Queerbaiting criticism of anime often gets backlash from people who have had anime with complete representation for their whole lives. Heroes, supporting characters, romances, sexual relationships. You can live vicariously the fantasies of heroism, power, violence, love, harems, and much more. Film, tv, and anime have been that way for over a century.

The latest Gundam spin-off series, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, appears to challenge the status quo of gender roles in the long-running mecha franchise and anime as a medium. The female leads, G-Witch, Suletta Mercury and Miorine Rembran, are engaged to marry. Suletta assumes the traditional role of a man, piloting the Gundam, and Miorine is her handler, frequently placed in the role of damsel in distress. The twist is that they're women and challenging the patriarchy. Suletta's fiery red hair and anxious personality are a nice departure from the standard high-school-aged male anime protagonist—stoic, monotone, and overpowered. I don't buy the criticism that she is a gender-swapped overpowered protagonist because, despite her aptitude with her mobile suit Ariel, she's relatively weak, bad at communicating and doesn't magically draw people to her.

Other students treat Suletta like a naive country bumpkin because she's from Mercury—her struggle to prove them would make compelling character development if it wasn’t ignored until the 11th episode. Suletta’s unlikely companion Miorine reluctantly accepts her help to avoid becoming a bride to some misogynistic asshole. The real villain of Gundam Witch is the patriarchy, big, scary, evil men and their evil sons making life harder for women at the Asticassia School of Technology. The first male chauvinist pig is Guel Jeturk, which sounds like a repugnant name, and he tears apart Miorine's greenhouse because she doesn't obey his orders as a fiance should. Suletta challenges him to a duel for Miorine's sake, and in doing so, she clashes with a high-class faction. Like a real patriarchal system, a more powerful misogynistic man behind Guel stands in the way of Miorine's dream—to escape to Earth.

Miorine's character consists of misfortune caused by men; her father forces her to attend a school she dislikes, makes her quit piano, and arranges a marriage she doesn't want. Men, or the patriarchy, are the closest thing G-Witch has to an antagonist. Hell, it's no wonder Miorine’s miserable. Her relationship with Suletta is entirely transactional. She only wants her to pose as her fiance until she can escape to Earth, and breaking out of an oppressive system is an admirable goal. However, jeopardizing this girl's school career for her dream is transparently selfish and inconsiderate. She makes no attempts to hide her motivations—privileged, opportunistic, victim of misogyny—what you see is what you get, and there's nothing original here. Other characters criticize her prideful behavior, despite maintaining a status quo. She is like a wealthy upper-middle-class liberal who rejects her upbringing despite benefitting from it. Her affection for Suletta is non-existent, and their continuous misunderstandings don't equal romantic tension. Besides the urge to protect Morine and their marriage pact, Suletta does not need to stick with her. No wonder she has far more chemistry with another pilot, Elan Ceres. Nothing regarding Suletta's characterization signaled that she is queer. My attempts at searching for queer coding that isn't baked into the stolen premise are like grasping at straws.

The stolen premise, yes, stolen, comes from my favorite anime of all time Revolutionary Girl Utena—an explicitly queer deconstruction of how the patriarchy controls stories. There's a difference between a homage and copying. G-Witch isn't a homage to Utena because it doesn't emulate any of what made that series great. There are no references, no symbolism honored, no inspired framing, or even a wink to fans of the show it ripped off. I doubt the creators have even seen Utena. Pairing two girls together in a patriarchal school doesn't equal homage. It's just plagiarizing a good premise. Not to belabor this point, but Utena understood how to subvert the classic damsel in distress trope. Prince saves princess stereotypes and marriage as a plot device. Marriage is a result of patriarchy, and Sulleta and Miorine's engagement only adds a candy-coated prison cell. Their marriage is not a revolution until they become equals, leave the system, or dismantle it. There's a second cour coming, so those more hopeful than I might see some progress. I'm not staking anything on it.

Since Suletta is a transfer student, we learn about the school's politics, social hierarchies, and cohorts through her eyes. The exposition for these parts in the first couple of episodes is woven neatly into dialogue and visual storytelling to keep you engaged. The less successful parts are the over-scripted political rhetoric, the conversations between the Mobile Suit Development Council and the many corporations within the Benerit Group faction—that run the Asticassia School. There's Grassley Defense Systems, Jeturk Heavy Machinery, Peil Technologies, Shin Sei Development Corporation, and more for anyone keeping track. Angsty bureaucrats deliver exposition; they lack character development or unique traits. Suletta's mother and Miorine's father play a significant role behind the scenes at the school. Suletta's relationship with her mother brings some genuine pathos to her character, especially towards the end of the cour. The megacorporation drama serves as a b-plot to the students' A plot. It's a lot to keep track of unless you're very engaged with the story and enjoy seeing ultra-wealthy people yell at one another. It would be best to watch the prologue to understand what's happening.

The animation in G-Witch is of high quality, barely noticeable CGI, with good use of color and lighting to create a believable futuristic setting. The character designs are refreshingly unique, beyond just hair color. The action scenes are well-choreographed, and although less plentiful in the second half, they're consistently well-animated. Hopefully the final episode's consistent action sets a new tone for part 2. The voice acting is also solid, with the two leads delivering the most convincing performances possible. Orchestral background music during the action scenes enhances them significantly. I can't say the same for the opening, which is overly auto-tuned like a bad remix and barely fits the visuals.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury certainly is an entry in the Gundam franchise. Around the second half of this cour, the pacing slows, and dry dialogue replaces mobile suit fights. It's exhausting in the company arc when the anime abandons logic and transitions into slice-of-life—like sci-fi Shirobako with wealthy capitalists in space. By the end, there's just enough queerbait and explosive set pieces to reel in more viewers for the second cour. The animation and visual design are good despite the story. The themes of friendship, sacrifice, and patriarchy are straightforward, and the second cour may subvert the generic setup. At the moment, there's not enough here worth recommending to anyone but diehard Gundam fans.