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[sodasa-was-taken]

Don't you think it's funny cause actual canon gay characters in BL manga will say "I love you" but only the shounen bromance can spew out some of the most romantic shit akin to a 19th century poet writing a letter expressing his surpressed love for his lover 😭.....

I have to admit I'm not particularly familiar with shounen. If you're talking about the ride or die dynamic a lot of these guys have going on, there are canon mlm couples that are very similar to that. Although, one of the best examples I can think of off the top of my head is from a horror series.

[sodasa-was-taken]

Do you mind if I ask you some random thing? I used to love shounen and shoujo manga equally....But ever since I found BL & GL manga/manhwa 3 years ago, my interest in shoujosei (especially het romance) decrese a lot, and what I search for is just the dynamic between mc (male) and male lead or mc (female) and female lead...I don't want to read mc (female) and male lead or mc (male) and female lead...And what I want to read mostly are just mlm or wlw stories....

What do you think is happening to me? Is it really weird?

You found your preference and that's not weird at all. There are different dynamics and tropes that pop up more frequently in wlw or mlm romances. You just happen to like those more.

[sodasa-was-taken]

The problem plaguing cishet romance and the biggest advantage queer romance has over it: A sociology of literature analysis on the history and prevalence of the romance genre

I've gotten some feedback where people have expressed that they thought they didn't like romances but later found out they liked queer romances. I thought it would be fun to go over some inherent differences between cishet and queer relationships in fiction and how they came to be. I've chosen to use cishet instead of straight because I want to make it clear that these things don't necessarily apply if someone in a straight romance is confirmed not to be straight, and they definitely don't apply if one or both are trans.

As usual, I hope you enjoy this.

So, what is the biggest problem with cishet romances? Its ubiquity. The type of relationships depicted in those stories wouldn't be half as problematic if they weren't so prevalent. It'd be one thing if a few stories had some questionable, to say the least, relationships portrayed positively. After all, countless stories have some questionable things in them that go unnoticed by the narrative, but that doesn't mean that people who like those stories can't tell that those things aren't commonplace. Nor does it have to mean that there’s any harm in those people believing those things were accurately portrayed. The times this becomes a problem is when the portrayal of something questionable becomes so widespread that people start to think that it's odd for them not to have this thing in their lives or when a popular work inaccurately portrays something that's already poorly understood and highly stigmatized. This, inversely, is also the main argument against setting requirements for one specific story since one story isn't going to change the world, no matter how popular. Storytelling is one of the most collective forms of expression there is, so what really matters is how much effect it has on other storytellers. Not to mention the role fandoms have in normalizing queer identities as someone who has previously been sheltered learns about different people’s experiences through a common interest.

So, how did cishet become so prevalent? Well, for starters, there used to be a time when a man and a woman getting together was seen as a societal obligation, and whether or not the people involved even liked each other wasn't a concern to anyone. There was also some method to their madness, as this sort of arrangement worked quite well for the societal structure at the time. It made sense to create stories where the justification for someone getting together is that they're a boy and a girl because that was the main requirement in the eyes of society. If anything, the stories often portrayed people choosing to marry someone for their personality, which many historians would say wasn't something people did. At least not typically. Though, who's to say? It's a lot easier to find out what people in the past did than why. The bottom line is that cishet relationships were so prevalent in stories because they were stupidly prevalent within society.

Then there’s the way a lot of cishet relationships are depicted in fiction. It tends to imply what a desired relationship should be like, which at best creates unreasonable expectations and sometimes straight up encourages girls and young women to seek out traits in men that ain’t healthy. Some of the most prominent of these are anger issues, controlling behaviors, and possessiveness. This, too, used to serve a function. How good of function that was is debatable, but the point still stands. Portraying these traits as manageable, at the very least, was a way to prepare girls to be married away to someone who might not treat them the best. Stories managed to do this by reassuring them they could tame their new husbands. The whole “I can fix him” mentality evolved from this. Telling someone repeatedly that they can fix someone by making them fall in love with them tends to make them believe it. This somewhat common delusion results from centuries upon centuries of multi-generational gaslighting. Long ago, believing this could be seen as a form of copium since girls at the time usually didn’t have much of a say in who they got promised away to and were stuck with that person until one of them kicked the bucket. Nowadays, in all the places where girls and women, or those perceived as such, ain’t forced into relationships, this mentality causes nothing but trouble. It should go without saying that if someone doesn’t treat others well, they are not relationship material.  

However, it’s worth noting that this has become less of an issue in recent years as there has been a decline in romance in pop culture, particularly in movies. There’s also been a rise in queer romances in more wide-reaching stories, and male/female relationships have gotten healthier depictions. Although a lot of those consist of people who are not straight, so they’re technically queer relationships too. The only place those outdated ideas consistently persist is in stories targeted toward people who are already used to those kinds of depictions.

Speaking of queer relationships, when it comes to fiction, they tend to avoid these issues. So, why is that? Well, for starters, despite what some bigots might say, it’s a lot harder to avoid being exposed to straight attraction than gay attraction. Many commercials are, in particular, needlessly straight. Also, there isn’t a precedent for two people of the same gender or anyone who isn’t perceived as a man and a woman to be obligated to get together. This leads to authors being less likely to either write or be asked to write a queer romance for the sake of it, which means that the romances in stories that feature queer relationships tend to be more deliberate. Then there’s the casual sexism that’s often brushed off in cishet romance that will more than likely come off as odd if it appeared in a romance between two people of the same gender. For example, it’s not too uncommon for one of the main characters in cishet romances to have had some unfortunate encounters with someone of a different gender, and the character does that thing where they think everyone within a group is the same. Try having a female character think that all women cheat without guaranteeing that it’s going to give someone pause. Unfortunately, internalized misogyny is very much a thing, but the point is that it’s not something people are just going to shrug off.

When it comes to how healthy queer relationships are depicted, it varies greatly from story to story, but when these relationships are extremely toxic, it’s rarely done by accident. There might be some cases where people who have internalized that guys show affection by easily getting angry and being controlling and possessive could see a man being abusive to another man and not see a problem with it. The stories themselves rarely seem to depict a toxic relationship as anything other than a toxic one.

