After I watched the prologue of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, or simply G-Witch my jaw was on the floor. Months later, I still haven’t quite picked it up. The beginning of any story should succinctly yet decisively hook you into the world and make you beg for more. It’s not that Gundam shows failed to do this — I’ve completed 13 other Gundam shows, after all — but none did it nearly as well as G-Witch. The animation was breathtaking and the music was stunning. G-Witch felt urgent and dire despite me only having 23 odd minutes with the story. It was emotionally poignant in a way that other Gundam shows aren’t until at least a third through, if ever. The worldbuilding was appropriately fantastical but grounded in questions borne out of the real world. I cannot exaggerate how much I loved this prologue.
Thanks to the prologue G-Witch was shaping up to be one of the best Gundam shows ever made.
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m not reviewing the prologue. Naturally, the question I’m tasked with answering is “does the show properly sufficiently fill the brachiosaur-sized shoes of its prologue?”
It took a while for it to get to this point, but I can happily say that it does, or at least that it’s starting to.
How long did it take, you may be asking? Well, dear reader, prior to watching the final episode, I envisioned this review going in quite a different direction. My feelings towards the show were constantly in flux.
The show proper begins a number of ill-defined years after a prologue, following a teenage girl by the name of Suletta Mercury who enrolls in the Asticassia School of Technology with her Mobile Suit, Aerial. Asticassia is a school ruled by the Benerit Group — a coalition of several mobile suit corporations. Leading this group with an iron fist is the stern Delling Rembran, the very same we saw during the prologue. In Asticassia, disagreements are settled via mobile suit duels. The best duelist is known as the “Holder” who is granted Delling’s daughter Miorine’s hand in marriage. Suletta ends up in a duel with the current Holder, Guel, and promptly wins with her mobile suit, both inadvertently becoming Miorine’s fiance and revealing Aerial to be an accursed Gundam. All the while, Suletta is screaming and stuttering in nervousness.
If you watched the prologue, then G-Witch’s first episode is, in a word, jarring.
Now, to be fair, there’s a way to make the above summary work with what was established prior. You could use the dueling system and Miorine’s forced marriage as a way to show just how far people will take the concept of “might makes right,” how the lust for profit and power turns people into mere pawns. It’s all a question of tone and the first episode’s tone is distinctly
It’s dumb. The first episode is pretty fucking dumb. I’m sorry, but it is. It just feels so cliche and generic — the nonsensical duels in a school setting with Miorine as a “prize” made my eyes roll so far back they could see my braincells escaping my skull. Guel might as well be the school bully out of an 80s teen movie. Delling is cartoonishly evil. While the two leads ultimately are given some depth that I’ll get into, the first impression you get of them is simply Tsundere/Ice Queen and Nervous Girl. Even the good, such as an instance of a possible lesbian relationship is sandwiched with the bad — said relationship is accidental and the result of what’s essentially an arranged marriage.
A lot of my feelings are due to my absolute love for the prologue and I think my disappointment is valid. This wasn’t what I signed up for. Yet, I had to believe the writers understood this. The prologue made me disappointed with the first episode. Paradoxically, the prologue also tempered my disappointment. The prologue does a helluva good job cushioning my perception of the show from my criticism. I certainly think the first episode is dumb, but I still can’t bring myself to hate it. I was apprehensive, sure, but never out-and-out angry.
To be fair, not every episode is like this. In fact, in the second episode, Suletta is essentially interrogated over her use of Aerial and we’re treated to a much more grounded episode. There are some genuinely great episodes here, the second best probably being episode six, a certified Wham Episode in which we see the extent of Peil Technologies’ callous disregard for life. As Elan, a character we’ve just started to warm up to, awaits his execution, he sings “happy birthday.” If you’ve watched the prologue, it naturally sends chills down your spine. Elan’s existence as a body double is off the books, so Suletta is none the wiser when her new friend is exterminated and replaced with someone else. This episode isn’t just tragic, it’s downright insidious in a way few Gundam episodes manage to be.
No episode annoyed me quite like the first, that said, there are only two that approach the heights of the prologue. There’s definitely interesting worldbuilding here, but I have to acknowledge a lot of my thoughts towards G-Witch during the first half relied on faith — a sort of trust fall exercise between me and the writers.
