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

[azarhal]

Originally Posted by deadite

I'm thinking SAL may be responsible for the Folksvangr raid to clean up loose ends. Delling and Dominicus came at the same time, and Delling took credit even though all they did was eliminating 2 Gundams that were hostile to them.

It's a theory that has been around since the prologue released when we didn't even know about the SAL. I explored it myself, but it doesn't work that well with what happens in the prologue since the boarding party radio Dominicus HQ to mention Cardo Nado and all "key members" are dead and then they blow up the Front leaving the Dominicus ship has their only ride back to HQ. Also, the Vanadis Heart spin-off shows that the Ochs Earth offices on Earth were also attacked by Dominicus at the same time.

The prologue does mention how Gundam would increase Earth war capabilities and the Spacians really didn't want that thought.

The only weird part of the prologue is that "all key members" doesn't include Elnora when she's the one who created Gund-Arm (Nadim mention it when he tells her he's taking a Lfrith).

[deadite]

Actually there is no clear indication the commando team was communicating with Dominicus HQ. Because there seems to be 2 different "HQs" being reported to.

[Kazu-kun]

I may be missing something, but it seems very clear there's only one ship attacking Folksvangr and it's the Dominicus ship. All the mobile suits attacking are coming from there, and it's also that ship that shoots Folksvangr at the end as well. Folksvangr gets blown up at the end so any other attacking party would have to ride the Dominicus ship as well.

[azarhal]

Originally Posted by deadite

Actually there is no clear indication the commando team was communicating with Dominicus HQ. Because there seems to be 2 different "HQs" being reported to.

The assault group is communicating on an open channel, Elnora hears the message about the dead development team.

HQ also gives the order to shoot any shuttles coming out of the Front to the Dominicus ship outside.

[azarhal]

Reading online comments about the last episode shows how viewers let their bias alter their perception of what they are seeing, manipulated further by the TV news.

The TV news in the show are propaganda, and mostly meant to encourage (pointless) Earthians violence against Spacians/Benerit Group. Some examples:
1. A Dilanza taken down by a MANPADS, but in this episode we can see that tanks and MLRS do no damage to the Spacians mobile suits. I remember a few people saying it looked staged catching on on the fake setup.

2. What Prospera shows Miorine two episodes ago has scenes that would fit at the end of the last episode. The TV News brings up Spacians destroying shit in the hunt for the terrorists as an headline, causalities on both side, how there is open warfare in Quinharbor and the probability of a new war loaming.

3. The end of the last episode, TV News says Moirine ordered her forces to fire on "protestors" without reasons. Except those "protestors" had tanks and MSRL and they fired first. The most egregious case of propaganda so far. In fact, the whole thing sound like Earthians did a false flag to gain the popular vote to go to war (but it was Elnora who did the false flag).

Whomever is in control of the news, want both Earth and Benerit to murder each others, but mostly Earth since they have nothing to fight back with and most of the fighting will happen on Earth...

[Endscape]

Originally Posted by azarhal

Reading online comments about the last episode shows how viewers let their bias alter their perception of what they are seeing, manipulated further by the TV news.

The TV news in the show are propaganda, and mostly meant to encourage (pointless) Earthians violence against Spacians/Benerit Group. Some examples:
1. A Dilanza taken down by a MANPADS, but in this episode we can see that tanks and MLRS do no damage to the Spacians mobile suits. I remember a few people saying it looked staged catching on on the fake setup.

2. What Prospera shows Miorine two episodes ago has scenes that would fit at the end of the last episode. The TV News brings up Spacians destroying shit in the hunt for the terrorists as an headline, causalities on both side, how there is open warfare in Quinharbor and the probability of a new war loaming.

3. The end of the last episode, TV News says Moirine ordered her forces to fire on "protestors" without reasons. Except those "protestors" had tanks and MSRL and they fired first. The most egregious case of propaganda so far. In fact, the whole thing sound like Earthians did a false flag to gain the popular vote to go to war (but it was Elnora who did the false flag).

Whomever is in control of the news, want both Earth and Benerit to murder each others, but mostly Earth since they have nothing to fight back with and most of the fighting will happen on Earth...

It all adds together into a calculated narrative from SAL about how dangerous the Benerit Group is, which would give them the support needed to crack down on the group.

I know some people dismissed this possibility since Prospera destroyed the Lfrith pre-production suits, but I do wonder if Prospera really isn't in league with them. She destroyed the suits, yes, but supports the overall goal of using the SAL to destroy Benerit, after she completes Quiet Zero of course.

