KIDOU SENSHI GUNDAM: SUISEI NO MAJO

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME DramaKidou Senshi Gundam
SPECIAL MechaKidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo - PROLOGUE
ANIME ActionKidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo Season 2
MUSIC MechaShukufuku
MANGA MechaKidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo - Vanadis Heart
MANGA MechaKidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo - Seishun Frontier

REVIEWS

• 

  Mcsuper

  69/100
  Feeling Scammed, But Not In The Worst Way?

  This was my first time watching a Gundam anime, and I feel like I have been bamboozled. Why, you ask? Because the prologue showed quite the dark space story that had me quite excited for what the series would bring. Instead, this show took place in an academy, and had all your academia tropes in there, which felt like a complete 360 from what I expected, which was more of a political show. Does that mean that The Witch From Mercury was bad? Not exactly, but I did have my fair share of issues with it. Now, I am quite aware that this was just the first cour, and I am quite certain that this will be the weakest cour of this show. There was still some intrigue here, with the politics and character interactions, and I look forward to where that goes.

  As I said earlier, this show took place mostly in an academy so far, which, for more seasoned Gundam veterans, must have felt a bit surprising and perhaps a bit underwhelming. For me, it also felt a bit shocking considering the prologue, but the production looked pretty good early on that made it quite enjoyable. The things that I took more issue with in the plot was that the students seemed to hold so much power, and there were no higher authorities to speak of, other than the parents, but it’s not like the parents controlled the academy or anything. The students could just do as they pleased, harming each other like no one’s business.

  The duels were also quite a convenient plot device to settle disputes, and I felt that took away some of the potential this show had to show how good it could be. It didn’t allow for the characters to shine in ways outside of battle enough, and while the duels are cool to look at, it does get a bit predictable and repetitive. It’s not all negative though, as the political themes were still interesting enough to keep me watching. The mind games surrounding the ethics of Gundam suits, the war between the companies, Prospera’s role in all of this, it felt quite intriguing, but it’s still too early to know where the plot will go from here. Overall, quite a mixed bag, story-wise.

  As for the technical aspects of the show, it’s definitely the least of this series’ worries. Both the animation and music were well done, and the OP and ED were both quite the good songs. I just hope the production can stay afloat for the second cour, as we’ve already had some production issues this cour.

  The characters of this show are definitely the biggest source of intrigue in this show, and I’ll go over my thoughts on some of them. First, Suletta, the new Bocchi of the Gundam Franchise, just without the comedic aspect. She’s a dunce, plain and simple, and sometimes, I did get a little frustrated by how gullible she was, but as with most protagonists, she had her time to shine, but sadly there just wasn’t enough development this cour for her. She just needs more moments that rely on her skills more, and not getting bailed out by others. Her performance in the promotional video for the company was pretty cool though, I’m not gonna lie. Miorine, the other half to this relationship, could have been a great character, and when she shows her prowess, she’s quite awesome, but too much of her screen time was centred around meaningless things, such as yelling at Suletta, which was a bit repetitive. Luckily she had more meaningful moments toward the end of the cour.

  Shaddiq was a good side character, as I never really got a handle on his motives, though I was suspicious of what he would do. It made the climaxes a bit more shocking for sure. As for other interesting characters, Chuchu, Elan, and Nika come to mind, but it’s still quite early for me to formulate a firm opinion on them.

  Overall, this was a series filled with solid ideas, with middling execution at times. I enjoyed watching the characters and the politics enough, and the production quality was solid. I’d imagine the future cours will get me more interested in what this series has to offer, so if you’re interested in a more unique Gundam story that’s a slow burn, this could be the Gundam for you. This was my first Gundam show, so I can’t compare this to other parts of the franchise, but all I can say is, the GUND-ARM promotional video was the best part of all.

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• 

  vampirevore

  85/100
  wtf Gundam is good now?

  This review contains a Discord mod’s favourite kind of spoilers - minor spoilers. If you want to avoid those, or just don’t want to have to read the entire thing, then skip to the last paragraph right at the bottom of the review, after the last rainbow breaker. ____

  _Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury_ has, for me at least, been a surprise that capped off a year of surprises. A lot happened in 2022 that changed my life for better or worse, and in the middle of everything - as has always been the case - I turned towards fiction in various formats from books to games to movies and anime to get my mind off of things or just give me the room to process things. I even watched all the _Evangelion_ rebuild movies and in the process ended up with a new appreciation for a franchise I once completely hated, and like _Evangelion_ before it, the _Gundam_ franchise was one that I had little if any love for. So when I watched this anime’s prologue episode, even after a glowing review from someone who has Good Opinions, I did so with the expectation that I would be mostly unimpressed and uninterested. Yet 12 episodes and a few months later, I’ve just seen the end of the first season of undoubtedly one of my favourite anime from 2022. There’s a lot that this anime does well, but there were really two key areas that _Witch from Mercury_ excelled at which made it such a great viewing experience, that being its character writing and the immersive quality of the writers' approach.

