Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo

Whether you’re a veteran Gundam fan or have never gotten into the series, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury will be a fun watch!

This is the first Gundam anime I’ve watched. I know almost nothing about Gundam, but the world-building in the anime is excellent. By starting in space with the protagonist Suletta Mercury reporting a stray astronaut to the space police, we get a sense of the scope of this world right away. We’re up for an interstellar treat where space stations have been established to the point of a rescue system, an academy, and freaking bureaucracy. I love it.

Suletta is an interesting ... protagonist. She’s timid and stammers, but she has heart and stands up for herself and others when needed. By defying the space police and rescuing space princess Miorine Rembran on her own, she shines as her own character, with a lot of heroic potential. Through a series of tomato-related events, she also ends up being shipped with Miorine.

I didn’t expect a yuri Gundam, but I’m all for it, especially since Suletta and Miorine have cute chemistry and plenty of moments throughout the anime that develop them as characters. Miorine is a classic tsundere, but she learns humility and shines on her own before opening up to Suletta.

My main criticism is the Gundam itself. For an anime called Mobile Suit Gundam, there isn’t much mobile suit Gundam. Conflicts among schoolmates are resolved by one-sided mecha duels; they’re one-sided because one mecha is clearly superior to the other. The duels get boring when the same team keeps winning. And instead of exploring the mystery of Gundam, which I’m guessing is covered in another Gundam anime, Miorine and Suletta decide to promote Suletta’s mecha Aerial and make money. At least this plot is used to develop the main duo/ship.

Bonus points for both the OP and ED being fire! YOASOBI doing the OP is a stellar choice. ^^

To summarize this Gundam serious so far:

Multiple Corporations agree to work together to end a lethal product, only to years later start using the same product that tried to abolish. All while fucking over the entire lower class and middle class (all of Earth) and working them to death. While this is going on they same corporations that once worked together are now in-fighting using the said abolished product. All for the sake of total monopoly for market dominance. All while using Corporate Militaries to do it, but also while training unaware youth to fight a fight started by a bunch of rich, privileged CEOs ... over a decade earlier.

In short: A story about what happens when unchecked Capitalism meets Military Spending and Resource Allocation head on, with a sprinkling of classism and youth indoctrination.

I.e. A solid Gundam plot.

I've never been into Gundam, personally it's never appealed to me. I never had any plans to watch the series nor did I expect to walk away from this show loving it as much as I do. I can't compare it to other Gundam shows, but I can say with certainty that this has some of the best world building and plot unravelling that I've seen in a long time.

The first few episodes set up the universe through tropes and repetition in order to lull you into a safe idea of the world. Gundam pilots are the good guys and the man with big eyebrows ... is the bad guy. Pink haired guy is an asshole, red haired girl is our hero. Earthians are the underdogs, Spacians are the bullies. The school setting it familiar and safe, the duels are nonlethal but the stakes still feel high for our protagonists, they purposefully repeat plot beats from Revolutionary Girl Utena, etc. It's all to set the baseline, this is the world the characters live in and here are the rules.

I've seen a lot of people point this out as a criticism, which I think is a fantastic argument against the "3 episodes or drop it" rule of this community. The writers did this on purpose, we're meant to feel familiar in this setting explicitly so that, when we get to see the real consequences of war, it punches just that much harder. This is a slow burn, the characters are being built up so we relate and care for them before shit hits the fan, and the show handled it masterfully in my eyes. If the show had kept the same energy from the prologue for the whole 13 episodes, it wouldn't have hit as hard. It's a war show, expect to see bad stuff happen. What makes it so great was the ramping up of tension and danger, a massive space battle every episode does not evoke emotions nearly as well as watching a boy who is so cocky in a safe arena like to school cry out that he doesn't want to die while in a real battle or a girl who seems so in control of herself break down when she sees someone die for the first time.

I really don't want to spoil any more, and if you really can't get through the scenes with the characters just sitting around and talking without constant explosions than maybe just watch a fight compilation of YouTube, but if you're interested in a show that respects your patience in order to deliver an amazing story of trauma, war, and how our coping mechanisms can cause us to do terrible things, than set aside four hours to watch Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. You won't be disappointed.

I've held a semi-deep interest in space, science fiction, robots, and mecha for many years, but have never quite dived into any mecha titles. With how popular this title has been lately, I figured I might as well give it a chance. Words alone can hardly describe the 'everything' of things this show gave me, whereas I expected - or rather, merely hoped, I would get a few cool robot battles out of it. I humbly and happily admit I was proved wrong, and all my initial thoughts about what this show might be like had quickly been pummeled into the ground.

The wonderful thing that ... makes the Witch of Mercury feel so special to me - as an anime - is that it doesn't behave like one all the time but so clearly is one, wants to be one and embraces being one. It set up plethora of characters and tropes, styles and topics so commonly seen in anime titles, and then completely obliterates them... yet at the same time, thrives on the best of the best of anime tropes. To name just a few examples:

- It sets up characters whom you think you understand, whom you can practically recognize from other series, only to let them grow and change into their unique selves. As colourful in personality as they are in design, I found myself getting ridiculously emphatic to not only characters I didn't initially like but to characters I initially didn't deem important. But in the Witch from Mercury, everybody is important, which perhaps makes it one of the most interesting character-driven plots to watch. No voice is unheard, and no voice is ignored.
-Furthermore, the Witch from Mercury starts off with a tired concept of a school setting which instantly made me think this was not going to be as good as I wanted it to be... a concept that ends up being so far removed from itself, yet its still vital for the plot. It effortlessly turns the concept of an academic hangout spot into a playground for something far, far bigger. School is, for all intents and purposes, just a word for something else all these wonderful characters are trying to do.
-MELODRAMA. Do it well, or don't do it at all. I feel like the majority of media in general fails to portray drama of any kind well, and melodrama has all but been ridiculed to hell and back. So to find myself getting invested not only with interest but with emotion, was an absolute experience.

