Gundam Show Thread - MSG thru Witch from Mercury

[Sanity is Optional]

I'm enjoying it, even if the Aerial went straight to magical flying beam-spam, and the MC for some reason goes trembling wet-noodle when anyone shows her any level of aggression in-person.

[Seto Kaiba]

One prologue and four actual episodes into Mobile Suit Gundam: the Witch from Mercury and the only word I can really think of to describe the series is "bland".

I'm watching it, but I don't feel like I'm really retaining anything significant from it.  It all just sort of slides by like white noise.  The only things that really feel distinct from the many previous form letter Gundam sequels and spinoffs is that the protagonist is a girl and the usual roles have been flipped so it's the spacenoids doing the oppressing this time.  The rest just feels like we've welded Reconguista in G to Iron-Blooded Orphans by way of another pointless cybernetics taboo, another ridiculously classist and exploitative society, and another school-for-mobile-suit-pilots ... except this one has no clear reason to exist and seems to function mainly as a daycare for rich idiots.

I guess it's fitting that a show called The Witch from Mercury takes place at what's basically Giant Robot Hogwarts.

They were almost doing something interesting with the duel against Guel Jeturk, but the immediate course correction away from it at the start of the next episode means it's all buildup with no payoff and the entire rest of the fourth episode is just watching someone bully the protagonist until she cries and someone else solves the problem for her out of sheer irritation.  Not exactly what I'd call thrilling viewing.  It has the potential to get better, and from the general tone I have a feeling we're not going to see it go to the same dark place that Iron-Blooded Orphans did, but it's going to be an uphill battle with such an unengaging protagonist.

[Seto Kaiba]

What a disappointing show The Witch from Mercury is turning out to be.

Six episodes in, and the writers have already basically thrown in the towel.

Spoiler

The show's plot kicks off with Suletta Mercury getting involved in a duel against Guel Jeturk because he's an arsehole, stomping him, and then immediately getting arrested and having her Mobile Suit impounded on suspicion (backed by evidence) that her Mobile Suit was a Gundam and therefore using banned technology.

Episode 5 had Guel Jeturk square off again against another Gundam and losing in a publicly humiliating manner, and despite the fact that the Pharact produces data storms that are the definitive evidence of using the prohibited GUND Format that makes a Mobile Suit a Gundam it's never investigated.  Episode 6 has Suletta square off against the Pharact and its pilot, and again there are no apparent consequences or investigations launched even though it's acknowledged that the Pharact is producing data storms that are the big giveaway it's a Gundam.

We got five episodes in and the writers wrote themselves into a corner.  If the Pharact is outed as a Gundam, then it's incredibly obvious the Aerial is too.  So instead of actually addressing the point, the writers just ignore it completely and somehow everyone who's been vigilantly watching everything going on around Suletta and the Aerial misses the Pharact as a Gundam and its "witch" pilot.  Literally hundreds of people who raked Suletta over the coals mere episodes before all collectively fail a spot check twice and grab a firm hold on the idiot ball in order for the plot to continue progressing.

 

[kajnrig]

I've been meaning to quote your last post @Seto Kaiba, the bit about why the school exists and what they study there, because... yeah, that low-key has been on my mind the entire run of this show. Everything about the school, from its physical location to its customs to its areas of specialty, makes zero sense from any perspective other than to promote Gunpla. Going back to the Utena comparison (since this show takes so much of its trappings from that show), the high school setting there serves thematic and metaphorical purposes same as the rest of the show, so the literality of its existence can be largely handwaved. Witch from Mercury doesn't have that same luxury; it's ostensibly more grounded in comparison (in that it is grounded at all), so this weird, isolated high school for the world's elite where they don't seem to study anything and the backbone of society is an absurd, highly-ritualized duel system strains credulity. I'm surprised no one has yet tried to take over the entire school by way of duels alone. (Or, for that matter, masquerading an assassination of a fellow classmate or teacher as an unfortunate byproduct of a duel. Has anyone noticed how cavalier everyone is about mobile suit safety? Just casually steer a duel in the direction of classmates and oh nooo, it seems I accidentally stepped on Mr. Jenkins, what a shame... OSHA would have a field day in this school.)

It's also hard to place Suletta herself's level of knowledge of... basically anything. It seems obvious that the intent was for her to be a socially inept pilot savant, but the show has overshot its mark and instead the impression I get is that she's clueless about everything outside of the very specific niche that is interfacing with the Aerial. She has trouble with the undocking procedure of a transport shuttle in the very first episode. But the show just, as you say, grabs a firm hold on the idiot ball in order for the plot to continue progressing.

Blah. Well, I'm happy for those who're having a good time. I gave it to episode 6, two more than usual, and that's where I tap out. Shame. A lot of fun ideas here.

On 10/9/2022 at 9:16 PM, kajnrig said:

I like that finally one of these shows has posited a plausible reason for why the mask. Tying it into cybernetics as a consequence of Mercurian living is very smart, though I suspect that that's just a cover and it'll turn out the mask is really just a funky fashion choice as it is in any other Gundam.

It was just a funky fashion choice. Boooooo. BOOOOOOO I SAY!

[Seto Kaiba]

12 minutes ago, kajnrig said:

I've been meaning to quote your last post @Seto Kaiba, the bit about why the school exists and what they study there, because... yeah, that low-key has been on my mind the entire run of this show. Everything about the school, from its physical location to its customs to its areas of specialty, makes zero sense from any perspective other than to promote Gunpla.

Really, the Gundam franchise as a whole kind of abandoned the entire notion of caring about serious storytelling about ten years back when Sunrise decided to see if its fans would accept a blatant, old-school, half-hour toy commercial in the form of Gundam Build Fighters.  

The Witch from Mercury's writing isn't quite that patronizing (yet), but the series feels very underdeveloped.  It's not a good look when your writing is so sloppy and poorly planned that the only way for the story to continue is for it to break its own rules immediately after it established them for the audience.  The last two episodes of G-Witch require over 150 extraordinarily wealthy and well-connected people with seemingly infinite resources who have been carefully scrutinizing everything that's happened in the story thus far to fail to spot the very thing they've been looking for in an already highly-scrutinized, regulated, televised public event... twice.

 

 

12 minutes ago, kajnrig said:

Witch from Mercury doesn't have that same luxury; it's ostensibly more grounded in comparison (in that it is grounded at all), so this weird, isolated high school for the world's elite where they don't seem to study anything and the backbone of society is an absurd, highly-ritualized duel system strains credulity. I'm surprised no one has yet tried to take over the entire school by way of duels alone. (Or, for that matter, masquerading an assassination of a fellow classmate or teacher as an unfortunate byproduct of a duel. Has anyone noticed how cavalier everyone is about mobile suit safety? Just casually steer a duel in the direction of classmates and oh nooo, it seems I accidentally stepped on Mr. Jenkins, what a shame... OSHA would have a field day in this school.)

TBH, I suspect a lot of the show's problems have a single root cause.

It seems a fair number of the creative decisions being made in G-Witch are motivated by attempts to combat the perception that Gundam is for "old people", after Sunrise staffers got a nasty shock from an honest school tour group who told them they don't feel Gundam is relevant to them.  Watching the series after learning that, you can practically see the Sunrise staff racking their brains in a messy conference room trying to figure out what appeals to "The Youth".  It feels like Sunrise might've missed the point entirely.  The cast are all students?  Fine.  That's relatable to teens, I guess.  The cast is composed almost exclusively of spoiled, indolent children of the ultra-wealthy who attend Space Hogwarts where they learn of nothing except matters related to giant robots because that one industry drives the entire economy somehow and spend their days idly gambling on duels between students and harassing each other over differences in social status.  Might just be me, but I don't think that is terribly relatable to teens.  It actually kind of feels like mocking them and calling them sheltered brats for saying Gundam isn't relevant anymore.

