Over the weekend, the first episode of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury was released, and being the Gundam fan I am, I had to watch it. We’re in a completely new Gundam timeline, called the Ad Stella timeline, with new characters and many new, sexy Gundams. As for this first episode, I think I’ve watched it about 20 times now, but who’s counting? It’s also the eagerly anticipated next chapter in the Gundam series, and based on this first episode, things are being shaken up.
In this first episode, we’re introduced (or reintroduced if you watched the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Prologue) to Suletta Mercury and her mobile suit, which she refers to as “Aerial.” We’ll talk about the mobile suit a bit later in the review. Suletta is chilling inside her mobile suit, being transported to her school, when she notices someone flying out in space and believes that person is in danger. So she nervously radios the transport ship pilots, telling them someone is in danger. Then she decides she’s going to rescue that person herself.
This reminds me of when Banagher Link saved Audrey Hepburn in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.
After successfully rescuing that person, we’re introduced to what seems like another pivotal character of the series, Miorine Rembran. It seems that Miorine is the daughter of an entrepreneur, Delling Rembran, and is the same person who staged a military assault to eradicate all Gund-Arms (Gundams) and caused the death of Suletta’s father. Anyway, she’s “promised” to be married to this jackass, Guel Jeturk, all thanks to duels. We’ll come back to that as well.
All of the mentioned characters are students at the Asticassia School of Technology. Suletta is a transfer student from Mercury who is very shy and nervous. She can barely speak to people due to her shyness and is made fun of by several students. The entire reason she’s even at this school is that her mother wanted it so.
If this were high school, which seems to be a perfect way to summarize how this first episode feels, then Guel would be the alpha jock. Cocky, full of himself, and has a massive clique who thinks he can do no wrong. He also is the son of a high-placed political figure, heir to “one of the three branches of the Benerit Group.” Oh, he’s also the top duelist pilot, or so he thinks.
Miorine Rembran wasn’t down with this, and she attempted to escape her fate, but thanks to the interference of Suletta, she failed. Now she’s upset at Suletta, but after getting to know her briefly, she realizes that her intentions were pure. Still, Miorine isn’t happy with this arrangement. Confused, Suletta asks why she’d marry someone like him, to which Miorine explains it wasn’t her choice and was an outcome of a duel. Everything at the school is handled over a duel; money, authority, apologies, etc. Dueling in this show is similar to how dueling was throughout history, to handle disputes and arrangements. We’ll see a lot more dueling in this show, seeing how important it is.
Miorine retreats to her “home,” where she farms various vegetables. It seems to be her place where she goes to hide and relax. Except, Guel and his clique decide to ambush Miorine there, and it’s here where things get hostile. Miorine is more determined to end this arrangement in any way she can. During this situation, Seletta shows her pure heart again, gets involved with the situation, and stands up to Guel despite her awkward ways.
Guel explains to Suletta that everything that happens at this school is done via duels (again). Whoever is strongest determines what is right or wrong. He then challenges Suletta to a duel. If Suletta loses, she has to leave the school, and without hesitation, she agrees, much to Guel’s disbelief. I suppose he didn’t watch the prologue.
The duel starts, Guel starts bragging about how he’ll end this quickly, and things get interesting. It’s not Suletta in the “Aerial” mobile suit, but Miorine. She wants to stand up for herself and end this marriage arrangement. Except, she has zero experience with a mobile suit. Guel starts to rough her up a bit, and then we see a cut to Suletta, who’s wondering how Miorine ended up in her mobile suit. She’s not too thrilled when she realizes Miorine stole access from her.
Eventually, Suletta makes her way to the mobile suit, after help from a “friend,” and can be seen riding across the dueling field on a scooter. Not thrilled about her mobile suit being stolen, she opens the cockpit, headbutts Miorine, and explains this mobile suit is hers. She says the Aerial is hers and Miorine needs to get out. Of course, all this rambling can be heard over the comms, where everyone watching the duel can hear.
