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

[Janx]

I wish the show actually took a moment to properly explain Permet since its the wonder material of this series and kinda essential to GUND.

I feel like I've only gotten an idea of what it is through the wiki and this forum.

[Mafty]

I agree that we could do with seeing a bit more of the rest of the Ad Stella world, particularly involving the social issues, and the issues with robotics. Granted episode's have focused on Earth bound issues

Spoiler

The riot in an earlier episode, which the Earth Government puts down with a needless amount of force, and people like Elan's body double are shown living in poverty in a shack.

This works better than series like Aldnoah Zero; where it was claimed that life on Mars was harsh, however all we were ever shown was a group of Aristocrats living in a castle.

That being said , I agree with the others in hoping that the show examines the issue related to robotics effects on Humans more (like IBO), or even go into some Ghost in The Shell thing with widespread use of Cybernetic Enhancements. As others have said so far they've done neither, and it isn't clear how much this will actually change, despite these being fairly interesting plot points.

The whole Permet thing also seems like a neat idea that's rather underutilized. Honestly Permet seems a bit like how Crystal is depicted in Anne McCaffery's Crystal Singer series; in that it is a natural mineral ; which is mined in a specific location, it becomes the cornerstone of the Universe where it's used to run power plants, interstellar travel, and even musical instruments. People even are shown to adapt to the Crystal naturally giving them various benefits like increased lifespan and the ability to sense the location of Crystal in mining. The difference being Crystal's uses is the backbone of the story, while here Permet is brought up in the prolog , then fades in importance in later episodes.

This also brings up the question of if Miorine's corporation plans on building GUND technology, do they plan on acquiring Permet for the process?

[Kuruni]

The whole Permet thing also seems like a neat idea that's rather underutilized. Honestly Permet seems a bit like how Crystal is depicted in Anne McCaffery's Crystal Singer series;

It would be more interesting if it's like Breaking Bad's crystal instead.

[...]while here Permet is brought up in the prolog , then fades in importance in later episodes.

Not sure if you remember, but In the first episode, we can hear the system confirm Permet link (with subtitle) when Guel start up his Dilanza before the duel against Aeriel.

Compared to UC, Permet is more of Helium-3 instead of Minovsky particle. A nice analog, consider how Mercury fades in importance after it's possible to mined Permet on the Moon.

[Ryujin]

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?

On ratings numbers, it's difficult to tell with Japan since it's on a lot of online streaming sites as well as live TV broadcasts, but the trending topics on JP Twitter in the hours following the broadcast are usually related to WfM. It's best taken with a bit of salt, though--Guel/GuelCamp trends even when he's not in the episode. The SEA region is covered by Gundaminfo & a handful of other streaming sites, and the viewership numbers appear to hold consistently from episode 2 to the present. Can't say anything about Crunchyroll numbers.

There's something in Carto Nabo's PV for GUND that legit looks like it's Gally/Alita from Gunnm.

Some people were claiming that it's actually a younger Belmeria, lol. She gonna break out the panzerkunst.

[Kuruni]

The battle is pretty fun even if Aerial does most of lifting. I actually smile at the end.

Look like Shaddiq's feeling toward Miorine is genuine.

Spoiler

I thought Guel will join the battle, but that isn't the case. From what it looks like, either he rebel the next episode or will just disappear until the second half (which is just unlikely).

[JulieYBM]

Episode #9:

The great thing about this series is just how bisexual it is, although it's super dissappointing to see it so afraid to just say the 'B-word'. Suletta and Miorine are obviously the main couple but the dynamics those two have with the male characters are so obvious. I absolutely loved the team dynamic of the episode as well as how it culminated in that final scene.

Suletta is just so precious.

[Dark Duel]

Aerial doing most of the heavy lifting was actually fairly predictable given that it’s the only machine the protagonists have that isn’t hopelessly outclassed by Grassley’s state-of-the-art mobile suits. So it didn’t actually bother me all that much.

As for Aerial itself…

Spoiler

The duel against Pharact already established that Aerial itself is equipped with anti-GUND Format countermeasures, as seen when it disabled Pharact’s GUND-Bits. So I wasn’t surprised to see that it was also equipped with a means to negate similar countermeasures. The blue glow was really cool-looking too. But definitely the highlight of the episode was that headshot. LOVED it.

