Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Episode Fourteen: What They Wish For
Written by: Yasuhiro Nakanishi
Directed by: Shinnosuke Itō, Kohei Kuratomi and Kōsuke Shimotori
Storyboarded by: Hiroshi Kobayashi, Shinya Watada and Kanta Suzuki
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Episode Fourteen: What They Wish For (彼女たちのネガイ; Kanojo-tachi no Negai)
Miorine rejects Prospera's request for her to take over Quiet Zero from her father, but Prospera keeps her attention by telling her the project was originally started by her mother, Notrette. Prospera reveals that data storms, which serve as the "Gundam's Curse", also have the effect of creating hyper-dense information networks beyond anything mankind has previously made; this phenomenon is how Aerial is able to override enemy mobile suits in combat. Miorine deduces that Quiet Zero is intended to use this technology to take over any network using a Permet Link, which would allow her father to become a veritable God. Prospera agrees it's arrogant, but claims she sympathized with his goals of a world free of conflict or loss, agreeing to help him, sending Suletta and Aerial to Asticassia to develop Aerial as the trigger for Quiet Zero. Miorine tries to call Prospera out for using Suletta, but this is brushed off as fulfilling Suletta's dream of attending a school. Prospera expresses her concern that with Delling incapacitated, the project cannot proceed, and could even be shut down if the Benerit Group learned of it.
Back at Asticassia, Earth House worries about Nika, who claimed her injuries from being attacked by Sophie and Norea were the result of an accident while working on the Pharact. Speaking privately with Suletta, Nika tells her some of her circumstances prior to coming to the school, having sympathized with Suletta's similar feelings when they first met. Going their separate ways, Suletta encounters Elan, who again tries to seduce her before being interrupted by Sophie dragging Suletta off. Norea returns Elan's student handbook, with the two taking shots at one another's tenuous lives as Gundam pilots.
Sophie tells Suletta that if she wins their duel, she wants Suletta to become her real big sister and family, which Suletta is apprehensive about due to her impending marriage to Miorine and promise not to lose. Hearing her name, Sophie wonders if Miorine is keeping Suletta "confined", and if killing her would let her see Suletta as she did at Plant Quetta. Before Suletta can ask her what she means, they're interrupted by the commencement of the Rumble Ring event. With Secelia acting as overseer, and Sarius attending in place of Delling, students from every House prepare to enter the battle royale.
Immediately after the event begins, the majority of students call a truce and gang up on Suletta, with Elan and Chuchu providing her support; Chuchu falters in battle, still haunted by the incident at Plant Quetta. Lauda attempts to isolate Suletta for a 1-on-1 to avenge his brother, when Sophie and Norea storm the battlefield in their Gundams, Sophie's Lfrith Ur disabling and badly injuring Lauda. As those who recognize the Lfriths question how the terrorists are there, Nika attempts to turn herself and them in, only to be cornered by Henao, preventing her from taking action counter to Shaddiq's plans.
The Lfriths' unrestricted weapons send the students and guests of Asticassia into a panic, with Sophie destroying the test arena while Norea kills a student pilot. Acting on Shaddiq's orders, the two deploy unmanned mobile suit drones, Gundvolvas, controlled by their GUND-Format, to suppress the other pilots, while those of Grassley House pretend to be under attack, moving to protect Sarius. Forcing Suletta and Aerial outside the Front, Sophie rants about all the things she wants having lived a life as a destitute orphan; Suletta begins to point out that her need for love is no excuse for all her killing, only to remember her own murder in defense of Miorine.
After almost being driven to act on a desire to kill in recompense for the attack, Chuchu instead overcomes her fears to protect Lauda and Felsi from a Gunvolva. Meanwhile Elan fights off Norea, who attempts to goad him into raising his Permet Score to match her, which he refuses to do, not wishing to die in vain. As Norea retreats to collect Sophie, who has gone out of range of communications, Elan spots Sarius being kidnapped by the Grassley girls on Shaddiq's orders, the true goal of the attack.
Outside the Front, Sophie grows increasingly manic as she attacks Suletta, who struggles to reconcile her personal beliefs and desires with the truths Sophie points out about Aerial. As Sophie again rants about her desires and what she'll do when she defeats Suletta, Aerial activates her data storm ability, disabling the Lfrith Ur and taking control of its Gundvolvas. As she strains to remain in control of Ur's GUND, Sophie realizes the truth, which Prospera reveals to Belmeria: Aerial's true nature is a machine containing Ericht Samaya's consciousness, which controls the GUND-Bits and keeps Suletta safe from the side-effects of the data storm.
