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

[Omega]

So the web story effectively says that

Spoiler

The Aerial's just a remodeled Lfrith, and that Suletta is Eri, effectively debunking the whole crazy ass theory about Aerial being a brain in a jar situation with Eri and Suletta being a separate character

Which means since Suletta is only 16 at the end of it, it takes her a year to get to Earth in time for the main series where she's 17. This seem about right to you guys?

[Seto Kaiba]

So the web story effectively says that

Spoiler

The Aerial's just a remodeled Lfrith, and that Suletta is Eri, effectively debunking the whole crazy ass theory about Aerial being a brain in a jar situation with Eri and Suletta being a separate character

Which means since Suletta is only 16 at the end of it, it takes her a year to get to Earth in time for the main series where she's 17. This seem about right to you guys?

Yeah, this seems to torpedo the various grimdark fan theories about the Aerial.

Hilariously, it also essentially confirms the sheer refuge in audacity being taken by...

Spoiler

[...] Elnora Samaya AKA Prospera Mercury in her defense of Suletta and the Aerial.

Not only did she send her daughter to Asticassia for the sake of her own revenge against Delling Rembran, she was clearly counting on everyone in the Earth Sphere being a paint-drinking moron. The Aerial is literally just the Ochs Earth XGF-02 Gundam Lfrith prototype she and her daughter had escaped the Vanadis massacre in some thirteen years earlier, with some minor cosmetic alterations and a new coat of paint. The "Aerial" is more or less the Mobile Suit equivalent of those "disguise glasses" that have a fake nose and mustache attached.

"Now, this has permet readings like a Gundam and fights like a Gundam and looks exactly like the Gundam that went missing during the suppression op at Folkvangr, but it's not a Gundam... honest.

[Kuruni]

So the web story effectively says that

Spoiler

The Aerial's just a remodeled Lfrith, and that Suletta is Eri, effectively debunking the whole crazy ass theory about Aerial being a brain in a jar situation with Eri and Suletta being a separate character

Huh, I don't think so.

Spoiler

While Aerial notes that Mom came to Mercury with her daughter, it doesn't say said daughter is Suletta. Aerial think Suletta started playing the game (likely MS simulator) since 4, but that might be coincidental (and since Aerial isn't certain about it either, it might not even be factual correct). I also don't see where Aerial connect itself to Lfrith. I too think it's modified Lfrith, but it doesn't say so in the story.

There's one minor detail that seems to be lost in translation. In Prologue, Ericht call Elnora "Mama" (ママ), but 6 years old Suletta call her "Mother" (お母さん). Of course, she might just change the pronounce as she get older. If anything, the story keeps the whole thing ambiguous enough.

[Mafty]

Spoiler

The whole Lfrith/Ariel thing is a major blind spot for the Benerit Group, seriously it makes the whole Alex Dino thing look well thought out in comparison. Even taking into account that all the Lfrith units were presumably destroyed at the end of the conflict, it is beyond suspicious that a new unit that looks just like it shows up.

As for Suletta

Spoiler

It is ambiguous , but I agree Suletta is probably Eri. As Ariel narrates Ericht and Suletta came to Mercury because they had no place else to go, and weren't initially welcomed there. With that being stated it seems like they really did come to Mercury after escaping Fólkvangr. They wouldn't have had the time or resources to do any kind of modification. That being said there still is a part of the story were Suletta is give n a shot, Ericht says it's for health purposes, however it could easily be part of some kind of process to boost Sulettas permit score.

[Seto Kaiba]

Spoiler

I also don't see where Aerial connect itself to Lfrith. I too think it's modified Lfrith, but it doesn't say so in the story.

Spoiler

Unlike Suletta, the Aerial remembers being in the Earth Sphere, why it had to leave, and what the probable consequences of returning are if it's discovered to be a Gundam. There's only one MS that fits that bill in the story so far, and that's the Lfrith prototype Ericht and Elnora escaped in.

