittish about portraying same-sex kisses, even when a show is an obvious gay love story (never forget Yuri on Ice and its obscured kiss!) In any case, at least our Gundam girls got married.
If they were their kids they would have to be adopted, since they all look much older than three. But I'm pretty sure they were supposed to be Suletta's students, given that we go right from the shot of Suletta playing with them, to her talking about opening a school (and the dialogue implies that she's already opened at least one other one.) Anyway, G-Witch was some first-rate Gundam, even if at times it bit off far more than it could chew plotwise. But even if it was a bit overstuffed at times, the core relationship it was built on remained charming and compelling throughout, and that was enough to overcome any other issues the show had. Thank you Space Lesbians, for once again showing us the way. Last edited by Wyvern on Mon Jul 03, 2023 10:34 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mami-kouga
Posts: 208 |
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I think Guel's whole thing would have worked if he still showed more of a connection to thinking of how to fix things there. I assumed him and Olcott would have more of a relationship since they both felt responsible for the deaths of their father and son respectively. Instead it just gets forgotten. More so than that even Miorine's earth attachment is....vague at best. She wants to go there because her mum was from there but the show never has her even think about what she could want from earth. Where was her mum from? Does she have any living relatives? Is there any specific plans she has for the planet? It's just a vague thing that remains vague to the very end, does she even ask any of the Earth house characters more about the place? |
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Fluwm
 Posts: 949 |
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They're literally wearing wedding rings... it's not exactly subtle. And I am concerned about why you'd think Japan is more progressive re: LGBTQ+ relationships, because it really... is not. It hasn't even been a full month since their courts voted to uphold the constitutional ban on gay marriage. It would be a mistake to look at the relatively progressive content found in some Japanese media -- typically aimed at very specific niche audiences -- and extrapolate from its existence some greater permissiveness across the entire country. I would assume from your comment that you're an American? I would also encourage you to remember that queer relationships have been incorporated into American media for decades, often portrayed negatively, but not always. There are TV shows from before I was even born -- and likely before you, too, were born -- that would still be viewed as radically progressive today. I would encourage you check out Matt Baume's YouTube channel to learn more about LGBTQ+ history in media -- it's very interesting stuff! And while doing so, consider how often the attitudes expressed in those stories were and sometimes still are extremely at-odds with how hostile the realities of American life were and are. That we got something so progressive out of, of all things, a Gundam series is well-worth celebrating. EDIT: I should probably also note that the article linked to above cites a 70% public approval rate for gay marriage in Japan, which is approximately the same as it currently is in the U.S., though I'd urge caution in taking these polls (or any others) at face-value. Last edited by Fluwm on Mon Jul 03, 2023 4:11 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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db999
Posts: 311 |
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So this really was the final episode of the show, and I’m actually kind of surprised by how well everything wrapped itself up. I think Miorrine’s solution to try and get the Space Assembly League off their backs was pretty smart and actually has precedent in this show with Shaddiq dissolving Grassley to be distributed to the earth. I’m definitely very interested in what people who are new to Gundam think about the stuff with the Permet in this episode. Dead people’s spirits and feelings being used and stored in Gundams is something that happened in this franchise quite a few times, hello Zeta Gundam, and I think that some of this stuff won’t feel like it came out of nowhere as much to people more experienced in Gundam. But first to explain why I think it makes sense. One thing is that the people who died being beyond the data storm was setup by the show, but a lot of this is really subtle. There were moments throughout the series, when Elan4 piloted the Ariel, when Sophie saw Eri and died, Eri being trapped beyond the data storm, that established precedent for people’s spirits being beyond the data storm. It also makes sense that everyone who's spirits we see here either piloted a Gundam, or used some of the GUND Format medical technology, so this seems to be something unique to them and not something that happens to everyone who died. It’s also not really a surprise to me that Quiet Zero could dismantle like the Gundams like that or broadcast Miorrine’s voice over such a large distance as if it can take control of mobile suits and the like it makes sense that it can take over communications systemsAlso I don’t remember it being established that Permet was a physical substance until the shows second half and before that I just thought it was like the Minovsky Particles of old Gundam. So a lot of what happened was I think setup by the story and even the stuff that wasn't feels in the realm of possibility given what was previously established