It's every bit as insane as Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, where an ultra-wealthy man set up a vast boarding school on a remote island to teach the finer points of a children's card game to a new generation of young people because a children's card game is somehow a spectator sport more important than politics or the economy.  (And yes, I fully appreciate the beautiful irony that I was the one to make this comparison).  Where G-Witch differs is that it takes itself completely seriously where Yu-Gi-Oh! GX was fully aware of how ridiculous its own premise was and engaged in ironic self-parody and lampshade-hanging at every opportunity.

 

12 minutes ago, kajnrig said:

It's also hard to place Suletta herself's level of knowledge of... basically anything. It seems obvious that the intent was for her to be a socially inept pilot savant, but the show has overshot its mark and instead the impression I get is that she's clueless about everything outside of the very specific niche that is interfacing with the Aerial. She has trouble with the undocking procedure of a transport shuttle in the very first episode. But the show just, as you say, grabs a firm hold on the idiot ball in order for the plot to continue progressing.

The worst part is she's a transfer student.  She was attending some other school and apparently learned nothing there either.

She's practically an idiot savant when it comes to Mobile Suit piloting, but she's completely inept at literally everything else and it seems like her mother Prospera might be too as she apparently sent her to Asticassia without any kind of preparation or any of the support that the rest of the student body takes for granted.

[MikeRoz]

I, on the other hand, have been having a blast with this show. I tuned in to some Reddit-hive-mind-guided speculation in the discussion threads over there, and while it felt like I was spoiling myself on future plot points, I'm hyped to see what is coming if they are right. There were a few details in the latest episode that suggest the show might be taking a sharp turn soon. I don't recommend you read up on the speculation if you are at all averse to the idea of spoilers.

As for some characters getting away with things they came down hard on the protagonist for - consider the context. Some country bumpkin came out of nowhere and dethroned the reigning ace of a battle school. That position came with the promise of a very significant prize, so of course they are going to call it out as cheating. Anything to keep from handing over the prize to someone who isn't part of their insular little club, who is 'supposed' to have a chance at winning.

Then when someone from inside the 'club' does the same thing (but actually leaving evidence this time), consider the context. The first time, he's beating up on a failed scion who was banned from dueling in the first place in what is no longer an upset. The loser's family isn't going to want to draw more attention to this, when they can just punish Guel instead. Second time? Trying to crush said bumpkin. I think everyone involved would be more comfortable if the prize was kept in the 'right' families.

Every one of these families is doing incredibly unethical things to get ahead, be they forced child marriage, assassination of heads of state, using disposable pilots. And that's just how they treat each other, let alone all the oppression of Earthlings going on. Of course they're cheating. They all are.

All in all seems pretty decent so far. But a strong start doesn't guarantee you'll end well. Can't tell if it's a Code Geass or an Aldnoah Zero until after it's over. I'll just try to enjoy the journey.

Spoiler

And why does Aerial's defeat of the Phract out it as "Obviously a Gundam"? Didn't Aerial utilize the same anti-Gundam weapon from the prolonged, years remain able to operate? Being able to operate in an anti-Gundam field is pretty solid evidence of innocence to me! Aerial is not a Gundam as they currently understand it. And even if it is, the whole causus belli against Gundams was the way they kill the pilot. Definitely still an issue with Phract, despite all the pilot's modifications. Definitely not an issue with Aerial. 

[General Rasp]

5 hours ago, MikeRoz said:

I, on the other hand, have been having a blast with this show. I tuned in to some Reddit-hive-mind-guided speculation in the discussion threads over there, and while it felt like I was spoiling myself on future plot points, I'm hyped to see what is coming if they are right. There were a few details in the latest episode that suggest the show might be taking a sharp turn soon. I don't recommend you read up on the speculation if you are at all averse to the idea of spoilers.

As for some characters getting away with things they came down hard on the protagonist for - consider the context. Some country bumpkin came out of nowhere and dethroned the reigning ace of a battle school. That position came with the promise of a very significant prize, so of course they are going to call it out as cheating. Anything to keep from handing over the prize to someone who isn't part of their insular little club, who is 'supposed' to have a chance at winning.

Then when someone from inside the 'club' does the same thing (but actually leaving evidence this time), consider the context. The first time, he's beating up on a failed scion who was banned from dueling in the first place in what is no longer an upset. The loser's family isn't going to want to draw more attention to this, when they can just punish Guel instead. Second time? Trying to crush said bumpkin. I think everyone involved would be more comfortable if the prize was kept in the 'right' families.

Every one of these families is doing incredibly unethical things to get ahead, be they forced child marriage, assassination of heads of state, using disposable pilots. And that's just how they treat each other, let alone all the oppression of Earthlings going on. Of course they're cheating. They all are.

All in all seems pretty decent so far. But a strong start doesn't guarantee you'll end well. Can't tell if it's a Code Geass or an Aldnoah Zero until after it's over. I'll just try to enjoy the journey.

  Reveal hidden contents

And why does Aerial's defeat of the Phract out it as "Obviously a Gundam"? Didn't Aerial utilize the same anti-Gundam weapon from the prolonged, years remain able to operate? Being able to operate in an anti-Gundam field is pretty solid evidence of innocence to me! Aerial is not a Gundam as they currently understand it. And even if it is, the whole causus belli against Gundams was the way they kill the pilot. Definitely still an issue with Phract, despite all the pilot's modifications. Definitely not an issue with Aerial. 

I 100% agree. I have been really enjoying the show also and look forward to see were the plot is going. The show has been subtly building bigger issues outside of the school and the universe at large. Sunrise is being very deliberate with the scenes outside of the school and is hopefully foreshowing was is coming. 

[Seto Kaiba]

13 hours ago, MikeRoz said:

I, on the other hand, have been having a blast with this show. I tuned in to some Reddit-hive-mind-guided speculation in the discussion threads over there, and while it felt like I was spoiling myself on future plot points, I'm hyped to see what is coming if they are right. There were a few details in the latest episode that suggest the show might be taking a sharp turn soon. I don't recommend you read up on the speculation if you are at all averse to the idea of spoilers.

Thus far, The Witch from Mercury has been INCREDIBLY heavy-handed with its symbolism and references.  That makes is pretty predictable as long as you're familiar with the plays and mythology they keep referencing.

 

13 hours ago, MikeRoz said:

As for some characters getting away with things they came down hard on the protagonist for - consider the context. Some country bumpkin came out of nowhere and dethroned the reigning ace of a battle school. That position came with the promise of a very significant prize, so of course they are going to call it out as cheating. Anything to keep from handing over the prize to someone who isn't part of their insular little club, who is 'supposed' to have a chance at winning.

Then when someone from inside the 'club' does the same thing (but actually leaving evidence this time), consider the context. The first time, he's beating up on a failed scion who was banned from dueling in the first place in what is no longer an upset. The loser's family isn't going to want to draw more attention to this, when they can just punish Guel instead. Second time? Trying to crush said bumpkin. I think everyone involved would be more comfortable if the prize was kept in the 'right' families.

Now, this is a well-reasoned argument... but it misses a fundamental and critical fact of the setting that completely changes the nature of the situation.

What determines status in the world of The Witch from Mercury?

To a certain extent, you're correct that the corporations of the Benerit Group are a Spacian "old boys club" that resents upstarts stealing their thunder. 

Spoiler

Back in the Prologue, Delling Rembran was able to use that resentment along with the general disdain the Spacian elite have for Earthians and the ethical issues surrounding the Vanadis Institute and Ochs Earth's development of the GUND Format to orchestrate his rise to power as the head of Cathedral and the President of the Benerit Group.

What your assertion missed is that 150+ corporations of the Benerit Group aren't just competing with outside corporations in space and on Earth, they're competing with each other too.