Overall a pretty good episode. I’m really curious to see what’s next for Guel though, what with

Spoiler

his old man wanting to yank him from the school and put him to work in one of the Jeturk Group’s subsidiaries.

I can’t see Guel being too willing to go along with that

[Seto Kaiba]

The great thing about this series is just how bisexual it is, although it's super dissappointing to see it so afraid to just say the 'B-word'.

Eh... I kind of doubt that's what the show's creators are shooting for. If they are, they're botching that as badly as they are everything else because HOLY SHIT is Miorine and Suletta's "relationship" toxic.

Suletta is so maladjusted and so socially stunted as a result of having lived in virtual isolation as the only child on Mercury that she has no concept of how social interaction works in her peer group. The closest thing she has to experience with how social interaction should work is the anime and manga from the Lfrith's database, which even the Lfrith notes is not exactly realistic or current. So she's desperate for acknowledgement and is so pathetically eager to please that anyone can manipulate her with comical ease... be it her mother "Prospera", Elan Ceres, or Miorine Rembran.

Miorine, for her part, is such a spoiled brat who has led such an incredibly privileged life that she has no concept of how privileged she is. She hates her father but is constantly and unthinkingly wielding his considerable influence to do whatever she pleases. Her main concern in life is spiting her (allegedly) overbearing father, and when Suletta rolled up and stomped the then-current Holder Guel Jeturk she became Miorine's useful idiot to that end. Miorine's investment in "protecting" Suletta and the Gundam Aerial is for her own sake. As long as Suletta is the Holder, Miorine has a fiancée who's too naive and ignorant to have an agenda of her own and too passive and easily manipulated to stop Miorine from doing exactly as she pleases. Any other Holder would be someone "in the loop" in the Benerit Group proper and therefore someone with the wherewithal and the motive to rein her in. This isn't even really a secret, Miorine all but says to Suletta's face that she's using her so she can get away from her father and to Earth. Most of their interactions are Miorine getting irritated with Suletta and either yelling at her or telling her to shut up.

[Seto Kaiba]

Oh boy... we're starting with a flashback that adds literally nothing to the story.

Riveting.

Spoiler

Really, this opening really does nothing except drive home what a complete non-character Suletta Mercury is.

There's a moment at 03:09 in the episode that captures the problem in beautiful symbolic form. Suletta is so passive and so lacking in agency that she literally does not even have a seat at the table when her entire future is being decided. Miorine, for her part, apparently thinks so little of her useful idiot Suletta Mercury that she uses her as a maid and has her serving drinks and standing off to the side while the grown-ups talk business.

Shaddiq doesn't even bother to try to hide that the new rule was concocted specifically and solely to scuttle Miorine's plan to protect Suletta and the Aerial.

Note here how Miorine doesn't respect Suletta at all. She - not Suletta - challenges Shaddiq to a duel over the change to the school's rules on startups. Suletta's the one who has to do the fighting and putting her precious Mobile Suit on the line, but Miorine doesn't even consult her. Suletta doesn't even get to be present when the Dueling Committee registers it as an official duel!

Like, I know I wrote my previous post before watching the latest episode... but GODDAMN if the disrespect isn't real. Miorine treats Suletta like shit.

Spoiler

It's a 6v6 team battle, but Earth House doesn't have enough Mobile Suits and they only have two pilots (Suletta and Chuchu). It's weird that they don't mention Chuchu's Mobile Suit at all... and jump straight to the odd idea of borrowing the Pharact. Last we saw, the Pharact was in approximately a thousand pieces scattered across space near Asticassia. Who rebuilt it and when? It's only been a few days since Suletta trashed the Pharact in a 1v1 duel against "Elan".

In a rare reasonable reaction, the head of Earth House refuses to pilot the Pharact because Gundams kill their pilots. Suletta doesn't seem to have cottoned on to the fact that the Aerial is unique and nobody knows why using it isn't fatal.

