Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Episode Three: Guel’s Pride
Written by: Ichirō Ōkouchi
Directed by: Ryo Ando and Shinnosuke Ito
Storyboarded by: Ryo Ando
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Episode Three: Guel’s Pride (グエルのプライド, Gueru no Puraido) is the third episode of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.
Miorine briefs Suletta on the upcoming duel, but she is reluctant to continue and take up the role of Miorine's fiancée, telling her about a list she composed of normal school activities she hoped to do, such as going on dates, believing it would be wrong to do so were she engaged. Miorine, still intending to flee to Earth, reveals the marriage won't happen until she turns 17. Miorine offers to make a deal to Suletta, asking the new student to act as her groom until she finds a way to escape. Meanwhile, Guel returns from his test flight of the new red mobile suit, the MD-0064 Darilbalde, objecting to its use of an onboard AI assistant. His father chews him out again, pressuring him to do whatever it takes to reclaim the title of Holder.
While redressing after being released from imprisonment, Suletta makes a video call to her mother, Lady Prospera, asking her about Aerial being a Gundam. Prospera assures her daughter that she and Aerial are different from what they are being accused of. Returning to Asticassia, Suletta meets Nika again before being confronted by Guel, who reveals he will once again be her opponent. Meanwhile, Prospera gives Vim the information about his assassination attempt against Delling which she used to blackmail him into helping arrange the duel. Discussing Prospera's history over a video call, Sarius orders Shaddiq to investigate Suletta.
Miorine and Suletta bond back at her greenhouse when Elan approaches the redhead to transfer contacts, as he will be overseeing the upcoming duel, with Miorine expressing some annoyance at Suletta's friendliness with the boy who showed her kindness during her confinement. Elan takes her to see Shaddiq and the Dueling Committee, who brief Suletta on the formalities of her duel with Guel. With Suletta and Guel sticking to their stakes from last time, Elan finalizes the conditions of the duel. After defending Guel from Secelia Dote's mockery, Suletta privately discusses her mantra with Guel as they leave the lounge, as well as their respective relationships with their parents. Meeting with the members of his House, Guel boastfully assures them of his victory while his half-brother Lauda Neill reviews a message from their father.
The day of the duel arrives with Miorine telling her champion to remember their deal, while Lauda and Vim discuss the latter's plotting; Lauda expresses faith in his brother, believing his father's meddling unnecessary. With the Darilbalde and Aerial ready, the fight commences. Compared to the Dilanza, the Darilbalde proves more of an even match against Suletta and Aerial, its AI repeatedly blocking attacks Guel's own reflexes could not; to his despair, the AI eventually wrests control from him entirely. Suddenly, the battlefield's emergency fire suppression triggers, the "rain" dissipating Aerial's beam fire, significantly hampering her abilities. Despite his reservations, Guel briefly revels in his "luck" as the AI exploits the moment of weakness, charging towards their foe with increased aggression. Miorine, seeing Suletta struggling, tries to stop the duel due to the error, but Elan refuses, citing that duels are not entirely fair, and such support is part-and-parcel of preparation. Miorine defiantly boards a worker unit to put a stop to the squall while Suletta and the Aerial continue the duel.
Miorine tracks down the emergency control room, scaring away the Jeturk House members stationed there and turning off the sprinklers. With the rain stopped, Suletta is able to unleash Aerial's Bit Staves, quickly turning the tide on Guel's machine, destroying its defenses while Guel becomes increasingly frustrated with the AI failing to keep up. Vim calls Guel again, berating him for failing, but Guel quickly deduces his father was behind the water sprinkers' activation and asserts his desire to have a fair fight, smashing the mobile suit's main interface, disabling the AI in the process. With the Darilbalde seemingly disabled, Suletta and Aerial advance on the previous Holder, but Guel, now resolving to fight by his own willpower and strength, unleashes his machine's beam blades to block their finishing blow, continuing the fight, managing to push Aerial back with the Darilbalde's sheer power before throwing them with its leg claws. Suletta takes advantage of the new position for a final charge, breaking through her opponent's defenses to destroy its horn. Winning the rematch, Suletta secures her place in the school, Aerial and Miorine's safety, and a massive outpouring of praise from many students. Disembarking, she apologizes to Guel for underestimating him, praising his combat prowess; Guel responds to the positive reinforcement by abruptly proposing to Suletta, much to her shock.
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Guel’s Pride provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Once again, Vim shows a very good example on how to treat your kids. He first slaps his son and demands that he reclaim the title of Holder and sets up the Darilbalde with an AI assistant to help pilot the machine and cause him to win, much to Guel's dismay as he wanted to use his own strength and sadly notes his father doesn't believe in him at all. When the Darilbalde is put on the ropes, Vim wastes no time berating Guel for failing him.
- Affectionate Nickname: Suletta tells Miorine she wishes to call people by their nicknames. She tries giving one to Miorine at the end of the episode in the form of ‘Mio-Mio’, but Miorine rejects it and preliminarily rejects any others.
- Artificial Stupidity: Over the course of the duel, Guel gets increasingly irritated by the idiotic behavior of his machine's autopilot, falling for obvious feints and tricks. Eventually he gets fed up and manages to disable it, taking manual control and becoming a legitimate threat despite the machine being in quite a poor state at this point.
- Battle Couple: Suletta and Miorine are technically one in this episode, even if Miorine doesn’t currently plan on following through with the engagement.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: When Suletta compliments Guel's abilities, he seems genuinely moved, such that it causes him to go on one knee and propose to her on the spot.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Miorine shows some hints of it. She is visibly annoyed when Elan comes to the greenhouse to chat with Suletta, and when Suletta starts talking about her wishlist, Miorine snarks about the red-haired girl's desire to go on dates while leaning suggestively against the door. Going further, Suletta reveals during her conversation with Elan that one item from her wishlist was to exchange contact info with a friend. A few scenes later, we discover Miorine registered herself in Suletta's phone without her noticing.
- Computer Equals Monitor: All it takes for Guel to disable the artificial intelligence aiding him in piloting his Daribalde is to slam his fist into the interface.
- Dare to Be Badass: After Miorine informs Elan that Suletta and Guel’s duel was tampered with, Elan says that this shouldn’t be a problem for Suletta if she really is a witch.Elan Ceres: Suletta Mercury, if you really are a witch, you can survive this situation.
- Didn't See That Coming: Suletta didn't expect Guel to propose to her.
- Everybody Has Standards: Guel proves to be a man of honor who is not in favor of cheating.
- Flat "What": The episode ends with Suletta giving this response to Guel’s sudden proposal.
- Graceful Loser: Guel, the resident Starter Villain of the series, takes his defeat relatively well, especially after Suletta compliments his abilities.
- Mythology Gag: The Darilbalde first appears from a higher ground, has its 'eye' glow, leaps from its vantage point, blocks a shot from the Aerial, block a beam saber attack when it's seemingly put on the ropes, attacks with its feet and loses when the Gundam crashes into it to attack it, much like Ramba Ral and his Gouf's final battle with the RX-78-2 Gundam. The few differences seen are the enemy's machine being red instead of blue, the new machine using poles with blades on top and some beam sabers, and the reason the Gundam's rifle not working properly being due to third party interference.
- Running Gag: This is the third episode to end with Suletta having a shocked reaction to something she did not expect.
- Security Cling: Petra and Felsi cling on each other in panic as Miorine attacks them with a Mobile Worker.
- Worthy Opponent: After her original easy win caused her to underestimate him, Guel's performance in their second duel has Suletta compliment him for his mobile suit combat prowess, stating she underestimated him.