The Benerit Group ranks the 150+ corporations that operate under its umbrella in terms of their overall profitability.  The higher a corporation's position is in that ranking, the more influence it wields within the Benerit Group and the higher the social status of its leadership, employees, and the students it sponsors to the Asticassia School.  Even without that business about the "Holder" who has the right to marry Delling Rembran's only daughter and apparently become his heir apparent, these corporations are rivals jockeying to seize as much power as they can within the Benerit Group because (according to Gundam Ace) the Benerit Group wields more power than the actual government.

Now, consider for a moment: Why does the Asticassia School put such importance on a dangerous extracurricular activity like dueling with Mobile Suits?

The Witch from Mercury never actually bothers to explain it, but the answer is fairly obvious if you think about it.  It's not just to foster an "enemy of the week" format to drive new gunpla sales.  Asticassia is a school established and run by the Benerit Group, and the student body is made up of children of executives from Benerit Group corporations and a handful of promising talents sponsored from the lower ranks of those corporations.  The dominant corporations in the Benerit Group - Jeturk, Peil, Bullion, and Delling Rembran's own Grassley - are all Mobile Suit developers and manufacturers.  Competition drives innovation, and being able to demonstrate that your product is superior a competitor's in a public setting is good marketing.  The duels are corporate dick-measuring contests.  Pride, and the reputations of the scions of corporate leadership, ensure the corporations all field their latest and greatest Mobile Suits in the duels to prove their dominance over their rivals and scope out the competition's latest offerings.  This struggle for preeminence among the Mobile Suit manufacturers drives innovation in the absence of a war.

So not only are these corporations going to scrutinize these duels extremely heavily because it's a chance to examine and benchmark the competition's latest offerings, they all have an excellent motivation to cry foul if anything even slightly untoward turns up in the cousre of the duel.  They have a vested interest in undermining their rival corporations within the Benerit Group in order to increase their market share and their influence within the Benerit Group.  They also have a good reason to avoid using illegal technology like GUND Format and to report anyone who does, since the Mobile Suit Development Council's organization Cathedral won't hesitate to jail violators, scrap offending Mobile Suits,

Spoiler

[...] and/or murder everyone involved in development like they did to the Vanadis Institute.  

 

Jeturk might be offended by having an upstart sponsored by the low-ranking Shin Sei corporation show up at Asticassia and spank the reigning champion in a hilariously one-sided match, but as far as the administration is concerned that's not just an enormous boon... that's the system working as intended.  Mind you, Jeturk would naturally want to cry foul in light of having just gotten its sh*t wrecked by a nobody from nowhere, but because the duels are scrutinized so heavily they had hard evidence that something was amiss and that led directly to the MSDC inquiry about the Aerial's probable use of the banned GUND Format.  Blowing the whistle on Shin Sei was a way to restore lost prestige and destroy a rival at the same time by leveraging the mechanisms of the regulatory bureau dominated by the Benerit Group.  And because Peil is one of four major players in MS development and a major power in the Benerit Group, they have even more incentive to do so and so do a host of other companies including Grassley and Bullion.  Peil's loss is their gain and bringing proof that Peil is engaged in banned research is an ironclad way to undermine them using the MSDC.  

 

13 hours ago, MikeRoz said:

Every one of these families is doing incredibly unethical things to get ahead, be they forced child marriage, assassination of heads of state, using disposable pilots. And that's just how they treat each other, let alone all the oppression of Earthlings going on. Of course they're cheating. They all are.

All in all seems pretty decent so far. But a strong start doesn't guarantee you'll end well. Can't tell if it's a Code Geass or an Aldnoah Zero until after it's over. I'll just try to enjoy the journey.

  Reveal hidden contents

And why does Aerial's defeat of the Phract out it as "Obviously a Gundam"? Didn't Aerial utilize the same anti-Gundam weapon from the prolonged, years remain able to operate? Being able to operate in an anti-Gundam field is pretty solid evidence of innocence to me! Aerial is not a Gundam as they currently understand it. And even if it is, the whole causus belli against Gundams was the way they kill the pilot. Definitely still an issue with Phract, despite all the pilot's modifications. Definitely not an issue with Aerial. 

"Unethical" is debatable.  Ethics change with cultural values and we haven't seen enough of the culture to know how most of what we've seen is aligned what we're seeing is with the values of the period.  The one thing that has been explicitly branded as unethical in the extreme is the development and usage of the GUND Format because of what it does to pilots.

"Cheating" is also debatable.  It's noted by the Dueling Committee that duels are not fair and not meant to be.  They're contests between two people and all the resources they have at their disposal.  That's why the code duello they enforce is so weirdly worded.  The same likely applies to the corporations as a whole.  They're probably playing within the bounds of the rules the Benerit Group and MSDC have set, otherwise they'd have been raked over the coals by Delling and Cathedral already.

Illegal, on the other hand, is more objective. 

Spoiler

Prospera Mercury is able to blackmail Wim Jeturk with evidence of his abortive attempt to assassinate Delling Rembran.

Peil, of course, now has to deal with the evidence of its crimes.  The Pharact is a Gundam, and disposing of its pilot won't make the records other companies took from the duel go away.  The same kind of permet analysis that outed the Aerial as a Gundam would expose the Pharact too... and in less ambiguous terms, since the Pharact used a traditional GUND Format design that produces the characteristic data storms associated with usage of the banned GUND Format.

 

13 hours ago, MikeRoz said:

And why does Aerial's defeat of the Phract out it as "Obviously a Gundam"? Didn't Aerial utilize the same anti-Gundam weapon from the prolonged, years remain able to operate? Being able to operate in an anti-Gundam field is pretty solid evidence of innocence to me! Aerial is not a Gundam as they currently understand it.

"Elan" said it himself... "only a Gundam can defeat a Gundam".  

The Aerial's already been examined by the MSDC, they'd know if it had a non-kinetic effector like Grassley's Beguir-Beu.  We don't know that a non-kinetic effector is what did that to the Pharact's GUND bits, but it's going to attract additional scrutiny to the Aerial.  Especially if it's not a non-kinetic effector.  That it absolutely trounced a Gundam will inevitably draw significant additional scrutiny.  Especially with its Gundam-like bit attacks and the unusual activity in its permet that previously got it flagged as a Gundam.

Then, of course, there's also the fact that if the inquiry turned up Peil's development team they could expose that the team lead is a witch from the Vanadis Institute... a witch who knows Prospera Mercury's real identity, and the truth behind the Aerial.

 

Admittedly, the dumbest part is you'd think someone like Delling would have noticed that the Aerial is just [...]

Spoiler

[...] Ochs Earth's XGF-02 Gundam Lfrith prototype with a fresh coat of blue paint.

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Seto Kaiba

[Seto Kaiba]

There's an official English translation of the Mobile Suit Gundam: the Witch from Mercury short story "Cradle Planet".

https://en.gundam.info/about-gundam/series-pages/witch/music/novel/

It appears to sink most, if not all, of the grimdark theories about the Gundam Aerial and the series as a whole that've been circulating since the last two episodes aired.

Spoiler

The short story indicates that Prospera Mercury is someone who came to Mercury with her ~4 year old daughter Suletta and a Mobile Suit that was secretly a Gundam, and that the population on Mercury had a tough time accepting them because the mining operation is a Benerit Group operation and Delling had labeled her a witch.

Short story shorter... the XVX-016 Gundam Aerial is the same Ochs Earth XGF-02 Gundam Lfrith prototype that Elnora Samaya and her daughter Ericht escaped Folkvangr in at the end of the prologue.  It's been modified, but it's explicitly the same Mobile Suit.  It's also apparently self-aware, and it remembers its time in the Earth Sphere before its escape to Mercury and why it had to flee there.  It seems to consider itself Prospera's daughter and Suletta's sister.  It's also opposed to Prospera's plan to use Suletta as an instrument of revenge on Delling.  Prospera is Elnora, and she was apparently only in hiding on Mercury for about six years before her career under her assumed name took her back to the Earth Sphere.  Suletta is Ericht Samaya, who lived on Mercury from sometime after her fourth birthday to the age of sixteen when she was sent to Asticassia.

