Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Anime Episode Discussion

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Wandering Soul

So can we officially consider this series a battle school harem now?

That AI was pretty bad. Even with the back up of the sprinklers, it underperformed. Guel might as well just fought himself.

I thought it did pretty well before the rain. Certainly way better than Guel in his first duel against Suletta.

While he was still worrying about the bits, it just charged in, got in close, and actually threatened Suletta while defending against everything she threw at it.

[Illsteir]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Rewatching it, I just realized Aerial won by hitting the fin with her boobs .

The weird thing is the part where it broke-off was glowing as if it was cut by a beam saber.

[Ragashingo]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I thought it did pretty well before the rain. Certainly way better than Guel in his first duel against Suletta.

While he was still worrying about the bits, it just charged in, got in close, and actually threatened Suletta while defending against everything she threw at it.

Actually... I understood the AI's performance to be almost entirely bad. Yes, it was able to charge in, but the entire time it was making bad moves:

- Guel's first action seemed to be to stay in cover so as to stay away from Suletta's drones. He was anticipating a flank. The AI, however, charged out of cover and rushed in surprising Guel in the process. I think Guel was right to be more worried about Aerial's drones and the AI screwed it all up!
- After the AI threw the spear, which was easily blocked and dodged, Guel was left high, in the air, and wide open to attack. "I'll be hit!" he exclaimed and Suletta's shot was indeed heading straight for him until Guel... not the AI... made a large control input to block.
- The AI got in some good hits and cut off Aerial's arm, but Suletta chopped off two of its arms a bit later in the fight. The AI was able to do so well only because the rain was limiting Suletta's swarm attacks.
- Once the rain stopped, the AI had no idea what to do against Suletta's drones and in fact came to a dead stop against Guel's wishes and tried to block against overwhelming firepower. "You fool! Don't stop!" The result was Guel lost all his drone shields and his mobile suit took major damage.

Note how Guel was upset with almost everything the AI did. And when Guel finally fought on his own he did extremely well for having lost two hands and most or all of his drone-like shields. The AI had nothing on his skill and instinct! In a fair fight, that beta version of a 5th-generation decision making extension AI would have had its ass handed to it by Suletta and Aerial. Guel, at least, knew his enemy and had a plan to counter its advantages without cheating! The AI's plan was to charge into the open and take an unforced headshot without even trying to block!

[ryllharu]

Originally Posted by Illsteir

The weird thing is the part where it broke-off was glowing as if it was cut by a beam saber.

I noticed that too and can't figure out how it could happen. I thought it might be the head cannons, but the angle is wrong for that.

[ars89]

Is Suletta the Holder again now? It wasn't brought up in the wagering part and the 1st match was invalidated.

Also since the match was broadcasted everyone saw Guel's proposal?

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Illsteir

The weird thing is the part where it broke-off was glowing as if it was cut by a beam saber.

Originally Posted by ryllharu

I noticed that too and can't figure out how it could happen. I thought it might be the head cannons, but the angle is wrong for that.

Aerials' chest runs hot ?

Originally Posted by ars89

Is Suletta the Holder again now? It wasn't brought up in the wagering part and the 1st match was invalidated.

Also since the match was broadcasted everyone saw Guel's proposal?

Guel said he was wagering the same thing he wagered the first time, so I assumed that meant his stats as the Holder/Miorine's fiance. Which means Suletta will probably be sporting her white uniform next week.

I'm not sure if they cut the broadcast or showed what the pilots were doing...but even if they couldn't hear the words, him getting on her knees and holding her hand is pretty explicit .

[frubam]

Not much to say about ep 3. Suletta still remains to be one of the most charming protagonists in a gundam series in a long time for me =03. Really, I think the way she stutters(which usually have a connotation of being a coward or scaredy-cat, in anime medium) while actually being very direct and brave makes it a wonderful contrast that just warms my heart every time she's on the screen. If it wasn't for her, and maybe ep 00, I'd been well on my way to drop this; none of the other characters interest me, not even stoic-boy(I generally like the romance in Gundams, but not feeling him yet).

I was not that impressed by the battle. It felt kinda clumsy; nothing like the battles in ep 00. I'd say the reasons, but too lazy to put into words right now.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by frubam

I was not that impressed by the battle. It felt kinda clumsy; nothing like the battles in ep 00. I'd say the reasons, but too lazy to put into words right now.

