「大切なもの」 (Taisetsu na Mono)
“Precious Things”

Although I’m inclined to give Witch from Mercury some benefit of the doubt and hold off on impressions until all is said and done, damn is it making such a pledge difficult at times. Between last week and now the developments this time there’s quite a bit now which hints towards running right off the cliff, but with just how much is left outstanding and half a season left to go it’s hard not staying glued to the onrushing train. After all, when it comes to speeding trains it usually pays to stay firmly in your seat.

After Witch from Mercury revealed the extent of Prospera’s sway over Suletta last time, lo and behold an episode devoted to Miorine devising a way of freeing Suletta from that influence. Inevitably this was always going to be a thing: Miorine, per her morals, upbringing, and general Gundam theme of stupid adults, cannot stand seeing Suletta being led around by the nose, and given her growing attachment to the girl, wouldn’t stand to simply leave it as personal opinion. Suletta likewise would eventually be forced into a situation where that attachment would be felt and most certainly lead to her doing something the average person would quickly regret. Thus the rather orthodox plot of having Suletta lose to the new and improved Guel via some motherly assistance, something which lets Miorine (by getting an additional supporter), Prospera (by acquiring a viable presidential candidate), and Guel (by emphatically reestablishing his name) all claim a win. Not Suletta of course, but that’s beside the point.

What stands out to me with this scheming though is how ham-fisted (or abrupt) the whole thing seems. While very much a wakeup call to Suletta and the sort of move Miorine would do to ultimately free her from Prospera’s grasp, it’s hard seeing exactly where we go from here right now. Suletta for one is basically confirmed expendable: she’s the literal human test pilot of a machine Prospera has full control over and seemingly present only for the sake of making the technology easier to rationalize for the average onlooker. Guel’s new ownership of Aerial after all could simply mean ownership of the machine and pilot vs. just the Gundam itself – but with the styling of recent events I’m not so sure yet we won’t see the punished hero flying a digitized girl dear old mama holds the kill switch over. Likewise Miorine has done all this for the sake of Suletta, but how she now translates it into erstwhile change remains to be seen. How do you pick up a closeted and naïve girl who you ripped the floor right out from, and how do you do it while explaining the near-180 switch in mentality as Suletta sees it? Inevitable future duel with Guel to reclaim Miorine’s hand or not (seems to be the go-to conflict resolution for Witch from Mercury) there’s quite a few new loose ends to tackle before hitting the true meat and potatoes in Quiet Zero and Prospera’s ultimate goal.

Then again it wouldn’t be a proper Gundam if we weren’t wondering just what the hell was coming next, would it?

 

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13 Comments

  1. Ya, this was a very silly episode. Last weeks I thought was great, and setting the stage for something good. And their were so many ways for suletta, to be brought into conflict but this was silly.

    Ishkander
  2. After that silly Gay Marriage in IBO (well, only seen the screenshot ), seems that Okouchi solution is for Bob to just marry Miorine and make Tanuki his mistress. I dunno if it was bad idea, but…. its better than Aldnoah and Valvrape or Cross Ange solution.

    Shaddiq plan seems to be not really good. Did he accounted for a wild variable like a hot headed moron being redeemed and return, elevated into a true protagonist status in his machination? First Jeturk and The main Benerrit (Miorine) are allies now. Peil’s Gundam assets were sold to GunDArms, inc as to previous arrangement , Bellemeria become Prospera’s lackey….. so that left Grassley alone in this power struggle. I mean, the four hags of Peil….. except if they had hidden leverage …. Miorine can be said holding more confidence in outsider eyes. And, Jeturk can just short everything because everyone will rush to support it, especially seeing Bob had the natural charisma as the leader…..

    So, Shaddiq….. what was your plan, again? As expected. Guin Sard Reinford is not a good role model.

    Porn
  3. I don’t know what to make of this, and having a recap episode next week isn’t going to help either. Of course Suletta was living in a dream world and she would have had to wake up one day anyway, but did it have to be done so brutally that it verged on being torture porn?

    Angelus
      1. There were better ways to help her without emotionally scarring her. She is already funked up but this nay push her over the edge. Also this is exactly what masked woman wanted so this makes slightly less sense.

        Zemo x2
    1. Definitely not, there were plenty of other ways to beat it into her, but comes down to time. Partly why I don’t want to tear this apart just yet because it remains to be seen how both Suletta and Miorine come out of this.

    1. Wouldn’t say unhinged IMO, more proud than anything. She figures out a path forward then acts on it, never thinking for a moment that it could be wrong or that it may be ill-suited to the person (or people) it’s affecting. Similar to Shaddiq Miorine is setting herself up for a fall, just of a more personal variety.

  4. “To protect the person I love, I will be cold to them, make life decisions for them without consultation, and hide my feelings with harsh corporate speak. All for their own good, of course. Also, I’ll be in cahoots with Prospera behind their back.”

    Miorine is definitely her father’s daughter.

    In a series whose theme seems to be about children stepping out of their parents’ shadow, Miorine is instead falling into her father’s old vices in an attempt to force the aforementioned theme on Suletta. And while she probably thinks she’s saving Suletta from her mother, I can’t help but worry that this is all going as Prospera intended.

    Guel, on the other hand, seems to be about to complete his growning up. He took the “kill the parent” motif literally, and is now making peace with it. Miorine probably took his words about taking up his father’s company as a sign that she should do the same, but whereas Guel is doing it out of an acquired sense of responsability and care for his family, it feels as if Miorine is being forced into it due to guilt and desperation. It’s ironic in light of the first episodes, but Guel is now probably the most mature of these kids.

    Mistic
    1. Guel’s transformation makes me somewhat disappointed we haven’t seen a lot of him over the episodes. It’s the sort of forced maturation various Gundam stories have in abundance, and with a antagonistic character who’s perfect for the role. Particularly given he’s now set to be one of the major players for whatever happens next.

  5. What if Suletta isn’t the Witch from Mercury? What if this “Witch” is Prospera? From what I can tell, it seems Prospera is chasing after a ghost. That mesh network that Gundam Arial has holds Ericht Samaya. This technology isn’t really holding the consciousnesses of a child. All Prospera or Elenora had done was make a near-perfect copy of her daughter’s personality. Then will go and nurf all aggressive thoughts with a copy of Ericht using Quiet Zero, an upgraded version of the said mesh network.

    RenaSayers
    1. Think you’re on the right track, but I suspect it’s Eri more than Prospera. A witch in this series simply pilots a Gundam – and Eri who thanks to her circumstances just happens to the best suited to piloting one out of everyone.

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