Disclaimer: I love anime, and almost exclusively enjoy what I watch. This will be a very positive review, and you can of course check out the rest of my relentless positivity here!
Second Disclaimer: This review is based off both seasons, I will not be spoiling anything. I personally enjoyed the second season more than the first, and my score is split between the two.
Third Disclaimer: I dislike walls of text as much as the next guy, and will do my best to insert screenshots into future reviews to brighten them up :)
Verdict: I have not seen enough mecha to know how this compares objectively to it all, but I loved the characters, the setting, and how it all developed over two seasons. It’s something I would easily recommend to anyone.
My mecha journey only began less than a month ago, when I was successfully peer pressured into watching Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and I had a great time. It shouldn’t surprise anybody that TTGL is a great show. A week or so ago, I was discussing yuri with a friend of mine, and the topic of Gundam came up, and I was eventually recognized Witch from Mercury. So all I knew going in was that it had yuri elements.
Suletta is a delightful protagonist to follow. Her sheltered upbringing is crucial to how she can impact a world where everyone was told that their lives are entirely dependent on their families. She acts purely in the interest of helping those around her. It’s a touch cliché at times, but the world makes it work. It is then her influence on the rest of the characters that makes them shine and so much fun to watch.
The main thing that sets this apart from other anime I’ve seen is the characters. In too many high-school based shows, the characters have a level of mental maturity that makes them feel like adults. But the world that G-Witch built, where everyone was simply doing as told, their struggle to break out into individuals from their family makes them feel like children. I could relate to the struggle of learning about yourself in a way I rarely do. Guel, Miorine, Elan and everyone else are slaves to either their family name or the society they were born into, and regardless of anyone’s actions, it’s so easy to root for them because you can understand the angst within them. They’re kids, and it’s natural for kids to make mistakes.
The side characters are equally interesting. Secelia exists solely to be sassy and I love that for her. A lot of the major players have followers that really enhance their presence at the school. The various houses create natural rifts of conflict that can be expanded upon, which worked quite well for the worldbuilding.
The story is interesting to follow, although I admit that it was tough for me to keep up with some of the politics at the beginning. But the specifics aren’t necessary to get the most out of how the characters interact within the story. It retains most of its mystery throughout both seasons and I ended up relating to Suletta in wanting to learn more about everything. She is just as much a newcomer to this world and its systems as I was. The one real issue I took with the story was that it didn’t really develop the school that Suletta attends. We’re told that there’s a difference between the pilot division and other divisions, but what are those other divisions and what are the end goals for them?
The conflict between the Earthians and Spacians is incredibly intriguing and I really appreciate how the decisions in the story worked to further stress those relations. I appreciate how people with similar upbringings felt that the solutions to the world’s issues were different, and their clash over said differences felt grounded in the reality they had to live in.
The mecha elements were a bit further apart than I was expecting, but they were well done. The duel system as a way for students to settle disputes allowed them to intersperse some moments of action between the storytelling. It also served as a way for characters to let out their frustrations and I thought some of them got closer because of their actions in the duels. The soundtrack was also excellent, and the vocal parts provided some truly epic moments.
I had a blast watching G-Witch, though I will probably still need some convincing if I’m going to watch more mecha in the future. However, I could easily recommend G-Witch to anybody, regardless of their anime tastes. It kept me on the edge of my seat during the entire watch and I think it even managed to stick a difficult landing quite well.
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