Witch From Mercury attempts to depart from Gundam's usual plot and themes about fighting a war to focus on the relationship between war and capitalism. Sadly, Mobile Suit Gundam: Military Industrial Complex this is not. While there are attempts to integrate themes subtly and organically beneath the veneer of a rather incoherent corporate high school, they instead end up falling by the wayside. The show's more juvenile elements concerning its school and its contrived plot around exaggerated corporate politics overwhelm any semblance of exploring its ideas. What is left still has strong visuals and actions, as befitting a Gundam series done by Sunrise, but there is little more. The interesting ideas WfM does have are left as nothing more than potential or window dressing. While this might bean acceptable or even above average standard for most sci-fi, anime or otherwise, it is simply not living up to what many other Gundam series have done before.

The central issue of WfM is that its wider conflict, whether between the Spacians and Earthians or within the Benerit Group itself, is all kept ancillary for the entire run of the show. While there is some merit in keeping this all in the background, allowing these conflicts to feel organic to the setting, it reaches the point where it feels like nothing more than window dressing. Conflict between people living on Earth and those that have moved into space is a core part of Gundam. While it seems to be a central point of political tension in WfM, it is never delved into. All we get to see is the frankly petty discrimination perpetrated by the students at Asticassia while the greater economic and political ramifications sit in the background. There are some interesting moments when Chuchu receives a call from her home that goes into the conditions the working class on Earth faces, but these end up being mere fragments. They add flavour to the world but not any substance since we still lack explanations for anything or see it tied into to any larger idea. Without exploring or even detailing the bare outlines of this conflict beyond arbitrary hate, all the tension between the students from Earth and those from the space colonies feels like juvenile bullying instead of an extension of a broader class conflict.

The only explanation for this tension is that the Spacians polluted the Earth and exploited her resources before leaving for the haven of space. Now they continue to exploit the people of Earth while holding a vast majority of economic and political power. This premise runs contradictory to most science fiction, and even most Gundam series, since it is clear that any near future expansion into the Solar System will still leave Earth as the central cradle for humanity. Aside from Earth having the benefit of being an established political entity, there is an insurmountable advantage to living in a terrestrial environment. Even rudimentary functions like creating breathable air and cycling water become costly in space. It is almost inconceivable how any space-based civilisation with near-future technology would hope to match up to this and close the population, resource, and production gap with the Earth. There simply needs to be an explanation for what structures allow the Spacian minority to hold on to so much power over a much larger entity from such a remote distance. Whether these structures are based on traditional political organisation or some megacorporate structure matters since this affects the themes and nature of the story WfM is trying to tell. The lack of explanation first frustrates the viewer since they are missing a broader context for the happenings in Astacassia that affect or reflect on the world. There is no explanation for this illogical power dynamic, and nothing interesting is done with this inversion to justify it which steadily erodes suspension of disbelief at the internal coherence of this world.

All Gundam series before this has pitted more or less traditional political entities against each other. From the Earth Federation and Zeon, OMNI and ZAFT, and even the Titans and the AEUG, which are essentially armed political movements, their organisational structure and goals can all be taken for granted. However, WfM seems to suggest a megacorporation controlled future. While this is a staple in the cyberpunk genre, it has been noted in many science-fiction works that corporate entities are simply unequipped and frankly uninterested in governance. While they will exert control over traditional governmental entities for their benefit, there is little interest in totally supplanting them. This interaction is infinitely more interesting to explore than the caricature of a megacorporation running the world. Gundam has skirted around this in the past, with corporations in the series like Anaheim Electronics, Zeonic and Morgenrote all benefitting immensely from wars and even pulling the strings to an extent. Anaheim Electronics is probably the biggest offender in past series since they decided to arm the rebel AEUG, thereby involving themselves as a political player. By changing the perspective from a national entity to a corporate one, WfM was poised to explore other themes like war profiteering, the ethics of arms manufacturing and even the use of force by corporate entities. There are significant consequences of traditional political entities losing their monopoly on violence since it allows business disputes to be settled via combat.