Lastly, the main characters in queer romances rarely seem to be reluctant to spend time together. That’s not to say they always like these others from the get-go, but that one of them is more likely to contemplate murder than think about how they’ll have to be in the other’s vicinity for an extended period of time. If one or more of them has something against the other, it also tends to last only as long as it takes for them to get to know each other. These characters quickly grow fond of each other compared to their cishet counterparts. Forget about spending half a novel for one of them to find out they were wrong about the other; it usually takes a couple of conversations at maximum before they start to enjoy each other’s company. It’s not clear why this is, but it is hilarious to think about.

[sodasa-was-taken]

A lot of homophobia and sexism, I think. They probably wanted to get some new people into Gundam but have the show itself be financially underwhelming. My personal theory is that a lot of the higher ups in larger media companies feel the need for stories that are not about "people like them" to not become commonplace less those people and people around them start to think that they have a right to equal treatment. Under capitalism lots of people are convinced that it's within their right to mistreat workers and cut costs where they really shouldn't in order to make money but anything that might cause them to lose some of their privileges are not worth the profits. Nevermind, that they no longer have a need for those privileges even if they suddenly lost their positions they would most likely be better off than most people. Then again while facts don't care about feelings, feelings give even less of a shit about facts.

-Make one of the best Gundam shows of all time

-Add a well-done lesbian romance

-Design some really cool Mobile Suits

-Have an easy hook for another 25 episodes

-Make a shit ton of money from just 25 episodes of the show and the Gunpla

-Cut the show short, force a rushed and unsatisfying ending, try to deny the romance happened, and have the cool Mobile Suits not do anything, thereby not making more profit from another season and more Gunpla sales

I just really have to wonder what Bandai’s thought process was here.

[sodasa-was-taken]

What do you think are Suletta and Miorine’s greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic? Thanks if you want to answer....

I think their greatest strengths and weaknesses are in some way one and the same. As with people in real life some of their worst traits are unmoderated versions of otherwise harmless or good traity.

For Suletta, her greatest strengths are her big heart, her loyalty, and her willingness to do what she thinks is right. These become problems when she takes something she sees as rejection really hard and when her trusting nature leads her to being used.

Likewise with Miorine, her greatest strengths are determination, her strong values, and her protectiveness. These become problems when she pretends to be way more nonchalant about Suletta liking someone else than she is and when she manages to convince herself that breaking Suletta's heart is the right thing to do.

When it comes to their dynamic I love how they help each other grow as people. Miorine helps Suletta become more confident and Suletta helps Miorine become more sincere. I also appreciate that most of their showcases of affection for each other are done through actions. Words can be very sweet and tender but they're going to ring hollow if the people involved aren't there for each other.

Well, I guess you're welcome.

[sodasa-was-taken]

Hi....If you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from Mobile Suit Gundam Witch from Mercury? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Sorry if you've answered this question before....Thanks....

First of all I'm pretty sure I've never been asked this type of question before in my life.

Secondly, it's difficult for me to choose favourites because I have a tendency to like different things for different reasons. Some things are easy for me to judge against each other but with things like favorite characters and moments it's hard for me to decide what criteria I should rank them by. So instead of a ranked list I'll give you which character follows certain criteria the most and for moments I'll list off the ones that live the most rent free in my head.

If we go by relatability it's Suletta. The character I'm the most normal about is definitely Miorine. In terms of which character has the funniest interactions with other characters it would be Chuchu in canon and Ericht in fanworks. Otherwise the characters in general serve their role within G-Witch quite well so there's not really any of the characters I dislike as characters. I'm very much the type of person who loves to hate a character.

For the moments that live rent free in my head. There's all the tender moments between Miorine and Suletta. Every time Miorine inserts herself into a situation. Pretty much every interaction between Prospera and Miorine. The moment when Suletta tells her mother to knock it off. And, properly, the moment that plays on loop the most is the moment in episode ten where Nika looks very conspicuously from side to side. I find that piece of animation hilarious.

I hope this will suffice.

[sodasa-was-taken]

Hope you don't mind praise in the form of outdated memes, but:

As someone who grew up thinking I wasn't really interested in the romance genre, only to discover later on that queer romances (particularly sapphic ones) *were* interesting to me, I never gave a lot of thought about the rules of romance genre stories, so thank you for the education : )

I don't mind at all. Thank you so much. I don't think I can express how happy it makes me to know that people like my writing as making edutainment has been a passion of mine since elementary school.

As an activist it's great that I'm able to give people the tools to understand just how inaccurate a lot of homophobic rhetoric and the like truly is. I hope to bring people confidence in their interpretations, so they don't feel the need to be on the defensive as much and can instead use their energy on something else.

It's still wild to me that people like my analyses as I've always been told that the romance genre is frivolous and I have seen very few analyses on romance in fiction and the ones I have seen have been about its more problematic elements. Well articulated praise of romances is hard to come by. Although, I would be amiss not to mention that some comments I've read on AO3 have come close.

It's also infuriating to me that some of the most well-known contemporary romances are horrendous. I've lost count of the times I've told someone that I love romances and the first thing they mention is fifty shades. That story is to good romance what molten grape juice is to fine wine.

On a happier note, my knowledge of the romance genre made my reaction to G-Witch quite different from a lot of other people, at least from what I've seen. The times I've been the most wrong was when I misjudged what plot beat the story was at but otherwise it appears that my predictions were some of the most accurate I've seen. The most significant being a) how others were happy about Miorine comforting Prospera, while I saw Miorine's insecurity acting up and was filled with dread, and (b that I waited mildly impatiently for things to go from bad to worse so that Suletta and Miorine could be reunited, while others either joked about Suletta going full villain mode or was afraid that Suletta and Miorine was done for good. Because I saw the show as a romance I thought Miorine was going to push Suletta away to protect her, that Suletta would have to come to realize that what her mother was doing was wrong before her and Miorine could be united, and that Miorine would have to think that it was wrong to force Suletta away from her mother before they could get back together for good. It turned out I was right. And people say that focusing on shipping is a bad thing. Their loss, I say.

Again, thank you. Posting on here has been such a positive experience for me thanks to people like you.

[sodasa-was-taken]

The interconnected story of Prospera, Suletta, and Miorine: An analysis of Prospera’s role within the story of G-Witch

Happy Suletta Sunday! In this installment of my now series of analysis on the romance of G-Witch I’m going over Prospera's role in G-Witch, particularly as it relates to Suletta and Miorine. As always thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it.

