I didn’t want Guel to win like this! Not like this!
The seventeenth episode of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury has aired. Guel has returned and Mio’s birthday has arrived. Will Suletta keep her promise to never lose a duel until then?
Find out in my Recap and Review.
Recap
Back to where we left off with Prospera, she makes Mio promise to become the next president which she agrees to along with taking over Quiet Zero, in exchange for Prospera leaving Su out of her schemes. She agrees, but states there’s still one more duel she needs them to take part in. Then she idly wonders if Su would so easily give up Aerial afterward.
We then cut to Mio at 7 AM, where she’s waking up and getting greeted by Su. Mio asks her what she would do if she was asked to give up Aerial, no doubt recalling Prospera’s parting words. Su states that’s the one thing she wouldn’t do since she’s family.
Then the topic of Mio’s birthday comes up. Su wants to celebrate since it’s on her wish list, plus it’ll be her seventeenth birthday, so marriage is a thing. Mio states she’ll think about it.
Shaddiq, meanwhile, is getting grilled by the Peil women about him thinking he’s his father’s successor since he’s “negotiating” with his kidnappers. He intends to run as Grassley’s representative in the election and wants to ally with them. He agrees to support their Gundam endeavors and hand over GUND-Arm as well, including Aerial. They pretty much guess that Sarius won’t be coming back from how he words things.
Back with Su, Elan 5 makes the biggest sin possible by entering Mio’s greenhouse when no one else can and forces himself onto Su, demanding Aerial. She obviously refuses and pushes him away, but he whips out a taser and tells her the man she knew isn’t there anymore. Then Guel shows up to reassert his position as the best boy, knocking him to the ground and kicking him out as Mio returns.
Guel explains when prompted that Lauda went behind their father’s back and withheld his withdrawal from the school. Su apologizes for his father’s death, but Guel tells her he has a purpose and wants to rebuild the company as the president. He came to apologize to everyone and recites that he understands her saying about gaining two when you move forward.
Su is glad he understood but gets surprised when he states he fell for her. He then comes outright and states she’s precious to him, which she thanks him for but states she considers someone else precious to her. Then Mio emerges and tells her she knows what she wants for her birthday: a gift of victory by defeating Guel in a Duel.
Guel asks for an explanation, having been amazingly allowed into the Greenhouse. She explains that she’s going to run for the presidency and wants his house to support them, so she’ll become his fiancee and make rebuilding easier. Guel points out that she’s asking him to win the duel, which she claims is because she doesn’t want to lose her precious things, and so he needs to reclaim his bride.
The duel is set and the stakes are for him to help stop the harassment on the Earth House while he wants to claim Aerial. Su asks why he wants it, but Mio tells her it won’t matter as long as she wins. So she goes along with it.
Afterward, Mio apologizes to Guel for making him play the role of a villain since he liked her. He states there are more important things and brings up what Mio told him about her mother, so this is her attempt to make Su happy. She needs a world where she can be free from Gundams, though Guel states that there isn’t a world like that before asking for some scissors.
The Earth House gears up for the fight and Prospera leaves only for Mio to call and state she made the preparations. Guel cuts his hair and then gets back in the last suit his father gave him, accepting the AI since pride alone won’t be enough to beat her. He shares some words of support with his brother before the entire house cheers him on.
The two head out into battle, with Elan having apparently snuck over to Grassley and decided to side with Norea’s group. She tells him to get in a Gundam and die, he states he’d rather live a long time. The final duel begins with Guel charging into battle.
He dodges the laser fire from Aerial before attempting to shoot back, but it seems as though he was suffering from PTSD from killing his father. He struggles to get it together, which Su notes but doesn’t let it stop her since she feels she has to win. Aerial goes in for a kill as he has a flashback to his father but he hears everyone in his house calling for him.
So, he activates his drones and fends her off. But Su activates Aerial’s override and it turns his drones against him. Then Happy Birthday plays on Mio’s phone, and I’m thinking Guel is about to get added to the HBD counter, but instead, she sends a signal to the Aerial. Eri apologizes to Su before shutting down long enough for Guel to cut off her antenna.
Su is in shock at having lost as Mio opens her cockpit. She admits she was the one who sabotaged her because she wanted her to lose. It was a trade, with her being a good shield as Mio tosses back her phone charm and takes away her Holder status.
Mio then coldly calls her a country bumpkin before saying goodbye as the episode ends.
Review
Not like this! I didn’t want him to get the win like this! I take it back! I TAKE IT BACKKKKKKKK!!!
Damn, this episode was brutal. Everyone betrayed Suletta, right when she thought she had it made. Right when she finally wanted Mio to choose her to be her groom.
Elan just went full-on creep mode, and now we have Number 4’s legacy permanently tarnished. He, unsurprisingly, decided to get out of dodge and followed up on his lead with Grassley kidnapping Darius. Norea gave him the welcome you would expect of her, but the fact that Nika seemed surprised that the Gundams kill the pilots seems weird since that was why they were banned officially until now. I’d ship them as a beta couple, but I liked Number 4 more and he made Suletta cry so…
Then there was Guel. The man came back to get his affairs in order and let out how he felt. He makes peace with Su, admitting he considered her to be precious, only to be convinced to go against her and play the bad guy for Mio to help him restore his company. His one win in two seasons is tainted since, just like in the previous time, someone cheated for him to succeed.
Even when he wins a match he loses!
And Mio… I know why she did it and it must have hurt her to do it, but damn. You had to break her heart into little pieces like that at the end? That was so freaking cold that even I felt a knife in my heart despite the fact that it was because that was the only way to get her away from Aerial.
Shaddiq basically is making moves to get ahead. I think the Peil women have him pegged as not intending to get his father back because there’s no way he’d be cool with those promises he intended to make. So they might as well back him since they all want Gundams and he’s offering them on a silver platter. He also figured out this was Mio’s plan, so I suspect he’ll be working to undercut her there… for her own sake, I’m sure.
The only person who came out of this ahead completely (and not hating themselves) was Prospera. She got both Mio and Belmeria to work with her. And judging by her reaction I can only assume Aerial hit Permet Seven, so she’s three steps closer to her goal.
And then there’s going to be a recap episode next week!
That’s just cruel….
Kvasir 369's Anime, Manga, and Game Blog 