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

[Twi]

Has anyone else noticed that Belmeria has been getting bullied a lot this season?

She had her spirit broken by Prospera bringing up the Enhanced Humans, Elan called her out, she gets arrested by the investigators, nearly assassinated, and she got called out by Nika this episode.

I mean, they aren't wrong that she's got her hands in a lot of the stuff here, but...

It feels like kicking a puppy.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by azarhal

Am I the only one who's expecting Godoy to backstab Prospera for his own nefarious agenda? He sounded a bit suspicious in this episode and I still don't see why he would want a world where Eri is happy...

You're not the only one. That crossed my mind in that scene. He's a really mysterious figure. We don't know who he is. We don't know what's his stake in all this. We know nothing about him.

[Endscape]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Prospera didn't start any war. Prospera's actions on Earth might have caused an skirmish but SAL manipulated the news to turn this into a bigger deal. If anyone is about to start a war it would be SAL.

Prosper knew exactly how volatile the situation was and she deliberately did that false flag in order to start violence. She's responsible for starting the war.

Originally Posted by Twi

Has anyone else noticed that Belmeria has been getting bullied a lot this season?

She had her spirit broken by Prospera bringing up the Enhanced Humans, Elan called her out, she gets arrested by the investigators, nearly assassinated, and she got called out by Nika this episode.

I mean, they aren't wrong that she's got her hands in a lot of the stuff here, but...

It feels like kicking a puppy.

She consigned kids to death and continues to go around weeping about how tough she has it. If anything, she needs to be bullied some more

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Endscape

Prosper knew exactly how volatile the situation was and she deliberately did that false flag in order to start violence. She's responsible for starting the war.

There is no war going on right now. A war could start due to what SAL is doing (manipulating the media, trying to take over Benerit and so on) but there's no war going on right now. So stop trying to blame Prospera for something that hasn't even happened yet.

[Endscape]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

There is no war going on right now. A war could start due to what SAL is doing (manipulating the media, trying to take over Benerit and so on) but there's no war going on right now. So stop trying to blame Prospera for something that hasn't even happened yet.

There's an armed conflict that went on Quinnharbour started by Prospera for the purpose of completing her death weapon, which led to the current armed conflict (with a whole ass fleet involved) in which stopping said death weapon was a major motivation and which will almost certainly lead to further conflict down the road between Earth and Space.

Prospera started all of it. She is to blame. I'm not saying SAL is innocent, because they're not, but Prospera is at fault here.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Endscape

Prospera started all of it. She is to blame. I'm not saying SAL is innocent, because they're not, but Prospera is at fault here.

Now you're moving the goal post. You started this claiming Prospera started a war, which is not true because no war has started.

Originally Posted by Endscape

There's an armed conflict that went on Quinnharbour started by Prospera for the purpose of completing her death weapon, which led to the current armed conflict (with a whole ass fleet involved).

The current armed conflict between SAL and Benerit happened because Shaddit manipulated Catedra forces to get into the Academy, which provided justification for SAL to act against Benerit.

As Shaddiq explained last episode, SAL would not make a move just because some Earthians died so what happened on Quinnharbour wasn't the trigger for this. Shaddiq needed Spacian casualties, which were provided by Norea which was manipulated by Shaddiq himself. This is what got SAL to make their move. Prospera has nothing to do with this.

Originally Posted by Endscape

which stopping said death weapon was a major motivation

No, that was just a side quest because SAL thought they could use Quiet Zero to put more blame on Benerit. But it's not a major motivation at all. In fact, SAL has been planning this take over of Benerit for years. What happened in the Academy (Norea's attack) serves as main excuse, but it's not even the real reason. The real reason is just greed.

[azarhal]

Some people might want to rewatch the scene where Prospera give a "hint" to Miorine to help her presidency, because the TV news shows that Qinharbour was already under armed conflict before they even decided to go to Earth.

Prospera didn't start that conflict, it was under ceasefire for the negotiation when they got there.

[justavisitor]

I probably lost it somewhere. Why did Prospera need Miorine for the Quiet Zero again? It seems like she already has it. I thought the deal was Prospera to help Miorine win the presidency so in return Mironine will not can the project?

How many days have Miorine won the seat??

