Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury
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Highball_jones
Posts: 3 |
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That feeling when you thought Season 2 was gonna be Guel getting piled on by fate, but it turns out to be the precious autistic cinnamon bun...
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oogenesis
Posts: 21 |
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this is a school where robot fights are used to arbitrate disputes, too.  
that said, i feel for suletta. i think the show has done an excellent job of building up her mother as a genuinely caring parent (and their relationship as a positive one), then steadily cracking that facade little by little over time until it abruptly collapses under its own weight. i can't imagine delling rembran leaving his daughter literally hanging in space with nothing but a distress beacon... |
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R. Kasahara
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Holy crap. I never made that connection. Before we watched this week's show, I speculated to my husband whether anyone in G-Witch is going to turn into a cow or a car. I don't think it'll go that far, but time will tell! |
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1358 |
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As soon as I saw the framing of the confessional image, I thought of the Black Rose arc --- but that wasn't a confessional, was it? I always thought it was an elevator down to the catacomb/tomb space. |
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MyMasterMatthew
Posts: 118 |
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Hmm. I'm starting to think 'Witch from Mercury' could potentially wrap up without a second season after all, for better or worse (I'd argue the latter). I've seen comments pointing out that previous Gundam series have had around 50 episodes, which makes it "obvious" that we'll get two 24 - 25 episode seasons... but I'm starting to sense end-game vibes. This is my first Gundam series, and I'd hate to see an ending already, but it wouldn't be the first time an anime rushed to its conclusion. I'm probably wrong, but after this week's episode, I'm starting to wonder.
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 362 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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The only problem with that is who is the hero then? I know some people have suggested Bob could be the series hero, but to be honest, I think his character arc is already done. And despite how much growth he's seen, this episode shows he's still just a kid in way over his head in the adult world. Similarly, I can't see Miorine carrying the weight of hero all on her own. I think Suletta is the only one who can really fill that role.
I'm pretty sure Cradle Planet ends right before Suletta heads to Asticassia so I don't think changing her mind really fits. The simple fact is that Eri didn't want Suletta involved in the first place and she's acting in what she thinks is Suletta's best interests. The "conversation" between her and Prospera at the end would seem to confirm that. I was really surprised by that exchange in that it seemed to show that Prospera genuinely cares for Suletta and wants her to be free to enjoy her life to the fullest. |
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Gem-Bug
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To me, with each passing episode it has felt less and less like there can/needs to be a second season. It has never felt like a 50-episode story to me. I don't really like comparing Gundam series, because they are all pretty different, but look at IBO: at the end of the 1st season, the stage was set for a time skip where many different shake-ups and changes in-universe occurred. The 2nd season opens with a very different world for all the characters(Gundam 00's 2nd season is similar). Here in G-Witch, those changes have already begun: the Earth is on the brink of war, and life-as-usual at Asticassia has changed for everyone there, seemingly irreversibly. Many character's gambits and endgames are already nearing fruition. With all the material we have this far, and everything going on in the story right now, I think it can be wrapped up in 7 or so episodes. It really just depends on if they want to have a happy ending or a bummer ending. |
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Thesarum
Posts: 402 |
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Fair. Interesting point of note, everyone in that Dueling committee room was a puppet or proxy for an adult (though this hasn't worked out well for some of the adults). What's Secelia's angle? Whose interests does she represent? (Other than couch and stocking manufacturers). Maybe she's the only person in the room just looking for kicks and giggles, but I somehow doubt that. Would be fascinating if she was aligned with the Space Assembly League wouldn't it? And I agree on Delling. He struggles to show his care, but it is genuine if sometimes missguided. The reversal between him and Prospera over the first cour was really well executed. Her care, while grounded in something that was once real, is largely performative. As we see when they leave for earth in this episode, there's still a an ember of something, but it's hugely inferior to her drive to create "a world where Eri can be happy".
