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Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Ep. 9: If I Could Take One Step Toward You

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Summary

In the past, several girls from the Grassley House commented on Guel’s constant dueling, and some wonder why Shaddiq is so cautious regarding Miorine. Shaddiq visited Miorine’s greenhouse and commented on her latest failed escape attempt, and he said he was different from his father. She asked if he had no intention of becoming the Holder, and he answered no. Miorine commented that she didn’t want to marry anyone from within the Group. In the present, the members of Earth House find the GUND-ARM sign vandalized and wonder what will happen with the discussion going on inside. Shaddiq and Sabina drink Earth tea, and Miorine asks what he wants. He thinks she should reconsider what they discussed the other day, and he produces a business transfer agreement that would have Miorine remain as president. Sabina explains that the new safety rule applies only to new startups, so an existing company can get around it. Shaddiq spins it as being beneficial to Miorine for maintaining Delling’s trust and to Suletta as protection for the Gundam Aerial. Miorine asks Shaddiq if he rewrote the rules and says the timing is too convenient. He asks what of it and if she has a better proposal, so she challenges him to a duel. At the Dueling Committee lounge, Lauda acts as observer and states that it will be a 6-on-6 team battle. Lilique and Martin object because Earth House doesn’t even have that many suits, and Sabina interjects that prepping for a duel is part of their job. Lauda notes that Guel never rejected a duel no matter the conditions, and a Gundam should be enough for them. Miorine insists that the duel be livestreamed outside the Benerit Group, because beating suits from all three branches will be great advertising for them. Lauda asks Miorine for her stake, and she states that she wants the regulations reverted to how they were before; Shaddiq names his stake as ownership of GUND-ARM, Inc. Renee Costa, a member of Grassley House, tells Lilique that she wants her to participate in the duel so she can learn which one of them is better.  Martin asks Lilique if she did something to Renee, but she has no clue. At an Earth House meeting, Nuno notes that Grassley House has never lost a duel. Suletta comments on their lack of mobile suits, and Miorine answers that she’ll ask Belmeria to lend them some suits. Aliya asks about the lack of pilots since they only have Suletta and Chuchu, and Lilique volunteers. Miorine abruptly ends the meeting and says she has to work on their strategy. Nika tells Shaddiq he’s disgusting because everyone in her House was excited about the company. He responds that he never wanted to duel, but that doesn’t concern a go-between like her. He immediately apologizes and promises to try to talk to Miorine more. Suletta walks through the forest area at dusk and thinks about who she could ask to join the team when she bumps into Guel. She apologizes for being lost in thought, and Guel knows it’s about the duel with Shaddiq because everyone likes to gossip. Suletta asks Guel to be a pilot on her team, but he tells her he can’t because Vim has forbidden him to duel. Suletta comments that Vim must be important to him, and she says she’ll keep trying to do her best. Shaddiq visits the greenhouse and tells Miorine she can still call the duel off, but she responds that she didn’t like what he said earlier. She says that he stated she could still be president of GUND-ARM like he’s doing her a favor, but in reality she’ll just be a figurehead. She says that Shaddiq sees her as an ornament just like her father, so she can’t trust him. Shaddiq runs into Suletta and tells her to talk sense into Miorine and not let her start a fight she can’t win. Suletta answers that if she’s the groom, she’ll believe in her bride. Shaddiq responds that he won’t hold back and that he’ll take both Miorine and the Gundam Aerial. 

