#and like mother like daughter how do you feel about suletta now? are you a suletta apologist?

[birdmenmanga]

"suletta's too cute to be a gundam pilot" well clearly you're not ready for the new era of women's wrongs that g-witch is ushering in

[g-witchsulettaneedsahug]

Alright I've seen this take plenty of times now and I feel like some of y'all are honestly kinda straight up loco.

Suletta Mercury is not and never has been anything even resembling to brainwashed at any point in this series. I repeat, Suletta is NOT brainwashed. She never has been and seeing so many of you all projecting your own woefully unnuanced moral compasses upon the characters in this show is honestly painful to watch.

If you bothered to read Cradle Planet, the short story related to G:WfM, one of the main things that would become clear to you is that Suletta was raised in isolation. Specifically she was isolated from other kids her age.

This wasn't done on purpose by Prospera to raise her to be the perfect little pawn for her plans y'all, thats so fucking stupid. At this point its clear that while Prospera likely favours Aerial when it comes to securing a future for one of her children, she has never shown at any point that she saw Suletta as something to be disposed of in the sense of killing her. Her belief in the ideals of the Vanadís Institute and her hatred for the misuse of the GUND-format, along with her love for Eri would make it thematically utter fucking madness for her not to love or be fond of Suletta.

The short story and Eri talking about the past in the anime shows that Prospera treated Suletta the best she could, along with Suletta being familiar with various forms of media that likely show the importance of love and kindness, such as reading/watching about highschool and stuff from Earth Sphere media such as mentioned in the short story.

How Suletta behaves at the school and how comfortable she is to interact and look for her mother for comfort shows that Prospera did not hurt Suletta for being vulnerable with her and that she supported her daughter when she was young. Aerial mentions that Suletta at 6 years old only came to her for comfort when she was scared if Prospera was busy with work, implying that Prospera was otherwise most of the time present when Suletta was young.

The reason why Suletta is so shy and uncertain as she was is because of the people on Mercury. The people who lived there did not trust Prospera and by extension Suletta. They were seen as potential liabilities. Aerial recounts that they wanted Prospera and Suletta to be send away. Children are extremely observant and absorb this kind of bullshit, so at a young age Suletta basically internalised the message that she's unwanted and a burden. THIS the the major trauma that makes Suletta as socially incompetent as she is.

Aerial mentions how Suletta's infamous catchphrase about gaining 2 if moving forward was a response to trying to make Suletta be brave about getting a shot. In other words TOTALLY FUCKING NORMAL MOM BEHAVIOUR. Prospera explained that while Suletta could gain 1 by not getting a shot and avoiding pain, but that by getting the shot she could gain 2 by not becoming sick in the future and to be seen as amazing by the people on Mercury.

This is Prospera, explaining to her young daughter, that sometimes you need to be a little brave in order to succeed in your goals or to live a happy and healthy life. You need to do something you might be afraid of or be a little uncomfortable with in order to gain somethings benefits. Thats not fucking evil and if you think that teaching a scared child to be brave to prepare for future is evil manipulation then I fear for your mental faculties.

Suletta internalized this phrase, using it as a source of comfort. Whenever she's scared or afraid but knows that something needs to be done. Its NOT a fucking trigger phrase ala Winter Soldier, thanks.

When Prospera justified the deaths of those terrorists, she was speaking from the perspective of a survivor. Literally all her collegues, friends and even her husband perished in the attack from Dominicus under the command of Cathedra. At our most basic, humans simply wish to survive and if you have to kill others to do so then so be it.

Suletta's "strange" behaviour after that isn't her being brainwashed, its her being in a stressful situation and compartimentalizing on the fly. Millions of people behave strangely or as if nothing is wrong in high stress situations because they're literally working on default. There is no time to think about ethics or morality when you or someone who you love is under attack, there is only panic and making split second decisions that you can only pray you will not regret in the future.

Thats also not to say that Suletta doesn't know or wasn't raised in a way that held life in high esteem. On Mercury she was the primary person responsible for emergency rescue operations with the Aerial, piloting and controlling the Aerial herself in order to save people, who often were rude and mean and were likely unkind to her in childhood. You think she'd do that if she didn't think human life was worth something? Or be as kind and friendly as she is?

Suletta is a kind, hopeful young girl with humble if ambitious plans for the future, who does not wish pain or loneliness upon other people. She isn't an "I suffered so why shouldn't you?" person, she's an "I suffered and I don't want you to suffer too" person.

Suletta was raised to be kind, to be honest, to survive and to do her best. She's not brainwashed she's doing her best. She's not evil she's doing her best. She laughs and cries and is anxious and happy. She's a gentle person who pushes on to do her best anyway, even if she's scared.

So get off of y'alls high horses and "Suletta is brainwashed/is gonna snap and kill a bunch of people" bullshit. Prospera didn't raise a weapon, she raised a daughter and capable Pilot who can survive on her own even once she no longer needed her to raise Aerial's Permet score. She raised a gentle girl who did her best.

Suletta deserves better and I can only hope that Earth House continues to support her. Y'all need to have more faith in her as the heroic gundam protagonist she is, she's not a shonen hero who takes no lives personally ever.

Suletta is capable and strong and you all better remember it.

[the-eeveekins]

The 22nd Day of G-Witch: What We Can Do Now

It's been 2 weeks since the attack and Suletta is still working hard to help her fellow students.

I'm not going to lie, I feel like we as a fandom collectively willed Petra's survival through a week of huffing nothing but hopium that she somehow survived.

Miorine's complete breakdown through this episode is as difficult to watch as it is frustrating. She blames herself for the incidents on Earth (started by Prospera and made worse by Benerit security forces) and the school (in this case she probably correctly assumes that Shaddiq started the attack in response to Guel charging in). And while Prospera and Guel were working for her, it's still frustrating seeing her take the guilt and blame for their actions squarely on her shoulders. I imagine this isn't helped by the fact that she's come to realize that she was being strung along and manipulated by Prospera, and she walked right into it willingly.

You know what doesn't help Miorine's mindset? Shaddiq basically telling her that he decided to resort to terrorism because she turned him down, thus preventing his "peaceful" takeover of the Benerit Group. Another person's actions who she now feels guilty for.

Tomatoes are a symbol of love in G-Witch. And in this case, the tomatoes they grew together is the love nurtured between Miorine and Suletta. Even through everything, Suletta has kept tending to that love, and is now sharing it with everyone in the school. She still keeps Miorine in her heart.

It's great that we got closure to the little arc between Nika and Martin that started in episode 12, but this really should have been the conversation between Nika and Chuchu that was mentioned in the last episode but happened off-screen. I feel like the staff lost sight of their priorities a bit on this one.

Time for the first plot point that really got screwed up by the pacing/writing, and takes me back to something I talked about in episode 16.

Prospera makes a big deal that with a new President, her plans for Quiet Zero will be ruined, so she needs Miorine to run for president and win so that those can proceed smoothly. Now obviously the SAL catching onto her pushed her plans up and she had to deploy Quiet Zero before finishing it, but the events in this episode call into question if she ever really needed Miorine (or anyone for that matter) to become president to finish QZ, except maybe to buy her some time. She clearly bails after Earth and goes straight to QZ, erasing all data on the project in the process, and it's fairly clear that at no point does Miorine, as the new President, hand control of the project over to her. So she never needed Miorine to be president, she always had access to Quiet Zero itself. At best Prospera did need Miorine to become president to buy more time to finish the amplifiers (since unlike anyone else, she could count on Miorine staying out of her way as part of their deal), but it's made pretty clear later that taking them by force was on the table anyway.

