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

The place to discuss anything relating to anime or manga.
Post Reply
User avatar
Omega
Posts: 1577
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:21 pm
Contact:

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

Seto Kaiba wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 1:43 am
Spoiler
Really, this series is just a mess.

Delling's wildly out-of-character reaction to the reveal that Peil Technologies were sheltering a witch and developing GUND-ARMs and that the Aerial is a GUND-ARM after all is problematic, but the key takeaway for the episode is actually before the opening credits.

One of the Peil Technologies co-CEOs implies that all three of the Benerit Group's main Mobile Suit manufacturers - Grassley Defense Systems, Jeturk Heavy Machinery, and Peil Technologies - covertly experiment with the prohibited GUND Format. None of them want to run afoul of Delling Rembran's Cathedral goon squad the way the Vanadis Institute did at their incitement, so they're keeping a close eye on how Delling reacts to the news that Peil's Pharact was an illegal GUND-ARM to see if they'll be able to quietly scrap those programs and write off the loss or if they'll have to be afraid that there will be a house call by Cathedral's special forces.

None of them seem to have expected the completely BS turn of events at the end of the episode, where Delling agreed to permit Shin Sei and Peil to collaborate on the development of a "safe" version of GUND Format technology.
TBF, Delling could be...
Spoiler
Expecting Miorinne to fail, which leaves the Aerial and Peil at his mercy anyway. Plus, a thought I had was there being a reason for his donation being 3% specifically. Then again, he could be humoring his daughter as Aerial despite being a Gundam hasn't killed Suletta yet, so he's challenging her to prove the Aerial's success can be recreated. It breaks his character, even i'll agree, but the question is 'why did he break character and allow a Gundam to survive'.
That's the million dollar question here.
Spoiler
As a side note, I think we may finally be getting some long overdue answers about how the Aerial is different from typical Gundams in this universe in the next episode or two. To pull it off, they'll have to explain it sooner or later, especially if Witch from Mercury embraces the modern Gundam rule of the MC getting a mid-season upgrade. Said upgrade would fit story-wise too for backing Miorinne's goal of saving the Aerial in this episode.
User avatar
Underrated GM Custom
Posts: 545
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 6:51 pm
Contact:

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

Spoiler
Yeah the start end and the end of the episode just feel very disconnected. The main MS manufacturers are worried that Delling will overreact and we'll get another prologue episode, but instead his daughter throws up a quickly marked up powerpoint slide and asks for his help and now everything is good to go. Just strange.

Although if we go with Ryujin's theory that Prospera and Delling are working together it makes some sense, but if that's the writers end goal I wish they would do some better foreshadowing here.
As for the million dollar question
Spoiler
I'm interesting in seeing what makes Aerial different, I'm hoping its not the grim-dark theory many have proposed but we'll see. Also, I'm guessing the mid-season upgrade won't happen this cour, possibly for the next one. The upgrade will likely be an Aerial upgrade or overhaul like the X to X Divider rather than a different MS giving how attached Suletta is to Aerial.
Last edited by Underrated GM Custom on Tue Nov 22, 2022 5:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
BrentD15
Posts: 961
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:36 am
Location: Wisconsin

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

It's quite rich hearing that this is "the worst writing in the Gundam franchise ever" with no regard to everything that came before it.
"To you who will watch, I offer a heart filled with gratitude." -Yoshiyuki Tomino, Gundam Reconguista in G, Episode 25
Janx
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2022 3:23 pm

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

BrentD15 wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 9:18 am It's quite rich hearing that this is "the worst writing in the Gundam franchise ever" with no regard to everything that came before it.
Yeah I can think of a few series that have gone lower than this.

That said, I do agree this episode felt kind of weak. I liked the general idea but how it got from start to finish felt odd. I'm not really sure where this show is going, but i'm not sure if thats in a good or bad way.
Mafty
Posts: 1132
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:43 am

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

Honestly that whole Space OSHA thing is very common in Sci Fi, how many times have we seen ships or mechs without seatbelts? In ZZ the Cassiopeia stuffs all the poor people in a glorified cargo hold, then when the AEUG leaves Norway they tie children (who have already stuck around on a warship in active combat for two years at this point) and teenagers to large cargo boxes. In CCA the civilian shuttle has no seatbelts, which causes Quess to go flying into the air, and somehow avoid severe injury.

Often what happens is the designers pick the most flashy or dramatic design, and forget the practicality of it. though it still is a bit odd if you think about it.

That being said I do find the story to be engaging, in spite of the fact that it has it's writing issues and plot holes at times. I'm not sure I agree that it's the worst writing however. Its worth noting that in Gundams long run there have been more than a few issues with writing even in the better series. Though it's worth noting the better series have a lot going for them , so some writing issues aren't really that big of a deal (ie Glemmy's weird upward promotions, Sciroccos unclear plans, the rather vague backstory of Shakti's family, the fact cloning sort of disappears after the first Neo Zeon war, etc.).