WfM disappointingly goes nowhere with this setup and only pays lip service to this idea. There are some concerns from the Earthian students about developing weapons that will be used against their own people, but nothing more is done with it. We are never even told where, who and how they will be used, a necessary piece of information for the audience to grasp the gravity of the situation that is also a natural piece of exposition to learn at that juncture. This is a distinct pattern in WfM in that it suggests itself to have a greater depth by inserting its conflict in the background and bringing it up in smaller moments. However, nothing is ever done with this, and it is always just a touch-and-go affair. This is fundamentally WfM shooting itself in the foot. The premise is not left merely as window dressing because it is constantly brought up by the narrative, but it is also not explored enough to meet the expectations it sets up as being a core pillar of the show.

This extends to even the more fleshed-out elements of WfM's politics in the Benerit Group. It is frustratingly unclear how the group interacts with the wider world and despite all the talk of corporate exploitation, none of their corporate activities are ever explained or shown. Not even something as simple and surface level as Earthians being forced to work grueling hours in a mine or factor are even mentioned to actually give some form to all the nebulous talk of there being an underclass. Within the Benerit Group, the different companies and vague competing factions interact in an absurd death game-esque circus where the company with the lowest profits gets ejected from the group. Someone at Bandai Namco, and probably Sunrise as well, knows better than this since they are an actual corporation. So why this is dumbed down and caricatured cannot be the result of ignorance. As a deliberate choice, it may make WfM's corporate politics more digestible or dramatic, but it does undermine any more serious points they can make when one of their main organisations is so cartoonishly evil and incoherent. Everything else from their status as a corporate entity with a private military or if they are a quasi-governmental group is unclear. The same can be said about Cathedra and all the other institutions in the series that seem to be involved in governance. It is desperately unclear whether they are some semblance of a traditional political entity that a corporation has hijacked or if they are a capitalist entity through and through. WfM expects you to take this all for granted even though this vagueness undermines the coherence of the world and any greater thematic points it tries to make about megacorporations.

This all results in the setting of WfM feeling disjointed as its more cerebral and heavy themes have the depth of window dressing but are constantly paraded as being, or at least potentially being, a core pillar of the series that is the source for all conflict in the Ad Stella timeline. All this is not helped by how the geography between different locations in the series is not well defined. While there are a few named locations like Earth and Mercury, where all the space installations like Asticassia are in the solar system are unclear. Are they at one of the Earth Lagrange points? Or somewhere further out. This lack of spatial relationships between the show's locations leaves it feeling even more floaty, as if it exists in a vacuum, creating a disjointed impression. As if all these places only exist as locations for the plot to happen instead of being actual installations that relate to each other beyond that. All this would still be adequate for some other sci-fi series, but Gundam sets a high bar for itself, and WfM is no exception.

The premise of WfM, or perhaps its lack thereof, begins to compound the issues of the series when it clashes with the plot. On a conceptual level, the Asticassia school is an interesting place for a Gundam series to take place. As a school meant to train mechanics, pilots, designers and anyone else required to develop and utilise mobile suits, it is a ripe setting for something new in Gundam. While the school setting can seem a little trite and juvenile, given how it is handled in so many other anime, there is no reason to write it off. Other shows have used the lighthearted school environment to introduce the viewer to microcosms of larger problems in the series, easing them as the show steadily builds up towards a powerful dramatic moment of juxtaposing the safety of the school environment to the harsh realities of the outsider world. There is no reason why this setup could not be made to complement and support the heavier themes of the show while at the same time helping to endear the viewer to the characters.