So the episode really kind of just makes it look like Prospera never actually needed Miorine to be president in any way, shape or form for her Quiet Zero plans. And she only had Miorine run for the position so Prospera could use the opportunity to stain her hands with blood for no reason other than revenge against the Rembran family.

Suletta is incredibly strong. She loves her mother so much, and to just...talk about how she's not her mother's "real" daughter, that she's only a repli-child, and that no matter what, she doesn't think the mother she loves will actually listen to her because of that cannot be easy. But she does it all with a melancholic look and a smile on her face.

I would love to know how common repli-children are in Ad Stella. None of her friends seem to react to the fact that she's basically a clone, or make a big deal out of it. And Suletta, by now at least, seems to have accepted that fact of her existence and made peace with it. So it makes me wonder if it's not a rare or unheard of practice.

Suletta is also just incredibly brave. Not only has she gained a new motto to live by, one she came up with on her own, but she also wants to speak to her mother and sister one more time, no matter what. And even though she knows Eri has shielded her from Data Storms all her life, even though she knows she's being asked to a pilot a Gundam that has fewer protections from Data Storms than others, she still wants to move forward and talk to her family once more. Even if that means piloting a "monster" that will probably kill her to do it.

The Quiet Zero reveal is definitely a highlight of S2, especially the absolutely haunting and beautiful song composed by Takashi Ohmama for it. We very quickly see how overwhelmingly powerful Prospera and Ericht have become with Quiet Zero, and even before Ericht activated the override and destroyed them like fish in a barrel, the Gundnodes were absolutely tearing through an entire fleet of professional soldiers with ease.

Once again, Chuchu proves to be Suletta's closest friend and strongest ally. Knowing that Suletta could be walking to her death, and knowing that it's an incredibly dangerous situation, she still vows to make sure all of Earth House will be there to support her, so she's not alone. I love Chuchu.

I actually really appreciate that even though he was doing what he had to do to survive, Elan still makes a point to apologize to Suletta for being a creep towards her and trying to assault her. It does come across as being genuine because he does so without being prompted and he could have just tried to excuse it away as him needing to do what he needed to to survive if he had been questioned.

siiiiiiiiiigh

Fuck you, Lauda. You don't deserve the Schwarzette or the screentime.

I actually really hated this episode when I first watched it. I stumbled across the early leaks for the episode and was already pretty upset about certain things in them and I ended up just being pissed off the entire episode once I realized the leaks were real. I still have issues with it, but I've softened on it considerably since, especially Suletta's role. But this was absolutely the first episode where wasting time on episode 15 really did a number on the pacing and I started to have my doubts about if the show could pull off a satisfying conclusion.

[tifaisms]

G-Witch, Parents, and Conditional Love

So I watched the new episode, and wanted to make a post about the concept of unconditional and conditional love, and how it relates to Suletta, Miorine, and their parents.

So let's start with Suletta. Suletta has, in the 17 years of her life, never received unconditional love. Prospera using Suletta as a means to an end to get Eri back and the fact that Suletta had no father or really any sort of social life prior to school shows that she has never experienced unconditional love. It's why she feels the need to be useful so badly - the only time people have shown her love is when she provided something to them.

And then she went to school, and met Earth house and Miorine. Miorine grew to love Suletta, unconditionally, but she had to break her heart by claiming that it was always conditional - as long as you are the holder, and don't lose any duels, I will love you. This is obviously not true, but Miorine had to tell Suletta this to cut her loose and free her from Prospera, who had essentially molded her into a pawn, a tool to be used.

And it broke Suletta completely. She was so depressed because without realising it, she had become used to unconditional love, and then it was taken away and revealed to be fake, and it shattered her mental state. And the thing that ultimately brings her out of that, is unconditional love. Earth house show her that they don't love her for what she does for them, but for who she is. There is no reason for their love, because there doesn't need to be a reason, that is the POINT of unconditional love.

Now Miorine is fascinating because she has been shown unconditional love, but only once. From her mother, Notrette. Her father does not love her unconditionally, and none of the holders ever loved her unconditionally either. Until Suletta showed up.

Suletta didn't care about the title or what Miorine could give her at any point, really. But as she came to know Miorine, she developed feelings for her, and fell in love with her. Not because she is her bride or because she is the daughter of Delling Rembran, but because she is Miorine. Suletta has never known unconditional love and yet gives it so freely to Miorine, who has only known it once.

And as for how it ties into this episode, well, Notrette's love is literally the key. It's a literal password made of unconditional love that ultimately defeats an antagonist who refuses to show unconditional love to our protagonist.

In closing, I'd like to share a moment from one piece about the topic of conditional and unconditional love. As a character tries to justify someone showing him kindness and love, even dying to protect him, he is told "Don't try to find a reason for somebody's love. If you want to honour him, remember him. That's all you have to do. Your life is your own."

[adracat]

G-Witch episode 11 thoughts

This was an amazing episode!! The ball is rolling for Dawn of Fold and for our favorite girls. Ahhh I wasn't expecting a gundam Christmas miracle. Thank you G-Witch 🎁

Right off the bat, we're treated to another opening change with our eponymous witches from earth making their debut as antagonists. But let's delay the anxiety-inducing stuff for later. I wanna talk about how Suletta's doing...

And she's doing awful as expected. She's internalized her misconception of Mio's words in the last episode. She's thrown by Mio's assertion that she 'isn't needed' not understanding the compassion behind her actions and interpreting this as confirmation that Mio+others see her as a useless accessory. So she goes overboard trying to establish her worth, taking on extra chores and desperate to be useful. It's a relatable insecurity and so heart-wrenching.

Her words in this scene in particular say so much about Suletta's dim self-worth. Instead of asserting her meal was missing, she thinks it must be her fault. No one else is to blame ;-; We see if she had just spoken up, this little misunderstanding would be corrected. Just like with Mio.

Btw, Idk if I'm reading into this but as a child of a mother who was emotionally distant and exacting this feels painfully familiar-- and an indication of Prospera's true dynamic with Suletta. We get another hint towards this with Prospera's bland and ominous response to Bel later in the episode.

I love Belmeria though, and she remains the only adult I trust in this cutthroat corpo nightmare. Keep side-eyeing her, Queen.

Also, I find her conversation with Suletta a bit suspect. She offers a listening ear, but it just reeks of 'you don't need outside attachments beside me'. Again possibly reading into it and she could just be acting like a concerned mom... maybe.

But back to Suletta's gay misadventures, Miorine interrupts this mother-daughter chat and we're treated to the best sequence in the episode in search of her wayward groom. No lie, that chase animation was so smooth. I especially love how their hair behaves and the zeroG traversal.

Plus we're treated to Miorine being a flailing mess as she pursues Suletta like a screaming (and gay) Ghostface

Laughs aside, this was adorable. Miorine scolds her for fleeing and how it contradicts her moving forward philosophy. But Suletta is afraid and in her fear falls back on bad habits, which we can assume was returning to Prospera and allowing her mother to dictate how to act/think. Yet Miorine doesn't allow her, breaking her silence. She tells Suletta how much of an inspiring and positive influence she's been, dashing her pride once more to soothe Suletta's insecurity.