It's more when it drastically affects the plot itself
Spoiler
Like how Gato and Nina were a couple, then Nina sabotages everything and no one blames her. Second Moon never thought to just rocket transport back to the Earth Sphere, The Akatsuki appearing at Cagalli's "Time of Greatest Need" which apparently wasn't two years prior were she used a pink version of an outdated model made from spare parts , the various offscreen important events in G-Reco, and so on
Of course the series is still new, so there could be time to fix some of the writing issue (like how G-Reco's movies made the plot much easier to follow and fixed many issues).
User avatar
Seto Kaiba
Posts: 2230
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:18 pm
Contact:

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

Omega wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 3:30 am TBF, Delling could be...
Spoiler
Expecting Miorinne to fail, which leaves the Aerial and Peil at his mercy anyway. Plus, a thought I had was there being a reason for his donation being 3% specifically. Then again, he could be humoring his daughter as Aerial despite being a Gundam hasn't killed Suletta yet, so he's challenging her to prove the Aerial's success can be recreated. It breaks his character, even i'll agree, but the question is 'why did he break character and allow a Gundam to survive'.
That wouldn't really make sense in context, though. Not for Delling, and certainly not for everyone else save perhaps the CEOs of Grassley, Peil, and Jeturk.
Spoiler
Remember, the (official) reason that GUND Format research and development was banned under the Cathedra Agreement by the Mobile Suit Development Council was that its operation inflicted debilitating and irreversible physical and mental damage on the operator. That was how Delling was able to drum up support to not only have the Vanadis Institute shut down but have its entire staff killed by Cathedral's Dominicus Corps. Putting an end to what was seen as (and arguably actually was) incredibly unethical experimentation on living humans was seen as just cause for Cathedral to order the literal and figurative termination of the Vanadis Institute's research.

Delling being dead-set against GUND Format research is one thing, but consider that every other character in that ballroom has spent the last twenty years (if not their entire lives) hearing about how the GUND Format is an unethical and even evil technology. A curse, as "Elan Ceres" put it. This was so accepted in society that even at that party we see people are uncomfortable even having Suletta around because she's merely suspected of being "a witch" and therefore involved in GUND Format research. They're understandably horrified when Peil Technologies reveals that their Pharact was an illegal GUND-ARM and that Shin Sei's Aerial is one too. The CEOs of Grassley, Jeturk and Peil carefully choreographed that entire performance at the incubation party to leverage that public loathing for the GUND Format to destroy Shin Sei, the Aerial, Prospera, and Suletta. Their reactions of disgust and dismay when Miorine proposes the formation of a GUND-ARM development firm are exactly what you would expect if someone came to you and asked for a major cash outlay so they could pick up where Dr. Mengele left off.

That all it takes for Delling to reverse himself and fund what he's argued is a line of research so unethical, immoral, and inhumane that executing the entire research laboratory responsible for it was morally justified is for his daughter to bow her head is EXTREMELY out of character for him. That's a bone fide 180 in his personality. It'd also be pretty unsettling for... y'know... everyone that the man with more power than the actual government decided that he's A-OK with maiming and killing people in the name of scientific progress as long as his daughter asks him nicely first. It'd be one thing if she made some kind of passionate argument about the potential good GUND could do and actually persuaded him, but she doesn't do that. He just arbitrarily vacates the one moral position he's taken in the series seemingly on a whim. Even if he expects her to fail, the only way she's going to find out if it's possible or not is by testing it on living people... something he found so offensive that he had Carto Nabo KILLED FOR IT.

Worse still, everyone who was expressing dismay and disgust at Miorine's presentation for obvious reasons regarding how GUND has been viewed in society for the last twenty years just... changes their minds on the spur of the moment and throw billions at the girl who just proposed a company to carry out unethical medical experiments.
The Macross Mecha Manual
Yes, we're working on updates...
User avatar
Omega
Posts: 1577
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:21 pm
Contact:

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

Seto Kaiba wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 3:29 pm
Spoiler
Remember, the (official) reason that GUND Format research and development was banned under the Cathedra Agreement by the Mobile Suit Development Council was that its operation inflicted debilitating and irreversible physical and mental damage on the operator. That was how Delling was able to drum up support to not only have the Vanadis Institute shut down but have its entire staff killed by Cathedral's Dominicus Corps. Putting an end to what was seen as (and arguably actually was) incredibly unethical experimentation on living humans was seen as just cause for Cathedral to order the literal and figurative termination of the Vanadis Institute's research.

Delling being dead-set against GUND Format research is one thing, but consider that every other character in that ballroom has spent the last twenty years (if not their entire lives) hearing about how the GUND Format is an unethical and even evil technology. A curse, as "Elan Ceres" put it. This was so accepted in society that even at that party we see people are uncomfortable even having Suletta around because she's merely suspected of being "a witch" and therefore involved in GUND Format research. They're understandably horrified when Peil Technologies reveals that their Pharact was an illegal GUND-ARM and that Shin Sei's Aerial is one too. The CEOs of Grassley, Jeturk and Peil carefully choreographed that entire performance at the incubation party to leverage that public loathing for the GUND Format to destroy Shin Sei, the Aerial, Prospera, and Suletta. Their reactions of disgust and dismay when Miorine proposes the formation of a GUND-ARM development firm are exactly what you would expect if someone came to you and asked for a major cash outlay so they could pick up where Dr. Mengele left off.

