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Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Ep. 22: The Woven Path

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Summary

Another League fleet makes an attempt to attack Quiet Zero, but the shield generated by the Gundnodes protects it. The fleet then fires missiles, but once within the range of the data storm network, they are redirected back toward the fleet and cause serious damage. The remaining ships of the fleet pull back, and Godoy tells Prospera that it’ll take time to reactivate the Permet reactor. Guel knocks on Miorine’s door and leaves when she doesn’t answer. Inside, she sits in the dark and covered by a bed sheet. Chuchu asks to borrow the Demi Barding again and Secelia agrees, but she adds that Earth House will be financially responsible for any damages. Martin panics at the high amount she shows them, and she also asks them to take Rouji. Feli begs Ojelo to let her come with the Earth House members, and he tells her to go with other Jeturk people. Lilique is concerned about Suletta’s decision to pilot the Gundam Calibarn, and Nika comments that they can’t leave everything on her shoulders. Elsewhere, Suletta sits on a park bench while Elan tells him about the Enhanced Person who preceded him. Elan thinks that Suletta should just forget everything and run away. Suletta responds that she’s scared, but now she’s doing this because she wants to, not because someone told her. Elan looks at Norea’s sketchbook and mumbles under his breath that he envies Suletta. Kenanji leads a briefing and reports that the League’s second attack on Quiet Zero failed. He’s interrupted by a call saying that a League representative wants a meeting and that an Asticassia student is requesting to see Miorine. Rouji tells Nika and Ojelo that he’ll arrange for an option unit for the Demi Barding, and Guston asks Suletta to keep her talk brief because the Gundam Calliban will be ready for testing soon. Guel asks Suleta to come with him and notes that Miorine is his fiance now, so if Suletta wants to see her, she’ll need to duel him for it. He says she’ll have to give up on Miorine if she loses, and she agrees. The two suit up for a fencing match, and Guel declares that whoever scores the first hit wins. After reciting the duel oath, they lock sabers briefly until Suletta scores a hit. Guel then presses a button on his phone to restore Suletta’s uniform to the Holder colors. Suletta knocks on Miorine’s door and states that she’s going to Quiet Zero to try to talk to Prospera and Ericht one more time. She comments that she’s relied on them for everything up to now, so making this choice alone is scary. From inside the room, Miorine responds that she can’t give Suletta an inspiring pep talk and that she has to decide on her own. Miorine blames herself for the deaths of many innocent people, as well as for pulling Suletta away from Prospera. Suletta admits that she’s also made mistakes, like killing at Plant Quetta and causing Sophie’s death. She told herself those cases were to protect people, but she realizes that whether it was right or wrong, she can’t take back what she’s done. Suletta knows that she has to move forward now, even if there’s nothing to gain. Miorine cries and says she doesn’t want to make more mistakes, and Suletta notes that she only got as far as she did because she met Miorine, and that wasn’t a mistake. Miorine wants Suletta to come to Earth with her some day, saying that she’s not strong enough to face what she’s done alone, but she also can’t ignore it. Suletta is about to leave, but a disheveled Miorine opens the door and takes Suletta’s hand. Quiet Zero’s systems complete their recovery cycle, and Prospera sets the next target as Plant Quetta. 