[Omega]

Spoiler

I also don't see where Aerial connect itself to Lfrith. I too think it's modified Lfrith, but it doesn't say so in the story.

Spoiler

Unlike Suletta, the Aerial remembers being in the Earth Sphere, why it had to leave, and what the probable consequences of returning are if it's discovered to be a Gundam. There's only one MS that fits that bill in the story so far, and that's the Lfrith prototype Ericht and Elnora escaped in.

Yeah, exactly this;

Spoiler

It implies pretty strongly it used to be the Lfrith from the Prologue from the details Seto pointed out, which if true, makes Suletta Eri and reinforces Elnora being Prospera

[Kuruni]

Spoiler

I also don't see where Aerial connect itself to Lfrith. I too think it's modified Lfrith, but it doesn't say so in the story.

Spoiler

Unlike Suletta, the Aerial remembers being in the Earth Sphere, why it had to leave, and what the probable consequences of returning are if it's discovered to be a Gundam. There's only one MS that fits that bill in the story so far, and that's the Lfrith prototype Ericht and Elnora escaped in.

But it's also possible that's something Mom told it, possibly while working on its programing. We also see it near the end of the short story that she does speak with it alone. It's not unreasonable to assume that they do this from time to time.

Spoiler

And if Aerial is indeed Eri, then it might be her own memory all along.

I too, believe that Aerial is modified Lfith, but I don't think it's set in stone yet.

Yeah, exactly this;

Spoiler

It implies pretty strongly it used to be the Lfrith from the Prologue from the details Seto pointed out, which if true, makes Suletta Eri and reinforces Elnora being Prospera

Not really...

Spoiler

It's also possible that Eri pass away before or during Lfith's upgrade to become Aerial.

My current impression on the murky situation is that

Spoiler

Prospera and Aerial are indeed Elnora and Lfith, but Eri isn't Suletta.

[Omega]

So I guess it depends on if the show reveals Suletta is Eri from the prologue or a separate chara since it eliminates/contradicts the theory of Eri being the Aerial really

[Seto Kaiba]

But it's also possible that's something Mom told it, possibly while working on its programing. We also see it near the end of the short story that she does speak with it alone. It's not unreasonable to assume that they do this from time to time.

It doesn't remember being told about the Earth Sphere... it remembers the Earth Sphere itself (as in, it remembers actually being there).

Spoiler

Prospera and Aerial are indeed Elnora and Lfith, but Eri isn't Suletta.

It's stupidly obvious that she is... not only do they have the same voice actress, they've got physical features like hair color, the shape of their eyebrows, etc. in common, and the ages and remarks about the passage of time all line up. It's not like Elnora had a backup child stashed somewhere.

This show ain't anywhere near dark enough for the Aerial to be Powered by a Forsaken Child. It's just a lame attempt by the showrunners to make the characters mysterious when they're not, in a terribly predictable plot.

[Kuruni]

But it's also possible that's something Mom told it, possibly while working on its programing. We also see it near the end of the short story that she does speak with it alone. It's not unreasonable to assume that they do this from time to time.

It doesn't remember being told about the Earth Sphere... it remembers the Earth Sphere itself (as in, it remembers actually being there).

I read the story again, the closest things that imply that Aerial were in Earth sphere is how it note how they can't "go back" there. Which might be poetic speaking since their Mom came from there after all, the other times it mention Earth are when it note how Suletta learned about Earth from all media in its library and how Mom running back and forth between Earth and Mercury for her work.

Spoiler

And of course, if Aerial has Ericht's mind, then she was being there.

It's stupidly obvious that she is... not only do they have the same voice actress, they've got physical features like hair color, the shape of their eyebrows, etc. in common, and the ages and remarks about the passage of time all line up. It's not like Elnora had a backup child stashed somewhere.

Spoiler

The same for Elan and we just saw two of him together. Of course, Elan the 4th was surgically changed. But we still has the possibility of the good old cloning method l.