Prospera is arguably the character in G-Witch who has the biggest effect on Miorine and Suletta throughout the story. She's also a Faustian bargain of a character arising from attempting to combine a Char-clone with a romance antagonist. These two narrative roles have some overlapping but mostly different requirements. Like all antagonists, they need to make life harder for at least one main character but also have narrative functions that are unique to them. 

The most significant difference between the main antagonist of a romance and any other type of antagonist is that their primary function is to provoke the main characters’ central insecurities. After all, when it comes to the main characters of a romance, their darkest hour has to be self-inflicted. In this regard, the way Prospera is the main reason for Suletta's central insecurity and gets Miorine’s to flare up like crazy while never doing anything to tear them apart and even being responsible for the two of them meeting is immaculate. Suletta and Miorine's insecurities are the only thing causing a rift in their relationship; that's romance at its best.

Then there's the Char-clone aspect of Prospera’s character. She's mostly comprised of characteristics of the Char from Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack. A self-righteous manipulator who’s willing to do some morally dubious acts to achieve their goal. Side note: Although it could be argued that some characters in G-Witch have elements of a young Char, none neatly fits into the role of Suletta’s rival. At least not if someone is to go with the dictionary definition of rival. No one wants to outdo her for the sake of it. Neither do they want something she has as she doesn’t have the political standing for her position as the Holder to do much, and the thing she does have is the adoration of a self-reliant Miorine, something no one else wants. Suletta is the only one who’s interested in Miorine because of her headstrong personality instead of despite it.   

The type of Char-clone that she is, along with being the main antagonist in a romance, means that her role in the story is to be a master manipulator who, through her manipulations, makes the main characters’ insecurities act up. It’s imperative that she’s not the direct cause of the rift in the heroines of the story’s relationship; otherwise, it wouldn't be a romance. Prospera only has the power over Suletta and Miorine that she does because they let her.

In order for the main characters’ insecurities to be passively provoked, those insecurities have to correspond to what the main antagonist is about. In the case of G-Witch, Suletta is overly reliant on her mother to the point Prospera consistently is the person Suletta goes to for emotional comfort. This only makes things worse for Suletta as Prospera keeps telling her that as long as Suletta listens to her mother, everything will be alright, which maintains Suletta’s dependency on her and instills the idea that she only deserves affection if Suletta does as she’s told. Prospera can take most of, if not all, the credit for Suletta taking the blame for Miorine breaking up with her because Suletta couldn’t be of more use to her. She’s been taught to see herself as an asset for her loved one instead of someone who can and should receive affection without needing to earn it. 

Meanwhile, Miorine starts to antagonize Prospera from the moment she discovers how much influence she has over Suletta. Miorine’s fear of how much control Prospera has over Suletta becomes the reason Miorine breaks things off with Suletta. Her desire to make her own decisions extends to Miorine wanting the same for her loved ones, which puts her at odds with Prospera. They have conflicting views on how Suletta deserves to be treated. This is made all the better by Prospera acting caring while using Suletta, while Miorine cares deeply about Suletta while initially pretending to use her. 

The most important elements that make up Prospera, Miorine, and Suletta’s three-way dynamic are their roles in the story, their characterization, and their motives. To simplify things regarding how they interact with each other specifically, those are as follows:

Suletta’s role: One out of two of the main characters in a romance.

Suletta’s characterization: Has a black and white morality and is a bit too willing to do what she’s told without question. Otherwise is loyal, protective, determinded, affectionate, easily excited, and loves doing acts of service. All in all has a personality not too dissimilar to a golden retriever.    

Suletta’s motive: To be with the people she cares about most and keep the people she loves safe.

Miorine’s role:  One out of two of the main characters in a romance.

Miorine’s characterization: Fairly deceptive, values independence to a fault, and doesn’t have the easiest time trusting others.  

Miorine’s motive: Making sure she and the people she loves, particularly Suletta, don’t do something just because they’re told to.

Prospera’s role: The main antagonist of a romance.

Prospera’s characterization: Overbearing, manipulative, and controlling, especially towards minors.   

Prospera’s motive: Doing everything in her power to get her daughter Ericht back and get revenge on those who took away her friends and family.

When it comes to which of these contributes the most to how their stories become intersected, it’s Prospera’s role and motive, Suletta’s characterization and motive, and Miorine’s role and characterization. The rest either is derived from or doesn’t affect that character’s dynamic with the other two. Suletta would have the same relationship with Prospera and Miorine at the start of the show, regardless of her being a romance protagonist. Prospera’s characterization stems from her role in the story. Miorine’s motive is dependent on her characterization and also her role, as without her feelings for Suletta, she would likely have the same amount of beef with Prospera as she has with Vim Jeturk. She clearly isn’t fond of him, but Miorine doesn’t tell him to stay away from Guel because he’s not one of her loved ones.         

The way these three characters' story gets intertwined starts with Prospera creating a repli-child of Ericht that becomes Suletta to help enact her revenge for the incident at the Vanadis Institute. Skip forward seventeen years where Miorine and Suletta cross path. Then, through Suletta being Suletta, she unwittingly gets the two of them involved. Through her relationship with Suletta, Miorine becomes acquainted with Prospera and learns about the influence she has over her daughter. Miorine, being who she is, of course, is having none of it and villianizes Prospera to the point of only making things worse for herself, which in turn solidifies Prospera’s role in the story. Lastly, learning just how far Suletta can go in order to keep her loved ones safe is what sends Miorine spiraling as she blames Prospera for the things Suletta did.

Prospera, Suletta, and Miorine’s narratives are extremely interconnected, which, for the most part, is a good thing. Having an interpersonal conflict that’s born from conflicting personalities and goals is gonna feel more natural and less contrived than a more situational conflict. It does, though, also mean that if someone wanted to change something in the story of G-Witch that involves these three without changing any other aspect of the characters or story, it’s going to be a bit of a pain. To complicate things further, this already applies when only focusing on Suletta, Miorine, and Prospera’s fundamental dynamic, but these three are a lot more intertwined than that. Each of their roles, characterization, and motive affects at least one other of either their own or one of the others and sometimes both.     