Yeah. I thought it was an average fight. Not bad but not impressive either.

To be honest, I'd prefer some fights in space. I don't think these mobile suits can be used at their full potential under normal gravity conditions. Besides the location they use for the duels feels pretty generic too.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Yeah. I thought it was an average fight. Not bad but not impressive either.

To be honest, I'd prefer some fights in space. I don't think these mobile suits can be used at their full potential under normal gravity conditions. Besides the location they use for the duels feels pretty generic too.

I wonder if they can actually duel in space by special request, but that might be too much open space.

Although we do see the MS's in space in the Opening.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Ragashingo

Actually... I understood the AI's performance to be almost entirely bad. Yes, it was able to charge in, but the entire time it was making bad moves:

- Guel's first action seemed to be to stay in cover so as to stay away from Suletta's drones. He was anticipating a flank. The AI, however, charged out of cover and rushed in surprising Guel in the process. I think Guel was right to be more worried about Aerial's drones and the AI screwed it all up!

Waiting to be flanked isn't a plan. The AI actually forced her to recall the drones - that's the way to do it.

- After the AI threw the spear, which was easily blocked and dodged,

It came closer to surprising her than you say.

Guel was left high, in the air, and wide open to attack. "I'll be hit!" he exclaimed and Suletta's shot was indeed heading straight for him until Guel... not the AI... made a large control input to block.

He sounded panicky, but for no reason. Until he broke the AI, I don't think any of his inputs mattered. The AI is good at blocking though, as we eventually saw, it's possible to overwhelm it. I don't think it's Guel who blocked the shot from behind.

- The AI got in some good hits and cut off Aerial's arm, but Suletta chopped off two of its arms a bit later in the fight.

True, but it's not as crippling as it sounds.

The AI was able to do so well only because the rain was limiting Suletta's swarm attacks.
- Once the rain stopped, the AI had no idea what to do against Suletta's drones and in fact came to a dead stop against Guel's wishes and tried to block against overwhelming firepower. "You fool! Don't stop!" The result was Guel lost all his drone shields and his mobile suit took major damage.

True, "stops when checkmated" isn't a great feature. Maybe it's to make the opponent let her guard down?

Note how Guel was upset with almost everything the AI did.

That's not the same as being able to do better.

And when Guel finally fought on his own he did extremely well for having lost two hands and most or all of his drone-like shields.

Rather, Suletta did badly. She could have just shot him. And even so...

The AI had nothing on his skill and instinct! In a fair fight, that beta version of a 5th-generation decision making extension AI would have had its ass handed to it by Suletta and Aerial. Guel, at least, knew his enemy and had a plan to counter its advantages without cheating! The AI's plan was to charge into the open and take an unforced headshot without even trying to block!

Guel also got his ass handed to him, and did zero damage. He had no plan that we could see.

[Jaden]

Kinda bothers me how gravity doesn't seem to be a factor. From the way the MS and drones were jumping, flying, getting thrown about, sticking to walls, crashing into the ground with no damage, it feels like they're in near-zero gravity. But when Suletta crawls out of the mech, it looks like 1G.

As for the AI. From what I understand about the backstory, Gundams were scrapped before ever being used in a major war. So where would an AI even learn how to beat them? Just observing Aerial fight one time? If that's the case, of course it would suck.

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by Jaden

Kinda bothers me how gravity doesn't seem to be a factor. From the way the MS and drones were jumping, flying, getting thrown about, sticking to walls, crashing into the ground with no damage, it feels like they're in near-zero gravity. But when Suletta crawls out of the mech, it looks like 1G.

I agree, it doesn't feel realistic. The MS move a bit too easily. I'd say it's not just zero-g but momentum in general. I try to ignore this sort of thing and just accept it - the series isn't trying to be hard sci-fi and instead be more story and character focused.

As for the AI. From what I understand about the backstory, Gundams were scrapped before ever being used in a major war. So where would an AI even learn how to beat them? Just observing Aerial fight one time? If that's the case, of course it would suck.

It doesn't require a war to get combat data. We saw some real combat in the prologue. Also, computers can use simulations to help train AI - they already do this today.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Jaden

Kinda bothers me how gravity doesn't seem to be a factor. From the way the MS and drones were jumping, flying, getting thrown about, sticking to walls, crashing into the ground with no damage, it feels like they're in near-zero gravity. But when Suletta crawls out of the mech, it looks like 1G.