I could write pages and pages about this anime but it wouldn't do it justice. I wondered how could this melodramatic title about politics, space, robots and highschoolers possibly be a masterpiece - surely I missed something, surely I can't give it a blatant 10, but the reality is - I literally don't have a single complaint about any of it. Coming from me, who has been feeling quite bitter about many, many anime titles, I think it counts as proper praise when I say this anime is what revitalized my hopes and interest in further titles in general, if only any of them had half the talent and effort the Witch from Mercury has put into it.

I'll admit, coming into Witch From Mercury, I was a bit skeptical. Compared to other Gundam series, the beginning is pretty slowly paced, and I wasn't too keen on the series taking place in a school. I was afraid that it would fall into the typical anime school tropes, and ultimately, it did. However, Witch From Mercury uses that to its advantage and ties those tropes and the unusual setting into the complex politics that Gundam is known for.

All in all, my expectations for the series have been blown away. Witch From Mercury is a fantastic anime that I'd recommend to Gundam veterans and ... newcomers alike.

Gundam, the anime about giant fighting robots. Never have the stakes felt lower, and yet, never has the plot been so enticing. normally, a Gundam Anime's plot will involve the whole of humanity, spanning stories that arc across and between planets, and the main characters actions will affect and determine the outcome of Humanities political, ethical and behavioral future. However, with Gundam Scarlet Witch, it seems the producers have moved away from such heavy handed topics, shifting instead, to a more high school-esq environment.

this variation of gundam explores what happens when corporations and their bottom line profits are the sole determinant factor is how ... these machines are used, the technology behind them utilized, and the pilots live. coupled together with the unique premise, that winning a battle at school means you get to have your way, the story tells an enticing story of what would happen if behind the scenes, shady and shifty parents, sent their corporate brain washed rich kids to school.

this one is the story of an underdog come to a new environment to learn and succeed, but the anime suffers in numerous ways. the first is that the main character possesses cultish levels of dedication towards both her machine, and her mother without backstory, Woke/forced romance between the main character and her side lead, extreme plot holes when it comes to the enforcement of certain Taboos as they relate to Gundams, and a lack of world building as the plot progresses. this show is solid, and another banger for the gundam universe, but its not on the level of some of its predecessors such as Gundam 00, Gundam Wing, or even Iron Blooded Orphans, which, the latter of these definitely had its fair share of issues.

recommend watching, but dont have unreal expectations, im a huge gundam fan but found myself Fast Forwarding just to finish it. so i grant this a 7

Just. Go. Watch!

as you may have seen in other reviews, or in spoilers on social media, the anime has a long school arc. For me it's the old idea of ​​developing the character. But those in a hurry prefer blood right at the beginning. Easy there, people!

The story centers on two young women (which is fantastic, first female protagonist in Gundam!), each of whom is different: decided, and not.

Other characters appear, you need to understand the feelings and actions of each one, this is not a show that throws everything in your face right from the beginning.

I recommend you watch 1 ep a day, 2 ... if you have free time

You call yourself a mecha fan but you instantly decided to skip Gundam when you see one.... Yeah, you are not alone.
It is understandable due to the sheer amount of gundam shows making you want to put it aside and rewatch Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. However, when someone told me that Witch from Mercury is a beginner friendly gundam series. It automatically became an instant watch. One thing I can say is that I do not regret anything.

The visual alone is mesmerising and even though there are some CGIs here and there but this is the best visual I have seen from Fall 2022 comparing ... with Chainsaw Man and Bocchi the Rock. CGIs are slowly dominating this era of anime but this show just managed to deliver that sweet 2D animations. Even the worldbuilding is great and the opening scene in the episode one allures me into it and I officially finished a gundam show. The team involved in this project really understand how to make sci-fi mecha shows and I respect that. For that alone worthy a 9/10 for me tbh without factoring in other things.

Continuing with the story, the story is a little meh tbh but still enjoyable because it is simply a slice of life country girl going to city school crossover with isekai magic school show. Apparently after having some discussions with other gundam fans, the story is rather nice since it is not exactly military-esque like other gundam shows. There are also yuri in it which pique the curiosities of most people but some people are left disappointed just to find out it is softcore yuri and I enjoy watching them griefing. Despite all that, the show is actually dark from the beginning and I never knew that birthday song is cursed (I found out about the prologue after watching episode 2 which is frustrating ngl). The underlying plot of Aerial and intention behind the Suletta's mother really shook fellow gundam newbies and some veteran when they find out about it making me looking forward what else the show has to offer( but the story kind of slowed down after that so I started to lose interest in it.). However, the ending literally took the words out of me like WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! (like seriously, I didn't expect that at all).

For the characters, I really like the character design and their interactions can only be described with this - "If you run, gain one. Move forward, gain two". First, the main character Suletta is a clumsy country girl who came to the "big city school" with a bucket list of what she wants to do in school (Sounds familiar right, just like a slice of life character's description). After that, we have Miorine which is just a damsel in distress rebelling against her controlling parent. There are other characters but nothing much to say about them. However, the most interesting character in the show is Suletta's mother because she looks like a good mother to Suletta but at the same time she is a mastermind pulling the strings making the ending truly unexpected.

