T5W#454-Top 5 Suletta Mercury Moments from The Witch from Mercury

Part of the reason Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury has struck such a cord with non Mecha fans along with longtime Gundam mainstays is its main characters: Suletta Mercury and Mirorine Renbram.  And while Miroine deserves a list of her own, today we’re here to talk about G Witch’s adorable Tanuki Girl.  Suletta has arguably one of the most dramatic, tragic and full of jaw dropping moments of any Gundam pilot in the entire franchise, and that’s saying a lot when she stands alongside child soldiers, assassins and a bevy of youth with emotional issues.  She’s had a lot of highs and lows and most of them worthy of mention and honoring.  So as we close out my month long contribution to Gundam’s 45^th Anniversary (ignoring we’re spending the last two weeks with FLCL sequels), today’s Top 5 Wendesday goes out to my Top 5 Suletta Mercury Moments from The Witch from Mercury.

FLCL Grunge

In the town of Okura, a sea of trash drowns the hopes of tomorrow for the youth of today.  For three friends, hope is a distant illusion.  Until one day when a beautiful wild girl named Haruko Haruhara bursts into their lives.  Suddenly, chaos envelops their lives and one by one, Shin, Shonari and Orinoko begin to discover hope amongst the ruins.  Here’s hoping their newfound happiness isnt trampled in Haruko’s neverending quest to attain the power of the being known as Atamusk.

Do we need a sequel to FLCL?  No.  No we do not.  I knew this the moment the original series ended and I have never once wanted to know what came next, what came before or anything in between.  To me, FLCL is perfect.  It’s everything Anime does best and then some and has long been my all time favorite Anime.  So, does it need a sequel?  No.  Sadly, we’ve gotten a few haven’t we.  And despite my more generous reviews of them back in 2018, I hated FLCL Progressive and FLCL Alternative, maybe the latter more than the former.  Neither had any of the spontaneity, soul or whimsical magic of the original, instead opting for more serious character studies that didn’t work or came up short.  That was the concenus amongst many fans of the original but it looks like Adult Swim cant just leave well enough alone.  Hence we in 2023 we got not only one but TWO back to back prequels (I think), which we’ll be looking at over the next two weeks here at the Anime Corner.  First up is FLCL Grunge. 
 

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Part 6 Episodes 21-24

The full scope of Prospera’s Quiet Zero Initiative is revealed and all of mankind is at risk just to satisfy her revenge.  Determined to stop her mother and save her friends, Suletta boards an experimental Gundam and heads into battle.  Suletta and Miroine must confront the sins of their families past and find a way to heal the wounds without losing anyone.  But can Suletta break free from her mothers control and can she bring herself to do battle with the Mobile Suit that is actually her long lost sister, Eri?

One of the reasons I held off on reviewing G Witch for so long (besides the obvious April being Gundam’s birthday), was because I wasn’t sure how long the series was going to be.  Sure all of the Build Fighters and Build Divers series have been 26 episodes but those are spin offs aimed at a different audience.  Typical/traditional Gundam series tend to clock in between 43-50 episodes (and no Reconguista in G isnt an exception, it’s an abomination).  So I wasn’t sure that the end of Season Two of G Witch would be the end, even if things seemed to be heading in that direction. Was 24 episodes adequate time to pull off a complete story when most Gundam entries need (and sometimes benefit from) double the time?  Turns out that’s a bit of a double edged sword.  The Series Finale is fine if a bit rushed and leaves a lot of areas for expansion untouched.  It also decides to wrap itself up surprisingly nicely, so much so it leaves me a little irked.  What do I mean by that?  Let’s break it all down.
 

T5W#453-Top 5 TM Revolution Songs from Gundam Seed

Whether you love it or hate it (personally I love it), JPop was a huge part of Gundam entrance into the new millennium with Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny.  Plenty would accuse the series of focusing more on promoting musical artists more than making a good series but many more adore the incredibly catchy opening and ending themes and insert songs from Lacus Clyne and Meer Campbell.  One important artist closely associated with this era of Gundam is Takanori Ishikawa, better known by his stage name T.M. Revolution.  TM’s voice is the first everyone heard when Seed debuted in 2002 and beyond theme music, he also leant his voice to a couple of characters in both Seed and Seed Destiny.  In this weeks Top 5 Wednesday, we’re continuing our Gundam Anniversary Month with a selection of the best tracks this awesome dude contributed to the long and illustrious line of Gundam Opening and Ending Themes (Inserts too).  There are my Top 5 TM Revolution Songs from Gundam Seed.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Part 5 Episodes 17-20

A series of heartbreaking betrayals leaves Suletta without a Gundam and without Miorine.  All of this plays right into the hands of her mother, Prosepera, who travels to Earth with the Aerial to begin the Quiet Zero initiative. With the world on fire and space about to become even more dangerous, Miroine struggles to repair the damage while Suletta confronts her own identity and everything she’s lost in order to move forward, with or without Aerial.

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for the cast of G Witch, along comes this penultimate set of episodes to say “yeah hold my beer”.  It wasn’t even the fact that Suletta found herself at rock bottom.  As the series heads into its finale, the stakes have never felt higher and all the plans within plans against double crosses, betrayals and secret agendas are building towards a need for some serious payback for all the death and damage left in their wake.  Several moments in this set were hard to watch.  But then again that’s what Gundam does best: showing that war is Hell and the thirst for power within always leads to tragedy…and how those who stand against such ambitions give us the most hope.