Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Episode Ten: Circling Thoughts
Written by: Ichirō Ōkouchi
Directed by: Seung-hui Son, Kōtarō Matsunaga and Ryō Andō
Storyboarded by: Tomoki Kyoda
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Episode Ten: Circling Thoughts (巡る想い, Meguru Omoi) is the tenth episode of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.
At a Cathedra inquiry, Sarius' latest attempt to press charges against those associated with Aerial for being a Gundam is rejected. Vim joins him on his flight from the facility, revealing he has a new plan to kill Delling.
Back at Asticassia, Shaddiq meets with Suletta, who is tending to Miorine's garden while she is away on business, noting two months have passed since their duel. They are interrupted by a call from Chuchu, angry that Suletta is late for a test of a new set of GUND prosthetic legs Earth House is producing. Clearing the test, GUND-ARM Inc. plan a new promotional video for the legs, only for Suletta to have forgotten to book them time with a suitable space for filming. She manages to diffuse the tension with a joke, something Nika later finds her crossing off her list. She reveals to her another item she hopes to cross off soon: a pair of matching keychains she bought for herself and Miorine.
Meeting with her father at the Benerit Group headquarters, Miorine appraises him of GUND-ARM's progress thus far, while he candidly offers her advice and praise for her start-up. She then meets with Till outside a new company spaceship, which is to be crewed by Feng Jun and Guston Parche, the same individuals whom Miorine originally contracted to help smuggle her to Earth, and subsequently the inquisition of Shin Sei which she interrupted. Miorine deduces them to be members of the Space Assembly League, who are secretly investigating Gundams.
Back at Grassley House, Shaddiq has a video meeting with Sarius from his office, where he is informed of Vim's new plot to assassinate Delling. While Sarius dismisses Vim's continued efforts as oafish, Shaddiq suggests they go along with it, pointing out that if he can win the position of Holder, they could take over the Benerit Group entirely. Despite Sarius' reluctance, Shaddiq assures his father he will win this time, to repay the debt he feels he owes for his adoption.
Failing to secure a last-minute filming location for their new PV, Suletta suggests Earth House use the Dueling Committee Lounge, which the Holder has a right to access. Watching them, Petra and Lauda remark on Guel having disappeared, and it is revealed that rather than be withdrawn from school and tutored elsewhere at his father's behest, Guel has run away, finding work doing spacecraft maintenance under the alias "Bob." His boss informs him that their crew has been hired to ship supplies to a Benerit Group factory, Plant Quetta.
On Earth, a community lives amid the overgrown ruins of Japan. A girl named Norea finds her friend Sophie watching the GUND-ARM Inc. PV, remarking on how they seem to be making a joke out of Gundams and Witches. Their father-figure, Naji, receives a video call from Shaddiq, who hires him to perform the assassination of Delling, also at Plant Quetta. After the call, Nika is revealed as a member of their community, normally serving as their go-between with Shaddiq, having also arranged his call with them.
After setting up for the filming of the new PV in the Dueling Committee Lounge, Suletta departs when an alarm she set reminds her that she has to check on Miorine's greenhouse. On the way there, she encounters Elan, thinking he's returned from his own business, not knowing he is actually the fifth Enhanced Person altered to look the part. Compared to the taciturn fourth or the friendly facade of the original, this Elan behaves openly flirtatiously with Suletta, asking her on a date. While Suletta raises her engagement to Miorine in protest, he dismisses such concerns, pointing out their arrangement is purely transactional, their potential marriage in name-only. Attempting to kiss her, Suletta shoves him away and flees; at Peil's office, Nugen and Elan discuss his fifth body double, who was selected to attempt to acquire Aerial through more underhanded means rather than dueling.
Arriving at Miorine's greenhouse to find two unknown men in the entryway, Suletta attempts to shove them out, only for Miorine herself to appear, having returned early thanks to their new company ship, informing her she hired them to tend the garden in her future absences so Suletta wouldn't feel pressured to. Checking up on her greenhouse, Miorine distractedly asks if Suletta had met with Elan, revealing that she hired him as a second GUND test pilot after Suletta tries to tell her she rejected his asking her on a date, noting it would be fine for colleagues to get to know each other better. Taking Miorine's hiring of the gardeners and Elan as not needing her around anymore, Suletta dejectedly discards the keychains she'd purchased, while Miorine offhandedly suggests she come with her to pick up Aerial, which has been repaired at Plant Quetta.