Miorine is so starkly vulnerable in this scene, declaring everything Suletta has become to her without any chance of miscommunication. For Mio, her prideful front was all she had before she met Suletta. Now, Miorine has so much more because of her and she won't allow Suletta to dismiss herself as nothing. It's so sweet, I'm gonna have a heart attack 😭

Shout out to Miorine acquiring the ugly blue keychain with a dopey smile. They're both so gone for each other; I don't wanna hear any slander about these precious babies. I'm so relieved the miscommunication was solved within an episode. It's a big pet peeve when some shows/books take an absurdly long time to resolve things.

Oh and terrorism is happening, but we kinda expected this. I do wonder if the leader is a remnant of Ochs Earth since both 'witches' are piloting Lriths, Ur and Thorn respectively. Poor Guel is certainly wrapped in a pickle. Jeturk is not having a good time either, as he's double-crossed by Shaddiq. But it's honestly his fault for expecting otherwise so, no pity.

Speaking of Shaddiq, he's being very cold-blooded here. I wonder if he's partly acting out of salt. If I can't have her, no one will sorta thing? Either way, I have to respect his ambition ngl.

Oh, and one of the witches, Sophie, seems to have an interest in Suletta's piloting so that's intriguing. Rivalry possibly?

I'm looking forward to how the attack concludes, but it's safe to say none of our main cast is going to have a good time. Suletta/Miorine are separated for now, but we shall see how long that lasts. Plz don't take until the next cour, I'm begging you :(

Have a bonus sulemio, Merry Christmas everyone~

[animehouse-moe]

The Witch From Mercury 7: Having A Ball

This was an episode of GWitch that definitely focused more on the unspoken than the spoken. I mean, you have Shaddiq going around Schmoozing both Miorine and Nika, there's Elan with his in-between conversation with Suletta, Lady Prospera doing her usual thing, and even Delling speaking between the lines for the support of his daughter.

So lets take a look between the lines, starting with Elan because I hate the real one. I'm assuming Peil was at least intelligent enough that they wanted Suletta on her own for Elan to work with, because the real deal doesn't even pretend to be like his stand in. The tone is entirely different, the mannerisms those of a completely different person, and the constant smiles. Absolutely dead giveaways which makes it so frustrating that Suletta doesn't pick up on it. I mean, she talks about him smiling as if that's not a red flag. But poor Suisei-chan, her interpersonal skills really need some work.

Next was the very odd connections of Shaddiq. It's no real surprise that Shaddiq and Miorine would see each other at these types of events, but the purpose of making mention of their shared history seems past what the viewer has at their disposal. Is he talking about a time before Miorine lost her mother, or from after that?

Then, there's the whole ordeal of Suletta's mother. Just how far ahead is she? There's pieces they do a really solid job with (mostly because of previous interaction), but there' still a handful of things that feel like Prospera's got an answer to everything. However, Prospera follows suit with the rest of the episode in that she sets herself up within it for her payoff, largely due to her chat with Miorine. I wouldn't say it was incredibly satisfying given how quick it happened, but I think this is really the best they could do where they can mix students and business people fairly effortlessly.

I really loved the double entendre here of the words of Miorine's father here. That being he's talking both about standing up for Suletta and running away to Earth.

Regardless of all the buildup and payoff in a single episode though, I definitely wasn't ready for Prospera to admit that Aerial was a Gundam so easily. I would have thought she'd put up a fight on that front at least even a little bit, but it seems not.

Overall, an interesting episode that keeps itself far more self contained than prior ones. It builds off the interactions and ideas of the previous, but their consequences and justification remain somewhat distant as everything that arises in this episode is subsequently either solved or purposefully left a mystery. There's no being left in the middle on any complications or challenges, so I'm very curious to see where we end up going to next now that Gundams are out in the open.

[valkyriecrane]

G Witch Ep 12 Thoughts

(Right, there's gonna be some foul language in this one, also MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR EP 12) What The Fuck Prospera, no seriously WHAT THE FUCK. "That Girl"!! "THAT GIRL"!!! I guess that's one way to reveal to the world how little you give a shit about the girl who wears your daughters face. Prospera is definitely the worst parent in this show, and that's saying something considering Mr. Delling "I'm gonna auction my daughter off to the best fighter" Rembran, and Mr. Vim "You lost too many battles, you're no longer my son" Jeturk are in this show. Talking of Vim, hands up who didnt see that one coming. Of all the parents who was in this show, he was never the one I expected to die first, and yet he does, glad that he's finally found his missing son, whom he loved but struggled to show it. Too caught up in status and politics to see what he was doing to his child.

And it killed him, once he realised what he lost. Killed by his own estranged son who through a lack of communication and time was forced to watch his father die by his own hand. Where this leaves Guel I dont know, perhaps he'll join with Shaddiq now, until he finds out what he's planning, and that he's ultimately responsible for the death of his father. Wouldnt that be something. Delling, the cold calculating businessman, who when it comes down to it, puts himself between an explosion and his daughter. All of the politicing, all of the lies and distance an attempt to protect his daughter, but then, just as the estrangement began to fade, it was torn away by others scheming. And now we come to the new enhanced witches, Sophie and Norea. They're fun, even if Sophie does have a slightly massive obsessive streak. I dont have much on them today, but I do want to touch on the idea that Sophie calls Suletta her 'big sister.' Now there are three things this could mean: - First, and most likely in my opinion, is that this is metaphorical, Suletta is Sophie's big sister in that she too pilots a gundam, and so they're all part of a big family of Witches, people persecuted and hated for the powers their suits posess. - Second, and a little less likely, although not by much, is that Suletta too is an enhanced person like Sophie and Norea, probably enhanced at the same facility they grew up in, and so Sophie feels a familial bond to her due to their shared origin. - Thirdly, and the completely batshit off the rails option, is that Suletta Mercury, is their full blood sister, who has been altered in much the same way EL4N and EL5N were, in order to give her the face and body of Ericht Samaya. Either way this is gonna be fun. Talking of Ericht, lets talk about the Aerial. Her new design is pretty interesting, even if it shares more similarities with the mobile suits of typically antagonistic forces than it does with a traditional Gundam now. That line about it 'not being designed for combat' solidifed my theory that the suits used in Asticassia are massively tuned down compared to actual combat use suits, so like, how powerful is the Aerial going to be when it gets tuned up. Finally, lets talk about Suletta Mercury. The Witch. The Cyber Newtype, the girl so conditioned to obey her mother that she'll straight up murder a guy and maintain her chill floppy exterior. I'm scared for her and Mio-Mio, I think this might be the action that sends them to opposite sides of the war, at least for now. Suletta goes from being terrified of killing, to happily doing it in a sentence from her mother. Suletta Mercury, what did Elnora do to you, what's Quiet Zero, and why can you casually enter Permet Six with no ill effects while others are almost dead at three. I cannot wait for April, this is gonna be such a long three months. Ah well, back to watching through Gundam-X I guess.