 

[Seto Kaiba]

It's rare for me to watch a series and feel like it's actively insulting my intelligence.

The last episode of The Witch from Mercury definitely has me feeling like the show's insulting not just my intelligence, but that of its entire audience.

The story finally catches up to the fact that the...

Spoiler

Peil Technologies FP/A-77 Pharact is obviously a Gundam.  

But, of course, this The Witch from Mercury so everyone's been issued their own personal Idiot Ball until further notice.

Spoiler

Wim Jeturk of Jeturk Heavy Machinery and Sarius Zeneri of Grassley Defense Systems confront the co-CEOs of Peil Technologies about the true nature of the Pharact and they immediately admit the Pharact is an illegal GUND-ARM/Gundam.  This was apparently so obvious that the Asticassia School's Dueling Committee reported it, but it all somehow was missed by the Mobile Suit Development Council as a whole and the regulatory group Cathedral that exists to police this kind of thing.  And rather than using this confession to undermine one of their chief rivals and in Jeturk's case reclaim lost prestige as a result of Suletta and "Elan" having technically cheated in all three of the duels we've seen Guel Jeturk fight in the series, Jeturk and Grassley's CEOs team up with Peil's to mess with Benerit Group president Delling's head instead.

 

Hold on though, because it gets dumber.

Suletta and Miorine go to a black tie event so Suletta can keep stalking "Elan".  The fancy party they go to is a glorified in-person Kickstarter where people pitch new business ideas and have just minutes to get the funding needed.  When she finally meets "Elan"...

Spoiler

... she completely an utterly fails to notice that the Elan Ceres she's talking to has a completely different personality from the one she knew.

This is not a subtle difference either.  The Elan Ceres she knew - Enhanced Person No.4 - was cold to the point of rudeness, distant, emotionally and socially withdrawn, and generally did not like her.  The Elan Ceres she talks to at the party is warm, sociable, and generally charming.  This is such a complete 180 in personality that it's astonishing she didn't notice immediately, and unbelievable that she didn't notice at all.

But really, the piece de resistance here is that, as the Holder, Suletta has to give a speech and during that speech...

Spoiler

The co-CEOs of Peil Technologies publicly expose the indisputable fact that the Aerial is a Gundam in a borderline engineered confession on Suletta's part.

This, somehow, is almost immediately reversed when Miorine barges onto the stage and tables a proposal she is still literally hand-writing at that exact moment to launch a new corporation to combine the (illegal, banned) tecnology of Peil's Pharact and Shin Sei's Aerial.  She doesn't have any buy-in from Peil or Shin Sei when she does this, and when she's confronted on the subject of this being 1. illegal as all get-out, 2. unethical as all get-out, and 3. hilariously stupid that a teenage girl with no experience wants to launch a multibillion dollar corporation using someone else's IP to develop illegal technology she gets no money initally.  She runs off and asks her dad, Delling Rembran, to fund her project and despite being so dead-set against GUND Format development that he literally had the entire Vanadis Institute staff murdered 21 years ago he agrees to let her do it after just a few seconds of consideration.  Then her proposal is funded almost instantaneously.

 

This is some serious BS.  

Miorine: I wanna do illegal stuff.  Give me billions of dollars.

Everyone: No, that's stupid.  And unethical.  And illegal.

Miorine: Dad, I wanna do illegal stuff.  Give me billions of dollars.

Delling: This is utterly antithecal to my one defined character trait, so sure.

Miorine: I wana do illegal stuff.  Give me billions of dollars.

Eveyone: This goes against everything we profess to believe in, including our defined code of ethics, and will surely involve inhumane experimentation on living people.  You have no business experience, no personnel, no premises, and no resources to speak of.  You were party to the most public and damning fraud in living memory that was exposed just five minutes ago.  Should I just make the check out to cash?

Edited November 20, 2022 by Seto Kaiba

[pengbuzz]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

It's rare for me to watch a series and feel like it's actively insulting my intelligence.

The last episode of The Witch from Mercury definitely has me feeling like the show's insulting not just my intelligence, but that of its entire audience.

The story finally catches up to the fact that the...

  Reveal hidden contents

Peil Technologies FP/A-77 Pharact is obviously a Gundam.  

But, of course, this The Witch from Mercury so everyone's been issued their own personal Idiot Ball until further notice.

  Reveal hidden contents

Wim Jeturk of Jeturk Heavy Machinery and Sarius Zeneri of Grassley Defense Systems confront the co-CEOs of Peil Technologies about the true nature of the Pharact and they immediately admit the Pharact is an illegal GUND-ARM/Gundam.  This was apparently so obvious that the Asticassia School's Dueling Committee reported it, but it all somehow was missed by the Mobile Suit Development Council as a whole and the regulatory group Cathedral that exists to police this kind of thing.  And rather than using this confession to undermine one of their chief rivals and in Jeturk's case reclaim lost prestige as a result of Suletta and "Elan" having technically cheated in all three of the duels we've seen Guel Jeturk fight in the series, Jeturk and Grassley's CEOs team up with Peil's to mess with Benerit Group president Delling's head instead.

 

Hold on though, because it gets dumber.

Suletta and Miorine go to a black tie event so Suletta can keep stalking "Elan".  The fancy party they go to is a glorified in-person Kickstarter where people pitch new business ideas and have just minutes to get the funding needed.  When she finally meets "Elan"...

  Reveal hidden contents

... she completely an utterly fails to notice that the Elan Ceres she's talking to has a completely different personality from the one she knew.

This is not a subtle difference either.  The Elan Ceres she knew - Enhanced Person No.4 - was cold to the point of rudeness, distant, emotionally and socially withdrawn, and generally did not like her.  The Elan Ceres she talks to at the party is warm, sociable, and generally charming.  This is such a complete 180 in personality that it's astonishing she didn't notice immediately, and unbelievable that she didn't notice at all.

But really, the piece de resistance here is that, as the Holder, Suletta has to give a speech and during that speech...

  Reveal hidden contents

The co-CEOs of Peil Technologies publicly expose the indisputable fact that the Aerial is a Gundam in a borderline engineered confession on Suletta's part.

This, somehow, is almost immediately reversed when Miorine barges onto the stage and tables a proposal she is still literally hand-writing at that exact moment to launch a new corporation to combine the (illegal, banned) tecnology of Peil's Pharact and Shin Sei's Aerial.  She doesn't have any buy-in from Peil or Shin Sei when she does this, and when she's confronted on the subject of this being 1. illegal as all get-out, 2. unethical as all get-out, and 3. hilariously stupid that a teenage girl with no experience wants to launch a multibillion dollar corporation using someone else's IP to develop illegal technology she gets no money initally.  She runs off and asks her dad, Delling Rembran, to fund her project and despite being so dead-set against GUND Format development that he literally had the entire Vanadis Institute staff murdered 21 years ago he agrees to let her do it after just a few seconds of consideration.  Then her proposal is funded almost instantaneously.

 

This is some serious BS.  

Miorine: I wanna do illegal stuff.  Give me billions of dollars.

Everyone: No, that's stupid.  And unethical.  And illegal.

Miorine: Dad, I wanna do illegal stuff.  Give me billions of dollars.

Delling: This is utterly antithecal to my one defined character trait, so sure.

Miorine: I wana do illegal stuff.  Give me billions of dollars.

Eveyone: This goes against everything we profess to believe in, including our defined code of ethics, and will surely involve inhumane experimentation on living people.  You have no business experience, no personnel, no premises, and no resources to speak of.  You were party to the most public and damning fraud in living memory that was exposed just five minutes ago.  Should I just make the check out to cash?

At this point, Heero Yuy needs to fly in with Wing Zero and just start wasting everything and everyone in sight (for the sake of the franchise).

[kajnrig]

3 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

At this point, Heero Yuy needs to fly in with Wing Zero and just start wasting everything and everyone in sight (for the sake of the franchise).

