Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury [Preview]
By: Mithrandiel
New anime is arriving this week, and among the most highly anticipated series for me (alongside Mob Psycho 100 season 3...) is the latest series in the Mobile Suit Gundam universe: The Witch From Mercury.
You can find the prologue below - the preview will go into this prologue and feature spoilers, so please watch it first!
It's been about 5 years since Iron Blooded Orphans went off the air, the last proper Gundam series that boasted over 50 episodes of mech warfare, and the persisting, harrowing tales of child soldiers.
A few weeks ago, The Witch From Mercury's prologue was posted on Youtube, and with nearly 2 and a half million views since its upload, the series is making some serious waves leading up to its formal release.
The Witch From Mercury centers on a young woman named Ericht (or Eri, to family and friends). Eri lives in a world where humanity is beginning to venture properly into space, but with bodies built for a world with an atmosphere and proper gravitational pull, technological advancements are needed to augment their bodies and continue their journey into space. This comes in the form of the GUND format - cybernetic implants and enhancements that start out as highly effective limb replacements, but eventually extend to a heightened/refined version of mobile suits known as Gundams. The key to their enhanced performance is the use of a "Permet Score" system which links a pilot more directly with the machine at various levels (we see up through level 4 in the prologue), resulting in superior maneuverability, targeting and overall effectiveness.
The Witch From Mercury showcases our protagonist's tragic backstory - the daughter of promising researchers and developers of a trademark Gundam known as Lfrith, a sudden council vote from the Earth-based mobile suit developers and organizations results in a sudden, hostile (in the most literal sense) takeover. Unbeknownst to Eri's mother, the little girl was "introduced" to Lfrith just moments before the formative attack. When entering Lfrith to escape with Eri, she discovers that the child has successfully pushed past a layer of connection with the machine that previously blocked development - putting a 4 year old girl in the driving seat of a highly sophisticated killing machine.
The Witch From Mercury's prologue is honestly one of the strongest opening entries of a Gundam series that I've seen in many years. It does a phenomenal job of showing, rather than telling. Elements such as the GUND format, Permet score and other jargon-y terms that could otherwise be buried under tons of explanation are introduced naturally, keeping the pace light. You get the sense for the broader political conflict without the need of memorizing a handful of family trees and organizational structures. Most importantly, the emotional affect of the closing scene, and the weight of the battle in the latter half of the episode paints a promising picture for the kind of story The Witch From Mercury aims to tell.
Overall, the prologue is superb, and I'm eager to see the show's debut this weekend on Crunchyroll! Make sure to check it out!
