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The following contains spoilers for Episode 5 of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, "Reflection in an Icy Eye," now streaming on Crunchyroll.

Gundam: The Witch From Mercury has showcased some amazing mobile suit battles over the last couple of episodes, with the one from episode 3 being the best one yet. It clearly displayed what the mobiles suit, especially Gundam Aerial, are capable of and what an intense battle for this series looks like.

However, as mentioned in the review for the previous episode, there seems to be an emphasis on the daily life of the main character as the main storyline. Which is a totally different direction than other major series in the Gundam franchise, most of which are well-known for its intricate political intrigue and thrilling armed conflicts. So will this fifth episode continue the current direction of being a slice-of-life school drama, or will the series finally veer into the usual direction that has made this series so popular and beloved by the fans.

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Previously on Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

Gundam Witch From Mercury Standard Mobile Suit

The fourth episode of Gundam: The Witch From Mercury focuses on the daily life of Suletta Mercury as a student at the Asticassia School of Technology. She finally gets the chance to lead the life of a normal student after the chaotic events that have been happening since her first day at school.

As a student of the Piloting Department, Suletta has to take an exam that requires her to navigate through a field of landmines. Unfortunately, since she doesn’t have a dedicated operator and mechanic, Suletta automatically fails the exam. However, she is allowed to take the make-up exam if she can find a team to support her.

Suletta desperately looks for anybody who is willing to help her. But ever since she beat Guel Jeturk, the son of a highly influential person in the Beneritt Group, no students are willing to help her. Thankfully, Miorine comes in and tells Suletta that she will be her operator and mechanic. Unfortunately, some students pulls a prank on Suletta that caused her cockpit to black out during the exam. She was sad and frustrated, but Miorine encourage her to calm down and carry on. So Suletta steel herself, and repeat the exam once again.

Reflection in an Icy Eye

Gundam Witch From Mercury E05 Gundam Aerial

Elan Ceres is one of the three elite students at the Asticassia School of Technology, just like Guel Jeturk. She is a soft-spoken man who rarely utters any words or shows any interest in anything or anyone. But for some reason, he is interested in Suletta Mercury. He was the only person that came to see Suletta when she was detained after her first duel, and gave her some food and a word of encouragement.

That is why Suletta is highly ecstatic when Elan invites her to go out with him. Needless to say, she says yes, despite Miorine stubborn complaints. What she doesn’t know, however, is the fact that Elan is actually an enhanced human who was created by the Peil Technologies with the sole purpose of turning him into the perfect Gundam pilot. So inviting Suletta is actually just a lie that he comes up with in order to take a look inside the cockpit of Aerial and see how Suletta’s pilot her Gundam.

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Elan somehow feels extremely frustrated by the way Suletta pilots and treats Aerial. He even goes as far as insulting Suletta and makes her cry, which makes Guel, who happens to be there, also feel upset at him. So Elan decided to challenge him in a duel. Guel agrees. And then Elan comes out in a brand new Gundam Pharact that is equipped with a similar swarm remote weapon system as Gundam Aerial. It was a one-sided fight and Elan easily defeated Guel. His next prey is Suletta. But this time around, the stake is Suletta’s Aerial.

The Plot Thickens

Gundam Witch From Mercury E05 Elan Ceres

As you might’ve understood from reading the summary above, things suddenly become quite complicated in this episode. We go from a normal school drama in the previous episode, to revealing tons of crucial information in this episode. From the fact that there is actually an enhanced person that is designed to be a perfect Gundam pilot to the appearance of a new Gundam, there are so many things happening in this episode.

Not only that, we also finally move on to a more serious side of the story. Because it’s clear now that while Gundam and its GUNDFormat is a forbidden technology, there’s still a big company out there that is still willing to develop one. This opens up so many new questions that can take the story to lots of different directions.

Is Pharact the only Gundam that was developed in secret? Is Elan the only enhanced person in the series? Why did Peil Technology want to develop the forbidden Gundam mobile suits? How will the president of the Beneritt Group react when he finds out about this? The Plot has definitely thickens.

A Looming Threat

Gundam Witch From Mercury E05 Gundam Pharact Attacks

Other than the revelations about the enhanced person and the new Gundam, there’s also another important and interesting thing that we discover in this episode. Highly influential people pay much closer attention to Suletta and Aerial than we ever thought before. In a way, she is a target, and if she is not careful, there will be a witch hunt with her name written at the tip of their spear.

This looming threat is not only for Suletta though. It also applies to her mother, the mysterious masked woman and the representative of Mercury’s Shin Sei Development Company. Because everybody seems to be hungry to get their hands on the ultra rare, genuine Gundam, despite the fact that it is forbidden.

As mentioned in the previous section, we know now that Peil Technologies is secretly developing a Gundam and enhanced human just to get a grasp on the power of Gundam. So imagine what is going on in their head when they see Aerial, a genuine Gundam that was developed by the original GUNDFormat researchers, and Suletta, the girl who can pilot it with ease. The fact that Elan asks for Aerial as his prize if he wins the duel with Suletta is a major red flag, and a clear proof that certain people truly have their eyes on Aerial.

This is easily the best episode in the series thus far. There are so many great things going on in this series. The build up is rather charming and wholesome, just like a slice-of-life anime, while the climax of the story is thrilling, exciting, and quite shocking as well. Not only that, we also get a great cliffhanger right at the end of the episode that makes us can’t wait to see the next one. What a great episode to watch!

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