T5W#346-Top 5 Initial Thoughts on Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury

I was wondering just how long Sunrise was going to keep things under wraps.  But yesterday at the 3rd Gundam Conference held by the Bandai Namco “Gundam Project” Team, we finally got our first real, official look at the next Mobile Suit Gundam TV Series: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.  There wasn’t a lot, just a thirty second teaser with the release window, air time and a look at the shows titular Gundam and lead heroine.  It really isn’t much but it’s enough to get me excited.  How long has it been since we’ve gotten a brand new Gundam TV Show?  Well we’ll talk about that, along with four other thoughts that’ll make up todays Top 5 Wednesday, my Top 5 Initial Thoughts on Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.

 
#5-The First Real Gundam TV Series since Iron Blooded Orphans

It’s not like we haven’t had Gundam on TV in forever…well maybe a little bit.  While people might overlook Gundam Build Divers, the last time we had a full length 50 episode long Gundam series on TV was Iron Blooded Orphans in 2015.  Since it ended in 2016, it’s been six long years, probably the longest stretch between Gundam shows since…well there were big gaps between the Original Series and Zeta, as well as between ZZ and Victory.  With Anime being dominated by Issekai, Mecha’s kind of fallen by the wayside.  Gundam’s had a strong string of new and original movies recently with Gundam Narrative and Hathaway (and I guess the Reconguista in G Compilations).  It’s long past due Gundam returned to TV properly.
 

#4-A Female Lead Protagonist

While we wont know her name for a little while longer, it should be noted that this unknown red head looks to be our lead heroine for The Witch from Mercury, could be it’s her nickname.  Gundam has no shortage of awesome and bad ass female characters but they’ve mostly been supporting cast a la Sayla Mass, Christina Mackenzie (yeah technically Al Izuruha is the main character of Gundam 0080), Relena Peacecraft or Kudelia Aina Bernstien.  Gundam has never had a girl as a lead…well ever.  The closest I think we’ve gotten is Haman Kahn being the first (and as of right now only) lead villainess in Gundam ZZ.  I wonder how this little Witch might be able to make her Gundam Dance.  Speaking of which…
 

#3-Enter the Aeriel

Honestly, for a basic structure Gundam, the Aeriel looks pretty fierce.  It looks to be continuing in the vein of the Barbatos from Iron Blooded Orphans except the Aeriel looks like a space blasting bad ass (though I’m sure it’s ground game is pretty amazing as well).  Naturally, I’ve got a lot of questions as to where this Gundam comes from, how it came into the possession of our lead girl, and just what it can do on the battlefield.  The reveal event also unveiled a couple of other Mobile Suits including a second Gundam, the Lfrith, which looks to be a sibling unit to the Aeriel.  Could we be looking at another Gundam Team coming together?
 

#2-Prologue

The Witch of Mercury will get a special Prequel this summer during a later Gundam Event.  The only other time I can remember a Gundam series doing a special like this was with Gundam Build Divers, which was released as an OVA.  Judging from what was presented, the aforementioned Lfirth and that other Mobile Suit, the Beguir-Beu, will be at the forefront, maybe alongside the Aeriel.  As to what this Prologue will show us story wise…honestly I cant even begin to guess.  The presentation was ridiculously scarce on plot details.  I’m sure we’ll learn a lot more come Summer when it arrives.  But still, that isn’t a bad segue into my #1 thought.

 

#1-Where Does This Take Place?

Mobile Suit Gundam is no stranger to using Alternate Realities to act as new entry points for newcomers to the franchise.  The Universal Century looks to be progressing in OVAs and Movies instead of TV Series (the last one for that era was 1993’s Mobile Suit Victory Gundam).  It feels like a safe bet that The Witch from Mercury will be continuing the franchise streak of Alternate Universe tales that began with Mobile Fighter G Gundam in 1994 and have continued on to this day.  Then again, I could be wrong and Witch from Mercury could be a secret surprise for the UC Next_100 Gundam project.  Money’s still on Alternate Universe, less baggage and history to deal with there.  Either way, October 2022 cant get here fast enough.