Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo

Suletta Mercury leaves her planet and enters the Asticassia School of Technology at the behest of her mother. There, right and wrong are determined through duels between students, and the top-ranking duelist will receive Miorine Rembran as their fiancée—this prize being decided by Miorine's father.

When Guel Jeturk, the best pilot in school and Miorine's current fiancé, demands that his betrothed move in with him, Suletta disapproves, so Guel challenges her. Although she emerges as champion, Suletta is subsequently detained on suspicion of piloting a forbidden type of mobile suit—a GUND-ARM, or "Gundam"—which results in her victory being voided.

Miorine refuses to accept any more injustices and proposes another duel with even higher stakes. Now, Suletta must triumph a second time, otherwise she will be expelled and the Gundam Aerial that means so much to her will be destroyed.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Mercury, Suletta Main

Ichinose, Kana Japanese

Rembran, Miorine Main

Lynn Japanese

Haro Supporting

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Jeturk, Guel Supporting

Azakami, Youhei Japanese

Panlunch, Chuatury Supporting

Tomita, Miyu Japanese

Ceres, Elan Supporting

Hanae, Natsuki Japanese

Dote, Secelia Supporting

Yamane, Aya Japanese

Mercury, Prospera Supporting

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Nanaura, Nika Supporting

Miyamoto, Yume Japanese

Pulone, Sophie Supporting

Izawa, Shiori Japanese

Maeda, Toshihiro Producer

Okamoto, Takuya Producer

Kobayashi, Hiroshi Director, Storyboard

Aketagawa, Jin Sound Director

Reviews

Jan 8, 2023

Marinate1016

Recommended

Gundam’s multiple timelines and universes often keep people away, which is a shame as shows like G Witch perfectly sum up why Gundam is one of the biggest franchises of all time.

For me, G Witch is one of the best Gundam series ever, and the best modern iteration for two simple reasons. 1:Cute Girls. 2:Yuri. In all seriousness, it’s such a breath of fresh air to have two awesome female leads with such great personalities and a naturally developing relationship. Sulletta’s social anxiety is extremely relatable and you can’t help but want to see her succeed. Miorine’s prickly personality that she uses to cover up ... her own insecurities and fears is also something many people can relate to. The two leads just feel real and that’s one of the hardest things to nail in this medium. In a franchise that is known for insane space battles, political drama and cool mechs, it’s also a massive bonus to have loveable characters.

I think the Yuri undertones have been handled really well. Pretty obvious, but not too in your face either. Suletta and Miorine’s friendship is integral to the story and the cornerstone of their growth as individuals and it’s been such a joy to see it play out in this first cour. I enjoy seeing female protagonists and romantic relationships more than traditional hetero ones as they tend to be better written and more organic. That said, there’s still a lot more room for growth and I can’t wait to see where things go in the second cour.

The school setting is a really nice departure from the usual Gundam formula as well. The various cliques and politics going on within the school are a cool take on the usual political drama in Gundam. In many ways, G Witch really feels like Gundam for a modern audience which is really good because the same things that made Gundam popular in the 70s and 80s, might not be the wave to ride right now. Knowing how to modernise and adapt franchises for modern audiences is important to stay relevant and it seems sunrise have managed to just do that. The series still has that Gundam feeling, but feels very fresh. Even the character designs are a welcome upgrade.

Of course you can’t talk about Gundam without talking about.. well.. gundams. In the show we haven’t seen too much action as it’s mainly been character driven over this first cour. That said, in the few action scenes we have had, I have been really pleased with the sakuga. The blending of 2D and 3D animation/CGI has been nearly flawless and the set pieces have been meticulously drawn and executed. I imagine as things heat up in the second cour, we will see even better action sequences and crazier battles, but I have no doubt in my mind Sunrise will do a great job. Minor note, but sound design has also been GREAT in the series too. I think it’s a detail that often gets brushed over in anime, but I really like it in this one.

Overall, Gundam G Witch is a great watch for Gundam Vets and newcomers alike and one of my fave shows of 2022. No, you do NOT have to have seen any other Gundams to watch and enjoy this. The other gundams will allow you to see the character parallels between new characters and ones from other series, but it’s not necessary. In fact, I would say this is an excellent starting point for those looking to get into the franchise, as well as those who enjoy well written female characters, mechs and sci-fi in general.

