The Official Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Anime Thread Mk I

[PowerdGNFlag]

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In fact, Thai sub actually has Prospera outright call Aerial her daughter.

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It's not only Thai, most of the other languages I checked explicitly connect "her daughter" to "Aerial" from her previous line. Ultimately there's probably some nuance in the original lines that I missed, but that's about as confirmatory as I expect it to be at this point.

[Dark Duel]

Okay, that was gratifying as all get out to watch.

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As much as I like Pharact as a design, after he ruthlessly cut Guel's borrowed Dilanza to ribbons previously, it was intensely satisfying to watch Elan find himself on the receiving end of a comparable whupping.

I kinda feel bad for Guel after what happened, though he's taking it like a champ. Hope his fortunes improve in the future.

On the other hand, the end of the episode...

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gave me flashbacks to the prologue in the worst possible way. And speaking of the prologue, that pulse Aerial used to disable Pharact's GUND-Bits looks like it uses the same technology as the Beguir-Beu did against the Lfriths in the prologue.

So all in all, another good episode.

But then there's that bit of dialogue in the beginning...On the one hand, it's pretty clear to me that it's ambiguous whether

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Prospera is referring to Suletta or Aerial when she mentions her "daughter", which is mildly creepy but fits with the character so far.

On the other, there's the timeframe question.

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That 21 years comment threw me for a loop. Then again, it's exceedingly unlikely that Belmeria was present at Fólkvangr at the time of the attack, so it could simply be that it's been 21 years since these two women have seen each other, and not necessarily that it's been 21 years since the destruction of Ochs Earth. Time will tell...

One final comment: The real heroes today IMO are Nika and her team, who

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cobbled together a functional high-performance thruster unit for Aerial literally from scrap they had lying around.

Congratulations to Earth House!

[Seto Kaiba]

Somebody'd better pick up the phone... because I f***ing called it.

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Exactly as predicted, the writers realized they'd written themselves into a corner and took the laziest possible route out of it.

Suletta Mercury uses a (perfected) Gundam in her duel against Guel Jeturk and its unusual permet readings and unusual combat performance are evidence enough for the Mobile Suit Development Council to invalidate the duel result and launch a major inquiry that results in the Aerial being impounded for study and Suletta being arrested and placed in solitary confinement on suspicion of being a "witch". The only reason Suletta is not exiled and expelled, and the Aerial not scrapped, is because Prospera Mercury blackmails Jeturk house into siding with her in her ridiculously flimsy and obviously false "the Aerial is not a Gundam, honest" argument.

Elan Ceres uses a Gundam in his duel against Guel Jeturk and its unusual permet readings and even more unusual and showy combat performance results in... *checks notes*... no challenge to the duel's result, no inquiry, and no consequences of any kind for Elan Ceres or his corporate sponsor.

That's right, exactly as I predicted the writers noticed they'd written themselves into a corner and took the easy way out by having every character in the story who's been watching the situation like a hawk because the Aerial is still suspected of being a Gundam somehow fail to notice that the Pharact is far more suspicious than the Aerial and far more blatant about its Gundam-ness. Why? Because if the Gundam Pharact gets outed as a Gundam then it'll be really obvious the Aerial is too, and that's game over for Suletta and Prospera. So everyone in the story who's been investigating the Aerial has to grab the idiot ball so the story can go on. TWICE.

Oh hey, and while it was debatable if he said it over an open radio channel last time...

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Elan ABSOLUTELY said that the Pharact is a Gundam over the radio this time.

This episode is basically all flash and no substance.

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Suletta and Elan duel. Elan gets some minor character development and is apparently disposed of (read: "executed") for his failure by the end of the episode. Guel Jeturk is living in a tent on the Asticassia School's grounds now because his dad is pissed that he took another MS to duel and got his sh*t wrecked by a Gundam... but doesn't challenge the duel results regarding this obvious Gundam that DOES produce a detectable permet data storm.

[BrentD15]

But then there's that bit of dialogue in the beginning...On the one hand, it's pretty clear to me that it's ambiguous whether

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Prospera is referring to Suletta or Aerial when she mentions her "daughter", which is mildly creepy but fits with the character so far.

