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

[ryllharu]

It is starting to look like the Aerial is the actual ethical nightmare mobile suit.

I'll be the first to admit I was wrong, because if the remark was it had been 21 years since [cut off by Elnora] is referring to the destruction of Vanadis and not deliberately misleading us by actually referring to an earlier event that occurred between the doctor and Bel, then Ericht should be 25, not 17. The biggest grudge in Elnora's life has to be losing her husband and the rest of her adoptive family, and the simplest solution is that Suletta is a clone.

Elnora is purposefully taunting former colleagues with Aerial and Suletta to draw them out and destroy them for her revenge to be complete. She must have figured out that Vanadis-Ochs was betrayed from within for their destruction to be so well orchestrated and complete.

There's absolutely no reason the Bit Staves should manifest as individual Ericht phantoms to someone else deep in Permet synchronization unless there really is something horribly wrong with the way Aerial was built.

[kuroyanagi]

Originally Posted by B214

Wait, so is Belmeria Elan/No 4's mother? His flashback person seems to be her.
I'll wait till later episode to see if No.4 is alive or dead.

I don't think so - they're similar but have different eye color. Belmeria's eyes are blue and the person in the flashback's are brown/yellowish.
Though if I'm wrong and they're in fact parent and child, Elan's life expectancy rises considerably, since she's all the more likely to save him somehow if he's her son.

Suletta sitting on the bench at the very end is so, so painful... We're headed straight for a "distraught Suletta is manipulated by Shaddiq" arc, aren't we?

[ryllharu]

Originally Posted by kuroyanagi

Suletta sitting on the bench at the very end is so, so painful... We're headed straight for a "distraught Suletta is manipulated by Shaddiq" arc, aren't we?

As long as we get a Secelia Gets Smacked Around in her mobile suit by a furious Chuchu episode first!

So sick of her never-ending snark while she lounges on the couch and doesn't actually appear to fight.

[Jaden]

It is starting to look like the Aerial is the actual ethical nightmare mobile suit."]It is starting to look like the Aerial is the actual ethical nightmare mobile suit.

Yeah, it ulted on its own accord to win the fight. Even before that, the way Suletta controls the mobile suit is suspicious. It's like she asks Aerial to "handle things", and then Jesus takes the wheel. And she claims to hear voices. Might be laughed off as Suletta's cute quirk, but it's probably literally true.

So there's no data storm, and no Permet side-effects on Suletta because the suit is autonomous and the pilot isn't actually doing jack shit.

I can't stop seeing the EVA influence.
Suletta and Aerial relationship reminds me of Shinji and 01.
Elan = a male Ayanami Rei.
Miorine is Asuka.
All played around like fiddles by the dirty adults doing world domination in the background.

[Key Board]

Originally Posted by Jaden

Yeah, it ulted on its own accord to win the fight. Even before that, the way Suletta controls the mobile suit is suspicious. It's like she asks Aerial to "handle things", and then Jesus takes the wheel. And she claims to hear voices. Might be laughed off as Suletta's cute quirk, but it's probably literally true.

She was assuming direct control

//

[quagmire]

We now return to the darkness that was episode 0......

There has to be more to the story of why Delling hates Gundams. Clearly other companies don't have issues doing highly unethical practices either with blasting away pilots that fail their orders......

I think this show is quickly establishing there are no good guys besides Suletta and Miorine( and maybe Earth house). I don't trust Elnora. I am not ready to say Suletta is not Eri yet. There might be another incident being referenced 21 years ago that led to Delling calling for the destruction of Ochs Earth.

Wonder how long we will have to wait for the full reveal.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Since Belmeria hinted that Aerial is not Prospera's work alone, I assume Prospera got a lot of help when episode 2 said that she's working in Lagrange 1.

Also, it would be nice if the OG Elan actually attending the school sometime in the future. But well, looks like we'll get Elan-5 for the time being. Elan-4 was really just another victim in the same vein of Meer Campbell (if you know, you know).

Btw, Elan saw images of children & heard the laughs of children when he was surrounded by Aerial's Bit-Staves. Could it be that the Staves are.....

[Frontier]

So, I guess we're just not going to address the obvious fact of Peil's Gundam and just assume Delling okayed it because whatever he says go and he's a hypocritical jerk .

I mean, I don't think anyone who has probably had to sacrifice a bunch of people to design a Mobile Suit has a right to lecture a woman using her own daughter as part of a revenge plot. They're both pretty bad .

Miorine may be very scathing and cold, but her pep talks are still heartfelt and powerful .

Shaddiq finally has a bit of a conversation with Suletta! And tells her he's interested in her. Which is great because he's going to be her final opponent in these duels. I wonder how he really feels about how Suletta is changing his fellow pilots .

Oh hey, a space battle! Wouldn't be Gundam without it! Of course, while that's to the Pharact's advantage, that means the Aerial needs thrusters to fight in space! Luckily Earth House can make their own...it's just, Suletta better win or they'll be crippled financially. That's what I call a ride or die !

Man, poor Guel. It's not so much surprising as it is sad that he's getting practically disowned by his father and kicked out of his own house to the point where he has to live out of a tent. Like, just move to Earth House at this point! And what's his brother even going to do? He's not a pilot .

So we finally meet the real Elan Ceres, and they've basically been using our Elan as a surrogate so they don't have to risk themselves while still reaping the benefits of getting their identity out there. I wonder what he's going to do now after what happened to our Elan ?

Oof...Suletta singing "Happy Birthday to you." In context it felt like the right to do to connect her with Elan, but so much prologue PTSD .

It's finally time for the Aerial vs Pharact! Pharact is super fast and has the range advantage, but Suletta has the edge in using her Bits, and in the end even when it seems like Elan has her cornered, the true power of the Aerial is able to overwhelm the Pharact. Elan even sees the true spirit of the Aerial !