As for remark of time passage, it would still line up if Suletta is different person from Ericht. Aerial only count Suletta's age without ever relate it to Elnora's escape.

[Mafty]

Spoiler

Actual cloning doesn't seem to be possible in this verse, they seem to largely just modify an existing person(like said before think Full Frontal, Zoltan, or Meer, over Elpeo Ple). If this is the case Suletta is most likely Eri, again there aren't really the resources to do anything else at Mercury. This is actually probably the reason for the Lfrith Ariel thing. The lack of resources probably meant they could more easily modify the existing high quality MS than outright build a new one.

[Seto Kaiba]

I read the story again, the closest things that imply that Aerial were in Earth sphere is how it note how they can't "go back" there. Which might be poetic speaking since their Mom came from there after all, the other times it mention Earth are when it note how Suletta learned about Earth from all media in its library and how Mom running back and forth between Earth and Mercury for her work.

Spoiler

And of course, if Aerial has Ericht's mind, then she was being there.

You might want to read it again, then.

The Aerial is quite direct in saying that Suletta is the daughter of its developer.

Suletta's mother is my developer, as well as a Gundam test pilot.

So all those references to "daughter" in there? That's Suletta. The Aerial's narration notes that "Mom" (Prospera/Elnora) came to Mercury with her daughter (Suletta) seeking refuge. It also notes that Suletta was too young to remember having lived in the Earth Sphere, confirming that she isn't some kid Prospera recruited on Mercury and implying that it CAN remember having been in the Earth Sphere. She, not the Aerial, is the daughter that Prospera brought from the Earth Sphere. It also knows about its creators being condemned as Witches and the disassemble on sight order out for it because it's a Gundam, which is something Suletta apparently does not know.

Everything lines up with respect to Prospera and Suletta being the mother and daughter from the prologue.

Spoiler

The same for Elan and we just saw two of him together. Of course, Elan the 4th was surgically changed. But we still has the possibility of the good old cloning method l.

As for remark of time passage, it would still line up if Suletta is different person from Ericht. Aerial only count Suletta's age without ever relate it to Elnora's escape.

Spoiler

"Elan Ceres" was cosmetically altered to be someone's body double. That was done because the real Elan Ceres is a public figure within the Peil Corporation and having a body double is apparently advantageous for his own career.

Ericht Samaya was a four year old child when her mother fled with her to Mercury and assumed the alias Prospera Mercury. She's a nobody. If she wasn't, she'd be a wanted criminal and suspected Witch with a probable death sentence hanging over her head because she'd escaped Folkvangr in one of Ochs Earth's Gundam prototypes with known Witch Elnora Samaya. There is literally no advantage to having someone else impersonate her because they'd either be impersonating a nobody (which is pointless unless you're a somebody trying to go unnoticed) or impersonating someone with a "Wanted Dead or Alive" on their name (bad for your long term "going unnoticed" and "staying alive" prospects).

[Mafty]

Spoiler

Definitely, this also falls into the issues of resources , or lack therefore. Ceres and the Peli group had a large amount of resources at their disposal for their schemes. Elnora was a nobody, only notable for being one of the two survivors of the attack, she had no resources to do anything at first, even the others at Mercury took time accepting them. This does bring up another question, how many people know Prospera's identity? Is it a greater plot from Mercury? Or is Elnora merely acting alone? Obviously nobody in the Earth Sphere knows this, but is it established how much of Prospera's plans the people at Mercury know of?

[Henyo]

so G witch is getting lots attention from both long time and newbies. and there are like several hot takes/hilarious posts online.
one of more funny ive read is that G witch takes stuff from ZOE animes. or they be praising the show for ze Yuri.

[Kuruni]

You might want to read it again, then.

The Aerial is quite direct in saying that Suletta is the daughter of its developer.

Suletta's mother is my developer, as well as a Gundam test pilot.

