Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury directed by both Hiroshi Kobayashi and Ryō Andō and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi. It is the first mainline gundam series in seven years and the first TV series in the franchise to feature a female protagonist…not counting the movies and manga.
The series centers on Suletta a timid girl with a dark past as she tries to fit in at a school that trains robot pilots. Along with The series has themes of the dangers of new technologies. Along it are the usual themes of political corruption, capitalism and revenge often found in a gundam franchise.
The Witch from Mercury plot hinders on its prologue episode as much of the hidden agenda and objective of the organization and persons within the story relies on said prologue. With its school setting and dueling system it does has similarities with a certain Princess Utena with mech battles taking over the sword duels of Utena. Also being a school setting the plot does takes it time to develop its story with episode 6 outside of the Prologue episode being one of the turning points of the series.
The series focuses more on the interaction and character than just the robot battles which is refreshing and is rather new for any gundam series veteran. Its really nice to see a female gundam series main lead that has to cope with social awkwardness instead of being a stoic military bad ash for once. This sort of deep character development is also present with the rest of the characters with the cool and composed Miorine having her own sets of insecurities and doubts.
The Witch from Mercury has a lot of standard Gundam stuff bubbling up under the surface between Suletta’s mom, the Earth vs Space political situation, and corporate subterfuge. Also having a first ever female MC is helping. Plus having Suletta fish out of water school approach of being alienated and even bullied resonates to a lot of people. It’s definitely a slower Gundam series because of the school setting, but it’s clearly building up to a more traditional Gundam storyline if you’ve been paying attention.
The animation is also surprisingly well done and shows how much Sunrise has improved robot animation. The series also has similarities with Mobile Suit Gundam École du Ciel as both featured a female protagonist and a school setting. It also has similarities with Shakespeare works like the Tempest with the series using the names Prospera and Aerial from the books Ariel. Also despite the shows somewhat yuri potential it doesn’t really go there and implies the relationship between Miorine and Suletta as being only “partners” in concept.
I love the design of the Aerial and the Lfrith as it gives the gundam vibe but at the same time gives you the idea that it’s a female piloted gundam. If there is any complain on the series is that I wish the fights was a lot longer but I guess dragging it way longer would feel too dragging. Also the mecha design for each of the Corporate Mobile Suit has their own flavor and look to it you feel they came from their own mecha series. The series OP track is a really banger too while at the same time feels like its own thing compared to existing gundam OP theme.
Overall
Gundam Witch from Mercury is a refreshing take at an age old robot franchise.
It has enough mech to mech action while having an easy to follow plot that
newcomers to the gundam franchise can get into. So if you are still not a
gundam fan at this point and want to get into the series than you could probably
give this one a shot. Its female centered story makes this accessible for both
gender who wants to get into the gundam franchise as well. Highly recommended.
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