Gundam: The Witch From Mercury has been an absolute powerhouse of an anime, bringing a significant chunk of revenue to parent company Sunrise as well as a bunch of new fans into the long-standing anime franchise.

Yet, there’s one character who’s gained popularity for doing basically nothing- Secelia Dote, the smug member of the Dueling Committee in Witch from Mercury.

When I say doing nothing, I mean it- the character spends the entirety of the first season on a sofa, only making snide remarks as the universe’s physical manifestation of kicking Guel while he’s down.

In fact, she’s extended that record well into Season 2 as well- though no longer bolted to the couch she’s instead waged her campaign of condescending nonsense across the school, showing that even surviving a terrorist attack doesn’t mean she can’t bully poor boys into painting her toenails, as a jealous audience watches.

“GOD I WISH THAT WERE ME“, screams Twitter user Nyarth, over screenshots of aforementioned feet-painting scene, which is promptly followed up by an indirect kiss.

The disproportionate love-screentime ratio for Secelia in Witch from Mercury has been a bit of a running gag in the community, with anyone watching the various live broadcasts bearing witness to chat erupting in cheers any time she’s on screen.

“Cecelia, a woman who receives all the libido of the production team while the main story is fucking hard. Her poses and facial expressions are crammed with sexuality”, writes Twitter user Ponzu_SHT.

It even came to a head during last week’s episode, where it was revealed that the school’s biggest smack-talker was also running the confession booth student- with many artists deciding perhaps Secelia was due a wardrobe change.

水星の魔女が切なすぎなので、セセリアさんシスター描いた pic.twitter.com/GGQwZ20N7w

— ダメテツジン17 (@Dtjin17) May 21, 2023

Despite having a very otaku-friendly design, Secelia actually ranks fairly low in the marketing priority for the Witch From Mercury- unlike characters like Suletta or Miorine she has no figures announced, though that’s probably because she has nothing to do with giant robots other than being in charge of their duels.

In an anime where literally everyone is scheming against each other, it’s almost funny in a way- Secelia is just there, listening to all of it in the most fanservicey ways possible. Despite that, her chat with Martin in this week’s episode is surprisingly wholesome- and is sure to win over some new fans.

One thing’s for certain though- they could keep up her schtick til the end of the series, and I don’t think anyone would complain if in the end it turns out she had no schemes, and was just a gossipy teenager.