I really liked that.

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She probably sees the Gundam Aerial project as "her baby" as much as Suletta, and might see them as two sides of the same coin.

[MythSearcher]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachment ... 40528.jpeg
Enough said.

[Ryujin]

I was considering that, with the

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whole 21 years thing, maybe Prospera had simply remarried on Mercury & conceived Suletta before the second husband died as per official records, but it doesn't line up with the short story. It states that mother & daughter arrived on Mercury & the daughter is strongly inferred to be Suletta, but I don't know if 'daughter,' in the original JP, is referred to ambiguously or clearly in the singular.

There's also all the imagery from the Yoasobi MV to think about.

Also quite curious about all of Prospera's one-sided phone conversations

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suggesting an unknown, yet powerful backer on the other end of the line? And of smoking out Belmeria, the other 'witch'--which would imply that Prospera, not Suletta, is the titular Witch from Mercury?

Anyways, Okouchi himself tweeting tie-in Aerial snacks in grilled-corn flavor before the episode aired, & Guel's VA actually on a camping trip IRL.

[Mafty]

Well that was quite an episode

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I agree the 21 years later things brings up a whole host of questions. It really seems like Suletta is Eri from the prologue. However she may very well be something like an enhanced version of what Elan is , as in a stand in clone for the Real Eri, maybe even one with implanted memories. Or Maybe the real Eri died and that's why they are using a clone. Or maybe she was put into cold sleep for years as Prospera schemed, that may explain the gaps in her memory.

Speaking of which

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I didn't not see Elan as a enhanced clone happening. This really puts him less into the Ple Two category, and more into Four Murasame, Rosamia Badam, Zoltan Akkanen or Meer Campbell, wherein an ordinary person is modified into a replacement. Those really neither solution is great for the person involved.

Also we get more world building about the school

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It's even harsher than it seems at first. If you lose to much you lose all your houses money, meaning no mechanical supplies or food, and the adults involved do nothing to help the students. It's like a more extreme version of the Pokemon video games; where if you lose a match, you have to give the winner half your money. The only positive is at least the colony interior seems to have mild weather, so at least Guel isn't exposed to the elements on top of everything else. Also the harshest part of the school is the incinerator facility where the defective clones are disposed of. This basically puts Asticassia right up with the Titans Newtype Labs. On another note we get a second instance of an ironic Happy Birthday to You sung by Suletta, and I thought Ideon had the most unusual version of that song.

On a lighter note, Gundam loves referencing itself, and there definitely seems to be some of that going on here. Episode 2 of 0080 is called Reflections in a Brown Eye. Episode 5 of G-Witch is called Reflection in an Icy Eye, and the Pink Visors everyone has on their Yellow Flight Suits look a bit like Pala's Flight Suit from Gundam X.

[zetatype]

So quick question

What official sources actually state the date/ year the Prologue episode takes place?

Everyone is saying 109 Ad Stella, but I can't find it among the sources Wikipedia lists and Gundam fandom doesn't even list the year it takes place

Gundam info lists the current year for the main series (122 AS) but not for the prologue. Is in listed in any of the gunpla manuals?

[Kuruni]

No AFAIK.

109 is likely fan's speculation with Suletta being 17 and Prologue occurs on Ericht's 4th birthday. And so "21 years old" revenge statement from thus episode cause everything to clash down.

Of course, there are people who note that they don't made it specific what exactly is the vengeful event (someone stole Propera's cookies, I guess), while many remember that they never tell us that Ericht is Suletta neither

[Underrated GM Custom]

Rather disappointed this episode didn't address

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Pharact being a Gundam. I suppose the argument could be made that Peil technology has more corporate influence to prevent an inquiry as an established player but doesn't really explain why Jeturk, a rival, wouldn't raise hell about it or why Delling doesn't give us another "that thing is a Gundam" quote.

I enjoyed that Elan got some more character development in this one but I feel as though the pacing was extremely quick.

