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(ENG SUB) The appeal of Gunpla (MajoRaji)

So, I recently watched The Witch from Mercury, and I felt compelled to write an analysis of the show's use of the story structure of romances. I'm a hobbyist in the history of trends in genre fiction with a particular interest in romances. I thought it would be fun to use my area of expertise to talk about how the budding relationship between Miorine and Suletta is intertwined with the story of G-Witch.

Something particular about the romance genre is that, unlike other genres of fiction, it's mostly defined by its story structure. This means that just because a story is about two people getting together does not automatically make it a romance in the same way having magic in a story qualifies it as a fantasy. The flip side of this is that while you can't have a fantasy without fantastical elements, a romance can be put in any setting. As long as the story hits the required plot beats, it's still a romance. This makes Romance simultaneously one of the strictest and most versatile genres, as the plot can be anything as long as it ties into the main characters' developing relationship. Use this structure in a story about financial politics and mechs, and you get a story like The Witch from Mercury.

I think the show uses this structure very effectively. In my opinion, a great romance should, first and foremost, be an exploration of the part of the human condition where previous bad experiences make us reject intimacy. The romance story structure is designed to have the characters come face-to-face with their inner demons by giving them a reason to overcome them. Something that's a lot harder to pull off outside of romances, as not many things in life require us to overcome some of our deepest insecurities instead of just pushing them down.

G-Witch is a great show to use as an example of what makes a romance a romance as it follows the story structure almost to a tee, but it's also not the kind of story that most people usually think of when picturing a romance. I also believe that seeing the show through the lens of the romance structure leads to some juicy character psychoanalysis for Suletta and Miorine. I'll go over all the plot beats of a romance and explain how they apply to G-Witch and, if applicable, why I think you don't see those plot beats outside of romances. The names of the plot beats are taken from "Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels" by Gwen Hayes, which is also my primary source, along with my own extensive experience with the romance genre.

Haunter and Gengar laughing at TV 📺

ꕥ MIKU KOHINATA ♡ HIBIKI TACHIBANA ꕥ

You all knew this was coming eventually. It's no secret she's my favorite among the cast, though Suletta is quite close. There's good reason for it too! She's a wonderful twist on an old gundam fav, the original peace princess, Relena Peacecraft. But as with her wife, there are multiple homages and inspirations added to her character—Norse gods Odin & Dagr-personification of Day, the goddess Persephone/Kore, and the White Queen

Odin

I'll admit, I was thinking perhaps I was off-base with my original analysis since she never lost an eye as we were anticipating. But she does make a horrific sacrifice and is hung by the swords of hatred as Prospera's Rose Bride. She is indeed the Hanged God who willfully pierces herself in the name of enlightenment/knowledge; for her, 'saving' Suletta.

All at the behest of the show's Mimir, Prospera, who directed her to Quin(Wisdom)harbor in the first place. It's subtle, but it works so well once you notice the pieces fall into place

(I'll expand more on Prospera and Mimir in another analysis)

But why Odin of all the gods? A patriarchal figure, no less. The answer lies in yet another Roman syncretism for Mercury. They share many similarities/domains and became entwined due to the spread of commerce; even sharing the same holy day, Wednesday. They are both psychopomps, able to traverse the realms freely, seekers/scholars of knowledge, and formed their respective alphabets. Odin is another face of Mercury.

And of all the characters, Mio has been at the forefront of gaining knowledge and unraveling hidden secrets, such as the tomato code and GUND. It's rather easy to link her vigilant serviellance over the school/Benerit to Odin's ravens. Her emblem is a bird after all...

