Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Episode Twenty: The End of Hope
Written by: Yasuhiro Nakanishi
Directed by: Shinnosuke Itō, Akihiro Saitō, Motoki Nakanishi, Kohei Kuratomi and Wakako Kume
Storyboarded by: Tomoki Kyoda, Iwao Teraoka and Hiroshi Kobayashi
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Episode Twenty: The End of Hope (望みの果て; Nozomi no Hate)
In the wake of the attack on Quinharbor, Norea's mental state continues to decline. While Guel rushes to apprehend Shaddiq, Kenanji cautions him that they need to prioritize securing Sarius to provide evidence that Shaddiq is the ringleader of Dawn of Fold's attacks. Outside Asticassia, Shaddiq and his team prepare to have Sarius relocated, deploying in their mobile suits.
Inside the school, Secelia and Rouji interrogate Martin about Aerial's use in the attack, while the rest of Earth House deal with a barrage of complaints against their company for apparently being involved. Suletta has returned to classes, but is unable to concentrate, similarly receiving messages about her and Miorine's culpability. After class, Petra approaches her, sharing her notes with her after thanking her for her role in saving Lauda during the Rumble Ring.
Rendezvousing with Lauda in space, Guel receives the Darilbalde from him, before they are intercepted by Shaddiq's squad. While Kenanji attempts to parlay, Guel rushes in to engage Shaddiq, who reveals he's had the limiters on his team's weapons removed. While Guel fights Shaddiq, Kenanji and a team from Cathedra deploy and engage the rest of the Grassley squad. Rather than fight, Henao is tasked with transferring Sarius, Shaddiq also ordering her to release the imprisoned Nika, Norea and Elan #5, intending to make use of Norea in particular.
Upon being freed, Norea immediately boards her Lfrith Thorn despite Elan #5's attempts to stop her, activating the remaining Gundvolvas with it. Breaking into the school grounds, the Gundams go on a rampage, destroying the Earth House dorm and much of the school buildings before engaging in combat with Kenanji. Caught up in the attack, Petra urges Suletta to flee with her, picking up two unconscious students on their way, before a nearby blast causes the building to collapse on top of them. Guel interrogates Shaddiq mid-combat, who candidly tells him all about the plot he hatched with Vim and the consequences thereafter, revealing he knows Guel killed his father, which Lauda overhears.
Front Security arrives to reinforce Kenanji, fighting the Gundvolvas across Asticassia, Felsi also launching in her Dilanza to join in the defense. In an underground shelter, Martin rejoins the rest of Earth House, along with Secelia and Rouji, who offer their company's new prototype mobile suit, the Demi Barding, so Chuchu can also assist in repelling the attackers. However, only Nika is fully accustomed to tuning Chuchu's machines, serendipitously arriving to do just that. Despite their apprehension, Martin and Chuchu set aside their issues with Nika until they can talk things out later. Deploying in the Demi Barding, Chuchu joins Felsi, helping her against the Gundvolvas.
As their fight rages on, Shaddiq blames Guel for Vim's death, delaying his plot to dissolve the Benerit Group, and allowing Miorine's hands to be dirtied. Despite Guel pointing out his collusion with terrorists, Shaddiq counters that he is the result of the Benerit Group's exploitation, and proclaims his resolve to take their power for himself and end their unjust peace. Despite Shaddiq being reinforced by Sabina and succeeding in destroying the Darilbalde, Guel is able to use his beam saber drones to swiftly disable both of their mobile suits before ejecting. Front Security troops appear, saving Guel and apprehending Shaddiq and his team. Acknowledging the truth of Shaddiq's words, Guel nonetheless states his intent to see him pay for his crimes. Shaddiq reveals that, win or lose, he intended for the attack on the school to push the Space Assembly League to take action against the Benerit Group.
Back inside, Norea continues to battle with Kenanji, gaining the advantage before being interrupted by Elan #5, who sortied in Sophie's Lfrith Ur. He appears successful in talking Norea down, saying he'll remain at her side, and asking her to show him the places she'd drawn in her sketchbook, when her cockpit is sniped by a Dominicus unit. Crying out in despair, Elan #5 takes control of the Gundvolvas, using them to attack Norea's killers while he flees. Waking up in the wreckage of the school, Suletta is horrified to discover Petra buried under the rubble.
In the aftermath of the attack, Shaddiq and his team are arrested, while Sarius gives his testimony to Front Security, who also collect the abandoned Lfrith Ur. Students in Asticassia grieve for friends killed in the attack amidst ongoing rescue work. Looking out over the nightmare, Earth House find Suletta working herself ragged trying to dig through a collapsed building by herself, resolving to help her and save whomever they can.
Rolua's (end card illustrator)’s official Twitter
The End of Hope provides examples of:
- An Arm and a Leg: A lot of mobile suit limbs get torn, cut, and blasted off. Shaddiq's Michaelis uses its claws to rip off the right arm of Guel's Darilbalde, who returns the favor by using its attack drones to slash off both arms of Sabina's Heindree, preventing her from assisting Shaddiq, before following up by severing all of the Michaelis' limbs, incapacitating Shaddiq's mobile suit and rendering it unable to continue fighting.
