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「紡がれる道」 (Tsumugareru Michi)
“The Woven Path”
These pre-climax episodes are often the ones I like most in Gundam series. They bring everything together to date, leave some signs for how the final act will play out, and still find room to leave some suspense considering something (or someone) always happens to come out of left field. In this regard Witch from Mercury is no different. We know pretty well how it’s going to turn out, but the manner of said conclusion is very much a running question.
The big developments this week naturally lay with Suletta and Miorine and their settling on a path forward. While teasers of this were had previously in Suletta choosing to confront Prospera and Eri, it was solidified here with the girl committing to it out of her own volition. It’s effectively Suletta’s coming of age, where she’s decided out of her own wants and own desires versus having it given to her by mama dearest or the prideful bride-to-be. That talk with Miorine is evidence enough: Suletta did so to say she’s moving forward, not to bring back what was lost (as with the immediate aftermath of her second duel with Guel). All in all a fairly major bit of growth for her, and one which guarantees a hefty showdown with Prospera.
As for Miorine that too followed in Suletta’s footsteps – and quite literally at that. Although somewhat cliché, it was Suletta who brought her out of her self-imposed slump, highlighting how terrible situations and shocking truths aren’t enough to call it quits halfway. Miorine wanted the responsibility, she wanted to be better than her father, but now she has to prove that she can handle it, and the only way for that is to grab the figurative bull by the horns. After all, if Suletta and even Elan can come to terms with their origins and still decide to move forward, there’s no excuse for Miorine to wallow in self-pity. Or even Guel for that matter; if the guy can cheekily set up a situation to bring the happy couple back together (guaranteed he only half-tried to win that duel to confirm Suletta was serious) and be satisfied at the outcome, nothing stopping everyone else from doing what’s required.
All of that, however, leads right back to Prospera and Eri and what’s certain to be the fight of the season. Exactly how this plays out is anyone’s guess: Prospera won’t be victorious of course, but will it involve her and/or Eri dying or severely harming Suletta in some way? Personally my bets are still on Eri coming around and giving Prospera the Death Star treatment (at her own expense too), but anything is possible. Plus there’s also that minor matter of Lauda being out for Miorine’s head, which effectively ensures Guel’s life expectancy is only 50/50 at the moment. Plenty of opportunities for death, even more room for surprises, and two episodes in which to have it all play out.
Whatever the faults this show might have, I’m quite eager to see what this final act holds.
Preview
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End Card
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Three episodes at least before it ends, and they just dump all the potential merchs in…. Bandai must’ve been very confident with their marketing or pushing Sunrise, though i doubt the next three episodes will be enough time to market Mihaelis… and maybe Schwarzsette and Kaliban. Kaliban had the fortune of being main character mecha, but Schwarzsette with Lauda? Tough combination. But nice to see Beam machinegun instead of more beam spam…. Jeturk build all the nice sh*ts…. though it looks like it will open up and another big beam or scattering particle…. man,
I don’t know Felsi can let out that cute pleading voice. Jeturk had all the nice waifus. If daddy vim can score two girls (before they left him for unknown reason), bob could have score better….
I wonder if the Quetta blackbox’s content is Miorine’s mom brain patern. If so, then Quiet Zero and 8th level permet is meant to store memory and personality of dead or living person. Sigh… another lost lenore.
It is very daring move to design a bare bone mobile suit like Kaliban. No blings, no pimped out part, no fancy gimmick. Just a simple Huckbein and its blackhole cannon, while the Gunnode mob had the fancy mock providence/legend Dragoon system. It’s like Stargazer. Very vanilla because the weapon effect cannot be adapted as solid armament and just simulation of effect gimmick. Even schwarzsette had the awkward looking zweihander beam machine gun.
So Suletta regains the title of Holder with an actual fencing match, just in case we’d all forgotten this is really the gundam version of Utena.
And now we have to wait for the final death toll. My very reluctant (and hopefully very wrong) bet is against Suletta, who’ll come up with some “I was never a real person anyway” justification in her final words with Miorine.
Ok, that fencing duel was hilarious. A moment of absurd levity in a sea of drama. But seriously, when did Suletta learn to fence?
Fetishism aside, I liked the focus on Suletta’s and Miorine’s feet during their talk. Very appropriate when the theme was the meaning of “moving forward”, and the animation of Miorine’s feet movement was masterful.
Now, Lauda, please, don’t be stupid. Petra evaded the death flag by a hair’s breadth, don’t screw it up now.
Suletta flying into Quiet Zero with the Calibarn gunning down all those drones while not getting hit once was awesome. Suletta, with that glowy stuff on her face caused by the permit score, makes her look cute.
My only gripe is Lauda; I can’t stand this character. Guel can kill off Lauda.
Oh well…
On Suletta front I am partially optimistic.
She can possibly talk Eri into rebelling against Prospera.
On the Guel front , though… I can completely see him sacrificing himself to protect Lauda.
And then everyobody else in the series is basically expendable at this point, save for Miorine who is needed for Sulettas happy ending. (and completing Shakespeare’s Data Tempest)