Since the beginning of the series, Suletta always repeats the mantra that she learn from her mother, “If you move forward you gain two, if you run you gain one.” No matter how hard the situation gets, no matter who stands in her way, no matter what she’s trying to do, this simple mantra is the one thing that keeps her grounded and pushes her to move forward.
Episode 22 is basically an elaborate showcase of this mantra at work. Because as we’ve seen in the last couple of episodes, there are several characters that have been down in the dumps. They regret their past actions, and they don’t know what they should do next. This is the episode where they crawl back up and accept their mistakes so that they can finally move on and face the enemy.
The Importance of Moving Forward
In recent episodes, Suletta Mercury found herself at the lowest point in her life. Her closest friend, Miorine, betrayed and abandoned her. Her mother, Prospera, reveals the dark truth that shatters her heart and shoves her into an existential crisis, and her most trusted partner, Gundam Aerial, is taken away from her. Suletta has every reason to feel depressed, but she somehow manages to bring herself back up. There are a lot of things that she doesn’t understand yet, but she is determined to accept her new realities, and try her best to do what she can in order to help those around her.
During her first visit to Earth, Miorine Rembran, unknowingly brings the devil with her. In a matter of minutes, what began as a peace treaty meeting soon turns into a bloodbath and carnage. She may not be the one who kills those innocent people, but she is still seen as the one who is responsible for that bloody incident. Needless to say, Miorine also blame herself more than anybody else. She cursed her own inadequacies and obliviousness that cost the lives of so many people. And just like Suletta, Miorine also ends up shutting herself in her room.
But then Suletta comes knocking on her door. She asks Miorine to stand back up and fight to right her wrongs. She asks Miorine to help her defeat Prospera and Aerial. So Miorine force herself to stand up, accept her mistakes, and move forward in order to confront her enemy.
Confronting Your Mistakes
“Making mistakes, learning from it, and coming back stronger”, seems to be one of the main themes of Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. At least that is the case for the second season of this series. Almost every major character has their moment of screw-ups and redemption. Some of the most notable ones are Nika informing Shaddiq about Plant Quetta, Martin snitched on Nika, Guel accidentally kills his own father, Miorine lets Prospera kill countless innocent people, and Suletta blindly trust other people to the point she lost almost everything that she holds dear.
What happened to Suletta is clearly not her fault, but just like the other people mentioned above, she is greatly affected by it. All of them have a hard time getting out of their own pit of depression. Some find themselves regretting their past actions and decisions, such as Nika and Martin, while others drown in an abyss of guilt and grief, such as Guel and Miorine. There’s also somebody like Suletta who lost her sense of identity and is on the brink of a severe identity crisis.
Fortunately, they all manage to bounce back and stand up on their own two feet. Some manage to do it alone, while others are lucky enough to have people that are willing to pull them back out of the bottomless pit of depression. Not only that, when they eventually come back after defeating their own demons, they end up as wiser and mentally stronger individuals.
Character Development, World Building, and Story Progression
Placing the characters in terrible situations is one of the best ways to grow and develop said characters. In the case of Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, those events also served as key plot points that moved the story forward.
So in a sense, the terrible events that have been happening since the end of the first season are a crucial catalyst that ensure a natural character development, the expansion of the world, and the progression of the story. They also serve as a neat way to pull the viewers closer to characters of the story. After all, the more we see the characters fail and try their best to learn from it, move on, and face their enemies, the easier it is for us to relate and root for them.
This focus on characters is actually quite a new approach for this franchise. For the most part, Gundam has always been a plot-driven series. We remember the great battles, the iconic mobile suits, and the clash between the good and the bad. But while the main characters are iconic in their own way, they’re actually not that memorable. However, things began to change in recent major series, particularly in Mobile Suit Gundam: Origin and Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, and also Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphan to some extent.
With Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, however, the showrunners decided to focus heavily on the characters. There’s not much Gundam in this series, but we sure get lots of personal time with the characters. Slowly but surely, this old franchise goes in the direction of a character-driven story, and we’re all for it.