[incorrecttowerofgodquotes]

Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Season 2 Episode 2 Review

- There’s so much to talk about

- First, let’s start with the people I hate so I don’t have to think about them any more. Shaddiq and his loser harem. I fucking hate Shaddiq so much. This dickhead just got innocent kids killed and traumatized so many others for what? To be the new Grassley President? And all of his girls just follow his lead. Fucking brownnoses. The real question is why did he kidnap his father instead of just killing him? Is it because he’s scared if he does kill him, he won’t be the stated heir?

- Poor Nika. Her backstory was pretty sad. She just wants to live a happy life, and she wants others to have the same thing. However right when she was about to solidify her love for her friends, Shaddiq’s number one simp, Henoa, stopped her and probably kidnapped her. And now with Nika being branded a terrorist, and Earth House being arrested, she won’t be able to explain the situation and they’ll think the worst of her.

- The Jeturk curse hits once again with Lauda almost fucking dying. Dude literally just wants to avenge his brother and father and he’s getting fucked by the narrative. Meanwhile, Felsi seems to be feeling outcast since Petra has a crush on Lauda, and thus the two are leaving her behind. At the end of the day, the Jeturk house seems to be a family, all working to support each other.

- Chuchu was too powerful so life had to nerf her by giving her PTSD. She was about to go on a killing spree, but she snapped out of it when she realized that people needed to be saved. It shows just how kind she is under her big attitude. Even if she doesn’t like Spacians, she doesn’t want them to die, and she’ll prioritize their rescue over revenge. But now she’ll have to deal with the fact that her “big sister” was labeled a terrorist

- El5n once again being the ultimate babygirl. However we also get to see past his happy facade. He’s someone who desperately wants to live. He refuses to use his Permet because he sees no use in wasting his life. And his mention of El4n indicates that the two knew each other? Were they close? And how will El5n bond with Norea as the show is putting those two together. Finally, why did El5n become the body double when he knows the Permet will kill him? He says it’s because he wants to live, but wouldn’t becoming a Gundam pilot just kill him faster? I’m so interested in his story.

- Norea and Sophie. One wants revenge against the Spacians who destroyed her world, and one just wants what everyone else does. A nice home and warm meals and a happy family. But they’re Gundam pilots which means they’ll die before they’ll ever see their goals realized. They want so desperately to be happy but their circumstances means they can’t. And poor Sophie dies, and all Norea can do is mourn her and move on. But what will Norea do now? She seems set in her ways on destroying Spacians, but maybe El5n can break her from that curse. Maybe there can be a happy ending?

- Finally, the moment I’ve been waiting for. The reveal that Eri is the Aerial and Suletta is just a clone/second daughter. Eri’s conscience has been locked into the Aerial and when it goes Permet 6, she fully takes over. The side story implies Eri knows what’s going on and agreed with her mother, so will she be the true big bad? Or is she going to ultimately side with her little sister and protect her? How lonely she must be locked in a robot, never being able to love a normal life. And is there more? Cause once you get one kid in the suit, it’s not too hard to put more in there.

- Suletta almost broke out of her programming. She realized her mom put her in a suit of war and that she took a man’s life with its hands. She realized that her “siblings”, Sophie and Norea, were cursed. But then the brainwashing takes over. Aerial tells her that everything will be okay. Aerial doesn’t want her to feel guilt so it says that Suletta did no wrong. And Suletta, who wants to believe her mom is good, takes the bait and reconditions herself. Only Suletta can break herself free, but she needs support in Miorine and her friends.

- But where do we go from here? The school’s been attacked and people have died. What small basis GUND-ARM was gaining has been torn apart. Gundams are evil again. And maybe this pressure will make Miorine crack and finally take up Quiet Zero. And then no more wars and everyone will be happy! Yay!

[the-stray-liger]

This FUCKING EPISODE, man. I love Suletta, but this episode highlighted just how heartbreakingly mindless she is to a certain extent. She has some awareness of what she is doing is wrong, but because she trusts her mother and the Aerial, or rather her sister Eri to such an extent, she lets them make all the hard decisions for her. They can do nothing wrong in her eyes because she trusts them so implicitly... and that makes it just so PAINFUL, because of how eagerly Prospera abuses that trust for her own ends. Miorine can easily see just how much of a puppet that Prospera has turned her second daughter into, and she is BEYOND pissed... and yet there is little she can actually do in her position right now.

Elan 5 is feeling the pressure from the higher ups, and after his failure to procure the Aerial, as well as facing down Ericht's ghost in the process, lashes out at Belmeria, who despite her opposition to Prospera's own actions, has her own sins to answer for, as her own pursuit of enhanced human research spits in the face of the teachings and ideals of their shared mentor, Cardo Nabo. Her position is pitiful to an extent, sure, but the scary thing is that Prospera is RIGHT in this instance; for all of her posturing and assertation that Prospera is doing something terrible, Elan 5 is a walking reminder that no matter her justifications for it, Belmeria's hands are also stained with blood, and she can never escape from that fact.

... Meanwhile, Guel is back, yay! At the same time however, the weight of what he did back at Plant Quetta is still hanging over his head even as he reunites with his brother, and plans on making everything right again. What that actually is, we have no idea... but it could be anything at this point. There's no telling how things will turn out if, or rather when the truth behind their father's death makes itself known.

Prospera's chokehold on Suletta's mind and will would be exasperating if we weren't so aware of the incredibly fucked up context she comes from.

Prospera has groomed her from the beginning to become a tool in her insane plot for revenge, and if you think about it even Eri and Suletta are victims to a certain point of what happened in the prologue. Even if Miorine wasn't aware of that at first, she certainly could see that Suletta was not right, she wasn't thinking for herself and was even willing to let go of her most important dream and even kill because her mother said it would be okay to do it. Im still chewing on the fact that Miorine isn't angry at Suletta, she immediately ran to Prospera with the full intention to throw hands with her.

I still dont believe in the theory about Prospera using technological means to control Suletta. I have been in an abusive relationship before and I assure you, someone acting like they have your best interest in mind to win your trust when you're in a bad place can rewire your whole brain. I don't think Prospera has the need to mind control Suletta, all she needs is the fact that she is her mom and for all 17 years of Suletta's life she has been her entire world. Suletta had a very isolated childhood and no reason to question Prospera's authority. Im gonna eat my fucking keyboard

I LOVED that scene with Elan 5. I dn't like Elan5 but it was interesting to see how despite him being "better" than the previous Elan, he is still a replaceable tool, a result of Belmeria's enhanced human research and he faces the threat of being scraped just like Elan 4 did. It was fascinating to me that Elan 4 could pilot Aerial without resistance from Eri, but when Elan 5 tried to he got caught in the data storm and Eri herself told him "get out". What is the difference between the Elans if they're both technically the same thing when it comes to permet score abilities and even perhaps biometrics? Why did Eri attack Elan 5??? is it because he sucks because he does suck a lot

I think Elan 5 is a dick but at the same time, I also have complicated feelings for Belmeria, which is always a good sign in gundam. On one hand she was like you siad as much of a victim as Prospera and was forced to take on the human enhancement project that Cardo Nabo didn't approve of. But on the other hand, she forced the Elan's into this life in which they are killed without remorse and replaced by the next poor bastard because they're! fucking replaceable! they're less than human! and Elan is right to be angry about it imo. I still don't like him, but I feel for him almost as much as I did for my Elan.