I did. I even checked the original Japanese text and aware that "Mom" is indeed explicitly stated to be Suletta's mother. I also see no reason to doubt that her daughter" who came with her to Mercury is Ericht. However...

Spoiler

If Suletta is indeed Ericht's clone then she would still count as her daughter, a different daughter to Ericht. And while there's no reason to "impersonate" Ericht, she being the sole person to fully utilize GUND-Arm without any visibly adverse effect is a valid reason to make a genetical back up of her.

Regardless, since the issue we disagree here is the short story provide conclusive evident or not. I guess it would only resolve when the show actually address it.

PS: Just to be clear, while I'm lean toward the theory in spoiler, I don't think it's set in stone yet and aware of the posibility that the 21 years old revenge is about a completely different incident. I just think the short story still leave the things ambiguous enough that I won't call it a plot hole regardless of how it turn out.

PPS: Except for the Gundam Wiki's declaration that Suletta is actually 25 years old however, that's just BS

[Mafty]

Spoiler

Does anyone think Suletta may have been born differently? Like the Coordinators from the CE, where DNA was combined of her parents, and she was genetically engineered from the beginning?/spoiler]

Also what did people was similar between Zone of the Enders and G-Witch?

[Seto Kaiba]

Spoiler

Definitely, this also falls into the issues of resources , or lack therefore. Ceres and the Peli group had a large amount of resources at their disposal for their schemes. Elnora was a nobody, only notable for being one of the two survivors of the attack, she had no resources to do anything at first, even the others at Mercury took time accepting them. This does bring up another question, how many people know Prospera's identity? Is it a greater plot from Mercury? Or is Elnora merely acting alone? Obviously nobody in the Earth Sphere knows this, but is it established how much of Prospera's plans the people at Mercury know of?

Spoiler

Assuming we take what the Aerial establishes in the short story as valid, then it would appear to be something that Elnora Samaya cooked up on her own since she was the only Witch that escaped Cathedral's attack on Folkvangr and the people on Mercury were apparently hesitant to accept her at all because Mercury's permet mines are also owned by the Benerit Group and it was the Benerit Group's president (Delling Rembran) who'd put out a hit on them in the first place. It's presented as Elnora's/Prospera's revenge.

so G witch is getting lots attention from both long time and newbies. and there are like several hot takes/hilarious posts online.
one of more funny ive read is that G witch takes stuff from ZOE animes. or they be praising the show for ze Yuri.

I'm not surprised. Hell, look at all the folks practically insisting that this G-Reco-level cheerful series needs to be darker than IBO. No, it can't be that our protagonist's mecha is just an AI, her mom had to have...

Spoiler

cannibalized her daughter for spare parts and used her to build a Mobile Suit.

It's comically grimdark fanwank in a series that is actively trying to NOT be grimdark.

I did. I even checked the original Japanese text and aware that "Mom" is indeed explicitly stated to be Suletta's mother. I also see no reason to doubt that her daughter" who came with her to Mercury is Ericht. However...

So, basically, you just wish the show were grimdark.

Spoiler

If Suletta is indeed Ericht's clone then she would still count as her daughter, a different daughter to Ericht. And while there's no reason to "impersonate" Ericht, she being the sole person to fully utilize GUND-Arm without any visibly adverse effect is a valid reason to make a genetical back up of her.

Spoiler

That assumes cloning technology even exists in this setting at all, that it's possible in a remote and unstable region like Mercury, and that our Char Clone has the resources to arbitrarily clone her daughter to pilot the zero other Gundams she has sitting around.

This whole theory is just completely insane.

[Henyo]

another hilarious thing i saw over some place else is peeps actively comparing G witch traffic on other anime focused site/database like MAL and the like. and use that as a metric on that show doing good. also comparing post/comment numbers to IBO when it was airing.

i am half expecting for Utena levels of mind screw. oh and Koyasu better get in the cast just to complete the Utena circle.

[Kuruni]

So, basically, you just wish the show were grimdark.