In conclusion, this is a very interesting show to be a beginner friendly gundam and definitely worth recommending to fellow mecha fans who never watched gundam. This show can receive a higher rating from me but I am trying not to be bias towards it and set an unnecessary expectations for the second season.

Thank you for reading and have a nice day :)

If you run, you gain one, but if you move forward, you gain two. This quote has been bouncing around in my head ever since the main character, Suletta Mercury, mutters it to herself for the first time. Not only is it a clever and wise statement, but it effortlessly describes what Gundam The Witch From Mercury is all about. No matter what we do as human beings, we always have to make a decision of some sort in our daily lives. This is shown straight from the beginning as we sit with Suletta in space where she notices a person floating around with nothing ... but a space suit. Filled with fear of danger for a fellow humanbeing's safety, she immediately decides that she has to help. Suletta brings this person aboard Aerial, her mobile suit, and then to the Asticassia School of Technology. Ironically, this was her destination all along as she was planning to start her studies here in space to learn more about mobile suits, make friends, and find love.

Upon her arrival, she learns that the woman she just saved, Miorine Rembran, was actually attempting to flee the school in order to escape to planet Earth. Despite the obvious danger, she is furious that she was pulled away from her opportunity. Meanwhile, a mobile suit battle is taking place between two students within the school's duelling grounds. This is the way that students settle any arguement, big or small, within the academy. After the fight concludes we meet the overly confident and arrogant victor, Guel Jeturk, who is also the school's top pilot. He invades Miorine's dorm and completely wrecks her precious tomato garden, demanding her hand in marriage. Because of the rules that Miorine's father has placed upon the school, Guel holds the title of Holder, which gives him automatic approval to wed her. This prestigious accolade is granted to any pilot who can defeat him. Unhappy with the treatment her new friend has recieved, Suletta challenges him, shows off her S-tier piloting skills, takes the title, and therefore becomes Miorine's fiancée.

All of this stuff might seem very surface level, but behind the curtains there is a large-scale political war happening. Most of the students at the academy belong to families who have heavy investment in the Benerit Group, a company that funds the school and leads the market in mobile suit development and technology. This furthers the motives of the characters to chase this title and marry the head of the company's daughter for their own benefit. With Suletta's newly held title, and her amazing mobile suit design that carried her victory, everyone wants to know more about her and where she came from. Many of the students were born and raised within space, some from Earth, and of course Suletta from Mercury, a planet known to have a very small population. Nobody believes that such an advanced mobile suit could come from a bumpkin of a planet and best one from the Jeturk's company suits, making her a star and an enemy to many.

The interesting designs, personalities, and ideas each character represents all mesh together for what I believe to be a perfect space-highschool experience. They constrast with their adult families' counterparts unbelievably well and create an innocent foil to such strong and serious adults, all the while seeing clear and believable influences from their family backgrounds. You can really see where everyone comes from, how they got there, and why they are doing the things that they are doing. Suletta, being the main character, comes off as very awkward and anxious. She doesn't know how to speak to others properly, but she has a very kind heart. Miorine is very much the opposite; she always speaks her mind and comes off as cold and heartless. Over time you see each character grow and move toward their goals in a very satisfying way.

I absolutely have to mention that I adore the stylistic choices that Witch From Mercury goes for. Every single second of animation is beautifully done. The colors are bright and vibrant within the school setting, while the shifted tones during action or politics are dark and gritty. Everything works very well together with no complaints whatsoever. This iteration of Gundam easily has my favorite designs out of any, which is big praise for a series that has been consistantly running for the past 44 years and prides itself on awesome robot designs. Some of it is very familiar and sticks close to home for fans, but it all seems very fresh and new at the same time. There's just not much else like it.

The development of the bigger picture is where the series really takes itself into another direction. Everything that you see, no matter how simple or childish it might seem, is all part of a big plan. It should be obvious; the school is dedicated to mobile suit development, and therefore comes with a seriously dark territory. Most of the students seem very important, almost like the rich kids from your own high school, and carry themselves with more than just simple, childish pride. They're big stocks in their parents' companies, and their futures very much depend on who and what they know at this school. It reaches a point where it almost makes you question if every business, program, or education system is corrupt. You wonder whether or not the important things in the world were ever told to you.

Suletta and Miorine make a lot of hard choices throughout the series. It is very clear that they are both just kids, have no idea what they are doing, and they know it. They have to make things up as they go along and pray that it just works out. They have to battle with the hardships of school-life, business, mobile suits, and politics, all with no real guidance other than knowing that you're moving foward for something you believe in. If something gets in your way, it doesn't matter if you can handle it or not. Whether you decide run or move forward, you're always gaining something. You're always learning; this is what it means to be human. There is not such thing as failure unless you don't move at all. It's a spectacular concept that is being displayed here, and I cannot praise it enough.

It's refreshing to feel the sense of excitment and joy that this series has given me. It's been a very long time since I've had the pleasure of watching something that I enjoyed so much, let alone be a part of it while it was airing. I cannot believe that this is only the first half of such an amazing piece of media, and I cannot wait to see what the second cour has in store for us. I truly believe that this generation of Gundam is the best it has ever been. It might be a bit strange to some and feel quite different to other entries in the longrunning series, but it brings something new to the table that I believe everyone should at least give a try. Gundam: The Witch From Mercury is a unique story that blends modern anime and war politics together in a way that I never thought was possible. It is genuinely inspiring with its concepts, and definitely takes the place as the best anime to release this year.


