Thoughts on Anime: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury

Hello everyone, I am back with a post about this anime that I just finished watching. Overall, it was a good story and plot line, and the ending didn't leave any loose ends, but I would be lying if I said that there were more than a few things that got me so mad for the characters. 

The show first starting airing on October 2nd, 2022, on Crunchyroll and it is now completed, so if you are like me and hate watching on going shows, you don't have to worry about that. So, this show is about a power struggle between earth and the Beneritt Conglomerate. The show opens with Suletta Mercury, the main protagonist of the show, arriving from the planet Mercury and almost immediately getting pulled into the politics of the conglomerate. In the first couple of episodes, we find out that she is a really good pilot that arrived with her own mobile suit, which is the main Gundam, and winning the hand of the Beneritt conglomerate's president's daughter Miorine Rembran. 

Throughout the show you see the adults of the show really messed up their children and Earth. The show has multiple plot lines. The first plot line is why Suletta can pilot Aerial, which is a Gundam, without dying or having any side effects from using the Gundam like previous pilots of Gundam's before they were outlawed by the Beneritt Conglomerate's president and her family's tragic past and the big reveal towards the end of the show related to Suletta. I don't want to spoil to much of the show, but it has to do with a lost sister of Suletta's and once you learn about the secret, it really makes sense. The second plot line is Miorine fighting to get out of her father's shadow and his schemes to always make decisions for her instead of letting her choose her own path for her life. I will say that as the show goes on, and definitely by the end of the show, Miorine is very successful in getting out of his shadow. The third and fourth plot lines are why Gundams were outlawed (and its curse on its pilots) and how the Beneritt Conglomerate really messed up Earth with all of their technology and draining of their resources.

I will say that this show does cause a lot of trauma to the characters of the show and a few people do die in the show, but none of the main children that you see throughout the show. As the show goes on, the children of the presidents of each business in the conglomerate slowing break away from all of the harm that their parents caused and are able to move forward and actually try to fix all of the mistakes their parents made by making completely new businesses under their family names *SPOILER ALERT INCOMING* after the original conglomerate is dissolved by Miorine when she takes over as the president of the conglomerate. There is only one relationship that actually survives all of the events that occur throughout the show, that is romantic, but all of the friendships forged do remain until the end of the show.

Overall, I would give this show an 8/10 and that is solely because there are a few things that really irritated me with the show with some of the characters. However, the story was very solid and very engaging, and it was really nice to see a new Gundam that blends very well into modern day anime and doesn't feel tired or recycled, in my opinion anyway. I would highly recommend this show to anyone who is a fan of the Gundam Franchise or who likes space anime. I watched in on Crunchyroll, but it is also available on Amazon Prime to be rented. It may be a hot take, but I really liked the show and the characters, and, for how the story was written and the length of the show, I feel like the characters who needed to be developed were developed pretty well, but I'm sure most people would disagree as the average rating for this show is 7.5/10. I know I highly recommend it but the best rule to live by when it comes to anime, at least this is how I do it, is watch the first 3 episodes because (generally speaking) you learn all you need to learn about the show in those episodes and whether or not you would be willing to watch the rest of the anime.