Suletta bumps into Guel Jeturk while wandering around the campus. She actually has the nerve to ask him to assist because they don't have enough pilots. He turns her down, on the grounds that his father forbade him to duel. Zero attempt to persuade him.

Wow she's dumb. Twice in the space of about a minute Suletta professes to have faith in someone who is ABSOLUTELY 100% just using her in an incredibly obvious manner that even other characters are appalled by. Maybe instead of calling her Doormat-kun I should start calling her Shortbussa or something like that.

That said, Suletta is such a complete and utter dimwit that it's hard to feel bad for her.

Spoiler

So Earth House's side is the Aerial, four borrowed Zoworts, and Chuchu's got an old-model Demi Trainer? Wow, inspiring.

I hope Suletta doesn't throw her back out carrying the rest of Earth House like this. Let's be honest with each other, this is a 1v6 in all but name and Suletta is only going to win because having a Gundam is functionally equivalent to playing with God Mode enabled in most Gundam AUs including this one.

Spoiler

At times like this, one really has to ask how in the nine hells they're avoiding collateral damage to the gravity block they're fighting inside. Shaddiq is throwing around beam weapons fire that is destroying metal buildings sturdy enough to hold up a MS!

... so the heavyset girl is the target of the obnoxious genki girl's outrage because she "laid hands on" her 12th backup boyfriend? No, it's even dumber. Because she declined a lunch invitation from her 12th backup boyfriend. What an outstandingly stupid thing to waste dialog on. It's still better than anything that's come out of Suletta's mouth, but c'mon guys... you have a top flight writer working on this one why is he phoning this crap in so hard? Why do ALL of these characters suck so much?

The first two members of Earth House's team literally last ONE MINUTE. 13:09 to 14:09. The third goes down at 14:45, and the fourth at 14:51. Earth House's team literally failed to last two minutes against Grassley's. 1 minute and 42 seconds.

Because this duel is SUCH a snore, they cut away to Guel getting a phone call from his father letting him know they're pulling him out of school and several seconds of him standing there in shock.

Chuchu's Demi gets taken out at 16:14, so as a whole thing Duel was reduced from 6v6 to 1v6 in the space of 3 minutes and 5 seconds... counting the cut to Guel!

FFS, just shoot her. Please. Kill her by "accident" and get her the hell out of this show. It will be infinitely better without her. I know they won't win, but I am literally rooting for Grassley anyway because I find the cast of this series that annoying.

Spoiler

Grassley's Mobile Suits deploy the expected GUND Format countermeasures... after all, they are improved versions of the units that the Dominicus corps used against the Lfrith series in the prologue. It works for a hot minute... long enough for them to tear the Aerial's arm off and one of its torso plates.

But there's that Deus ex Machina we've all been expecting... the hallmark of the writing of this series. Something completely unmentioned and un-alluded to comes in out of left field to instantly and immediately change a looming defeat into a one-sided victory. The writing on this show is so goddamn BAD.

Spoiler

Aerial magically overrides the "Antidote" that jammed GUND Format, and starts immediately wrecking the Grassley MS's. It raises the question why she couldn't do exactly this before they activated the jamming?
It's the same bits. It's the same GUND Format. What was stopping her from one-sidedly dominating this fight from the start?

OK, TWO Deus ex Machinas in the same fight! This one at least is blink-and-you'll-miss-it hinted at.

Spoiler

Suletta's Aerial loses a leg at the knee and goes down in the middle of its rampage.

Shaddiq decides to monologue instead of sealing the deal, and gets sniped by Chuchu. They conveniently forgot to take the blade fin off Chuchu's MS when they downed it... which is a pretty glaring failure considering that is The One Rule that runs these duels.

It's also really questionable from a rules standpoint, since the only way Chuchu was able to get into position to take the shot was by having two Zoworts that'd already been disqualified carry her Demi.

How are they going to afford to repair the Aerial? It just got trashed and they don't have any money left. Moreover, how are they going to reimburse Peil Technologies for the four Zoworts they borrowed that also got trashed? And Chuchu, for the Demi that got junked.

All in all, more of the same writing problems plaguing this series since the start.

I really hope this series spins in hard enough that Sunrise decide to put some actual effort into the next one.

