Finally back to tackle Witch from Mercury again. I did say in my site updates that I’d be covering the show whenever but I also didn’t intend to put the show on hold for as long as I did. Sorry about that.
Last episode ended on an interesting turn of events. with Guel proposing to Suletta after she beats him in their second Mobile Suit duel. This takes everyone by surprise though no one is more surprised than Suletta, who immediately rejects Guel in a panic. The next day, Guel curiously goes back to being rude towards Suletta the next day and he denies having any feelings towards her. I imagine since he made such a huge blunder, he has to save face for the sake of his reputation as well as his family’s. He may indeed to be frustrated with Suletta as well but it wouldn’t surprise me if he does warm up to her again.
Interesting that Guel honors the conditions of the duel and he apologizes to Miorine as promised. I doubt he is genuinely remorseful towards Miorine but at least he doesn’t act so high and mighty that he thinks he’s above one of Asticassia’s biggest rules. Given his own actions and what we see later in the episode, it seems like Guel is surprisingly one of the more honorable students in Asticassia.
Later in the day, Suletta partakes in a mobile suit exam, only to fail because she lacks a mechanic and spotter to support her. Finding someone who could fulfill either of those jobs proves to be easier said than done as people have grown wary of her due to the controversy surrounding the Aerial and her strained relation with Jeturk House. Nika introduces Suletta to members of her faction, Earth House and convinces them to help the Holder out though this fails due to hostility from one of Earth House’s pilots, Chuatury “Chuchu” Panlunch (Miyu Tomita).
Now seems like a good time to bring up a societal issue in the show’s mythos. Basically, anyone from the space colonies are called Spacians while anyone from Earth are called Earthians. Spacians treat Earthians as a lower class of people and tensions between these two groups have gotten violent in some cases. I imagine this will be very relevant down the line but for now, this issue relates to Asticassia’s as Earth House is often picked on by the other houses, which appear to be comprised of Spacian students. Chuchu consequently has a strong resentment against Spacians and seeing as Suletta is from Mercury, she therefore treats the Holder with disdain.
After Chuchu chases her away, Suletta gets invited to join Peil House by Elan, which would then provide Suletta with all the resources she needs. Miorine advises Suletta not to get involved with Elan however and she instead offers to act as both Suletta’s mechanic and spotter. How cute. I guess Miorine really does care about her fiancée. Actually, you do see Suletta crash at Miorine’s place so maybe these two are closer than I realize.
At Miorine’s home, Suletta reveals to her that she dreams of making Mercury a better place by running her own school there. Miorine isn’t exactly enthused by the idea, arguing that one should live for themselves. To be fair, I completely get where she’s coming from. With how Delling tries to dictate her life, of course this is the angle Miorine would take. I’m curious what exact tone Miorine is going for when she calls Suletta’s goal “admirable. It could be sarcasm but it could also be Miorine saying “to each their own”.
On the day of a makeup test, Suletta and Miorine prove to be an effective team though this point is rendered moot as some bullies who were picking on Chuchu the previous day have decided to make Suletta their new target. The bullies have spray painted the cameras on the test mobile suit, effectively making Suletta blind throughout the exam. Miorine isn’t allowed to remove the paint so there’s only so much she and Suletta can do before the latter fails and has to give the test another whirl. The failures eventually get to Suletta, causing her to break down and cry that she’ll never graduate from school.
I like that Miorine sticks with Suletta throughout all these attempts and convinces her to keep trying. It goes to show that she might care about Suletta more than she realizes. It’s especially interesting that Miorine reminds Suletta of her dream during the last attempt. Like, Miorine doesn’t feel that strongly about that goal but she understands it’s important to Suletta and how much it motivates the latter. That said, the real MVP of this scene is Chuchu, who gets pissed at the bullies and gets out of her test mobile suit to punch the crap out of them. It’s definitely not the most mature response but it sure is a very satisfying moment. A particularly funny detail here is the first bully Chuchu knocks out stays knocked out for the rest of the fight. For all I know, that girl just got permanent brain damage.
After Chuchu finishes throwing hands, she and Suletta are told that they have to retake the exam at a later date. I’m surprised that this is the only repercussion Chuchu faces. Did the proctors not see her knock out two other students or did they just not care? What kind of school is this? Anyway, Nika then proposes that Suletta should join Earth House. Though not exactly keen to have a Spacian in the group, Chuchu does accept Suletta’s membership. Aside from the show needing Suletta in a house, this proposal does make sense. Even though she’s a Spacian, Suletta doesn’t discriminate towards any Earthians. And like the Earthians, she’s ostracized from the rest of the school. She’s more or less in the same boat as them so it might as well be in a literal sense as well.
Watch Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury on Crunchyroll
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