That all it takes for Delling to reverse himself and fund what he's argued is a line of research so unethical, immoral, and inhumane that executing the entire research laboratory responsible for it was morally justified is for his daughter to bow her head is EXTREMELY out of character for him. That's a bone fide 180 in his personality. It'd also be pretty unsettling for... y'know... everyone that the man with more power than the actual government decided that he's A-OK with maiming and killing people in the name of scientific progress as long as his daughter asks him nicely first. It'd be one thing if she made some kind of passionate argument about the potential good GUND could do and actually persuaded him, but she doesn't do that. He just arbitrarily vacates the one moral position he's taken in the series seemingly on a whim. Even if he expects her to fail, the only way she's going to find out if it's possible or not is by testing it on living people... something he found so offensive that he had Carto Nabo KILLED FOR IT.

Worse still, everyone who was expressing dismay and disgust at Miorine's presentation for obvious reasons regarding how GUND has been viewed in society for the last twenty years just... changes their minds on the spur of the moment and throw billions at the girl who just proposed a company to carry out unethical medical experiments.
I'm aware just I was pointing towards the million dollar question being
Spoiler
Why Delling broke character and supported the venture because if there's no reasoning, then they really just broke his character to get out of the corner they wrote themselves into as Suletta and the Aerial were as good as done as nobody would have taken Miorinne seriously.

And this strikes me as he -definitely- has a reason, considering what he said.
User avatar
Ryujin
Posts: 1350
Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2006 6:43 am
Contact:

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

On ep.8 & watching the IPO scenes with a smirk, since I don't have fond memories of the actual process.

Okay, that bit between
Spoiler
Prospera & Suletta had creepy indoctrination vibes on a Jim Jones/Charles Manson level all over it. Miorine wouldn't even notice the full extent since Suletta wasn't facing her. Seems like it would explain quite a good deal of her personality & her past behavior. Also, interesting to note that GUND technology on a human scale wasn't in general use after all.
"うちのミオリネさん"
User avatar
Kuruni
Posts: 2925
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:43 am
Location: sitting next to a yandere loli
Contact:

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

A real breather episode, and I chuckled at their company video. Looking at her smile, I think Belmeria is the most trustworthy among the adults at this point.

The next episode is likely feature a fight against Michaelis and Beguir-Pente. Early on, I thought the latter will show up and wreck Aerial at the end of S1, but I guess that won't be the case.
My girlfriend was a loli.
User avatar
Seto Kaiba
Posts: 2230
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:18 pm
Contact:

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

Oh god, please get a different writer. Pretty please?

Ichiro Okochi is not a bad writer. He has a LOT of good writing credits to his name and a plethora of awards. So why is this show so worryingly BAD in the writing department?! Is it executive meddling? Is he just phoning it in out of boredom? Is he taking the piss and actually trying to sabotage this show? Is this a cynical sort of half-assery meant to tick the checkboxes the studio decided would make Gundam relevant to "the youth"?
Spoiler
Within less than a minute of the episode's start, we've gone from the Earth dormitory complaining about Miorine's ill-considered plan to having her barge in uninvited and announce that she's taking over the dorm and drafting everyone in it into her new company. I can't help but think of K-2SO in this moment...
"Congratulations, you are being employed. *beat for reaction* Please do not resist."
Spoiler
She's right back on her hypocritical bullsh*t. She objects deeply to Delling telling her what to do, and here she is lording her status as Delling's daughter over the other students to take over their dormitory for her own private use and forcibly draft them into her new company. She doesn't offer them a choice or give them a chance to say "No". She follows it up by admitting she doesn't have any kind of actual plan. They say she bought out a bunch of assets from Peil Technologies and Shin Sei Development Group, but won't it take like a year for the Shin Sei staff to reach Asticassia from Mercury?
All this before the opening credits!
Spoiler
It isn't until after the credits that we get to see anyone actually react to this news properly... and because this show is written the way it is, the students who've spent their ENTIRE LIVES being told that GUND-ARM technology is evil and inhumane and that those who work on it are evildoers of the worst order largely just roll with it. The only two people who seem to see any problem with it are Chuchu, who is mostly just pissed that Miorine's a spacian bossing her around and talks sh*t about her, and some background character named Martin who is the only one expressing what everyone should be expressing given what the setting has established: legitimate fear that this is unethical human experimentation. Everyone else seems like they're only interested in how much money they'll be paid.

That's kind of Fridge Horror territory. Asticassia's Earth dormitory is full of people who have no real ethical qualms as long as they're paid enough... these are future business leaders!
We finally get to have that discussion about why develop a Gundam and whether Aerial can be mass-produced... and it's dodged completely.
Spoiler
This is data on banned technology, and YOU KEEP IT ON YOUR CELL PHONE?!