  On the first count, Suletta and Miorine are probably my absolute favourite main duo from any anime I saw in 2022. More than just their relationship with each other, I really appreciated how authentic both characters felt. In lesser anime and more poorly written stories in general, the relationships that characters have tend to be controlled by the needs of the plot, almost as if there’s a quota for how many fights a couple should have before they make up in time for the season finale. For some reason the first thing that came to mind in terms of examples of that kind of writing was _Titans_, the live action Teen(?) Titans adaptation, but it doesn’t matter as long as you get the idea, it’s extraordinarily lazy writing with very little internal logic behind why characters behave in certain ways, and it gets frustrating. _Witch from Mercury_ doesn’t have this issue at all, because the state of a given relationship or dynamic in this anime is determined by the mindset and particular outlooks of the characters involved.

  When Miorine and Suletta have a disagreement, it’s not difficult to understand why, it’s not a betrayal of either character or a comically funny breakdown in communication, it’s a misalignment born from their particular perspectives in that moment, and those perspectives themselves are the result of their wildly different upbringings and personalities. Speaking of which, Suletta’s entire personality made her endlessly endearing right from the start. She’s socially awkward and nervous but always able to confront challenges head-on whether or not she’s scared. You could say that outline is fairly common among anime protagonists but the dialogue and voice acting probably go a long way towards really selling it here, the stuttering, long silences and bad jokes make it all feel much more genuine. We’re presented with a relatable character just trying to find her way in the world and choosing to persevere no matter what comes, and since that made me care about Suletta, I cared about the story going on around her. Miorine, the emotionally neglected heiress of an interplanetary conglomerate, is also a deeply sympathetic character through her continuous battles to assert herself and gain control over her own life after having everything dictated to her by people and institutions who only cared for what she could do for them rather than caring about her as a person. These are distinct characters who work well together, but that I would just as readily watch as protagonists of their own separate stories.

  A lot of stories tend to throw you in head-first and not give you the space to take in or process a lot of the information or events you’re being presented with, and considering how short people’s collective attention spans are and how quick studios can be to kill projects off if they don’t get enough traction, it’s easy to understand why. The prologue of Witch From Mercury does do that to an extent, and it also serves the dual purpose of building a degree of mystery to Delling’s intentions as well as Suletta’s background in the main story, but the anime takes things a fair bit slower after that point and I personally appreciate that quite a lot. That way, when we do get back to the levels of high octane action in the prologue, it carries much more impact. We spend most of this first season in a relatively low-stakes school setting and through that we become immersed in the relationships and motivations of the characters, and the conflicts in the world of the story brewing under the surface with the references to discrimination, oppression and distant wars that we get throughout. I love knowing exactly what’s at stake before things get turned upside down, and this anime is able to create a relatively calm status quo to upend without having it necessarily feel mundane or uneventful, especially with the action of the prologue serving as a portent of things to come whenever this world’s conflicts inevitably bubble back up to the surface. It’s structurally similar to _Attack on Titan’s_ first episode, where you get the shot of the Colossal Titan right at the start and spend the rest of that episode building up to it. Once a viewer is immersed in the story and looking at things from the perspective of the characters in that story, all of the violence suddenly becomes much more horrifying than it is cool to look at.

  It does bear mentioning though that this anime is in fact very well drawn and animated, which shouldn’t come as a surprise since Sunrise always does a good job with the various _Gundam_ anime iterations, this is their most prominent franchise after all. The characters are expressive, animated fluidly and really well designed. I saw people online mentioning the range of body types on display with the characters as well, which is something I didn’t personally pick up on at first but is definitely a welcome departure from the more typical designs that anime characters tend to have. This being a new instalment of the _Gundam_ franchise, I’m sure there’s probably a lot of discussion on some corners of the internet about how the mechs looked this time around, and while I don’t generally get into that sort of thing and therefore can’t comment much on the different designs, I felt like they all had a certain weight to the way they were animated that really emphasised the scale of these machines at points. The final episode had my favourite example of that in the post-credits scene, with the Aerial’s hand alone being this massive presence when we get that shot of it from a more human scale. Also goes without saying that the action is incredible, and never without purpose, which made each duel between mecha pilots over the course of the anime feel engaging in its own right, I mean for heaven’s sake this anime made me care about a fight involving a guy named __Guel Jeturk__ by the end of the final episode. ____

  With all that said, _Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury_ was a really fun anime to watch weekly, and is still more than worth a recommendation, especially if you’re a fan of stories that take their time to build character-focused stakes and tension while also delivering expertly animated and high impact action. It very easily earns a score of __85 out 100__ for this first season and could realistically go even higher with future seasons as it explores more of the ideas that this season introduced.

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• 

  Erroratu

  90/100
  In myths, Witches eat kids, y'know?

  Gundam has to be one of the more reliable shows for me to fall back on. Rarely do you ever get get disappointed by what it offers, and the few times that you do you still have something positive to take away from it. Stardust Memory, Wing and Build Divers have so far been the only ones to let me down, and even those still had something to offer, from good action, beautiful animation, great music, fun designs etc. Complete misses are quite rare, which is why I had pretty high expectations of Witch From Mercury, which I can safely say it met. This review will incorporate my thoughts and feelings about both Witch From Mercury Season 1 and the Prologue episode. It will contain spoilers for both of these. You have been warned.