Miorine apologizes to everyone from Earth House, and Chuchu notes that they didn’t come here for her. Miorine then visits Delling, who has finally woken up from his coma. Miorine declares that she won’t run away from the company or the Gundam’s curse, so she doesn’t want him to die on her. Quiet Zero’s data network envelops Plant Quetta, and the Gundnodes conduct a fruitless search for the Gundam Calibarn. Belmeria leads a briefing and explains that Quiet Zero’s data storm deployment level is at 60 percent. She notes that Prospera needs things from Plant Quetta to bring it to 100 percent and cover the entire Earth Sphere. Only Gundams can move within the data storm network, and Elan notes that anyone trying to reach Permet score 8 would die instantly. Guel suggests modifying the Gundam Schwarzette, but Belmeria responds that there’s no time. Rouji chimes in and notes that the Demi Barding’s option unit has a switchable cockpit space, and if they added a control system that doesn’t use Permet links, it would function. Kenanji doesn’t think it’ll work, but Miorine notes it’s their only option. Miorine wants to charge directly at Quiet Zero and tells Suletta that her job is to draw the attention of the Aerial Rebuild and the Gundnodes. Guel asks Suletta if she really wants to operate a Gundam, and she answers that she’s decided to do this on her own. The Benerit Group Front is evacuated, and Miorine meets with Shaddiq to offer him a trade, which causes him to laugh. Rouji and Nika work on adding the option unit to the Demi Barding. Suletta gives Miorine one of the tomatoes and explains that Rouji found a message hidden in the genetic code of this variety: “I will always be attached to you, Miorine.” Suletta thinks that Notrette must’ve embedded that message in its code, and Miorine eats the tomato. Suletta enters the Gundam Calibarn’s cockpit, and Belmeria warns her that to avoid being overridden, she’ll need to clear Permet score 5. She adds that the Gundam Calibarn doesn’t have filters to reduce feedback from the data storm, and that it can produce and maintain a higher score with the same amount of Permet. She states that Suletta’s body will have high resistance due to being identical to Ericht’s, but she can’t coexist with the data storm. Suletta begins layer calls and feels the pain from raising the Permet score. Despite the pain, she pushes through and reaches Permet score 5. Miorine’s group heads for Quiet Zero, including Chuchu in the Demi Barding and Guel in his custom Dilanza. Suletta takes off in the Gundam Calibarn and uses her large beam rifle to destroy multiple Gundnodes. Prospera realizes that Suletta must be the pilot. Miorine’s ship is targeted by the Gundam Schwarzette, and Guel preemptively attacks to defend the ship. He demands to know who is the pilot and is shocked to hear Lauda’s voice. Suletta destroys more Gundnodes and sees the Aerial Rebuild emerge from Quiet Zero and deploy its bits. Ericht asks Suletta why she’s come here, and Suletta answers that she’s going to stop both of them. 

Commentary

The endgame is here, and all the players have moved into position on the board. Suletta reunites with Miorine, and it’s quite a contrast from the last time they saw each other following Suletta’s duel loss to Guel. They’ve both been through a lot since then, but Suletta is ready to charge a new path forward. Although it only lasted a moment, the fencing duel between Suletta and Guel was meaningful because it showed he was acknowledging she beat him with her own skills. Suletta now has to take on the Gundam’s curse herself, and her performing the layer calls quite obviously harkens back to the prologue when Elnora did the same thing. Piloting with such a high Permet score is no small feat, and other Gundam pilots in this series have died with lower scores. Before the start of the battle, Miorine offered Shaddiq a trade, but we haven’t seen yet what that is. As expected, Lauda decides to go down that dark path and pilot the Gundam Schwarzette to attack Miorine. He and Guel will now have to engage in a duel, with presumably tragic consequences. With two episodes left, the question is not only can Suletta stop Prospera and Ericht, but can she do so without dying from the Gundam’s curse?

Overall Rating
4/5

The Witch from Mercury Info

Director:
Hiroshi Kobayashi

Writer:
Ichiro Okouchi

Mechanical Designer(s):
JNTHED
Kanetake Ebikawa
Wataru Inata
Ippei Gyoubu
Kenji Teraoka
Ko Inaba
Takayuki Yanase

Character Designer(s):
Marie Tagashira
Juri Toida
Hirotoshi Takaya

Musical Composer:
Takashi Ohmama

Format:
25 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 10.02.2022 – 01.08.2023 (S1); 04.09.2023 – 07.02.2023 (S2)
Streaming 10.02.2022 – 01.08.2023 (S1); 04.09.2023 – 07.02.2023 (S2)

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