Gundam G Witch first Cour gets 10 tomatoes out of 10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Marinate1016 (381)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jan 8, 2023

Mcsuper

Mixed Feelings

This was my first time watching a Gundam anime, and I feel like I have been bamboozled. Why, you ask? Because the prologue showed quite the dark space story that had me quite excited for what the series would bring. Instead, this show took place in an academy, and had all your academia tropes in there, which felt like a complete 360 from what I expected, which was more of a political show. Does that mean that The Witch From Mercury was bad? Not exactly, but I did have my fair share of issues with it. Now, I am quite aware that this was just ... the first cour, and I am quite certain that this will be the weakest cour of this show. There was still some intrigue here, with the politics and character interactions, and I look forward to where that goes.

As I said earlier, this show took place mostly in an academy so far, which, for more seasoned Gundam veterans, must have felt a bit surprising and perhaps a bit underwhelming. For me, it also felt a bit shocking considering the prologue, but the production looked pretty good early on that made it quite enjoyable. The things that I took more issue with in the plot was that the students seemed to hold so much power, and there were no higher authorities to speak of, other than the parents, but it’s not like the parents controlled the academy or anything. The students could just do as they pleased, harming each other like no one’s business.

The duels were also quite a convenient plot device to settle disputes, and I felt that took away some of the potential this show had to show how good it could be. It didn’t allow for the characters to shine in ways outside of battle enough, and while the duels are cool to look at, it does get a bit predictable and repetitive. It’s not all negative though, as the political themes were still interesting enough to keep me watching. The mind games surrounding the ethics of Gundam suits, the war between the companies, Prospera’s role in all of this, it felt quite intriguing, but it’s still too early to know where the plot will go from here. Overall, quite a mixed bag, story-wise.

As for the technical aspects of the show, it’s definitely the least of this series’ worries. Both the animation and music were well done, and the OP and ED were both quite the good songs. I just hope the production can stay afloat for the second cour, as we’ve already had some production issues this cour.

The characters of this show are definitely the biggest source of intrigue in this show, and I’ll go over my thoughts on some of them. First, Suletta, the new Bocchi of the Gundam Franchise, just without the comedic aspect. She’s a dunce, plain and simple, and sometimes, I did get a little frustrated by how gullible she was, but as with most protagonists, she had her time to shine, but sadly there just wasn’t enough development this cour for her. She just needs more moments that rely on her skills more, and not getting bailed out by others. Her performance in the promotional video for the company was pretty cool though, I’m not gonna lie. Miorine, the other half to this relationship, could have been a great character, and when she shows her prowess, she’s quite awesome, but too much of her screen time was centred around meaningless things, such as yelling at Suletta, which was a bit repetitive. Luckily she had more meaningful moments toward the end of the cour.

Shaddiq was a good side character, as I never really got a handle on his motives, though I was suspicious of what he would do. It made the climaxes a bit more shocking for sure. As for other interesting characters, Chuchu, Elan, and Nika come to mind, but it’s still quite early for me to formulate a firm opinion on them.

Overall, this was a series filled with solid ideas, with middling execution at times. I enjoyed watching the characters and the politics enough, and the production quality was solid. I’d imagine the future cours will get me more interested in what this series has to offer, so if you’re interested in a more unique Gundam story that’s a slow burn, this could be the Gundam for you. This was my first Gundam show, so I can’t compare this to other parts of the franchise, but all I can say is, the GUND-ARM promotional video was the best part of all.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Mcsuper (119)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Apr 7, 2023

Gsarthotegga

Not Recommended

The Prologue to The Witch from Mercury was a mostly poor and unneeded forerunner for the series. Now we get to see a new Gundam for the current generation, many of whom probably missed out on older entries to the long-running franchise. What do we get? Instead of following around adolescent male protagonist soldiers, we get our first female protagonist and school life, only this academy is a colony that may or may not get dropped, but it definitely should get the latter treatment. With the entire cast locked inside.

The setting and early plot points are highly reminiscent of Revolutionary Girl Utena. We have ... a familiar looking academy, just updated with sci-fi scenery; d-d-duels are a primary part of the plot; a few characters are battling over waifus, corporate contracts, pride, and flat-out dumb reasons like a kindergarten show and tell of feelings. Suletta accidentally gets engaged to a very bratty, immature, whiny tsundere female named Miorine near the beginning—certain scenes held up side by side smack of imitation, and if you've seen Utena, the similarities can be a little tedious and, frankly, inauthentic. Yet these comparisons are superficial, as TWfM doesn't do anything especially notable with these ideas, as Utena did—the staff just reused a bit of the icing to dress up their Easy-Bake Oven cake. In fact, this show would be better if it were a knock-off of Utena instead of the bland Mobile Suit Gundam: Mercury Witch High School series that it becomes. A perfect comparison of the two would be to point out how Anthy in Utena tends to a rose garden, while Miorine is growing tomatoes. Roses are associated with aesthetic beauty, while tomatoes have a more basic function. Yet no one eats these tomatoes. TWfM is the non-aesthetic tomato left to rot on the vine.

