Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Episode Nineteen: Not the Best Way
Written by: Ichirō Ōkouchi and Shōgo Yasukawa
Directed by: Akira Toba and Shun Kudo
Storyboarded by: Ryō Andō and Hiroshi Kobayashi
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Episode Nineteen: Not the Best Way (一番じゃないやり方; Ichiban ja Nai Yarikata)
Boarding an orbital elevator, Miorine and Guel descend to Earth, Miorine admiring the sight of the Earth she'd longed to escape to, but remarking it's not the time for her to enjoy it. Guel mentions his desire to check on the situation since he was last on Earth in Dawn of Fold's custody. Inside Aerial, Prospera receives a report from Godoy, telling him to proceed with their preparations.
Having returned to Asticassia, Earth House worry over Suletta, who has sequestered herself inside her bunk, refusing to eat, attend classes, or talk about what happened at Benerit HQ. They also find that the dorm's stables haven't been maintained in their absence, Martin having been coerced into serving as Secelia's servant after inadvertently confessing his guilty conscience to her. Despite her haughty attitude, she ultimately helps him work through his guilt and resolve to confess to his friends.
Touching down on Earth, Miorine and Guel are escorted to a meeting with the leaders of the protests; Elan, Nugen and Shaddiq discuss Miorine's negotiation attempt, Elan suggesting that using Aerial to suppress the protestors could win Miorine support in the election, though Shaddiq believes she would never allow it. Feng begins interrogating Belmeria over a tea party, revealing the high council of the Space Assembly League is planning to take action against the Benerit Group. On their way into the negotiations, Guel encounters Sedo from the Dawn of Fold refugee camp, following him after he is removed by the guards, with Kenanji taking off after them. Meeting with the demonstration leadership alone, they rebuff Miorine's attempts at negotiations, demanding the complete exodus of Spacians from Earth.
Back at Asticassia, Lauda is outraged to discover the completed Gundam Schwarzette being moved to the Jeturk House hangar. At Grassley House, Norea breaks down and has to be restrained by Elan #5, who brushes off Nika's confused distress after witnessing the struggle.
After watching the GUND-ARM Inc. PV during a break in the negotiations, Miorine returns to the meeting, presenting them with the company's prosthetic legs. She rejects their demand for all Spacians to leave Earth, citing the counterpoint would be all Earthians returning from space, a notion she can't abide owing to her admiration for her friends in Earth House. Recognizing she lacks the power to follow through with her ideals, Miorine resolves to win the Benerit Group presidency so she can dictate the terms of further negotiations. The protest leaders agree to suspend their activities until the election is over.
Overcome by hunger, Suletta finally leaves her bunk in search of food, and is discovered looting through the fridge by Chuchu, who takes her to where the others are holding an impromptu brunch in their hangar. Martin then arrives, confessing to his discovery and subsequent reporting of Nika; while Suletta speaks up on Nika's behalf, Chuchu in particular remains conflicted.
Catching up with Sedo, the boy asks Guel if he'd be able to enroll him in Grassley's academy for Earthian orphans, wishing to follow in the footsteps of "The Prince." Recognizing the nickname from Shaddiq's time in the academy, Kenanji interrogates Sedo further, allowing Guel to realize the attacks on Asticassia and Plant Quetta were Shaddiq's doing. Calling to inform Miorine of his discovery, she advises him to return to Asticassia to search Grassley House for Sarius, who would be able to prove the truth of Shaddiq's crimes.
After Guel and Kenanji depart on the Permet elevator, Prospera sets her own plan into motion. Retrieving the GUND-Bits she had smuggled down to Earth, she deploys a data storm over the area, taking control of a protestor's tank, firing on herself and Aerial, using this as an excuse to retreat from their assigned post. Ignoring Miorine's attempts to call her, Prospera retrieves Aerial's rifle next, breaking into a hidden bunker filled with production-model Lfrith Gundams. Feng tells Belmeria that the bunker is the true reason behind Prospera steering Miorine towards Quinharbor, revealing to her that the Space Assembly League's high council have supported Ochs Earth covertly for the past twenty years after it was supposedly rendered defunct, which is where the Lfrith Ur and Thorn came from. Outraged by the survival of the company which trampled on the ideals of the massacred Vanadis Institute, Prospera uses Aerial's Bit-On Cannon to destroy all the Lfriths.