[JulieYBM]

Eh... I kind of doubt that's what the show's creators are shooting for. If they are, they're botching that as badly as they are everything else because HOLY SHIT is Miorine and Suletta's "relationship" toxic.

I mean, the romantic tension is there whether it's ever going to be openly acted on or not.

Suletta is so maladjusted and so socially stunted as a result of having lived in virtual isolation as the only child on Mercury that she has no concept of how social interaction works in her peer group.

She's just like me, fr fr.

The closest thing she has to experience with how social interaction should work is the anime and manga from the Lfrith's database, which even the Lfrith notes is not exactly realistic or current. So she's desperate for acknowledgement and is so pathetically eager to please that anyone can manipulate her with comical ease... be it her mother "Prospera", Elan Ceres, or Miorine Rembran.

She's so real for that, fr fr.

Miorine, for her part, is such a spoiled brat who has led such an incredibly privileged life that she has no concept of how privileged she is. She hates her father but is constantly and unthinkingly wielding his considerable influence to do whatever she pleases. Her main concern in life is spiting her (allegedly) overbearing father, and when Suletta rolled up and stomped the then-current Holder Guel Jeturk she became Miorine's useful idiot to that end. Miorine's investment in "protecting" Suletta and the Gundam Aerial is for her own sake. As long as Suletta is the Holder, Miorine has a fiancée who's too naive and ignorant to have an agenda of her own and too passive and easily manipulated to stop Miorine from doing exactly as she pleases. Any other Holder would be someone "in the loop" in the Benerit Group proper and therefore someone with the wherewithal and the motive to rein her in. This isn't even really a secret, Miorine all but says to Suletta's face that she's using her so she can get away from her father and to Earth. Most of their interactions are Miorine getting irritated with Suletta and either yelling at her or telling her to shut up.

Miorine's dad is a creep that uses and abuses her and has left her feeling powerless and unable to even go to her own father for life advice without having to bow her head, so fuck that guy. Miorine's doing her best to make her own choices and get away from her current situation and if that means taking proverbial hits from her dad than she's stronger than I ever was.

Miorine is trying to make choices for herself and trusting Suletta is her best option because Suletta has been the one person in her life that doesn't have ulterior motives for her. Both characters are obviously green and have flaws but that's obviously how you write a story. Suletta might be a pawn for others but she also has an idea of what she believes in and wants for herself. Miorine might be rash and pushy but she's also trying to escape a bad situation and her isolation has made her ill-equipped to handle the social situations she'll need to navigate at Earth House.

There's such sturdy ground that is employed in each episode. Every episode has been a fun ride.

[Seto Kaiba]

I mean, the romantic tension is there whether it's ever going to be openly acted on or not.

... yeah, I am NOT seeing it. Maybe if Suletta were really, creepily, I'm-calling-the-cops-this-woman's-clearly-a-sex-offender level masochistically subby like Darkness from KonoSuba or something... but there's been no sign of that, thank goodness.

Their relationship, such as it is, is founded exclusively on Miorine using Suletta as a meat shield and Suletta being too dim and too desperate for approval to notice she's being taken advantage of. Shaddiq even points it out in almost those terms in the most recent episode. That Miorine is just using Suletta as a way to run away from her responsibilities.

She's just like me, fr fr.
[...]
She's so real for that, fr fr.

Are... are you alright? Do you need a hug?

Miorine's dad is a creep that uses and abuses her and has left her feeling powerless and unable to even go to her own father for life advice without having to bow her head, so fuck that guy. Miorine's doing her best to make her own choices and get away from her current situation and if that means taking proverbial hits from her dad than she's stronger than I ever was.

To be clear, we only have Miorine's word for it that Delling is a bad father.

All we've actually seen or heard about Delling doing to "control" Miorine is...

• Not let her run away to Earth, which at this point has been presented as kind of a rough neighborhood from the Spacian perspective.
• Establish the "Holder" title at Asticassia to encourage innovation and competition within the Benerit Group with the winner eventually becoming her fiancé and his heir-apparent.
• Let her do basically whatever the hell she wants at Asticassia without any real restrictions incl. taking over his office there to use as a private apartment instead of living in the dorms, letting her set up gardens on the grounds of the school itself, generally letting her flout all kinds of rules, barge into holding facilities for prisoners and regulatory council meetings as she pleases, etc.

