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

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Twi

It looks like that lady might have been in the prologue after all:

https://i.imgur.com/jHyNL4P.png

Don't tell me she sold them out...

[Twi]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Don't tell me she sold them out...

Not sure. She might have just been another survivor. I'm sure we'll get her backstory eventually.

[Key Board]

What is Guel going to do once he runs out of mobile suits to crash

/

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Key Board

What is Guel going to do once he runs out of mobile suits to crash

/

Might start crashing some motorcycles or something .

This guy just can't end his losing streak. Not even sure using him as a punching bag is making other characters look all that impressive. Might need to give him a win against someone that doesn't know what they are doing to bolster his credibility a bit .

[kari-no-sugata II]

This is totally my own imagination but during this episode I had the thought that Suletta's mother could be showing these duels to people on the Earth side to demonstrate Aerial's capabilities to her backers - people who probably secretly funded the Aerial's development (which is why it's so top-tier in terms of design). Some of them are probably worried about how well it can actually perform in the wild.

Putting it another way, Elnora / Lady Prospera deliberately sent in Suletta and the Aerial knowing that it would upset the status quo. That by showing up the normal MS of the top students that it would force their hand, making them reveal their latest prototypes in order to try to compete. Instead, what they're effectively demonstrating is that the Aerial is not only better than anything else on the market but also anything in development. And then consider that the Aerial is many years old at this point - that whoever designed this probably has something better by now.

If this is the case then these duels are effectively a way to prove the Aerial's combat potential in close to realistic combat scenarios. Which in turn will greenlight mass production of something based on the concept. Which in turn will likely trigger a war between Earth and Space. Which would mean that Suletta is being used to start a war.

[Frontier]

So I guess Shaddiq is for sure going to be Suletta's last duel. Or the next one after this.

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Might start crashing some motorcycles or something .

This guy just can't end his losing streak. Not even sure using him as a punching bag is making other characters look all that impressive. Might need to give him a win against someone that doesn't know what they are doing to bolster his credibility a bit .

It gets worse that he was doing this for Suletta's sake and because Elan ticked him off as a matter of pride but he had everything going against him if he lost this duel and everyone telling him not to do it...and we see what happened.

[Twi]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Might start crashing some motorcycles or something .

This guy just can't end his losing streak. Not even sure using him as a punching bag is making other characters look all that impressive. Might need to give him a win against someone that doesn't know what they are doing to bolster his credibility a bit .

Thing is, Guel is the best person. He was the former Holder and when in a suit that can match his capabilities he can put up something of a decent fight. Diablade was hampered by the AI and he didn't expect drones the first duel. This time he not only realized what the beams did but came up with the idea to block them before closing the distance.

Elan is just better equipped and even then he had to outsmart Guel to get a clean win thanks to the terrain and his weaponry giving the suit an electrostatic charge so the dust would stick long enough for him to immobilize the suit and finish it off.

It's the problem of needing the hardware to match the software. Suletta and Elan both have that, but he doesn't.

[Jaden]

Satisifed that I got my answer, the arenas are "low gravity". It seems different from the way people move, but maybe there is significant mass in their suits.

It's not really ideal for demonstrations, though. Perhaps the duel culture was really established just for sport, and for the academy itself, without any ulterior motive. Though the company executives clearly feel otherwise.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Twi

Thing is, Guel is the best person. He was the former Holder and when in a suit that can match his capabilities he can put up something of a decent fight. Diablade was hampered by the AI and he didn't expect drones the first duel. This time he not only realized what the beams did but came up with the idea to block them before closing the distance.

Elan is just better equipped and even then he had to outsmart Guel to get a clean win thanks to the terrain and his weaponry giving the suit an electrostatic charge so the dust would stick long enough for him to immobilize the suit and finish it off.

It's the problem of needing the hardware to match the software. Suletta and Elan both have that, but he doesn't.

I'm curious when we'll get to see him fight 100% with the Darribalde without the AI. I wonder if that would've made any difference here.

[Tenzen12]

Originally Posted by Twi

Thing is, Guel is the best person. He was the former Holder and when in a suit that can match his capabilities he can put up something of a decent fight. Diablade was hampered by the AI and he didn't expect drones the first duel. This time he not only realized what the beams did but came up with the idea to block them before closing the distance.

Elan is just better equipped and even then he had to outsmart Guel to get a clean win thanks to the terrain and his weaponry giving the suit an electrostatic charge so the dust would stick long enough for him to immobilize the suit and finish it off.

It's the problem of needing the hardware to match the software. Suletta and Elan both have that, but he doesn't.

You are making it sound like decision making isn't part of piloting skill.Not to mention Elan is very skilled mechanically as well. Guel is pretty great pilot but his hotheadedness hamper him badly. Even if they had same equipmet there is no guarantee he would win.

[Thor's Hammer]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Funny you say that, because I think this episode was dropping hints about that pretty heavily. Not only Suletta mentions a sibling she shouldn't have if she was Eri, and it didn't seem like she was talking about the Gundam, but she also didn't seem to remember her father, and Eri was 4 when she lost her father; she would remember him very well. She also said she has been with Ariel all her life, but this wouldn't be true for Eri, who touched a Gundam for the first time when she was 4 and wasn't even Ariel but Lfrith. Finally, when Elan piloted Ariel, he realized he wasn't getting hit by data storm. Meaning what's special about Ariel and Suletta is not Sulleta. The Gundam is special.

So my theory right now is that Eri died at some point and her brain was installed in the Gundam. That's how Prospera perfected the nullification of data storm. With Eri's brain in the Gundam handling the negative feedback, the pilot is totally safe. This also explains why Ariel's "AI" is so much more advanced than anything else we've seen. In the web novel Ariel is shown to have human-level consciousness. Isn't that too suspicious? It's probably not an AI at all but Eri's mind.

Suletta is probably a clone. Ariel probably existed since before Suletta was born/created which is why she remembers being with Ariel all her life.

Anyway, this is just a wild theory at this point. I could be reading way too much into it. But it's fun to speculate.

You are reading way too much into everything and will get everything wrong just like you did with Vivy, which I basically pointed out to you early on into that series.

The sibling that girl who read Eri/Suletta's fortune was talking about is clearly Aerial, who Suletta considers family.

I didn't have my first memory until a few months after I turned 4, so it was well within normal human development for Eri/Suletta to have no memory of her father or her father having died on her birthday as novel as that event would be. It is well within reason for Eri/Suletta to consider having been with Aerial all her life if Aerial has indeed been with her since she had her first memory, and Eri/Suletta specifically stated to Elan that Aerial had been with her since childhood, so it was made clear in the dialogue she had with Elan that that was what she meant by all her life.

If you recall in the prologue, Lfrith did tap into Eri's vitals, but Eri did not experience a data storm, so it is indeed Eri/Suletta that is special. What I believe to be far more likely is that Aerial is Lfrith reskinned to avoid detection from the Benerit Group and that Prospera has placed a limiter on Aerial to prevent tapping into vitals as part of her master plan so that nobody except somebody like Elan (who wants Aerial for himself) can confirm whether Aerial is indeed a Gundam. Aerial's AI is most likely a very advanced AI, not Eri's brain as you surmise. The Benerit group did determine that Aerial's Permet code most closely matched a unit from Ochs Earth, which makes it extremely like that Aerial is indeed Lfrith.

If Lfrith was reskinned before Eri/Suletta's first memory, it would perfectly explain all the events that have happened in the story so far. There's no need to go deep down a rabbit hole searching for something that's not there. Suletta is just not a clone of Eri, and Aerial's AI is not Eri's brain.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Thor's Hammer

You are reading way too much into everything and will get everything wrong just like you did with Vivy, which I basically pointed out to you early on into that series.

If I get it wrong what does it matter? It's part of the fun of speculating.

If Lfrith was reskinned before Eri/Suletta's first memory, it would perfectly explain all the events that have happened in the story so far. There's no need to go deep down a rabbit hole searching for something that's not there. Suletta is just not a clone of Eri, and Aerial's AI is not Eri's brain.

Ariel is not a reskinned Lfrith. If that was the case, Elan would have felt the permet kick back when he rose the permet score to level 3. He didn't feel anything wrong, nor did he get the red marks on his face and arms like when he was piloting Pharact. As far as we can tell Ariel is the perfected Gundam that Cardo was aiming for, a Gundam that doesn't produce permet data storm at all. Lfrith wasn't quite there, so they aren't the same machine.

Suletta is just not a clone of Eri, and Aerial's AI is not Eri's brain.

Maybe. but it's fun to speculate.

[Chosen_Hero]

... so Elan is also going to get arrested and have his Gundam dismantled... right?... right? I guess the story will conveniently forget about that or something.

[Thor's Hammer]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

If I get it wrong what does it matter? It's part of the fun of speculating.



Ariel is not a reskinned Lfrith. If that was the case, Elan would have felt the permet kick back when he rose the permet score to level 3. He didn't feel anything wrong, nor did he get the red marks on his face and arms like when he was piloting Pharact. As far as we can tell Ariel is the perfected Gundam that Cardo was aiming for, a Gundam that doesn't result in permet data storm. Lfrith wasn't quite there, so they aren't the same machine.



Maybe. but it's fun to speculate.

The reason I pointed this out to you now is to prevent you from getting tunnel vision on a particular interpretation and then flying into a fit of rage when you're wrong like what happened with Vivy. There's having fun with speculation and being so adamant that nothing else could possibly be happening that you go into a rage, and I just want to temper your expectations.

Aerial might be a reskinned Lfrith if Prospera has indeed placed a limiter on it to prevent it from tapping into the pilot's vitals. Maybe there will be a perfected Gundam in the future, but I find it EXTREMELY unbelievable that Prospera could have perfected a Gundam in the few months between the death of Eri/Suletta's father and the point at which Eri/Suletta has her first memory, especially since Prospera was an elite PILOT and not a genius engineer like her mother was. The timeframe between the likely onset of Eri/Suletta's first memory and Delling's attack on Ochs Earth suggests that Lfrith and Aerial are one in the same. So Elan raising the Permet score to 2 is not necessarily an indicator that Aerial isn't Lfrith because Aerial may be on a limiter that prevents it from operating at its highest level.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Thor's Hammer

The reason I pointed this out to you now is to prevent you from getting tunnel vision on a particular interpretation and then flying into a fit of rage when you're wrong like what happened with Vivy. There's having fun with speculation and being so adamant that nothing else could possibly be happening that you go into a rage, and I just want to temper your expectations.

Thank you but you're not my babysitter.

Aerial might be a reskinned Lfrith if Prospera has indeed placed a limiter on it to prevent it from tapping into the pilot's vitals.

Except there is not limiter going on as far as we can tell. Elan was able to rise the permet score to level 3, which is pretty freaking dangerous in a regular Gundam, without getting any sort of kick back. He got the enhanced control that level 3 gives you without the negative effect. Not even Lfrith was capable of that.

Maybe there will be a perfected Gundam in the future, but I find it EXTREMELY unbelievable that Prospera could have perfected a Gundam in the few months between the death of Eri/Suletta's father and the point at which Eri/Suletta has her first memory

That's the thing. We don't know the timeline. We don't know how many years had passed since the attack on Cardo's lab. We assumed the attack was 13 years ago because Suletta is 17 and we think Suletta is Eri. But once you stop making assumptions, we're left with the fact that we actually don't know how many years have passed since then. The attack could have been 20 years ago for all we know, and that could explain why Dellin looks so freaking old compared to the prologue.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

... so Elan is also going to get arrested and have his Gundam dismantled... right?... right? I guess the story will conveniently forget about that or something.

If Aerial (which was a mech from a lowly company from the boonies that has no big clout) can survive this far without Delling touching it, the chances for Pharact not getting dismantled like Aerial is like tenfold higher considering it is backed up by one of the three leading companies. Suletta & Aerial already set the precedent for the Benerit board.

[Thor's Hammer]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Thank you but you're not my babysitter.



Except there is not limiter going on as far as we can tell. Elan was able to rise the permet score to level 3, which is pretty freaking dangerous in a regular Gundam, without getting any sort of kick back. He got the enhanced control that level 3 gives you without the negative effect. Not even Lfrith was capable of that.



That's the thing. We don't know the timeline. We don't know how many years had passed since the attack on Cardo's lab. We assumed the attack was 13 years ago because Suletta is 17 and we think Suletta is Eri. But once you stop making assumptions, we're left with the fact that we actually don't know how many years have passed since then. The attack could have been 20 years ago for all we know, and that could explain why Dellin looks so freaking old compared to the prologue.

Elan raised it to level 2, not 3. I thought you made a typo the first time, but you just misremembered. And we don't know whether he actually got any real enhanced control from it since we didn't see him try to do any enhanced maneuvering. Yes, I know Lfrith was not able to give enhanced functioning without causing a data storm aside from with Eri. What I'm suggesting is that Elan can say Permet Score 2, Permet Score 33, or anything, but it wouldn't functionally make a difference if Aerial has been limited in some way. The reason he felt nothing might have been because Aerial could not tap into his vitals with its current functioning. Elan connecting to Aerial by saying Permet Score 2 confirmed for him that it was a real Gundam because his body would be able to tell through connecting with it, but it says nothing about whether he actually got any improved functioning, and this episode left it ambiguous enough that we can't say for sure. I know you're going to say that Elan probably would have confirmed that he got improved functioning, but maybe he was so upset that Suletta wasn't an enhanced being like himself that he forgot to confirm it.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel that there was something out there that confirmed that the present day is indeed 13 years from the prologue. I'll try to find it later this week.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Thor's Hammer

And we don't know whether he actually got any real enhanced control from it since we didn't see try to do any enhanced maneuvering.

Normal mobile-suits are controlled with a stick. They don't have any mind link with the pilot. But the moment Elan rose the score in Ariel, he was able to control it with his mind. The Gundam was following the movements of his body. That's the enhanced control the Gund system provides. Being able to do that without any data storm is way more than Lfrith was capable of without Eri piloting it.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel that there was something out there that confirmed that the present day is indeed 13 years from the prologue. I'll try to find it later this week.

Not even the web novel that takes place between the prologue and the show clarifies the timeline. You've gotta wonder why they're so secretive about it.

[Thor's Hammer]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Normal mobile-suits are controlled with a stick. They don't have any mind link with the pilot. But the moment Elan rose the score in Ariel, he was able to control it with his mind. The Gundam was following the movements of his body. That's the enhanced control the Gund system provides. Being able to do that without any data storm is way more than Lfrith was capable of without Eri piloting it.



Not even the web novel that takes place between the prologue and the show clarifies the timeline. You've gotta wonder why they're so secretive about it.

They're not actually being secretive about it. It's literally on the official website for the anime.

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

Scroll down, and it'll tell you that it's A.S. (Ad Stella) 122 in reference to what year it is. So, yes, Suletta is Eri, and she is no clone of hers.

[Ragashingo]

The main story starts in AS 122. I’ve only been able to find a few other date references:
- The interrogator in episode 2 says Suletta is 17 years old. That means she would have been born in AS 105.
- Miorine is 16 in AS 122 which would make her born in AS 106. This should hold true even if Suletta’s age is a lie…
- Shin Sei Corporation was founded 33 years ago in AS 89. Lady Prospera took over as president of it 3 years ago.

As far as I can tell, the various wikis and other fan sources are just doing 122 - 17 + 4 to get AS 109 as the year of the prologue. But there’s nothing official so far as to when the prologue was.

Personally, I don’t believe the date shenanigans theory. Suletta and Miorine seem about the same age and we know Miorine’s age for sure. Unless we want to start talking about rapidly aged clones, which I don’t believe there is any evidence for, then Miorine’s age of 16 years puts a pretty hard limit on how far back the prologue was.