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

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Kanon

That was really nice. I was caught off-guard by Suletta being a shy blubbering mess but she can stand up for herself (or rather, others) when she needs to. I loved that she utterly destroyed that guy's MS when all she needed was to destroy the antenna.

The yuri is a very nice surprise. It's particularly cool that Miorine sees it as normal. I doubt she plans on marrying Suletta of course, but over the course of the show, who knows...



The answer to that is on the official website (the Japanese one).

Spoiler for Just in case people don't want to know:

The mother specifically sent Suletta to that school as part of a ploy to take revenge on the people who killed her husband and colleagues. Suletta doesn't know, the mother only told Aerial who didn't want Suletta to get involved because she's a very sweet girl. Sadly, Mommy can't hear Aerial's voice, and her mind is set on revenge anyway.

Suletta becoming Miorine's fiance is part of the plan by the way.

I'm just going to wait for the show to directly comment on that within an actual episode. Since I'm curious if there is a good reason or if the mother is just incredibly careless. For speculation there's a lot of fun possibilities. Like being so terrified of her daughter's ability to slaughter people at the age of 4 that she just wants to get her killed. Or that she's consumed by revenge that she's willing to put her daughter's life in jeopardy to get it. It could be the reckless thing. Especially with her teaching her daughter that retreat is itself worth far less than charging forward. Which sometimes can be the case, but I'm not sure that I'd want to quantify retreat as being the lesser option in every situation.

[Wandering Soul]

I knew there was going to be Yuri in the show, but I wasn't expecting the girls to actually get engaged.

[kk2extreme]

I am getting Utena vibe here.

[Illsteir]

Originally Posted by Kanon

The answer to that is on the official website (the Japanese one).

Spoiler for Just in case people don't want to know:

The mother specifically sent Suletta to that school as part of a ploy to take revenge on the people who killed her husband and colleagues. Suletta doesn't know, the mother only told Aerial who didn't want Suletta to get involved because she's a very sweet girl. Sadly, Mommy can't hear Aerial's voice, and her mind is set on revenge anyway.

Suletta becoming Miorine's fiance is part of the plan by the way.

Man, I'm really a sucker for this kind of trope in mecha anime; the machine being a total bro (or sis in this case) to its pilot.
And as someone pointed out in the YT comments, the lyrics of the OP is a POV of Aerial to Suletta.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Did Miorine actually barf in her helmet ?

Just like a certain someone

Images

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[LoweGear]

That was actually a rather good start to the series, even if it ain't exactly the kind of grim-dark that the Prologue was. Suletta is very much a panicky, socially-anxious wreck of a girl completely different from every main protagonist we've got in every other Gundam before. Nonetheless, Suletta does have a spine to her, and the fact that she challenges Guel to a duel despite her nervousness for Miorine's sake is a rather good indicator that Suletta can rise to the occasion when push comes to shove. The small hints we get from her, such as her never having attended school before, and seeing and tasting an actual tomato for the first time, really says a lot about how she lived beforehand, making it appear as though she and her mother lived in (relative) isolation since the events of the Prologue.

The first episode still doesn't actually lay out the general direction of the series, as it can still go anywhere at this point, but does establish the world and the ground rules for the school quite well: basically, the school solves its disagreements through sanctioned mobile suit winner-take-all duels where the objective is to break the opponent's blade antenna. I love the high technology on display in the episode, such as the energy shields the school uses to block beam weapons from the combatants.

The Gundam Aerial here though despite not moving much manages to actually look and feel amazing in combat, especially once Suletta takes the helm and unleashes the full power of the GUND Format via the Bit Staves, which was suitably epic and well-animated in a good cinematic moment. I find it hilarious though that we essentially get a Gundamjack this episode via Miorine stealing the Aerial in order to fight Guel herself, and it clearly shows not only how bad of a pilot Miorine is but also that the Aerial is most definitely Suletta's machine. I also like the little details on the fight, like how the Aerial's beam rifle has thrusters, and how much recoil it has when firing (Unicorn's Beam Magnum has nothing on this thing).

That ending though was utterly and completely HILARIOUS due to how well they set it up: since Guel becoming Miorine's fiancée was decided via a duel, then by defending her honor and defeating Guel, Suletta de facto becomes Miorine's groom. It's blatant yuri bait, but it's very well done and entertaining yuri bait, especially Suletta's reaction to how the hell that happened. Also the relationship between Suletta and Miorine is just a joy to watch at the second half, with Suletta showing us her indignant gumption at Miorine's Gundamjack with a headbutt to return the favor earlier in the episode.

Counterbalancing all the school events though are the goings on behind the Bennerit Group, and how its leader Delling Rembran rules over it with an iron fist, immediately bankrupting a company under them that wasn't performing well. We even get an attempted assassination by one of the board members against Delling as a play to have their house marry Miorine, though that plan got derailed when Suletta wins the match. It's a good tease into how the events of the school will affect the outside world and the larger corporate politics at play, and we'll likely see the reverse with outside events affecting the school in future episodes.

