The following contains spoilers for Episode 2 of Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, “Cursed Mobile Suit,” now streaming onCrunchyroll.
Fans of the Gundam franchise put a lot of hope into the first episode of Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.After all, the last major series from this franchise,theGundam: Iron-Blooded Orphan, was such a great series that we can’t help but expect something better, or at least on par, for the new series.
And then the first episode ofThe Witch From Mercurystreamed on schedule, and it was simply mind-blowing. It’s too soon to decide how good it is compared to IBO, but it sure gave an outstanding first impression. Now that the hype has quieted down a little, let’s see how good the second episode is through this brief review.
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Previously on Gundam: The Witch From Mercury
In the first episode, we are introduced to the main protagonist of this series,Suletta Mercury, and her uber Gundam, The Aerial. Suletta is a new student for the Piloting Department in the prestigious Asticassia School of Technology. There are two major events that happened in this first episode. First is when Suletta meet Miorine Rembran, the daughter of the President of the Benerit Group. The second one is Suletta’s duel with the best duelist in the academy, Guel Jeturk.
Suletta meet Miorine when she savedthe princess who wish to escaped from the academy. They didn’t really become friends after that, but since Miorine is the first person that Suletta meet, she becomes somewhat attached to her. One thing lead to another, and Suletta find herself in a duel with Guel, who happens to be Miorine’s fiancé. As the unbeatable champion in the academy, Guel and his Dilanza feel extremely confident that he can score an easy win over Suletta and her Aerial. Unfortunately for him, Suletta activates the Gund-Arms in her Aerial, and use the remote Gund-Bits to mangle Dilanza into a useless lump of metal. The duel is essentially over without Aerial having to move an inch.
Cursed Mobile Suit
The second episode focuses on the aftermath of Suletta’s duel. After all, the story of a transfer student from a backwater planet of Mercury suddenly defeating the academy’s top duelist in a matter of seconds, is massive news not only in the academy but also among the leaders of the Benerit group.Most people still don’t quite understand what has happened, but there are those that immediately recognize the fact that Suletta uses a Gundam mobile suit, which was banned and should’ve been destroyed years ago. Even though the academy should’ve been the one that is responsible for this kind of duel, the suspicion over the use of a Gundam led to the head of the Benerit Group and Miorine’s father, Delling Rembran, calling the shots. He is adamant to expel Suletta and turns Aerial into scrapped metal.
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However, a mysterious woman in a mask who claimed to be the head of the Shin Sei Development Company, which is said to be the one who developed Aerial, said that Aerial is not a Gundam. She even offered the Aerial’s blueprint to those who still doubt her words. And yetDelling still refuses to believe her. He wants to see Aerial destroyed. That is when Miorine suddenly comes into the room and challenges her father to a duel, with the fate of Suletta and Aerial on the line.
The World is Expanding
Unlike the first episode, there’s no exciting mobile suit fights in this episode. What it does have, however, is more information regarding the worlds where this story takes place. We know that the Benerit Group, and its leader, Delling Rembran, is extremely powerful and acts like a tyrant. We also know that the students who come from Earth are treated like second-class citizens in the academy. And just like in any other Gundam series, we finally meet the mysterious person who wears a mask,the Char Aznable archetype. But unlike in the other series, the one who dons the mask is a woman here.
So in a sense, the world ofThe Witch From Mercuryfinally begins to open up. New characters are introduced and world-building has begun. To some, this episode might seem uneventful and boring, but it is actually quite the opposite. This episode proves that this series fully intends to give us a deep and thrilling drama,just like the other major Gundam series, and not just surface-level fights between giant, humanoid robots.
Not Sure Where It Wants To Go Yet
Usually, a major Gundam series like this has clear factions right from the beginning of the story. The U.C. Gundam has Earth Federation vs the Principality of Zeon,Gundam 00has the Celestial Beings vs the United Nations Army, and Iron-Blooded Orphan has Tekkadan vs Gjallarhorn. We still haven’t found out the opposing factions inThe Witch From Mercuryyet. Will it solely be Suletta vs Delling Rembran? Will it be the planet Mercury vs the Benerit Group? Will it bethe Earthians vs the Spacenoids? Or will it be Suletta vs everybody?
Not only that, but it’s also unclear whether we will focus on a day-to-day student activity, which would be a first in the franchise, or will the story evolve toa full-blown military space operalike other series that comes before it. We simply aren’t sure where it wants to go yet. That being said, not knowing what will happen next is certainly one of the best things about a Gundam series. However, telling a clear and properly-paced story is also crucial. So hopefully things will be clearer in the subsequent episodes.
More:What The Upcoming Gundam: The Witch From Mercury’s Prologue Tells Us About The Anime