Agree - Suletta remains the only real candidate for "hero", and I doubt we're get an Eren situation here. Though not every story requires a hero, and maybe Suletta ends the season huddled in a corner, broken and alone and there are no heroes who step in to take her place. The villains simply fall victim to each other and their own hubris and the world keeps turning, shitty as ever. That'd be pretty depressing because she's a true innocent (The Slap not withstanding), but sometimes innocence is simply a liability and is not rewarded. (though of course, I'm fully rooting for Miorine to realise they're only really whole people when they're together and for them to team up before the end to finally carve out their own paths)
Yeah, this is the same play Miorine made in the previous episode, Eri doesn't want Suletta involved but believes Suletta is either incapable of making her own decision or just wouldn't make the desired choice. So tries to push her away in "for her own good". Maybe the specific memories Eri brings up (the games, Suletta trying to warm her up) are intended demonstrate her affection for Suletta as much as they're there to prove Eri really is Aerial and is speaking the truth. Suletta, I'm pretty sure, lacks the ability to process them that way, but I think we in the audience can read that message. Eri absolutely still cares for her "sister". |
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 362 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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I think that's an accurate assessment of what Miorine did, but I think it's a little different with Eri. Miorine doesn't actually know what Prospera has planned, so she doesn't know if Suletta will actually go through with it, or even if it's all that bad, but she's preemptively taking away Suletta's choice just in case. On the other hand I'm pretty sure Eri knows exactly what Prospera is planning, what she will ask Suletta to do, and that Suletta will not refuse. I don't know if I expressed that very well, but despite the fact that they basically did the same thing to Suletta, it feels much less egregious from Eri than it did from Miorine. This weeks episode was unfortunately incredibly predictable. Although disheveled Suletta digging through the bottom drawer of the fridge and about to just stuff a big chunk of ham in her face when Chu Chu walks in... nice. |
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Thesarum
Posts: 402 |
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Yeah, I agree with you here really. Mio knows Prospera is radiating bad vibes at a power level that exceeds her own father, but doesn't know any specifics. Eri may or may not know all the details of the plan, but she's definitely got a lot more to work with. Therefore, yes, Eri has a stronger basis in acting to remove Suletta from the situation (and convincing Prospera to leave her alone it seems - the deal with Miorine never meant anything). Prospera totally manipulated Miorine into that course of action though. It's a bad choice and never was her only option. But it's both an understandable one and a forgivable one, I think. Predictable, yes, largely. But a necessary moving of pieces into place. Our pair of villains had to be drawn out into the open some time, and if we're only running to the end of this cour, it had to be soon. Mio watching that terrible GUND-Arm commercial for emotional grounding was a little bit heart breaking. She feels so alone, and of course it only went downhill from there.
Well that turned out to be accurate in the worst possible way, didn't it? But the thing is, Prospera stoking Earth-Space tensions, possibly sinking Miorine's presidential bid, and indirectly causing the deaths of countless civilians is all just collateral damage. These things weren't objectives, she just didn't care to avoid them. She used Miorine to get Aerial to earth (and presumably went behind her back to get the weapons shipped there too) so she could attack the facility because the remnants of Ochs Earth are a threat to the "make Eri happy" plan. But you can bet Prospera is going to grind her heel into Miorine's resulting trauma. At least Suletta is on the rebound from rock bottom, with a little help from the Earth House crew. Chuchu really pulling her senpai weight these last few episodes. Shame she put the headband back on, because Feral Suletta is a good look for the new her. I'm sure it'd make Miorine blush. Maybe she can sport that look when she inevitably makes her way to earth to dig Miorine out of the hole her ignorance and over confidence dug. Please, someone set Nika free! My hopes are pinned on you Guel! He's come so far, it really warms these cynical bones.Not only has he had a significant personality improvement, he seems to have doubled his braincell count to maybe 4. Still got a lot of death flags to dodge though, but with Shaddiq apparently on the move elsewhere, maybe he'll get away with snooping around House Grassley and survive another week. |
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Dumas1
Posts: 75 |
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I mean, Eri already got turned into a mobile suit, so we're not far from there. And now I'm wondering whether it's Suletta or Eri dancing with the clones in the season 2 ED. It's been a while since I watched Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, so my impression might be mistaken, but I feel like Prospera's body language has been echoing teenage Casval lately. This makes her seem a really trustworthy partner for Miorine as someone who's nearly been slotted into a Garma role. |
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Gem-Bug
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I can imagine the mental block she's stuck on being something like "Why did she call me a repli-child? I'm seventeen." |
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MFrontier
Posts: 11168 |
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So Prospera is as much about reviving Eri as she is removing all weaponized Gundams in the process, while the Space Assembly League is aiding Earth and the Dawn of Fold by giving them Gundams to go against the Beneritt Group who continue to try and clamp down on Earthians.