Less of wish and more about "would not surprised if they pull it". Ironically, I got called naive when I mentioned in YT comment that I hope the show won't become too dark (as in become completely void of funny moment)

Spoiler

That assumes cloning technology even exists in this setting at all, that it's possible in a remote and unstable region like Mercury, and that our Char Clone has the resources to arbitrarily clone her daughter to pilot the zero other Gundams she has sitting around.

This whole theory is just completely insane.

Spoiler

Whether they have viable cloning tech or not is indeed something we've to wait and see. But if it is and Suletta's birth date is indeed 4 years after Prologue (using 21 years timeframe), then it would be reasonable that Mom would already find a foothold in Shin Sei for some time by and get some backup by then. After all, she can find enough resources to convert Lfith into Aerial (if anything, the idea that she converts Lfith into Aerial by herself within two years is equally questionable).

As for other Gundam... We should learn about it, no, them by March. They might be Cathedral's knock off based on Lfrith's data, but it's equally possible that they would be Shin Sei's true mass produced Lfrith.

Spoiler

And the latter would justify why they would help Elnora preserving her daughter's gene.

[Seto Kaiba]

Less of wish and more about "would not surprised if they pull it". Ironically, I got called naive when I mentioned in YT comment that I hope the show won't become too dark (as in become completely void of funny moment)

Considering the show's producer, writer, et. al. have commented that they are trying to keep this one more accessible to new audiences because they finally noticed that younger viewers find Gundam's unrelenting darkness off-putting, tend to avoid the gory death scenes, etc., I doubt they will let this one get excessively dark. I kind of expect G-Witch to end up in the same basic level as G-Reco as a lighter and softer Gundam.

Spoiler

Whether they have viable cloning tech or not is indeed something we've to wait and see. But if it is and Suletta's birth date is indeed 4 years after Prologue (using 21 years timeframe), then it would be reasonable that Mom would already find a foothold in Shin Sei for some time by and get some backup by then. After all, she can find enough resources to convert Lfith into Aerial (if anything, the idea that she converts Lfith into Aerial by herself within two years is equally questionable).

Spoiler

There doesn't appear to be much actual conversion to do... the only appreciable differences between the two are four extra bits added to its shield, some minor cosmetic alterations to its armor plating, and a different paintjob. That's not exactly a tall order, especially for someone with the kind of access a Benerit Group junior executive has.

As for other Gundam... We should learn about it, no, them by March. They might be Cathedral's knock off based on Lfrith's data, but it's equally possible that they would be Shin Sei's true mass produced Lfrith.

We've already seen the mass-production Gundam Lfrith in-series. Right after the title card in the prologue, we're treated to a television broadcast that includes images of several mass-production Lfriths on the Ochs Earth factory floor. It's mentioned that the Front 3rd Autonomous Sector had already approved a budget to purchase them for its forces. The Vanadis Institute's Folkvangr research facility had two of them in addition to a prototype and those two units fought Cathedral's Dominicus corps with Nadim Samaya and Wendy Orent as their pilots.

Presumably the Lfrith Ur and Lfrith Thorn are either variants of the Lfrith or mission-specific bolt-on equipment. Possibly either preserved by the Front 3rd Autonomous Sector government or developed by yet another Vanadis Institute refugee like Belmiria Winston.

Spoiler

And the latter would justify why they would help Elnora preserving her daughter's gene.

Spoiler

This is dependent on a LOT of unfounded assumptions... and at least one disproven one, that being that the Aerial/Lfrith's perfected GUND Format is specific to Suletta/Eri.

We've seen nothing to suggest genetics has anything to do with why Suletta was able to interface with the Aerial/Lfrith prototype and or operate the perfected GUND Format. Or any other biological factor, for that matter. Given that the Lfrith/Aerial is home to a self-aware AI, the obvious answer is that the AI responded to Eri/Suletta and not Elnora/Prospera or any other test pilot because a young Eri took Carto Nabo's words to heart and talked with the AI like it was another child.