Suletta finally gets to ask why her mother lied to her about the Aerial. She gets fobbed off with an obvious lie. Even Miorine is just sitting there with a look on her face that clearly says "This is bullsh*t why can't you see it?" Suletta's apparently not scared of suffering irreparable damage from piloting a Gundam either.
It's nice that this series at least takes the time to hang a lampshade on how stupid its own plot is every now and again. If it weren't for that, this would be totally unwatchable instead of just mostly unwatchable.
Spoiler
Shaddiq Zeneri stops to remind Miorine that her investors aren't philanthropists, and that she'll have to actually have a business plan and be able to produce marketable results. He offers to take over the company and marry her as a way to justify it. He's apparently an orphan raised in a corporate-run orphanage, and not actually the son or grandson of Zeneri Sr. who is CEO of Grassley?
Oh boy, we get to watch them do PAPERWORK! Riveting. :roll: :lol:
Spoiler
... and while this bit Reality Ensuing is nice, the way this series has panned out there will be some Deus Ex Machina swinging in from the wings any minute now. They apparently burned most of the funding they received buying out Peil Technologies' and Shin Sei's Gundam development groups, and what's left is practically nothing. They can't even settle on what they're supposed to be building and selling, though they at least think about all of the implications of becoming a weapons manufacturer. Just as quickly as all the navel gazing started, it's back to being the autocracy of Miorine and making weapons is A-OK.
"Make a Promotional Video that'll rid Gundams of their negative public image. You have two weeks."
Spoiler
That's right, you've got two weeks with no resources to create a promotional video that'll magically overturn TWENTY-ONE YEARS of GUND being a demonized technology. Hop to it!

Guel Jeturk, meanwhile, is living in a tent on the grounds and his classmates have nothing better to do than bully him now? Shaddiq shows up and stops them, offers Guel the hospitality of Grassley, and then runs off to take a call because his family are sending shipments of anti-Gundam weapons. His (adoptive?) father instructs him to see to it that the Gundams are erased from the world. He criticizes his father's lack of vision.

Why the hell is everyone now so ready, willing, and able to look past decades of demonizing GUND-ARM technology? It's not like anyone has made a compelling argument that Delling was wrong about it in all that time. Suletta and the Aerial are literally the ONLY counterargument and it's a rather weak one to say the least.

Miorine's finally asking some of the real questions like why the GUND-ARM technology couldn't be refined and why its developers are so demonized.
Of course, we don't get to see the actual answers... that'd be too much like telling a story.
Suletta is such a waste of a main character. She makes that whiny milquetoast Shinji Ikari look positively decisive and well-put-together by comparison. I feel like by the time this mess of a show is over, there needs to be a supercut where all of Suletta's stammering and being told to shut up is removed. It'll probably make the series at least a cour shorter.
Spoiler
We get to watch a promotional video from the Vanadis Institute about GUND technology and then a terrible, cringeworthy PV produced by the GUND-ARM Inc kids that even Prospera busts out laughing at.

At this point, I'm starting to think it'd be a mercy if the Dominicus corps busted in here and killed the entire cast so we can start over with someone else. Just "lol jk real series starts now".
"Let's have two people, one of whom hates the other, try to have a moment. That won't feel forced at all."
Spoiler
Wait... Asticassia didn't have any rule or regulation regarding checking that new technologies used in student-run companies were actually safe until just this moment? Forget space OSHA, these CEOs are shockingly cavalier about the lives of their own children!

Apparently it's part of Shaddiq's power play to seize control of Miorine's company and/or take the Gundam by force. This, like almost every other previous development, essentially comes out of NOWHERE and will likely be overcome just as suddenly. It's like the writer has forgotten how to build up to a plot twist. There's practically no foreshadowing of this AT ALL.
The Macross Mecha Manual
Yes, we're working on updates...
User avatar
Underrated GM Custom
Posts: 545
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 6:51 pm
Contact:

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

I'll echo some of Seto's setiments. I didn't care much for this episode, I understand they are shooting for a younger target audience who won't be well versed with corporations, investing, business plans, regulations, etc. but this was episode really feels phoned in.

Earth House
Spoiler
They started off wary towards Suletta and Miorine and warmed up a bit to Suletta thanks to Nika. That said it was completely out of left field for Miorine to conscript all of them into her company and barely any objections to go along with it. Earth House is now part of this because the plot wanted it to, and because they're the main cast now.
Poor Business Acumen
Spoiler
Despite raising a large sum of money and buying top class MS developers the business operations is now in the hands of Miorine who they've said is a genius at business in previous episodes but so far all we've seen is some grandstanding and a poorly marked up powerpoint. (Show don't tell is generally good advice for delivering a narrative but we're getting a lot of tell don't show right now). Now this forbidden technology has been turned into a school project for a bunch of teenagers... ooookay, sure.....
GUND-ARM Stigma
Spoiler
As Seto mentioned there's been decades of anti-Gundarm sentiment and the writers didn't do a good job showing how the people in this world should react to that. IBO had some issues with writing as well but they did a good job delivering the message of Gundam's (relics of the Calamity War) have a lot of unpleasant history associated with them, WfM on the other hand barely even touches this plot point aside from a throwaway line about the curse of Gundams.