When you get down to it, unless there is some massive offscreen control freak-ing going on Delling seems to be a pretty standard wealthy and slightly neglectful dad who spoiled his kid rotten because he was too busy with work to do any actual parenting. Like Tem Ray, the Bidans, or Hangerg Ewin... with a side order of being willing to murder people carrying out unethical research on human beings. In the absence of any abusive or controlling behavior, Miorine just seems like a bratty kid going through a rebellious phase ranting about how her parents suck as every teenager does at some point.

On the other hand, the show has called Miorine out on her BS twice now... the first time in Ep7 for hypocrisy with the whole hating her father but using his influence at every opportunity to make her own life easier thing, and in the most recent episode (Ep9) Shaddiq points out that she's just using Suletta in order to run away from her responsibilities.

[Mafty]

To be fair given Delling's murderous actions, it's not that much of a stretch to see him as a poor parent ; like Lunza from Dunbine, however in Lunza's case , we saw first hand how awful she treated her daughter, in Dellings case it's more an informed flaw, however trying to marry off his daughter doesn't do any favors.

On the bright side at least the series is trying to develop it's large cast; it does at least work with Shaddiq, as we get to see there is more to him than the lighthearted, Casanova , he's first presented as

Spoiler

He does appear to genuinely care for Miorine, thought treating her like a prize was a bad way to prove it. Also Miorine's words at the end are vague, she may reciprocate.

As for Miorine and Suletta, I agree their relationship isn't anything like the warm, loving relationship seen in the credits. Hopefully both will get some much needed character development. Miorine needs to learn how to actually interact with other people as friends (Granted that'd be hard seeing how the school environment normally was). Suletta for her part, needs to grow more of a backbone. Hopefully she'll end up like Cecily/Berah from F91 and Shakti from Victory, and reject the role she's forced into, and set her own path. It is still relatively early in the series, so who knows?

The issue of post battle seems glossed over

Spoiler

How is the dirt poor Earth House going to fix any of the units? Especially Aerial, as it has specialty parts. Gundams glossed over unique or stolen Gundam's being repaired as new after a battle(Ie Garrods unit being sliced apart, then exactly repaired in Gundam X, The Duel Gundam getting a new arm , after the previous one is blown away, etc. however here this isn't even mentioned, so who knows if it will be focused on in the coming episodes.

As for Shaddiq's unit

Spoiler

If war breaks out, it will be interesting to see if the Michaelis is used in any way, as it's a clear successor to the Beguir-Beu from the prolog, down to having the same Antidote powers.

Also it's late to bring this up, but does anyone else think the begging attack on the rebel asteroid base is kind of like what happened to Satelicon in Gundam X?

[JulieYBM]

... yeah, I am NOT seeing it. Maybe if Suletta were really, creepily, I'm-calling-the-cops-this-woman's-clearly-a-sex-offender level masochistically subby like Darkness from KonoSuba or something... but there's been no sign of that, thank goodness.

Their relationship, such as it is, is founded exclusively on Miorine using Suletta as a meat shield and Suletta being too dim and too desperate for approval to notice she's being taken advantage of. Shaddiq even points it out in almost those terms in the most recent episode. That Miorine is just using Suletta as a way to run away from her responsibilities.

It's queer and messy and I'm absolutely into seeing one of my self-insert characters be a subby masochist for another of my self-insert characters.

That Shaddiq scene at the end was so good, too. It's so nice seeing the characters get to have romantic tension with more than one character. It makes the scenes so much more dynamic and relatable. With Shaddiq we see Miorine saying a bitter farewell to a romance that might have once been. I love that tension so much.

I don't think that Miorine has ill-intentions but I do think she needs to talk with Suletta more, meanwhile Suletta needs to learn more about the world and people to better help inform her actions. I think her instincts with regards to Miorine are good but she still has much to learn to strengthen their bond.

Are... are you alright? Do you need a hug?

I need several surgeries, "fuck you money" to escape my family and more of Suletta getting bad bitches by being autistic.