Pah. Don't pretend that Heero Yuy and Gundam Wing don't indulge in the exact same type of wild, nonsensical plot swings.  It's all about that dRaAaAaAaAmAaAaAa!!! *jazz fingers*

[Seto Kaiba]

"Hold on, it gets dumber" seems to be the theme for The Witch from Mercury.

The entirety of the show's 7th episode can be summed up as Miorine pulling a K-2SO and saying "Congratulations, you are being employed.  Please do not resist."

 

Spoiler

Despite the fact that Miorine Rembran not only isn't a member of Earth House but isn't even welcome there because she's a Spacian snob, Miorine barges into Earth House and declares that she's taking it over so she can turn it into the headquarters of her new startup GUND-ARM Inc.  She all but literally tells them they're being forcibly conscripted into her new company against their will.

Really, this episode just draws a line under how every single person in this story is just a complete piece of sh*t.  

Miorine Rembran is a massive hypocrite who's blind to her own hypocrisy.  She natters on about how much she hates her wealthy and powerful father and wants to be free from him... but everything she does is only possible because she's wielding his influence indirectly.  She lives a life free from want at an exclusive private school for the children of the wealthiest people in the solar system, she avoids having to room with other people by taking over the director's office as her private quarters, being Delling's daughter gets her an immediate invite to any Benerit Group function and helps her secure funding for her ill-considered business venture, and allows her to bully the Earthian students into letting her take over their home to use as an office building.  Suletta's an extreme doormat who's been gaslit by her mother for her entire life and is so passive that she's barely even a character.  The other Earthian students are either compulsive gamblers, bigots, or so greedy that they overlook the ethical issues of Miorine's plans to resume manufacturing a GUND Format system despite that technology being proven to be unsafe.  The only one who seems to have even an ounce of integrity is Guel Jeturk, and he's living in a tent on school grounds after being kicked out of the dorm his family endowed for being unwilling to cheat in a duel (despite being a misogynistic prick).

There is literally a moment in this one where they discuss that Miorine already spent the entire start-up budget on acquisitions so the company has no money to pay anyone or build anything, or even feed the goat that lives at the dormitory... and she just orders them to do all the actual work establishing the company and coming up with an ad campaign to overcome twenty years of GUND-ARMs being stigmatized as evil technology that gives you brain damage in under two weeks.

 

On 11/21/2022 at 1:12 AM, kajnrig said:

Pah. Don't pretend that Heero Yuy and Gundam Wing don't indulge in the exact same type of wild, nonsensical plot swings.  It's all about that dRaAaAaAaAmAaAaAa!!! *jazz fingers*

At least when Wing and my boy Heero are involved, events have causes and consequences.

In The Witch from Mercury, things just... happen.  There's no rhyme or reason to it.

[pengbuzz]

Almost forgot I had posted in this, until I saw activity here:

 

On 11/21/2022 at 1:12 AM, kajnrig said:

Pah. Don't pretend that Heero Yuy and Gundam Wing don't indulge in the exact same type of wild, nonsensical plot swings.  It's all about that dRaAaAaAaAmAaAaAa!!! *jazz fingers*

Hardly. In a war, swings of incidence and fortune are commonplace and realistic; if you have any doubts on that, check the history of warfare and see for yourself. While some of Gundam Wing's story may have been a little "out there" at times, it's nothing like you're saying. 

But in WFM; it's basically a "kiddie competition at school", fighting over who gets to be "l33t this week". Basically, it comes off like Mobile Build Fighters meets Degrassi Junior High, and not in a good way, either.

And at least Heero knows what he's doing. I'm not sure I would trust Suletta to get my order right at the counter of a fast-food joint. O.o Okay, I admit I'm probably not being very charitable to her, but the way she comes across, I have my doubts giving her any sort of benefit of the doubt.

 

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

At least when Wing and my boy Heero are involved, events have causes and consequences.

In The Witch from Mercury, things just... happen.  There's no rhyme or reason to it.

Thank you, Seto.

And for the record: I think Heero in Wing Zero would wipe the floor with everyone else involved in this school's "competition".

Edited December 2, 2022 by pengbuzz

[pafy6285]

So MSG Witch of Mercury finally went full Gundam, with all the body counts, PTSD, betrayals, and some psycho tendencies (of the pilot) in the last episode of its first half. Gotta wait for 3 months though  (for the 2nd half) to see how this development will turn out.

[Scyla]

1 hour ago, pafy6285 said:

So MSG Witch of Mercury finally went full Gundam, with all the body counts, PTSD, betrayals, and some psycho tendencies (of the pilot) in the last episode of its first half. Gotta wait for 3 months though  (for the 2nd half) to see how this development will turn out.

I think one of the problems with modern Gundam is that season split because that gives Sunrise the opportunity to tinker with the plot depending on what feedback they got during the first half. Which in my opinion is detrimental to the story telling.

So the development in the second half will be whatever feedback Sunrise is getting from the viewers now.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Scyla

[Bolt]

1 hour ago, Scyla said:

So the development in the second half will be whatever feedback Sunrise is getting from the viewers now.

Hopefully that translates to a better second half. 
I just rewatched the first half of Hathaway the other night. I liked it even better the second time. Especially the music. 

[Seto Kaiba]

4 hours ago, pafy6285 said:

So MSG Witch of Mercury finally went full Gundam, [...]

No, it did not.

It went for some cheap shock value in the stinger after the credits, but other than that its only deviation from G-Witch's weekly directionless nothingburger of a story was a painfully forced attempt to build some pathos by killing off one complete arsehole literally nobody liked.

 

4 hours ago, pafy6285 said:

[...] with all the body counts, PTSD, betrayals, and some psycho tendencies (of the pilot) in the last episode of its first half. Gotta wait for 3 months though  (for the 2nd half) to see how this development will turn out.

Eh... the body count is almost entirely among nameless mooks and it's almost comically halfarsed.  Plant Quetta's a Front the size of a small moon and a major Benerit Group weapons plant and the best they can muster for defense when attacked is... four Beguir-Pentes and a handful of armed Demi Trainers?  They literally mustered more firepower for that 6v6 high school pissing match.  It's so badly animated that most of them don't even fight back or dodge.  They stand perfectly still and get shot.  There's one scene where the animators got so lazy that they drew the Lfrith Ur just flying in a circle around a Beguir-Pente that fails to even react before shooting it in the back.

The big fight between the Aerial and the two Lfrith units lasts maybe a minute and ends with neither side even managing to land a hit on the other.

The only actual fight is...

Spoiler

... between Guel Jeturk and his dad Vim Jeturk, when Guel/Bob escapes captivity aboard the Kashtanka and steals one of Dawn of Fold's secondhand Desultors.  His dad mistakes him for an enemy unit, and because nobody knows how to work a radio they have a very short duel that ends with Vim being shanked in the cockpit and dying.

There's the cheap shock value of Suletta's one and only kill in the stinger... but that's not because it's consequential, just because it's unexpectedly gory.

Spoiler

She "saves" Miorine from a terrorist by swatting him into the deck with the Aerial's hand... causing him to explode like a popped water balloon.  It's extremely graphic even by Gundam's standards, but it comes out of nowhere and it's right at the end so it means basically nothing.

 

As much of a mess as this series has been, I'd honestly shed no tears if they decided to scrap it at 12 and go do something else with a different writer... or at least fire the writer and take the series in a completely different direction.

[David Hingtgen]

It just took way too long to get to this point.  This should have been episode 6.   Even ep 10 still seemed to be filler, instead of building up to this.

2-3 eps cut out would have lost NOTHING of significance, and cutting 4-6 eps I think would have made it progress a lot better.

I was honestly mentally comparing it to DBZ until just now---"They need to keep leveling up their duels/classes/business license, until they can beat the boss..."----just how long can they drag this slow-build-up out?

[MikeRoz]

I am worried they will go back to the school format after this.