Now, to break this down. Starting with Miorine’s motive, if she’s not set on preventing Suletta from doing something just because her mother told her to, that would affect her characterization. If there’s any other reason she wants to keep Suletta away from Prospera, like actual mind control, that’s going to take away her fundamental insecurity. She needs to be wrong about the level of influence Prospera has over Suletta; otherwise, she isn’t being blinded by her insecurities she would just be right. This makes her a lot less flawed as it presents her deceptiveness as a purely good thing instead of something that every so often turns into mild paranoia. Furthermore, if Miorine either doesn’t have any central insecurity or it doesn’t have anything to do with the rift between her and Suletta, the story ceases to be a romance, which in turn affects all three characters’ roles within the story. 

Then there’s Prospera’s characterization, which is directly caused by her lust for vengeance and messes with the minds of both Suletta and Miorine, which is what makes her an effective romance antagonist. Without losing her friends and family, then most significantly, Suletta just wouldn’t exist, and Prospera wouldn’t have treated Suletta the way she did. This, in turn, would change some aspects of Suletta, that is, if she even existed and wouldn’t get Miorine’s, wouldn’t central insecurity get out of control, affecting her motive.

Lastly, there’s Suletta’s characterization. If she was any less unassuming Miorine’s central insecurity wouldn’t be acting up as Suletta wouldn’t do what her mother told her to with question. Also, if Suletta had a more nuanced morality than she does, she wouldn’t have been so unfazed by what she did at Quetta, which leads Miorine to think Prospera has a lot more control over Suletta than Prospera does. Suletta has been taught to think that her mother is always right, so if Prospera tells her that killing someone to keep other people safe is morally correct, she won’t see a problem with turning a guy into meat sauce. Prospera hasn’t allowed Suletta to develop a complex view of morality, which is a lot more messed up than if Suletta was some kind of sleeper agent or the like. Suletta’s unnerving in the same way a young child firing a gun without realizing that people could get hurt is. She is to blame for her actions, but the way she reacts to them is childlike, which showcases the way in which innocence can be terrifying. Suletta being a cinnamon roll doesn't crash with her willingness to kill someone it's why she's fine with it.

So there you have it. Why a character does something changes depending on the situation they do those actions in. This doesn't necessarily have to be a big deal as it mostly affects implications. If the circumstances change but the characters act the same, it can create some narrative dissonance.

[sodasa-was-taken]

I think a big reason why I don't take issue with the finale is my insistence on seeing the show as a romance. To me, the conflict that was most important to resolve was an internal one, and any external conflict was always gonna be second to that. Furthermore, because I see the show as a romance, I would've been upset if it didn't have a happy ending since I would have felt let on as love winning in the end is a requirement when it comes to romances.

That's not to say that I would have minded if the ending was a bit more bittersweet; I just don't think the ending is too happy. I think G-Witch has a sufficient number of dark moments, but I wouldn't have liked for there to be any less, as those are a big part of why I love the show as much as I do. While a lot of people might like their romances a bit more light-hearted, I prefer when they have some darker elements as I think the consistent theme of love prevailing within romances becomes a lot more powerful when it's acknowledged that the world is kinda a shitty place.

When it comes to the background elements of G-Witch, I like to see them as little breadcrumbs that could be picked up later down the line. If another show or anything really within the Ad Stella timeline gets made, it's free to expand on the concepts introduced in G-Witch. I think that Ad Stella is perfectly suitable for telling a gritty story that explores its world in detail. That story just isn't and was never going to be G-Witch. Just because we got introduced to AS through a romance doesn't mean any subsequent story within that universe has to be one.

I love G-Witch's ending. While I do wish the journey had been longer, that we had gotten more time with the characters and the world, I would not change that destination. I still want it to end with Suletta saving her family at Quiet Zero.

"It's too happy, no one died!" I actually love this! Gundam has 45 years of bittersweet and occasionally downer endings. We can have one ending that is almost unambiguously a happy one. People always talk about finding non-violent solutions, about solving problems peacefully. And in a Gundam first, Suletta does that. She solves a violent situation with non-violence, and just this once, everybody lived!

"That was accomplished with bullshit space magic though!" Look, setting aside the fact that Bullshit Space Magic has been a part of Gundam since the original (and is often MORE bullshit in UC), this show is called The Witch From Mercury. If there was any Gundam series where Bullshit Space Magic saving the day and solving the problem is thematically appropriate and should not be an issue, it's this one.

"The bad guys lived and escaped jail!" I'm fine with this, especially since every good character survived too. And it's not like they didn't suffer any consequences. Miorine dissvolved the Benerit Group. Their empire is gone, along with their wealth and power. They may be free (for now), but they're definitely miserable. With Shaddiq's help, Miorine exposed the SAL's crimes, and considering the precarious position they were in previously, it's likely there was a major shake-up. The power structures in space were completely shaken up and changed, and much of it's power was transferred to Earth.

"What about Shaddiq?" Look, I definitely understand the contextual issues with Shaddiq being the only martyr. But in the show itself, Shaddiq accomplished his goals. He got to see the Benerit Group dissolved and their assets placed in the hands of Earthian companies, all without further violence. He secured the freedom of the women working for them, and importantly, they all now work for Miorine in her efforts to improve Earth and make reparations for Spacians. And as a last gift and blessing to Miorine and her new family, he took the fall for Quiet Zero while he was at it. Shaddiq may be imprisoned unlike the former BG members, but unlike them, he is a happy and satisfied man.

It's rare for the main characters in Gundam to enact massive, systemic change for the better, especially permanently. Amuro, Kamille and Judau did not change the world in any significant fashion. Their world was still mired in conflict after their reapective conflicts, to the point that Amuro dies in a later conflict and Judau gets so sick of things not changing for the better that he abandons Earth and later the solar system. Yet there is a lot of criticism that Suletta & Miorine didn’t solve all of Ad Stella's problems, that they did their part and peaced out. But their part was destroying the immediate threat of Gundams and Quiet Zero, they dismantled the Benerit Group power structure and put it in the hands of Earth and they exposed the SAL. They made huge changes to the world and they didn't stop. Miorine is still using her company to make amends for the BG's crimes and improve the lives of Earthians. Suletta has built a school on Mercury and is now building one on Earth. Even if they're not going to be fighting on the front lines, they're still fighting to make their world a better place.

That's not to say the ending is perfect. I don't think Nika should have spent 3 years in jail because of a guilty conscience and because Martin is a snitch. I don't think you should ruin the thematics of Suletta facing down and battling Quiet Zero by herself, but the part of me who loves to see giant robots fight wishes there could have been a way to involve the Demi-Barding, Pharact and Schwarzette in more action during the end. If not at QZ, then earlier in the series.