To be clear, we only have Miorine's word for it that Delling is a bad father.

All we've actually seen or heard about Delling doing to "control" Miorine is...

• Not let her run away to Earth, which at this point has been presented as kind of a rough neighborhood from the Spacian perspective.
• Establish the "Holder" title at Asticassia to encourage innovation and competition within the Benerit Group with the winner eventually becoming her fiancé and his heir-apparent.
• Let her do basically whatever the hell she wants at Asticassia without any real restrictions incl. taking over his office there to use as a private apartment instead of living in the dorms, letting her set up gardens on the grounds of the school itself, generally letting her flout all kinds of rules, barge into holding facilities for prisoners and regulatory council meetings as she pleases, etc.

When you get down to it, unless there is some massive offscreen control freak-ing going on Delling seems to be a pretty standard wealthy and slightly neglectful dad who spoiled his kid rotten because he was too busy with work to do any actual parenting. Like Tem Ray, the Bidans, or Hangerg Ewin... with a side order of being willing to murder people carrying out unethical research on human beings. In the absence of any abusive or controlling behavior, Miorine just seems like a bratty kid going through a rebellious phase ranting about how her parents suck as every teenager does at some point.

On the other hand, the show has called Miorine out on her BS twice now... the first time in Ep7 for hypocrisy with the whole hating her father but using his influence at every opportunity to make her own life easier thing, and in the most recent episode (Ep9) Shaddiq points out that she's just using Suletta in order to run away from her responsibilities.

That second bullet point is a pretty clear case of abuse, so...yeah.

I'm going to place my faith in the female deurtagonist over the Mean Anime Dad any day of the week for various reasons.

[Seto Kaiba]

It's queer and messy and I'm absolutely into seeing one of my self-insert characters be a subby masochist for another of my self-insert characters.

Not gonna judge, not gonna kink-shame, just gonna say I am hardcore not seeing it in this series... all I see WRT their relationship is the toxic and abusive relationship previously described.

That Shaddiq scene at the end was so good, too. It's so nice seeing the characters get to have romantic tension with more than one character. It makes the scenes so much more dynamic and relatable. With Shaddiq we see Miorine saying a bitter farewell to a romance that might have once been. I love that tension so much.

Now that I'll agree on... that is one of the few moments of actual character development we've got, though admittedly kind of a predictable one. There was going to have to be someone among the Three Houses who'd be sympathetic to Miorine's desire for freedom from her obligations to a wealthy and powerful family. Guel Jeturk took himself out of the running practically immediately and once the real Elan Ceres revealed himself to be an awful person that kind of just left Shaddiq and Guel's younger half-brother Lauda.

That second bullet point is a pretty clear case of abuse, so...yeah.

Eh... attitudes towards arranged marriages vary from culture to culture. It's worth remembering that G-Witch is a Japanese series and its content reflects Japanese cultural sensibilities.

Delling's plan to arrange a marriage between his daughter and someone of similarly high status within the corporate and social hierarchy would not be entirely out-of-line even for the super-rich in the west. To audiences in Japan, it'd be painfully old-fashioned but not at all outside the realm of possibility for a wealthy high-status family like the Rembrans who are looking to preserve that wealth and high status for future generations. Esp. in the case of relative newcomers to wealth and high status, who would be looking to solidify their status by marrying into a more established family. Not abusive, but certainly inconsiderate of the feelings of the young people (assuming they're not completely invested in the idea of their filial duty).

(It's a common-enough schtick in Japan's romance writing... the proud scion of a very wealthy and influential family with an arranged marriage to someone of similar status in their future falling in love with someone of much lower status and having to choose between family and true love.)

I'm going to place my faith in the female deurtagonist over the Mean Anime Dad any day of the week for various reasons.

This is Gundam... the franchise memetically famous for having grown-ups b*tchslap sense into moody teenagers. It's also a Gundam series being made after Sunrise suffered EMOTIONAL DAMAGE from teens telling them Gundam is for old people... so I'm not gonna count Delling out just yet.