However, the main stumbling block is that it is unclear what the function of Asticassia school is. The students in the piloting department train as if they are going to be sent into combat. A vital part of the premise that would support this is the presence of a conflict, or at least a potential one, that they are training for. None of this is even remotely established at any point in WfM since all its mention of conflict has been devoid of any specifics. The school is positioned to be a training ground for the children of members of the Benerit Group, with even the top leadership participating. It is hard to see how these heirs to companies would be expected to act as soldiers or even commanders in some kind of private military. This created the feeling that the school setting has no real justification in the broader premise of WfM and is just there for the entertainment factor. This impression is only compounded by the school using mobile suit duels to not only settle disputes but create apparently legally binding agreements from the wager. This appears as nothing but absurdity when it is juxtaposed with how a corporation would conduct its dealings. The idea that a duel between teenagers could overturn business dealings or agreements made by companies is laughable.

The school's internal organisation makes little sense since the students are apparently divided into "houses". However, these seemed to be formed at students' whims instead of being regulated by the institution. Furthermore, they seemed to be formed along any lines that can exist, be it the students collective place of origin or their affiliation with one of the companies. While students having an unjust disparity in resources based on their connections is quite thematically on point for a school run by a megacorporation, it does make for an incredibly incoherent school system. While this could be made to work, it requires a great deal more focus and explanation. Again, WfM does not dedicate enough time to explain this element of its setting, given how convoluted it makes it. Much of the run time is focused on name-dropping company rivalries but little of how any of it actually functions beyond duelling and sabotaging each other in exams. To what ends is never so much as discussed. With how convoluted it all appears to be, the only option to make this coherent would be to commit to the premise of this being Mobile Suit Gundam: The High School. While nothing is wrong with that premise, it is certainly not what the show bills itself to be given that it focuses an extensive amount of time on its corporate narrative.

The dual premises of a dystopian megacorp future and a Gundam high school end up in severe tension with each other since the latter appears so incoherent that the only reason left to explain its inclusion is for sheer juvenile entertainment. In essence, WfM attempts to have it both ways and succeeds at neither since its run time and narrative resources were not concentrated. The greatest failing of this is that the prologue compounds this idea by setting up WfM as a relatively serious story in the vein of most other Gundam series about corporate warfare. Even if WfM wishes to abrogate its Gundam legacy regarding the expectations it wants viewers to have, its own prologue does it no favours. In addition, with the amount of tropes and ideas it borrows from the wider Gundam series, such as having its own Char clone, it is hypocritical to let the show benefit from such inclusions while saying it needs to do nothing to address the expectations that come with it. The most obvious answer would have been to highlight some ongoing conflict that would explain all the issues listed above, even if just a low-intensity insurgency. It would clarify the nature of the Benerit Group's relationship with Earthians, establish what political organisation the solar system has in WfM, and give a reason for the school to focus on combat training. Yet WfM leaves everything painfully vague and ill-defined, seeming to attempt to have its cake and eat it too with how it can hint at serious themes but never bother to explain any of them.

Perhaps this is what WfM is preparing the groundwork for, but given that we are 13 episodes in and none of this has been clarified, it is hard to give them a great deal of leeway. While an argument can be made that there is still a second season of WfM and that they are meant to be viewed as a whole, that is simply too charitable. At this point, it is 13 episodes worth of questions, few answers and no clear idea of the details of the central conflict. Most of it is merely implied, or worse, just left up to the viewers' assumption. That is far too long for so many elements to be held up as intriguing mysteries and dips into an unclear mess.

Coming finally to the characters, they only add to this lack of clarity. They can be more or less split between childish students and almost cartoonishly evil corporate leaders. A vast majority of the supporting cast end up as stereotypical portrayals or, at worst, caricatures of rich snobby students or school bullies. This is perfectly serviceable but nothing noteworthy that helps to prop up the weaker elements of the show. While there is depth in some of them, or at least a hint of it, they are almost all built up on mysteries in their backstory. Similarly to the questions regarding WfM's setting, none of these have been clarified or answered, even at the 13 episode mark.

