PLOT AND STORY (8/10)
Suletta Mercury is a transfer student from planet Mercury came to Asticassia School of Technology that is managed by Benerit Group. On her way to school, Suletta encountered Miorine Rembran, who was in the run away mission to Earth because of her father’s dueling system and Suletta decided to interfere her mission. Miorine was very angry and demanded Suletta to take responsibility to help her to go back to Earth. In Asticassia School of Technology, they are three departments which is Pilot, Mechanical and Strategy which trains student to work in the mobile suit industry. The school also holds duel to solve important matters such as money and personal affairs through stake duel that is conducted by Duelling Club Commitee. The winner is will become the holder and automatically engaged to the daughter of Benerit Group president, Miorine Rembran, and that’s where Suletta won and Miorine welcome her as a groom. While being Miorine’s groom, Suletta faced the challenges as the three largest company branches had evil intentions toward Miorine Rembran due to her father political power.
This new Gundam series is set up in a school setting. The main reason why Sunrise make new Gundam series is too attract newcomers to the Gundam franchise. Of course, the previous Gundam series has already been made in school setting but making a child soldier with heavy politic at the start makes the newcomers felt unrelatable, not because the newcomers are lighthearted or less violent. This series has slow burning pace where we can see the truth behind Gundam to be revealed gradually as each episode unfolds. This series shows how various objects are linked to one another. This show is not going to tell everything with straightforward explanation and have to figure it out on our own. There are few of examples that would be:
Basically, the first season of the new Gundam series is a mystery thriller combined with an anti-corporate revenge plot, set in a slice of life schools drama with duels. Each episode will get me wanted to know what is coming next and it keeps me hooked and invested in storyline.
Miorine had always been looking for a way to escape from the problems that arose due to the school duels and her own father. However, after Suletta helped her, she gained a new perspective on how to handle the challenges. Suletta’s wise words and actions proven instrumental in not only saving Suletta and Aerial but also helping Miorine grow as a person. It was fun with romcom, slice of life and duels until Episode 12, where the post-credit scene is the masterful example of misdirection character development. Suletta at first was an innocent and adorkable character became a ruthless machine killer without any remorse and I got chills after that while Miorine was terrified by Suletta’s sudden shift in behavior as her eyes reflect the trauma she has experienced.
CHARACTERS(9/10)
I really admire how every character is well-designed and has a unique personality. Suletta Mercury is the main protagonist of the story. There’s a wisdom quote saying “If you can’t beat the fear, do it scared”. Even though she is timid, she adheres to the moral principles where she accepted the duel from Guel for Miorine’s justice. Suletta is confident in her piloting skills and demanded to Miorine to trust in her capabilities and took the responsibility to defeat Guel’s winning streak to save Miorine. Not only that, Suletta respects and acknowledged her opponent’s courage and strength. Suletta is a hard-working person, even though she has a problem with catching up the class lessons, she made effort to improve herself by seeking help to anybody that is willing to help her. Suletta is an ambitious person, she goes to school to study so she can make Mercury a prosperous planet. She’s friendly with everyone at school, regardless of their origin. Since she is a naive person, she trusts people too easily without considering potential consequences.
However, Miorine’s personality is vastly different from Suletta, as different as night and day, cat and dog, North and South and sun and moon lol. Miorine Rembran is the deuteragonist of the story. She is rebellious against her father, Delling Rembran, who is the president of Benerit Group. She does not like how the school rules system are made, where all of matters, right and wrong are decided through duels and if someone wins, the winner will be automatically become the head of Dueling Committee, the reigning Holder, the heir to one of the three branches of Benerit Group and become Miorine’s groom and that was what make Miorine wanted to run away mission to Earth without caring her own physical condition. Miorine is cold and aloof towards people in that school since she thinks everyone has selfish motives with her, plus, treating her like a trophy because she is the one and only daughter of the president Benerit group and that leads Miorine has trust issues with all of people in that school. Despite this, she shows her selflessness by helping Suletta in trouble and created a company to save Suletta and Aerial. She is also an intelligent person, she is the top 1 best student in Strategy Department. Miorine has a sharp personality and she can tell if someone has hidden bad intentions towards her. Miorine has interest in gardening and planting tomato in the greenhouse during her leisure time.