10/10
Anime of the Year

This is a review of both seasons taken as a single piece. It's one continuous story and is best looked at as a whole.

It has been a very long time since I have enjoyed anything as consistently or as viscerally as Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. It is a piece of work that builds on the legacy of Gundam as a franchise, but also draws significantly from Neon Genesis Evangelion and plays with concepts drawn from Shakespeare's The Tempest. The series has a deep and clear anger at how rich nations exploit poor nations and the military industrial complex forments conflict for the ... sake of profit, and at how the older generations are willing to sell out the younger generations for their own comfort in general, and that anger is given meaning by the tenderness and humanity with which it treats its characters. The warfare of this setting is not an all out conflict, but a pervasive ill whose wider effects draw in and harm people outside of it, and despite the efforts of some to contain it, death and destruction can still spill out into places that seem safe. This is a very astute and appropriate evolution for a franchise that is principally about the horrors of armed conflict but is now in a world where Japan and the main markets for anime are now separated from it, even as it continues elsewhere.

The principle defect it has is that it's only 24 episodes long, and unavoidably feels truncated at that length. There is simply not quite enough time for the world and the characters to breathe and simply be as much as they should, and there are a couple of moments where the plot makes slightly jarring progressions. At the same time, I have to acknowledge that it still does a very good job of fitting as much as possible into the time available and has the ambition to try to do so, and the short length gives it a great intensity of pace. I'd have preferred more, but the concentrated dose we got has a great effect all its own.

The animation and direction is good, if unshowy. The fights between the mobile suits are suitably impactful. I don't know if any of the designs will go down as classics, but I do very much like the look of the central Gundam Aerial. The direction contains many subtle flourishes that make key moments hit harder, and since the general direction is fairly standard this actually allows them to stick out more. The series does a very effective job of making space feel very big and hostile, which is appropriate for a story which considers whether humans belong up there at all.

The series is mostly hinged on the odd couple relationship between its central characters. On the one hand there is Suletta, the anxious and naive but skilled Gundam pilot. On the other there is Miorine, the sharper and more worldly but very vulnerable heiress to the biggest arms manufacturer. They play off each other well, offering new perspectives drawn from their differing backgrounds, but also hurting each other because they are damaged people without the emotional tools to properly relate all the time. They are also pawns in a larger game being played by their respective parents and indeed pretty much everyone around them. There is a pervasive sense of threat as the duplicitous schemes to rob them of their dignity, agency, and lives play out. Suletta's mother Prospera is the series resident masked villain, at once cloyingly sweet and ruthlessly driven, and is a particularly memorable creation. The series has a fairly large supporting cast and cannot give them all interesting things to do in its short length, but still covers more than you may expect. There is one miscellaneous criticism I have which is that the leads don't get to kiss on screen - a bolder emphasis that this was a love story would have made the ending work just a little better for me.

To sum up, while the deficiencies of The Witch from Mercury are very evident, this is still a triumphant assertion that Gundam still has a place in the anime landscape, delivering moments of tragedy and triumph with the incomparable, genre defining image of a mobile suit in motion.

The show has war moments at the end of the series, all these reviews complaining about it lacking war but only saw like 4/12 are trash. the show is clearly going for a normal school life in to traumatic war type transition from season 1 into season 2.

The protagonists are fun. the animation is very good, the design of the weapons effects in particular are very good. the effects of the lasers is just so fun and dazzling to look at.
The gundams have great silhouettes and designs. some of the character designs are good, but nothing astounding.
the political intrigue is probably the worst ... as its the most generic and shallow and stereotypical political arguments.
The love stories are cute, particularly towards the end of the season it becomes very heart warming/wrenching.
Thers is also a over arching mystery going on were a bunch of stuff just doesnt add up and things are being possibly hinted at. its really fun [and heart wrenching] to speculate on.

While I agree with most people that the show starts out rather silly, keep in mind that this is only the first season. Throughout all the silly moments, there are bits and pieces that allude to the bigger plots brewing behind the school drama. Although the show has mostly focused on the light-heartedness of a typical school-aged comedy, the side characters engulfed in their dark controversies unbeknownst to the main character slowly build up tensions around the plot. The main character Suletta Mercury's naivete personality does not just make her unlikable, it actually is a very strong reflection of her upbringing and her controversial stance ... (and potentially controversial origins).

Contrary to most of the other Mobile Suit Gundam series, The Witch from Mercury has an almost childish start and is most comparable to Gundam AGE. However, the premise of the story feels more mature and digestible. This is, however, nothing like some of the more hardcore Gundam series focused on the horrors of war (looking at you, Universal Centry timeline).

The Witch from Mercury had a prologue to set up the plot concept of GUND-ARM, and then uses this first season to set up the premise for the progression of the rest of the story. I would think of this as something like Clannad and Clannad After Story; the second season will get into the real grueling plot of this show. The first season is undeniably slow-paced and filled with glee, seemingly innocent school drama, but once you complete this first season, you will undoubtedly look forward to seeing what's in store for season 2!

Hello.

As a first time watcher of a Gundam anime after seeing incredible art of the two MCs and their ship, I have to admit that I am in love. I've watched countless animes, thinking that I'm just a generic trash isekai consumer, but... this anime has turned my vision upside down. From the prologue episode of season 1 to the cliffhanger on episode 12. The character and relationship developments, the plot twists and fight scenes. The animation is beautiful and I can't help myself but to blast the audio on my speakers even in the early morning. A favorite SFX of mine is Aerial's shield ... in the first few episodes where it's most prominent and loudest.

