Gundam: The Witch from Mercury – Episode 04

Episode Synopsis:

With the Jeturk issue settled, it’s time for Suletta to move on to bigger things like class assignments! When assigned to an exercise where she has to navigate a minefield with with a standard mech, Suletta discovers something she’s sorely lacking; people to help her. The assignment requires one to have a spotter and mechanic to guide the mech pilot. Being the only member of house “Mercury” means that she’s gotta beg help from other houses. This leads her to the Earthian team where she discovers the depths of the prejudice Spacians have for Eartians and vice-versa.

Review:

I have the advantage of being four episodes in now and the show has made some moves to help clear up some of the stuff about it that Scott railed against in Episode 1 (while he chugged a liter and a half of Haterade).

I don’t dislike this show nearly as much as some other members of our quad. The show looks and sounds great. It’s clean and sharp animation combined with some neat mech designs grab me at a base level. As for the initial premise… Having grown up on Kids WB and therefore Yu-Gi-Oh, I can buy into the idea of kids randomly having duels to settle seemingly trivial matters (no wonder your parents are never around!). I wasn’t thrilled about it mind you, but I can just go with it for the sake of helping guide me through the actions of the story.

Thankfully that isn’t the case here and I can see the logic behind the setup. It’s not flawless but:

A.) There’s an official process to dueling, as seen in Episode 3 so you can’t just challenge another student to a duel on the playground after school for random stakes as you please.

B.) The duels work a bit like the Oscars I guess, where the biggest dog in the yard is guaranteed to win due to financial and technological backing. Nobody’s gonna help you fix your mech if you are part of the poorer teams, so you don’t want to mess around with duels for petty squabbles and

C.) The financial fate of your company and family reputation is on the line here so even the rich kids aren’t screwing around with duels all willy-nilly.

I’m glad the show so far this isn’t a mad grab for the title of “Holder”, despite how coveted that label is. I mean seriously though…who the heck WANTS to be engaged to Miorine. Ugh…

I initially had trepidation about a Gundam show set at a school but thinking about it now, school gives you an easy go to microcosm of societal conflict and prejudice. We get to experience the views of the world outside without having a scope that’s too massive for the show to handle.

Episode 4 gives us Suletta’s “motivation” which appears to be that she wants to graduate from Mech School in order to have the credentials (and potentially financial backing?) to start a Mech(?) School of her own on Mercury. I use “motivation” here in quotes because while it may be her motivation, I am of the impression this is a pipe dream. It’s likely nobody would help her establish a school on backwater Mercury even if she’s holding a degree from this school. My money is on Suletta being a puppet of her mom’s, who’s out for revenge on Delling tangentially and that plot is going to unfold over the double cour of this show. Let’s see how it goes. Regardless I am rather curious about Lady Prospera’s angle here.

While I initially found it melodramatic in terms of how common it is for the Spacians to bully or sabotage the Earthians, I sat down for a second and remembered: yes, children that age are in fact that awful to one another.

The school itself exists for the sake of pumping out graduates who perpetuate the Benerit Group so they have no obligation to care who makes it through and who doesn’t. Doubly so for Team Earth, who is everyone’s punching bag apparently. I find the class divide interesting so I’m curious to see how the Spacian’s rank even among each other (Mercury is clearly on the low end of the respect spectrum here).

As a last note, I feel like Suletta’s failure in the mine detection exercise was a welcome moment. She can pilot Aerial like an ace but she’s clearly never used other mechs nor has she done much tactical work. Most importantly, she has never worked with other people. Her desperate attempt to find teammates to complete the exercise did make me feel bad for her. I wish she’d stutter less but Suletta is growing on me a little as the show progresses.

As a random aside, how do the classes in this show work? You can just take a make-up exam infinitely?? I guess the idea is that if you fail out, it was your choice or lack of desire to try anymore that drove it.

Honestly I’m impressed that the show didn’t instantly allow her to become besties with the Earthian team (although it was looking good until ChuChu came in). Hatred runs deep so it’d be too easy to have her be buddies with these guys on a first pass. I’m doubly impressed that it’s Miorine of all people that steps in to help her with the exercise. I guess they do keep her at this school for more than just tomato growing and being a trophy wife for The Holder.

Now I know what you are thinking. Su?! How can those two paragraphs above be your last statements. Are you not gonna talk about ChuChu sucker punching those Spacian wenches?

Fear not friends. I’m even gonna give you a little video clip. This was unexpected and I just laughed. Wow show. You just went for it, huh? ChuChu has been elevated to a high status in my book. If the school allows these Spacian girls to play this dirty and get away with it, I am all for them getting the business end of an Earthian fist.

Summary:

Episode 4 gives us a motivation for Suletta and reminds us why she’s actually here at school. She may be an Aerial Ace but she’s got a lot to learn in terms of understanding teamwork and tactics. Her failure to complete the ground tactics exercise was proof that’s she’s not a prodigy at piloting.

In more shocking news, Miorine can actually do something tactical in this show and ChuChu is a freaking wrecking ball. Who would have guessed?!?! Drama and excitement all around!

---