I wanted to collect my thoughts so I can look back and see if I was right. Spoilers up to episode 7, and speculation for the rest of the show.
General theme thoughts:
- the intersection between revolutionary girl utena and the tempest is "an ongoing cycle of violence almost ends in tragedy, but the earnest efforts of a few characters break the cycle and there is a promise of a happy ending for at least some of the people involved". And I feel like as a general guideline that's probably where the witch from mercury will end up too
Ariel and Caliban
- I'm still convinced we're getting Prospera in caliban vs Suletta in ariel at the end of the show
- I think some version of the original Eri is in ariel (that barely feels like speculation any more tbh), which raises the question of what would/could be in caliban. A degraded copy of Eri? Some version of the dad? Nothing? Hard to say. It could be a very dangerous version of the GUND system, so that they have a time limit to get through to Prospera and end the fight.
- my personal feeling is that the tempest's explicit mirroring of ariel and caliban means there has to be something deeper about the mechs. Like, ariel is an imprisoned spirit, and that maps so neatly onto Eri being somehow trapped inside ariel in the show, I feel like there has to be an equivalent personhood to the caliban mech. But we'll see.-
- I don't necessarily know that we're getting souls in the show, I think the Eri in ariel could be a sort of ai recording of the child, but I don't expect that to discount her personhood.
Suletta
- we already know for sure Suletta isn't Eri. The names, the timeline is wrong, etc.
- I think that the Elan subplot is probably to set up that Suletta is what he is, not a clone, but I certainly wouldn't mind if she was a clone
- Elan obviously knows what he is, which seems to be "a person who has been altered to have the body of someone else". Suletta pretty obviously doesn't know. There's also a lot we don't know, about how that interacts with memory, how the process works, how old she was when it happened.
- I feel like poor Suletta is in for A Very Rough Time when she figures out what's going on
Suletta and Miorine
- I'm still convinced they are going to end up in a romantic relationship by the end
- it's such a core part of the characters that they echo from both the tempest and utena
- I also think it's good that they're not there yet! In utena, she and anthy don't really develop a relationship until later on in the series, after they see past the roles they've been assigned. I suspect the same will be true of WfM.
- in the tempest ferdinand and miranda's relationship is initially a scheme by prospero, and it's kind of a surprise when he realises how genuine and loving it is. Which also fits with the way that Suletta and Miorine have been manipulated by the adults around them into a relationship, which will eventually become real.
- one thing that I think is a bit fun is that there's some play with who is what character. So, from the tempest: Suletta is miranda (innocent, sheltered, naive, beautiful, raised on an island unfamiliar with wider society) and Miorine is ferdinand (active, initially rescued by miranda but then protective of her). But when it comes to utena and anthy, I think they played us. Miorine has the outward trappings of anthy (bride, garden, in a coerced relationship at the start) and Suletta has the outward trappings of utena (holder/duelist, skilled fighter, outside figure who comes in and shakes things up), but especially with the most recent ep I think those roles might be reversed or end up reversed by the end of the show. Miorine is the one who gets the very utena-like coffin shot, and she's the one who does the saving in the party episode. And Suletta is the witch, and she's the one who is maybe more trapped in a role she can't escape (being eri's replacement). I don't think the show will end with one of them saving the other, but with the two of them having to work together to save each other/stop Prospera, which leaves more scope to have those inherited patterns blur together.
The rest of the cast:
- everyone is going to end up in earth house/gund-arm house, in keeping with the idea that a new, younger generation is free from the violence and hatred carried by their parents
- including new elan, who I suspect is not immune to suletta's charms
- I need to go look at the character names and see if there are any clues there
- it's very funny to me that elan's house is run by the bene gesserit, but I don't know that it actually means anything? I think it might just be a cute joke. But we'll see.
More theme thoughts
- I think "what is the deal with earth thematically" is my current biggest outstanding question. Earth is important to Miorine and we know the people there are pretty badly oppressed, and I expect all of that to be important, but I'm not sure exactly how yet.
- I think "everyone is a person, even artificial/constructed people" is going to be a solid theme of the show. It fits with parts of the tempest and utena, as well as like, every other gundam show.
- I think I can see a way for those two elements to dovetail into "everyone is a person who deserves freedom and a life without coercion and violence". That's certainly where I'd go with the show if I was writing it