Let me get into the Openings and Endings. The song choice for the opening of season 1 - "Shukufuku" - represents the promise and the vow Miorine and Suletta make together. The animation is beautiful and it highlights their very professional and not lovey-dovey relationship. The ending on the other hand is softer, less exciting as it shows them slowly starting to like each other more, but not quite becoming lovers or even just a proper bride and groom relationship. The representation with the ice encasing them, not letting them get closer to each other is exactly what you'd want to see in contrast to the less meaningful and more exciting opening. Both songs are a work of art and the animations made for them represent everything they needed to.

I am simply in love with the anime, the characters, the development of the different relationships and characters. I have cried and will continue to do so as I finish season 2. Most of the criticism here in this review section is of either diehard Gundam fans who have too high standards or of other people who cannot appreciate the finer details and the proper story setbacks and improvements. That is all from me. Please watch the anime, at least the first 3 episodes alongside the prologue before judging. If you're not sure after that, proceed until episode 5 or 6.

In order to talk about Season 1 of Witch from Mercury, we have to get Season 2 involved. That’s because Season 1 actually didn’t grab me and had me wondering where Witch from Mercury’s great reputation came from. However, after watching Season 2, I realized that pretty much all of the things in Season 1 that I didn’t entirely care about or didn’t like actually had good payoff by the end. Not only that, but even if Season 1 remained “just okay,” Season 2 was so intense that I think it’d be worth going for anyways.

I want to emphasize that Season 1 doesn’t actually ... do anything wrong. I didn’t find anything outright boring or annoying. But for the most part, the overall events of it can be summed up by a nervous girl (Suletta) going to Mech School and using her overpowered mech to win high-stakes duels. Now, at the same time the anime’s companies have interesting power struggles and use plenty of dirty tricks to get ahead (which is the real plot of this anime)...but there weren’t enough “wow”ing ones in Season 1. The mech fights also aren’t much to look at (besides Suletta’s beautiful Gundam Bits), which is a shame considering there are a good chunk of battles — especially with how duel-heavy Season 1 is.

However, the end of Season 1 and the entirety of Season 2 utilizes all of the events from Season 1 that were actually just setup and had me glued to the screen. There are so many sparks that go off between so many different characters/groups and well-done emotional moments that I was addicted to seeing what happened next. Admittedly, it got so complex that I had a hard time following who was doing what sometimes, but the general escalation of everything was straightforward enough that I wasn’t damned for it. Granted, some things felt asinine enough to take away from the experience, but not enough to lower my score.

To go back a bit, I will say that I didn’t really get attached to too many characters in Season 1, including the leads. They were still good though, and I like how much attention the sheer amount of side characters get! Season 2 helps by fleshing out everyone’s depth for sure, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t end up getting attached to most of the cast by the end in one way or another. However, I feel like a lot of good character moments come more from their place in the plot than from the characters themselves. “A character was cool for doing x moreso than how they did it.” It’s not bad and goes to show just how well events in the anime are done, but I do wish it could’ve been more of both. (Miorine probably suffers the most from this which is actually pretty bad since she's the co-star.)

While Witch from Mercury being “two seasons” doesn’t make much sense for the one continuous story that it is, it does make it easier for me to pinpoint when it immediately shifts from “okay” to “insane” on the first watch. Patience pays off with this one, assuming you even need it.

Mecha lives!! Whether or not G-Witch accomplishes its goal of getting a new generation into Gundam, this older viewer is absolutely loving what I'm seeing so far.

The show's writer, Ichiro Okouchi, got his start writing the light novels for Utena. The callbacks to Anthy and Utena are explicit, scattered throughout the first arc of the show: we have the weird school where duels decide who will claim the beautiful bride trapped in a situation she cannot escape from, the newcomer girl who arrives to save her, the slimy and snake-like popular boy who seems to hold a highly questionable amount of power. Combining Gundam ... with Utena is seriously inspired, and kickstarts this series' greatest strength, which is its creativity.

Rather than following what I can only call the typical Gundam first-cour arc, namely protagonist gets mech, we meet the squad of side characters, the conflict is introduced, and things gradually build to a point where there's all-out war, we have a jarring and surprisingly wholesome insertion of an arc in the middle of the series in which the two protagonists decide to use the dangerous and frightening Gundam mind-linking technology for good: medical technology that will let paraplegics walk, or will let amputees control an arm, and so on. It's something that's treated with a surprising amount of maturity and given a lot of buildup, starting all the way with the prologue episode. Since the core cast is made of essentially high school students, there's a dose of humor there as well, as the company comes across as a school project more than a billion-dollar enterprise.

The plot is TIGHT. The arcs all make logical sense, one flows into the next without missing a beat, every episode has a point, every moment at the school contributes to characterization or plot. This is not a show with a lot of filler, and in hindsight it's quite silly that people complained that a show set in a high school (albeit a mecha high school) had too much... stuff happening in the high school. I guess a lot of people wanted them to jump right into the War Is Bad part, but I'm glad we got some time to explore the relationships between the characters and get a peek at some of the simmering political tensions in the world before the tomato hit the floor, so to speak.

Our main character, Suletta, is an absolute delight. She's totally unlike any other Gundam protag I can think of--derpy, socially awkward, pure-hearted, and yet a highly competent pilot (to sometimes-frightening degrees). She is deeply attached to her mobile suit in a way that would make Setsuna F. Seiei proud, and while she usually appears mentally sound, happy, and friendly, there is something clearly... off with her at times, indicated visually by a distinctive ◉◡◉ face that may or may not signal brainwashing, a Bioshock-esque code phrase, inherent sociopathy, or some combination thereof.