[JulieYBM]

Not gonna judge, not gonna kink-shame, just gonna say I am hardcore not seeing it in this series... all I see WRT their relationship is the toxic and abusive relationship previously described

The Sapphic nature of the Opening, Ending and the dialogue within the episodes point to them being in love. Every Sapphic on the planet leaping out of their seats at dialogue like "I'll trust my bride" is so indicative of what's at play in the series.

Eh... attitudes towards arranged marriages vary from culture to culture. It's worth remembering that G-Witch is a Japanese series and its content reflects Japanese cultural sensibilities.

Delling's plan to arrange a marriage between his daughter and someone of similarly high status within the corporate and social hierarchy would not be entirely out-of-line even for the super-rich in the west. To audiences in Japan, it'd be painfully old-fashioned but not at all outside the realm of possibility for a wealthy high-status family like the Rembrans who are looking to preserve that wealth and high status for future generations. Esp. in the case of relative newcomers to wealth and high status, who would be looking to solidify their status by marrying into a more established family. Not abusive, but certainly inconsiderate of the feelings of the young people (assuming they're not completely invested in the idea of their filial duty).

(It's a common-enough schtick in Japan's romance writing... the proud scion of a very wealthy and influential family with an arranged marriage to someone of similar status in their future falling in love with someone of much lower status and having to choose between family and true love.)

Women don't stop suffering under the patriarchy just because cultures are different. Marrying off your daughter as if you have the right to do so is misogynistic bullshit and it's wrong.

[Ryujin]

I find Renee's behavior

Spoiler

natural in the sense that there are people who'll fight for the most petty of reasons, for no other stake than their own shallow desires. She's very much an adolescent who probably thought the whole thing was a lark, given how her main concern before the fight was about the party to be held afterwards. A contrast to everyone else involved. Perhaps she's a reflection of how most of the student body sees the entire affair.

I agree that Suletta & Miorine's relationship is indeed a mess, and much of that mess appears to come from both parties' upbringing, and how said upbringing & subsequent experiences has left both ill-equipped to even realize, let alone deal with, the tangle they're in. At least Shaddiq has thrown some unpleasant truths in Miorine's face which may lead to some introspection later, but Suletta has been such an oddball from the very start that it would be difficult to even establish a baseline with her. Much like a child, it's obvious when she's throwing a temper tantrum, but people around her would probably just pass off her having one-sided conversations as 'lol, sasuga Suletta.' At least it's Miorine who's becoming aware that something just ain't right, but it doesn't help that she seems to be adopting many of her father's methods & mindset in dealing with her respective problems, much as she might deny it (not that she had much of a selection regarding parental figures/role models to emulate).

Now, with all of this creeping up out of the woodwork, how do the two intend to move forward?

On an unrelated note, Nika's voice took on a different tone in her conversation with Shaddiq, possibly in order to ease the transition to Haruka Shiraishi for episode 10 onwards, since Yume Miyamoto had to take a 'brief' hiatus for health reasons.

[Underrated GM Custom]

Miorine's investment in "protecting" Suletta and the Gundam Aerial is for her own sake. As long as Suletta is the Holder, Miorine has a fiancée who's too naive and ignorant to have an agenda of her own and too passive and easily manipulated to stop Miorine from doing exactly as she pleases. Any other Holder would be someone "in the loop" in the Benerit Group proper and therefore someone with the wherewithal and the motive to rein her in. This isn't even really a secret, Miorine all but says to Suletta's face that she's using her so she can get away from her father and to Earth. Most of their interactions are Miorine getting irritated with Suletta and either yelling at her or telling her to shut up.

When you put it like that the writers could actually make Miroine the villain down the road.

[Mafty]

At first I thought Renee's reason for dueling was supposed to be comical (notice how she points out the guy was her 12th possible boyfriend, then randomly changes track when shown she didn't even understand the situation), however when you compare to the other characters , Renee is more "Normal". Earth House members came from a harsh upbringing in poverty, and face discrimination from others at the school, which manifest in different ways (Chucumy has a chip on her shoulder and regularly picks fights with the Spacians, Ojelo is obsessed with money, Nika meekly accepts bullying, etc.) , Of course you then have traumatic backstories of the main cast members, so I agree by contrast Renee is probably a representation of what a normal student without grander ambitions would Duel over.