Suletta is known to be a kind person, she expressed her gratitude to Miorine for saving her from being crushed by Guel during his duel and Miorine assumed it was just a small matter. Suletta was the one who against Guel’s abusive behavior towards Miorine when everyone was not cared about it. That moment when Miorine felt being treated like a human being, from there she found the act of kindness and courage from Suletta, who had been always guarded and distrustful towards others. Because of Suletta’s wisdom words “If you runaway, you gain one. If you move forward, you gain two.”, Miorine gained a new perspective on how she saw life that hits on her. With Suletta’s support and encouragement, Miorine was able to find the strength to help Suletta from getting expelled from the school and Aerial being scraped. Since Miorine is known to be cold and aloof towards others, Miorine is suddenly showing her true feelings toward Suletta, which I am very surprised because she is rarely show any kind of emotions excepts anger is typically the only emotion she feels comfortable showing. Both of them developed bond of mutual respect and love that went beyond their differences. In Episode 12, there was an unexpected shocking scene that left me speechless and the relationship between them changed. This turning point story will add new challenges to their relationship. The future of their relationship is uncertain and this brought new level of complexity of the story.
ANIMATION (9/10)
The animation in this anime is focused on the color hue to deliver important moments and themes. Several times throughout the episodes, the environment’s color scheme is altered to represent the tone and mood of the scene because it creates emotional reaction in the viewers. Whether it’s a victory, defeat, mystery, hope or a moment of reflections, the environment changes color. Not only that, there are also many parallels occurred throughout the series. The parallels highlight the story themes and patterns and help to establish the sense of coherence and continuity. These connections contribute more to the character development. This is an effective technique to make the viewers went deep to the story and increase the sense of empathy for the characters. Here are some of examples of the color hue environment delivery and parallelism.
Even it’s just a tomato that has a little bit relation with the story, I am blown away how can tomato is actually represents a hint to deliver meaning beyond its literal interpretation throughout the series.
I want to start with a big disclaimer that Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is my first mecha anime and it’s also the first Gundam series I have watched. As a newcomer, my knowledge about mecha animation may be limited as I share my thoughts and opinion on the anime.
The mecha fights animation is truly marvelous. The Episode 1 already gave me a big impression on how the movement of the mecha fights are beautifully animated. Another thing to mention is the sound design. The sound effects are absolutely top-notch. The explosions, laser blasts and the Gund-bits shield impact resonating with a satisfying weight. The use of soundtrack in duel scenes which is “The Witch from Mercury” is an absolute standout. When paired with stunning animation and a banger soundtrack, it’s enough to give me goosebumps.
MUSIC (10/10)
First of all, I want to say that was astounding job by Sunrise for investing such a masterpiece music. The soundtrack was fantastic and incredible. It made me goosebumps for the first time watching Aerial debut in Episode 1 and it makes me want it more and more duels and Episode 12, a new soundtrack for rebuild Aerial which is foreshadowing dark and ominous vibes that awaits them in 2nd cour. Then, OP song. Yoasobi - Shukufuku (The Blessing) is such a refreshing, catchy and anthemic vibes from other of their songs. I also got the 8-bit theme in that song that matches with the space vibes. I really love listening to their OP song that I streamed it for 138 times the day it got released to Spotify. Plus, their source of inspiration of writing that song is from the Light Novel Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury titled Craddle Planet and the lyrics give good message about one-self journey to follow your dream and never give up. Then, The ED song. This song is sung by Shiyuui, a rookie singer and I can say the song gave somber mood but in hopeful way and after the first cour ended, I listen to the ED for many times.
OVERALL ENJOYMENT
I found the story is very engaging and entertaining by the schools drama until I realized I am actually watching Gundam series. I am investing in their relationship between Suletta and Miorine. I also found myself having a deep connection to the characters, which I have relatable emotions and experience. As a newcomer, I found the animation and soundtrack was such a masterpiece and a banger to me. I am also having a lot of strong emotions when watching the anime. I am truly enjoying this new Gundam series and excited for Season 2! ^^
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