Suletta pairs well with Miorine, her bride and the deuteragonist. Miorine at first appears to be an ice princess who must be warmed by the heart of her love interest (explicitly Suletta, don't let the accusations of queerbaiting fool you), but thank God she's so much more than that. A rich girl with a complicated relationship with her distant and cold father who nonetheless benefits from his patronage, Miorine is a good friend, domineering but not mean, and really, really funny. This series has fantastic animation and Miorine is often the star of the scenes, with her movements being almost Trigger-esque at times. She's super expressive, both in terms of her face and her body movements (and her hair!).

As for the rest of the cast, the clear standouts here are Suletta's mother, who sure has changed in Char-like ways since we last saw her in the prologue; Shaddiq, the cool and collected schemer who is probably in way over his head; and Guel, the Jeremiah Gottwald/Patrick Colasour, the jerk who takes L after L to such an extent that you can't help but root for the guy to win. As an aside, the character designs are so charming and varied here, with so many different body shapes, face shapes, skin tones, hair types, everything is so colorful and alive and it's just fantastic to see given some of Gundam's... clunkier adventures in sameface syndrome.

Naturally, since this is only the first cour, we have a bunch of mysteries and incomplete plots to deal with here. By far the most interesting is whatever secret lies at the heart of Aerial--without any spoilers, a tie-in novel shows that the machine is sentient, and while dueling, another character sees an... astral projection? or something? that sure does raise some interesting questions. That is tied in to the personality changes we can see in Suletta's mother, and Suletta's personality itself--possibly Suletta's existence itself. None of it feels like pointless hanging threads, and I'm so excited to see where the show takes us next. This is absolutely the best non-UC Gundam I've seen in years and may take the title of best non-UC Gundam ever by the time we're done. My expectations are high.

(For those who have not yet watched this show, be advised that Ichiro Okouchi is mostly known for writing Code Geass....... and keep in mind that the finale demonstrates this very well.)

The story is about a Human child from mercury go to space school to become a pilot. She brings Gundam with her but she never knew that robot was Gundam.There is some about political conflict but Family conflict has more space in this anime. There is rivalry in a robot company. The climax starting point is when one of the high member ladder of company planing to kill the owner company. I am so excited for season 2 of this anime.

I think this Gundam anime has more light story than other gundam we knew. So if you want to start to watch a gundam series, ... i think this one is a better choice.

yuri continues to outdo yaoi both narratively and literally.

mobile suit gundam: the witch from mercury is a show that has a ton of depth and realism to it. many character motivations and personalities are at play here, and the reason for this is to convey that the universe the show is set in is, much like our own, made up of people both good and bad. humanity, birth, life and death are struggling factors at odds with one another here in a conflict that takes center stage in a conflict which feels very real and grounded. this is only helped by the world containing ... details that just fit perfectly in a depiction of the modern world spread out through space. 'zaku' (using this term very lightly) being used to patrol settlements in space and the deployment of smaller mobile suits on the ground in earth are both things that feel at home in a conflict that could take place in our world. otherwise, the world building with different components of ships having features where you stop and think 'yeah, that makes sense.' when you see them is something i really admire.

in terms of the meat of this show (that being the characters and the story), suletta and miorine are amazing characters. listen to everyone else when they say that you will end up wanting merch of them both by the end. prospera is an incredibly faceted character who tinkers with suletta's emotions in interesting ways and never shows all the cards in her hand, and i could go on like this for most of the cast. where the story falters, however, is towards the beginning of the season. it felt like the writers couldn't commit to a single person they wanted to be with suletta, like they were just throwing characters at our mc like you would see in a harem anime. it ended up making a character's death feel not as impactful considering we'd just see the next person to duel suletta for her hand in the next episode. thankfully, the next episode came and went and then the next.. all without any of this. i'm happy to say that, while annoying, this gripe is not enough to bring the quality of the show down significantly.

mecha fights are the best when they're clean showcases of why our main character is the one in the pilot's seat and suletta mercury does this perfectly with her very clear connection to aerial. the fights finish up quickly enough but are always spectacles to behold (with the animation for the GUND-bits being something that i specifically enjoyed for whatever reason?) and don't feel too unrealistic for the most part. there are some times where there is a little classic mecha 'if i believe in myself, and trust in the gundam, i can do this!' cheese, but it's not overly annoying or anything that should take away from anyone's enjoyment of the show. my only question being..

when will yaoi fire back?

all in all, this is a very cute first season of gwitch that i'm certain will pick up more in season two. suletta and miorine are in LESBIAN LOVE and yeah.. it's good. watch it

(This review covers seasons one and two)

Gundam has never been high on my priority list when it comes to anime. To date, I've only seen Gundam X, War In The Pocket, and both seasons of 00 (Excluding the movie), though as of today, I'm adding Gundam: The Witch From Mercury to this list. The reason I haven't watched many Gundam shows is that...well, I have a hard time keeping up with and comprehending hard sci-fi stuff and the technobabble they try to throw at you. Because of this, I originally had no interest in G-Witch at all, even when it was first announced. But then ... I heard my online circles talking about it and praising it up the wazoo...and hearing the news that it apparently became so popular that accompanying merchandise outsold pretty much every other Gundam property EVER. The first episode made a gigantic splash across the world, bringing in a huge influx of new fans. Learning that G-Witch also took place in a school and would tone down the technobabble is what convinced me to finally sit down and watch it, and I'm glad to say I don't regret it. But while I do genuinely enjoy G-Witch as a show, there are things it could have improved upon.