First, Mobile Suits have thrusters that allowed them to launch & even hover for a limited time. So they can always do "jumping, flying, getting thrown about". I mean, this is nothing new in the Gundam franchise that has existed for 40+ years. Where have you been?

Second, field Mobile Suits are build durable to a great extend. They wouldn't be much of war machines if they suffer great damage whenever they fall to the ground. Example from other series:

• Gundam Narrative (which basically just spare parts slapped together) can survive being smacked to the ground from the inner "sky" of a colony.
• Gundam Barbatos can survive the impact of landing on the surface of the planet after being dropped from stratosphere.

Third, someone may correct me about this but wasn't Aerial thrown by Darilbalde all the way to the "higher" side of the colony? That means the "wall" that Aerial took two steps before launching back to Darilbalde had its own gravity. Basically this picture from Space Odyssey but on a larger scale:

Originally Posted by Jaden

As for the AI. From what I understand about the backstory, Gundams were scrapped before ever being used in a major war. So where would an AI even learn how to beat them? Just observing Aerial fight one time? If that's the case, of course it would suck.

Simulation exists. That's how people can send probes to the Moon & Mars, because they simulated it.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Episode 4:
Suletta turned Guel into a tsundere 😂

ChuChu Falcon punch!!!

Space racism. Also, Earth situation is not looking very good. Probably just as bad as Earth in Hathaway or Victory Gundam.

[Illsteir]

Holy housekeeping, Mio! That living quarters is a mess!
And how did Chu-chu manage to tuck all that hair under her helmet?

[Marina2]

Ep.4

This ep. doesn't end with "eh?"

Nika and Chuchu will be good friend for Sulletta. She originally come from Earth after all. Still, I have a bad feeling that they have dead flags on their head. I hope I am wrong.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

First, Mobile Suits have thrusters that allowed them to launch & even hover for a limited time. So they can always do "jumping, flying, getting thrown about". I mean, this is nothing new in the Gundam franchise that has existed for 40+ years. Where have you been?

I've only scraped the surface of the Gundam franchise. But I remember in some of the older shows, the mobile suits were a lot more sluggish on Earth, and had specialized gear for atmosphere missions and space missions.

[ryllharu]

I noticed in the scene where Suletta gets her uniform fixed that the white uniform really pops against Suletta's hair and skin tone compared to the default uniform where she looks drab like the other background characters. Similarly, Miorine already contrasts the standard uniform.

One thing I do not blame Suletta for being skittish about is meeting her first goat. There's no more alien looking farm animal.

ChuChu straight-up coldcocked the one girl! Makes me wonder a little bit if Earthian's are naturally stronger than Spacians due to gravity being strongest on Earth.

Originally Posted by Illsteir

And how did Chu-chu manage to tuck all that hair under her helmet?

I see that she doesn't have any fronds sticking out like Suletta does because she wears a communication cap head covering, but even if we assume her poofs are all frizz, I still wonder.

[quagmire]

Originally Posted by Jaden

I've only scraped the surface of the Gundam franchise. But I remember in some of the older shows, the mobile suits were a lot more sluggish on Earth, and had specialized gear for atmosphere missions and space missions.

Different universes and what was possible within them.

You have the what is considered the main timeline that is known as Universal Century or “UC”. In that universe, Gundams like Unicorn couldn’t do sustain flight on Earth.

Then you have timelines like Cosmic Era( Seed/Destiny) or Anno Domini universe ( Gundam 00). In CE, at first you did need mobile suits designed for flight in the atmosphere for them to do sustained flight without additional equipment( whether flight platforms or upgraded Aile striker pack). But then had newer Gundams like the Freedom that got was just as maneuverable on earth as it was in space. Similar case in the AD universe. GN drive made the Gundams as capable on Earth as they were in space without additional equipment. Granted the suit had to be designed for maneuverability in the first place( Exia, Kryios, Dynames), but you weren’t seeing Virtue able to do more in space than on Earth.

[ryllharu]

Oh, we also got confirmation that while Chuchu is the loudmouth and perhaps public face of the Earth faction, there is absolutely no question that Nika is the undisputed authority within the group.