I also loved the epilogue and while I’m disappointed we didn’t get to see Miorrine and Suletta kiss, I like that the show confirms that yes they are married as Eri calls herself Miorrine’s sister-in-law. That doesn’t mean that everything was perfectly resolved, the real Elan still kind of feels like wasted potential in that we never really get to see him do anything but be smug and in the background, it’s not at all explained how Shaddiq’s harem managed to escape punishment, and it still doesn’t feel like Space Assembly League got enough screen time for their being the final boss to fully work. Personally I think a lot of this shows problems could be solved if we had 1 or 2 more episodes, but I am suitably impressed by how well the show managed to wrap itself up. I think Shaddiq taking all of the blame onto himself makes sense for his character, and I like that some stuff isn’t fully resolved, I don’t think it was within the scope of the show to actually deal with liberating the Earth from the Spacians, but that is true to life and it leaves them off better than most Gundam shows do. I also like that while it does acknowledge that the Spacians will likely take the resources from the Earth again, I like that Miorrine is going to keep trying to do right by them and be an advocate for Earth. I definitely think this was a fantastic show and a great Gundam series, despite its flaws, and despite being one of the people who thought the show needed a full 48 episodes, I’m definitely glad to see that we didn’t really need more to the show. In fact I don’t really want a season 2 for this show anymore, maybe an ova or something depicting some of the stuff that happened during the 3 year timeskip, but I’m 100% satisfied by the ending of the show which comes as a happy surprise. |
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BluesPro
Posts: 99 |
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This was probably the most insulting part of the show. They created this setting where an incredibly malicious corporatocracy exploits the Earth by turning its population into an underclass to be used either as cheap labor or as meat to put into the grinder of endless wars for war profiteering. And they then proceeded to do basically nothing with that. Our two principle Dawn of Fold characters barely show up in the show proper before being killed off (or spending most of their time in locked room limbo), and the one episode that actually calls attention to the plight on Earth instead places the focus on a rich kid from space so that he can "grow" from experiencing their squalor. Makes me think of how much better ZZ handled stuff like this; Masai's episode was about Masai, it didn't just use the dispossessed African population as a tool to prop up Judau. And in the end, the show chickens out on actually confronting any of the hard hitting issues it embedded into its conflicts. What's to become of Earth? How do we plan on dealing with the fact that some new entity is just going to swoop in and take the Benerit Group's resources away from Earthians? Don't worry about it, what matters is that the show wants you to feel good, even if it's completely unearned and spits in the face of what it seemingly wanted to tackle at the start. If the show just wanted to be the love story of Miorine and Suletta, then that's all it should've been. Adding in all these elements they either cannot or are not willing to explore just made it a worse show. |
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Mami-kouga
Posts: 208 |
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Well I was unbearably whelmed. El4n's abrupt return gave me an actually fitting goodbye scene even if Suletta feeling guilty for his death wasn't foreshadowed nor was he treated with any sort of dignity narratively during his entire absence (also the ghost thing in general was kind of weird.
Prospera gets a pat on the back by her daughter's (please ignore all the people she got killed), Elan prime does nothing the whole show and gets to join the good guys as if he was shown with any redeeming qualities prior, Peil lost their business but suffer no other consequences for all the kids they were complicit in murdering, Delling and Kenanji get away with what they did at Ochs Earth, Lauda lives while the narrative acts as if he was ever a character whose happiness I was rooting for, Suletta completely forgets that she wanted to make her school on Mercury and thus the titular planet was just completely irrelevant, we learn nothing about Miorine's mum or how she even died except she was almost comically obsessed with tomatoes, the show never cared about earth either honestly, how convenient, if they had no time to actually write any of these plot points, they should have cut it all in half. I didn't even like Shaddiq and I found it off putting how he was used as the convenient scapegoat for everything. I do still like season 1 though, I had a few reservation with some choices but compared this one the pacing was actually perfect and choices mostly felt like they were thought out. I will not be coming back to this show, but I'll give it that it got me attached to some of the characters and it committed to its romance even if unlike other people that's not even half enough to fix it's many other flaws for me |
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zfunk
Posts: 284 |
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No kiss, the only confirmation we get is hand holding like it's grade school, and Eri calling Morine her sister-in-law I don't get it because Japan is more liberal than the United States when it comes to this.