Honestly, had I not watched the prologue I might not care as much, but they did such a good job setting that up in ep0 that it's so hard to believe people are nonchalant about Gundarms now.
Mild ethics conflict
Spoiler
Two members of earth house have a mild conflict over whether or not they should create and sell weapons.....even though in the previous episode they claimed they would use Gundarm for medical purposes. I guess we forgot about that lofty goal when the funding dried up. Lot of integrity at this startup company... =/
Promo Video
Spoiler
I thought it was funny video, but again there's some tonal whiplash when you compare this to the prologue. Again, if Gundarm was so stigmatized for years this quickly made school project isn't going to change anything. Really trying to make the audience suspend their disbelief that a major corporate conglomerate would let this slide as their marketing is just too much for me.

Also I'm disappointed they seem to only be using Suletta as comic relief at this point. I'm hoping they grow her character at some point but so far it seems like she's second fiddle in her own show.
Corporate Takeovers
Spoiler
I'll echo this sentiment as well, it's again hard to believe there was no clause about proving technology is safe. Even so, if that clause didn't exist before, the fact that adding it in now is going to let them take over the new Gundam company is extremely flimsy reasoning.

I feel like the writers forgot to actually develop their ideas that actually gets them from one plot point to another and I'm just watching the story board ideas "and now x happens, and now y happens, and now z happens" instead. It's not enjoyable, the series has potential but right now they are wasting it.
Overall disappointing episode.
Janx
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2022 3:23 pm

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

Couple things I actually find odd about the stigma:
Spoiler
As a medical technology, GUND already seems safe. The prologue suggests its only dangerous as an MS technology due to the amount of data. The mystery of Aerial aside, Prospera's already proof that GUND is safe, as she's survived 21~ years just fine.

We also have the power point slides of people using GUND who I'm guessing are meant to be success stories and not horror stories.

Furthermore, I also find it weird they tout how GUND is essential for human survival in space, but they don't show people suffering from being in space. Spacians are the dominant power group, and beyond Peil's leaders looking kind of weird, everyone seems perfectly normal and healthy.
User avatar
Seto Kaiba
Posts: 2230
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:18 pm
Contact:

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

Underrated GM Custom wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 12:14 pm I'll echo some of Seto's setiments. I didn't care much for this episode, I understand they are shooting for a younger target audience who won't be well versed with corporations, investing, business plans, regulations, etc. but this was episode really feels phoned in.
TBH, I would be prepared to bet cash money that even the high schoolers who apparently traumatized the Sunrise staff by saying "Gundam is for old people" know enough about corporate governance, developing a business plan, and process management to find this plot incredibly stupid.

Underrated GM Custom wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 12:14 pm Poor Business Acumen
Spoiler
Despite raising a large sum of money and buying top class MS developers the business operations is now in the hands of Miorine who they've said is a genius at business in previous episodes but so far all we've seen is some grandstanding and a poorly marked up powerpoint. (Show don't tell is generally good advice for delivering a narrative but we're getting a lot of tell don't show right now). Now this forbidden technology has been turned into a school project for a bunch of teenagers... ooookay, sure.....
Spoiler
Oh, it's worse than that... her vaunted management genius saw her spend the entire cash outlay she received to start the company on acquisitions from Shin Sei and Peil, and now she can't afford to pay anyone or develop and manufacture anything. What she's got left isn't even enough money to feed the goat they keep in the dorm... and they say as much!
Underrated GM Custom wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 12:14 pm GUND-ARM Stigma
Spoiler
As Seto mentioned there's been decades of anti-Gundarm sentiment and the writers didn't do a good job showing how the people in this world should react to that. IBO had some issues with writing as well but they did a good job delivering the message of Gundam's (relics of the Calamity War) have a lot of unpleasant history associated with them, WfM on the other hand barely even touches this plot point aside from a throwaway line about the curse of Gundams.

Honestly, had I not watched the prologue I might not care as much, but they did such a good job setting that up in ep0 that it's so hard to believe people are nonchalant about Gundarms now.
When Iron-Blooded Orphans established that there was a stigma against what is essentially the defining characteristic of that setting's Gundams, the writers stuck to it and made it important to the plot.

The Alaya-Vijnana technology in IBO was presented as taboo and the writers brought that across in a bunch of different ways. Tekkadan's chief mechanic mentions he'd be discriminated against on Earth because he has cybernetic lower legs. Everyone on Earth except McGillis seems to find the Alaya-Vijnana system nauseating to behold, with Gaelio actually vomiting after seeing one up close and being absolutely OUTRAGED when Ein's ruined body is fitted to the Graze Ein using an Alaya-Vijnana system. Having the implant is clearly and consistently associated with being a second-class citizen at best or a borderline slave at worst, with Maruba and no shortage of others condemning "space rats" for having the implants. We later see that there are actually some pretty good reasons for it to be taboo besides preventing Calamity War II... like the fact that overdoing it on the Alaya-Vijnana can cause brain damage.

In the Witch from Mercury prologue, GUND is depicted in much the same way as the Alaya-Vijnana. Worse, even, as the general public are apparently so disgusted by what it does to its users that nobody bats an eye at the MSDC putting a hit out on the entire Vanadis Institute. Then it just kind of gets selectively forgotten whenever it's convenient.