At this juncture, Chuchu is probably the most fleshed-out character since she also has the most straightforward motivations. While her behaviour is quite rough, it does make perfect sense. Growing up in an environment economically exploited by the Spacians would naturally foster a great animosity in her. It is a pity when are left to infer what it is like instead it being used as an opportunity to show or explain how Earthians are actually being exploited so we can sympathise with their plight. Similarly, Guel is straightforward to understand, being raised as the heir to a large successful company, it is natural he would develop into an arrogant bully due to his privileged position. It is only after he has lost everything that he is in a position to grow as a character and prove himself. What the two of them have in common is that they are two of the few characters whose behaviour and development do not hinge on some mystery or unknown in their backstory. While this should be and often is the standard in most shows, it is stunning that they are in the minority for WfM.

Most other characters have their development hinge on gaps or mysteries in their background. Ranging from Elan, Shaddiq, to Nika and even Suletta, their characters are made compelling because there is more to reveal about their current situation as opposed to places their character has to grow. While there are interesting ideas to explore in these mysteries that do link back to and support the greater themes of WfM, there are simply too many unknowns this far into the series. It gets to the point where the viewer has to go beyond inferring character motivations to outright guessing and assuming. While this can be interesting for one or a few of them, having so many members of the cast be mystery boxes gives the impression of chaos in the plot. It frustrates engaged viewers since there is little concrete they can dig into for more insight or hints to their motivations. They are reduced to watching a spectacle and waiting for the writer's hand to reveal itself in an arbitrary explanation for the chain of events instead of being drawn in by understanding the situation. While Suletta and Minorine are charmingly portrayed and voiced acted, much of the mystery behind Suletta's origins bogs down much of their relationship dynamic. They perhaps connect on an intuitive level in seeing the chemistry they begin to develop, but there always feels like there should be more to the relationship or that it is incomplete because Suletta does not know or is not telling Minorine about her own past.

This leads to WfM feeling like it is being crushed under the weight of all the mysteries and vaguenness. After its 13-episode run, there are only questions, multitudes of moving pieces and no answers. While that could indicate an interesting show built on intricate planning, the impression WfM gives is that this is more down to attempting to do too many things simultaneously. The premise of WfM, while fresh for Gundam, is nothing exceptional in the wider sci-fi genre. There have been and will be many works that discuss corporate excess and economic inequality. While that does not mean that it is not worth exploring or having a Gundam riff on it, it does mean that having so many of the core conflicts kept off the board as secrets oversells how impactful they will be as reveals that retroactively contextualise things or escalate the situation. Anyone familiar with Gundam and/or science fiction can probably guess where the plot is going and the missing elements behind the premise. That in itself is not a strike against any show. The problem is that viewers are making these not as inferences but as guesses. It uses genre savviness and knowledge of science fiction concepts to make these conclusions instead of using information supplied by the show. That is either a failure to communicate ideas effectively or a lack of effort and attention paid to them.

Even if WfM handles everything smoothly in its second season, expanding the information it provides about its setting, finally digging down into its themes and properly resolving all its character mystery boxes, it will simply have taken too long. At the very least, it would indicate that WfM suffers severe construction and pacing issues if it requires the viewer to go more than half its run in this state of seeing things unfold but not comprehending a majority of the causation. Even if it does develop the conflict between Earthians and Spacians to the depth and quality we have come to expect from Gundam and other long-running sci-fi series, the damage has been done to how cartoonishly the Benerit Group is shown to operate and how incoherent the school is. And all that is contingent on the series doing damage control instead of this being a strong foundation to work from.

Witch From Mercury does have the foundation for interesting ideas and a story. However, it tries to do too many things and makes them needlessly convoluted. While there is some merit to how it handles its core conflicts and tries to integrate them organically, the lack of details or emphasis on it makes them feel like window dressing to its juvenile school elements. The setting feels at this juncture to be incoherent, bordering on convoluted or even nonsensical. Carried mainly by its visuals, it is hard to give it more credit since the complexities in its ideas and characters remain only as possibilities for the second season to pick up on. It is hard to rate it more than a 6 out of 10, which is being generous and including the potential it has built instead of actually executing any of it. As harsh as I have been, I do hope that season 2 picks up the ball and at least benefits from this preparation, even if that will not retroactively improve the structural elements of these initial episodes.