From what I can tell and based on commentary from the staff, it does appear TWfM is yuri bait of a very touchy-feely variety, and the two leads will remain close friends. However, I suppose future installments of TWfM could become a real yuri. Given the storytelling employed thus far, it probably SHOULD be a yuri, but it doesn't look like it will. Usually when you have these kind of unwitting fiance plots, there's tension and a possibility they might develop feelings for one another, so it at least has some significance, but that doesn't even appear to be there. What we have appears to be a weird bait and switch to get the two closely entwined and to stir controversy and generate interest in a cheap fashion. The yuri bait at first appeared to be like "No, father, I will defy your arranged marriage because it doesn't line up with the target audience's values, but instead of casting it aside all together this girl I met yesterday will be my new suitress, and it's not like I like her or anything, b-baka!" Whereas Utena also wasn't REALLY a yuri (it's complicated), it had a kind of fairytale-filtered and surreal take on themes of lesbianism and feminism, which at least were handled in a confident manner; on the other hand, TWfM is content to recycle a key plot point in a way that is merely distracting.

And, indeed, it seems it will just be yuri bait in the same way that most shounen tend to engage in "romance bait," where there is this vague kind-of-sort-of-but-not-really relationship that is just a heightened affection implied by googly-eyes, blushes, stammering embarrassment (we'll get plenty of that either way...), and occasional cringe humor, but it never goes anywhere for like 200-300 episodes. Except this is even more of a not-romance than that! As this is a shounen promising the "rose-tinted" high school/university life, we're sure to get a not-romance of this nature within a not-romance of some other fashion, so this is like a matryoshka doll of banal not-romances waiting to be unraveled.

The worst part of all is that I'd rather not have the plot be bogged down with OMG BESTIES! LET'S TELL EACH OTHER OUR SECRETS AND COUNT OUR BOO BOOS AND PAINT OUR NAILS MATCHING COLORS or a yuri romance sailing short ship. Romance has always been a part of Gundam, but these "intrigues of the heart" tend to be thin and secondary to politics, action, and other character dynamics. Alternative candidates for romance are Elan and Guel, but I'd rather have NO ROMANCE, as these characters are just not built for romancing.

The characters are generic. Suletta stands out not so much for being a female protagonist as she does a jittery, anxious mess of a character who s-s-stutters and doesn't complett... sentences verr good, and hides behind people when things get heated and shakes in her boots. I keep thinking she's going to shake her way off a balcony or a cliff out of nervousness; that is, when she's not sounding like a self-help book, in or out of battle.

We get a double-dose of tsundere push-pull, not only with the aforementioned brat, but also with "Chuchu," whose name is a direct reference to Utena, and she sports a goofy pink cotton candy Minnie Mouse-eared hairdo. When we compare characters to food, tsundere are usually "spicy," but this one is "sweet." Usually, there is a kind of balance for the most feisty of tsunderes, but they make her as irritating as possible, so her "character development" will be easier. Just a revolting character in all ways, and if the staff had any respect for the audience, she would be the first to be vaporized by a beam rifle.

Though you could make that a triple latte, as Guel Jeturk (is this supposed to sound like cruel jerk?) is a male tsundere, because we just needed another one. While Elan may end up one of the more interesting characters due to plot purposes, all you need to know about him is that he's referred to as the "I-I-Ice P-Prince" and he has about as much personality as a sheet of ice. His initial arc is meant to be the first great emotional high point, but it feels so shockingly flat, part of that being a product of his emptiness as a character.

The costume design consists of the most baggy "Does this make me look fat?" school uniforms I've ever seen, and the character design is mostly hampered by ill-fitting costumes, and while they're not too bothersome at first, I yearn to see the art of just about any other Gundam when watching this. The mobile suits look so shiny and brand new as to have just been r-ripped out of the plastic wrap at the toy store. It can be a mixed bag, but they actually integrate the CGI pretty well most of the time. Sometimes the mechs become very detailed or more hand-drawn looking. The battles are also surprisingly decent, fairly well-animated much of the time, and the stunts they pull during combat are inventive enough to the point that it feels like we might have different schools of combat, which is a plus. Gundam usually succeeds when it comes to combat and production values at least.