Underrated GM Custom wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 12:14 pm Corporate Takeovers
Spoiler
I'll echo this sentiment as well, it's again hard to believe there was no clause about proving technology is safe. Even so, if that clause didn't exist before, the fact that adding it in now is going to let them take over the new Gundam company is extremely flimsy reasoning.

I feel like the writers forgot to actually develop their ideas that actually gets them from one plot point to another and I'm just watching the story board ideas "and now x happens, and now y happens, and now z happens" instead. It's not enjoyable, the series has potential but right now they are wasting it.
That's been my read of a lot of this series.

The writing in this series is bad. Worryingly bad. Actions don't lead to consequence that drive further actions. Things just happen, often without any apparent reason or build-up. The worst offender is Miorine herself, oddly enough. Twice now she has managed to overturn decisions by corporate and regulatory bodies she has no actual power to influence and no credibility with. They openly acknowledge that they have absolutely no reason to listen to her, but somehow they all do exactly what she says anyway. It's impossible to take seriously, because every time there's trouble Miorine charges in and solves the problem in a way that doesn't make sense even in the context of the story.
The Macross Mecha Manual
Yes, we're working on updates...
User avatar
Ryujin
Posts: 1350
Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2006 6:43 am
Contact:

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

Janx wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 12:28 pm Couple things I actually find odd about the stigma:
Spoiler
As a medical technology, GUND already seems safe. The prologue suggests its only dangerous as an MS technology due to the amount of data. The mystery of Aerial aside, Prospera's already proof that GUND is safe, as she's survived 21~ years just fine.

We also have the power point slides of people using GUND who I'm guessing are meant to be success stories and not horror stories.

....
In Dr. Narbo's promotional video,
Spoiler
there's hints that most of it may just be concept art/animation and not reality--note that the planet-based colony with the geodesic domes has two suns in the sky.

It's possible that its use on a human scale might not have been widely implemented in the first place (or implemented at all), as implied by Narbo's need for more funding from Ochs Earth to continue R & D into its medical aspects, with Prospera's arm possibly one of the few examples of functioning prosthesis that uses GUND tech. It suggests that while it definitely works, it may only have been at a proof-of-concept or prototype stage which required further development/refinement before a marketable product could be made available to the general public (kind of embarrassing if a violinist's arm shut down in the middle of a concerto). Unfortunately it also suffered the stigma of failure & wholesale public censure from being intertwined with the OE Gundams, ironically for a purpose it wasn't originally intended for. While not exactly analogous, we're also seeing in real life the many myths & NIMBY attitudes that still surround the peaceful use of nuclear power to address climate change. For example, it's been more than a decade since the Fukushima incident & the rather impulsive decision by many countries to decommission their nuclear plants wholesale & not build replacements, decisions that many (especially in the EU) are now regretting & changing their minds about.

In the same vein, Shaddiq notes that a market exists for Gundam type MS, GUND's weaponized incarnation, even two decades after the enforcement of the Cathedra agreements and its subsequent demonization with the Public. It implies that the demand for this technology has always been there, that its warmaking potential is too good to ignore despite the negative image. Peil Technologies certainly thought it was worth the risk to develop the Pharact in spite of their proximity to Delling himself. Again, no need to look far IRL for entities willing to face sanctions & international opprobrium to develop or own something that it really wants. It could be Okouchi alluding to nuclear energy or other disruptive technologies that can be easliy militarized, or, on another level, something about hypocrisy & double standards (Miorine says it often enough &, on occasion, seems to act that way herself!).

As for Prospera, I don't want to speculate at this point on what she may have gone through in the aftermath of the Folksvangr incident, such that she's quite willing to zonk Suletta out of her mind or whatever other price she's payiing in the name of vengeance, instead of working on furthering Narbo's dream (bottom-of-the-totem-pole backwaters Mercury, please understand). I wouldn't be surprised if the data she gave Miorine had a lot of well-fabricated research dead-ends that the 'Shin Sei dev team' will just string along everyone else with, stuff that she originally intended to share to others in the Benerit Group. Maybe GA, inc.'ll end up as Space FTX or Theranos with Miorine as the fall guy & Prospera scheming off-stage while all the Benerit investors are distracted screaming their lungs out waiting for the virtual sky to fall on their heads.

We probably won't be seeing much visual indication regarding space-related ailments, as the story has mostly been confined to a well-shielded fishbowl with artificial gravity where the majority of its occupants are in the prime of their youth & occupy higher social strata with all its material benefits. Other than Prospera's supposed 'injury' & a few lines in the short story, coverage has been nil at this point, and nothing significantly new has so far been noted with the novelization in Gundam Ace, afaik.
Guel Jeturk, meanwhile, is living in a tent on the grounds and his classmates have nothing better to do than bully him now?
Not bothering with the rest of the heap, but
Spoiler
It need not be just his classmates. Dollars to doughnuts one of those is likely Parker Eastcott. Bereft of the protection that his status & position once afforded him, it's just natural that Guel would become the target of anyone that he had managed to offend or humiliate in the past, especially with his dogeza terms of victory & the overbearing, arrogant attitude that he displayed in the first episode. A caged bear in the public square. It's not like people have to go out of their way either as he's probably just camping out behind a combini or somewhere with access to a public toilet, not the genuine Earth boonies. What is of interest is his lack of reaction during his impromptu shower, in contrast to someone who Secelia could easily bait with a few choice words just a few weeks prior. Pride? Penance? A newfound stoicism? School regs that can't be safely ignored? An unwillingness to further besmirch the Jeturk name in spite of his continuing fall from grace? It's a factor in the choices he makes further on.
User avatar
Underrated GM Custom
Posts: 545
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 6:51 pm
Contact:

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

Janx wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 12:28 pm Couple things I actually find odd about the stigma:
Spoiler
As a medical technology, GUND already seems safe. The prologue suggests its only dangerous as an MS technology due to the amount of data. The mystery of Aerial aside, Prospera's already proof that GUND is safe, as she's survived 21~ years just fine.

We also have the power point slides of people using GUND who I'm guessing are meant to be success stories and not horror stories.

Furthermore, I also find it weird they tout how GUND is essential for human survival in space, but they don't show people suffering from being in space. Spacians are the dominant power group, and beyond Peil's leaders looking kind of weird, everyone seems perfectly normal and healthy.
This one has been in my mind for a bit as well
Spoiler
I was very interested on where this particular element would go since the prologue since Gundam rarely tackles the effects on human physiology from living in space. But so far, we haven't really seen anything, as Ryujin mentions though so far we've only seen the upper-class artificial gravity space station so I'm hopeful we'll see the deleterious effects on the less fortunate colonies.
Seto Kaiba wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 3:16 pm
Spoiler
Oh, it's worse than that... her vaunted management genius saw her spend the entire cash outlay she received to start the company on acquisitions from Shin Sei and Peil, and now she can't afford to pay anyone or develop and manufacture anything. What she's got left isn't even enough money to feed the goat they keep in the dorm... and they say as much!
Yeah I found this one to be a weird turn, I think they were going for a comedic angle here but it just fell flat.
Spoiler
They also write themselves into a corner since if they lack the funding to do virtually anything with their business then the business is dead without taking on additional debt. They haven't really talked much about business operations in this show but considering they already had a round of investing, immediately calling for another round of investing because you already blew all the money isn't very appealing to most investors.
The Alaya-Vijnana technology in IBO [...]
Excellent synopsis, while IBO had some issues with writing and pacing their adherence to a stigmatized tone for the Alaya-Vijnana is something they deserve credit for. I'm disappointed G-Witch can't do the same, or at the very least treat it as a taboo subject and go for a darker angle later on after the show changes gears. This could be a great payoff by having the characters oblivious to the terrible history of Gundarm then deliver a sucker punch later on, but so far they treat this forbidden technology very cheerfully which I find to be a rather clumsy execution.
Actions don't lead to consequence that drive further actions. Things just happen, often without any apparent reason or build-up.
Yeah I'm very surprised by this, this is a flagship product for Bandai-Sunrise but it feels like it's being handled by an amateur staff. As a viewer I'd like it a lot more if they spent some time building up tension rather than resolving most issues within the same episode often by writers fiat. I hope the show can improve down the line but they're not putting their best foot forward with the narrative delivery.
Mafty
Posts: 1132
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:43 am

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

The story is visually very well done (especially compared to some previous Gundam series which suffer from animation issues in the first run which were later fixed), however the story is all over the place. Particularly with Suletta who has no real agency in her own series, hopefully this issues are fixed as the show goes along. Does anybody know what the general audience consensus of the series is? I know it started off strong, but I wondering if audience reaction is changing as the episodes pass?

Spoiler
As for the GUND Arm technology. It really seems odd nobody can see the practical use of technology, that don't involve warfare. Maybe the medical uses are unfounded at this point , but what about using mechanics in colony construction or mining?
User avatar
Seto Kaiba
Posts: 2230
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:18 pm
Contact:

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

Underrated GM Custom wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:59 am This one has been in my mind for a bit as well
Spoiler
I was very interested on where this particular element would go since the prologue since Gundam rarely tackles the effects on human physiology from living in space. But so far, we haven't really seen anything, as Ryujin mentions though so far we've only seen the upper-class artificial gravity space station so I'm hopeful we'll see the deleterious effects on the less fortunate colonies.
Thus far, the only person besides Prospera Mercury we've seen who has any kind of noticeable physical disability or deformity is Grassley Defense Systems' wheelchair-bound CEO Sarius Zeneri.

Mind you, the elder Zeneri is a senior citizen and his infirmity may be a consequence of age rather than of living in space for a prolonged period.


Underrated GM Custom wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:59 am
Spoiler
They also write themselves into a corner since if they lack the funding to do virtually anything with their business then the business is dead without taking on additional debt. They haven't really talked much about business operations in this show but considering they already had a round of investing, immediately calling for another round of investing because you already blew all the money isn't very appealing to most investors.
Spoiler
Of course, if this series follows the pattern it has laid down since the first actual episode Miorine will either shout at someone who will decide to give her billions of dollars for no reason or they'll wager the entire company on a Mobile Suit duel against Shaddiq and Suletta will bullshit her way to victory again with Shaddiq having offered some obscene sum of money if he loses.