Spoiler

If Delling died, I would have expected the Benerit Group to collapse into infighting. Throw in an Earth revolt for good measure and there is little chance the kids are going back to duels and lessons and business as usual.

But Delling is alive, and that after credits stinger has all the appearances of a setup for an episode or two of character drama between Suletta and Miorine if swept under the rug.

I've given this show a lot of slack because it seemed to be teasing that something was messed up about Suletta and possibly also Aerial's origin. That scene could be a payoff, could be a sign they are finally going to bring it front and center and deal with it, but they could just as well get scared they ruined the vibe and retreat back to the safety of a procedural school show.

So is Bob, like, in charge now?

[Seto Kaiba]

8 hours ago, MikeRoz said:

So is Bob, like, in charge now?

Hard to say, but my guess would be "No".

"Bob" had quite the fall from grace.  His father was annoyed enough to ban him from dueling after he lost two duels and the title of Holder to Suletta Mercury at the start of the series, and then cut him off entirely once he violated that ban by stealing a Darilbalde and wrecking it dueling "Elan Ceres".  He was kicked out of the dorms, lost access to his family's money, and his father was planning to pull him out of Asticassia and put him to work in a lesser capacity at Jeturk Heavy Machinery.  I'd assume that the current Jeturk heir is probably his half-brother Lauda, unless there is some undisclosed concern regarding Lauda's parentage that would prevent him from inheriting (he has a different surname, so he may be the child of a mistress) or some provision exists to prevent Guel from inheriting Jeturk Heavy Machinery due to the circumstances in which Vim perished.

 

9 hours ago, MikeRoz said:

I am worried they will go back to the school format after this.

Me too, TBH... they've spent too much time building up GUND-ARM Inc. as an important part of the plot and it's run entirely out of the Earth House dormitory at Asticassia.  There's little opportunity for them to NOT go back to the school format unless they want to completely abandon all of that.

 

9 hours ago, MikeRoz said:

  Hide contents

If Delling died, I would have expected the Benerit Group to collapse into infighting. Throw in an Earth revolt for good measure and there is little chance the kids are going back to duels and lessons and business as usual.

But Delling is alive, and that after credits stinger has all the appearances of a setup for an episode or two of character drama between Suletta and Miorine if swept under the rug.

I've given this show a lot of slack because it seemed to be teasing that something was messed up about Suletta and possibly also Aerial's origin. That scene could be a payoff, could be a sign they are finally going to bring it front and center and deal with it, but they could just as well get scared they ruined the vibe and retreat back to the safety of a procedural school show.

Spoiler

That was The Plan, after all.

Or, at least, that was the plan that Shaddiq shared with his adoptive father.  The Holder was a system that was most beneficial to the Three Houses, since any one of them that ended up with The Holder in their camp would have enough shares of the Benerit Group to achieve majority control and choose the next President of the company.  Since the current holder was Suletta and the company she was representing was the bottom-ranked Shin Sei Development Corporation, if Delling were to die while Suletta was Holder, there would not be an easy path to selecting a new President of the Benerit Group and the whole organization could collapse.

Should Delling survive his injuries, he would retain his title of President and the Benerit Group would continue more or less as-is until/unless two or more of the Three Houses (Jeturk Heavy Machinery, Peil Technologies, and Grassley Defense Systems) were to join forces to oust him.  With Vim Jeturk dead and Sarius Zenneli implicated in the terrorist attack on Plant Quetta, it seems unlikely that anyone could orchestrate Delling's ouster due to two of the Three Houses being in chaos and a succession crisis.

Spoiler

Episodes 11 and 12 were something of a gambit roulette, though it's not clear what Shaddiq Zenneli's endgame was.

Vim Jeturk was clearly hoping to assassinate Delling Rembran, though he would not have directly benefitted from it since his son Guel was no longer the Holder and he would not be able to achieve majority control over the Benerit Group.  He died as a result of being betrayed by Shaddiq Zenneli.

Sarius Zenneli's desired endgame seems to have been the dissolution of the Benerit Group.  Assassination of Delling would ensure that nobody could achieve majority control and the Benerit Group would collapse into infighting.

Shaddiq Zenneli, though... success in the assassination plot would have meant he was secure in his position as the Zenneli family heir despite being adopted and would be the next CEO of Grassley Defense Systems.  If his goal was to dissolve the Benerit Group, he'd lose a lot of power and influence as a result.  If his goal was to remove his adoptive father, implicating him would mean implicating himself and he'd likely see ownership of Grassley pass to someone else.  Things failed in a manner that left Delling wounded and Vim Jeturk dead, yet he seems satisfied with the outcome, so it's unclear exactly what his game is.

 

 

[no3Ljm]

Edited March 10, 2023 by no3Ljm

[Seto Kaiba]

If this weren't Gundam, and therefore Too Big To Fail, I'd wonder if they'd have even bothered with Part II.

I'm not sure I'm game for another twelve episodes of largely directionless story punctuated by the gaslighting and emotional abuse of a developmentally-delayed kid.  Maybe it's just been a while since my last non-IBO Gundam series, but it feels like Suletta Mercury gets treated especially poorly for a Gundam protagonist and it's kind of hard to watch.

[no3Ljm]

[Seto Kaiba]

Well, The Witch from Mercury has drunkenly stumbled back onto the broadcast schedule and vomited up another messy, poorly-written excuse for an episode that can't seem to make up its mind if it wants to pick up where Part I left off or not.

Spoiler

As if to remind us how bland and uninspired the writing is, we're treated to a serial duel where Suletta wins five separate duels in quick succession without taking any damage because her Aerial outclasses literally everything.  No fight lasts more than about twenty seconds, and it's all over before the opening even rolls.

The rather important events of last episode are completely glossed over for no clear reason, with nobody (including Suletta) seeming at all bothered by Suletta murdering a dude with the Aerial.  Two weeks after a major terrorist attack that destroyed part of Plant Quetta and nearly killed Delling Rembran, Asticassia is... holding an open house and festival?  Guel Jeturk's still missing, Lauda's the new acting CEO of Jeturk Heavy Industries, and Vim Jeturk's death and the Jeturk family's involvement in the attack is being investigated.  The Benerit Group seems to be quietly preparing to invade Earth to exact retribution on Dawn of Fold.  

The two kids who led the terrorist attack on Plant Quetta are Asticassia students now, because nobody's ever heard of a freaking background check, and they spent the day raising hell on the grounds before trying to steal the Gundam Pharact and murder Nika with it.  Despite having no reason to do so, they agree to duel Suletta.  

All in all, the episode is disjointed to the point that it feels like a clipshow from three or four different episodes running in parallel.

I'm not sure what's more off-putting... the writing's inability to maintain anything like a consistent tone or reasonable pacing, or the way everyone is just SUPER cool about Suletta having straight-up killed a dude in the most grusome manner possible two weeks ago.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

27 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Well, The Witch from Mercury has drunkenly stumbled back onto the broadcast schedule and vomited up another messy, poorly-written excuse for an episode that can't seem to make up its mind if it wants to pick up where Part I left off or not.

  Hide contents

As if to remind us how bland and uninspired the writing is, we're treated to a serial duel where Suletta wins five separate duels in quick succession without taking any damage because her Aerial outclasses literally everything.  No fight lasts more than about twenty seconds, and it's all over before the opening even rolls.

The rather important events of last episode are completely glossed over for no clear reason, with nobody (including Suletta) seeming at all bothered by Suletta murdering a dude with the Aerial.  Two weeks after a major terrorist attack that destroyed part of Plant Quetta and nearly killed Delling Rembran, Asticassia is... holding an open house and festival?  Guel Jeturk's still missing, Lauda's the new acting CEO of Jeturk Heavy Industries, and Vim Jeturk's death and the Jeturk family's involvement in the attack is being investigated.  The Benerit Group seems to be quietly preparing to invade Earth to exact retribution on Dawn of Fold.  