Sophie dies from the strain of fighting against Aerial's control of her GUND, while Belmeria is sickened by the truth, Prospera attempting to reassure her that Ericht has gained a new body, the future that GUND strove for, and is waiting for them "beyond the data storm." Telling her about Quiet Zero, Belmeria realizes that Aerial's Permet network far exceeds what Delling would need for his plan, leading her to question Prospera's true intentions. Prospera claims she wants to rewrite the world so Ericht can be happy.
Making her way to Lfrith Ur's cockpit, Suletta discovers Sophie's dead body before Norea reaches them; she attempts to assuage Suletta's guilt by pointing out Sophie died to the Gundam's Curse before Suletta could kill her, a fate she'll be sure to share in someday. Seeing Suletta unharmed though, she questions just what she is. Earth House watches Front Security move to arrest Norea, when agents storm their ship, announcing that Nika is to be arrested as well, having been reported by Martin; they are then ordered to come with them due to Nika's affiliation and involvement with the House.
Trying to reconcile everything she just went through, Suletta is reassured by Aerial that she protected Nika, Miorine and the school, repeating her mother's mantra, "Move forward, gain two."
What They Wish For provides examples of:
- Above the Gods: Miorine describes Delling's Quiet Zero project as something that would effectively give him godlike power if completed. So when Bel discovers Lady Prospera's version of the project far exceeds Delling's operational parameters, it raises questions of just how lofty her plans are.
- Accomplice by Inaction: Elan 5 is quick to notice Shaddiq’s Amazon Brigade kidnapping Sarius, but he decides to do nothing about it because it was an internal development.
- Adults Are Useless: Sarius acknowledges the incompetence of Asticassia's facility by questioning why they haven't ordered evacuations during Sophie and Norea's attack endangering the lives of both students and civilians alike. It's implied to be because Shaddiq did something beforehand to ensure Sarius, and presumably the students and civilians also in the area, wouldn't be able to escape.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Sophie dies with tears in her eyes from seeing Ericht Samaya, after giving a Motive Rant about how she fights for things that a girl her age should have but being orphaned robbed her of. Suletta tries to save her, but is too late, and Norea somberly retrieves her corpse.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Suletta proclaims her beliefs that Gundam are meant to bring peace and not for war, Sophie questions Suletta on why her Gundam possesses so many weapons for a machine that should help people. Suletta is left struggling to form an answer.
- Didn't See That Coming: Rather understandably no one watching or participating in the Rumble Ring were expecting the arrival of the same two Gundams that attacked Plant Quetta to brazenly appear and attack the school on mass. Secelia can barely even comprehend what's happening, not used to seeing actual combat between Mobile Suits before.
- Doublethink: Suletta insistently repeats her mother's claim that Aerial isn't a weapon, but Sophie points out the numerous weapons her mobile suit possesses. This forces Suletta to rethink what Aerial is and what her mother built the Gundam for.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: While Nika is recounting her backstory, the Asticassia brochure she's reading can be paused on and read in full.
- Hypocrisy Nod: Suletta tries to say it's wrong for Sophie to kill for the sake of her desires, only to recall that's exactly what she did when Miorine was in danger. The realization hits her hard, struggling with it throughout their fight; by the end, she tries to reassure herself with her "Move forward, gain two" mantra, even as she begins to tear up.
- Ignored Epiphany: Sophie's rant makes Suletta notice her mother's lessons contradicting each other, specifically insisting Aerial isn't a weapon even after Prospera had Suletta kill someone with her. Suletta repeats her usual mantra, though her tears suggest she's less convinced than usual.
- I'll Kill You!: After nearly getting blasted to death for the second time by terrorists, Chuchu finally decides to shoot to kill while declaring to herself that she'll kill them all. However, as she draws a bead on Norea, she's startled out of her fury by Felsi begging for help, and instead chooses to turn around and protect her and Lauda from the Gunvolvas.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The staff, students, and civilians present at Asticassia are left panicking and trying to run when Sophia and Norea initiate an actual terrorist attack on school grounds.
