Art By Roger Dean For The Paladin Album Charge! (1972)

Art by Roger Dean for the Paladin album ‘Charge!’ (1972)

Anyone know what Chapter this is? All I can tell is it isn’t the Absolvers.

Apothecary

by Mikhail Savier

Alrighty then, I finished watching Gundam: The Witch from Mercury’s season finale yesterday, so I’m gonna note down my thoughts here, starting with characters, with another post about the mobile suits.

Spoilers ahead, obviously.

I really enjoyed the progression of Suletta and Miorine’s relationship during the season. It had a lovely slow-burn with moments of extreme heat quality to it (if that makes sense as a metaphor), particularly episode 11. The other members of Earth house are absolutely charming as well, them each having a solid personality to get attached to. I was disappointed we didn’t see a little more of them, but I expect they’ll be much more prominent in the next season. I was pleasantly surprised by Chuatury Panlunch, who’s just wonderful to watch and I enjoyed what little we saw of Nika Nanaura (though considering Chuchu’s getting a new suit next season, we’ll definitely be seeing more of them).

I did love the contrasts between the parents this season, with the outwardly nice Madame Prosepera/Elnora Samaya being contrasted with the aloof and standoffish Delling and Harsh Vim Jeturk, who nonetheless love their children (though I admit I may be reading into the season finale a little much there). I was honestly kinda sad to see Vim go, just because the Jeturk’s have just been so interesting to watch and the loss of one is unfortunate. Though this does mean that Guel’s younger brother Lauda is now head of the company.

Which, if I’m being honest, seems like it’s gonna end really badly.

Talking about the Jeturk’s neatly segues into talking about the rivals - Guel, Shaddiq and Elan. I’ve been absolutely loving Guel’s arc this season, with his actions during the finale being (while horrifying) an absolute standout. I’m very much looking forward to seeing where he goes from here (and I really hope he doesn’t die). Shaddiq’s been interesting, and I find it notable that he’s been basically dominating the scene except when he’s in a mobile suit, where he gets absolutely wrecked. I do hope we get to see more of his entourage in subsequent seasons though, since they’ve only really been stomped by suletta so far. Of note is that so far he appears to be the only character to have a genuinely positive relationship with his father, which is interesting.

Elan is difficult to talk about, principally because there’s three of him (so far). Number four (the first one we see) is only around briefly and while lovely, exists mostly as a sacrificial lamb to establish the darker tone. Number 5 (the manipulative one) hasn’t done all that much yet, so I have little to say about them. The original (the one in the suit) has officially dethroned Delling as the villain I most look forward to getting their comeuppance. We also haven’t seen that much of Peil’s CEO’s yet, though at a guess I’d say they’re the bigger threat here.

Now just some other observations that don’t really fit anywhere else:

While Dawn of Fold is interesting (since we’re finally seeing some more Earthican representation), I care more about the individual characters (Norea Du Noc, Sophie Pulone and Naji Geor Hija) than their actual cause, at least for the moment. Again, very much looking forward to seeing more of them, and their relation with Nika (Though I do fully expect at least two of them to die horribly at some point).

I was very happy to see Kenanji Avery (the antagonist from the prologue) make a return, even though I’m absolutely certain he’s going to die at some point.

I really wanted to like and trust Lady Prospera/Elanora at first, but eventually the manipulation and Char vibes just got too strong.

Speaking of, I do suspect that Suletta’s whole “move forward gain two” mantra might be a blockword or trigger phrase or something, given how utterly Gung Ho she is about killing people during the final parts of the finale. Then again, I suppose she could just be applying what her mother’s taught her without fully thinking about the consequences (really girl, don’t try to be all romantic while you’re covered in blood). I did love the symbolism of her mother leading her onto the bloodstained floor though, that was really great.

Antique by YEONJUN

And now my thoughts on the Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Mobile suits.

I found myself quite liking the Dilanza Sol, it seeming to be shaping up as the Zaku analogue, with multiple variations.

The New Lfrith’s (the Lfrith Thorn and Lfrith Ur) are an utter treat. I particularly love the Thorn’s gremlin stature and beam launcher/shotgun hybrid. I don’t normally go for paired units, but I think I may make an exception here.

ChuChu’s Demi trainer and Guel’s Darilbalde are odd cases, because I think in both terms I like them more on the strength of their pilots than on the individual machines. I’ll probably have stronger opinions once the series has ended.

The Pharact’s just ok. I’m fairly ambivalent towards it, though that’s at least partially because I fully expect we’ll see an upgrade to it. Another unit that’s more on the strength of its pilots than anything.

And finally we come to the elephant in the room.

The Aerial Rebuild. I don’t dislike it per se, I just definitely prefer the standard Aerial to it. I do like the wings, but there’s so many cool weapon systems in G-witch that a beam mega launcher (or whatever equivalent weapon that is) doesn’t excite me as much as it ordinarily would. I do also (usually) like my Gundams to have more colours than just blue and white (I know there’s some very small bits of red and yellow on there, but I find they get lost in all the blue). I do, however, like the head. The fact that we’re getting an upgrade this early in the game does make me think that we might be due for one new upgrade a season though, meaning that we might end up with four Aerials to choose from (plus the original Lfrith), so I’m not concerned.

Finally, we do know that we’re going to be getting at least one new Gundam next season, the Gundam Schwarzette (And some other unit that looks like a mass-production type to me).

Thought: What if the original Elan (in the suit) is also just a clone? And the Peil CEO’s are lying to him so they’ll have a nice willing face for their company?