But all and all the rest is satisfying end. I did like Prospera's punishment. No jail time because Shaddiq wants all the punishment for himself, but she is a vegetable pretty much, she is dead but not dead, if she died get to reunited with her husband, mentor, and other loved ones, so instead the gods pretty much said you can die without the rewards of death. Normally I am pro let people in that state die, but this once I will allow it. Though for Morine and maybe even Suletta's sake for how long, do I want a living corpse here, I mean there are children around. Speaking of those kids, those are Suletta and Morine's kids? Or are they just random neighborhood kids? So I am shocked, this whole episode was death free, even Elan 5 made it, is there anyone rich enough to give him the surgery to give him his own face? Well everyone has moved on living happy lives. So Guel and Secelia, Chu Chu and Rouji, they are just colleagues right, is there any possible implied romance of those duos the show might be trying to come across? As for confirmed couples, I am glad that Lauda grew up, and is now some worthy of Petra. Also glad they made it clear there is still problems between Earth and Spacians. 3 years is not enough time to fix anything, but Morine with Shaddiq's ex harems doing what they can, and Suletta be that positive symbol that everyone needs. So that is it, sorry to see this end so soon. Maybe we will get a chibi series in the mean time. |
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needtocontrol
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I enjoyed the ending. It was certainly a relief after going through IBO!
I'm wondering though, where it was that Elan randomly ended up while searching for them. Could it perhaps be Loch Ericht, Scotland? (18:47). I'd like to think so, I took great pleasure in toasting the happy couple with a Dalwhinnie single malt, from right beside Loch Ericht 
If that's where the name is from then it might explain the red hair too 
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Fluwm
Posts: 949 |
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Gotta say, I was a bit worried, given Gundam's track record with finales... but I have no complaints. That was a spectacular conclusion, and I'm happy to say it cemented Sulietta as one of the all-time best Gundam protagonists out there. And TWFM as one of the very best AUs.
Really hope we get more someday -- not necessarily of the setting, but of the characters. Special wedding episode OVA? Animated 4koma theater? Let's go! |
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Radrappy
Posts: 78 |
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This ending was a head scratcher for me. I'm glad the characters got happy endings but the climax/resolution felt so unsatisfying and I'm not sure I can put my finger on why.
Confusing as to why Shaddiq of all people bore the brunt of punishment while most others got to retire peacefully. I think overall I enjoyed this show but was confused by a lot of the choices towards the end. |
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 400 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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While I thought Miorine and Guel seemed more like children pretending to be adults - even after the time skip - Secelia got it right. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5484 Location: Iscandar |
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Season 2 of G-Witch blew away my expectations and feelings for this whole show. After watching season 1 I didn't get what was so amazing about this story. As a result when season 2 started airing I had little interest in watching it.
But after I decided to give season 2 a go episodes 5 to 9 totally changed my opinion. The two seasons combined are a very good show that demonstrated effective ways to create a different kind of Gundam show. Needless to say that I am satisfied with the ending. I also wanted to see a yuri kiss and wedding, but their rings confirmed that Suletta and Miorine are a couple. |
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BluesPro
Posts: 99 |
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As someone on Twitter put it, this really turned out to be Gundam with kid gloves on. It's a shame that this show has to putter out by not giving itself enough room to breathe and rushing through its last cour. Especially with how popular it turned out to be - hopefully that doesn't dissuade any newcomers from checking out the next Gundam or trying out better, more complex Gundam series.
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JoelBurger
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So what was the point of Kenanji even being in the show beyond the prologue?
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darkchibi07
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I have to say, Twitter going into deeper hell with its rate limit thing does not help at all since I like browsing through the immense amount of artwork that's being posted as well as check out everyone's impressions. And frankly, this show generated a ton more fanart than even Ironblood or other past Gundam shows.
I also noticed that the 2nd halves of mecha shows tend to be a bit more of mixed bag than the 1st half, and while thankfully the 2nd half of the Witch from Mercury didn't become a trainwreck, it did feel it was paced a lot faster and more packed than before. Maybe it would have helped if there were more down time episodes, and maybe have the 2nd half be 2 cours long. Or better yet, if they only have 1 cour to work with, cut out aspects that don't mean much in the grand scheme of things. And maybe not separate Suletta and Miroine for too long; they struck the right balance in the first half so why not emulate it again! I still hope this is not the end of this AU especially for Suletta and Miorine especially where you have Eri as their keychain which is just ripe for a sitcom spinoff!
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