- At Least I Admit It: Shaddiq admits he's done terrible things to seize power, but thinks that's better than the Spacians like Guel who live off war-profiting and blind themselves to the consequences. After his experience on Earth, Guel doesn't deny this, but he decides he can't simply let Shaddiq go unpunished regardless.
- Big Damn Heroes: Felsi is pinned down by the Gundvolvas and it seems bad... only for Chuchu to head snipe one of them and leap over the rubble to join her with the Demi Barding.
- Bittersweet Ending: Leaning more towards the bitter; Guel, the Dominicus Corps, Asticassia's Front Security and a couple of other students manage to fend off the terror attack, defeating and arresting Shaddiq and his team, and Nika manages to reunite with her Earth House friends. However, by the time the threat is neutralized, a lot of people at the school are left dead or injured, the school is in ruins with Earth House's dorm also getting destroyed amidst the chaos, Norea is killed right as she begins to calm down and Elan #5 has run away. But there is a Ray of Hope with Suletta and Earth House resolving to join the rescue efforts.
- The Call Knows Where You Live: Prospera, Aerial and Miorine all ensured that by cutting their ties with her, Suletta would be forced to live a normal life free from impending war by returning to Asticassia School of Technology. However, unforeseen by any of them, Shaddiq would release Norea and set her loose on the school, placing Suletta at ground zero for the Earthian Witch's second terror attack.
- Cranial Processing Unit: Subverted. Chuchu makes her entrance by blowing a Gundvolva's head off, bringing it crashing down, but it's later seen continuing to attack despite its missing head.
- Crippling Overspecialization: The Michaelis is formidable against GUND Format units due to its Antidote, but this dedicated focus makes it useless against the Darilbalde's AI-controlled drone bits. This oversight ultimately proves key to Shaddiq's defeat in his fight with Guel.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The aftermath of Grassley House vs Cathedra's soldiers show the students where overwhelmed and surrounded to the point where they don't put up any resistance and surrender.
- Darkest Hour: In tandem with the previous episode it forms the show's lowest point for several characters, culminating in the destruction of the school and a lot of people dead.
- Deus Exit Machina: Aerial was previously able to deal with the Lfrith Ur handily, so of course she's far away on Earth for Norea's second attack, leaving the Lfrith Thorn free to wreck havoc unimpeded.
- Dramatic Irony:
- In the previous episodes, Miorine and Eri/Aerial deliberately tried to keep Suletta at the school and away from their current operations to keep her safe. Unfortunately for them, this turns out to have been the worst place for her to be, as it puts her at ground zero for another terror attack by Norea. Luck is the only thing that saves her when she's caught in a collapsing building. Worse, the attack on the school is the result of the events in Quinharbor and Guel confronting Shaddiq, making Eri, Prospera, Miorine and Guel all indirectly responsible for Suletta's life being in danger in the first place.
- When Elan #5 tries to convince Norea not to get in her Gundam, she says a Spacian like him can never understand the suffering they've put Earthians through. In fact, Elan #5 is an Earthian who grew up just as poor as her, he's just impersonating a rich Spacian. He wisely doesn't bring this up when he talks to her again.
- The Faceless: In the final scene, Suletta's face is always turned away from the camera, though her tone of voice makes it clear that she's dissociating hard and she reaches up to dry her tears occasionally.
- Falling into the Cockpit: Chuchu fights using a Demi Barding she'd never piloted before it was loaned in the middle of the attack. Thanks to Nika's adjustments, and it being a successor to Chuchu's regular suit, this isn't a problem.
- False Flag Operation: Shaddiq sets Norea loose inside Asticassia, intending for her rampage to be the impetus that gets the Space Assembly League to finally take action and set their plans against the Benerit Group into motion.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Played for laughs with Rouji "interrogating" Martin with his Haro by having its eyes glow in the latter's face.
- Godzilla Threshold: With the situation so dire, Secelia and Rouji end up offering the Demi Barding to Earth House for Chuchu to pilot to try and help stop Norea's rampage.
- Hold the Line: Shaddiq is out for blood while fighting Guel, but the main purpose of the battle overall was delaying his party from finding Sarius until he can be shipped off to the Space Assembly League.
- If We Get Through This…: Petra tells Suletta that, after he skipped out on a date they'd made, Lauda owes her lunch and dinner, wherever she wants, and she absolutely will not rest in peace until she gets those dates. She's then immediately buried under rubble from a stray beam blast.
- Internal Reveal: Listening in on Guel and Shaddiq's fight, Lauda learns from the latter that Guel killed their father.
- Interrupted Cooldown Hug: Elan #5, in Lfrith Ur, manages to calm Norea down by telling her that he'll help her find a new reason to live. However, the Dominicus units use this apparent "freeze up" to snipe her cockpit, killing her instantly and sending #5 into a rage, further escalating the situation.