And finally the one thing that amazes me most about this episode: the sound direction. Not only was Takashi Ohmama's music actually quite great, but the music and sound work was used to such incredible effect in this episode, from the mechanical background sounds to how they aligned the music with the action onscreen (that drop in the music before the Bit Stave attack was especially sublime). Bamco obviously made a brand new sound library for this series to use, and the staff ain't afraid to use them to give this series a refreshing feel sound-wise.

Definitely looking forward to future episodes!

[Marina2]

This fit well

YouTube

https://youtu.be/37t2BRP0hC0

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[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

It would be very remiss of me not to compliment the banger BGM provided by the relative newcomer, Takashi Ohmama. He composed the music for Gundam: Twilight Axis and did a really good job there. So I love that he can finally shine brighter in this show.

100% this. My subwoofer was roaring at times from how deep the bass was and I was loving every second of it. It's been a while since I took notice of a BGM like this. Good stuff.

[magnuskn]

Wat, a Gundam series I actually like? Impossibru! Must be early christmas. That was a pretty good start, even if the world rules are a bit ridiculous.

[magnumcyclonex]

Not sure where to post this on Animesuki as there's are anime episode and general discussion threads, but seems like both threads have responses.

Anyways, I am visually and "audio-ly" impressed. I was not into the Iron Blood Orphans series so for me, I had a longer break from Gundam than most viewers.

First of all, I appreciate having the Episode 0 come out a few months prior. It really set the tone for who our Mercurian Witch is. I just didn't expect her to be a bumbling socially awkward girl who looked like Ed from Cowboy Bebop.

The first episode looked so good and the background soundtrack really gave me vibes of danger, space, mission, and the duels. I was pleasantly reminded of anime/characters from Gundam Build Divers (when the screen showed the duel VS screens), Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's (concept of halting everything to accommodate duels, and turning the landscape into a virtual duel field), and even Ace Attorney Apollo Justice (the guy checking with the "duelists" on the roster changes looked like Klavier Gavin).

We see some political maneuvers being put into action (and halted) by the result of the duel. And that duel was visually stunning. It was also quite impressive for the clothes to change on the spot and gain that emblem.

The Gundam has a feminine looking face, and it has impressive capabilities. As with many series, the non-Gundam side are impressed to see a Gundam in action. Definitely excited for this series.

[SonicSP]

Originally Posted by kk2extreme

I am getting Utena vibe here.

From what I heard there's a lot that was taken from Utena's first episode.

[ryllharu]

Originally Posted by SonicSP

From what I heard there's a lot that was taken from Utena's first episode.

There seems to be a divide in discussions over this point. Some immediately dismissing the entire series because of it, others saying it is a ripoff, but on the opposite side, it was very obviously intentional to make that homage, along with all the other references.

My take on the "controversy" is loaded with sarcasm: Oh no, we're comparing a gundam series to one of the most acclaimed and influential anime of the late 90s. What a disaster!

[kuroyanagi]

Originally Posted by ryllharu

There seems to be a divide in discussions over this point. Some immediately dismissing the entire series because of it, others saying it is a ripoff, but on the opposite side, it was very obviously intentional to make that homage, along with all the other references.

I would find it very hard to believe the homages to be accidental; they are way too numerous and blatant (there's even a mascot-like character called Chuchu! And her silhouette is a dead ringer for the monkey!). There's no way nobody on the production team ever saw Utena, so I can only assume it was on purpose. OFC the question now is why would they do that.

My crack theory for now is that, given how conservative Bandai is with the Gundam brand, the boardroom was very uneasy with the concept of a female main character so someone on the production said "well there's this anime from the 90s that had a female protagonist and fighting and was popular with both genders..." and the execs just went "okay, so do it like that".

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

There's also the fact that Okouchi himself wrote some Utena light novels so.......some things possibly got carried over, intentionally or not 😁

[kari-no-sugata II]

There's some similarities with Utena (girl duels douchebag with bride, wins and gets bride) but there's an awful lot of differences too. For a start, the main girls are very different.

If it does follow Utena then next episode, Miorine and Suletta will shack up together

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by kari-no-sugata II

There's some similarities with Utena (girl duels douchebag with bride, wins and gets bride) but there's an awful lot of differences too. For a start, the main girls are very different.

If it does follow Utena then next episode, Miorine and Suletta will shack up together

Were I a betting men, I would put money on that happening tbh

[Frontier]

I'm not sure how I feel about Haro's being so ubiquitous and having more normal voices.

Originally Posted by LoweGear

That was actually a rather good start to the series, even if it ain't exactly the kind of grim-dark that the Prologue was. Suletta is very much a panicky, socially-anxious wreck of a girl completely different from every main protagonist we've got in every other Gundam before. Nonetheless, Suletta does have a spine to her, and the fact that she challenges Guel to a duel despite her nervousness for Miorine's sake is a rather good indicator that Suletta can rise to the occasion when push comes to shove. The small hints we get from her, such as her never having attended school before, and seeing and tasting an actual tomato for the first time, really says a lot about how she lived beforehand, making it appear as though she and her mother lived in (relative) isolation since the events of the Prologue.