I personally believe a lot of the criticism of the ending boils down to preference, and people not preferring how G-Witch chose to end things, rather than those things being objectively bad. I think a lot of fans struggle to accept that G-Witch was trying to do something smaller, something different, and they still can't let go of wanting it to be something it never tried to be. Did it do what it wanted to do perfectly? Definitely not. It forgot what it was at points in S2 and I'd argue it actually cooked too good with it's background details, making people want more of something it never set out to do. But ultimately it was never trying to be a 50 episode war epic focused on the wider world. It was about these two girls and their families.

Suletta & Miorine's scene together in the wheat field on Earth is perhaps one of my favorite scenes in anime. Maybe in any media. I wouldn't trade that moment for anything short of their actual wedding.

[sodasa-was-taken]

From a sociological perspective, I get why so many people are butthurt over G-Witch. However, for them to understand what about the series that rubs them the wrong way would require a level of self-awareness that very few people process. G-Witch not only has two queer female leads but also calls out the kind of mentality and behavior Gundam itself helped cultivate.

I've been that Miorine, among other things, is a reimagining of sorts of Relena Darlian/Peacecraft from Gundam Wing. That makes the confrontation between Suletta, Miorine, and Guel in episode one somewhat equivalent to having a girl telling Heero off for how he initially treated Relena and then having her be the one Relena ends up married to instead of Heero. Times sure have changed.

I'm sorry that this Gundam gatekeeping is happening. Gotta love the irony of people claiming that G-Witch being someone's favorite series in the Gundam franchise disqualifies them from being a Gundam fan when they're the ones who are being all selective about when they do and don't like Gundam.

It is quite amazing how as soon as you like G-Witch, you suddenly unlearn everything about Gundam as a franchise and become a "tourist" who will never want to watch anything else Gundam related ever again.

Just amazing how the producers discovered a method for erasing knowledge of Gundam AND make it so the viewer will never want to watch anything else ever again. Bandai definitely doesn't want more money from new fans AND they definitely want old fans to lose interest.

🤔

Anyway, cheers to my fellow long-time Gundam fans who have been called "tourists" by culture warrior shitheads for liking a show they hate! And for the new fans, I'm sorry 😮‍💨

[sodasa-was-taken]

How subtle is the romance of G-Witch really: The language of romance and the bias in interpretation

First of all, I want to express my gratitude for all the feedback I've received. You guys are awesome. When I posted my first analysis, I had no idea how it would be perceived. Throughout my life, I've mostly been met with confusion, if not a bit of curiosity, when I've told people about my fascination with the romance genre. Even people who like the genre don't treat it with the respect I do but rather see it as something they can turn their brains off to. I was scared that people who saw my analysis would think that G-Witch, I dunno, had too much else going on to be considered a romance. I can't tell you all how validating it's been to get this much praise for writing about one of my biggest passions. Thank you so much.

This post is less an analysis of G-Witch as it's an exploration of the hypocrisy in how straight and gay romances are interpreted even by the queer community. I've engaged with a lot of female/male romances, especially when I was younger and thought I was straight, so it's quite surreal seeing similar stories being interpreted vastly differently based only on whether the main characters are queer or not.

There's been a lot of discussion about how explicit same-sex relationships in fiction should be. Many agree that the minimum for the characters to be unambiguously into each other is for them to kiss. That would be an ideal metric if the same applied to a man and a woman being into each other. It does not. For the vast majority of history, since people first started portraying characters in romantic relationships, explicit depictions of physical affection between those characters haven't been a thing. Depicting that sort of thing didn't become commonplace until the 20th century. For example, you would be hard-pressed to find any of the somewhat indecent positions Miorine and Suletta get into in a Jean Austin novel. Like, usually in a platonic hug, you lay your head on someone's shoulder or clavicle, and Miorine's burying her face in the upper part of Suletta's cleavage. How scandalous!

Of course, these views are centuries old, and the expectations of what should be included in a story about people getting together have changed drastically since then. Except in a lot of ways, it hasn't. Especially in manga, light novels, and anime, it can take real-life years for two characters to show affection through physician touch. Still, it’s expected that the characters are or will become attracted to one another and that they’ll end up together before the end of the story. Unless they’re the same gender, where not only is that not an expectation, but due to tropes such as Bury Your Gays, people are more likely to think one of them is going to die. That’s messed up. Being a main character in a romance or something adjacent shouldn’t be a death sentence for any character. Then there’s the fact that same-sex couples-to-be in fiction can be as forward as they want in their physical and verbal affections. Still, a straight couple-to-be that does nothing but bigger or just be the most prominent characters in their respective genders will still be perceived as less ambiguous. A man and a woman who get a bit flustered around each other are hopelessly in love. Yet, two girls sharing an intimate hug after a conversation about how neither wants their engagement to just be a transaction; that’s “totally platonic.”

Better yet, Hollywood has fine-tuned this to the point that the male and female leads only need to look at each other for about five seconds, and it’s enough to infer that they’re attracted to each other. This has become so ubiquitous that people have gotten confused when the leads are implied not to have gotten together despite having shown zero romantic intent. Having the character show romantic intent isn’t generally considered a requirement for them to end up together in a Hollywood film. No, seriously. All this is to say that literary and visual shorthand have always been and continue to be a major part of romances. Yet, the bar is much higher when it comes to the confirmation that two characters of the same gender are into each other. An author can use the exact same narrative tools that have become a staple of female/male romances/romantic subplots, and someone will tell you you're being led on for picking up on them.

The main reason for the high standards placed on same-sex couples is the desire for representation. If straight couples are allowed to or even expected to kiss at some point in the story, the same should be the case for same-sex couples. That said, kissing neither is nor should be the be-all and end-all of good representation. Yeah, straight couples get to kiss and have sexual relationships, but by all accounts, a significant amount of straight representation is absolutely abysmal. Lots of straight romances reek of sexism, outdated gender roles, and stereotyping, are toxic, and straight-up have a reputation for romanticizing abuse. If kissing or an “I love you” is the metric to which good representation is judged, two straight people who have zero chemistry or are downright abusive would be better representation than a same-sex couple whose relationship is built on mutual respect and support but who doesn't get to kiss or say “I love you” and that's ridiculous.

