Scene analysis - Meilan's sacrifice
Get them tissues, folks. This is not gonna be pretty.
When their colony gets attacked Meilan is the first one to jump into action. She takes the Tallgeese, the only available armed mobile suit, and sorties to fight OZ and the Alliance.
As we see, Master O warns her that she’ll kill herself if she uses it. But Meilan resolutely declares that she’ll fight nonetheless. She is fully aware that she might die, but she’ll still protect their colony.
That is what “I am Nataku!” means. Nataku is a guardian deity in Chinese mythology. As the Long Clan’s heiress and strongest of them, it is Meilan’s duty to protect them. If she ends up dead because her body can’t handle it, so be it.
Here we see Meilan noticing the damage she is causing to her husband’s favorite field of flowers, so she decides to take the fight outside the colony to spare it.
Meaning, she willingly foregoes the advantage she had fighting in an enclosed area where she didn’t need to use Tallgeese’s thrusters as much and thus her body wouldn’t suffer as much damage, to move the battle to an open space and get her guts turned into jello with the G-forces just because she wanted to protect her husband’s reading spot.
This looks like Meilan is a stubborn badass who believes in her ideals, right? Read this again with the following page in mind:
For the longest time I bought into the idea that Meilan was all gung-ho about justice. But the above shows that she herself actually agreed with Wufei that there was no such thing as universal justice.
“But even so, I have to fight! That is the way of our people!”
Unlike Wufei, Meilan is the clan’s heiress. She has to uphold her people’s traditions, it’s her duty. And so is fighting for justice. So to go back to the previous pic, Wufei is dumbfounded by her response that this is a fight for justice because he knows she doesn’t believe in it herself. Yet, she is still willing to fulfill her duty even at the cost of her life.
It’s one thing to talk the talk and another to walk the walk and Meilan does it. And Wufei is floored.
Wufei is rushing to get to her now because he knows this will end badly. Meilan will go all the way if she has to.
Meanwhile, we see the effects of piloting the Tallgeese and Meilan’s decision to fight outside of the colony. She has started coughing up blood. Even so, she goes Spartan and tells them to come and get her. She won’t throw the fight.
She will uphold her people’s ideals. Come what may.
Look at the Tallgeese. Meilan isn’t holding back at all.
As for Wufei, he may not believe in justice but he’ll be damned if he’ll sit back while his wife gets herself killed for it. An important detail here is that unlike Meilan, he doesn’t stop to put on a spacesuit. He’s in a rush to get to her. The longer he takes, the longer she fights and the more she is injured.
Wufei orders Meilan to get to safety while he takes over. Meilan is pretty surprised that he came. Also, notice how he maneuvers Shenlong to protect the Tallgeese from the shots? He knows she’s battered. Whether she is sitting in a MS made of Gundanium or not, she can’t take much more.
We also see that Wufei is an obviously adept fighter and one can’t help but wonder what would have happened if he had gotten his butt up earlier and fought OZ and the Alliance with the Tallgeese himself.
(Did I just point out the root of Wufei’s guilt issues? Yes, I did.)
Wufei defeats all but the last guy who, not wanting to be a complete disgrace to Treize, rushes him with what I believe is an attempt to self-detonate in his face. What else could a Leo do? It wouldn’t destroy Shenlong, not by a long shot, but it would damage its cockpit. And guess who is out in space without a spacesuit because he was in a rush earlier?
Wufei tries to shoot the guy but he has run out of ammo. If he tanks the attack, he will die because he will be flung out of his cockpit.
This is where Meilan, who despite his order didn’t leave Wufei, intervenes.
A Leo’s destructive power is often on par with a sneeze in the series, but here we see the result: a damaged cockpit. Meilan is floating in space, so we can say for sure that had it been Wufei, he would have been toast.
Meilan isn’t in a better position though. She may be wearing a spacesuit, but she was severely injured in the battle. Which she made worse in part because she wanted to protect that blasted field of flowers. So taking such a hit was just as lethal for her. Right there she had the choice: her life or Wufei’s. And she chose him.
Let us recall, Meilan is the Long Clan’s heiress. She is their future leader and the sole granddaughter of Master Long. She is also the one with a goal: to fight for justice, unlike Wufei who had no interest at all in such a fight, despite his power. No, he was a scholar who didn’t do anything in the face of unjust oppression.
She still chose to throw her life away for him.
When Wufei calls her Meilan, she insists she is Nataku. Like the guardian deity, she protected him after all, didn’t she? (That and she’s a total badass, just like Nataku.)
Meilan also knows she is dying right now. Her final wish is to be brought to the field of flowers.
Let this hit you. She wants to be in her husband’s reading spot in her last moments. Whom she once mocked for it.
After all the antagonizing Wufei and Meilan presented us with all chapter, we are given a completely serene and gentle scene here. Wufei is carrying her carefully, mindful of her injuries, while Meilan reflects on the beauty of the flowers. This is the first time they see eye to eye. Meilan appreciates what Wufei values, while Wufei voices his respect and admiration for his wife’s strength.
In a moment of humility and honesty that the knowledge of one’s certain death grants, Meilan asks an important question. Since she wasn’t able to finish the earlier battle by herself, which Wufei apparently was, she timidly inquires if she had proven her worth or if Wufei was ashamed of her as his wife. Because she had once offended him in this manner by being ashamed of him for being a scholar. Until he proved he could take her in a fight.
Wufei not only tells her she was strong, but declares her stronger than anyone. That includes himself. He may be stronger physically, but there was no way he could match her spirit or nobleness.
Meilan’s last words are that no, he is the stronger one before her injuries claim her and she sags against his shoulder.
Wufei, not realizing what just happened, tells her to get off him because he thinks she’s getting cozy with him. It takes him a moment to understand she isn’t leaning on him because she wants to be affectionate but because she is dead.
And if you notice, she died smiling. Meilan was at ease when she passed.
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