Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury – Ep. 24 (Series Finale)

Witch from Mercury being 24 episodes long is a curiosity in of itself. In a franchise where most mainline installments typically reach 50 episodes total, that is a glaringly short run. My only guess as to why the show is this short by comparison is the changing of the times. Everything in media has gotten more expensive to produce. Add onto the fact that this is the first mainline series in seven years and I imagine the production committee decided 24 episodes was the safest bet. Admittedly, I don’t know if Witch from Mercury should’ve been 50 episodes. I do however think that it would’ve benefitted from at least being 36. A number of characters and factions feel way too underdeveloped and that really becomes increasingly apparent as you watch Season 2, especially when you get to the ending.

I figured all that’s left in the plot is Suletta taking down the ILTS. It didn’t sound good on paper but that’s what happens when you add a laser death machine at the last minute. And yeah, this climax is just as silly as I expected, maybe even more so in execution. We start with Prospera’s men coming in to save her and capture Earth House and their allies. Suletta then appears with the Aerial’s remains and Prospera demands that her daughter reconnect the Aerial to Quiet Zero so that Eri can come back and shut the ILTS down. Suletta however disobeys her mother by connecting herself and the Calibarn to the facility instead. That Suletta is able to handle Quiet Zero and ultimately achieve a higher Permet Score than Eri is questionable, especially since Suletta’s friends warn her that further use of the Calibarn will kill her. I suppose I can look the other way since Suletta is Eri’s clone and I at least like her showing to Prospera that she’s more than just a tool for her mother to use.

After Suletta links to Quiet Zero, the ghost of El4n appears to lend his aid. It’s goofy but Eri has been showing up as a Force Ghost for some time now so I should be used to it by now. What’s really weird is that later, the ghosts of other Gundam pilots, including everyone Prospera lost in the Vanadis Incident, shows up as well. The show justifies El4n’s appearance by saying the data storm records the consciousness of Enhanced Persons but it then gives no reason for every other ghost who, need I remind, is not an Enhanced Person. I know Eri isn’t enhanced and she’s able to live as data but I figured she was the exception and not the norm. I honestly don’t get why everyone else gets to show up. It’s especially baffling when Sophie and Norea’s ghosts show up. Like yeah, they’re Gundam pilots but they also didn’t like Suletta so what incentive do they have to appear? I’ve been told by a friend that this kind of phenomenon is pretty common in Gundam…but that only makes me more puzzled with this franchise.

Eri of course reappears to assist Suletta. Frankly, Eri feels inconsistent at this point. One moment, she opposes Suletta but now, she helps her sister and she later takes her side in convincing Prospera to come back from the milk store. I guess Eri was just willing to play the bad guy to help Suletta reach out to Prospera in the long run but that’s at odds with her willingness to do a couple of war crimes.

Miorine publicly announces that she has dissolved Benerit and sold its assets to Earth with Shaddiq’s help, thereby turning the Space Assembly League’s intervention illegal. On one hand, I like that Miorine gets to contribute in the final battle and it’s cool that Shaddiq’s plan is ultimately realized under less egregious circumstances. That said, it sure would’ve been nice if Miorine revealed this before the League showed up with their stupid laser cannon. It would’ve saved everyone a lot of trouble, especially Eri and Suletta.

Granted, the League decides to fire their laser anyway so it’s still a good thing that Suletta connects to Quiet Zero. I can accept Suletta gathering the Calibarn, Aerial, Schwarzette, and the Pharact (which is just here for some reason, don’ t worry about it) to boost Quiet Zero’s signal. It looks really goofy but I can accept it. The Calibarn taking parts of the Aerial to upgrade itself (as if you can slap stuff like they’re Legos) is unnecessary but hey, that’s one more toy for the Bandai Namco can sell to the fans so whatever. What I absolutely refuse to believe is the Gundams dissolving after Suletta shuts down the ILTS. I get the symbolism. It’s to mark the end of Gundams as weapons of war and Suletta finally being free of them. But how does exhausting data even cause them to disappear? It makes no sense at all. I feel like I should’ve been high while watching all of this.

