Episode Review: Gundam: Witch from Mercury ep 5 + 6: Fate of the Faceless

There are definitely someone out there that will celebrate your birthday

Episode 5 and 6 mark the arc of a “main” side-character, although in a way we never expect. Elan Ceres – one of the male interests of our heroine Suletta – has burned bright and went out as quickly as a shooting star. Coming out of his former shell to express his true self – and not “Elan Ceres” – and stun us all with his character. Although it is just 2 episodes, Elan has managed to raise a myriad of question that will keep us guessing until the end of the series.

Since episode 1, each episode of G-Witch has condensed quite an amount of information, and focus on dealing with one problem after another inside that episode. We started with Guel’s downfall, then the Gundam inquiry, Guel tried to prove his own (and his 2nd downfall), Suletta trying to pass the school test while establishing the support cast from the Earth house. But that does not mean it did not drop some breadcrumbs, a bit here a bit there, and all of that was accumulated into “Elan”. We could say that episode 5 and 6 form a turning point, changing the structure of each episode from “each episode had one problem” to “one problem through a number of episode”. As they touch the enhanced people issue and also one of the big three house was developing a Gundam-type mobile suit behind the Group, the prophecy, and many more.

Elan finally show his true interest in “Aerial” – and his appointment with Suletta finally confirm his doubt – Aerial is truly a Gundam with GUND-Format. And Elan has nor set his sight on dueling poor Suletta – who trust him very much – to obtain her only “relative” at the school. And again, Suletta was once again driven to tears, but an unexpected hero appear to save the damsel in distress: Guel. Yes, Guel rushed over to check on Suletta, subsequently enraged at the sight of Elan making her cry, challenged Elan to a duel. Truly a behavior fitting of Patrick’s spiritual successor. However, Guel’s luck with battle is just like Patrick’s as well.

Aside from some minor traditionally questionable “zoom in/zoom out character scene”, everything feels like a cinematic experience. The highlights, obviously when Elan activated Aerial’s Permet/PMET Score and the debut of Gundam Pharact/ Elan vs Guel. That fight was fantastic, it gave us not only the battle styles between the two, but also the capability of Elan as a pilot, while still gives regards to Guel’s strength, as he fought Pharact with his brother’s Dilanza, which is probably not even adjusted for only him. And yet, he still managed to control a completely new MS, still found a way to fight back, and tried to close the gap. Combining with amazing sounds, this episode, and probably future episodes, you can watch it with friends and such, on a big screen with a good speakers, it will be quite a scene to witness. But of course, the end result is one we can all anticipated. Fights with Gundams never work out well for the opposing side, and Guel once again got absolutely demolish, however, he still won in our hearts (nice going, Guel!)

And then Elan made his final ultimatum at the end, and the fateful duel between Suletta and Elan begins.

As we setup for the Gundam showdown, we get more crucial side-plot that may have an impact on the main plot. Guel especially has been a meme generator ever since his debut, he has gone from getting butt-slapped to having to camp outside with a literal tent. Aside from that, we get another shocking revelation – the true Elan Ceres. The Elan that attend school and took an interest in Suletta is in fact, just a body double with his face. Enhanced Person no.4 is just a poor kid from the slum that was picked up by Peil Industries, got Elan’s face plastered on him, and took his place in the public. The true Elan is a smug and spoiled kid that certainly doesn’t look like he give a shit about his replacement. After that, we understand why “Elan” is acting like he does. He’s desperate for his freedom and prize that was promised to him, and he hasn’t got a lot of time left because he will die after piloting the Gundam 2 more times. If he won his duel with Suletta, he can go free. But we all know what franchise this is.

The duel between Pharact and Aerial went about as much as we expect. Elan and Pharact went in guns blazing and bit-blasting and Suletta was just getting used to the Mirasoul Booster (kudos to Nika by the way, best girl!) so the Aerial was pretty much on the back-foot at the start. This is the first time we see Gund-Format going up against Gund-Format in the series, and it’s clear that Sunrise put a lot of effort into this. The animation was pretty amazing, especially with how the bits whiz around like a dance. Even though throughout the fight, it was only Elan that was getting intimidated and unstable, while Suletta literally was trying to talk to him. Even before, she was trying to reach him with the “Happy Birthday” song, but little did she know that had the opposite effect.

And then came the conspiracy theories, we’ve already posted about Prospera and Aerial’s potential hidden secret. And the Aerial Bits giving Elan that creepy silhouette and children’s laugh, that also send chills down OUR spines. What is actually hidden in those bits? And the overly dramatic way that one small bit was protected making us think that there’s more to them than just normal Gund-Format bits. And of course, there’s a plethora of theories that lead the series into a deep, dark hole. But still, it’s not as “dark” as the final scene where “Elan” no.4 was singing the happy birthday party…seconds before his impending doom.

If Suletta found out the truth later, it will definitely her most shocking experience after telling “Elan” that there will be someone out there who will celebrate his birthday, and that she will be one of them. Their rendezvous after the duel definitely made Suletta think that they are actually friends now, and I’m sure “Elan” think so too. But as the hands of Gundam will it, their friendship will never come to pass. With how the situation between the Earthians and Spacians being absolutely volatile, and the depressing stuff is now seeping into the school as well, we can see the story progressing much more grittier from now and focus on the actual revenge plot by Prospera. The break between episode 6 and 7 with a special in-between is a galaxy-brain move by Bandai and SUnrise to keep us second-guessing the events that were shown and making up theories for the future. As G-Witch is the most popular Gundam has been in years in terms of anime, generating more discussion in the communities isn’t a bad thing at all.

Next episode: Shall we Gundam? Yes, we shall!

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