Monday, April 8, 2024

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Part 3 Episodes 9-12

While things seem to be going well for Suletta and Miorine’s Gund-Arm Company, the Benerit Group’s warring factions begin to grow weary of Delling Renbram’s tyrannical and seek to eliminate him.  Everything comes to a head at Plant Quetta, where Suletta is given the controls of an improved Gundam Aerial.    Plant Quetta is where history will change for the better…and the worse for all present. It is here where she will cross swords with the bloodthirsty “Witches from Earth” and make a split second decision that could destroy her growing romance with Miorine forever.

Holy crap I cant believe what I just watched.  Few moments in Gundam have made me virtually gasp so hard I stopped breathing.  But whoa, I mean WHOA!!!! That just freaking happened.  It’s such a moment that it casts a moon sized shadow over everything else that went down in this mid series set, save maybe for one very tender moment between Suletta and Miorine, if only because of how big of an impact THAT moment had on it afterwards.  Still, overall this is a set of episodes that elevates The Witch from Mercury to the upper echelon ranks of the franchise.  It’s too early to say whether or not it’ll match the greats like 0079, 0080 or 08th MS Team but still, this show has already had my interest, now it’s captured it and isnt letting it go until the end.  Alright, enough being vague, let’s get into what went down and how it blew my mind.
 
While Delling hasn’t quite lived up to his villainous potential (and I’ll have more to say on that later), there’s plenty of other maniacal jerks to fill his shoes.  Inching his way to the top of that list is Shaddiq, who has stepped off the observation bench and taken a more direct role in things.  First, he tries to take Gund-Arm Inc from Miorine and Aerial from Suletta…all because he wants to be Miorine’s main love interest.  Sure he claims its for the betterment of his and Miorine’s family but Shaddiq is so full of it.  We even learn he isnt even a really Grassley scion, he’s an adopted orphan.  Even if that means he has to work twice as hard to earn his daddy’s approval, he’s still acting for his own selfish interests.  Plus he pulls some very Char Aznable level moves by bringing in the Dawn of Fold terrorist group from Earth to wipe out two of his families competitors.  Much like Peil’s Bene Gesserit cabal, Shaddiq has an attitude that screams “Everything is going according to my plan” and every time he smirks, it’s a smirk that’s begging to be punched. So you better believe it was a true “F YEAH” moment when his Mobile Suit got taken out by the combined efforts of Earth House.  I hope this isnt the last time he underestimates whoever he’s trying to take on…cause I’d love to see this little brat continue getting shown up.
 
While the team battle between Earth House and Shaddiq and his harem of pilots was a fun match up, the mid series gave us some more true to form Gundam space battle carnage at Plant Quetta.  In many ways its an echo of the destruction of Vanadis back in the Prologue with armed mercenaries storming the facility and knocking off civilians left and right.  Only this time, the Witches were on their side and man are they scary, well one is anyway. Norea made her presence known quickly as a hyper obsessed fan girl who loves killing with her really big guns, with Sophie as her equally deadly but more reserved counterpart.  They tore up the battlefield and probably could have done a lot worse had they not been recalled.  It’s a bit of a miracle anyone from Earth House made it out alive but mentally theyre all messed up, none more than Nika, who has a lot to answer for since she had a hand in setting this new massacare in motion.  At least we did get to see the new Aerial Rebuild in action and it very much reminds me of the upgrade from GP01 to GP01 Full Vernian in Gundam 0083, only the Aerial was already awesome to begin with and it looks even cooler with its booster upgrades.
 
Before the chaos really broke out, we had some of the biggest developments with Miorine and Suletta.  Now in full on President mode, Miroine’s been consulting with Delling, who seems to be acting more like a proper Dad.  I don’t get why his sudden change in tune towards Miroine.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s welcome but it hardly erases his sins from the past.  Still, having her Dads approval made Miroine more focused on work so much that Suletta thought she was being pushed aside and was no longer useful.  Oh boy when Miroine found out that’s what she was thinking.  We went from a hilarious chase scene to Miorine crying into Suletta because of how much better her Grooms presence has made her life.  Is it still too early for one of them to say “I Love You”?  Eh, I hope Gundam lets that word slip out between these two ladies but I’ll settle for “Stay with me forever, Suletta.”  Oh the love…
 
AND THEN THAT MOMENT HAPPENED!!!!  The scene that broke the internet when it aired back in 2023 and it is still a moment that sucks out all the air in the room.  There have been deaths by Mobile Suit before, really hard to watch stuff, like Uso’s Mom losing her head in Victory Gundam and the poor kid holding said head still in her helmet.  Suletta making red paste out of the body of a mercenary trying to kill Miorine and Delling?  That might top the list there. But that’s not even the hardest hitting part of this moment.  Yes it is ridiculously gory but seeing Suletta smiling like she just stepped on a bug and offering a very, very, very bloody hand to Miorine is downright chilling. All of a sudden, this shy and social anxiety filled girl just became THE most damaged Gundam protagonist in a franchise that’s featured child soldiers and assassins.  No doubt it’s Prospera giving Suletta the ok to do whatever it takes to save Miorine that would make Suletta think that this is perfectly ok. That look of horror on Miorine’s face is warranted.  The girl she loves just did something unspeakable with a perfect smile…that’s definite cause for concern to say the least.
 
Ooooooof I am shaking after what I just watched.  In the span of a few episodes, this series went from good to great.  And in one eye popping moment, it went from great to must continue. The midway point of The Witch from Mercury delivers on every front its been building up to since Episode 1 from everyone ganging up on Delling to everyone turning on each other to more Witches and Gundams popping up to the other shoe dropping on Suletta and Miorine’s romance just as it was getting nice and stable.  How the heck is the Second Season gonna top any of this?  Well you wont have to wait long cause Season 2 of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury kicks off This Friday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.

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