In the year Ad Stella 122, a young girl by the name of Suletta Mercury transfers from her home planet of...well, Mercury, to the prestigious Asticassia School of Technology, a planetary academic institute run by the megacorporation known as the Benerit Group. While on her way there, she encounters another girl, Miorine Rembran, trying to escape the institute and head to Earth in order to free herself from her controlling father and his plans for her. Asticassia is known for letting students engage in staged mecha duels to decide on everything, no matter how petty, from apologies to marriage arrangements, and duelists all over constantly battle each other for the right to marry Miorine for their own gains. Miorine really wants to take her life in her own hands and is sick of being treated like little more than a prize to be won. Through a series of events, Suletta winds up winning a duel against a bully, which results in her being set to be Miorine's...betrothed? But this is just the beginning of Suletta and Miorine's complicated life together at the academy, and only one piece of a much larger agenda tying into the origins of Suletta's beloved mobile suit, the Gundam Aerial.

Compared to the few Gundam series' I've seen, G-Witch's overall look leans more on the overtly cartoony side of animation rather than the more rugged, rustic, realistic designs from series' past, even compared to the very first Gundam anime. The female characters look more cutesy and moe, most of the guys are pretty boys with multi-colored hair, and some of the adult characters have designs that border on being kind of ridiculous, namely that quintet of old ladies who run Peil Technologies. Other than some off-model moments scattered throughout the show, the animation is fairly consistent throughout. The backgrounds are all well-made, and the series has no small amount of fluid giant robot action, especially near the end of the series. Plus, the actual mobile suit designs, even the ones for each company in-series, are all visually distinct, helped by the fact that Sunrise hired four mechanical designers to design them for each in-series corporation, all of whom worked on previous Gundam series before G-Witch. Though...I have to admit, I like the general soundtrack, but I admit I wasn't a fan of the openings and endings save for the second opening. Seriously, the singer's voice for the second ending makes my ears bleed.

The overall storyline tends to be all over the place, though in the beginning, this isn't a bad thing. At first, G-Witch seemed to be going the really cheesy route of "Kids good, adults bad!" "Down with the patriarchy!" message, what with having several of their villains be abusive parents shouting stuff like "Children should obey their parents without question!" without a hint of subtlety, though thankfully that got toned down as the series went on. I know some people had issues with the slow pacing of the earliest episodes, but I personally didn't, as I felt they did a fair enough job of not only easing us into the setting, but fleshing out the cast of characters, especially Suletta and Miorine. I hate this idea that a show has to be nothing but non-stop action and story progression, because if all you do is go fast, fast, fast, without taking the time to develop your characters and show what they're like outside the main conflict, how can we, the audience, be expected to care about them? And as far as the characters go, the main trio—Suletta, Miorine, and Guel—carry the show wonderfully. Not every character gets the screen time needed to really flesh them and their backgrounds out beyond the main conflict (Shaddiq's cohorts are especially hit hard with this, as we literally know nothing about them besides that they work for him), but the ones that do fulfill their roles in the story pretty well. In my opinion, Guel is the best developed character in the whole series, and G-Witch did an amazing job at showing his growth from entitled, arrogant jackass to a more humbler, calmer, and more intelligent man.

But as much as I hate to say it, as you can tell by the rating I gave it, G-Witch isn't without its issues, all of which culminate in one thing: G-Witch feels like it should have received way more episodes than it wound up getting. Previously, Gundam series used to be able to receive 40-50 something episodes, even if circumstances mandated that they be cut short. The very first Mobile Suit Gundam series was planned to have 52 episodes but was cut down to 43 due to low ratings upon its initial airing. Gundam X was planned to have 49 episodes but was cut down to 39, though it was able to finish its story on its own terms, so it wasn't outright cancelled. G-Witch is the first mainline Gundam series that I know of to have only been given 24 episodes, barring the Prologue episode (Do correct me if I'm wrong)...and I think this episode length wound up working against it. The last half of part two really bum rushes through its story at a rapid pace, introducing new concepts, characters, and conflicts out of nowhere with absolutely no foreshadowing or explanation whatsoever, discarding other subplots wholesale, and writing themselves in a corner to the point where they pull random Deus Ex Machinas out of their ass just to be able to resolve everything. Even the finale is loaded to the brim with random resolutions to the entire conflict that have absolutely ZERO explanation for how they happen, especially in regards to one character, and only raise more questions than they answer. You'd think G-Witch's popularity would have allowed Sunrise to give it more episodes so it could actually flesh all these things out rather than cram them all into a quarter of the series. Plus, as a result of this, several important plot points just seem to get thrown to the wayside. Like, the series and the characters in it seems to flat-out forget that Guel's father was a complete jackass who berated his son over every little thing, but when the guy dies, everyone talks about his death like it was the worst thing ever when the guy did nothing to deserve any lick of sympathy from anyone. There are even points where G-Witch flat-out contradicts or retcons previous plot threads it established, even as far as one of the prologue novels.

So yeah, as far as G-Witch's flaws go, all of them are the result of not having more episodes to work with. But with all that said, I still enjoyed G-Witch as a show. Granted, I do like Gundam X and War In The Pocket a little more, but that's not to say G-Witch doesn't have anything of value to offer. The fact that it managed to rekindle Gundam's overall popularity, especially overseas, proved that the franchise is here to stay, and to me, reigniting new life into a franchise is the best thing that Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury can do.