Believing the destruction of the Ochs Earth bunker to be an attack, the protestors begin another riot. Despite orders not to retaliate, Benerit Security forces panic and return fire. Over Miorine's pleas of innocence, the protest leaders take their leave after the apparent betrayal. Belmeria tells Feng and Guston what she knows of Quiet Zero, but as they board a ship to make for Plant Quetta, they are attacked by Godoy. Feng is shot, pushing Belmeria through the airlock and out of the line of fire, she and Guston witnessing Godoy apparently executing Feng as the doors close.
Watching a news broadcast detailing the horrific outcome of the riot infuriates Norea and Lauda for their own reasons, while Elan laughs over having predicted the outcome. Realizing Prospera had figured him out, Shaddiq makes plans to begin a counterattack, quietly voicing frustration with Guel for having "defiled" Miorine. Seeing Aerial on the news amidst the carnage, Suletta connects a speech Lilique had made with her previous rejection by Aerial, coming to a revelation about her sister's motivations. On a rooftop overlooking the burning city, Miorine falls to her knees, blaming herself for the disaster.
Keigo Inoue's (end card illustrator)’s official Twitter
Not the Best Way provides examples of:
- Call-Back: Like Miorine in the second episode, Norea sits crouched while muttering "die, die, die" over and over. This time, however, it's significantly less humorous.
- Didn't Think This Through: Miorine naively approaches the political matters at large thinking she has a solid idea of what she's getting into. While the protest leaders initially brush her off because of this, she manages to recover and earn a modicum of their respect. Then she gets a front-row seat to the real reason Prospera brought her there: manipulating the tense stand-off between the Earthians and Spacians into a violent suppression. While Miorine might have been able to empathize with the Earthians, she was totally unprepared for the sheer depths of violence Prospera was willing to go to for her own ends. It's to the point that even the protestors quickly figure out she has no idea how manipulated she is. What innocence Miorine had is torn asunder, realizing she had played into Prospera's hands again.
- Disturbing Statistic: When Miorine tries to entice the Earthian protest leaders with a new factory, they find it rather insulting in the face of the 1,529 Earthians dead or missing from the Benerit Group's response to an attack on a single factory. It's clearly much more extensive than Miorine had any idea.
- Everyone Has Standards: Lauda is enraged and appalled when he discovers that there is a Gundam made by their own company. It makes sense considering that Gundams started Jeturk's sudden decline, regardless of how it could bring them prestige.
- False Flag Operation: Prospera makes use of Aerial's data storm field to force a nearby tank to fire at her, thus justifying her taking things into her own hands and escalating the situation, igniting a dormant powder keg.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Among the signs of the Earthian protest is one that reads "STOP FUCKING OUR LIVES FOR YOUR OWN WEALTH", with the profanity covered up by another sign.
- Government Conspiracy: The Space Assembly League has been previously mentioned as planning to break up the Benerit Group's corporatocracy. However, it turns out their actions go as far as covertly continuing Gundam development through the supposedly defunct Ochs Earth company and using it to supply Dawn of Fold with weapons.
- Handshake Refusal: Miorine offers one of the protest leaders a handshake and says she hopes they can speak on equal terms. He responds with open skepticism and calls her to the meeting room without his arms leaving his sides.
- Heroic BSoD: Suletta coped with Miorine's rejection by becoming a Stepford Smiler who ate a lot and threw herself into school life, but Aerial's rejection on top of that has sent her into a catatonic depression where she stops eating and no longer goes to class or does anything except lie in her bunk.
- Hope Spot: While Miorine couldn't convince the Earthians to lend her support, she did get their interest in GUND-ARM's medical technology and for them to suspend the protests until the Presidential Election is over. Additionally, Guel discovers Shaddiq's involvement with Dawn of Fold and the attack on Plant Quetta. Everything was going surprisingly well, until Prospera escalated the situation.
- Hypocrite: Prospera calls Ochs Earth “sinners” for trampling on GUND’s ideals by continuing to create Gundams, and proceeds to destroy the bunker holding the mass produced Lfriths. In the process, she ignites another riot that, ironically, Miorine was trying to defuse with those ideals.
- Internal Reveal: A chance conversation with a refugee Guel recognizes leads to the discovery of Shaddiq's involvement with Dawn of Fold, and therefore his culpability in the Plant Quetta and Open Campus attacks, as well as the kidnapping of Sarius Zenelli.
- Jerkass Façade: Secelia seems like she's just gonna use Martin's confession to blackmail him into servitude. But after briefly screwing with him over it, she just convinces him he'd be better off telling his friends himself.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: After spending several episodes of manipulating Suletta in her vendetta quest, Prospera sets up a False Flag Operation on Earth by further causing civilian unrest and widespread death and destruction while piloting Aerial.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Being left behind by Guel, Miorine, Eri and Prospera, Suletta has absolutely no idea of the greater schemes or why they all abandoned her so thoroughly. Then she catches the news going on and the sheer scale of violence that's no longer able to be simply cleaned up and suppressed by manipulative media and realizes full well why they did it.
