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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