Given that this is, to my knowledge, the first gundam that has a fixation on school life, as opposed to war, it's a necessity to make a few comparisons here to past series. The tone is a bit childish, and I wonder if this will remain the case once we're thrust into the war, or if the silly tone will somehow remain omnipresent for the entire duration—the characters, the visuals, etc., really make me think this will remain a circus (the ending is a hilarious contrast, though). Despite being a show targeting teens (probably younger as well) and first airing in 1979, the original Mobile Suit Gundam was a hell of a lot darker and more mature than TWfM to the point that it makes me blush.

A real problem is the amount of p-p-p-plot armor stacked on Suletta. A main character, by definition, has plot armor. If they're dead, the story is over, usually. But as the duels arose, one by one, there was a clear pattern when it came to the victor, and less tension every time. Comparing this to the original MSG, Amuro started the series as an amateur who essentially learned fast and could adapt to the Gundam better than your average human, while also piloting an advanced model. Both of these perks gave him an edge over combatants, but his inexperience was often taken advantage of, especially when the seasoned Char would knock him around. The plot had enough unpredictability that Amuro would lose, have his Gundam totaled, nearly die, have to retreat, etc. War allows for a lot of possibilities.

It's really not quite as varied with dueling. It's b-binary: you win or you lose. The stakes are set so high by the opponents that for Suletta to lose, would mean the series ending. Either she is forced to leave the academy or give up her Gundam or various other ultra-high stakes which would muck up the plot if she were to lose. It's possible you could make her lose with those stakes and somehow regain what she's lost by some means, but the writers seem content to not only remove nearly all tension, but to take the standard route of Suletta is like Amuro, but she starts off as an ace pilot who can't lose. They even use the she's an anxious klutz at everything, but by golly she's an adept of the highest order when she sets foot in that Gundam and fights, trope, as if to rub it in our faces.

The story consists of a bunch of threads that aren't woven together in an especially compelling way. Suletta acquaints herself with various characters, the scenes being drawn out a bit longer to give her room to stutter. Shrill Miorine working out daddy issues and the yuri manipulation. There is some messy love geometry. Kids being kids, which should more accurately be referred to as high school/college freshman acting like they're in grade school. Light corporate dynamics—which are the only thing making the duels standout, so it's a shame this aspect is so weak. Multicultural/multiplanetal and inclusive Earthians (fat characters, anime, really?) without a gym versus exclusive and elitist Spacian clans with free gym membership. Drama leading to d-d-duels that span most of an episode. It might appear quite busy or complex from a distance, but when you look at the constituent parts, there's hardly anything of substance. There's so much going on that we get the bare minimum of everything, and a whole lot of mech battles with no tension—but they're cool and flashy at least.

Suletta Mercury seems to be from Tomino's Dunbine school of character naming, with such classics as Frozen Marvel and Weapon Shot, and the world they inhabit in that series is a fantasy/sci-fi spin on the medieval period. Similar to early periods of history, her pseudonymous surname evokes her point of origin, which led me to imagine a solar system spanning epic like Five Star Stories, and I was thinking of the Gundam pilots as honorable knights hailing from different feudal space kingdoms. It would have been a cool revamp, but instead we get something that's supposed to be relatable to a new zoomer audience, so we get lame stuff like school competition and d-d-duels, anxious teens, manipulative teens, bullying teens, and just a whole lot of angst and attitude. Y-y-yawn.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Gsarthotegga (144)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Popular series available in YouTube (Free and Not Pirated)

by bismuth32768

29 Entries · 2 Restacks

In Name Only

by Ionliosite2

48 Entries · 51 Restacks

2020s Mecha

by Fortress_Maximus

38 Entries · 11 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for September

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for September. Week 1: September 3 - 9 Anime Releases Kanojo, Okarishimasu 3rd Season (Rent-a-Girl...read more

Sep 3, 7:56 AM by Aiimee | Discuss (0 comments)

Fall 2022 Simulcast List [Update 10/30]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of television anime acquired for simulcast release during the Fall 2022 season. Anime series licensed for home ...read more

Sep 26, 2022 12:15 PM by Snow | Discuss (85 comments)

	Poll: Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Jan 8, 2023	361 replies	by perseii »» Nov 26, 11:33 AM
	Poll: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Oct 2, 2022	527 replies	by AnAsianJerk911 »» Nov 7, 7:37 PM
	What's the point of this school? SleepySera - Jan 1, 2023	21 replies	by WaffleMaster89 »» Oct 20, 9:56 PM
	Poll: Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo Episode 6 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Nov 6, 2022	183 replies	by KingKarl02 »» Oct 6, 9:48 PM
	Poll: Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Dec 25, 2022	106 replies	by satyrelfheim »» Aug 13, 7:39 AM