This is also seen in the copious copious amount of theorycrafting associated with the show. Not only is episode six a great episode when it comes to the show proper, but it also opened a Pandora’s Box in regards to the audience’s understanding of the prologue’s relation to said show. The audio-visual framing of Prospera changes, increasingly moving from a positive portrayal to one that’s either ambiguous at best or downright sinister. The timeframe was always murky but it’s thrown for a complete loop when it’s heavily implied that the events of the prologue took place 21 years prior to the events of the show. Eri was 4 and would be 21. Suletta is herself 17. Suletta being a mere pseudonym for Eri now seems unlikely. I won’t delve into the various theories as that could be an entire post in-and-of-itself, but it suffices to say that discussion of the show became a much more lively affair. Theories are part of any show, but to have them so encouraged makes for a unique viewing experience. One of the theories, if true, would make the show as a whole as sinister as the ending of episode six. But the operative words here are “if true.” Because there could be a more pedestrian answer to all of this, one explained by cheap red herrings at best, shoddy writing and directing at worst. With how heavily theories play a part in the discussion of G-Witch, I can’t help but think of 2021’s Wandavision. Discussion of that show was also rampant with theories, ones that made Wandavision much more exciting than the texts suggested. Some were pretty out there while others were more reasonable. Wandavision took the most pedestrian route possible, pretty much jossingevery theory thought of. The finale of the show is disappointing in its own right but with how ambitious we thought it would be, we viewers couldn’t help but be a bit bitter. That’s the problem with tying a show’s quality to your theory — it’s a gamble where, if you bet wrong, the entire show could be tainted.
The final episode makes the exciting theory I hinted at very probable, but prior, things were up in the air. I enjoyed G-Witcht, but for someone who was hooked by the tense atmosphere of the prologue, said prologue was practically required viewing. It felt like everything I liked about the show was thanks to the prologue.
Though, looking back, that’s not quite fair.
The show has several things going for it beyond that. The animation remains nice throughout. Aerial’s fights are particularly stunning and I’m glad that Sunrise continues to show how awesome mobile suits are in motion. Of course, that’s to be expected — nothing pushes gunpla sales than seeing a particular figure in action. Even when Sunrise isn’t pulling all the stops, the animation and character models never look distractingly bad. There’s maybe one instance and
that’s the point of the scene.
Perhaps G-Witch’s biggest and most surprising draw for me was its characters. Even if my thoughts on the predominant tone of the show are decidedly mixed, I have to admit that it allows us room to get to know these characters in a way we wouldn’t in another show. The school setting lets us see these characters in a relatable manner while said school is cutthroat enough and the political backdrop is cutthroat enough that we see how these characters act when they’re put through the wringer.
Most of the focus is given to our main duo — Suletta and Miorine. Admittedly, I like Miorine more than Suletta, which is an endorsement of the show in-and-of-itself. As I said before, she makes a fairly cliche first impression but I ended up really liking her. Her disposition is a facet of her personality while not her entire personality. And unlike a tsundere, her sweetness isn’t sudden and exaggerated. She gradually comes to warm up to Suletta and even then, she can still be a bit aloof because, again, it’s her personality and not something that can just be handwaved away through the Power of Love. I’m a bit more frosty towards Suletta, but even I flip-flop on how much I dislike her and why. Ultimately, I just find her nervousness a bit grating. Fresh as far as Gundam protagonists go and I appreciate that they didn’t just make her “Amuro or Kira Yamato but girl,” but it doesn’t make her fun to watch for me. When she’s not stuttering like a beater car on a winter morning over the most basic of social interactions, she’s screaming at the top of her lungs. Sometimes at the same time. IDK, there’s an argument to be made that she’s a positive example of neurodivergence, but that could be a whole different post entirely and I much prefer stanning Kamille “Autistic Child” Bidan as the Gundam neurodivergent rep. I can stand her a bit more when she’s simply happy and energetic. Sure, it’s a bit more basic, but it gets the job done while still feeling distinct from most of the brooding Gundam protagonists of yore and it’s used to great effect during the final episode. Beyond their characters as individuals, much buzz is made about the duo’s relationship. I’m pleased to say that I enjoyed their dynamic and evolution as the series progressed. Sure, I think some might exaggerate how effectively they communicate compared to other shows (while you can say their argument arc is resolved quickly, it’s still given two episodes to fester), I do think they’re cute together. It’s understandable if you wish they were more overt, but I consider their relative understatedness so far to be an effect of their relationship being built up. If executed properly down the line, this has the potential to be the most developed romance in all of Gundam. And if they don’t get together, I’ll go on record to say that I’ll throw the burning trashcan to start the riot.