The two kids who led the terrorist attack on Plant Quetta are Asticassia students now, because nobody's ever heard of a freaking background check, and they spent the day raising hell on the grounds before trying to steal the Gundam Pharact and murder Nika with it.  Despite having no reason to do so, they agree to duel Suletta.  

All in all, the episode is disjointed to the point that it feels like a clipshow from three or four different episodes running in parallel.

I'm not sure what's more off-putting... the writing's inability to maintain anything like a consistent tone or reasonable pacing, or the way everyone is just SUPER cool about Suletta having straight-up killed a dude in the most grusome manner possible two weeks ago.

You are so right.  Episode 12 was so good and my hope was renewed for the show.  I watch 13 and I am really this is the best they can do.

[Seto Kaiba]

2 hours ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

You are so right.  Episode 12 was so good and my hope was renewed for the show.  I watch 13 and I am really this is the best they can do.

It's really more a return to the show's baseline level.

Up to the final episode, Part I was a disjointed mess that never established any kind of consistent narrative.  It just jackknifed from one crisis to the next at breakneck pace with each being treated like it was the end of the world for two episodes before being either easily resolved by some never-before-mentioned bullsh*t or simply forgotten.

We're just back to that... with the Part I climax ending up as the easily-resolved and almost forgotten event.

[MikeRoz]

8 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

  Hide contents

The two kids who led the terrorist attack on Plant Quetta are Asticassia students now, because nobody's ever heard of a freaking background check, and they spent the day raising hell on the grounds before trying to steal the Gundam Pharact and murder Nika with it.  Despite having no reason to do so, they agree to duel Suletta.  

Spoiler

That scene was just so perfect. The two terrorists think they're in an espionage thriller and are about to murder their way out of being found out, when in rushes the protagonist to remind them they're in a battle school procedural.

She does that sweet scooter leap to tackle blue hair girl to save her from being stepped on - fine, she got the drop on them. They dodge again - less likely, but I'll still give them that. But then the Rei knockoff decides to use the Pharact's head vulcans to turn them into a fine mist. Except instead of the seasoned terrorist veteran doing this instantly, Pharact's head vulcans start to glow with slowly-increasing intensity. If you go by nearly any other mobile suit battle in the Gundam metaverse, those head guns should have been spitting fire instantly. Instead, Suletta has time to not only have a flashback and whisper a quick "Sorry, Miorine!" (not for being about to die, apparently?) and then shout "I challenge you to a duel!"

The Rei knockoff's answer is perfect: "Are you stupid? We have no reason to agree." One could argue she had no reason to stop trying to fire those head guns, either, and every reason not to want her secret to get out. But she answers anyway, trying to gently let Suletta know she's being wrong-genre-savvy here before she dies.

And our protagonist's response? "As long as you're students here, please follow the rules!" By this point, I'm howling with laughter. Suletta's single brain cell has apparently been unable or unwilling to inform her that the murder attempts they were engaged in when she stumbled upon the scene were against the rules too.

The crazy one is intrigued enough to accept, over her partner's objections, looking forward to framing it as a clash between idealism vs violent pragmatism. Suletta steadfastly defends GUND-ARM research in terms of its medical applications, despite personally having turned a dude into tomato paste last episode. (Mom said it was okay, so it must be okay, right?) And with the duel accepted, we roll credits.

If Suletta gained a second brain cell at any point after the credits, she'd go straight to the authorities. Blue hair girl should be going the second she's out of their sight, because getting expelled for being a spy is better than being stepped on or ventilated. I look forward to seeing how they address this next week, because they do not seem shy at all about hanging a lampshade on the implausibility of the writing. In fact, I would not be the least bit surprised if the two terrorists show up to the duel in Lfrith Thorn and Lfrith Ur. These two Gundams were last seen perpetrating a terrorist attack, which prompted a huge mobilization of the Benerit Group to find the perpetrators. But at this point I find it plausible that these two roll up to the duel in their wanted Gundams. Then in the episode after that, we'll be treated to a scene where the Benerit Group tells us that of course they knew these were the Gundams they were looking for, but decided not to intervene for reasons.

I went into this episode a bit disappointed that they were going right back to the school format, but I'd had two months to make my peace with this likelihood. Suletta's voice actress and animators hamming it up was enough to tide me over until the absolutely amazing scene above.

[Seto Kaiba]

Wow.  This week's episode is an absolute goddamn disaster.

Spoiler

Prospera Mercury and Miorine Rembran give us our first bit of proper exposition about Delling Rembran's secret project "Quiet Zero" and Prospera's role in it.  Of course, there's pretty good odds that Prospera is lying because that seems to be all she knows how to do.  Quiet Zero is either Skynet or some kind of super-powered version of Antidote that's able to create massive information networks using permet data storms in order to jam and hijack/control any technology that uses a permet link.  If it actually works the way Prospera describes, this would effectively make the controller of Quiet Zero the de facto ruler of the solar system since mobile suits and many other modern weapons are built on permet technology.  Not only would they be able to simply turn off enemy Mobile Suits and prevent them from operating, they'd be able to take them over as drones and use them against their owners.

Apparently the reason the Aerial can do this setting's version of psycommu-jacking remote weapons is because it's the proof of concept for, and core of, the Quiet Zero system that Prospera codeveloped with Delling.

The school festival seems to be going poorly, with guests apparently creeped out by GUND-ARM Inc.'s prototype prosthesis and even moreso by the goat milk they're selling.

The terrorist twins who were accepted as transfer students last episode apparently want Suletta to adopt them somehow so she can be their real big sister, and make that the bet for their duel.

The Rumble Ring battle royale duel that's the crowning moment of the festival is a badly animated sequence with a LOT of off-model animation.  The protagonists can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn from the inside, and despite everyone ganging up on the two Gundams and Chuchu's Demi Trainer, they down almost nobody before the terrorist twins show up in their Gundam Lfriths, Worf the hell out of Jeturk future CEO Lauda Neil (Guel's half-brother), kill several students with weapons that are not detuned for duel use, and pick a fight with Suletta's Aerial and Elan's Pharact.  Not only did they manage to sneak two Gundams into the Front, they also somehow managed to sneak at least half a dozen unmanned Mobile Suits in as well.  The resulting battle has their terrible aim damage the Front so badly it suffers a hull breach and one of the two Lfrith pilots is SO aggressive she kills herself by overdoing it on her permet link trying to match Suletta.  

Oh, and we get the dumb reveal we were all certain was too stupid to be true.  The Gundam Aerial really is Powered By A Forsaken Child like the Gundam Vidar from IBO.  The person Prospera cannibalized to make it is apparently her own daughter from the prologue, Ericht "Eri" Samaya.  Suletta is another daughter she had later.  Learning the truth about it is enough to leave Peil's own mad scientist, Belmiria Winston, almost vomiting.  (Whatever's involved in using a kid as the basis for a Mobile Suit is probably not at all pretty and is so grusome that someone who has surgically altered five poor children as test subjects for GUND and incinerated at least one of them alive for failing finds that too sickening to contemplate... so the answer probably involves a fair amount of body horror.)

 

[Big s]

9 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Powered By A Forsaken Child

I was just rewatching Venture Bothers and when I read this line I imagined it as one of those over the top Dr. Orpheus speeches 

[kajnrig]

I do have to wonder, @Seto Kaiba, why not just drop the show? Surely you've seen enough to know you wouldn't like any more of it. I dropped off after... what, six episodes? and judging by everyone's opinions on it since then, I'm not missing anything particularly special. Are you just invested in seeing it through to completion now?

[Seto Kaiba]

5 hours ago, Big s said:

I was just rewatching Venture Bothers and when I read this line I imagined it as one of those over the top Dr. Orpheus speeches 

... Prospera Mercury and Rusty Venture have a LOT in common, morally speaking.

 

4 hours ago, kajnrig said:

I do have to wonder, @Seto Kaiba, why not just drop the show? Surely you've seen enough to know you wouldn't like any more of it. I dropped off after... what, six episodes? and judging by everyone's opinions on it since then, I'm not missing anything particularly special. Are you just invested in seeing it through to completion now?