To preference this review, I have never consumed both an anime or manga Gundam related work. So, like many, this is my first of the series. I do build Gunpla, but my understanding of the Gundam world is none before watching this. With that being said, this review is looking at this show alone, not comparing it to any of the other shows. To be honest, doing such just comes off as a copium moment for modern iterations of old franchises.

Art 10/10
Overall, I loved the art style. While it isn't the most unique out there, it was fluid and was not overbearing. Often times ... I see certain studios that go all out on with detail and it becomes distracting or downright just washed out looking after you see this too many times. Not here, it was consistent across every episode. I hardly seen many "errors" when it comes to animation, mainly just a slight perspective issue, but nothing that broke immersion. They nailed it for sure.

Characters 8/10
Don't see the 8 as a knock on the characters in this anime. For an anime with just 12 episodes (and a prologue) I don't have issues with any characters or their development as the story went along. The 8 is just wishing some deviation in the characters. As far as I understand, this is a franchise that is not afraid to dive into politics, so I expected that to hit a little harder. Especially since it seemed as if many characters were politically motivated when it came to the use/obtaining a Gundam. Minor gripes overall, but no character felt weak or a token for the main players. They all meshed well and I found myself genuinely interested in watching all of them interact with each other.

Story 10/10
I can't say I'm fond of the usual school based anime, mainly due to it being so over saturated to the point that you know what each episode will tackle. For once, the characters of a school based anime are not one dimensional, which automatically gives the story a major plus in my book. It paced itself well and each episode had real meaning towards progressing the plot. 12 episode animes have a tendency to either be a big hit or miss when it comes to achieving good pacing with such a small frame to work in, but Suisei no Majo fulfills this plenty.

Enjoyment 10/10
I binged this series. "Okay?" I'm sure is what you are saying, but as someone who has very much fallen out of love for anime and now tends to stick to manga or neither, this was a shock for me. Like I stated before, each episode progressed the plot and the story was well paced. I never had a moment were I sighed or felt disinterested. I felt a desire to learn more and more about the world, even though very little was shared in these short 12 episodes. With none of the more disgusting or annoying tropes of anime rearing their ugly heads, it was a breath of fresh air to not say "Really?" and put another show into "dropped" or the backlog to just fade into obscurity.

Overall 9/10
I can't say how Suisei no Majo holds up when compared to the other Kidou Senshi Gundam entries, but for a first time experience (or standalone) I was thoroughly enjoyed. I wish I had more to say, but it's just a fundamentally great anime! Hoping I can see the same or better for the second season.

In my 1st anime review here, I wanted to say why this is one of my favorite anime. Specifically, I really like how this combines beautiful and emotional characters, which are at times childish and cheesy but in a well-written way, with an important political message. I think most people leaving a bad or mixed review expect a political chess game between characters seeking power, with an intriguing plot, suspenseful battles and realistic politics. While the plot isn't as dense and complex as other Gundam, I think this is much more meaningful politically and has deeper, more interesting characters.

Suletta is sometimes blamed for stuttering, for ... being apologetic and breaking down emotionally due to thinking it's her fault for everything, for often behaving in a very awkward, childish way. But this is what makes her a real character, like a real life shy girl, with emotion bleeding out of your screen. She is not a perfect personification of some ideal or just a cog in some political conspiracy, and is scared by war, politics, and death, but went to the academy to achieve her goals and fulfil the path set out by her mother and accidentally ended up playing a role in something much bigger than expected. This is what makes me sympathize with her so much and enjoy seeing her grow to protect her friends and Miorine. Similarly, Mirione is fed up with reality, has to face bullying and her mistreatment by her parents who want to give her as a fiancée to the winner decided by mobile suit fights at her school (which shows the idolization of militaristic power, the commercialization of human life and the sexism driving her society). Because of this she wants to flee the academy alone, but by time she grows and takes on responsibility to protect Sulleta and her friends. The relationship between Sulleta and Miorine largely drives the series and is one of the most wholesome and positive romantic relationships I've seen in sci-fi anime, while also a positive LGBTQ+ message about lesbian love. The childishness and shyness of Sulleta is juxtaposed with Miorine's apathy she has developed towards the world she sees as unfair, and so they both grow massively.

The Earthians who ally with Miorine and Sulleta despite the mistreatment and discrimination they face, many of them war orphans from Earth, manage to build a company that does good to society, thus finding their place in the world and improving as people. Even the villains are seen as real people who came to their unethical actions due to real life hardships and negative emotion, as well as wanting to improve the world in a messed up way. Though I agree the anime makes us sympathize with them too much, even when someone murders thousands of people.

As to the political message, I think it is one of the most progressive in all of anime. Many popular anime promote fascist and sexist ideas, at least implicitly / subliminally. Other anime, again, denounce actual economic reform in favor of some pie in the sky utopia. Finally, many anime are conspiratorial in nature, using some sort of greater conspiracy theory to drive the plot and cause intrigue, while taking from the political message, that war and fascism have real, socioeconomic causes. Here, the technocratic monopoly of the Benerit Group is explicitly criticized as the cause of war and authoritarianism, and their immense economic power is seen as an evil, driven by the commercialization of human life and the extraction of profit from war. Similarly, racism, authoritarianism, the idolization of military might and duel results, all characteristics of fascism, are criticized. At the same time, the alternative proposed isn't some equally extremist form of reverse racism, of Earthians towards Spacians, but an all inclusive economic system where war is no longer necessary and everybody human has equal rights. My only gripe with this as a socialist is that it doesn't completely denounce capitalism, but only an instance of it.