- Mecha-Mooks: Sophie and Norea use their GUND-Formats to remote-control mass-produced unmanned Mobile Suits called Gundvolvas, which are used as part of the attack.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Sophie taunts Suletta repeatedly by declaring that she'll kill Miorine in order for Suletta to be her "Big Sis" instead. She soon learns that neither Suletta nor Aerial likes that.
- Mythology Gag:
- Through probably because of the battle royale-esque rules of the event, but Elan#5 sortieing in the Rumble Ring in the Gundam Pharact with a pair of handguns instead of its sniper rifle is reminiscent of Lyle piloting the Cherudim with its handguns and all and succeeding Neil as the new "Lockon Stratos" in Mobile Suit Gundam 00.
- The way the Pharact's pair of handguns can be connected together to form a longer rifle is akin to how the Strike Freedom's pair of beam rifles combine into a longer rifle.
- The remote-controlled Gundvolvas are essentially Ad Stella's version of G-Bits from After War Gundam X, being unmanned Mobile Suits used by a pilot controlling them from their own Mobile Suit.
- Not a Game: The Rumble Ring is interrupted by the sudden arrival of the Dawn of Fold terrorist cell who prove that they aren't just playing around by firing high velocity rounds into the arena and then murdering the other students.
- Pet the Dog: Oddly enough, Norea tells Suletta that she didn’t kill Sophie, and she doesn’t attack Suletta while she is outside her mobile suit.
- Relative Button:
- Miorine quickly gets angry when Prospera admits that she’s been using Suletta as a means to an end.
- Do not threaten Miorine's life. Suletta noticeably gets angry when Sophie taunts her, and Aerial answers by straight up activating her Permet Score all the way to 6, taking over every other MS in the area and effectively causing Sophie to die from overexertion.
- In turn, threatening Suletta's life appears to be one for Aerial, as when Sophie charges in for her final attack, Aerial takes action against Suletta's will and prepares to blow her away with her bits.
- The Reveal: Suletta Mercury and Ericht Samaya are not the same person, because Ericht Samaya and Gundam Aerial are. It's not yet clear how either of these feats was accomplished, however, but it explains why Suletta is never affected by data storms: another person, A(Eri)al herself, is processing them for her.
- Ship Tease: Petra acts unusually bashful when wishing good luck to Lauda before the Rumble Ring, implying she has a crush on him. Felsi notices it and is pretty confused.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Though Martin reports Nika's terrorist actions, Front Security also arrests the rest of Earth House, minus Suletta, under suspicion of being accomplices to the terrorists. As Front Security ultimately has no idea where the allegiance of the rest of the House lies, they have every right to be suspicious of them after what just happened.
- Because the Plant incident was quietly swept under the rug, the Earth house didn't receive any psychological care and stress debriefing. Chuchu in particular was one of greatly affected as she was also a pilot. This affects her performance in the Rumble Ring.
- Taking the Bullet: Felsi uses her Dilanza to shield Lauda's unconscious body from the Gundvolva's barrage. It's damaged in the process, however, so she can't carry him to safety
- Villain Has a Point: After Suletta try to say Gundams like Aerial are made to help people, Sophie answers by asking why it has so many weapons then. This actually cause Suletta to momentarily question why Prospera built Aerial to be so deadly.
- Villainous Breakdown: Sophie goes completely berserk in her attempts to fight Suletta and Aerial, despite suffering from the horrific side effects of the GUND-format.
- Wham Episode: Hoo boy. This episode marks the story taking a very dark turn on a few counts.
- Lady Prospera reveals that Gundam Aerial is Ericht Samaya. Norea throws a big question mark over who or what Suletta really is, being able to pilot Aerial with no side effects despite its ability to overwhelm networks through data storms.
- Nika's identity as an agent from the Dawn of Fold gets reported by Martin, leading to her arrest by the Front, but also getting the entire Earth House taken into custody under suspicion.
- Sophie dies as a result of overexerting her Permet score limits, Aerial's data storms overriding her control, or a combination of both during her fight with Suletta.
- Wham Shot: The sight of Sophie's Lfrith Ur - a Gundam last seen participating in the terrorist attack on Plant Quetta - lunging out of a smoke cloud to slam into Lauda's Dilanza during the Rumble Ring, which heralds the Earth Witches' assault on Asticassia.
- What the Hell Are You?: Norea asks this of Suletta at the end of the episode, after finding her completely unharmed by a data storm intense enough to kill Sophie.
