Weird how your dad never mentioned murdering all those people.

The viewpoints I see about Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury) in my sliver of the anime fandom uniformly vilify Prospera, differing only in the intensity of the condemnations. However, I still regard her as a protagonist. I also support her quest for revenge even though I'm uncertain as to the specifics of her plan. (Spoilers henceforth for the first 17 episodes.)

You're not young Bel, right?

A significant factor responsible for this (apparently minority) view is my unwillingness to minimize Delling Rembran's role orchestrating and initiating the mass murder depicted in the "PROLOGUE" episode. I don't believe there's been any meaningful attempt to justify the assault, so I'm mystified this doesn't come up more often. It's as if viewers collectively shrugged and concluded it was all right because we barely knew those people.1

You don't always recognize the last time you'll see a loved one when it happens.

Elnora Samaya, of course, did know those people. She escaped with four-year-old Ericht as the facility's sole survivors while cold-blooded killers butchered her husband, her mentor, and everyone at Fólkvangr. (I'm unsure how many died in total, but it seems like dozens.) Consequently, this factor shapes my perspective about everything Elnora has done (and has been accused of doing) in her Propsera guise. To be clear, I also do not perceive her purported transgressions as being especially egregious. The worst accusations I can levy involve emotional manipulation, but assigning blame exclusively to Prospera for the actions others take strips agency away from those victims and reduces them to mere instruments.

I guess she doesn't have a shitload of Suletta pictures decorating her desk.

Granted, I'm taking Prospera at her word when she offers explanations or insights.2 For example, I assume Ericht really was dying and that Elnora did not turn her into a child-Gundam chimera for Fullmetal Alchemist reasons. I'm also accepting Prospera's explanation to Miorine in episode 14 about enrolling Suletta to fulfill her wish of attending school while keeping her in a safe(r) environment as sincere. Likewise, I scrutinize her role as a mother through the same lens Suletta uses. Every on-screen interaction (and every historical one, according to Suletta's beaming admiration) appears authentic. Although, Prospera is possibly playing a long con, and has devoted considerable energy for decades to deceive and exploit her own daughter(s) in pursuit of a convoluted revenge plan.

See, Suletta trusts her.

Maybe Prospera's true face (as it were) will be revealed and she'll get her comeuppance when Suletta (and Ericht) turn on her, but I'm not sure I find this prospect convincing. This is partly because I don't know the particular specifics of her revenge plan. After all, Prospera has had at least some opportunities to stab Delling in the neck, so simply offing him doesn't seem to be the primary objective.3

I do find it odd they use portable data-storage devices.

Moreover, I'm increasingly cognizant that The Tempest ends with a wedding, not a bloodbath. I'm disinclined to believe G-Witch will end with Elnora in ruin, and Delling triumphant. However, I'm also skeptical the conclusion will adopt the forgiveness aspects from The Tempest, particularly since Prospero's betrayal involved a loss of authority, not the literal murder of everyone he cared about. I'm pro-revenge enough that I would find such a finale distasteful, almost as a matter of principle.

Note 1: E.g., "What Delling did to that lesbian couple was objectively terrible, but not subjectively so because they weren't 'our' lesbian couple."

Note 2: Maybe she's manipulating me.

Note 3: I have no idea how Quiet Zero fits into this.

Everybody has a plan until they get Gundamed in the face.

Despite blogging about anime for more than 20 years, I know surprisingly little about the Gundam franchise as a whole. Aside from some inescapable tropes and details, basically everything that I do know comes from Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny (the only installments that I've watched). Oh, and the compilation movies for the original Mobile Suit Gundam, but that was a long time ago. However, after the prologue to and the first episode of Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury), I'm fairly confident in assuming regular-type Gundam TV ain't normally like this. And I'm not just saying that because the lead character is a girl.

Be nice to the new girl.

I've seem multiple fans describe Mercury Witch Gundam as Utena Gundam, which seems about right to me, with the heavy caveat that I don't know anything about Shoujo Kakumei Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena) either. It at least fits the stereotypes I've encountered related to Utena. Maybe nobody has turned into a car yet, but it's only been one episode. Basically everything that did happen in the first episode was absurd, and that also fits with my secondhand impression of Utena. Y'know, maybe it's not that weird. Maybe Gundam is always like this and I just never knew. I'm at least aware people get slapped in Gundam, and there is slapping in the first episode of Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo. Maybe it's not that different after all.

Lafiel and Jinto spend some time with Diaho.

Take a Lovely Complex-inspired desire to watch more relationship anime, coincide that with the GREAT RE-WATCHING PROJECT, add a soft spot for space opera, top it off with the AYAKO DOCTRINE, and you'll find me enjoying my Banner of the Stars II DVDs again.

Lafiel.

The best part of the Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars series is the relationship between Jinto and Lafiel. It's one of the rare occasions where I don't object to a couple's apparent lack of progress. While there is no reason to think that Jinto and Lafiel are tearing each others clothes off in-between scenes, the lack of eros doesn't compare with Keiichi's and Belldandy's infuriating self-imposed celibacy, mainly because Jinto's and Lafiel's relationship actually progresses over the course of the series. Also because they don't act like idiots. There is that.

I've been so out of it that I didn't even know the third Banner of the Stars was out already. Being a big fan of space opera, and the earlier Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars installments, I was all over this.

Lafiel

Somewhat surprisingly, I was unprepared for how much I enjoyed hearing Ayako Kawasumi's voice again.

Let me back up a bit: I went anime-less cold turkey for three months—long enough that hearing Japanese again sounded weird as all Hell. I got used to it, of course. The first show I caught up with was Gundam SEED Destiny, and while it was nice hearing Fumiko Orikasa and Tanaka Rie again, I can't honestly claim that the experience was especially noteworthy.

Lafiel

Ayako Kawasumi's voice, on the other hand, was very welcome. It certainly helped that the character Lafiel is one of her best roles (if not her very best role), but in any case I reaffirm without reservation that the AYAKO DOCTRINE remains good law.

Given my immediate reaction to hearing Ayako Kawasumi's voice again at the start of Banner of the Stars III, I was naturally quite pleased with the OAV's ending. It was definitely appropriate.

Lafiel and Jinto

I'm not bestowing enough import upon Seikai no Senki III itself. The Crest/Banner of the Stars saga is a great series, and I was stoked to learn of this new installment. Even if I wasn't a sucker for space opera, the relationship between Lafiel and Jinto makes them one of the most compelling couples in all of anime—at least in my opinion.