Hell, maybe Quiet Zero would be the last string on the camel's back that causes the SAL to crack down on Benerit. It would the kind of irony that Prospera would love. Using Delling's pet project for her own ends then perverting it so that it would cause the destruction of his empire.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Endscape

I know some people dismissed this possibility since Prospera destroyed the Lfrith pre-production suits, but I do wonder if Prospera really isn't in league with them. She destroyed the suits, yes, but supports the overall goal of using the SAL to destroy Benerit, after she completes Quiet Zero of course.

Hell, maybe Quiet Zero would be the last string on the camel's back that causes the SAL to crack down on Benerit. It would the kind of irony that Prospera would love. Using Delling's pet project for her own ends then perverting it so that it would cause the destruction of his empire.

If Prospera gets to finish and active Quiet Zero, she automatically wins. Because Quiet Zero will give Eri the ability to control any permet-based device at a massive scale. Whether we're talking Benerit or SAL, Earth or Space, everything will fall under Prospera's control.

That's why Prospera doesn't need SAL. The only reason she "allied" with Benerit is because she needed them to finish Quiet Zero but that's all. Once Quiet Zero is ready, she can destroy Benerit, SAL, and everything in between with her own hands.

[azarhal]

Originally Posted by Endscape

It all adds together into a calculated narrative from SAL about how dangerous the Benerit Group is, which would give them the support needed to crack down on the group.

I know some people dismissed this possibility since Prospera destroyed the Lfrith pre-production suits, but I do wonder if Prospera really isn't in league with them. She destroyed the suits, yes, but supports the overall goal of using the SAL to destroy Benerit, after she completes Quiet Zero of course.

Hell, maybe Quiet Zero would be the last string on the camel's back that causes the SAL to crack down on Benerit. It would the kind of irony that Prospera would love. Using Delling's pet project for her own ends then perverting it so that it would cause the destruction of his empire.

I've seen a theory online that Godoy is a SAL agent, but I feel like he's way too loyal to Prospera and she trust him way too much for that to be true. He's up there with Eri when it comes to the revenge/quiet zero plan knowledge.

Prospera probably isn't allied with SAL, but she's clearly planning on using them somehow, because her "the wait is over" after being told SAL might have sniffed them out sounded like "they finally took the bait" last episode.

Feng bringing up Cathedra makes me think that SAL will crackdown on Gund with Sarius help after they manage to purge Delling's influence. And note that Sarius wanted Gund-Arm Inc. to be purged after it was formed. I wouldn't be surprised if Earth House was on the run from witch hunters by the end of this season...

[Key Board]

Aerial is too much of a game changer so they will either want to seal or destroy it

//

[Twi]

Well, Aerial is literally the one Gundam in the setting that doesn't kill its pilot after multiple uses.

Even leaving aside the sheer versatility of the bits and capabilities, everyone wanting it to resolve how Prospera fixed literally the one problem plaguing them would naturally make it priceless to all but Delling and Shaddiq's dad.

[TheDoctor324]

Originally Posted by Twi

Well, Aerial is literally the one Gundam in the setting that doesn't kill its pilot after multiple uses.

That's not even close to true, the reason why Suletta or Mio or El4n didn't die is because Eri is the one dealing with the DS (data storm) effects. Eri isn't affected by it due to her not having an organic body. Eri "turned off the safeties" when El5n tried to steal the Aerial. If Eri were to leave the Aerial then it would be just another Gundam that can kill its pilot like the others.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by TheDoctor324

Eri isn't affected by it due to her not having an organic body.

That's not it. Eri was special from the get go. She didn't die from the data storm. She died from the effect of living in space.

[Twi]

Originally Posted by TheDoctor324

That's not even close to true, the reason why Suletta or Mio or El4n didn't die is because Eri is the one dealing with the DS (data storm) effects. Eri isn't affected by it due to her not having an organic body. Eri "turned off the safeties" when El5n tried to steal the Aerial. If Eri were to leave the Aerial then it would be just another Gundam that can kill its pilot like the others.

Eri = Ariel. That is why she's literally the one Gundam in the setting that doesn't kill its pilots. If there's no Eri, there's no Aerial. It's just what it was before she got into it.

[azarhal]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

That's not it. Eri was special from the get go. She didn't die from the data storm. She died from the effect of living in space.

People seems to have missed that Eri had no issues with the data storm before being uploaded into the Lfrith in the prologue. She was already handling the data storm for Elnora at the end of episode 0 (Elnora is connected to the mech, Eri is connected to Elnora's gund arm).

