The First Episode For ‘Gundam: The Witch From Mercury’ Is Not Woke, It’s Just Really Good

Games The First Episode For ‘Gundam: The Witch From Mercury’ Is Not Woke, It’s Just Really Good Ollie Barder Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I cover gaming in Japan as well as the pop-culture here. Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories.

Got it! Oct 4, 2022, 02:20am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The end card for the first episode of ‘Gundam: The Witch from Mercury’ illustrated by the series’ . . .

[+] main mecha designer JNTHED. ©SOTSU・SUNRISE Following the amazing prologue episode , we have finally been graced with the first episode of the series and it’s remarkably good, if a bit different from what we were expecting. The prologue was very much a tragedy and set up the world building for the series.

Much of that is obviously still present in the first episode, such as the oppressive corporate structure of the society, but the culture of the school Suletta Mercury attends is a whole other thing entirely. In that, the Asticassia School of Technology teaches kids the nature of how mobile suits work and are operated. An offshoot of this is that the pupils will duel in said mobile suits.

It may sound goofy on paper, but it’s handled well in the anime by focusing on the industrial nature of the mobile suits themslves. However, the current duelling champion is Guel Jeturk , the heir to Jeturk Heavy Machinery. This is where it all goes a bit Utena , as Guel’s “fiancé” Miorine Rembran is a result of his duelling prowess and she obviously wants out of this arrangement.

She tries escaping the school at the start of the episode, but that doesn’t go exactly according to plan. MORE FOR YOU Livestream Shopping Stays Hot As Whatnot Valuation More Than Doubles To $3. 7 Billion Cooking Up A Storm: The Rise Of The Virtual Restaurant Franchise From Founder To Funder: Insights From Angel Investors With An Entrepreneurial Background It’s here she meets the bumbling, nervous and entirely adorable Suletta, who in turn ends ups standing up to Guel and in doing so instigates her first duel against him, using her own Gundam Aerial .

The result is as you would expect, but this duelling school setup is not at all new to anime, with the previously mentioned Utena being a prime example of this. With anime like Utena as the backdrop here, it paints a very different picture than the one that is being discussed online, which is accusing this series of being “woke”. The series is definitely from the perspective from Suletta and Miorine, with Guel as the initial obvious antagonist.

That means it’s inevitably female oriented, but that’s not new to anime or even Gundam . If anything, Guel is very much inline with older antagonists from other Gundam shows, such as Jerid Messa from Zeta Gundam , as someone that bullies the protagonist only to be consistently humiliated in mobile suit combat. Even within the context of Gundam , female mobile suit pilots are nothing new either.

With Christina Mackenzie from Gundam 0080 being a pertinent example of this. So the current discussion online around this first episode is just odd and doesn’t take into account the history of Gundam as a series, nor how shoujo series like Utena work. All that aside, the only thing here is that after the prologue, the first episode may come out of left field.

That said, the whole corporate underpinnings of this future society are fleshed out and built upon. The duelling aspect will likely make way for something more complex, though I doubt it will be gone entirely, as mobile suit combat is a staple of any Gundam series. Apart from that, I am loving the music by Takashi Ohmama and it worked magnificently in the first episode, especially during the final mobile suit fight.

The animation is also very impressive for a new TV series and the mecha designs are handled very well indeed. From traditional 2D animation to subtle 3D CG in places. It’s a good blend and while not new for modern mecha anime, it is handled well throughout.

Overall, the first episode leads me to think that the Witch from Mercury could be a truly special series and a great addition to the already storied Gundam pantheon. Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is currently available to watch via Crunchyroll . Follow me on Twitter , Facebook and YouTube .

I also manage Mecha Damashii and do toy reviews over at hobbylink. tv . Read my Forbes blog here .

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