It’s also worth noting how people who tell others they’re crazy for seeing a queer story where according to them, there aren’t any, get characterized as needing to see something explicit to pick up that a story is or even just be interpreted as a queer romance. The thing is, most of these people aren’t dense; they’re willfully ignorant. They can pick up on the signs just as easily as they can in male/female romances; they’re choosing not to, even if it’s likely an unconscious decision. There seems to be a need among queer people to have depictions in media that even bigots can’t deny are queer. Why though? Representation is vital in helping to normalize the existence of various types of people, but for so many queer people, it just doesn’t seem to be enough. So what if some people wouldn’t get it unless the characters kiss? Those people will just start complaining about how they’re having queerness forced down their throats, and that’s their problem. There’s so much more to the queer experience than displays of physical affection, and this representation gatekeeping isn’t helping anyone. Normalizing same-sex couple kissing is important, but normalizing people of the same gender kissing is only going to normalize the kissing itself. If, for example, two people of the same gender get to kiss and then one of them gets killed off, that's the opposite of normalizing same-sex relationships.

Pulling from my own experiences, I've never been told that there was anything wrong with two people of the same gender kissing. Still, I saw same-sex relationships as inferior and believed being in one couldn't give me the life I wanted. I tried so hard to convince myself that I was straight and was only attracted to someone with a different gender presentation than me – because I was also an egg who told myself I was wrong for feeling uncomfortable for being referred to as my assigned gender at birth. Honestly, I thought that I would be happier if I didn’t even entertain the idea of getting together with someone with the same gender presentation as me. So, imagine how much it meant to me to see a show about two girls where one of them didn’t even think that getting engaged to another girl was an option, both of them having young men interested in them but asking each other to spend their life with them, and ending the show being married and being all the happier for being with the other. That's the kind of representation I've been looking for.

On a less serious note, I’d like to share an antidote from when I watched episode one for the first time. When Suletta sees someone floating around in space who appears to be in danger I didn’t initially consider that the person in question might be Miorine. The visuals planted the idea in my mind and the thing that confirmed it was the framing of the two inside Aerial’s cockpit. I couldn’t explain what I was picking up on, but to me, it was a dead giveaway.

[sodasa-was-taken]

If G-Witch was a romance the writers would have included even a hint of romance between the two supposed lovers. It's not. There's a reason why the writers went for suggestive imagery instead of writing an actual romance.

Ooh! I've got my first detractor; how exciting. Thank you so much. You don't know how much it means to me to know I have enough reach to piss someone off. You took time out of your day to tell me this, and it's very much appreciated.

I always get so confused when people talk about what constitutes a romance between characters. For example, I have yet to meet a person who doesn't consider Pride and Prejudice a romance, and the most explicit physical contact the main characters share in the novel is walking arm in arm. If you don't think there are any hints of romance between Suletta and Miorine, I implore you to tell someone that one of the most well-known romances is, in fact, not a romance. I would love to hear their reaction.

[sodasa-was-taken]

Romantic foils done right: How G-Witch uses romantic foils

Or why none of the characters who showed interest in Miorine and Suletta ever posed a threat to them getting together.

So, after the unexpected response to my last analysis and some recent discussions, I felt inspired to make another one. This time about romantic foils, a frequently misused but great tool in romances. I hope you enjoy it.

As far as I can tell, G-Witch has five romantic foils: Guel, El4n, Shaddiq, El5n, and Sophie.

In romances, when a character is in contrast to one of the main characters as a romantic option, they're a romantic foil. Having romantic foils in a story can be a great way to show what the principal characters see in each other. This is done by showcasing what the characters like and dislike about characters with contrasting attributes to the one they'll end up with.

Sometimes, it can feel like a romantic foil is just there to create cheap drama, often when they're a romantic rival, i.e., actively trying to get in the way of the main characters becoming a thing. Other times, when one of the focal characters isn’t the best person, an author might have a character who’s a romantic rival be even more of an asshole to make the character look better in comparison. This doesn’t make the character look better; it just creates a pick-your-poison situation. Furthermore, jackass and even more of a jackass ain’t foils since there isn’t any contrast. That isn’t to say that romantic foils can’t be antagonistic. Many of the romantic foils in G-Witch are also antagonists. In cases where a romantic foil is an antagonist, they emphasize the virtues of the characters they’re a foil to by being everything they’re not.    

Guel, foil to Suletta – At the beginning of the show, Guel is everything Suletta is not regarding their treatment and intentions towards Miorine. Suletta is apologetic to a fault, while Guel pushes Miorine around like he owns her. Guel is abrasive, while Suletta is considerate. He’s ostentatious, and she’s shy. Crucially, Suletta’s shyness doesn’t prevent her from having pride in herself. She just doesn’t need to show off like Guel.

Miorine grows fond of Suletta for the same reason she dislikes Guel. He’s the embodiment of everything Miorine hates about her predicament, and Suletta is the opposite. Although Miorine sees them as two sides of the same coin at first, both are out to insert themselves into her life, just in different ways. Except as Miorine soon enough learns, Suletta had no intention of doing so but just couldn’t stand by while seeing someone in distress. Side note: It’s ironic how opposed Miorine is to Suletta interfering in her life when Miorine later follows Suletta around like a lost puppy and insists on helping her any chance she gets. 

Attributes Miorine likes about Suletta that Guel notably lacks include, but are not limited to, her humbleness, her upbeat nature, her gratefulness, and her commitment to doing what she thinks is right. Also relevant if you think Miorine is a Lesbian; Suletta is a girl.   

When it comes to why they become the Holder, Guel is doing it for himself, and Miorine is simply a prize to be won. Suletta, on the other hand, ends up as the Holder unintentionally, dueling to help out Miorine rather than to have her. In fact, when she learns that being a woman does not exempt her from being Miorine’s groom, she goes full blue screen of death. 

Guel, foil to Miorine – Straight from one character’s romantic foil to the other. Guel is Suletta's foil until he catches feelings for her and shifts to become Miorine's. After being the first demonstration of Suletta's extreme discomfort with someone coming on too strong Guel denies his affection for Suletta. This happens shortly after Miorine has Suletta donning the uniform which shows the two are engaged.

In episode nine, while Miorine does everything she can to guarantee they win the duel against Grassley House, Guel won’t even fight because Dad told him he wasn’t allowed to duel. He doesn’t want Earth House and, more specifically, Suletta to lose, but not enough to disobey his father.