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While I'm watching this I can't help but compare Elan the 5th with Rei the 3rd, with the latter having such a slow buildup the payout was immense at the end. In WfM the introduction and discarding of the character is so fast that the audience doesn't get to build as much attachment to the character.

Heck to use another example, the loss in the prologue gave a tremendous impact in such a short time period with the same happy birthday juxtaposition. This one didn't give me the same impact since the prologue while short felt like a believable and relatable tragedy while Elan's the 4th's finale was so mustache twirling villain it was just incredulous to watch. Now I'm curious who directed and worked on both episodes since the prologue felt like a more experienced hand was guiding it.

Last but not least we see a

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beam graze the cockpit and leave the exterior molten. Perhaps another theory we can use for "how do they stop duels from accidentally killing corporate heirs" is that the cockpit module is extremely beam resistant.

Looking forward to seeing what they do with Guel next.

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I hope they don't take the easy route and throw him in Earth house next then turn him into a sidekick character.

He's had a very interesting character trajectory so far.

[Mafty]

It does seem like

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They were deliberately fooling audiences on the timeline prior to the reveal, to keep people guessing. I do wonder if Elan is supposed to be a Rei Ayanami Expy? They do share a lot of personality, character and appearance traits, however I agree with GM in that Rei is better developed across the series, plus she actually survives the main series and most of the movies. It's quite obvious that G-Witch follows the Gundam trend of harmful effects of cloning on the clones themselves, they are both unstable and short lived. Really the only clones in Gundam that were psychically healthy were the Ple and Mineva clones from ZZ (BTW what happened to Mineva's clone, she just disappears). Also if Elan and maybe Suletta are clones, who else at the school could be clones? Maybe that's why so many of the "Parents" are so dismissive(not that it justifies it). Also I agree the whole Pharact thing not drawing anybody's attention is odd, maybe it will end up swept under the rug by the corruption at the school.

[Henyo]

it took some time but i finally got to watching G witch. i like it so far. and its got Yuri. from someone involved with Utena no less. thats always a plus.
i hope a dub version comes sooner than later.

[Mafty]

Most Gundam shows are given a dub, and as popular as it is, I don't doubt it will end up with a Dub sooner or later. Probably it will be NYAV, as they seem to do the more recent dubs and redubs. I wonder if they will cast newcomers for the dub? NYAV does at times use vocal talent across the Gundam Franchise.( Lucien Dodge voices Amuro in The Origin and its movie, Sai in SEED, and Norba in IBO, Aaron Phillips voiced Kenneth in Hathaway and Shinn in Seed Destiny, Chris Hackney voiced minor character Yuki in The Origin, Masahiro Atland in IBO and ultimately Athrun in the CE verse, Cherami Leigh voiced Kudelia in IBO, Claudia in Thunderbolt and Cagalli in SEED/Destiny, Max Mittleman voiced Ein in IBO, Io in Thunderbolt, and Kira in SEED/Destiny, for some examples).

[Kuruni]

It does seem like

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They were deliberately fooling audiences on the timeline prior to the reveal, to keep people guessing. I do wonder if Elan is supposed to be a Rei Ayanami Expy? They do share a lot of personality, character and appearance traits, however I agree with GM in that Rei is better developed across the series, plus she actually survives the main series and most of the movies. It's quite obvious that G-Witch follows the Gundam trend of harmful effects of cloning on the clones themselves, they are both unstable and short lived. Really the only clones in Gundam that were psychically healthy were the Ple and Mineva clones from ZZ (BTW what happened to Mineva's clone, she just disappears). Also if Elan and maybe Suletta are clones, who else at the school could be clones? Maybe that's why so many of the "Parents" are so dismissive(not that it justifies it). Also I agree the whole Pharact thing not drawing anybody's attention is odd, maybe it will end up swept under the rug by the corruption at the school.

Well...

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Consider that Elan the 4th has memory (that he forgot until now) of celebrating birthday and the real Elan ask why he agree to become his double, it's far more likely that he isn't a clone but some random boy surgically altered to resemble him.

[Seto Kaiba]

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Consider that Elan the 4th has memory (that he forgot until now) of celebrating birthday and the real Elan ask why he agree to become his double, it's far more likely that he isn't a clone but some random boy surgically altered to resemble him.