- Just You and Me and My GUARDS!: Shaddiq and Guel mostly fight one-on-one, but that's just because their backup are busy fighting each other. As soon as Sabina has a spare moment, she tries to intervene, though Guel incapacitates her with his drones.
- Karmic Death: Norea is killed in very much the same way she killed an Asticassia student mercilessly back in Episode 14, via getting sniped in the cockpit by a beam rifle.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: All the Grassley pilots realize they're outgunned by Front Security shortly after Shaddiq is defeated, so they surrender and are all taken in alive.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Chuchu's customized Demi Trainer is destroyed early in Norea's rampage, so Secelia lets her borrow her company's Demi Barding, the latest prototype suit in the same line. Thanks to Nika's return, it's tuned to Chuchu's liking so she can immediately pilot it just as well as her previous suit.
- Mutual Kill: Shaddiq manages to blast Guel's Darilbalde in half at the waist, but misses the cockpit. This allows Guel to stay at the controls just long enough to direct his drones to cut off all of the Michaelis' limbs in one fell swoop, wrecking Shaddiq's machine as well. Fortunately, Guel is also able to jump out from his mobile suit just before it can explode, allowing him to be the victor as Shaddiq himself is arrested.
- Mythology Gag:
- Norea is going on a wild rampage in her Gundam when Elan #5 arrives in another Gundam to calm her down... only for Norea to get killed halfway through by another mobile suit, much like Four Murasame getting killed by Jerid while Kamille tries to reason with her, or Shinn Asuka attempting to calm down Stella until she panics again, forcing Kira to finish her.
- Elan #5 can only watch helplessly as Norea gets killed in one shot, breaking down as he witnesses the tragedy. Lyle Dylandy also did likewise as he witnesses Anew getting sniped through the cockpit in Mobile Suit Gundam 00.
- Petra gets caught by falling rubble amidst a mobile suit attack with Lauda learning about it in horror, which is similar to Louise Halevy getting crushed by rubble and Saji learning of it later.
- Not Enough to Bury: The beam rifle blast through Norea's cockpit left a gaping hole with no sign of a body, implying she was wholly disintegrated.
- Put Them All Out of My Misery: The devastation at Quinharbor proves the last straw for Norea's deteriorating psyche, and the moment Shaddiq releases her, she beelines for the Lfrith Thorn in order to inflict the same suffering she feels upon all of Asticassia.
- Shout-Out: Norea's rampage in Asticassia is similar to the Sakimori High School massacre in Valvrave the Liberator. Thus, another Company Cross References to Sunrise and Ichiro Okouchi's works.
- Sniping the Cockpit:
- During their fight, Shaddiq frequently attempts to go right for the cockpit of the Darilbalde which makes it clear to Guel that the Michaelis is not using the standard school configuration.
- Norea ends up killed by a sniper which shot her cockpit.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- For all of Shaddiq and his team's skill, they're still students and have little experience in real combat. The rest of the team is easily handled by Cathedra's soldiers, while Shaddiq and Sabina end up being defeated by Guel alone, who, while still a student, was still the second best pilot at the academy and has more experience in an actual battle.
- Shaddiq is a skilled pilot, but he's a schemer first and foremost, and prefers to only get involved in fights he can skew in his favor; despite his loss to Suletta and Earth House, he hasn't fundamentally changed. Guel on the other hand has been tempered by his brushes with death, forcing him to grow and adapt his piloting style. Shaddiq's belief that Guel is still the same Hot-Blooded type to charge in blindly costs him their fight when he fails to notice Guel setting up a trap with his drones.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Though it comes at the cost of his own Darilbalde, Guel finally manages to win an on-screen battle he can actually be happy about. He defeats both Shaddiq and Sabina, and even manages to capture them both alive. He even does it at a handicap, since he's the only person in the fight who still has the school limiter program installed.
- Trash the Set: Asticassia, which has served as the main setting for much of the series up to this point, is left in ruins at the end of the episode following Norea’s rampage. Even Miorine's prized greenhouse is crushed underfoot by a suit in the rampage, showcasing that Nothing Is the Same Anymore.
- Uncertain Doom: Petra is last seen under a pile of rubble bleeding heavily, and Lauda receives a call that clearly leaves him distraught, but she's never stated to be dead.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: After Norea is killed by Asticassia security, Elan #5 takes over her Gundvolvas, but just so they can distract the other suits as he flees out of a hole in the ceiling.
- Villain Has a Point: Shaddiq's brutal dismissal of Vim Jeturk as a shallow man obsessed with company politics who morally gave up the right to complain about being assassinated when he was plotting to kill Delling in the first place is pretty dead on.
- We Need a Distraction: Shaddiq has Elan #5, Nika, and Norea released so the latter will take back her Gundam and attack Asticassia. Among other things, this divides the Front Security forces as he fights Guel and Sarius is moved to the Space Assembly League.
- Wham Episode: Norea dies after going on a rampage in the school, causing much destruction and numerous deaths in the process. Shaddiq and his team are arrested, with Sarius testifying about Shaddiq's involvement with Dawn of Fold, while Lauda learns the truth of Guel killing their father.