But Eri might not have been special and it was the new Lfrith design that worked once the layer 33 callback happened which linked her biometrics to the Lfrith AI and made her the prime user of it.

The other choice is that Eri was never "human", since Prospera says that data storm is the source of the Gundam curse "for humans, at least" at the start of episode 14...and rewatching that, I forgot how pissed off she was when she mention the battle at Plant Quetta.

And if Eri was never "human" than Suletta is the exact same thing as Eri...some sort of Blade Runner replicant or Westworld TV Series fleshbots that age.

[quagmire]

Originally Posted by azarhal

People seems to have missed that Eri had no issues with the data storm before being uploaded into the Lfrith in the prologue. She was already handling the data storm for Elnora at the end of episode 0 (Elnora is connected to the mech, Eri is connected to Elnora's gund arm).

But Eri might not have been special and it was the new Lfrith design that worked once the layer 33 callback happened which linked her biometrics to the Lfrith AI and made her the prime user of it.

The other choice is that Eri was never "human", since Prospera says that data storm is the source of the Gundam curse "for humans, at least" at the start of episode 14...and rewatching that, I forgot how pissed off she was when she mention the battle at Plant Quetta.

And if Eri was never "human" than Suletta is the exact same thing as Eri...some sort of Blade Runner replicant or Westworld TV Series fleshbots that age.

We don't know what score Eri was at in the prologue. Two doesn't seem to have much negative effect. Three Nadim had some negative impact. But Norea and Sophia brushed off three. Four is when things really started kicking all their butts.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by quagmire

We don't know what score Eri was at in the prologue. Two doesn't seem to have much negative effect. Three Nadim had some negative impact. But Norea and Sophia brushed off three. Four is when things really started kicking all their butts.

You can only use the gunbits are permet 4.

But that's not why Eri is especial. The reason she's especial is because she was the only one who got a callback from layer 33 from Lfrith. No one else could do that, not even Elnora who only got to layer 32.

It's a shame they never really explained what that means, but it seemed like getting a callback from layer 33 meant that Eri was mentally bonding with Lfrith at a deeper level than anyone else, so much so that Lfrith could read Eri's thoughts and act according to it (this is explained in the novelization of the Prologue).

It is implied the reason Eri wasn't effected by the data storm is because she was bonded with Lfrith at such a deeper level. After all, getting to layer 33 was the purpose of the experiment that Cardo and Elnora were running at the beginning of the Prologue.

[quagmire]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

You can only use the gunbits are permet 4.

But that's not why Eri is especial. The reason she's especial is because she was the only one who got a callback from layer 33 from Lfrith. No one else could do that, not even Elnora who only got to layer 32.

It's a shame they never really explained what that means, but it seemed like getting a callback from layer 33 meant that Eri was mentally bonding with Lfrith at a deeper level than anyone else, so much so that Lfrith could read Eri's thoughts and act according to it (this is explained in the novelization of the Prologue).

It is implied the reason Eri wasn't effected by the data storm is because she was bonded with Lfrith at such a deeper level. After all, getting to layer 33 was the purpose of the experiment that Cardo and Elnora were running at the beginning of the Prologue.

Gundvölva's were used at Score 3. El4n used 3 for Pharact's bits. Same with Nadim. Where you getting score 4? Only thing we know 4 does is overrides anti-dote. Gund bits can't require 4 because anti-dote worked on Aerial initially.


Otherwise, you're right. Something about Lfrith was special in that only a certain person could pilot it given the layer 33 issue. Where the Lfrith prototypes didn't have that quirk. So that makes Eri special in a way we probably won't know. The pace of the show is probably too fast for that to be expanded on.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by quagmire

Otherwise, you're right. Something about Lfrith was special in that only a certain person could pilot it given the layer 33 issue. Where the Lfrith prototypes didn't have that quirk.

Lfrith was special because it was designed to fix the problem of the data storm. But the "fix" only worked at layer 33, which is why Elnora was so frustrated she couldn't get there.

Eri is special because she was the only one who could do it. We don't know why though.

[azarhal]

I think I'm going back on one of my theory after last episode. The Schwarzette doesn't have a double (not idea why Ippei has a concept art with yellow lights and no permet glowy parts instead of purple like the gunpla thought), but I'm still puzzle about how they finished it in like 48 hours for it to magical appear wherever Lauda found it.

[Endscape]

Originally Posted by azarhal

I'm still puzzle about how they finished it in like 48 hours for it to magical appear wherever Lauda found it.

I assumed it was basically already done when Guel and Miorine saw it, they simply needed to put the finishing touches on the exterior.