And don't get me started I see red when I think about dr Cardo Nabo she was a wonderful character and I'm still mad she died in the prologue djasñdfñasda

I was surprised to see Guel back from earth so soon! I was almost sure we were gonna get a little more of him bonding with Olcott, but I can't complain, it's always a treat to see him. And again something I really appreciate of gwitch is the breaking of tropes that would make characters simple. Im glad that Lauda and Petra show genuine joy and relief to see Guel again! Lauda literally fainted! my boy loves his brother so much! Guel deserves so much love. I wonder what his plans are for the future. What happened at plant Quetta certainly broke him but now he seems more calm and sure of himself, and he said he was going to take care of things? is he planning to take over the company? eyes emoji??? what is Bob planning we just don't know.jpeg!!!!

Not even gonna touch the whole Earth House problem right now because it's A Lot. Of course they got blamed for the terrorist attack and are being literally assaulted by other spacian students and honestly that made me so angry I really hoped Chuchu would jump on them and give them the fight they were looking for. And btw kudos to Chuchu for actually bowing her head and thanking Miorine for her efforts to bring back Nika. And shoutout to Miorine seeing everyone smiling at her and feeling happy and right at home among the earth kids. That was such a sweet scene and it added some much needed levity in a really heavy episode.

Seriously this episode had my head spinning. My heart was beating so fast through all of it. I can't wait for next week aaaaaaaaaaaa

[waterloggedsoliloquy]

G-Witch does something wonderful with how it depicts Prospera as a manipulative/abusive parent. A LOT of the time abusers in media are shown to be chess-master unfeeling manipulators, but this doesn’t really reflect abuse in reality and does a disservice to abuse survivors. The fact of the matter is that most abusers care very much for the people they have power over-- they would not go through such lengths to maintain control over a relationship they did not truly care about. This is so much more interesting and reflective of those real life relationship dynamics, and it gives us the audience a better sense of why Suletta is so receptive to her mother’s shady behavior (even though it screams obviously sketchy to us!)

Prospera cares about her daughters, which is why she’s willing to use them as her pawns. She wants to participate in Suletta’s life and to guide Suletta through adolescence. And Suletta, who still believes in the adults of her world as role models to emulate (as opposed to Miorine, Guel, and Shaddiq, whose parents have all disappointed them in one way or another), actively seeks out that guidance, and finds it easy to accept. Whatever mom says is good, is good- because mom is good. Suletta has no reason to believe otherwise that her mother might be “bad”. 

In the season finale, Prospera guides Suletta through the dire circumstances by telling her the truth-- that Suletta does have the power to protect people and should use it, but dismisses Suletta’s feelings about it and guides her towards dissociating from violence by use of her mantra. Prospera keeps things from Suletta and obfuscates things, but she rarely lies (and the big lie about Aerial’s nature gets dismissed on like the 6th episode). It's much, much easier for an abuser/manipulator to use truth to string along their victim than to spin a lie that they need to consistently maintain.

telling abuse survivors that their abuser didn’t really love them does a disservice in two ways:

1. it implicitly confirms to the victim the very worst of their fears: that they were never loved, and perhaps they are unloveable 

2. it makes it more difficult for the survivor to identify positive, healthy, nurturing love if all instances of unhealthy, harmful, and regressive love are dismissed as "not counting".

something something that john darnielle quote. lemme get it.

"The point of the song is, you know, that we are fairly well damaged by the legacy of the Romantic poets--that we think of love as this, you know, thing that is accompanied by strings and it's a force for good, and if something bad happens then that's not love. And the therapeutic tradition that I come from--I used to work in therapy--you know, also says that it's not love if it feels bad. I don't know so much about that. I don't know that the Greeks weren't right. I think they were--that love can eat a path through everything--that it will destroy a lot of things on the way to its own objective, which is just its expression of itself, you know. I mean, my stepfather loved his family, right? Now he mistreated us terribly quite often, but he loved us. And, you know, well, that to me is something worth commenting on in the hopes of undoing a lot of what I perceive as terrible damage in the way people talk about this--love is this benign, comfortable force. It's not that. It's wild, you know?" 

(especially since abusers can and will justify their actions to themself and to others with “i did it for love, an unconditionally good thing, so no matter who i had to hurt or what i had to do is ultimately justified”)

[wxtchpilot]

Everything felt like a nightmare. Was it something she did, or said? When did it start going downhill?

No, it all started from that moment, her hand caked with blood, reaching out for the one that looked so pristine, so clean, so horrified at her presence.

A smile would be fitting, no? She came there to rescue her and her father, to save their lives. Just in the nick of time too! It was just like in her stories, Miorine would thank her and take her hand.

Instead, she was terrified of her.

Being called a murderer only confused her at the time.

Why was she scared? Why did she stare at her with such disgust and fear?

'I did it to save her and her father...'

Maybe she was expecting praise, something she never got. It's been awkward since then, Suletta not speaking or talking with Miorine for two weeks, and even after she came back, the air between them was heavy.

Her mother said that she would be grateful, that her actions were necessary, and Miorine would thank her.

And for a second, she believed for that to be true. Miorine did mention thanking her instead.

'Just like mom said!'

Just like her mother said.

Move forward, gain two...just like her mother said.

She moved forward, yet she lost.

"You're a repli-child, created from my genes." "We don't need you anymore!" "Eri can move on her own!"

'It's not true...'

"What Eri says is true. Go back to the school, Suletta. Being there can fill your heart."

Was she saying her heart was empty now?

'I lost...'

Her mother, her sister...

"You made a good shield."

Her hands gripped the pillow even tighter, fingers digging into the soft material.

Ever since she was rescued from space, Suletta refused to come out of her room. Of course everyone asked questions, how did things go, why was she out in space, was she okay.

She couldn't even admit she never met up with Miorine, how would they react to what she's been told? She's always been a replacement, something to use until her purpose was fulfilled. Only then would they cast her aside.

Would Earth House do the same? She didn't have Aerial, she wasn't the Holder anymore, what would they do once they found out that she wasn't even---

"Ms. Suletta...?" "!!"

The sound of Lilique's soft, and hesitant, voice interrupted her thoughts, Suletta pulling the pillow away ever so slightly from her face to see the girl standing in the darkness.

She looked to be holding a tray, Suletta smelling the food from here. Lilique wasn't making eye contact with her but she stood firmly in place, tray in hand.

"I brought you some food, if you'd like..."

How long has it been since she's eaten? It would be wise to have something in her stomach, her natural senses knowing that her body needed it, maybe even wanted it.

But the thought of eating made her sick, thinking about how their kindness easily could be fake, just for show.

It was only a matter of time before they turned on her too. Or maybe, she believed she didn't deserve it.

Imagining those faces twisted with anger, disgust, disappointment.

Suletta clenched her teeth, turning herself away from the girl.

"...no. I'm not hungry..." "...oh..."

She didn't need to see her face to tell she was disappointed by her comment.

"Then...I'll come back and check on you later, okay?"

Suletta didn't respond but Lilique left not expecting one.

There was a strange feeling building within her chest, an emotion she's never truly felt before. Was it despair? It was much different than her sense of loneliness or sadness. Her body ached, her chest in particular.