Poor Feng. She was one of the few characters actively working to do the right thing and avoid a war. I'm not sure what Belmaria and this other guys' chances are of stopping Quiet Zero are. I guess Kenanji avoids Prospera's revenge for now. So Guel is totally going to fight Shaddiq right? He knows he's been pulling the strings, probably holds him responsible for the Planet Quetta attack and the death of his father, and is directly going off to find evidence to bring him down. And Shaddiq blames him for "soiling" Miorine and interfering with his plans, even though Miorine made her own choices. Where are they going with this Nika/Norea/Elan No. 5 plot? They've been stuck there for like several episodes with nothing to show for it but Nika finding out about the Elan clones, Norea spiraling, and Norea and Elan No. 5 becoming our new favorite crack ship. I feel like the cracks in Shaddiq's plan are going to form once they get loose but is Earth House going to find her? It seems like they resolved to find Nika to let her explain herself. Suletta having Earth House at her back and recognizing her mom was probably behind what happened on Earth, and that's why Eri didn't want her involved, is a big progression for her as a character. Poor Miorine. Prospera played her like a fiddle. And things were going so well beforehand. |
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Thesarum
Posts: 402 |
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But that's the point, no? He "defiled" her by letting her down from her pedestal and allowing her to be tarnished by messy reality. For Shaddiq, Miorine only has the agency her Holder allows her (as he pretty much states explicitly with his "control your bride" conversation with Suletta). She is not so much a trophy as a prized jewel. She is to be treasured, admired and protected, but placed in a gilded cage far from the muck that courses through their world.
It really is. Almost too big really, to jump from "I'd kill if Mom said so, because she's always right" to "yeah, those war crimes are clearly my mother's doing" feels a little abrupt. Though in practice her doubts have steadily been building since The Slap. Slowly at first, questioning if there had been an alternative course of action. Searching for the right answers to Miorine's challenges, even though she couldn't really find them. Admitting to Aerial that she was starting to doubt some of her mother's wisdom, that "move forward" wasn't quite the guarantee a good outcome that she'd always believed. A number of the puzzle pieces were in place for Martin and Earth House to act as the final key that unlocked everything. And while I'm here, I've rambled on about the shows use of light and shade before. Chuchu dragging Suletta from the depths of the dark kitchen (where she's raiding the fridge for what looks like pink iced donuts? That's proper "going through a bad breakup" food) into the early morning sunlight that bathes the members of Earth House as they share a communal breakfast is all the good stuff. It's not exactly a subtle emotional metaphor, but that doesn't mean I won't eat it up. Shout out to Till in his medieval European peasant cosplay for once again being a quiet pillar of Earth House. He only speaks when necessary, but every time he does he makes it count. |
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 362 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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Has that been confirmed? Because I'm not yet convinced it will only be a 2-cour show. Yes, it looks like the plot is heading towards a conclusion, but that's not necessarily uncommon for the mid-point of a gundam series. The plot only concludes if Suletta and Miorine succeed. If they fail to prevent a war from breaking out that provides for plenty of material for a second half.
I disagree. I mean you pointed out yourself that this has been building all season. I think the real turning point was when Sophie asked Suletta why Aerial was equipped with weapons. I thought that was the first moment that Suletta's absolute faith in her mother was shaken. Then, while she might not have had the right answers to Miorine's questions, she hesitated when answering them (with the exception of the 'would you give up the Aerial' question) which suggests she know they weren't the right answers, but just didn't know what was. |
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