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「鬱陶しい歌」 (Utoshii Uta)
“A Gloomy Song”
One step forward and two steps back – or as the Gundam world likes to call it: just another week of teasing. We all knew how the duel between Suletta and Elan would go given cute face and plot armour, yet all that inevitability still happened to yield some, shall we say, interesting facets you know damn well will take a few weeks to get a proper answer on. At this stage the only real question is how many episodes this series will be, because the rate we’re going it’s going to take several before the main plot makes its presence felt.
Following the reveal of Elan being a Gundam guinea pig, I doubt anyone is too shocked discovering that his status has a little more to it than simple bio-circuitry – even if it definitely is out there. I have to admit, antagonist of the moment actually being a expendable body double for another more prominent character certainly raised and eyebrow, especially when factored into Elan’s sponsoring company containing key personnel involved with the events of Witch from Mercury’s prologue. Besides the catharsis and melodrama such things invite, the real discovery here is of the typical Gundam variety where they serve as pieces to a far more ‘absolutist’ objective. After all, it’s already heavily hinted that Aerial is not of mama Prospera’s design and that Peil Technologies is seeking through the likes of Elan someone who can overcome a Gundam’s limitations. What do such facts add up to? A gameboard multiple sides are looking to dominate. Completely.
Pushing matters along such a trajectory is Suletta herself, because I also doubt few missed the connotations of this particular moment. While I’m still holding out that Suletta isn’t exactly special outside of cute introverted awkwardness, there’s no denying Elan’s little spiel over Suletta’s piloting suggests our MC has more to her than meets the eye. This lines up too with how Prospera is treating her daughter and what is increasingly looking like yet another angle on the whole Earth-space and child-adult dichotomies defining Witch from Mercury’s core. Is there a price worth paying to achieve full independence? Can vengeance be justified even if it means sacrificing those close to you? These are the sort of questions I see this series exploring before too long because it’s obvious Witch from Mercury has some major reveals itching for their debut and several characters who are definitely not as simple as they seem. I wouldn’t go as far to say everything here is completely predictable (yet), but this is one Gundam which certainly wears its grandiosity and over-the-top intentions on its sleeve.
It simply remains to be seen just what comes out flying out the woodwork, because one way or another, we’re not going to stick with playing teenage school-life sci-fi drama forever.
Preview
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Too bad next week is a recap episode.
Can you explain why it’s getting an recap episode?
Pancakes, I’m surprised you had so little to say about this episode and its reveals.
Belmeria also hinted at an incident from 21 years ago instead of 13 years ago, so the prologue may have been 21 years ago, making Suletta a clone of Eri’s or a second daughter of Elnora’s with a different father rather than being Eri herself.
The reason that Suletta’s GUND-Bits are better controlled than Elan’s are is not because Suletta is better at controlling them as Elan remarked but rather that all of the GUND-Bits have the consciousness of a person that once existed, which is why Suletta referred to her GUND-Bits as “Everyone”.
Elan seeing the form of a human and hearing a voice in the Aerial shows that Shin Sei Corporation uses human consciousness in its technology, and that Eri might have become the basis for Aerial’s AI, which is highly unethical. If you split Aerial’s name up, you get A Eri AI. I know it should be “An”, but I can excuse some Engrish.
A Eri Al
AL must be initials of Minerva’s husband then.
So that she won’t forget.
Part of it is me not wanting to spoil too much for those who haven’t seen the prologue and the other part is a lot of this still being speculation. The dates for one are confusing, it could mean the prologue happened 21 years ago, or Belmeria is referring to something happening before the prologue. That factors into whether Suletta is actually a clone or a legitimate child, though Elan’s status does lend credence to it being the former (since his musing over his similarity with Suletta won’t be a one-off). Plus the OP is a major hint in that regard.
Likewise not sure we can say the GUND-Bits retain a consciousness just yet, certainly points in that direction, but it could be that Aerial itself has the consciousness with Eri serving as the foundation as said; splitting hairs admittedly, but there’s a few directions this could go yet even with the hints flying about.
I’m mostly waiting for the big season reveal before piecing all of this together in a post because this series is really taking its time dancing around the edges and I doubt what the prologue teased is the entirety of what’s coming. There’s always something else at work beyond the obvious in Gundams, it’s only a question of what exactly.
Uhhh… Pancakes. Elan isn’t actually a clone though. He’s a disposable super soldier who was surgically modified to be Elan’s double. That would be why he asked whether Suletta about whether her face isn’t really hers.
Oh no I’m aware he’s not a clone, I meant in regards to him being entirely disposable and largely existing to advance technology. Suletta if a clone would be similar because her reason for being is then likewise ephemeral and wholly at the whims of others looking out for their own interests (in particular Prospera).
It’s why I brought this up as support for the clone argument because Elan then acts as the other side of the coin and provides a relatable (if not fully comparable) foil.
The “accident” as her junior mentioned, is intriguing. It might be that Minerva’s face is a mask covered by a mask.
Suletta might be the initials of those that died in you know, the experiment.
Her junior must have transferred the cloning technology to Peil industries. Highly likely that Suletta is also the last of the batch.
Going to be very interesting finding out if Suletta is actually a clone or a natural child, because each leads in very different directions. Former implies the problem of GUND technology is overcome through smart cloning (and gets right back to the whole child-adult theme), while the latter indicates potentially more nefarious workings through consciousness implants or other wetware AI architecture.
Whichever one it winds up being will determine who the actual enemy is and whether it will be Prospera or someone else we haven’t seen yet (or only caught of a glimpse of so far).
True. The way this episode gave us bits and pieces, it’s difficult to tell which are genuine reveals and which are false leads.
The 21 years in particular feels suspicious; we assume it was the attack in Episode 0, but it might refer to how she lost her arm in the past. Prospera’s desire for vengeance might predate the prologue, which would add another layer to her characterization.
Nevertheless, this episode has reinforced the “Eri =/= Suletta” theories, as well as the notion that Aerial’s human-like qualities are not just a mere artistic license by the Cradle World short story, or Suletta anthropomorphizing her beloved Gundam.
(The reply was actually for your other comment, Pancakes; should not have typed this when on mobile. But hey, still fits XD)
The Gundam black box is why I’m still on the fence with the clone argument, even with the tidbits this week. It would be just as big a twist having Aerial be a true human consciousness or the result of some twisted human experimentation because that would yield some stark choices for Suletta – i.e. the perfect mid-series climactic choice.
I guess the recap episode will give time for the directors to actually DESIGN a real story for the series.
They must have wanted it at first to go romantic comedy style, heh.
Given this is already confirmed split cour I think it’s more a case of production issues as others have alluded to. Little late at this stage to rewrite the story 😛
21 years….
Felt something was off when I commented that the time skip may have been longer than just 10 years or so from the prologue,
Suletta harem building skills are better than her piloting skills.
Fight me.
Seriously though, that was like god level harem queen stuff… Bakarina would be jealous (if she knew she is harem lead herself…).
Guel watching anxiously her duelling.
Elan (substitute) breaking of his ice personality.
Finally the Bride accepting little two-timing…
On another level, I feel I am like rewatching Evangelion, with Elan playing Rei, complete with spare units, and Prospera having revenge like Ikari Gendou…
Oh and dead persons being parts of mech design.
Note that Prospera alone never had any shadow of doubt in Suletta winning. What is she knowing about the Suletta-Aerial pair that we (and everybody else) isn’t?
The way how Prospera responds to her daughter is very calm and almost not natural. It’s almost as if Prospera is acting like a mom. Which kind of makes me wonder…