They were concerned about her, they deserved answers, but she barely understood everything herself.

How could she explain that her sister was inside of a mobile suit? That she was a replica of her? That her mother did everything for her?

Was she merely a replacement for her real daughter? Did Suletta ever matter to her? Did she look at her, wishing that she was Ericht instead?

Was it hard to look at her? Is that why she was never around back when she was on Mercury? ...is it why she stopped coming to her birthdays?

Suletta figured it was due to work, her mother was a busy woman after all. But why lie? Why send her to the school just to get Ericht to a high enough permet score so she could move on her own?

Did Miorine know? Is that why she left her?

No, just like she said before, she knew she didn't have a chance with Miorine so why was she so confident? She came to the school with nothing, and now she really did have nothing.

Her fingers tugged at the cloth. How tempting it was to rip it.

So many questions and no one bothered to give her the answers she so desperately craved.

They left her behind. Normally she'd create excuses for them.

'I lost, that's why she left.' 'I'm sure mom and Ericht have their reasons...' 'I must have done something wrong.'

Why? Why is it like this? Why did she have to make excuses? Why blame herself? Why did they use her?

'Just explain it to me!'

That feeling in her chest exploded, the girl sitting up and throwing the pillow across the room. She took hold of her hair, tangling her fingers into the red curls.

'They're fake, it isn't mine!'

Her hair, her face, her eyes, her entire body; it belonged to Ericht.

'I'm not unique, I'm just a shell for her!'

Only her name belonged to her, Suletta Mercury.

But outside of that, what else was she?

Who was she?

Maybe her mother was right. Maybe her heart truly was empty.

However, none of that mattered. Ericht and her mother already knew who they were and what they were going to do.

But the question remained---

What would Suletta Mercury do?

[skye-huntress]

The Witch from Mercury Reaction

Episode 12: “Keep Marching on Instead of Running Off”

I am so very late getting this out. Winding back to the night it aired, I recall this intense feeling of apprehension, so I wasn’t in the mood to record my thoughts during or after the show, so I called it a night. After that, I got distracted by one thing or another so I had to force myself to sit down and do a rewatch. I like doing this, I want to do more of this for other things I enjoy, but I don’t keep up the habit it’d be difficult to start over. With that explanation out of the way, here are my thoughts on the Season 1 finale.

That Sophie really has a few screws loose. Giving her dramatic and theatrical introduction to Suletta… who can’t possibly see or hear her!

“The girl will come to us.” “The girl”? That’s some reductive language to use for your own daughter. That said, this reiterates that Suletta is still important to Prospera’s plans. Perhaps she has a certain synergy with Aerial that Prospera just couldn’t match. Just as she needed Ericht to pilot the Lfrith, she needs Suletta to pilot Aerial.

Interesting choice for Jeturk to pilot a suit himself. Perhaps it is that same sense of pride (or arrogance) to take control of one’s own fate that we’ve seen in Bob few times

Why can’t Delling just tell his daughter to put on a space suit without framing it as a criticism?

So despite being Lfrith models like Aerial, these new Gundam’s still seem to function the same as every other Gundam we’ve seen. So the question is, is the technology less dangerous or is there something different about the pilots to keep them from dying?

“The Antidote” doesn’t work on them either, though it’s clear raising the Permit score to 4 puts a severe strain on the body. Sophie’s comment about still being alive is probably something to take note of. I might have an idea or two of what that’s about but perhaps its best to wait until we learn more about the Witches from Earth

That pollution comment is one I take interest in. Using live ammunition in space is especially dangerous, especially when fired so recklessly. Fire a bullet on Earth, and a combination of air resistance and gravity will limit how far and how fast it travels. In the vacuum of space, any object fired will keep its momentum until it hits something. While I’m sure Norea has very valid criticisms of Spacians, especially in regards to Earth’s pollution, she is just as despicable for disregarding this issue even if you ignore the terrorism and murder.

Of course Suletta’s first thought is to save Miorine.

Wasn’t expecting to hear anything about what actually happened to Miorine’s mother. I think I’m starting to get a sense of what Delling is like, though do not get me wrong, he’s still a massive asshole who should probably be sitting in prison.

This is starting to feel a lot like the prologue, what with the ordinary workers just going about their day being murdered indiscriminately.

Looks like Earth House made it despite holing up in a massive target. Of course, it’s difficult to give credit to Nika when she was partially responsible for endangering everyone in the first place. Now the question lingers about how the confrontation with Martin will turn out.

Oh look, Bob got his first win in 11 episodes… and he still loses! Definitely the series’ punching bag. That said, on his account, this was just horrendously bad luck. As for his father, I’d almost consider it karma if I actually thought such a thing existed.

So now the scene between Suletta and Prospera is one I wanted to watch again closely. It’s difficult for me to find fault with anything Prospera is saying because there is clear logic there. This is a kill or be killed situation where surrender and negotiation are not an option. Still Suletta has a certain child-like innocence to her, while also having been moulded by Prospera over the years to be a weapon.

I think the real issue has to do with the mantra, “run, gain one; move forward, gain two”. There are many situations where that works, especially for someone who lacks confidence like Suletta, however it doesn’t always work like that. The prologue proved there are cases where running is the better option. There are also situations where there are more options than “forward” or “run”. Of course, this situation wasn’t it.

There are a number of other nuances regarding this issue as well, but considering they were in the middle of a crisis, it wouldn’t be fair to fault Prospera for not bringing them up, even if she never has any intention to. It just wasn’t the time or place to discuss morality, ethics, rules of engagement and all number of topics. For better and worse, Prospera’s method of encouraging Suletta was probably the difference between life and death for Miorine and a number of other people.

Aerial has received quite the upgrade, but the result I think makes her look less friendly and more intimidating. In other words, more like a true machine of war. I take issue with that. I agree with Sophie, I prefer the old look, too.

Even in the middle of the fight, with life or death consequences, Aerial managed to check the status of Earth House and their ship.

Two Gundams, using live ammo, and they still can’t even scratch Aerial

I’m questioning what it is that Sophie actually wants from Suletta. To fight her? Screw her? Both?

At first, I was somewhat peeved that the credits started after Suletta and Aerial located Miorine, then the after credits scene started and that strong sense of anxiety I had before came back with interest.

I can’t really fault Suletta for that action. There was a terrorist with a gun pointed at her fiancée and she was in a giant robot that wasn’t designed to fight humans on foot. There was an extremely tight window for her to react before he got a shot off. That the action was so gory could not have easily been avoided if that were even possible.

I also can’t fault Miorine’s reaction to seeing that display from her perspective up close, having blood and dismembered body parts make contact with her. There’d probably be something deeply wrong with her if that didn’t freak her the fuck out.

The part that gets me though is how seemingly unaffected Suletta is to the gory mess she created. I get that she now thinks killing to protect those you love is a “good thing”, but she just fell in a pool of blood. It seems unnatural that she is this desensitised to violence after seeing her mother shoot someone in front of her. I’m not too surprised since there is already plenty of evidence she has been conditioned to perform this level of violence. If that’s true, there’s only one person that can help Suletta but she might not be in the right frame of mind right now.