At the backend of season two, Guel becomes a regular foil to Miorine instead of a romantic foil since he’s no longer interested in getting with Suletta or, as he puts it, there are more important things than whatever feelings he might have for Suletta. This means he isn’t being motivated by those feelings the same way Miorine is by her love for Suletta and can, therefore, look a bit more objectively. It also means that he doesn’t stop Miorine from doing something he sees as fruitless because helping her break Suletta’s heart is a prize he’s willing to pay to save Jeturk Heavy Machinery.            

Side note: Guel does his job as a foil quite well, but because he’s a foil, his prominence is completely unwarranted. It might’ve been a little more reasonable if he was the only romantic foil, but this story has five. Giving this much attention to a romantic foil in a romance about a straight couple would be unthinkable. Still, because the story is about a same-sex couple, they can’t be the image of their own story.     

El4n, foil to Miorine – El4n is the only romantic foil in the story, highlighting the flaws of the one he's a foil to. His function in the show is to get Miorine worked up and showcase that Suletta isn't the type to pine. Side note: Suletta appears to be quite binary when it comes to others having feelings for her. Either they like her romantically, or they never will.

From very early on, El4n shows a fondness for Suletta, which Miorine is having none of. Later on, El4n asks Suletta out to get to Aerial. Side note: Gotta love how Miorine compares Suletta and El4n to Romeo and Juliet, considering that if any characters in this series have their budding relationship sabotaged by the feud between their families, it’s Miorine and Suletta. 

When El4n learns that Suletta isn’t an Enhanced Person like himself, his demeanor towards Suletta changes on the spot. The progression of Suletta’s relationship with El4n is an inversion of her relationship with Miorine. Where Miorine had to overcome a misconception about Suletta for her fondness for Suletta to grow, a misconception about Suletta is what El4n's fondness for Suletta initially sprung from. Additionally, El4n asks Suletta out because he wants something from her, while Miorine pretends she wants something from Suletta, but in truth, she wants to prevent Suletta from becoming the one who got away. Girl didn't pass up the chance to go to Earth in order to save Suletta because she needed a shield. 

Despite Suletta having an interest in El4n, spurred on by him showing an interest in her and El4n eventually reciprocating, a relationship between them would never work as their goals are diametrically opposed. If El4n wants to keep his life and be allowed to live his life as he pleases, he needs to win a duel against Suletta and take Aerial away from her. Something she can’t let happen because, for one, she wouldn’t even give up Aerial for the person she’s excited to marry, and two, losing would be letting down Miorine, someone she cares deeply about, and Suletta’s not about that.

When Suletta wins the fight, she also wins back El4n’s heart, but their relationship is doomed before it starts because El4n fails to secure Aerial for the Peil company and has to die for his failure. El4n accepts this and doesn’t fight to stay in Suletta’s life, instead thanking her and letting death take him.

In the last episode, El4n apologizes to Suletta for standing her up to which Suletta basically tells him not to sweat it as she’s come to learn that the person for her wasn’t him.           

Shaddiq, foil to Suletta – Here’s someone who starts out coming off as approachable but who’s revealed to be more and more deranged as the series goes on. Shaddiq is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants all the while keeping his friendly appearance and calming smile.

Throughout episode nine, it becomes clear that while Shaddiq and Suletta are both upbeat go-getters, their views on Miorine couldn’t be more different. Shaddiq does, to some degree, care about Miorine, but what he thinks is best for Miorine is at odds with what Miorine wants. He justifies his attempts to control her with her being stubborn and unreasonable. She doesn’t know what would be the best for her, and Shaddiq’s been nothing but kind to her, so he doesn’t get why she keeps turning him down. This guy sure is tipping his metaphorical fedora.

The epitome of Suletta and Shaddiq’s conflicting views is shown when Shaddiq runs into Suletta after being at the greenhouse. He fails to reason with Miorine, so he tries to get Suletta to talk some reason into telling her that as Miorine’s groom, it’s her responsibility to talk some sense into her. Suletta doesn’t agree with the sentiment and instead thinks that her role as Miorine’s groom is to stand by her and support her. A very how the spouge of a woman should aim to protect and provide for their wife vs. they should treat their wife as an equal and encourage them to do what they want schools of thoughts. As Miorine seems perfectly content to be the primary breadwinner in the relationship, that first idea has less than no appeal to her.

Suletta ultimately turns out to be right, with the show taking a shot at the whole strong man who’s the sole protector of what’s deemed to be his mentality. After his defeat, he tells Miorine that he should have offered to fight for her, which most likely would have gotten him nowhere. Before Miorine met Suletta, she wouldn’t let anyone fight for her, and a good part of why Miorine rolled with Suletta becoming Holder was because she had no intention to. There’s no way of having the intention to become Holder and do what Suletta did. The intention is there, and that’s the problem. It cannot be overstated how little Suletta would care about being the Holder if Miorine hadn’t wanted her to be.

When Shaddiq learns that Miorine will be at Plant Quetta, he callously shrugs off the idea that he should try to stop her from getting hurt and leave it up to fate if she makes it out alive. This becomes somewhat vindictive when he probably justifies this kind of thinking by making it Miorine’s own fault for rejecting his protection. She doesn’t want him to keep her safe so he will do no such thing.                            

El5n, foil to Miorine – There’s not much to say here. El5n  showcases Suletta’s aversion to someone coming on too strong and her commitment to be with Miorine, as by the time El5n first makes a move on Suletta, she’s already hopelessly in love with Miorine. He and Miorine are also opposite extremes when it comes to their interactions with Suletta. El5n insists that Suletta should get with him while Miorine rejects that she has any veto over who Suletta can be with.

Sophie, foil to Miorine – Mostly qualifies for acting antithetically to Miorine and self-identifying as someone who sees Miorine as an obstacle to getting to Suletta. Although Sophie technically doesn’t express interest in being with Suletta romantically, since she goes full Yandere mode at the mention of Suletta being with someone else, she might as well be. One of a romantic foil’s main functions is to demonstrate why a relationship with them wouldn’t be in the best interest of the person they’re interested in having a relationship with. Declaring that she’ll have to kill Miorine to get the relationship she wants with Suletta makes Sophie succeed with flying colors in that regard.