Dagr/Persephone

In all honesty, I can't explain why this parallel is so clever without discussing these in tandem. Dagr, as I've mentioned previously, is the personification of Day. Counterpart to his mother, Night/Nott, and father, Dellingr. But why was Mio given this distinction as the bringer of Day? Because she's also coded as Persephone, goddess of Spring. GWitch is intertwining the Norse cycle of Day and Night with the greek seasonal cycle of agriculture. When Persephone descends below into Hades, the winter sets in as Demeter falls into despair. She is echoing Nott, bringer of night. Then when Persephone rises above, life blooms anew and spring begins, mirroring when Dagr has drawn the sun over the Earth. Both bring renewal in a ceaseless cycle.

In the finale, Mio is the harbinger of a new world. She has dismantled Benerit and is working tirelessly with the people of Earth to sow life after the many years of 'winter'.

If I haven't convinced you yet, let's take it back a few episodes. When Prospera vowed to show Mio the voices of the dead and proceeds to drag her below to the dark abyss that is Earth.

Hades Prospera has stolen Mio away and 'defiled' her sense of self. It's not a literal violation, thankfully, but considering the over-hanging Akio parallel it's intentional. Cleverly, the Rose Bride of GWitch is entwined with both Odin and Persephone to create a very layered sequence of events

But this Persephone doesn't wed her defiler. Instead, she's wed to her saviour who leads her into the light; Hermes/Mercury. In the original myth, Hades tricks Persephone into remaining his bride by eating Pomegranate seeds. This Persephone willingly eats a tomato given by her chosen groom. And before that, she decides to visit GWitch's Hades so long as Suletta joins. The Persephone-Hades tale has been indelibly altered to grant her agency and a new suitor along with completing the Dagr/Persephone cycles

The White Queen

Obligatory, please read my previous analyses on As Above, So Below and Red King and White Queen for context.

Miorine is a mercurial girl in multiple ways, from her appearance to her flunctuating temperament. She's the embodiment of Quicksilver/Mercury. Her name is derived from Mercury. Mio- a name imparted by the japanese people for a Mercury Orbital probe. Rembrandt- the name of a Mercury crater with high volcanic activity. The last bit of her name 'rine' can also be interpreted as water/watersilver; she’s elemental Mercury from top to bottom.

Mio is also a metaphorical Queen as the president of Benerit. And her union with the Red King resulted in the miraculous, mediated by the alchemical dove; Earth House.

But the parallel goes further when you look at the White Queen's symbol. The moon. As established above, she is Persephone or the Maiden. Her mother is Demeter, The Mother. And there's evidence Prospera is coded partly as the Crone, Hecate. All three are linked to the phases of womanhood and the moon

She might be the most subtly layered character I've had the privilege of dissecting. Her marriage to Suletta has unprecedented amounts of significance and canonicity. Mio, the Odin/Persephone/Rose Bride/White Queen amalgamate who overcame the tragedies of mythology and established her place in all our hearts.

Pictured: someone powerful

“Who is this funny woman doing here?”

- Tanino Gimlet, a horse

Traveller & Merchant: The family motto of “Move forward and gain two” is a mercantile mindset, one shared by mother and daughter (though it looks increasingly like Suletta won’t be renewing her subscription), and is further apt with Suletta being an immigrant from literally another planet and Prospera being a CEO.

Trickster: As Miorine and Shaddiq have both observed, Suletta’s too honest for this to apply, but it fits Prospera and her schemes like a glove.

Herdsman: Mercury’s association with farm animals, particularly goats, cattle, and chickens, is practically shouting about Suletta’s bond with Earth House and their animals.

Communicator: Developing communication skills, from what I’ve been told, is a recurring theme for Gundam protagonists in general, and is definitely one for Suletta in particular, and I’m looking forward to the payoff of Suletta learning how to effectively communicate.

Thief: This one might actually apply to Suletta in the future, depending on how she acquires her next mobile suit (Gundamjacking is also apparently a time-honored tradition of Gundam protagonists).

Psychopomp: Oddly enough, Prospera’s an inverse of this, since her goals seem to be the opposite of a psychopomp’s traditional duties. Conversely, depending on how the ending plays out, Suletta may turn out to be a more straightforward example (the only time Suletta will be straight anything, heh).

Also, I can’t help but feel that the open flaps of Suletta’s boots, and the tufts of hair she has sticking off to the side of her head, are meant to invoke the winged footwear and helmet traditionally associated with Mercury.

So Gundam: Witch From Mercury really leans heavily into the whole witches and witchcraft theme, which is interesting for a sci-fi show. Not to say that they don't do it gloriously tho and in this post I will be pointing towards some of the symbolism that I noticed in the show.

The series starts with the first witch we see inside a Gundam Mobile Suit, none other then our dearest Elnora Samaya, also now known as Prospera Mercury. During the prologue, before anything else, we see her and once she exists the dark of the cockpit its revealed that she has fiery, blood red hair.

(Source: prologue G-witch)

Historically, witchcraft has been associated with red heads because of the many prejeduces against them. Red heads are a minority who have been associated with a lot interesting figure, from Judas who betrayed Jesus to the depictions of Lilith. This has given redheads a negative connotations in the Western World.

Next we see that the head researcher leading this project on GUND-format is also a woman, an older woman at that. Dr Cardo Nabo is the visionary leading this project, dedicated to the cause of making the GUND-format work in conjunction with humanity, in order to improve their lives and perserve their future. She knows that humanity, if it wishes to expand further into space and continuenits next steps into exploration and living outside of Earth, will need technology in order to aid their bodies in order to survive and thrive.

Older women involved in a form of medicine is an other motif in witchcraft and witch stereotypes. Witches were often involved in medicine and care. Cardo is the italian way of refering to a thistle, a purple green prickly flower that was said tp have medicinal properties in the middle ages.

(Source: Prologue G-witch)

During this prologue and later in the show it is revealed that the reason why the Vanadis Institute, of which Dr. Nabo was the head of, was doing resesrch into the GUND-format in conjunction with Mobile Suits because that was the primary way to get access to money for further research. Military funding through Ochs-Earth, an Earthian military company, would allow the Institute to further their goals and to show the viability of the GUND-format.

However, they encountered difficulties during their research. Mobile Suits are far larger and more difficult to control then prostethic limbs. The higher the permet score used by an individual to control more of the suit, the more the chance of death grows. Anything higher then score 3 caused deaths to the user because of, presumably, a data overload caused by the Permet link.

This caused a lot of ethical debates and strife, presumably, where the GUND-format was cast into a dangerous and even inhuman light because of its potential to not just kill others but also the users themselves. This led to the eventual forceful suspension of the project by the council, during which Cathedra used the Dominicus Forces to attack and kill all those present on Fólkvangr, the asteroid where the Vanadis Institute was located. Those present on Fólkvangr were both staff of the institute as well as their family. Everyone who was involved or related to the development of the GUND-format were killed in what is essentially a witch hunt.

Fólkvangr is an other reference to witchcraft, as in Norse Mythology this is a heavenly field in the afterlife ruled over by Freyja, a goddess of many things including magic (to see and influence the future). An other name for Freyja is Vanadís. Once again, this is a reference to paganism and witchcraft within the G-Witch universe thats quite obvious. Ochs also may or may not be a reference to the Old English word for "Oak" (not too sure about that one), if this is indeed true then this may be a reference to Thor, god of Thunder and Lightening as well as a warrior. I considered connecting oaks to Yggdrasil, the world tree, but that is an Ash tree, not an oak.

During the discussion in which the Mobile Suit council werebdeciding the fate of further development of Gundam Mobile Suits, Delling came forth and said that they had to "Wield the hammer of witches" in order to put a stop to the development of Gundams. The "hammer of the witches" is a reference to the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th century guide on hunting and persecuting witches.

During his speech at the conference, he also calls the fact that gundams kill not only other soldiers but also their wielders a curse, once again a reference to witches. Prior to saying this he also says however that humans should kill humans, instead of humans being killed by just technology (really simplifying this) but essentially what he is saying is that the Gundams killing their wielders is unnatural and goes against the normal way of things.

