[Thess]

Originally Posted by Esclair

If Orga's goal is to just have a place where they could 'live' well he wouldn't be sacrificing his men to save Kudelia. The thing is, these characters will change, especially since they're finally entering a new kind of world beyond just day to day fighting and surviving. Orga is very much a do whatever it takes to ensure his goals are met. Right now those goals are Mika and the rest of his comrades. He is perfectly willing to execute those that get in his way. He's not in it for any kind of grander purpose, at least that we know of. It's not going to be smooth sailing from here on out. He's going to be faced with more and more difficult decisions, and so far from what we know, it'll always take the one that's more pragmatic for his own comrades. The forces he'll be facing will be much stronger than just 3 grunt suits in the future. He's going to need more power to protect his comrades, and since no one is going to give it to him for free, he's going to need to take it himself. There is not status quo for him to cling to, he'll need to either move forward or watch his friends get slaughtered by the overwhelming power of the enemies.

Kudelia on the other hand is an idealist with a much grander dream. Even if the events of the first three episode have knocked her down to earth (or mars in this case heh) just a bit, her ideals and what she fights for is much greater than just day to day living. She's fighting for all the children of Mars. Her goals are currently aligned with Orga, but eventually she'll need to go her own way, and her method of doing things may or may not prove a problem to Orga.

Thematically Orga and Kudelia are the most opposed, with Mika having a very limited scope in terms of the beliefs he fights for. It doesn't seem very likely from a narrative standpoint to have Orga and Kudelia become one 'side' while Orga becomes the other. Not to mention it'd have to be something really drastic for Mika to oppose Orga. I mean Orga pretty much ordered most of their comrades to their deaths in episodes 1-2 but everyone followed his orders and nobody blames him. Mika even pointed out that everyone is sacrificing themselves for Kudelia but he doesn't blame Kudelia at all in episode 3.

The only way I see a schism forming between Orga and Mika is if Mika comes into his own set of ideals that's different from Orga's, and they decide to go down different paths. It'd have to be something a lot grander than 'protecting your friends', and the only other choice is Kudelia.

Kudelia was an idealist. I think you're mistaken that with politician and Orga is the leader of her personal hired army. There's no difference between Kudelia and Orga after this episode. That was the point of their heart-to-heart and how she's realized that if she's going to pursue what she can do, she'll get children killed. And she's conscious she's using and probably getting children killed for the sake of her plans, and she still hired them to escort her. She has absolutely no problems with Orga's methods as far as we know. Don't you think she didn't notice how the adults 'vanished'? She's not that stupid. She witnessed Mika shooting down a guy in front of her and literally didn't give a damn. She's obviously changed her idealistic views and became pragmatic, that's exactly why she contract them again, knowing the results. She, who preached so much about my poor children, is hiring child soldiers to protect her. She's changed and became a more morally gray character, for the better. Do you remember she was even willing to get implants to fight and kill? What did you think she want to pilot a Gundam for? Obviously not to invite them to eat her meals.

If you want to guess which character could 'change' Mika about bloodshed, assuming that's what you're arguing about, there's enough foreshadowing that's gonna be Atra. Mika hid her charm behind his back when he shot Crank, as if he didn't want for Atra to 'witness' what he's doing, even indirectly. It's the only time Mika seemed a little awkward. Atra is gone from the base at the time all the drama happens, while Kudelia is there, fully approving, of Mika's actions. While Atra is the one getting associated with peaceful life (with bonus of those crops and fields of symbolism). Interestingly enough, Atra, not Kudelia or Orga, seems to be the one who reads and sees through Mika's mask and moods.

Both Orga and Kudelia are worshipful and admiring Mika's skills and actions. I frankly don't understand which "conflict" are you trying to push for Mika to "choose" (other than the alternative I proposed which could happen because Orga already had a small dispute with his men about Kudelia - Orga, not Mika). Because they are tightly aligned to each other. Orga even helped Kudelia to find her call again, encouraging her to follow through her actions.