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.