- Madonna-Whore Complex: Implied. When he hears about the violence on Earth, Shaddiq accuses Guel of having "defiled" Miorine, implying that he associates violence with impurity when it comes to women.
- Misplaced Retribution: Shaddiq voices frustration with Guel for Miorine being "defiled" by the violent turn their negotiations take... even though it was entirely Prospera's doing, with Guel having already left Earth at that point.
- Morton's Fork: Discussed; Martin reluctantly tells Secelia that as much as he hated ratting on Nika, he thought keeping quiet would endanger everyone. Earth House are understanding, even though Suletta lets him know Nika was trying to protect everyone from Norea and Sophie, telling him even terrible things can seem like the only option. This gives Suletta some idea why Miorine and Aerial would betray her.
- Multiple Gunshot Death: Godoy shoots Feng at least five more times after she helps Belmeria escape with Guston.
- Not Quite Dead: Non-human example. It turns out that Ochs Earth is still around, now working under the Space Assembly League and helping Dawn of Fold by providing them with their Gundams.
- Occupiers Out of Our Country: The Earthians protests are rather reasonably upset with the Benerit Group's rampant military abuses, but go so far as demanding all Spacians evacuate the Earth. Among other reasons, Miorine refuses because the same terms would mean expelling all of Earth House from Asticassia.
- Overzealous Underling: Discussed; when Miorine is told the Benerit security forces have killed, unlawfully arrested, or even tortured hundreds of people since the Plant Quetta attacks, she says they were never told to do anything like that. The protest leaders are not surprised by her ignorance, nor do they care.Miorine: We never gave any orders to—
Protest leader: You merely weren't informed. - O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Shaddiq's ever present smug smile and confidence vanishes when Prospera ruins his plans and escalates the tension between Earthians and Spacians, even blaming Guel for "defiling" Miorine by putting blood on her hands, despite him having left Earth by that point.
- Rule of Symbolism: Continuing with the theme of Suletta’s “rebirth” from last episode, her first real meal after her abandonment is a milk-based dish served to by her adopted family in the Earth House students.
- The Scapegoat: The episode ends with Miorine being implicitly blamed for escalating the tension between Earth and space by turning the whole city into a battlefield.
- A Shared Suffering: As hinted in the previous episode, Norea shares more with Elan #5 that she wants to admit; namely, that she's terrified of dying to the Gundam's curse, having seen it happen to Sophie. This leads to a strange moment of intimacy where Norea goes from violently attacking Elan to breaking down crying in his arms.Nika: What the heck just happened?
Elan: [quietly] You'll never understand. Never. - Shout-Out: The chaotic riot that happened in this episode has some similarities to Massacre Princess Incident, right down to Miorine becoming The Scapegoat like Euphemia li Britannia. Also counts as Company Cross References due to both shows being animated by Sunrise and also having Ichiro Okouchi as the writer.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After back-to-back episodes where her entire world came crashing down, Suletta finally gets a reprieve when the Earth House students invite her to breakfast and manage to help her gain a measure of understanding about the betrayals she's faced.
- Tempting Fate: When Shaddiq, Elan and the Peil CEOs were discussing Miorine's planned negotiations, Elan notes if Miorine used the Gundam to crush the Earthian protests, it would give her a sizeable boost in the election. Shaddiq is quite confident that Miorine would never allow such a thing. Cue Prospera setting her plan into motion.
- Title Drop: Lilique mentions the episode's title when trying to reassure Martin about sometimes being left with no other options when confronted with a dilemma, said dilemma being ratting out Nika in his case. Later on, Suletta repeats the same sentiment when she witnesses the chaos on Earth, realizing Eri's intentions in driving her away.
- Tranquil Fury: Prospera remains as even-tempered as ever, but is quite clearly livid as she breaks into Ochs Earth's hidden bunker of Gundams and destroys the entire stock.
- True Companions: The Earth House kids pull Suletta out of her depressive spiral by simply being there for her with a warm meal and giving her their unconditional support. When Suletta genuinely smiles for likely the first time since she lost the rigged duel against Guel, their happiness is visible and Lilique even sheds a tear. Likewise, when Martin confesses to reporting Nika, the guilt of which has been gnawing at him for the last few episodes, they respond with understanding rather than the recrimination he was afraid of.
