#miorine and guel simultaneously: i want you | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

broodcoffee · 1 year

Text

Going into the final two episodes of Witch from Mercury, I have some questions and observations

1. If the GUND technology was necessary for survival in space, then how did the Spacians survive without it in the 21 years since the Vanadis incident? It seems like the Spacians we saw are in more or less good health.

2. The plight of the Earthians has been reduced to a setpiece in the political drama of the Benerit Group/Space Assembly League.

3. Related to 2, the Dawn of Fold basically disappeared after Guel's episode on Earth. Also, the lack of context on Sophie and Norea made it difficult to care about them more.

4. Speaking of Guel, I think the writing did him dirty as his development after his experience on Earth was mostly walked back on. I expected he would care more about the Earthians or the terrible effect of war especially after he tried to save Seethia but nope. This just reinforced my observation that the Earthians' plight is nothing more than a setpiece in this show.

5. Shaddiq has been shown to be someone who planned things meticulously and can adapt on the fly but he suddenly made this all-or-nothing gamble when he attacked Guel in space resulting in him losing everything. Take note this was the same guy who thought of making out the Jeturk company as the fall guy for the attack at Plant Quetta to simultaneously remove them from the political game and deflect suspicion. It was as if the writers just wanted to clear the chessboard.

6. Elan Prime. Will he ever do something or be someone significant in this show? Speaking of Elans, thank goodness they remembered Elan 4 if only to give closure to Suletta. Also goodbye Pharact, everyone forgot about you.

7. Miorine's stagnant role for 3 episodes like the writers did not know what to do with her until she and Suletta have reconciled. I get she was traumatized by what happened but it would have been helpful to get a glimpse of her reaction to, say, the second attack at Asticassia.

8. The episodes after episode 17 have been weirdly paced. It was very rushed (like the results of the election and Quiet Zero already up and running) and at the same time the characters, like Guel and Miorine seemed to stagnate or rather, they were waiting for the set events, like Suletta's return, to happen before they can act.

It was also a waste to have Nika locked up for most of cour 2. At least Elan 5 and Norea got to know each other better but Nika was just a static spectator. Yes, her asking did lead to Elan 5 revealing Peil Technologies' best kept secret but other than that, it seemed like she was locked in there because the writers did not know what else to do with her until it was time for Earth House to reconcile. All in all, it did feel like there were these set events that the show had to go through and sometimes, when those events aren't happening yet, the writers seemed not to know what to do with certain characters hence the weird narrative choices like locking them up or having them so inert--like they were just waiting for the beats.

9. Miorine and Suletta--they sorely needed the little moments to build up their relationship. They had a lot of big moments, yes, but they also needed little moments as well. There's the Japan tour, audio drama, and light novel but the TV series needed these moments as well.

10. I still have a question about Delling's significance to the plot, like why was he still kept alive to be in a coma for most of cour 2 but I guess we'll find out soon enough. Also, hopefully Nortrette is still going to be more significant than her message in the tomato; after all, QZ was her idea. If not resolved properly, then Delling's comatose state would seem like another case of point 8, i.e., the writers not knowing what to do with him until the plot needs him.

I'm not sure if most of these can be addressed in the last two episodes of this cour. Maybe it would help if there was another cour but I'm not too sure if we're getting it since the show has been in a rush to tie up many--but not all (and I'm not too sure if they intended it that way or if they just overshot themselves)--of the loose ends. I read somewhere someone saying that characters are just tools to move the narrative along and while I would contest that characters can be more than tools and that they themselves can be the focus and the main driver of the story, in WFM cour 2--especially the 2nd half--the characters did feel like they were just tools.

Anyway, let's see. I'll be watching the final two episodes together two weeks from now. Hopefully, Witch from Mercury sticks its landing. 🤞

#Gundam witch from mercury #G witch #Witch from mercury #The witch from mercury #Suletta mercury #Miorine Rembran #Sulemio #Guel Jeturk #Shaddiq Zenelli #Nika Nanaura #Elan Ceres #Sophie Pauline #Norea du noc

27 notes · View notes

reversemoon255 · 11 months

Text

5th Review - Gundam the Witch from Mercury

I’ve probably said this before in a Gunpla review, but I was really looking forward to G-Witch. I’m always a fan of when a series shakes up the usual cast tropes, even if it’s just costume colors, so Gundam doing their first show with a female lead was very exciting. And judging by a lot of the reactions I’ve seen, many Gundam fans and many new viewers from outside the fandom enjoyed the shift as well. Now, as someone very familiar with the Gundam meta-series, it’s not my favorite. I’d say it’s probably fourth? Which is still high on the list, but it does lack a few things I usually look for. However, characters and story are areas where it excels, so let’s get into my thoughts on them.

The Good: Despite some of the overall complexities of the plot, mostly involving the business and political side of things, it was fairly easy to follow. The story usually followed either Suletta, Miorine, or Guel, with many other smaller side-plots and check-ins with other characters throughout. It was also constantly shifting, never sticking to a status quo for too long, while simultaneously juggling a great deal of foreshadowing and character moments. Considering quite a few Gundam series have very rushed endings, and G-Reco’s pacing specifically has issues, the fact that G-Witch’s writing is so tight and well-balanced is a testament to how much care was put into it. It also doesn’t feel like “Everyone lived because they were popular and we rewrote it;” it felt like this was the plan from the start and they didn’t alter things due to fan reactions.