Being a Yandere, Sophie doesn’t understand what would be offputting about telling Suletta she’s going to kill her loved ones. In her mind, she’s setting Suletta free to become a ruthless killer, which really shows how much she’s misjudged what Suletta is like as a person. As the cherry on top, it turns out Sophie’s obsessed with Ericht and not Suletta.  

This is another case of a character being the opposite extreme of Miorine. Concurrently with the event involving Norea and Sophie, Miorine is at the point where she’s blaming Prospera for Suletta’s actions, as she can’t see her little ball of innocence killing people unless she has been manipulated. 

            

From a meta-perspective, El4n, Guel, and Shaddiq are also the antithesis of what a romance protagonist should be due to their inability to fight for love. They’re defeatist and, at points, almost deterministic. After one major setback, they turn back to the person of their affection in the sense that they leave the person’s well-being up to fate. Something Suletta and Miorine never do to each other. Even when their insecurities get the better of them, they still have the other’s happiness and well-being in mind.

Furthermore, having the romantic foils display philosophies associated with determinism is a sort of social commentary in a sense. A part of Japanese culture is the acceptance of bad things happening and a willingness to make the best of an unfavorable situation, sometimes expressed through the word shouganai and similar words. This is a perfectly wealthy mentality until it gets used in situations people can and, more importantly, should be doing something about or, at the very least, be less accepting of. Case in point: whatever is up with Japan being behind on queer rights despite its several partnerships with multiple Western countries. So, having characters that act like their hands are tied and just shrug it off makes them foils to Suletta and Miorine, where needing to do something about a bad situation is a major part of their characters. The fact that the characters in question are products of the elite and two queer people who keep getting screwed over by the system is quite reflective of the contrast between activists in Japan and the country they live in.         

As the show is now, pairing these guys with the heroines reeks of heteronormativity. It doesn’t matter whether or not that’s the intention; it still does. Two female characters can go through thick and thin together, always having each other’s back whenever possible, and some people see their relationship as equal or even inferior to their barely existing or one-sided relationship with a man. The level of hypocrisy is astounding. It feeds into the idea that guys are entitled to have their feelings returned just by existing. That’s a big part of the reason there are guys who feel threatened by sapphic couples. It messes with their indoctrination that a woman would rather be with another woman than them.

It’s almost amusing how any of these characters come across as having a chance with either Miorine or Suletta when they’re never presented as such in the narrative. Unless the series was going to do a storytelling faux pas, Suletta and Miorine getting together is an inevitability by episode three. Having all this build-up just for them to end with someone else would be narrative nonsense. Good thing that didn’t happen.

[sodasa-was-taken]

The only issue I have with the whole "Guel has unrequited feelings for Suletta, but she only has eyes for Miorine" joke is that I see zero overlap between Guel having feelings for Suletta and Suletta having her thoughts taken up by Miorine. Maybe in episode nine, but even then, when he's asked to help out in the fight against Shaddiq, he says he's not allowed to duel and doesn't even put up a fight. Meanwhile, in the same episode, Miorine challenges Shaddiq to duel so she can keep control over the company she initially created for Suletta's sake. Like, I wouldn't say Guel's the one who's obsessed with Suletta.

To me, it's not even a competition, not because Suletta is neutral toward Guel but because his little crush on Suletta doesn't hold a candle to the love Miorine has for this woman. Sometimes, it feels like Guel's crush on Suletta is a bit overplayed when his feelings were fading from the moment Suletta flew away in Aerial. I know it's for the sake of humor, but it diminishes just how little he acted on those feelings. Especially compared to Miorine, where so many plot points in G-Witch only happened because she acted on her feelings for Suletta, consequences be dammed.

Also, in the epilogue, Petra tells Guel she'll become a tester for GUND-ARM, Inc. It's sort of implied that Guel, Lauda, and Petra are at least friendly-ish with Miorine, considering their non-reaction to the idea. Although the only thing that suggests that Miorine, Suletta, and Guel is all buddy-buddy is some of the official art. That would be all fine and dandy if Bandai's handling of Sulemio didn't give it some heteronormative overtones.

Horrific to think there are people who ship Suletta and Guel together unironically. Awful thought.

[sodasa-was-taken]

Why Suletta and Miorine's story is a romance: A Mobile Suite Gundam: The Witch from Mercury story structure analysis by Sodasa

So, I recently watched The Witch from Mercury, and I felt compelled to write an analysis of the show's use of the story structure of romances. I'm a hobbyist in the history of trends in genre fiction with a particular interest in romances. I thought it would be fun to use my area of expertise to talk about how the budding relationship between Miorine and Suletta is intertwined with the story of G-Witch.

Something particular about the romance genre is that, unlike other genres of fiction, it's mostly defined by its story structure. This means that just because a story is about two people getting together does not automatically make it a romance in the same way having magic in a story qualifies it as a fantasy. The flip side of this is that while you can't have a fantasy without fantastical elements, a romance can be put in any setting. As long as the story hits the required plot beats, it's still a romance. This makes Romance simultaneously one of the strictest and most versatile genres, as the plot can be anything as long as it ties into the main characters' developing relationship. Use this structure in a story about financial politics and mechs, and you get a story like The Witch from Mercury.

I think the show uses this structure very effectively. In my opinion, a great romance should, first and foremost, be an exploration of the part of the human condition where previous bad experiences make us reject intimacy. The romance story structure is designed to have the characters come face-to-face with their inner demons by giving them a reason to overcome them. Something that's a lot harder to pull off outside of romances, as not many things in life require us to overcome some of our deepest insecurities instead of just pushing them down.

G-Witch is a great show to use as an example of what makes a romance a romance as it follows the story structure almost to a tee, but it's also not the kind of story that most people usually think of when picturing a romance. I also believe that seeing the show through the lens of the romance structure leads to some juicy character psychoanalysis for Suletta and Miorine. I'll go over all the plot beats of a romance and explain how they apply to G-Witch and, if applicable, why I think you don't see those plot beats outside of romances. The names of the plot beats are taken from "Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels" by Gwen Hayes, which is also my primary source, along with my own extensive experience with the romance genre.

I hope someone gets something out of this. I have seen some excellent analyses and theories for this show, but they have been on things I don't know much about myself. Since the only part of story analysis I excel at is the structure of romances, I thought I'd lend my own area of expertise. I want to clarify that while I might sound matter-of-fact, this is just my opinion. I'm by no means saying that you have to think that G-Witch is a romance. I'm just arguing for why I personally consider it to be one.