Delling arrives at the factory, where Prospera is already waiting for him. Meanwhile, Guel's crew settle in for a meal en-route to the facility when they are intercepted by the Gundams Lfrith Ur and Lfrith Thorn, piloted by Sophie and Norea. Their group, Dawn of Fold, commandeer the ship to make their infiltration, while Shaddiq reveals to his team that, contrary to what he told his father, he doesn't intend a takeover of the Benerit Group, but to see it broken up.
Izuna Yoshitsune’s (end card illustrator)’s official Twitter
Circling Thoughts provides examples of:
- Almost Kiss: The new Elan comes close to kissing Suletta, but she pushes him away just before they do.
- Break Them by Talking: The new Elan works to undermine Suletta's faith in Miorine, claiming she's just being used as a tool for Miorine's ambitions and that she has no true affection for her — a notion Miorine herself inadvertently reinforces when Suletta runs into her at the greenhouse.
- Cerebus Call-Back: Remember how back in Episode 3 Suletta protested that she wouldn't be able to go on dates after getting married because that would be cheating, and Miorine was dismissive of that idea? They have nearly the same conversation here, but in a much more serious context. Suletta refuses to go on a date with the new Elan because she thinks she should be loyal to Miorine as they are still engaged, but Elan#5 counters that the engagement is just a facade Miorine doesn't truly care about. When Miorine once again tells Suletta that she can go on a date (this time because Elan has just become her colleague and they should get along), it comes across as a confirmation Miorine doesn't care about Suletta.
- Double Meaning: Suletta is startled by Elan's forwardness and asks if he's changed. Elan says yes, and it's all thanks to her. Suletta thinks it's because they connected emotionally after their duel. Elan #5 knows it's because he literally changed places with Elan #4, who got vaporized after his defeat by Suletta left him useless to Peil.
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Incidental Multilingual Wordplay: The "Suletta Forgetta" joke works in both English and Japanese due to the inflictions of both. In the Japanese dub, Suletta is saying "Suletta wasuretta", basically doing a pun, which causes her Earth House friends to laugh. In the English dub, she says "Suletta forget..." before letting the "ta" come out as a sigh, which makes it an accidental pun and causing them to laugh. - Innocently Insensitive: Miorine doesn't appear to realize she hurt Suletta by hiring farmers to tend her greenhouse, encouraging her to go on a date with Elan, and recruiting him as a test pilot, as seen when Suletta drops the gift she intended to give Miorine. Suletta thought that being allowed to take care of the greenhouse was a sign of how much Miorine trusted her, but Miorine seems to think she would be happy to have one less job to do.
- Mythology Gag: Just like Char, Guel finds some manual work in his youth and is more relaxed in that work atmosphere. The only difference is that Char worked as a construction worker, while Guel took up spacecraft maintenance.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Suletta notes that the Elan she is interacting with is really different than the one she is used to, and she even notes to herself there is something almost frightening about him.
- Pet the Dog:
- Shaddiq drops his previous antagonistic attitude towards Suletta, and he gave her a reprieve from needing to partake in duels while Aerial is getting repaired.
- Delling uses his own business acumen and experience to advise Miorine on managing her new company. Miorine finds herself unexpectedly pleased by his new helpfulness.
- Poor Communication Kills: In her attempts to make things easier for Suletta, Miorine unwittingly confirms Suletta's fears that Miorine doesn't need her anymore.
- The Runaway: Guel had decided to run away rather than leave with his father.
- Series Continuity Error: Back in Episode 3, Suletta claimed that "exchange contact info" was number 12 on her list. We get to briefly see her list in this one, and that item is listed as number 7.
- The Stinger: A ship with Guel as part of its crew is surrounded by two mysterious mobile suits that look like Gundams, with their pilots forcing the crew to cooperate with them. Meanwhile, the Grassley students discuss how this attack was part of Shaddiq's machinations to break up the Benerit Group.
- Time Skip: This episode takes place two months after GUND-ARM Inc. was allowed to form following the duel with Grassley.
- Wham Line: At the end of the episode, Shaddiq reveals his intention to break up the Benerit Group rather than take it over.