Prediction time

It’s possible Bob will be picked up by search and rescue and interrogated. However, it seemed like one of the Dawn of Fold (Olcott?) spotted his suit as the retreat was sounded so it is possible they picked him up instead. Knowing his bad luck, I’d bet on the latter. That could get interesting. If they know who he is and find out what he did, they could take advantage of him in any number of ways for their own cause. After all, he is the official punching bag of The Witch from Mercury. Actually, given who he is, there’s a solid chance he could be chained to the ceiling and used as a literal punching bag. Seems like the kind of thing Sophie would do.

There’s a high probability that if the rift between Suletta and Miorine isn’t dealt with quickly and effectively, Number 5 will not hesitate to take advantage of it. The Peil faction doesn’t seem like they want to deal with the Dawn of Fold, they just want the secrets behind Aerial, probably more so knowing how effortlessly she fought off two Gundams at once.

As for Suletta and Miorine, this is more of a long term prediction, but I don’t believe we’re close to done with them yet. I do believe they’ll eventually overcome this, and then be met with even more challenges that make this one seem manageable in comparison. After all, even without knowing a thing about Gundam, I had no illusions that it would be smooth sailing for this ship. The drama may hurt, but that just makes it all the more satisfying to see them overcome it and beat the odds. Ultimately, I still think they’ve got a decent shot at being endgame.

That’s it for me, I think. I’ll definitely do this again for Season 2. Meanwhile, I’ll think about what else I want to write about.

[gravitysoda]

okay i gotta make a textpost about it tags arent enough and i need to rant. Gwitch’s ending was pretty lame considering how good the rest of the series was. Like, it’s not so catastrophic that i hate the show now, but it was just so messy. The introduction of big threats like the giant space laser, the failure to establish stakes of things like quiet zero, which we’ve known about for almost a whole season but never really got a proper explanation for, the lack of actual consequences for actions…the way prospera’s literal terrorist acts and the abuse of her daughter are just hand waved away are just…ugh.

I also didn’t really like the scene where Suletta said she’d support Prospera even if she made the wrong choice. Like, seriously? Isn’t the point that Suletta CAN and WILL oppose her mother’s wrong actions now? You could argue she says that because she knows Prospera WILL make the right choice, but then why even say it in the way she did instead of saying she knows she’ll do what’s right? Not to mention even after that, Prospera still only hugs Eri and only acknowledges Suletta is there. I wish if we’re gonna have that scene she could at least hug them both, because I’m still not convinced she truly wants to change and care about Suletta like she does Eri.

Besides them, giant space laser accomplished absolutely nothing and was a waste of precious time and only served to create more unbelievable circumstances for everyone to somehow live through (as an aside, not that I wanted anyone to die, but it feels cheap that there were absolutely no physical consequences of all this besides a little bit of permet scarring on Suletta). It shouldn’t have even been there. If this is a Gundam focusing on interpersonal relationships, then we did not need the secondary antagonist swooping in at the last second when the show’s conclusion would have had much more punch and cleaner writing by just focusing on Suletta, Eri, and Prospera (and maybe Miorine and MAYBE Notrette).

Also the Jeturk plotline should have been wrapped up earlier lol they also ate up random time at the end and I just could not bring myself to give a fuck about Lauda. Just glad he didn’t end up murdering Guel for no reason.

This show would have had a much better conclusion without introducing and trying to cram in so much stuff at the end and by pacing itself better.

…but hey, at least Sulemio are canonically married LOL

[theskyexists]

gundam ep

The funny thing about Miorine is that she’s fanservice. she’s fanservice for ME and it isnt even entirely divorced from your regular shit fanservice. those see through tights whatever they’re called in english. BUT IT IS EFFECTIVE ON ME, ME!!!! because miorine is a whole person, stubborn, smart, passionate, and most of the girls just wear their normal gender-neutral uniform animated to look like normal regular unsexyfied human beings. SO THE SE THROUGH TIGHTS ARE ACTUALLY EFFECTIVE. THEY ARE A CONTRAST.

I LOVE HOW MIORINE HAS MANAGED TO FIND A WAY TO DUEL. SHE’S TRULY THE QUEEN WITH A KNIGHT AND SOLDIERS AT HER BECK AND CALL NOW

i already know that they are going to very effectively lift this conflict from ‘game’ to ‘battle’, from queen to commander

lololololol whatever her name is is protecting the honour of her 12th backup boyfriend.

her mother CRIES at her daughters being such an incredible team that Aerial can even push through a supressor (oh...she lost a husband to such technology of course...)

i do really like shaddiq, but he really thought he could beat the gundam with an ace team and suppressors? i mean that does make sense but.... why didnt he fight for miorine before i wonder....those tomatoes are such great visual metaphors - unripe.

they did say that one can refuse a duel. why not just refuse duels suletta?

SHE EVEN LETS SULETTA TAKE CARE OF THE GREENHOUSE IN HER ABSENCE THE FUCKING POWER OF THIS METAPHOR

they bought out TWO development teams. why are the high schoolers testing out these legs. did the development teams make them and sent them to the school for testing? why?

this is - as far as i can tell - completely unrealistic economo-babble lol

i love the league woman and mio negotiating. honestly it really goes to show that mio has no concept of how possible it is for your space pilot to kill you

they need a ‘spacious’ place. the whole school, the whole forest around teh school???

what the fuck. Delling had his son, heir to the house, clean spaceships? what is going on in these parents’ minds???????

shaddiq is funding an earthian community?

‘you work for peil yet you’ve been helping us’ WHERE IS THE BOUGHT OUT PEIL TEAM??

oh evil pretty Elan is so good at being seductive. i feel honestly like this anime was made for me lololol.

there is truly zero doubt in my mind that people can survive in space and theyre not adapted. these people live their whole lives in space without problem! what the fuck are tehy talking about

how did miorine buy a spaceship and not a pr team? i can only intuit that the video makes for a non-threatening impression and maybe that was her intention...

WHY are they bringing the whole team and the goats....

how the fuck do these kids get to drive a spaceship lol

AH. that’s how she convinced Delling. he’s got a Gundam project of his own that she convinced him she could deliver essential data for....

Suletta is so fucking annoying for being so goddamn fragile lol. makes ya want to shake her.

damn ok instead she gets punched first in teh boob (no problem) but then mio gets a hit on the solar plexus. the writers for this show are really good. the loose threads are getting tied up, the characters have multiple motives, and comedy is combined very well with drama.

Damn miorine KNOWS what she wants. And what she wants is Suletta.

ok so apparently groomly duties are also cleaning her room lol. this was super gay. fascinating how they stick to homosexual relationships being accepted and ordinary, but they still play with the audience’s expectations - suletta’s and miorine’s expectations of friendship romance and intimacy, the political game, japanese inclination to dismiss romance between girls as not actually real and the possibility that despite homosexual relationships being ordinary in this world they are not the SAME as straight relationships and interact IN-WORLD with everything previous.

LFRITHS!!!!!!!!!!!! VANADIS CONNECTION

wtf theyre doing an all out atttack. woudlnt sneaking in work better

ohhh shaddiq is betting on Jeturk man dying in the attack. hm

why is prospera so convinced that suletta will find THEM

the intro is actually really good

how in the hell did suletta survive that.

shaddiq didnt even fucking warn miorine or nika that this was gonna happen

ah.......jeturk was not the one who sent guel away. Shaddiq deliberately put him in harms way....if it was shaddiq. probably. the writers were cleverer than me.

I LOVE how sulettas shounen fucking phrase got Elan killed, Jeturk killing his dad, and Suletta indoctrinated to KILLLLLL. some pmmm shit. they went: lets use the tropes you know and MASH THEM TOGETHER WITH WAR!!!!!!!

the visual metaphors in this are so simple and beautiful. her moving forward was bout friends and connections and self-confidence in social situations one episode ago. NOW IT IS ABOUT MURDERING

they havent even confirmed a kill on delling

oh that was the last one. the quality of this series is the best in years and years.

god guel got such a terrible terrible terrible deal out of life now. if shaddiq is responsible... wait hold on. maybe guel left of his own accord to go work a shitty job.....that makes more sense than shaddiq putting him in harms way. normally anime spell so much out but not this bit.

[animehouse-moe]

Mobile Suit Gundam - The Witch From Mercury Season 2 Episode 2: What They Wish For

Maybe with the break in seasons, and having a chance to mull things over, I've found that that overall story and direction can be a bit crass at times. Or maybe it's the shift in material and the feeling of rushing towards a goal that exposes the pieces more than the first season. Whichever it is, there's still plenty of great parts to the episode, and one massive reveal, so there's more than enough to chat about.

⚠️Warning: Massive Spoilers Ahead⚠️

So, let's start with the big reveal. The fandom from effectively episode 1 of the first season has been on the "Ericht is Aerial" theory. And I'll say it straight up, I'm not a big fan of it really. It's hard to explain because there's a lot to my reasoning, but if I had to choose something, it's largely about how Prospera approaches revenge and justification. She uses Ericht as a tool still, yes, but lovingly refers to her as her daughter and is going to quite literally change the world for her. I felt like Prospera's distance as a mother was far stronger/better when assuming that Aerial was still 'inhuman'. Though, in the first place, was Aerial ever inhuman? Even in the prologue, Ericht was able to talk with Lfrith fairly easy.

Also, perhaps it's a stylistic choice as it centers around Prospera's conversation, but I found the visualization of a young Ericht to be rather odd, and largely due to the interlude novel Cradle Star, which you can read here for free. Anyways, the point is that the novel is from Aerial/Ericht's perspective, and so their monologue can be taken at face value. In the novel they come off far form the existence of a child, but then even further into the timeline than that interlude novel we have Ericht represented as a child still. Just sort of something that bothers me within the context of it all.

Now, what do I like about it? Well, there's talks of Prospera and Delling and "Gods", but the visuals given already paint a better picture. Ericht is already viewed as a God. The entire scene of Sophie reaching out towards Aerial/Ericht is pretty obvious in that sense. Whether they use this symbolism in opposition to the hubris that Prospera and Delling are attempting to commit is a different story, but I can really appreciate their use of the "blessed child" when those around them are cursed.

While on the topic of Sophie, I did like her story. I feel they could have done more to create more dissonance between her desires and her actions considering that she's so young, but I think they just made the cut to sell the moment.

I guessed what I've realized while writing this all out is that this second season just needs more time. Within two episodes this season we've had: Ericht revealed, Sophie killed, Prospera's end goal exposed, an effective war declared on Earth, and all of Shaddiq and Elan's scheming. It feels like a lot to take in when you consider the pacing of the previous season. Not that you can't speed things up, but most people prefer a decline rather than a cliff.

As an example, think back to the first season. Elan first expressed interest in Suletta through her first duel. He spent time around her, got angry about her being "blessed", had a whole character arc, and then was terminated. Sophie just isn't there as an "important" character. She doesn't give viewers anything to grab onto, anything to really feel in her short time with Suletta. We get the same sentiment she speaks about during her fights, and we get a slideshow of her interactions.

It just feels like the story's on a schedule for season 2. It has its eyes on the prize and isn't letting anything get in the way, so the pacing feels incredibly brisk after the long break we had between seasons. That's not to say that there isn't good or redeeming aspects in season 2, but if there were to be any concerns or issues, it absolutely lies in the pacing and heavy-handed nature that has been adopted for this stretch of episodes.

Thankfully, we're only 2 episodes in to the season so there's plenty of room to rectify things, and we've still been getting incredible visual work. In terms of direction, were spoiled with the final episode of the first season, so I wouldn't say it's been "stellar" work in comparison to that, but it's more than satisfying.

So at the end of the day, I'd say there's tradeoffs being made. We get more action and more "gundam" stuff, but it's at relative cost to the story and its progression. Only time will tell if it ends up worth it or not, but I certainly believe these episodes that are getting the ball rolling for Season 2 feel at odds with the nature of the first season.

[the-stray-liger]

Honestly, the last few episodes of Witch From Mercury have been a wild fucking ride. Especially considering how painful the last episode has been for Suletta, especially since she was confronted with the one-two punch of the fact that the Aerial is in fact a Gundam, and that her mother deliberately lied to her about it. Hell, it's transparently clear that, judging by Prospera and Miorine's conversation, she's become a cruel, manipulative person in the time between the Prologue and the show proper, and we've only just begun to scratch the surface of her duplicitous bullshit.

To put it simply, it is ON FUCKING SIGHT FOR PROSPERA. Fuck Prospera Mercury, all my homies hate Prospera Mercury.

Oh not gonna lie, I feel terrible for both Miorine and Suletta (specially for Suletta. Suletta's constantly being manipulated and pushed around by a lot of people without regard for her safety or thoughts, and I specially found the way Prospera just casually told her she had been lying to her about the Gundam Aerial incredibly cruel) but I fucking love Prospera. I am an incredibly resentful and vengeful person so I resonate a lot with characters that are willing to manipulate and hurt and lie and do literally anything in order to fullfill a vendetta, which is why I loved Char so much in 0079 and Zeta before CCA made me want to fucking push him into a woodchipper. Of course I hate that Prospera has no qualms in using Suletta and the Aerial, but I love a the-end-justifies-the-means kind of bitch.

I feel like we really haven't had a Char clone that resembles Char Aznable in that aspect in a really long time because most series focused on the rival aspect. Putting a Char clone as the mother of the protagonist really gives it a different twist, specially when you give it a personality and motivations like Prospera's. And I also feel like Prospera is turning out to be even more twisted and cruel than Char in a sense because at least Char left Artesia out of his schemes (it was still cruel to abandon her and fake his own death), but Prospera is blatantly using her own daughter to reach her goals. And I fucking love that shit

I did also love her conversation with Miorine because as mean spirited and cruel as it was, it forced Miorine to confront her privilege. Miorine may hate her father, but as Prospera said she still benefits from his power, and in this episode she actually was spurred into recognizing that and bowing to her father and using that to protect Suletta. It also shows how angry Prospera is. She straight up left out the most venemous speech towards Miorine because of who her father was without flinching.

Prospera is an incredibly dangerous person and I also love that about her.

Anyway this episode was incredible for me. I would rant more about Miorine and how good she was in this episode, but the ask was Prospera focused so Im gonna stick to that for now. I still can't get over the fact that we're getting a series so focused in so many different and intensely nuanced female characters with a whole spectrum of personalities and motivations and relationships. I specially didn't expect it from a franchise that hasn't been precisely known for being super feminist, but I AM BEING FED