Belmeria calls Miorine and apologizes for only being able to send four Zoworts because the Gundam Pharact is still being repaired. Elan tells Belmeria that she can’t send them the Gundam Pharact because it could expose them and create problems. Elan delivers a message from the CEOs that if Belmeria insists on helping them, she’d better deliver results. In a locker room, Sabina, Renee, Ireesha Plano, Maisie May and Henao Jazz suit up for the duel. Shaddiq, already suited up, gets into the Michaelis as the Beguir-Pentes are deployed to the tactical testing sector. The Earth House deploys its team, which includes the Gundam Aerial, Chuchu’s Demi Trainer and Zoworts piloted by Lilique, Martin, Ojelo and Tills. Lauda announces the usual duel rules and has Miorine and Shaddiq recite the oath. The battle begins with the virtual environment set as a ruined city. Miorine’s plan is for Suletta to be the vanguard with the Zoworts as shield and Chuchu as their sniper. Just as Chuchu gets into position, she comes under attack from Shaddiq’s Michaelis. The Beguir-Pentes attack the rest of the team and immediately take out Martin and Ojelo’s Zoworts. Renee attacks Lilique with a beam saber and says she’ll pay the price for messing with her man, but Lilique doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Renee responds that John Van Simmons is twelfth on her list of backup boyfriends, and Lilique says she rejected his lunch invitation. Renee is forced to fall back when Till provides support fire for Lilique. He’s immediately attacked by Henao, and she stabs his Zowort’s head to take him down. Renee renews her attack on Lilique and also disables her Zowort. Guel watches the duel and gets a call from Vim, who says he’s withdrawing his son from the school and sending him to learn about business at one of their subsidiaries. Guel objects and asks if he’s supposed to give up on Miorine, and Vim answers that he has no faith in Guel after three losses. Vim states that he has a backup plan and tells Guel not to question his decisions. Suletta uses her bits defensively against the attacking Beguir-Pentes, and Shaddiq uses his wired arm to attack Chuchu and sever her right arm. She then tries to use her rifle as a melee weapon, but Ireesha blows off her legs. Shaddiq tells Suletta to surrender now, but she says she believes in Miorine. Shaddiq sells to himself that while Suletta is sincere and never lies, she doesn’t have the power or the vision to support Miorine. The Grassley teams deploy their anti-Gundam fields, which disable all the bits and the Gundam Aerial. Belmeria identifies it as the Antidote, and Elan is surprised they still have anti-Gundam weapons. Suletta doesn’t think she can fight on her own, and the Gundam Aerial has its left arm blasted off. Henao comments that Suletta is nothing special without the GUND Format, and Lauda cheers for Suletta’s impending defeat. Till calls Lilique, and Shaddiq moves in to take down Suletta. She apologizes to the Gundam Aerial for always relying on it, but this time she wants to try things on her own. Shaddiq fires again, and Suletta’s bits reactivate and override the Antidote. Prospera smiles and cries as she watches the livestream. Suletta tells the bits that she can do it on her own, and she proceeds to individually take down several Beguir-Pentes. Shaddiq blasts off Suletta’s left leg and causes the Gundam Aerial to crash into the ground. He proclaims that he’s the one who will stand at Miorine’s side, and at that moment Till has the wrecked Zoworts prop up Chuchu’s Demi Trainer so she can snipe Shaddiq’s blade antenna and end the duel. Miorine tells Shaddiq that she knew he’d try to finish the battle himself, and that he tells her to trust him when he doesn’t trust anyone himself. Suletta gets out of her cockpit and performs the dance from the company’s commercial. Everyone in Earth House is impressed by their skyrocketing views on the livestream. Shaddiq confirms the reversion of the regulations and promises Miorine he won’t try to harm her company again. He comments that he should’ve dueled for it from the start, and she says no amount of whining will get him the company now. He corrects her by saying he meant her hand and that he should’ve vowed to become the Holder and protect her. He leaves, and Miorine tells herself that his words are too little, too late.

Commentary

With Shaddiq having cornered Miorine, she takes the only action available to her, which is to challenge him to a duel. This puts the Earth House in a tight spot since they don’t have enough pilots or suits, and it’s interesting seeing the exchange between Suletta and Guel about it. He doesn’t refuse her request – he answers that he can’t because of his father. Vim shocks Guel with the news that he’s getting withdrawn from the school and that there’s a “backup plan,” which I question the viability of. Vim tells Guel he has no faith in him after three loses, but Vim himself has been consistently outplayed throughout the series, so he’s not one to talk. Shaddiq is definitely a complicated character, and even though he’s trying to take Miorine’s company away from her, it seems like he doesn’t want to hurt her. He also regrets not becoming a duelist to take her hand, but that’s out of his control now. We still don’t know what the nature is of his connection to Nika, but this will obviously bubble up at some point. It was smart of Miorine to insist on a wide-scale livestream of the duel, because it does serve as great advertising. Suletta awakens the true power of the Gundam Aerial and counters the anti-Gundam weaponry, which makes Prospera both smile and cry. I’m dying to know what her endgame is for her revenge plot, but we obviously won’t learn that until a dramatic moment arises. In the end, it was good to see Suletta not win the duel alone and have it result instead from teamwork. 

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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