[Chosen_Hero]

The plot has been skydiving without a parachute ever since the first episodes and the closer it gets to the ground the worse it gets.

Just saying, but if at least half of the Earth kids don't die to some random explosion while in the middle of battle, I will call bullshit plot armor because that would go against what Gundam does.

Suletta at the very least should end up in a vegetable state, half of the cast should just die because they are stupid kids that shouldn't be there, the adults will clearly all die and the villains should all die except for that one piece of shit that will outlive everyone else for some reason.

[Endscape]

Originally Posted by azarhal

Some people might want to rewatch the scene where Prospera give a "hint" to Miorine to help her presidency, because the TV news shows that Qinharbour was already under armed conflict before they even decided to go to Earth.

Prospera didn't start that conflict, it was under ceasefire for the negotiation when they got there.

Fair enough, but she did restart it and made it worse than it would have been originally.

[TheDoctor324]

Originally Posted by justavisitor

I probably lost it somewhere. Why did Prospera need Miorine for the Quiet Zero again? It seems like she already has it. I thought the deal was Prospera to help Miorine win the presidency so in return Mironine will not can the project?

How many days have Miorine won the seat??

Because whoever is the president has access to QZ, Mio had temporary control because of her father. Had she lost the election whoever would have won would be the only person with control of who can and can't access QZ

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Twi

Yes. Because he had it prepared in advance.

He didn't know the reason that Eri was able to use the Gundam safely because she synchronized with it completely. That was only brought up after he made the pitch and Belmeria point it out after Suletta mentioned she never knew the curse of the Gundams.

It's a case of "better have it when you need it" than "need it but you don't have it".

Guston knew that Suletta can pilot Aerial before, and she's a clone of Eri and that's a good-enough base to ask her if she can/will pilot Calibarn to maybe talk to Prospera & stop her by any chance. Mind you that Guston only asked Suletta to pilot it. He didn't force her to.

Originally Posted by Twi

Suletta was always going to pilot the mobile suit to face off against Eri, and Calibarn fits if you want to copy Tempest. But they didn't have time to build it up like the Schwarzette, so they just brought it along with the intention of having Suletta pilot it and the fact that she was going to do so without any reservations.

A weapon upgrade doesn't really need a build-up, especially when said weapon was in the hands of a completely mysterious organization up until recently. They either have it, or not. As simple as that.

Also:

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

And for those who want to protest by saying "But an upgrade Gundam for the protag must be build up!!" well, let me guide you straight to:
Zeta Gundam
Gundam ZZ (Double Zeta)
Gundam DX (Double X)
Freedom Gundam
00 QAN[T]
etc

Most of those upgrade Gundams suddenly appeared in an episode for the MC to take. It can be from the enemy's side or from the protag's side. At the end of the day, it's just an upgrade tech.

_________________________________________________

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Two questions:
- What do they even hope to do with a 20+ years old Gundam? To hear Bel speak of it, it must have sat unused and unmaintained for all those years.
- Why does anyone in Earthhouse (including Suletta) want to stop Propera? It's not their fight. Even if she installs herself as space dictator, she's not going to be any worse than her predecessor, or the SAL. They have nothing to win in all this.

• It's a "magical technology" that we're talking about. They can always "dust it off" and do some fixing to use it again. And this won't be the first time that an "older prototype was sealed coz it's too strong for any pilot to handle compared to the newest models". Remember the Tallgeese & Wing Gundam Zero.
• I mean, Martin & ChuChu already told you: they don't want to leave Suletta going alone & got killed. Whether or not it's worth risking their lives is really up to them.

Originally Posted by azarhal

Am I the only one who's expecting Godoy to backstab Prospera for his own nefarious agenda? He sounded a bit suspicious in this episode and I still don't see why he would want a world where Eri is happy...

Either he becomes more like Ribbons 2.0 in 00S1 (having his own agenda while posing as a servant of sort) or stay as a faithful assistant to Prospera. I think those are generally where his character might go unless Okouchi wants to throw us some real curveball.

[Key Board]

Originally Posted by justavisitor

I probably lost it somewhere. Why did Prospera need Miorine for the Quiet Zero again? It seems like she already has it. I thought the deal was Prospera to help Miorine win the presidency so in return Mironine will not can the project?

