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I’ve dabbled with Gundam here and there. I watched SD Gundam Force on Toonami when I was little but from my understanding, that doesn’t count. I’ve tried some of the mainline series, including a decent chunk of the original 1979 series (which seemed excellent to me). I like what I’ve seen but I don’t know, there’s so many iterations of Gundam to try and a lot of them are too darn long for my liking. It’s a daunting franchise for me to sink my teeth into.
Well, that’s about to change. I recently did the fourth and possibly final episode review poll and I threw in Witch from Mercury as a close friend of mine really wants me to see it. In the end, Witch from Mercury became the clear winner of the poll. So here I am, under contract, to cover at least the entire first season in episode reviews. Before watching Season 1 however, there is this “Prologue” episode that released a couple months before the actual series premiere. I suppose it’s not technically part of the first season but I imagine this is mandatory and I’m not going to be a doofus and skip it so let’s cover it first.
Witch From Mercury takes place in the “Ad Stella” timeline, a canon specifically created for this show. In the distant future, humanity has developed GUND, a technology system that allows people to operate machinery with their minds. GUND was originally intended to counter physical disabilities that arise from living in space. However, the technology’s developers, the Vanadis Institute, got bought by an arms developer called Ochs Earth, and they have since incorporated GUND into mobile suits (aka the giant and very marketable robots). These mechs are referred as GUND-ARMs or “Gundams” for short(?). Seems a bit weird to me to shorten the term by just one consonant but whatever, this is the Ad Stella timeline’s version of Gundam.
In-universe, Gundams are extremely controversial as their technology puts high strain on the pilot’s mind, potentially resulting in their death. Vanadis appears to still believe in the technology however as they’re shown testing a new prototype, the XGF-02 Gundam Lfrith. The only problem is that Lfrith’s test pilot, Elnora Samaya (Mamiko Noto) is struggling to activate it, the Gundam proving to be highly demanding on the mind.
Following another unsuccessful test, Elnora returns to her quarters to celebrate the fourth birthday of her daughter Ericht (Kana Ichinose) or “Eri” for short, alongside her husband Nadim (Hiroshi Tsuchida). What a cute family, I sure hope nothing bad happens to them! Parallel to this, the Mobile Suit Development Council defunds Ochs Earth and creates a task force called Cathedra to enforce a ban on Gundam technology. Right before a press conference, Cathedra’s leader Delling Rembran (Naoya Uchida) initiates an unsanctioned strike on Vanadis’ facility with the council’s main security force, Dominicus, and orders everyone in Vanadis to be killed on sight.
My biggest worry with the prologue is that it wouldn’t resonate with me. This episode clearly takes place years before the main show and as far as I can tell, it mostly features the main show’s supporting characters and barely any of the major ones. I admit that there are a couple of moments that fall a little flat for me, such as the deaths of these two Vanadis researches who are BFFs, Wendy (Yo Taichi) and Nyla (Sachiko Kojima). Those two have just one scene establishing their chemistry so I couldn’t really care when either character dies.
What does work for me is the Samaya family. Even if it’s just because they are a family with a young daughter, you can’t help but worry for them during the chaos that ensues. The twist that Eri can actually activate the Lfrith and the fact that Elnora needs her to use the Gundam so that they can escape are both great. That’s so incredibly ominous and it makes me wonder what lies ahead for her in the main show. Nadim sacrificing himself to hold off the enemy from pursuing his family is a little predictable but I did feel sad for him, especially when he uses his dying breath to sing “Happy Birthday” to Eri and poor Eri is too young to understand what’s going on.
Another highlight is Delling. I love how he gives a speech, objecting to Gundams on an ethical level, while an unethical strike that he himself ordered is happening. I don’t know if it’s accurate to call him a hypocrite but he’s definitely sending mixed signals and I find that very intriguing. Chances are, he’ll be in the main show so I’m curious to see what he’ll do over there.
Admittedly, my hands are a bit tied here. I’m kind of obligated to keep going with this show. Putting that aside, I don’t know if this prologue has me completely sold on Witch from Mercury but it’s a pretty good start. The world it introduces here is pretty interesting and while the actual cast isn’t really present here, the episode manages to deliver a couple of evocative moments. Perhaps this will click for me more when I head over to the main show and I see how this episode connects to that.
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Watch Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury on Crunchyroll
Xenodude's Scribbles 