The following contains spoilers for Episode 2 of Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, “Unseen Trap,” now streaming onCrunchyroll.
Gundam: The Witch From Mercury bringslots of new and different elements to the familiar story of Gundam. It is without a doubt a breath of fresh air to this old franchise. Not only that, with a remote swarm weapon system and a psycho-frame as its default configuration, Gundam Aerial is also arguably stronger than the other base Gundam in the previous titles, which is why the action sequences are so enjoyable to watch.
Talking about action, the series has just begun, but we already received two great fighting scenes.A short yet explosive one at the end of episode 1, and a thrilling duel in episode 3. That being said, episode 2 focused more on the drama side of things, which was a great change of pace for the story. Because a full-blown action in every episode will quickly get old. So based on that pattern, episode 4 should offer a bit of a downtime as well. So let’s talk about it in this review for episode 4 ofGundam: The Witch From Mercury.
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Previously on Gundam: The Witch From Mercury
After being threatened to be expelled in episode 2, episode 3 sees Suletta Mercury get a second chance to prove herself worthy to be a student at the Asticassia School of Technology. And just like most things in this school, she has to do it through a mobile suit duel. Since the result of her last fight against the current best duelist, also known as holder, in school was annulled, Suletta has to fight the same opponent again, which is Guel Jeturk and his brand new mobile suit, courtesy of his father, the CEO of Jeturk Heavy Machinery.
The new mobile suit that Guel uses is equipped with the latest Combat A.I. that enables the mobile suit to basically make its own decision based on what is currently happening in the field. Not only that, the people from Guel’s camp also sabotage the battlefield so that it would mess with Aerial’s beam lasers. Needless to say, it is a difficult fight for Suletta. Her Aerial even suffered quite substantial damage in this duel. However, thanks to her determination, and a bit of help from Miorine,Suletta managed to come on top and beat Guel, for the second time. But then he suddenly gets down on one knee and proposes to Suletta.
Unseen Trap
Now that the issue regarding the duel and the suspicions about Aerial being the forbidden Gundam is somewhat resolved, Suletta can finally begin his life as a student in the Asticassia School of Technology. And as a student of the Piloting department, she now has to participate in her first exam.
It is a rather straightforward exam with each pilot having to walk through a field and evade the hidden landmines. What Suletta doesn’t know, however, is the fact that she needs a dedicated team of mechanics and operators for this exam. And it is her job to find them. Unfortunately, thanks to her latest duel,Suletta unknowingly gains a somewhat notorious reputation as a troublemaker. Add to that the fact that most students prefer not to be on the bad side of the people from the elite group, such as the Jeturk, Suletta finds herself unable to secure a teammate.
Suletta manages to find some positive response from the Earthian students, but it quickly falls apart as well. Thankfully,Miorine once again comes to her aid. She will handle the job of both an operator and a mechanic for Suletta. Unfortunately for her, some students pull a prank on her mobile suit that makes it impossible for Suletta to see anything around her. She only wants to have a quiet and fruitful school life, but Suletta seems to have an uncanny ability to attract problems.
A School-Life Drama
As you may read from the short summary above, episode 4 focuses heavily onSuletta’s daily life as a student. A shy yet brilliant girl who is struggling to find friends, students who pull pranks on her due to unwarranted animosity, and a group of misfits that seem to share her pains and troubles, as you can see, it is a 100% school life drama.
This is certainly something new for a major Gundam series. Because even though we have seen students and some resemblance of school activity in the previous Gundam series, most notably inGundam SeedandGundam Reconguista in G, none of them goes as deep into the genre asGundam: The Witch From Mercury. Something serious always happens that disturbs their peaceful school life and forces them to be a soldier.
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This novel approach to the story and character development is certainly a breath of fresh air for this franchise. However, the fans follow a Gundam series because they want to see the Mecha battles, political intrigue, and military operation in space. So hopefullyThe Witch From Mercurycan weave these familiar story elements into the series. Otherwise, they will risk alienating their loyal fanbase.
Rising Tension
Buried underneath the school drama is a potential political and societal conflict. It is only a scene or two, but there is a short snippet of the struggle between the earthian who feels that the spacian has been treating them unfairly.
It seems that those who live in space look down on those who lives on earth. This sentiment even carries on to the students in the Asticassia School of Technology with the earthian students often becoming objects of ridicule and bullying from their spacian classmates. Recent news snippets that we see in this episode seems to suggest thatthe animosity between the two groups has reached its breaking point.
We’ve talked about political intrigue and military operation as a major plot point that seems to be missing from what we’ve seen inThe Witch From Mercurythus far.This animosity between earthian and spaciancan be the conflict that will steer the story from a school drama into the direction of war. Or at the very least, a major armed conflict. There’s a rising tension happening outside Suletta’s school life, and it is safe to say that it will develop and affect the current storyline soon.
In line with the current pattern ofGundam: The Witch From Mercuryofaction-packed story followed by a dramatic episode, we see episode 1 and 3 filled with action, and episode 2 and 4 are the place where the drama begins. This time around, the story focuses heavily on Suletta’s daily life as a student.
While this is a breath of fresh air for the Gundam franchise, familiar story elements likepolitical intrigue and major armed operationsare certainly something that the fans would also love to see in the series. There’s a rising tension between the earthian and spacian that could be the source for the aforementioned story elements. So let’s see whether or not it will be incorporated into the story in the subsequent episode.
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