More surprising than my thoughts about Miorine are my thoughts about the supporting cast — i.e. getting anything at all out of them. If Miorine and Suletta were “cookie-cutter” during the first episode, the others might as well have been “bread pan” in how exciting and derivative they were. Yet, as the show went on, I couldn’t help but be interested in them. Yes, Guel and Delling are introduced as basic bullies and jerks. Yet I was genuinely invested in seeing Guel humbled and Delling show a softer side. Shaddiq is a fuckboi. He’s fairly basic, but what can I say, it’s different when he’s not a main character and the show communicates his character in a way that I can feel. It’s one thing to dislike a character, it’s another to say “this is a fuckboi and I better not run into him in an alley after dark” and mean it with every fiber of your being. Chuchu is best girl — her temper and attitude are memetic and shine in a relatively chill school setting in a way that wouldn’t if we were thrust into a brutal war out the gate.
And that’s the rub here. As much as I can moan about why the first episode is cliche, I’m ultimately drawn to some of those elements, whether as-is or flipped on their heads. Guel as the reforming bully, Shaddiq as the popular fuckboi, Chuchu as the girl with no chill, Delling as the asshole father with hidden depths, Elan as the quiet kid, Prospera as the seemingly caring mother with an agenda and disquieting aura, Miorine as the melting ice queen, Suletta as the Genki girl. They can be described in a very basic manner but they play off each other well and there’s just enough to justify their behavior or evolve it so that it doesn’t feel too basic. Your mileage will of course vary depending on what you signed up for, but I have to admit that they did keep me coming back in addition to the prologue.
If we ended the show with a light tone, focusing on the school, I think I’d ultimately still enjoy this. It wouldn’t be great and it would be overshadowed by its amazing prologue, but it would be a good enough watch.
But then the final episode hits.
If you haven’t watched the prologue, it’s a shocking yet entertaining swerve that feels like a natural conclusion to all that was hinted at and built up. If you have watched the prologue and loved it as much as I did then G-Witch’s final episode is, in a word, relieving.
The final episode has its own unique set of positives — for one, since we’ve been following these characters for 12 episodes now, it feels much more impactful when they’re put through the fire and flames compared to the cast of the prologue. Where the final episode returns to form is in its tone.
We get breathtakingly animated Gundam fights, ones that have actual weight to them and don’t feel a bit goofy because points and marriages aren’t on the line — lives are. The music is on point in a way that it hasn’t been since the prologue. As everything falls to shit, the characters make explicit what was implicit. This is war. The gloves are off. The trauma that Guel is inflicted by inadvertently killing his father is like a gut punch and it doesn’t feel shocking just for the sake of it. Suletta’s anxiety at seeing her mom shoot her would-be killer, the ways her eyes are constantly shaking, feels disturbing and is fit to give you anxiety — yet, somehow, it isn’t as unnerving as what’s to come.
By the time the credits roll Suletta starts looking for her Miorine. We’re under the assumption that this is what will take us to the next cour. It’s a heck of a cliffhanger.
Then the after-credits scene plays.
Suletta finds Miorine with her wounded father. As she does, an assassin comes, aiming his gun at the two. Without flinching, Suletta uses her mobile suit to squash him like a bug and we see the blood splatter. It’s quick, but in case you missed it, it’s replayed and focused on as Miorine watches in horror. The only thing left of the man is an arm that floats on by. The scene is gory in a way we haven’t seen in G-Witch. It shows off the mass and size of mobile suits in a way we seldom see in Gundam as a whole. Then Suletta hops out of her cockpit, smiling. She falls into the gory remains of the assassin, laughing and calling herself a clutz. With a smile, she holds out her blood-stained hand to Miorine, not knowing why her bride is calling her a monster.
It’s a hell of a cliffhanger.
The tone, the scale of the conflict, realizing that Suletta’s catchphrase was used as a trigger word by Prospera to make all her doubts fade away as she becomes an unflinching soldier. My reaction was thus:
The last episode isn’t a bow nor a cherry on top. It fundamentally changes the show and makes everything that came before worth it. It’s good no more. It’s great. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is finally as great as I hoped it would be.
The lull moments I experienced before were now proper buildup. Sure, at 12 episodes and another cour confirmed, things could change drastically for the worst. At 24 episodes, I fear there’s too much ground to cover. Yet if we get the 48-50 I hope for, there’s more room to go wrong. But I’m really happy with where we are now.
I want to end by linking to an interview from G-Witch producer Takuya Okamoto, who essentially states that many teenagers write off Gundam as being “for old people.” As such, G-Witch was specifically aimed at a newer generation. All Gundam AU ostensibly are, but this feels like the first where making people into Gundam fans is the goal instead of capturing the very people who would have been Gundam fans anyway. You see it in the school setting, you see it in the tone, you see it in the characters. Drawing in new fans while keeping the ones you had, managing a lighthearted tone with a more serious one that defines Gundam is certainly a balancing act. And it’s one that I feel, for all of its stumbles, G-Witch manages to pull off.
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