Moving onto our main characters, Suletta actually felt like our main character. I say that because several previous pilots (like Mika and Setsuna) have played second fiddle to more extroverted co-stars, such as Miorine, and having her hold her own in the spotlight is a good show of Gundam evolving as a meta-franchise. As a character, Suletta starts out very timid and slowly becomes more confident. As one of the main themes of the show is the relationship between parent and child, Suletta’s is simultaneously the best and the worst, as her mother is the only one who actively tries to help and praise her, but is also by far the most manipulative.

Speaking of her co-star, while Suletta handles the piloting for this series, Miorine takes the brunt of the more complex stories. She balances her time, importance, and relationship with Suletta better than some of the aforementioned teams I’ve mentioned, possibly due to the two of them being in a relationship themselves. She’s stern, stoic, and generally unfriendly at the start, but grows to be more open during the show’s run. On the note of parents, her father probably cares about her the most of the MC parents, doing everything he can to protect her from behind the scenes, but comparatively is very bad at showing any affection without a bullet in him. Also, it’s amusing how, as the more she tries to protect Suletta from her mother, the more she acts like her.

Guel is arguably the third main character this series, having a significant amount of screen time, and having dynamics with both Suletta and Miorine, not just one of them like some other characters. He starts episode 1 very coarse and aggressive, but we learn extremely quickly that his actions are more him trying to please his father above his own wants. The speed at which you go from disliking to liking Guel (something the show is surprisingly good at both ways) is very quick; by the end of episode 3 you already know he’s a good guy. Speaking of his father, he’s one of the (shockingly) very few character deaths we get this season. His impact on Guel is less that of his character and more of Guel trying to live up to his legacy and expectations. He was also outwardly the worst of the parents, but shows he does genuinely care about his kids in his final moments, caring more that he found his son than anything else.

Next are the Elans, who probably fit the mold the least of any of the characters, there being 3 of them aside. Unlike the rest of our main characters, none of the Elans really have any family. Elan 4 barely remembers his, Elan 5 had Dr. Winston but their relationship is much more generic than that of parent and child, and Elan Prime has the Peil co-CEOs but again their relationship is too generic or underdeveloped to classify it as parental. The only significant relationship formed by any of the Elans (apart from Suletta) is Elan 5 and Norea’s brief spat. But perhaps not having a family is exactly where he slots into the theme. Anyway, Elan 4 and Elan 5, though very different, both follow a similar developmental path (though one clearly took longer than the other). They both start off entirely devoted to their job/survival, and after meeting a girl they find similar to themselves, open up and start considering things greater than themselves. Granted, Elan 5 never loses his snark, but you can tell he’s well meaning.

And the last main character is Shaddiq. He plays the villain for most of the series, but a very charismatic one. As the villain, he doesn’t really change all that much compared to the other characters, being the most straight-forward and goal-oriented of everyone. He also flips the parent-child relationship on its head, being the only child to actively manipulate their parent and other characters like the other MC parents do. His character almost stands as a mirror to everyone else's.

As for any other random positive anecdotes I have about the series:

I’m not really talking about side characters (it would take way too long), but I really like Chu-Chu. She’s great and I like how she simultaneously does and does not grow.

My favorite moment is when Guel does the very anime tropey Sword-VS-Hug, and his kouhai shows up with a fire extinguisher and tells him he’s not cool.

I’m always a fan of a happy ending.

The Bad: I’m very much a Gundam mechanics person. It’s why I love series like 00, Build, and other things like Knights & Magic. And for a series all about Gundams, the Gundams are kinda boring. I was initially very excited about Aerial, with it having its offensive Bit Mode, its defensive Shield Mode, and its performance based Bit-On Form. I was really hoping Aerial’s evolution would be similar to something like G-Self or Core Gundam Rize, where it would get different Bit configurations that result in different big accessories and Bio-On Forms. Instead we got Rebuild, who was all, like, “let’s put all the bits on a big gun!” It’s weirdly more uninteresting than regular Aerial, especially since the gun was rarely used, and the Bit-On form was super underplayed. The other MS aren’t much better, just recycling ideas from UC, X, and Turn-A, and giving them a mix of 00 and G-Reco’s aesthetics. I will give credit to Swarzette for being a more interesting Rebuild, changing the shield to a sword and having multiple Bit-On configurations, but it was barely in the show. Same with the Demi Barding, having a lot of cool elements, but having almost no screen time. This was very much a character story, and the machines suffered for it.

Also, Prologue should have been the first episode. While it was cute to release it early as a teaser for the series, there are several moments, including a huge chunk of the ending, that hinge upon you having seen Prologue. It also serves to further explain Prospera’s motivations (who is, BTW, my least favorite character and the sole reason I paused watching the series until it was finished), as well as set up several other characters and plot elements that come to fruition near the back quarter of the show.

I thought about it for a few hours; this may be the best written season of Gundam, yet why don’t I like it more? And the conclusion I came to is: it’s super depressing. I was very much reminded of Citrus (a series I hate yet have simultaneously read all of), where it always ends on a negative cliffhanger to draw you into the next episode/chapter. The balance of positive to negative moments and interactions in the show is heavily skewed, and if you’ve read any of my other series reviews, you’ll know I really appreciate positivity in shows and characters.

Overall, I stand by that G-Witch is the best written Gundam series to date, but its overall depressing tone and lack of interesting mechanics keeps it from dethroning my top picks. However, I would still put it in my top 5, and am very glad Gundam chose to go outside its comfort zone to give us this very different season.

#Gundam #Gundam Witch from Mercury #Gundam Witch Spoliers #Review #Witch from Mercury

10 notes · View notes