That was a really sweet Gundam romance moment between Suletta and Elan when she takes him out of the cockpit...and thankfully Mio-Mio is a very understanding wife who can accept a bit of two-timing here and there. Now about Guel ....

And jeez, after such a nice moment, we get that ending...Suletta waiting for Elan and Elan being erased by Peil technologies because he's not useful to him. The only saving grace is that Elan died realizing that his life wasn't meaningless and as empty as he though. Will Suletta ever find out what happened to him ?

"Shall we Gundam?" Okay, so a ballroom dance episode? With fancy dresses? Maybe or maybe not involving Mobile Suits ?

[Twi]

Review done.


Now we're getting the Gundam darkness. The prologue was not a lie. The cover images with Elan in them were.

[Kanon]

The evidence that Eri = Aerial and Suletta is a clone of her keeps piling up. If it turns out to be true, I'll have to give mad props to the people who called it since the first episode. I thought it was completely crazy back then.

Suletta not having any mechanics really doesn't make sense. If not for Nika being a genius she would have been in trouble... or not, because Aerial is just that OP.

Elan #4's fate turned out to be what pretty much everyone was expecting. We never even found out his real name. I doubt his death was a fake-out, his body was already failing during the battle so he's no use to them anymore.

Miorine is best waifu, willing to allow two-timing.

[Twi]

We expected him to die. We just thought like Belmeria that it wouldn't be so soon.

[Frontier]

I guess the questions are...did Eri die or almost die because of the conditions on Mercury?

Was Elnora so consumed with anger that she forced her daughters' consciousness into a Mobile Suit?

How did she make another daughter?

Is the real reason Suletta doesn't remember the prologue because she wasn't actually there?

Is the Aerial the Lfrith with Eri's consciousness?

[Twi]

Worse, I just realized the four old bats were watching as he got executed on the screen when Belmeria was trying to stop them.

[Kazu-kun]

Sweet vindication. Just last weak I was treated like some sort of mad man for suggesting the idea that Suletta is not Eri, and that Eri is actually Aerial. What do you know, as it turns out this idea is probably correct or pretty close to it.

It was too obvious though. Some people figured it out from episode 1. Personally, I didn't want to believe it either so I was skeptical until episode 5 which dropped hints all over place.

[ryllharu]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Some people figured it out from episode 1. Personally, I didn't want to believe it either so I was skeptical until episode 5 which dropped hints all over place.

I don't think there was a lot of evidence for it in episode 1 aside from the age differences in the characters from the prologue.

If it was 21 years, that's still nearly exactly the maximum I expected it could reasonably be.

What were the hints in episode 1, or was everyone blind guessing and got lucky? I think there was a case to be made from episode 3 and onward in retrospect.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Frontier

And what's his brother even going to do? He's not a pilot .

Yeah, about that, Lauda has his own Dilanza Lauda Custom. Guel forcefully used his very Suit last week

Originally Posted by Frontier

"Shall we Gundam?" Okay, so a ballroom dance episode? With fancy dresses? Maybe or maybe not involving Mobile Suits ?

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[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by ryllharu

If it was 21 years, that's still nearly exactly the maximum I expected it could reasonably be.

If the destruction of Vanadys was 21 years ago, Suletta who is 17 years old simply can NOT be Eri. Eri would be 25 years old.

Mind you, it's still not 100% confirmed that Elnora was talking about this incident, but it's still a big hint.

[justavisitor]

Mad respect to ppl saying Suletta is not Eri. We still don't know the truth yet, but it's pretty close. Up until last week I still thought it was impossible. The fact Suletta's mom said couple of ppl have been piloting Aerial, and the contradiction from Suletta saying that she has been with Aerial since she was young, let you wonder if her memory is also fake

A lot of darkness here in a seemingly school setting comedy/drama. Hope the show can keep the standard all the way.

[ryllharu]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

If the destruction of Vanadys was 21 years ago, Suletta who is 17 years old simply can NOT be Eri. Eri would be 25 years old.

Mind you, it's still not 100% confirmed that Elnora was talking about this incident, but it's still a big hint.

Agreed, that's the obvious huge clue we got this episode, but what were the evidence claims people used to guess the same back in episode 1?

You said you didn't really start to believe it until last episode, but the feeling I get is that people claiming in back in episode 1 were guessing at random because none of the hits at a larger time gap were anything more than circumstantial until later episodes.

[Ragashingo]

Wow. That was one heck of an episode.

As to Ericht va Suletta… yeah. Something is seriously wrong there! I’m also not ready to fully commit to the clone theory. 122 - 21 = AS 101. Add 4, Ericht’s 4th birthday, and we get 105. 122 - 105 = 17… Ericht/Suletta’s age. Meaning they could still very much be the same person.

It now all comes down to…. Did something big happen in AS 101 to send Delling on his anti-Gundam path? Could Miorine’s mother have been a Gundam test pilot who died (or was severely injured by a data storm… I’m not writing anyone off at this point!) and her injury/death started this whole thing?

The clone theory does have a lot of weight… it certainly can’t be dismissed. My alternate theory is… the Lfrith systems were so connected to/entangled with Ericht that her consciousness/spirit/soul was copied or even sucked out. That Suletta is physically the same person/body, but that her original memories and personality are part of Aerial. A comatose child of four with no memories and no sense of self that had to relearn everything and become a new person has a certain dark appeal….

Ultimately… I guess I’m wanting Suletta to be Ericht because I want her to be fully linked to the prologue. I don’t want the disconnect/separation that her being a clone would bring to the story. But I’m admittedly fighting way up hill on this one, now.