How many days have Miorine won the seat??

I always thought that Prospera just needed Miorine to be a smoke screen and buy some time until she can divert Jeturk assets into completing Quiet Zero.

And it worked. Everyone was laser focused on the election, and by the time it was done, QZ is already online. Even Miorine herself thought Prospera needed Miorine to win.

Well played.

//

[fukarming]

What evil deeds had Prospera done exactly?

The only evil thing she has done is the false flag action that makes the conflict between space and Earth worst and lost any chance of reconciliation - Miorine was gaining trust from Earth until that happened. Though Earth and Space were already in a huge conflict before all these happening so we cannot pin too much blame on her.

Other than that what did she do? sure she is not a 10/10 mother to Suletta but I would easily give her 7/10 and easily beat the majority of parents in Gundam. If Suletta has some way to resist data storm and Prospera is cold-blooded, Prospera should have killed Suletta off when she has the chance. Though Prospera probably thinks nothing can stop her now that she got quiet zero and in a way that is true - even if Suletta will pilot the strongest Gundam in the show that will not be controlled by quiet zero, it is still just 1 mecha. Quiet Zero can just control all other drones and mechas to take her down. Also what will the Earth kid and Elan 5 do? If they pilot anything and get close it will get controlled by quiet zero.

In all fairness, Prospera may exact revenge by destroying both SAL and Benerit group. Though for me they deserve it. So Guston is claiming Prospera will murder many innocent people but instead he and SAL are only using Suletta to save their own skin.

btw I don't know why people always assume Suletta will pilot the Schwarzette - Schwarzette doesn't have the colour scheme of a MC gundam.

[Psyco Diver]

I have a theory, this is for why the Earth House has survived this long. What if this "Monster" Gundam needs souls to keep it in control like Ariel needs all of Suletta/Eri's to control it. I think in the final battle the Earth house kids are going to get killed but just like Zeta they will become part of "Monster" to help her win

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Endscape

Prospera has already proven that she's willing to risk innocent lives for little to no reason. Why should they trust her again.

My point isn't that Prospéra has clean hands. It's that, at worst, it's say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss.

Really, so far, her ratio of justification/actual bloodshed is better than most villains, not excluding Delling.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

My point isn't that Prospéra has clean hands. It's that, at worst, it's say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss.

Really, so far, her ratio of justification/actual bloodshed is better than most villains, not excluding Delling.

The problem is, we don't know what Prospera will do with Quiet Zero other than making a world for Eri to roam free.

The first thing that she did with QZ is killing an entire armada that didn't even target her in the first place. That SAL fleet went to bag Benerit but Prospy swooped in with her QZ and used them as target practice.

Knowing that, I can see why Suletta wants to meet Prospy & Eri eye-to-eye and talk to them (for the last time). Maybe Suletta can find out what will Prospy plan to do next, and if it's something really really bad, Suletta might try to stop her with whatever Gundam & resources at her disposal. The point is, Suletta wants to meet & talk to them first (with precaution).

[azarhal]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

The first thing that she did with QZ is killing an entire armada that didn't even target her in the first place. That SAL fleet went to bag Benerit but Prospy swooped in with her QZ and used them as target practice.

The SAL fleet was travelling toward Lagrange Point 2 (behind the moon) to remain hidden to Lagrange Point 1 (between Earth and the moon) where the Benerit Group HQ is and take them by surprise. While doing that, they saw the energy signature of Quiet Zero powering up which was hiding standing still at L2 and decided to attack it so they could seize it or destroy it.

The only thing Quiet Zero did before the SAL started to shoot at it, is put units into a defensive position which is the normal thing to do when someone is coming at you with a big army announced. Aerial retaliated in self-defense after SAL shoot first.

SAL fleet targeted Quiet Zero. Check
SAL fleet shoot first. Check
SAL fleet got wiped out in self-defense by Aerial. Check

This what happened in the episode and not the fantasy scenario you created in your head.


Also, Prospera never asked Aerial to wipe out of the fleet. I saw some people speculate online that Elnora is probably scared shitless of Aerial and let her do whatever because of it.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by azarhal

The SAL fleet was travelling toward Lagrange Point 2 (behind the moon) to remain hidden to Lagrange Point 1 (between Earth and the moon) where the Benerit Group HQ is and take them by surprise. While doing that, they saw the energy signature of Quiet Zero powering up which was hiding standing still at L2 and decided to attack it so they could seize it or destroy it.