Annoyed, Guel allows Suletta to become his opponent again, as he wants to show everyone his superiority over her. Except, things don’t go his way. As soon as Suletta pilots the mobile suit Aerial, things start to change. The display in the mobile suit changes, and a whale-like sound can be heard. Suddenly, the mobile suit springs to life, and we can officially call it a Gundam. Something that Delling Rembran had attempted to destroy in the prologue.
First, Suletta forms a shield from the Gundam’s bits and blocks Guel’s attack, then summons the very same bits to fire at Guel. Cutting his mobile suit to shreds. All while he’s wondering what had happened to him. This guy had literally no chance. Suletta has been mowing down military-piloted mobile suits since she was a baby (again, see Mobile Suit Gundam The Witch from Mercury prologue).
Declared the winner, Miorine causes an emblem of the victor of the duel to appear on Suletta’s pilot suit. Miorine explained that this fight was for who she’d be married to. Since Suletta won the duel, she is now Miorone’s Groom! Suletta doesn’t understand what’s happening here and states she’s a woman. Miorine replies that where Suletta comes from must be very conservative, and that’s how they do things at the school.
End of the episode!
Thoughts about the first episode
Yep, this is a typical Gundam show. We’re introduced to yet more young pilots, political corruption, manipulation, and moral undertones. Outside of that, the show is beautifully well-drawn, and I could relate to the characters more quickly than in prior shows. Of course, the Aerial Gundam looks amazing, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it gets incorporated into future episodes.
I hope the connection between Gundam Aerial and Suletta is fleshed out as the series continues and doesn’t get lost. It seems as if this will be another major point of the series.
I like the idea of this taking place in a school and the main character already being versed with mobile suits instead of accidentally getting into the cockpit or being a war-crazed pilot with no focus. Yet, all the political nonsense is already deep, and we can see Guel’s father already trying to kill Miorine’s father to gain access to her family resources. If it weren’t for Suletta’s interference, things would have gone differently, and I wonder if that’s going to cause her complications while she’s enrolled at the school.
Lastly, while I’m tired of the “child in Gundam” trope, I genuinely enjoy Suletta. She’s innocent, and she seems pure, but there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to her character.
Addressing the elephant in the room
There’s no easy way to talk about this; believe me, I’ve looked at every angle and pondered this in my head, over and over. And I realized that someone would be upset no matter how I say this, so here we go. The part where Miorine tells Suletta that she’s now her Groom has set the internet on fire. On one side, we have people hating the show cause it’s gay; on the other, LGBTQ fans applaud this. To the point where people are glamouring that there are lesbians in Gundam.
Of course, we overlook the part where Suletta looks panicky and explains, “But, I’m a woman,” and clearly wants no part of this. While Miorine is like, “that sort of thing is commonplace here.”
Now, I could care less about either side of the argument. I’m a fan of Gundam, and I watch the show for what it is. Thus, both sides here are both wrong.
Had Miorine explained to Suletta that this duel would be to determine her spouse, in a clear matter, things might have played out differently. Had Guel explained that this duel would determine who Miorine’s mate would be, things caused things to play out differently. Had anyone told Suletta this duel was about this arrangement, who knows what would have happened?
Instead, the duel arrangement was made between Guel and Suletta. If Suletta lost, she’d have to leave the school. Suletta didn’t want this to happen as it was her mother’s wish for her to come to this particular school. And as we’ve seen thus far, her mother is a big influence on her. She didn’t want that.
Representation is great, but the issue at the heart of this is consent. Suletta went into the fight not fully knowing what was happening and, therefore, could not give consent to the engagement. That represents bigger issues, including the harmful trope of having to be “tricked” into gay relationships.”
Suletta had no idea, she merely wanted to shut Guel up and teach him some matters as she said, “didn’t your mother teach you?” “You can’t act like that!” “But what’s wrong is wrong!” Now, she’s Miorine’s groom and the top duelist in the school, and maybe that will stick. Maybe it won’t. I’d like to see how this all plays out, and I’m curious about just where this will take the series, regardless if it turns out to be gay or not.
Also, I’m more than happy to talk about this review, any part of it, either in the comments or on Twitter.