It will, on the face of it, be pretty ridiculous since Miorine and co. have a legal responsibility to their investors and gambling the entire company like that would be massively illegal by any standard.

Underrated GM Custom wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:59 am
Actions don't lead to consequence that drive further actions. Things just happen, often without any apparent reason or build-up.
Yeah I'm very surprised by this, this is a flagship product for Bandai-Sunrise but it feels like it's being handled by an amateur staff. As a viewer I'd like it a lot more if they spent some time building up tension rather than resolving most issues within the same episode often by writers fiat. I hope the show can improve down the line but they're not putting their best foot forward with the narrative delivery.
TBH, The Witch from Mercury very much feels like the writing process is "If you can't dazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with your bullshit."

It veers wildly between feeling pathetically underdeveloped and patronizing to the point of being insulting. I am genuinely unsure if I want to see this trainwreck of a series fixed or if I want to watch it continue to be this beautiful disaster in the hopes that it will sink like a stone and break Sunrise's stranglehold on the mecha genre.
The Macross Mecha Manual
Yes, we're working on updates...
User avatar
Ryujin
Posts: 1350
Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2006 6:43 am
Contact:

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

Seto Kaiba wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 6:41 pm
Underrated GM Custom wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:59 am This one has been in my mind for a bit as well
Spoiler
I was very interested on where this particular element would go since the prologue since Gundam rarely tackles the effects on human physiology from living in space. But so far, we haven't really seen anything, as Ryujin mentions though so far we've only seen the upper-class artificial gravity space station so I'm hopeful we'll see the deleterious effects on the less fortunate colonies.
Thus far, the only person besides Prospera Mercury we've seen who has any kind of noticeable physical disability or deformity is Grassley Defense Systems' wheelchair-bound CEO Sarius Zeneri.

Mind you, the elder Zeneri is a senior citizen and his infirmity may be a consequence of age rather than of living in space for a prolonged period.
Musing further on this & the stated quantum entanglement-like properties of Permet, it appears to me like the only perceivable use of GUND technology in medicine is a superior control/feedback loop (perhaps virtually instantaneous) with regards to artificial prostheses, resulting in an improvement in precision of movement & reaction time to the point where said prosthesis acts & feels like a natural limb. Given all the different reasons for said space-related medical complications, I get the impression that Dr. Narbo's ultimate solution to all this is to just...brute-force replace everything that can be affected with an artificial equivalent. Her PV seems to flat-out suggest it, too.

Eh, wot? So we're going Masamune Shirow full cyborg transhumanism now? Well, not like there hasn't been precedent with ELS Setsuna & Graze Ein.
User avatar
Seto Kaiba
Posts: 2230
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:18 pm
Contact:

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

Ryujin wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 11:27 pm Musing further on this & the stated quantum entanglement-like properties of Permet, it appears to me like the only perceivable use of GUND technology in medicine is a superior control/feedback loop (perhaps virtually instantaneous) with regards to artificial prostheses, resulting in an improvement in precision of movement & reaction time to the point where said prosthesis acts & feels like a natural limb. Given all the different reasons for said space-related medical complications, I get the impression that Dr. Narbo's ultimate solution to all this is to just...brute-force replace everything that can be affected with an artificial equivalent. Her PV seems to flat-out suggest it, too.
Medically speaking, I'm not sure how that would necessarily be more advantageous than just normal electrical wire. The effective signaling "velocity' of the major motor nerves is less than 120m/s, and that's the fastest type of peripheral nervous system signaling on record. Just transmitting those electrical impulses over a decent metal electrical conductor yields transmission velocity slightly below lightspeed, 4 billion percent faster. I can't imagine you'd actually need signaling velocity of faster than 120m/s to produce adequate performance in a prosthetic. The main obstacle in modern prosthetics is interpreting those nerve impulses and translating them efficiently into machine code instructions for electrically-driven actuators. Presumably they have better processors and actuators in c.AS100.

It's interesting that Carto Nabo's PV focuses almost exclusively on bone demineralization and vision and muscle problems when one of the bigger problems for long-term space colonization is radiation exposure.


Ryujin wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 11:27 pm Eh, wot? So we're going Masamune Shirow full cyborg transhumanism now? Well, not like there hasn't been precedent with ELS Setsuna & Graze Ein.
There's something in Carto Nabo's PV for GUND that legit looks like it's Gally/Alita from Gunnm.
The Macross Mecha Manual
Yes, we're working on updates...
User avatar
Underrated GM Custom
Posts: 545
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2019 6:51 pm
Contact:

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

The main obstacle in modern prosthetics is interpreting those nerve impulses and translating them efficiently into machine code instructions for electrically-driven actuators.
Yeah I got a chance to see a DARPA tech demo for this back in 2008 or 2009 where they were showing how they were trying to improve the machine interface between the prosthetic and the nerve impulse for combat veterans. It was very, very rudimentary back then but I'm sure it's improved a lot since then.

While the connection speed may not be an issue I'm guessing they will explain that Permet allows for a more intuitive interface where the prosthetic can behave just like the original limb.
Post Reply