  The HOOK, LINE AND SINKER
  Witch from Mercury's prologue is a short, 1 episode long intro to the series, which sets up the world of Witch from Mercury and its current state. G-Witch is a standalone Gundam show that takes place in its own little universe, so setting this universe up beforehand was very much welcome. The prologue also introduces some of our cast members, the soon to be Lady Prospera, and Eri, her cute little daughter. After a visceral and thrilling action sequence that ends in an absolute massacre and the 2 of them being out in space on their own, we are hit with a time skip that kickstarts the main show. Eri, now renamed Suletta, is now our main character, and she has to incorporate herself into this new Sci Fi school. After two or so friendly duels between characters and slight plot advancement, we are hit with a pretty big reveal.
  The years don't match.
  If the prologue happened 20 years ago as the character's are stating, Suletta could not possibly be Eri. Or at least SOME type of f*ckery is happening. And that's where Witch from Mercury picks up pace and doesn't slow down. A lot of not so subtle hints are constantly dropped in the show, with it becoming more and more apparent that Eri is likely in the Aerial. The fortune teller lady asking Suletta if she has any siblings, Prospera referring to them both as daughters, Suletta referring to Aerial as family and to her G-Bits as "Everyone!". I found myself sitting there and nitpicking every mention of the Aerial like a madman. There's a popular theory that every G-Bit is a different kid or Eri clone but I highly doubt that. It would be a tad bit too cruel, even if it technically fits with the "Witch" moniker. Going online after each episode to see what other conspiracy theories people are forming about the situation and how the plot will advance was a lot of fun, and i'm going to miss it.

  

  The actual plot, with the crazy hat off
  Even before the crazy theories, it was up to a really strong start. Suletta being sent off right into the jaws of the enemy without any real knowledge of what has occured years ago and that she's being used as a pawn by her vengeful mother - bumbling and stumbling her way into success was pretty great. Her growth from being someone that just wants to fit in to being someone who's wanted and relied on by her friends was great. Her anxiety doesn't get any better and can still be triggered by very minor things, but she's still taken great steps and i'm very happy about it. She, as the main character, is a big focus of the show, and the show uses it to get you used to how quirky, silly and innocent she is, which makes the episode 12 scene hit much harder. Seeing this innocent goofball who looks like she couldn't hurt a fly even if she tried just absolutely obliterate some poor sod was a big gutpunch. It happened before, in the prologue, but you don't really need to do much of anything to build up a little kid's innocence, and even then it wasn't as visceral of a scene. With the anime, they were taking their time, and went all out. I respect that.

  

  Seeing the machinations of Prospera's revenge plot unfold over the course of the season and wondering if she really planned all of that or if she's just winging it was great.
  My biggest worry at the start was that Delling would be a boring main antagonist, but it became quickly apparent that he's not the main antagonist at all. Who is? After 12 whole episodes, I'm still not sure. There's like 4 different characters who could easily step up and take that mantle and that's exactly what makes it interesting. Lady Prospera is obviously talking her kid into doing her vengeance for her while also caring more about the Gundam than her own supposed daughter, Shaddiq's dad is vying for power while Shaddiq is seemingly also in the market for himself, the terrorists from earth trying to take down Spacians as vengeance for mistreatment, or maybe even some of the other corporations? The deck is pretty stacked.
  One very interesting thing about Witch from Mercury's world is also how, unlike in other Gundam worlds, it's the people on Earth that are oppressed rather than the people in space. What started off as a seemingly pointless switch of roles has a lot of potential going forward, and i'm excited to see what they do with it.

  How much Gundam would you like in your Gundam sir?

  

  One of the biggest complaints that I have seen about G-Witch is that its not "Gundamy" enough. While I can kinda understand it , I can safely assure you that the crux of Gundam is very much in G-Witch. Gundam's main points have almost always been empathy, love and understanding. Whether its for one's enemy, parents, planet or home changes with each show, as do the additional themes of family, ecology and political ideologies. G-Witch handles these very well in its first season. The Suletta x Mio romance, different characters handling losses of their loved ones, the late-capitalist hell of G-Witch's world, the "Earth House" family, the Duels of the academy, all is present. To claim it's not Gundam because of its Romance focus? X Gundam, G Gundam, Zeta, and many others disagree. Because the setting is a school setting, in a series whose settings vary greatly from show to show? I would greatly disagree.
  G-Witch is as Gundam as Gundam gets and the series trying something newish should NOT be panned. After all, if the series refused to change, we would never get G Gundam, or Turn A Gundam, or Wing, or any of the other alternate universe series. Gundam constantly pushes the definitions of what Gundam is, and that should honestly be celebrated.

  tldr; Good stuff.
  See you all in a few months. Apologies for the ranty nature of the review.

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