This article contains spoilers
Wow.
It's not often a season opener blows me away, but to be fair, Gundam: The Witch from Mercury had a sneaky head-start with that incredible prologue episode which I covered on release.
We've moved forward a few years and Suletta Mercury (formerly known to us as the adorable 4-year old Ericht Samaya) has arrived at the Asticassia School of Technology as a second-year transfer student in the piloting program, bringing with her the Aerial Gund-ARM suit designed by her mother. Awkward, nervous around strangers and yet somehow strong-willed enough to stand up to the school's ace pilot (and chief misogynist pig) Giel Jeturk. Egged on by a gaggle of what I'll call "basic bitches", he delights in destroying the tomato plants of his fiance, Miorine Rembram. It turns out that he won both the ace-pilot title "Holder" and her hand in marriage by combat, and seething at the injustice on display, Suletta challenges him to a duel.
He even wears his coat like a dick.
When the time for battle comes, Miorine has stolen Aerial and taken Suletta's place, which I was initially pretty annoyed about. However, Suletta's having none of it, especially given that it's clear Miorine has no idea how to pilot the new suit, invades the match on an adorable Haro-moped and forcefully takes control, proving that there's a layer of steel behind her nervous social interactions. What follows is the best two minutes of anime I've seen this year - the Aerial's full potential unlocked, it absolutely decimates Juterk's mecha to a choral arrangement that had me madly googling for the soundtrack as soon as the curtain closed, with a defeated Juterk, Suletta the new "Holder" and... Miorine's new fiance. As a side note, her actions also negate an assassination attempt on Miorine's father, the head of the Benerit group with his own shadowy links to Suletta's past (covered by the prequel).
If I had to pick a nit, it is a tad unfortunate that Jurtek manages to miss the Aerial with his rifle shots several times as it stood there unmoving. It did undermine the threat a little, but I can forgive it - just this once - as the sequence of the suit powering up, with those wonderful mechanical lighting patterns, gave me chills.
Boom!
During the battle there are perhaps subtle nods to Gundams past - Suletta's ability to use multiple laser drones to cut a suit to pieces without harming the pilot were possibly a nod to Kira Yamato's signature attacks in SEED, and the falling feathers as the battle ended recalled Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz. It could be coincidence but it certainly evoked those two shows for me and were a wonderful touch if that was indeed the intention.
I also enjoyed the idea that Miorine has no qualms about being engaged to a woman while Suletta is genuinely shocked - it was both funny and beautifully handled, without being too heavy-handed. As Dawfyfd at UK Anime Network wittily remarked, it looks like we might be in for Mobile Suit Revolutionary Girl Suletta Mercury!
Stunning visuals help to sell the story
Coming back to the music, while the teaser trailer used a piece called Last Breath by J.T Peterson, it set the tone for the series' own dizzying orchestral tracks by Takashi Ohmama. Both grand and breathless, the series gains much of its character and grandeur from the composer's skillful efforts.
That's not to underplay the directing and animation either - there's a lovely sense of scale, with Suletta and Miorine running through a training battlefield, with small chunks of mobile suit crashing down like boulders around them. The institution itself looks very intriguing, all big buildings housing mecha and hi-tech gadgetry. Suit designs eschew the skin-tight look of Gundam's past, with a more realistic padded look. The HUD's are gloriously interwoven CGI and the Aerial itself looks stunning, as any signature series mecha should.
In all, this a stellar opening to what I hope will be an entertaining and tightly plotted narrative arc. The series did some great groundwork by introducing us to Suletta as a precocious 4 year-old, giving the audience an investment in her development, especially older fans like myself with their own daughters that we want to see succeed.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury is streaming weekly on Crunchyroll.
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