I was wondering if the Pharact being a Gundam would be acknowledged by Benerit. It’d be weird if no one there doesn’t given how big of a stink the Aerial has caused. Sure enough, at the start of Episode 7, Sarius and Vim confronts the creepy old ladies running Peil about the Pharact and they force them to go along with an upcoming plan.
Another thing that immediately gets addressed is what Peil plans to do with Elan’s public image, now that Elan-04 has been executed. Apparently, they’ve already started to work on an Elan-05 but whatever processes that entails isn’t complete so the real Elan is forced to actually assume his identity. Maybe it’s a bit early for me to say but I’m really liking Natsuki Hanae’s performance as Elan and his double(s). Hanae does a good job making them feel distinct from each other and these characters seem to let him flex his acting chops more than other roles I’ve heard him in.
The main plot of this episode has Suletta and Miorine attending an “incubation party”. It’s basically a fancy event for startups to pitch themselves to investors. Miorine dismisses the invitation but she relents when Suletta realizes that she might see Elan again. The two also bring Nika as well as Martin Upmont, Earth House’s leader. Kind of stupid that Suletta and Miorine wear ball gowns for the incubation party but Nika and Martin are stuck in their school uniforms. I get that no one in Earth House has money to burn but surely they have something else to wear.
At the party, Suletta and Miorine run into Shaddiq, who points out that it’s unusual for Miorine to do anything for someone else’s sake. Finally, someone points this out! Shaddiq later shares one scene with Nika. These two have never interacted with each other before so the implication that they’re already acquainted with each other is peculiar. I’m guessing Nika is some sort of spy for Grassley to keep tabs on Suletta but if that’s true, that’d be a huge bummer given that Nika is one of Suletta’s first friends at Asticassia.
Suletta and Miorine then meet up with Prospera. While Suletta is distracted, Prospera takes the opportunity to get to know Miorine, having only seen the girl when she interrupted her hearing back in Episode 2. This goes about as well as you’d expect when someone meets a future in-law. In all seriousness, much of this scene has Prospera trying to understand Miorine’s estranged relationship with her father. Miorine reiterates her animosity towards Delling, with one brief flashback implying this stems from Delling leaving her on her own after her mother’s death. Prospera finds this amusing given that Miorine is able to live comfortably thanks to her father and she encourages Miorine not to act so prideful. Without getting further into this episode, it’s obvious that Prospera is playing her usual game of 3D chess here. Still, she isn’t entirely wrong that it would be benefit Miorine to be less stuck up when dealing with her father. I also love watching Prospera speak highly of Delling, as if she doesn’t actually hate the man more than Miorine.
Elsewhere, Suletta “reunites” with Elan, unaware that it’s not the same Elan she personally knows. It’s killing me watching Suletta remain ignorant of Elan-04’s fate and the real Elan taking advantage of that. Even more unnerving is that this is likely going to last for a while. Elan then brings Suletta to Peil’s panel for the incubation party, which is soon revealed to be a ploy by the company (and by extension, Sarius and Vim) to confront the girl about the Aerial and have it disposed. Pretty ingenious to use Peil to expose the Aerial since they themselves have knowledge on Gundams. I was a bit surprised to see Peil promise to destroy the Pharact alongside the Aerial but I imagine that must be a term given to them by Sarius in order to stay in business. Something to keep in mind is that apparently Gundams are able to respond to each other in some way. That kind of explains what happened at the end of Suletta and Elan-04’s duel and I have a feeling that’ll play a bigger part down the line.
To protect Suletta and the Aerial, Miorine pitches to investors that she’ll purchase Shin Sei and Peil’s Gundam development teams, form a new company called GUND-ARM Inc., and leave research on safe applications of the GUND format so that they can be commercially used. At this point, I think it’s safe to say Miorine is a keeper. She can act tsun tsun all she wants. The fact that she’s forming a whole new company for her fiancée suggests otherwise.
Miorine brings up some solid arguments to her pitch, such as the fact that the Aerial has managed to beat two of the best Mobile Suits in development, one of which is another Gundam no less, and Suletta’s health suggesting that it is possible to safely use a Gundam. That said, no one is willing to touch the prospect with a ten foot pole. There’s some obvious factors such as Benerit’s ban on Gundams and the uncertainty that research will bear any fruit though the big detractor is simply the fact that Miorine doesn’t have enough credibility to her name and she is mostly talking big.
In order to secure funding, Miorine runs off to Delling and ask for his support. Delling warns Miorine of the heavy burden that awaits in developing Gundams but he nevertheless invests in her proposal, leading everyone else to do the same. I’m honestly surprised that Delling decides to invest and accept Gundams becoming a thing. I mean, this dude literally killed several people to prevent Gundams from being a thing and he’s clearly not keen on his daughter’s defiance. I don’t know, maybe he’s impressed with Miorine’s determination that he’s willing to throw a bone for once. Maybe he’s hoping Miorine will see eye to eye when she learns more about Gundams. I do like how this scene serves Miorine’s character, however. As mentioned earlier, Prospera encourages Miorine to let go of her pride and the latter very much does that at the end of the episode when she asks Delling to support her company. It also says a great deal about Miorine’s feelings towards Suletta. Miorine wants to be independent from her father but after this scene, it seems that protecting and helping Suletta is actually more important to her.
While all of this is happening, Vim has his other son, Lauda (Takeo Ōtsuka) try to renegotiate with Prospera over her blackmail against Jeturk. This plan hilariously falls apart when Miorine gets funding for her startup, thus keeping the Aerial intact and making Jeturk lose their only form of ammo against Shin Sei. I can’t decide if Prospera is amazingly lucky or just has absurd foresight. It’s pretty crazy that her advice to Miorine has paid off so quickly; it’s as if she knew she’d need it. After the pitch, Prospera comes clean to Suletta about the Aerial being a Gundam. I love Suletta’s reaction in this scene. This is the most shocking bit of news to her but it’s hardly a shock to us since we’ve known from the start that Suletta has been piloting a Gundam this whole time. That said, this create an interesting implication for Suletta’s relationship with her mother. The fact that she never once doubted about the Aerial makes me wonder what other secrets her mother is keeping from her.
Watch Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury on Crunchyroll
Xenodude Scribbles 