I doubt Miorine is going to become an antagonist, It seems more likely she'll ultimately get some much needed character development. Delling on the other hand has already shown just how ruthless he is, so I think he'll likely stay as an antagonist.

[Seto Kaiba]

To be fair given Delling's murderous actions, it's not that much of a stretch to see him as a poor parent [...]

I'm not sure that necessarily follows... there is such a thing as separation of one's personal and professional life.

Miorine needs to learn how to actually interact with other people as friends (Granted that'd be hard seeing how the school environment normally was). Suletta for her part, needs to grow more of a backbone.

Really, I think Miorine's problem isn't that she doesn't know how to interact with other people as friends... she didn't grow up isolated on a remote planet with nobody her own age the way Suletta did.

Miorine's problem is that she is so accustomed to wielding, and being shielded by, her father's supreme authority as President of the Benerit Group that she not only doesn't realize that she's doing it but also doesn't really see anyone around her as an equal. Look at how she treats Suletta and Earth House. She doesn't ask if she can use Earth House's dorm as the headquarters for her new startup. She barges in uninvited and informs the Earth House students that their dorm belongs to her company now. She doesn't ask the Earth House students if they'd like to join her new company. She just starts barking orders as though their opinions simply didn't matter. She calls meetings of the people she's dragooned into working for her and then ends them on a whim before any kind of consensus has been reached. She doesn't ask Suletta if she'd be willing to fight Shaddiq for the future of the company, she challenges Shaddiq and even agrees to terms that are incredibly unfavorable without so much as consulting Suletta.

Her callous disregard for the thoughts and feelings of others is quite shocking, even compared to Guel's indifference to her opinions from early in the series.

As for Shaddiq's unit

Spoiler

If war breaks out, it will be interesting to see if the Michaelis is used in any way, as it's a clear successor to the Beguir-Beu from the prolog, down to having the same Antidote powers.

It's actually the five grunt suits accompanying the Michaelis that are the successors to the Beguir-Beu... their model is Beguir-Pente, and they're described as being the successor to the Beguir-Beu.

The Sapphic nature of the Opening, Ending and the dialogue within the episodes point to them being in love. Every Sapphic on the planet leaping out of their seats at dialogue like "I'll trust my bride" is so indicative of what's at play in the series.

Not sure there's anything really "sapphic" there either... esp. since the OP is explicitly sung from the perspective of the Gundam Aerial's AI, not Miorine or Suletta.

Women don't stop suffering under the patriarchy just because cultures are different. Marrying off your daughter as if you have the right to do so is misogynistic bullshit and it's wrong.

Something to remember... not every culture shares the same social priorities or views the wants of the individual as more important than the collective good.

The reason that nobody in-series is all that fussed with the whole "Holder" system is that arranged marriages between wealthy and influential families really aren't unheard-of or seen as misogynistic or wrong in Japan... just old-fashioned and possibly inconsiderate to someone with a "true love" sort of mindset. Duty to family and society is a thing over there, and such arranged marriages are very much under "duty to family". (And it's not just the women that get hit with that, it's very much an equal opportunity affair for families looking to advance socially or consolidate business relationships.)

Mind you, I personally know several people who are in such arranged marriages and they don't seem to have any real problem with it. The cultural priorities underpinning marriage are just different.

When you put it like that the writers could actually make Miroine the villain down the road.

Considering she's manipulating Suletta purely for her own gain and is hands-down the one who's come the closest to destroying the Gundam Aerial on at least two occasions... what makes you say she isn't ALREADY the villain?

[Janx]

Her callous disregard for the thoughts and feelings of others is quite shocking, even compared to Guel's indifference to her opinions from early in the series.

Given how Guel seems to be much more likeable outside of Ep1, I almost wonder if his brutish behaviour in Ep1 was because he didn't want to become Mio's doormat. Everyone else seems to get bulldozed by her, so by being a total controlling jerk he's pretty much throwing her own behaviour back at her.

Just like Mio's being 'sold off by her father', Guel is also effectively in the same boat. He's expected to fight and win Mio, with no respect for his own wishes and desires. We've also seen him actively punished for failing to win her.