The only thing Quiet Zero did before the SAL started to shoot at it, is put units into a defensive position which is the normal thing to do when someone is coming at you with a big army announced. Aerial retaliated in self-defense after SAL shoot first.

SAL fleet targeted Quiet Zero. Check
SAL fleet shoot first. Check
SAL fleet got wiped out in self-defense by Aerial. Check

This what happened in the episode and not the fantasy scenario you created in your head.

Jeez, confrontative much? Chill, man. This is just a cartoon .

I was just speaking in broadstrokes & figure of speech, not creating headcanon. Let's run it one more time:

• It is true that the target of SAL fleet operation was never QZ, right. But prospera was more than ready to wipe them out. Thus, she charged up QZ knowing that SAL fleet will notice & take the bait.
• That's what I meant by Prospera "swooped in" with her QZ. It's not a literal swoop in but Prospera baited the SAL fleet and pretty much devoured them with QZ. Note that when I said "devoured" in the last sentence that doesn't mean Prospera & QZ literally ate them, just in case to avoid further misunderstanding.

Originally Posted by azarhal

Also, Prospera never asked Aerial to wipe out of the fleet. I saw some people speculate online that Elnora is probably scared shitless of Aerial and let her do whatever because of it.

Now that sounds a lot more like a headcanon than my general comments.

[azarhal]

Looks like the ED is revealing more of its secrets (the OP too, since the permet glow tech early in it is Quiet Zero).

The dark stage Suletta is in at the start has the data storm texture for a few seconds as seen in the last episode.

The Gundam shapes that interact with Suletta goes from Aerial -> Aerial Rebuilt -> Aerial -> Calibarn (once black) which "stab" Suletta (but the scene evoke the sword pulling from Utena).

Next episode, if that is when Suletta board the Calibarn will be at about 40 seconds into the ED.

Also, while Calibarn wasn't teased like Schwarzette was. It has been hinted at subtlety since the prologue:
- A gundam must have damaged all those people in the prologue before Lfrith and the pre-production model. The reason why people hate Gundam.
- In episode 2, Rouji/haro ID Aerial permet code and it match another MS at 85%

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

Jeez, confrontative much? Chill, man. This is just a cartoon .

I was just speaking in broadstrokes & figure of speech, not creating headcanon. Let's run it one more time:

• It is true that the target of SAL fleet operation was never QZ, right. But prospera was more than ready to wipe them out. Thus, she charged up QZ knowing that SAL fleet will notice & take the bait.
• That's what I meant by Prospera "swooped in" with her QZ. It's not a literal swoop in but Prospera baited the SAL fleet and pretty much devoured them with QZ. Note that when I said "devoured" in the last sentence that doesn't mean Prospera & QZ literally ate them, just in case to avoid further misunderstanding.

Prospera baited nobody, she didn't know the SAL fleet was there when Aerial connected to Quiet Zero and powered up and the SAL fleet had the order to capture Quiet Zero if they found it.

The order of the scenes in the episode:
Scene 1. Quiet zero power up (zero mention of SAL fleet)

Scene 2. The SAL fleet searching L2 for Benerit forces and/or Quiet Zero. Dialogues:
- fleet soldier1: "We're entering the fleet's combined search area."
- fleet soldier1: "Permet ID codes identified at L2"
- fleet commander: "Are they Benerit ships code?"
- fleet soldier1: "No, something bigger than that"
- ~organ pipe music~ "That's Quiet Zero!?"
- fleet soldier2: "What do we do?"
- fleet commander: "We will capture it, as planned. It will make good evidence for our case against Benerit" - fleet move toward Quiet Zero -

Scene 3. Back in quiet Zero control room:
Quiet Zero red shirt: "Fleet wide Permet ID codes identified, they belong to the SAL fleet".
Prospera: "Eri, please" - Aerial setup drones in a defensive position-

Scene 4. SAL fleet launch MS and start to attack Quiet Zero. Aerial defense herself with superior technology and wipes them out.