The first episode still doesn't actually lay out the general direction of the series, as it can still go anywhere at this point, but does establish the world and the ground rules for the school quite well: basically, the school solves its disagreements through sanctioned mobile suit winner-take-all duels where the objective is to break the opponent's blade antenna. I love the high technology on display in the episode, such as the energy shields the school uses to block beam weapons from the combatants.

The Gundam Aerial here though despite not moving much manages to actually look and feel amazing in combat, especially once Suletta takes the helm and unleashes the full power of the GUND Format via the Bit Staves, which was suitably epic and well-animated in a good cinematic moment. I find it hilarious though that we essentially get a Gundamjack this episode via Miorine stealing the Aerial in order to fight Guel herself, and it clearly shows not only how bad of a pilot Miorine is but also that the Aerial is most definitely Suletta's machine. I also like the little details on the fight, like how the Aerial's beam rifle has thrusters, and how much recoil it has when firing (Unicorn's Beam Magnum has nothing on this thing).

That ending though was utterly and completely HILARIOUS due to how well they set it up: since Guel becoming Miorine's fiancée was decided via a duel, then by defending her honor and defeating Guel, Suletta de facto becomes Miorine's groom. It's blatant yuri bait, but it's very well done and entertaining yuri bait, especially Suletta's reaction to how the hell that happened. Also the relationship between Suletta and Miorine is just a joy to watch at the second half, with Suletta showing us her indignant gumption at Miorine's Gundamjack with a headbutt to return the favor earlier in the episode.

Counterbalancing all the school events though are the goings on behind the Bennerit Group, and how its leader Delling Rembran rules over it with an iron fist, immediately bankrupting a company under them that wasn't performing well. We even get an attempted assassination by one of the board members against Delling as a play to have their house marry Miorine, though that plan got derailed when Suletta wins the match. It's a good tease into how the events of the school will affect the outside world and the larger corporate politics at play, and we'll likely see the reverse with outside events affecting the school in future episodes.

And finally the one thing that amazes me most about this episode: the sound direction. Not only was Takashi Ohmama's music actually quite great, but the music and sound work was used to such incredible effect in this episode, from the mechanical background sounds to how they aligned the music with the action onscreen (that drop in the music before the Bit Stave attack was especially sublime). Bamco obviously made a brand new sound library for this series to use, and the staff ain't afraid to use them to give this series a refreshing feel sound-wise.

Definitely looking forward to future episodes!

I think the main thrust of the first half of the season will be Suletta and Miorine bonding and Suletta having to protect Miorine from other suitors or people only interested in using her as a bargaining chip, as well as any contenders who want to fight Suletta because now she's the top dog at the academy.

So the first half will probably be duel after duel until we get to the more serious plot later.

And likely for the fact that Suletta is now Miorine's "groom" will bring her into conflict with Delling because I don't think he's going to care for some random girl who isn't from the traditional Mobile Suit monopoly structure being his daughters' protector and upsetting the balance of power he has orchestrated (not to mention the fact that she's obviously piloting one of the last Gundam's he tried to have destroyed). So that will probably lead to Suletta getting her chance to avenge her families one way or another.

Originally Posted by Dextro

Were I a betting men, I would put money on that happening tbh

I wouldn't be either, I can totally see Suletta and Miorine form their own house together.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I'm not sure how I feel about Haro's being so ubiquitous and having more normal voices.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/7xquawZ0rL8

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[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

YouTube

https://youtu.be/7xquawZ0rL8

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

My point still stands .

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by Dextro

Were I a betting men, I would put money on that happening tbh

Miorine seems up for it at least. She had no interest in the douchebag but as soon as Suletta won she quickly made it official and was all "nice to meet you hubby". I wonder how much that is because she herself might have some interest in Suletta and how much it is that she sees this as a step towards (some) personal freedom. At a minimum, Miorine keeping Suletta around should work as "bug repellant".

Suletta looks like she could be easily bribed with fresh fruit and veg at least - the way to Suletta's heart is through her stomach?

Originally Posted by Frontier

I think the main thrust of the first half of the season will be Suletta and Miorine bonding and Suletta having to protect Miorine from other suitors or people only interested in using her as a bargaining chip, as well as any contenders who want to fight Suletta because now she's the top dog at the academy.

So the first half will probably be duel after duel until we get to the more serious plot later.

I dunno. We've not seen any other obvious idiots who seem ready to fight someone who absolutely spanked the previous top dog. It might be a while before we get another duel involving Ariel. The others seem more interested in Suletta and Ariel (love rivals more than duel rivals?). I guess we'll see how people react to a "Gundam" as well.

And likely for the fact that Suletta is now Miorine's "groom" will bring her into conflict with Delling because I don't think he's going to care for some random girl who isn't from the traditional Mobile Suit monopoly structure being his daughters' protector and upsetting the balance of power he has orchestrated (not to mention the fact that she's obviously piloting one of the last Gundam's he tried to have destroyed). So that will probably lead to Suletta getting her chance to avenge her families one way or another.

Well, if he truly only cares about the result then he shouldn't be too bothered... but I do expect him to be very interested in Suletta and especially Ariel. Like, it wouldn't surprise me to see him turn up in person.

PS Utena OP is nice: