#olcott

Bob get up!! - by ryosuketarou

This week's episode of G Witch sees everything falling apart for all of the characters, but none more than Guel, who we're seeing for the first time since he unwittingly killed his own father at the end of last season. He's now a prisoner of Dawn of Fold, and is sitting around wracked with guilt over what he did. Olcott believes Guel could be used as a hostage, but the audience understands better than that.

When the raid begins on Dawn of Fold, Guel takes action after he's been left behind, trying in what will ultimately be failed attempt to save Seethia's life. Seethia for her part doesn't understand this; she hates Guel simply because he was brought back while her father lost his life in the attack. Guel has been an object of hate, but now he's trying to save her life, and he can't really even articulate exactly why he's doing it. But he's doing something under his own volition now, rather than simply because his father or the company or the school are making him do it. It's an important step forward in his rebirth as a man who will be capable of living his own life.

As the attack rages on, more and more people lose their lives. Before this episode, most of these people were faceless characters to us, just agents of a group who had been villain coded in their actions. But here we see them fighting and laying down their lives to protect their families and comrades. It's an excellent reframing, the sort of thing that Gundam has historically been good at.