Because I am cursed to be a completionist by nature.  It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to stop watching/reading a story before the end.

I'd rather see the story through to the end even if it's bad so I can fairly critique the completed work than stop halfway.  There are very few shows that have been so awful, so odiously unwatchable, that I could not bring myself to continue watching to the end.  The only two that leap directly to mind are Stratos4 and Strike Witches.  The former because it turned out to be a borderline Excuse Plot for a lot of yuri fanservice, and the latter because I found the series so blatantly skeevy that I honestly started to wonder if further viewing would end in Chris Hanson busting through my wall like the goddamn Kool-Aid Man.

G-Witch has not yet reached the point where it's so bad that I have to drop the series in utter disgust.  It's bad, but it's still potentially recoverable.  The main problem is that the series doesn't really feel like it's invested in its own premise.  We're 14 episodes in and there is STILL little (if any) indication of an overarching plot.  The story has so little in terms of buildup or foreshadowing that many plot developments come out of nowhere and are then promptly forgotten or swept under the rug within an episode or two.  All the problems are resolved easily by outside circumstances so the protagonist feels almost uninvolved in the series she's starring in.  Part I had a scene that's beautifully illustrative of the fact where Miorine's arguing with Shaddiq over changes to the rules for startup companies that were made specifically to undermine her, and Suletta - the one person whose actual fate is on the line for that - literally doesn't even have a seat at the table.  It's certainly not helped by the fact that the heavily advertised yuri romance between Suletta and Miorine is nonexistent and the actual relationship between the two is frequently exploitative and downright toxic with Miorine treating Suletta like a dogsbody, useful idiot, or meatshield.  Even the animation has started taking a dive as of the most recent episode.  

All in all, it gives me a vibe similar to the movie version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince... that feeling of a story so disjointed between its key elements that it feels like two completely separate stories being intercut with each other for no clear reason.  G-Witch is trying to have both a (badly composed) drama about severe economic inequality and the socioeconomic consequences of same and an almost Yu-Gi-Oh! GX-esque story about the children of the world's rich and famous attending Space Hogwarts to learn about Mobile Suits and engage in fantastic duels over matters of honor, pride, and love because Mobile Suits are apparently the one thing driving the world economy.

[MikeRoz]

On 4/16/2023 at 8:30 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

Oh, and we get the dumb reveal we were all certain was too stupid to be true.

Speak for yourself. And thanks for the IBO spoiler.

EDIT:

Spoiler

I liked this episode! Last week I was ready to slog through most of a season of boring school drama before anything happened, and instead the two terrorists crash the duel in spectacular fashion. Look, it's a flawed show, but I'm enjoying the way it's playing with my expectations. I was right about them rolling up to the duel in their Gundams, but wrong about everyone implausibly ignoring that fact. The crazy one agreeing to the duel ends up not mattering, because the duel was always going to be a terrorist attack anyway, instigated by Shaddiq to seize control of his father's company. After that last episode, you're meant to think that they're going to have a tame duel with Suletta, and Suletta teaches them about the power of friendship over the course of a half-season. Instead there's a hole in the school, people are dead, and the truth about Gundams killing people has hit Suletta like a truck. I'm curious to see where they take this next.

We finally get the Eri/Aerial reveal that certain people insisted was debunked by supplemental material. Kind of an odd choice to tell us now, in such a packed episode. Also disappointing that the audience is so far ahead of the supposed protagonist in finding out what's going on.

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by MikeRoz

[Seto Kaiba]

So... this week's episode of G-Witch is actually good.

Like, there is some actual substance to this one.  Not just the usual meaningless antics as the children of the idle rich faff about the campus of Space Hogwarts.

Suletta isn't even in this one, and Miorine's barely in it.  I feel like it's possibly not entirely coincidental that their absence coincides with a noticeable and even sharp increase in the quality of the storytelling.

Spoiler

This latest episode is set almost entirely on Earth.

Dawn of Fold has captured Guel Jeturk and taken him back to the refugee camp they've set up in the ruins of an old Japanese school.  The situation is apparently pretty dire, with food and water rationing below the level needed to maintain health and a normal activity level in adults.  Much of the episode revolves around their efforts to evacuate the refugees before the Benerit Group's security forces and/or Dominicus Corps can locate and attack them, the grief the refugee children feel over the deaths of parents or loved ones in the Plant Quetta operation, and then a desperate rearguard action fought against a platoon of Benerit mobile suits to cover for the evacuation.

We get a far better look at the conditions on Earth than at any prior point in the series, which really drives home what an absolute mess it's become with the Benerit Group's megacorps sponsoring proxy warfare as a form of economic and social control.  Guel Jeturk gets caught up in it all after a Dawn of Fold soldier named Olcott takes charge of him and he witnesses the violence from outside the relative comfort and security of a Mobile Suit and desperately trying to get a badly wounded young girl to medical care in the midst of the fighting.

There's also some exposition about Quiet Zero in the stinger that confirms at least some of what Prospera said in the previous episode is true (about it being Miorine's mom's idea), and the reveal that Shaddiq isn't just an orphan he's half-Earthian and is deliberately using his clout as the adopted son of Sarius Zenneli to try to tear down the Benerit Group's proxy warfare economy and force the sale of its assets to Earth to abolish the basis for Spacian supremacy.

 

  

On 4/19/2023 at 8:04 PM, MikeRoz said:

And thanks for the IBO spoiler.

At the time that post was written, over six years had passed since the broadcast of the final episode of Iron-Blooded Orphans. 

The forum rules call for spoiler tags on new broadcast content for 48 hours after release.  We were over 52,800 hours outside that period at the time of my last post.  

[Seto Kaiba]

Well that didn't last.

Spoiler

We're back to bullsh*t-tier writing and the cast in space.

The only key takeaways from this nothingburger of an episode are:

• Sunrise backpedaled hard on the implication that the Aerial is made from Human Resources... it turns out it's just haunted/possessed by the ghost of its previous pilot like the Unicorn Phenix in Narrative.  Prospera claims she transferred Eri's "biometric code" into the Lfrith prototype as a way to save her when she died from the conditions in outer space.  This makes Belmiria's disgusted reaction a lot less explicable.
• Belmiria has a breakdown over the inhumane things she's done... apparently brought on by nothing more than Prospera noting that Carto Nabo did not approve of her hypothesis about artificial nervous systems.  She spends the entire rest of the episode a weepy, depressed mess.
• Earth's going to sh*t because information leaks from Asticassia are clueing the world in to what's really going on and the Benerit Group's using heavyhanded measures to suppress dissent on Earth.
• The Benerit Group can apparently just decide to elect a new president whenever, so this whole business with the Holder title and Miorine was a massive waste of time that meant literally NOTHING.
• Earth House as a whole are suspended for seven days and everyone hates them now because the terrorist attack by students registered to Earth House killed twelve people and injured a bunch more.
• Miorine finally remembers to react to Suletta straight-up murdering a dude in the Part I finale... and is intensely creeped out by Suletta not only admitting she's 100% not bothered by it, but would happily use Gundams as weapons of war and kill MORE people if mommy dearest said to.  Bear in mind, this is like three weeks after the fact.
• Elan #5 attempts to gundamjack the impounded Aerial and the literal ghost in the machine kicks his ass out and gives him the mother of all GUND format headaches.
• Oh and Guel's back on Asticassia somehow... walks right into the Jeturk CEO's office without anyone notifying anyone that the missing heir to the company showed up.
• Prospera has reversed herself again and is now ranting about revenge against Delling, to Miorine of all people, and attempting to blackmail Miorine into becoming the next president of the Benerit Group so she can complete Quiet Zero.

 

I'd like to say the wheels have come off G-Witch, but the previous episode was the only one to suggest wheels might have been present at some point...