After the battle, the show does a three year time skip and we see how everyone is doing. Frankly, these results are a mixed bag for me. Some of it is perfectly fine such as Nika serving time and reuniting with her friends after she’s released and El5n trying to find the locations Norea drew in her notebook. I kind of feel for Shaddiq, Delling, and Sarius as all three of them are stuck with court hearings but I appreciate that they’re taking responsibility for their actions. Very noble of Shaddiq to claim Quiet Zero was his idea to make his friends’ lives easier. I never cared for Lauda and Petra’s relationship so I could care less that they hooked up. Lauda being pardoned also irks me since he could’ve easily ruined everything during the Quiet Zero battle. Still, it’s nice to know that Petra is okay and I’ll give Lauda credit for stepping away from Jeturk after it caused him so much trouble.

I find it hilarious that the real Elan is helping Guel rebuild Asticassia after quitting from Peil (which goes defunct after Suletta defeats the League). Yeah, that guy totally redeems himself and it’s definitely not the writers blowing fat clouds. I do however like the implication that Elan doesn’t actually know how to run a business and he leaves everything to Secelia. Even better is that Guel is stuck dealing with both of them. Even at the end of the series, poor Guel can’t catch a break. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Of course, the most notable part of the ending is finding out what happened with our two main characters. Turns out, Miorine has teamed up with Shaddiq’s team to mediate between Earth and the colonies. When she isn’t working, she’s enjoying a peaceful life with Suletta, Prospera, and Eri. To be frank, I really hate that all Prospera gets is a slap on the wrists. I get that she has to be around to satisfy Suletta’s dream of being a family with her mother and sister but I also want to point out that Prospera instigated a genocide earlier in the season. I don’t care if Shaddiq took responsibility for Quiet Zero. Realistically, Prospera should be in prison. As for Eri, I don’t get how her mind is now in a keychain when it used to take a giant robot to contain her but I can give it a pass because it’s funny that she travels with Miorine and all she does is annoy her.

As for Miorine and Suletta, I believe these two got married. I think every fan of this show believes that but crazily enough, Bandai Namco has tried to leave it up to interpretation. There’s an interview for the Gundam Ace magazine where Kana Ichinose, the voice of Suletta and Eri, says Suletta and Miorine are married but the magazine later removed that comment when the interview was published digitally, claiming it was speculation on the editor’s part. Naturally, this prompted a lot of backlash.

Obviously, Bandai Namco tried to play both sides and that’s a can of worms that’d be better opened elsewhere. I will however say this: I don’t know how you could watch Witch from Mercury and not think these girls hooked up. There’s no kissing but there have been plenty of moments where these two get intimidate with each other. Earlier in Season 2, Suletta talks about how she dreams of her wedding with Miorine. And in this very last scene, you can see these two are wearing wedding rings and Eri is explicitly referred to as Miorine’s sister-in-law. Even if you somehow put all that aside, an undeniable part of the story is how much Suletta and Miorine are drawn to each other and how much they complete each other. To conclude that they’re just friends is insane. I certainly prefer to think they’re married because that’s the best outcome for them. Even when this show overdoses on stupid pills, Suletta and Miorine always carried the story for me. Their relationship has always been a joy to watch and they absolutely deserve the happiest ending together. I have issues with the ending but I’m happy with where these two end up.

On that note, I’m done with Witch from Mercury‘s second season and the show as a whole. I think Season 1 is the more consistent package, it’s certainly less stupid, but I would argue that Season 2 offers higher highs than it. A shame that the show fizzled out at the very end because I was enjoying it for the most part and it felt like a good entry point into Gundam. I’d like to see another project in the Ad Stella timeline but all we’re getting is a high school spin-off manga and it does appear that Gundam is already moving on to the next mainline series, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX (and yes, that is actually the title). I don’t know if I’ll cover if it ends up being longer than 24 episodes but I’ll definitely give it a whirl when it premieres. As for previous Gundam series, there’s no way I’m tackling all of them in episode reviews but I am more curious about the franchise now (SEED interests me the most at the moment) so I may review them in some fashion.