(Source: Prologue G-witch)

The irony of this is also the name of these organisations. Cathedra is a literal reference to the throne upon which a bishop sits, Dominicus means "of the Lord/Lord's". Both are a reference towards christianity and its opposition to both withcraft and paganism.

Now we have established whom exactly this show calls "Witches", these are the people involved in the manufacturing, research, development and piloting of the GUND-format and Mobile Suits using said format, be it for medicinal or war uses. If you are associated or sympathize with the use of this technology, you are considered "a witch".

Putting this into context, we can now also look at the name "Witch From Mercury". Who does this refer to? I've seen people argue that this might be Aerial or Prospera, but I sincerely disagree. As of the knowledge we have come to learn of in both the short novel as well as everything from episode 16/season 2 episode 4 onwards, we can assume that Suletta was the only one actually raised on Mercury and who feels any connection to the planet at all. Suletta, as both a pilot of a Mobile Suit using the GUND-format as well as the daughter of a witch (Elnora/Prospera), is a witch.

(Source: G-witch teaser announcement)

Now onto my FAVOURITE part: the 2nd ED Red Birthmark. Oh boi this baby has some of the more blatant witch references, I absolutely love it ngl. Starting with the name itself, historically one of the methods to hunt for witches was to check for birthmarks/skin marks. Having strange birthmarkings or an insensitive patch of skin was basically proof enough of you being a witch, again a part of the witch hunt theme.

The song, which I am convinced is from Miorine's perspective (tho maybe/perhaps Aerial, tho thats a small maybe), makes references to seeing into the future, not liking whats in it and changing destiny yourself. Once again, these are themes of clairvoyance, the sort of magic Freyja is associated with (aka Vanadís). Witches were often said to be able to look into the future and change things as well.

Next we have the visual parts if the ED. I'm sure we all ate utterly in love with.

From 0:44 to 1:00 we have this beautiful sequence of Suletta dancing and conducting GUN-bits.

First Suletta creates a stylized version of the Triple Goddess Symbol, a well known pagan icon amongst both witchcraft practitioners as well as wiccans. The symbol contains 3 moons in different phases; waxing, full and waning. The symbol represents the 3 phases of the goddess; the maiden, the mother and the crone. This is both the life lifecycle of a girl as well as the eay that wisdom is often bestowed upon a person, from the elderly to the adults to the children. You could even argue that this could represent Dr. Nabo, Elnora/Prospera and Suletta.

(Source: G-witch 2nd ED)

Following this we have 5 Suletta's dancing together in which one can assume is a circle dance. Circle dances bave historically been associated with both witches, pagans and cultists. Something ritualistic.

I felt like I was onto something in my As Above, So Below post when mentioning the Philosopher's stone. After a bit more research, I'm fairly certain that's the intent

In Alchemy the marriage of the Red King and White Queen is an allegorical union between sulfur (Red King) and mercury (White Queen). Their dissolution and coagulation is a method for gaining the Rebis or Philosopher's stone.

The stages of the union are as follows:

Nigredo, dissolution or blackening. This stage is the complete breakdown and blackening of elements. In Jungian psychology, it signifies a complete beakdown of self/ego under immense despair

Albedo, purifying or whitening. The next stage involves the purging of impurities. The soul is cleansed of its shadow/ego.

Citrinitas, awakening or yellowing. In this intermediary stage the elements are filled with inner solar light. An awakening of self as the final stage nears. (Considering we have a solar ray involved, this feels pointed)

Rubedo, coagulation or reddening. The final stage is unity as two alchemical opposites marry. The Red King and White Queen

Considering the theme of cycles and my analysis on As Above, So Below this isn't the first time a Red King has joined with a White Queen. Notrette and Elnora were the first and spawned both homunculi and a method for eternal life. Their magnum opus