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Not just far more likely, it's outright confirmed in the episode.

Not only do they mention multiple body doubles for the real Elan Ceres who makes his first appearance in this episode, the rewards promised to Enhanced Person No.4 AKA "Elan Ceres" are citizenship and the restoration of his original/real face. He's been surgically altered to share the appearance of Elan Ceres, and to have greater resistance to permet data storms in order to operate a GUND format Mobile Suit.

[Mafty]

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So Zoltan and Meer really would be the people Elan is most like, Zoltan more so because of the Permit modifacation, which I'm guess is what caused Elan's drastically reduced lifespan. If this is the case then it really doesn't seem like Suletta underwent the same process, as she is shown to be much healthier and more stable than Elan. Not to mention the fact that Elan's processes showcase the peak of the leading edge technology companies on Earth. Sulettas from a backwater colony, whose R and D base got obliterted. So cold sleep may have really been the case. Maybe Prospera put Suletta in cold sleep until she could work up enough connections to properly modify Sulettas ability. Maybe the cold sleep caused Sulettas memory loss. I've also heard theroy's going around the internet that maybe Eri's consciousness is in fact in the Ariel, and Suletta may be some kind of genetic clone that works in synch with it(the closest example I can think of is the Reasoners and Mimics from Soukou no Strain.

[Ryujin]

There's an Interesting detail in how Elan with the Heero Yuy hand gesture has a different earring than what Elan's been wearing throughout the series & on his character page. His 'ice prince' personality must have also been intentional, given their whole deal.

Anyways, been thinking about Prospera's phone conversation with an unknown co-conspirator at the beginning of the ep., and my crack theory is that:

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Prospera's about to throw Peil Technologies &/or Belmeria under the bus in order to:

- deflect suspicion from her as the 'witch' who escaped from the Folkvangr incident.
- get in Delling's good graces in order to be in a better position to backstab him later.
- get rid of older, more defective versions of the GUND format.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was Delling himself on the phone. The only problem is how to keep Belmeria quiet regarding Prospera's identity. The authorities have been silent about the duels since it's a sting operation & Shaddiq having the telemetry recorded was part of evidence collection (not that he was necessarily aware of the actual reason), lol.

[Underrated GM Custom]

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Prospera's about to throw Peil Technologies &/or Belmeria under the bus in order to:

- deflect suspicion from her as the 'witch' who escaped from the Folkvangr incident.
- get in Delling's good graces in order to be in a better position to backstab him later.
- get rid of older, more defective versions of the GUND format.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was Delling himself on the phone. The only problem is how to keep Belmeria quiet regarding Prospera's identity. The authorities have been silent about the duels since it's a sting operation & Shaddiq having the telemetry recorded was part of evidence collection (not that he was necessarily aware of the actual reason), lol.

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Interesting idea, but I don't know how Prospera could throw Belmeria under the bus if she knows her real identity. Well, unless she's willing to kill her off and then throw the whole Peil company under the bus.

I wouldn't guess Delling as being on the other side of the phonecall. We haven't seen much of Prospera so far, but she seems a bit prideful and I don't think she would be communicating with the man she wants to get revenge on, regularly. Far too many opportunities for the metaphorical mask to slip and for Delling to sense betrayal.

[Ryujin]

Pointed out by someone elsewhere, Official English translation of the web short story:

https://en.gundam.info/about-gundam/ser ... sic/novel/

There may be some nuances that are missing in fan TL's...

Such as Prospera mentioning the duels & the prize, but nothing about Suletta actually having to win Miorine's hand in said duels. Just go to school & study hard.

[Seto Kaiba]

Looking at the lineart, I am absolutely flabbergasted that...

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... nobody in-series has noticed the Aerial is just the Ochs Earth XGF-02 Lfrith prototype with some minor cosmetic alterations and a baby blue trim paintjob.

You'd think Cathedral would have noticed right away considering how badly the Lfrith prototype wrecked their sh*t during their attempt to suppress the Vanadis Institute.